SELECTIONS FROM THE STATE PAPERS OF THE
GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF INDIA
WAKEEN HASTINGS
11
SELECTIONS I'llOM
THE STATE PAPERS
OF THE
GOYERNORS - GENERAL
OF INDIA
EDITED BY
G. W. FORREST, CLE.
EX-UIRECTOli OF RECORDS, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
WITH PORTRAITS AND MAPS
VOL. II
WARREN HASTINGS
DOCUMENTS
OXFORD
B. H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET
LONDON
CONSTABLE & CO., LTD.
MCMX
[Ail rights resiri'eJ]
31^
CONTENTS
'Af;K
Hastings' Memoirs relative to the State of India - 1
Narrative of the Insurrection in the Zemef.dary of
Banaris - - - - - - 119
Hastings' Despatch on the Negotiations of 1781 199
Appendix A. — Bengal in 1772, portrayed by Warren
Hastings - - - - - - 263
Appendix B. — Extract of a Letter from the Governor
and Council at Furt William, etc. - - 281
Extract of the Proceedings of the Committee at
KissEN Nagar - - - - - - 288
Plan for the Administration of Justice, extracted
FROM the Proceedings of the Committee of Cir-
cuit, August 15, 1772 .... 290
Appendix C. — Plan for the Better Administration of
Justice in the Provinces of Bengal - - 300
Appendix D.— Hastings' Minute on the Rohilla War 309
Index -.-.-.. 33s
357135
M E M O T ?v R
RELATIVE TO
THE STATE OF INDIA
THE AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT
rr^HE following sheets were written at sea, during
my passage from India to England. When I
began them I had no other design than to preserve
and concentrate all the miscellaneous transactions of
the three last months of my administration, while they
were yet recent in my remembrance.
In the course of this Review, I was imperceptibly
led to take in a larger scope, as 1 have stated in the
work itself ; and it has acquired such a degiee of
importance in the judgement of those who have perused
it, (authorities of which I should speak with the highest
veneration on any occasion, but one which like the
present could not but reflect a praise on myself;) that
I have been induced to cause a few printed copies to
be struck off, for the private information of such
persons as from their official situations are intitled to
the knowledge which they may be thought to contain.
WARREN HASTINaS.
Bath, Jan. U, 1786.
MEMOIRS RELATIVE TO THE
STATE OF INDIA
/^N the 20th of March 1783, I addressed a letter to
^^^ the Court of Directors, in which I apprised them
of my intention to resign the service of the Company,
leaving a sufficient interval for the appointment of a
successor to my office. Had I formed my opinion of
the propriety of this intimation on any estimate of my
own consequence, the total disregard which was shown
to it mio-ht have tauofht me an humbler lesson. But
in truth, I had simply considered it as a point of
common obligation ; and was convinced in my own
mind, that the member of the council who stood next
to me in the regular line of succession, was at least
as likely to fill the station with ability as any person,
wanting the same local experience, whom the chance
of competition might substitute in his stead ; for he
had been bred and practised in the habits of business,
and his manners were conciliating. It would be there-
fore, at this time, superfluous to assign any reasons for
the resolution which I had taken. Yet these were
detailed at large in my letter ; and if they produced
no other effect, they certainly were, as they were
intended, a pledge to my first constituents for the
performance of the declaration which I had thus
formally made, if no circumstance intervened which
might lessen the weight of it as an engagement, or
which, as a superior claim, might require it to be sus-
1
2 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
pended. In effect, such a contingency did actually
come to pass within a very few months after the date
of my letter. This originated in an appeal which was
made by the Nabob Vizir and his Ministers, against
the acts of Mr. Bristow, the Company's Kesident at
his Court, and impelled me, by every tie of justice,
honour, and public duty, to sacrifice every considera-
tion that regarded myself alone, if necessary, for his
redress : And that my stay for this purpose was
necessary, I may with safety at this time afhrm, since
it is demonstrable, that the purposes which were the
professed objects of my stay have been attained, and
could not have been attained without it.
I had fixed upon the beginning of last year for my
departure to England. This event determined me to
postpone it to another season ; and I may be allowed
on such an occasion to appeal for the evidence, and the
strongest evidence that could be produced, of the recti-
tude of my motive, even to an argument of private
relation to my own interest and feelings, but imme-
diately connected with the resolution I had taken ;
since it compelled me to submit to a privation of all
domestic society, and to an expence which must be
unavoidably repeated whenever I should prosecute the
design of my own departure to England, and which
my fortune could ill afltbrd.
It was not incumbent upon me to apprise the Court
of Directors formally of this change of my determina-
tion, or of the ground of it. Both were obvious. But
the original obligation still remained, subject to the
reservation of the same circumstances under which it
was imposed. My return from Lucnow, after a long
and successful application to the re-establishment of
the affairs of the province of Oude, and the due autho-
rity of its ruler, replaced me in the situation from
THE STATE OF BENGAL 3
which I had been drawn by the necessity of that
attendance. It was, therefore, my first care to provide
for the execution of the engagement dependant on it,
after my arrival.
About the same instant of time advices were received
from England of a bill depending in Parliament for the
more effectual regulation of the government of the
British possessions in India ; and as I had deemed it
a proper respect to the Court of Directors to refer
myself to their pleasure for my continuation in the
service, if they should think me deserving of being
entrusted with the powers which I had stated as
necessary to enable me to conduct it, I held it proper
to wait the result of this intelligence, in the possi-
bility of its producing that change in the administra-
tion of Bengal, which I had prescribed as the condition
of my stay. Of this I advised the Court of Directors,
in a letter which I wrote to them, dated the 22d of
November, by the Surprise ; repeating my former
declaration, and informing them of my intention to
wait the arrival of the next dispatches which I had
been made to expect with the Fox packet, which was
waiting at the date of the last advices to bring the
orders which would be required with the publication
of the bill impending.
In the meantime I applied myself early and assidu-
ously to the dispatch of such arrears of business as I
found depending ; and to those exigencies of the govern-
ment which were likely to press, with the severest
weight, upon it, in the event of a change not eftected
by express authority from home, and therefore wanting
the confidence and respect of a fixed appointment.
The first object, and that recently urged by injunctions
from the Court of Dii-ectors, which rather augmented
our difficulties than facilitated the removal of them,
1—2
4 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
was to clear off the debt which we had contracted
during the course of a long and multiplied war. This
consisted of two kinds : — First, the regular debt at
interest, which had continued for some time at the
fixed sum of one hundred and sixty lacks : and,
Secondly, orders granted on the Treasury and De-
posits, which at this time amounted to about rupees
144,47,860:8:1. Of these orders, some, which were in
lieu of payment made by the Board of Trade, were
charged with the customary interest.
When I left Calcutta at the beginning of the year,
I had vainly flattered myself, with a confidence which
impelled me to express the same expectation to the
Court of Directors, that we should be able to pay off
all the Treasury orders, and discharge a part of the
debt at interest, by the end of December. I was
certainly warranted to form and give this assurance
by a fair state, which I transmitted at the same time
to the Court of Directors, of our probable receipts and
disbursements to the prescribed period. The causes of
my disappointment arose from the unexpected, and
equally unnecessary, detention of Col. Pearse's detach-
ment at Massulipatam, when it was on its return to
Bengal ; by which an expence of near seventeen lacks
of rupees was continued a twelvemonth beyond its
computed duration ; and from the enormous sum of a
crore of rupees, distributed in remittances to the other
presidencies, of which that of Fort St. George alone,
which least wanted it, and of whose disbursements,
whatever they were, our Board was kept in utter
ignorance, had received for its separate share more
than sixty -five lacks. A detail of this subject M^ould
be too long an interruption of the general recital ;
[and] as it is fully comprised in a letter which was
written ex})ressly upon it to the Court of Directors,
THE STATE OF BENGAL 5
dated the 6th of December last, and has long since
been published.
I was not apprised of these unexpected charges till
my return to Calcutta, having trusted to the estimate
of receijjts and disbursements made at the beginning
of the year above quoted, as a sure provision against
them. I was anxious to put an immediate check to
the continuance of a drain which our finances could ill
sustain, and happily found the other members of the
Board in the same disposition and opinion. At our
first meeting in council on the 8 th of November, I
proposed, and it was agreed to with such a promptness
that our orders were written and signed before we
parted, to send a peremptory injunction to the presi-
dency of Fort St. George, to desist from farther drafts
upon us, declaring that we would answer none that
were granted after the receipt of our letter.
To Bombay, whose wants were more pressing, but
had already received a very ample and acknowledged
relief, we wrote to confine their demands within five
lacks of rupees, until they should receive our license
for a larger supply ; and to this we afterwards added
the promise of a farther remittance, by bills from the
treasury of Lucnow in the month of May next ; for
which a provision had been expressly made on a very
profitable rate of exchange in the Kistbundy, or
account of instalments, agreed upon by the Nabob
Vizir in payment of his debt to the Company.
A few days before my return to Calcutta, but while
I remained at a small distance from it, a packet was
received from the Court of Directors, which had been
despatched by land, and contained a letter dated the
15th of June; in which they severely censured the
Governor-General and Council, for having agreed in
the month of November, 1784, to take up the sum of
6 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
fifty lacks on loan for draughts on the Court of
Directors, to supply a deficiency of nearly that amount
in the advances made for the investment of the year ;
when, as it appeared to them, our former advances had
greatly exceeded the value of the allotted provision ;
and they therefore recommended to the Board to
prevail upon the subscribers to accept of a redemption
of their loans in lieu of the promised bills.
As this dispatch had been made for the sole and
express purpose of conveying the sentiments and orders
of the Court of Directors on that single subject ; and
therefore strongly manifested the impression which it
had made on their minds and imj)ressed the consequent
necessity of com2:)liance on ours ; the j^art which we
had to chuse was both difficult and hazardous. The
order was evidently founded on a mistake ; for the
Court of Directors, or rather, as we must suppose,
their official reporter, had confounded the advances of
two years with those of one. It was a becoming defer-
ence to conclude that, as the propriety of the order
was inseparably connected with the truth of the fact
to which it was applied, they would not have passed
the order under a contrary supposition ; and that a
discovery of the error would induce them to revoke it.
Our enf>;aoements had hitherto been held most
sacred, the Court of Directors having contented them-
selves with expressing their disapprobation of such as
they deemed not sufficiently warranted ; but never
dis])uting their validity, or withholding their effect, if
it depended on them for giving it ; and the former
loans, which had been contracted on the same con-
ditions, and for the same exigency, had received their
express approval in terms of a})plause. To receive
their recommendation in the construction of an absolute
order, and to execute it literally as such, under the
THE STATE OF DENGAL 7
circumstances whlcli liave been recited, would have
been injurious to the service, highly culpable in its
principle, productive of much aggravated distress in
its immediate operation, and destructive of our future
credit ; fatally, perhaps, to the Company's existence,
if ever a season should recur of the like difficulties
with those which our credit hath hitherto enabled us
to surmount : at the same time, to persist in a literal
adherence to our engagements with the knowledge of
such an indisposition in the Court of Directors towards
them, would have been an injury to the subscribers, if
the Court should refuse to ratify them. Upon the
whole, after much discussion, but little debate, a middle
expedient was adopted ; which was, to publish the
whole state of the case, and to give the subscribers an
option, either of the redemption of their loans, or of
the acceptance of their bills, and to refer the latter to
the justice and candour of the Court of Directors for
their ratification of them. This subject engaged much
of the attention of the Board in their two first meetinirs,
held on the 8th and 9th of November, and passed with
their unanimous assent. The instant effect was such
as could not fail to afford us the most complete satis-
faction ; for the publication made no alteration in the
minds of the subscribers, who retained their original
interest in the subscription, only 2,51,500 rupees of it
having been withdrawn principally by persons acting
as trustees for others, and therefore not choosing to
exercise the same latitude of judgment with those
whose property was at their own disposal.
I found the Board engaged in an un2)leasant alter-
cation with the Board of Trade, which had originated
from prior orders of the Court of Directors, received
by the Surprise Packet, which had left England on the
29th of April, and arrived in Calcutta on the 28th of
8 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
August. These contained some severe censures upon
the Board of Trade for a latitude assumed in their
allotment of contracts for the provision of the invest-
ment, and a peremptory injunction to grant them after
due advertisement, to the best bidder. Our Council,
in implicit submission to the letter of the order exacted
from the Board of Trade an immediate obedience to it ;
to which the Board of Trade objected, pleading that
in consequence of an intimation given them by the
Superior Council, early in the year, of their intention
to appropriate one complete crore of rupees for the
service of the investment of the season, not accom-
panied or followed by any other instructions, they had
issued immediate orders to their former agents and
contractors, that no time might be lost for so large a
provision to continue their advances on the terms of
the last year ; that these orders were intended and
received as actual engagements, though not confirmed
by any formal deeds, and had certainly the same effect
after so long a lapse of time ; that the season for
making the advances, and other preparatory acts, was
long since passed, and the season for the returns
approaching ; and that any attempt to cancel the
existing engagements, against which they thought the
contractors would have their remedy at law, and to
transfer them to new adventurers, with the necessary
time allowed for public notice, and for ^^ossesslon,
would occasion a total loss of the investment for the
season.
To these objections, which really possessed all the
weight given to them by the Board of Trade, it might
have been added, that the order of the Court of
Directors, though, as I recollect, rather indefinitely
worded, must have been intended for a rule of general
practice, and could not possibly be meant for imme-
THE STATE OF BENGAL 9
dijtte application ; since it would not have been re-
ceived till the latter end of October, or the beginning
of November, if the Surprise had made her passage in
the ordinary time, which she had shortened by t\A'0
months ; and of course the Board of Trade would have
been in the receipt of part of the goods provided, and
the rest would have been in the course ot delivery.
At all events, the order was now become ineffectual.
It was therefore proposed, and happily agreed to, to
close the contest, by yielding the point of it to the
Board of Trade, and allowing their engagements to
stand with the responsibility thrown on them for its
effects with relation to the orders received from home.
At the same time, as the Court of Directors in their
Beport delivered to the House of Commons on the
23d of March 1784, and which they had called upon
us with much solemnity to verify, had stated the
whole sum of the expected cargoes from India for that
year at one million sterling, of which the proportion
that Bengal alone bore to the other presidencies was
but thirty lacks ; the Board of Trade was required to
limit the provision to that sum for the prescribed
articles of their investment, with the addition of fifteen
lacks for raw silk, which was not in the list ; both to
allow for the provision actually made, and to preserve
the manufacture, which had been much improved both
in price and quality. The Board of Trade contended
for a larger allowance ; but a peremptory declaration
of the Superior Board prevented a repetition of the
demand.
I have said, that it was the first object of the Board
(it was at least my own) to clear off our debts, by
lessening our disbursements, as the only means of ful-
filling the commands and expectations of the Court of
Directors, and of affording an effectual relief to the
10 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
other presidencies ; since a lavish dissipation of* our
treasures beyond our current income, however specious
the occasion might appear, or however urgent the call
might be, as it was in the instance of the orders of the
Court of Directors, grounded on their Report presented
to the House of Commons, would only add to our dif-
ficulties, not unlike a thread drawn to its utmost length
from an entangled skain. Our natural exigencies must
be supplied ; the army must be paid a portion of its
arrears for its subsistence, and the larger was their
amount, the less would it admit of increase ; the whole
amount, therefore, of the annual pay, of whatever
denomination, must, after a certain run, be distributed
to them : the restoration of peace, and the return of
our foreign detachments, required that as large a
portion of the army should be disbanded as had been
superadded to our fixed establishment in the course of
the war ; but the corps which were to be disbanded,
were to be first paid up to the period of their service ;
nor could they be paid, and the others neglected,
without excitincr o-eneral discontent, at all times
dangerous in transactions of military oeconomy ; but
above all, when the necessity of retrenchments, and
the known intention of making reformations, had dis-
posed the minds of men to a quicker reception of such
impressions as led to mutiny : expedients, if they were
to be found, must be used, either to answer or to shift
the actual demand ; and every such expedient will be
found to be the present gain of one rupee for the future
loss of two : the debt as it increased, would throw the
prospect of payment to a greater distance, and propor-
tionably increase the discount of the original sums,
which was already very large both on the Interest
Notes and Treasury Orders : the multitude of bills
unpaid created the like accumulation of accounts un-
THE STATE OF BENGAL 11
audited, and the consequence licentiousness of con-
tingent charges, besides the natural incitement to
irregular claims when the expected receipts were
either partial or remote. Though the Treasury was
ostensibly charged with the established rate of interest,
its substantial loss was equal in most cases to the
discount, since every contractor, and other dealer on
trust, either with the Board, or Board of Trade, took
the difference into the account, either by enhancing
the rates of originating engagements or eluding the
conditions of the old. Yet the debt itself was incon-
siderable : and here it may not be amiss to take notice
of the fallacy of the general cry which has prevailed
for some time past, of the loss of our public credit ;
than which nothing can be more foreign from the
truth.
The fact is, that our public credit, by which I mean
the credit of our Interest Notes, and Treasury Orders,
never extended beyond the English servants of the
Company, and the European inhabitants of Calcutta ;
and to these may be added a few, and a very few, of
the old Hindoo families at the presidency. All the
other inhabitants of the provinces are utterly ignorant
of the advantage and security of our funds, and have
other ways of emplo3^ing their money, such as pur-
chases of landed property, loans at an usurious and
accumulating monthly interest, and mortgages ; to
which, though less profitable in the end, and generally
insecure, they are so iiuich attached by long usage,
and the illusion of a large growing profit, that it would
not be easy to wean them from these habits for others
more difficult of comprehension, and to them of in-
superable discredit from the idea of insecurity, attached
to the dependence on power. And happy for the
Company is it, that such bounds are prescribed by
12 MR, HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
necessity to their public credit ; and that it is not in
the power of a weak administration to load its suc-
cessors with debts improvidently contracted for the
relief of its own exigencies.
The want of credit, as it is falsely called, in Bengal,
is not, as the term implies, a want of confidence, but
of means, in those who were the creditors of our
Treasury. When these had no more ready money
to lend, the government appeared to be greatly dis-
tressed, because its expenses continued at the same
amount with the resource stopped, by which they had
been supplied beyond the extent of its current income;
and as the prospect of discharging the debt which it
had contracted became so much the more remote, and
in a degree doubtful from the hazards of a state of
multiplied warfare, its notes first lost their equal cur-
rency by a natural consequence, and afterwards sunk
yet more in their value. The same causes afterwards
affected the orders on the Treasury, although in the
course of payment, but at uncertain periods. Yet,
w^hen I left Bengal, our debts of every denomination
amounted to no more than 304,00,000 current rupees,
w^hich is little more than one half of our annual revenue,
which may be fairly estimated at 5^ crores of current
rupees, or 5 J millions sterling.
With this clear, and certainly true state of the
question, how will it appear to any candid judgement,
that after a war sustained during the course of five
years with three States of the greatest relative power
to our own situation and connections, the Marattahs,
Hyder Ally Cawn, and the French ; after having sent
two great armies to the extremities of Indostan and
Deccan ; after having furiiislied subsistence to the
other presidencies, supplied the China Trade with
yearly remittances, and made richer investments for
THE STATE OF BENGAL 13
England than were ever purchased in the same space
of time under any preceding administration ; our
resources are exhausted, and our credit gone, because
we owe a sum which we cannot instantly discharge,
but which scarcely exceeds half our annual revenue/ I
repeat the position in the same terms, because it cannot
be too often repeated, nor its impression too forcibly
made in such a discussion. Let the same case be put
of a private estate so encumbered, and its proprietor
reduced by it to a state of bankruptcy. It is an
absurdity in terms : — but if the comparison be carried
higher to the enormous magnitude of the sum in which
the parent state is indebted, a sum which all the trea-
sures of this habitable world could not realise, the
attempt to fix the imputation of insolvency on the
Treasury of Bengal would be too contemptible for
arofument*.
When I took charge of the government of Bengal in
April 1772, 1 found it loaded with a debt at interest of
nearly the same amount as the present ; and in less
than two years I saw that debt completely discharged,
and a sum in ready cash of the same amount actuallv
accumulated in store in the public Treasuries : and
in effect the present debt ought to be cleared off, as I
have no doubt it will be, completely, in two years of
peace, if the present peace is of that duration.
Some time before my departure the Accomptant
General delivered in to the Board an estimate of the
probable resources and disbursements of the Beno-al
government from the oOrh of April 1784 to the 1st of
May 1785 ; from which it appeared, that at the end of
* The debts of every denomination, contracted in Bengal during
the late successful war in India, scarcely exceeded three millions
sterling. The unfunded debt alone of Great Britain was, t^\■o years
after the peace, thirty-six millions.
14 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
that period the claims on our Treasury would exceed
our resources by 1,49,01,433 current rupees: or, in
other words, that independently of our bonds we should
be indebted this sum, either for loans, or for arrears of
pay, or other current disbursements. On the supposi-
tion that this statement were just, this would be a
heavy debt or deficiency. But even this, which I deem
exaggerated, will be found, on a comparative examina-
tion, to be considerably less than what actually existed
at the time when the account was formed. For the
proof of this assertion, I refer to the account itself,
No. in the Appendix. From thence it appears,
that on the 30th of April, 1784, we were indebted as
follows : —
Balance due to simdiy departments 2,87,146:12:11
Disbursements in arrears, viz.
Civil 16,55,9.34: 6
Military 51,38,887:13: 5
Marine 3,39,486:15: 1
Eevenue depart. 17,77,126: 6: 7
89,11,435: 3: 7
Extraordinary disbursements in arrears,
viz.
Deposits due from the
Treasury 10,47,600:13: 2
Due on sundry orders
thereon 2,87,142:11: 5
Due on ditto in favour
of the Board of
Trade 45,45,897: 5: 7
Due on ditto for sur-
plus to, and drafts
of the other presi-
dencies 24,39,750: 3
Due from the Lucnow
Treasury to the
Bankers and Mr.
Scott 18,21,707: 8: 8
Due on various ac-
counts 63,886:13:10
102,05,985: 7: 8
Current Paipees 1,9-1,01,567: 8: 2
THE STATE OF BENGAL 15
The amount therefore of our debt and arrears, inde-
pendent of Bonds, on the 30th of April 1784, was
1,94,04,567:8:2 current rupees; but from this we
should in justice deduct the amount of the sums
remaining at the same period in charge of the different
offices, being 40,63,877:2:6 current rupees: and the
real deficiency of our finances at that time will be
found 1,5:3,40,690:5:8 current rupees, being more than
the deficiency calculated for the 1st of May, 1785, by
4,39,256:9:9 current rupees.
Many of the articles which composed our debt in
April 1784, would run on without much inconveniency
to the creditors till May 1785; and there are some
even which could not with propriety be discharged.
Of the former kind, are the orders on the Treasury, of
which as some were paid off, others might be granted
to an equal amount.
Such also are the arrears of some of the offices. Of
the latter kind are the deposits in the Treasury, which
are never restored until demanded, and which have
continued for a long series of years at nearly the same
amount.
But in fact, this estimate, though formed with all
possible accuracy at the time, has, from changes of
circumstances in the intervening period, already
proved in many particulars erroneous ; the receipts
being under - rated, and the disbursements stated
beyond their real amount. I will mention a few
instances.
The sales of the Salt are rated in this account for
the whole year at only thirty lacks of rupees ; whereas,
it appears from an actual account delivered to me by
the Controller, that on the 31st of December 1784,
he had paid into the Treasury 44,20,000 sicca
rupees ; and he expected to make farther payments
16 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
by the 30th of April 1785, to the amount of nine
lacks, making altogether 53,20,000 sicca rupees,
61,71,200 current rupees; and the event has hitherto
always more than verified the amount of his esti-
mates.
The receipts from the Opium are in the same manner
estimated under their probable amount, having already
been exceeded by the proceeds arising from only
a part of the Opium, which was sold a few days
before I left Calcutta. The v^hole sales, when com-
pleted, would yield about seventeen lacks, being
five lacks more than Mr. Larkins has stated in his
account.
I do not see any estimate in this account of the
receipts arising from the sales of the Company's Europe
imports ; these may be computed on a medium at nine
lacks.
The grounds on which I suppose that Mr. Larkins
has stated the disbursements at a higher rate than
they will actually amount to, are these : the estimate
is calculated at the rate of our establishments in April
1784; but in the month of January 1785, a general
reduction took place in all our establishments, both
civil and military, which would have a considerable
effect in diminishing the disbursements of the three
remaining months of the year. As this reduction
extended generally to the establishments dependent
on the various offices which were abolished, without
particularizing each article ; the exact amount of the
whole saving cannot be ascertained, until the particular
accounts formed in consequence of it are received from
Bengal. Setting aside the effects of this reduction, if
the circumstances which I have before mentioned are
taken into the estimate, the state of our deficiency
may be corrected as follows : —
THE STATE OF BENGAL 17
Deficiency per Mr. Larkins' estimate on
the :30th of April 1785, viz. 1,49,01,433:11:11
Deduct receipts beyond what Mr. Lar-
kins has estimated, viz.
Farther receipts from
the Salt 23,00,000
Ditto the Opium 5,00,000
Receipts from the im-
port sales 9,00,000
Sicca rupees 37,00,000
Batta 16 per cent. 5,92,000
42,92,000
Total deficiency estimated for the
1st of May 1785 1,06,09,433:11:11
Which is less than what I have shown was our deficiency on the
30th of April 1784, by 47,31,256:9:9 current rupees.
I now proceed. As almost every act of the Board
which was not in the ordinary course of business,
during the short interval comprehended in this reviev/,
was formed on the principle which I have already men-
tioned, or with a view to it ; I shall recite them as
they accord with the general subject, leaving such as
are of a different kind to follow, without reofard to the
order of time in which they passed.
In the consultation of the 22d of November, two
other resolutions passed, which afforded the prospect
of considerable relief in our means of expence : One,
to withhold the supply to Canton, which was the less
necessary, as the supercargoes, who best knew their
own wants, had not required it ; and we knew that
they could generally command any sum that they
might have occasion for by drafts on the Court of
Directors. The other was immediately connected with
it. The usual mode of remittance to Canton was by
opium, either sent on account of the Company, or by
sale to individuals, the amount of the sales being pay-
able to the Company's cash in China.
2
18 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
By the first we were constantly losers, and 1
believe such will be the invariable consequence of
attera2:)ts of the superior Administration, charged as it
is with so great a variety of affairs, to entangle itself
in the nice and intricate minutiae of commerce ; and in
the latter the opium had always sold below its real
value, or, to speak more properly, below the value
which the first sale ought to bear in the proportion of
its demand, and easy sale abroad.
It was agreed to advertise the sale of it in lots at
public auction, and to receive Treasury Orders in pay-
ment. By this advantage fairly taken of the eagerness
of individuals to convert their Treasury Orders into
cash, or useful merchandise, we cleared off more than
sixteen lacks of our current debt, and raised the sale
of the opium to a profit exceeding by much the discount
of our Treasury Orders.
At this time we had more ships on hand, reckoning
those which were expected, than we could provide with
cargoes. Our supplies to Bombay, though very ample,
were yet insufficient for all their wants. Their invest-
ments of coffee we understood to be an essential
article ; insomuch, that in the last year they had sent
one of the Company's ships to Mocha for a cargo of
coffee in the expectation of obtaining it on credit, but
failed , and the ship returning empty, they purchased
at an advance of fifty per cent, on the prime cost, and
drew upon Bengal for the amount, a quantity sufficient
for her lading, from a private adventurer. This may
serve for one illustration of the improvidence of
desultory expedients. It occurred to us that one of
the ships which was then laying in the river might be
profitably emT)loyed in tliis service, and the Camden
was accordingly chosen for it. The Board of Trade
was directed to provide for the purjDose a small invest-
THE STATE OF 15ENGAL 19
ment of cloth and rice, the produce of which was
to be invested in coffee, with an allowance to the
commander to draw upon the Company for the
deficiency,
I am aware that it will perhaps be objected to some
of these measures, that in relieving our own exigencies
we have only increased the burden of the Company,
by leaving it to fall on tliem with accumulated weight
from other parts of their general administration ; that
for instance, in stopping the supplies to China we have
entailed on the Company the expence of paying the
bills which the supercargoes must draw for money taken
up at Canton ; or, that in prohibiting farther drafts
from Madras, we have obliged that presidency to
reduce their investment, or to borrow money at a
large interest, or, in more propriety of speech, to
issue bonds in lieu of payment for their current
expences.
Such objections, though they are in reality Inap-
plicable, yet being mixed with facts, to those who
consider the subject superficially, will appear just, and
more especially where the mind is already prepossessed
with those ideas which have been so universally
adopted, and which, in truth, have been one great
cause of our present embarrassments.
It seems to have been supposed that the resources
of Bengal were inexhaustible ; and to the measures
which sprung from such ideas nmst we ascribe a great
part of the distress which its government has ex-
perienced.
Whatever charges might be incurred at the other
presidencies, whether occasioned by speculative plans
of increasing their investment, or by a lavish waste of'
their treasure, it was the less regarded how far their
own resources fell short of their disbursements, since.
2—2
20 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
Bengal was looked on as an inexhaustible fund from
whence the deficiency might easily and readily be
supplied. Hence it is, that the drains from Bengal
for the support of the other presidencies have been
annually increasing, till at length they have amounted
in 1784, as I have already observed, to the enormous
sum of a crore of rupees.
It is true that the resources of Bencral are e^reat :
but they are not inexhaustible. After defraying all
the charges of its government, and all expences of its
civil and military establishments, Bengal is perhaps
capable of yielding an annual tribute of one crore of
ruj)ees to the company ; nor is it material to the
country whether the remittance be made entire in
cargoes exported to England, or divided by aids sent
to the other presidencies and China ; but it can only
be made through the medium of trade. Every rupee
drawn from its currency, whether in specie or in bills,
which will amount to the same effect in the end, will
gradually exhaust it of its vital strength ; nor will the
effect be felt until it would be too late to administer
a remedy for it. The sources of opulence which it
possesses in the fertility of its soil, and the number
and industry of its inhabitants, will, I think, admit of
its yielding the tribute I have mentioned ; which is
perhaps greater than any other country in the world
could bear, possessed only of the same sources, and like
it, without any mines of gold or silver. But if more
is to be improvidently exacted, these sources may fail,
and Bengal be rendered incapable of yielding what it
might have done with ease. The ordinary supplies to
the other Presidencies, which were once moderate,
were sufficient for their wants ; such may not now be
adequate to the effectual relief of their present exi-
gencies ; yet it is certainly better, that the means of
THE STATE OF BENGAL 21
furnishing them in future should be preserved, than
that by attempting too much, they should be cut off
for ever. Bengal wants only a little respite to retrieve
its own affairs. It will then with ease furnish the
usual supplies to the other Presidencies, and perhaps
be able to increase them, so as to assist in clearinof off
their incumbrances. But if the strain be carried too
far on Bengal in its present state, I predict, that not
only its capacity of assisting the others must annually
diminish, but its own embarrassments increase so as to
endanger its very existence, if ever it should be pressed
by any calamity. The recovery of Bengal is the
object therefore of the first consequence to the Com-
pany, and is in effect the first mode of substantial relief
to the other Presidencies.
Of the two foreign detachments, one had been some
time returned from Surat, under the conduct of
Colonel Charles Morgan, and dissolved. The other,
commanded by Colonel Pearce in the Carnatic, had
been unfortunately detained at Massulepatam, as I
have before observed, during the last season preceding
the rains, and did not repass the boundary of Bengal
till the end of the last year. I staid long enough for
the melancholy pleasure of seeing the remains of this
valuable corps after its return, and to join in the
regretful, but necessary order for its dissolution. These
reductions, by the abolition of an expensive staff, and
a heavy contingent expence, will prove a considerable
relief to our general military charge. But a more
extensive and radical cure was yet wanted for the
great disease of our finances, and this I had the
inexpressible satisfaction to see completed, and ad-
ministered before my departure. One plan was formed
for a general retrenchment of all the civil, and another
of all the military establishments. These appeared
22 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
before the Board in their first and rouo^h state on the
20th of December, and were passed on the 4th of
January.
Among the many invectives, whether excited by
pohcy, malevolence, or truth, which have been thrown
upon the administration of Bengal, that of a lavish
expenditure of the public money, in current expences
and in fixed establishments, has been a constant and
laboured subject of declamation. Allusions are made
to it as to a fact of such notoriety, as to preclude the
necessity of evidence ; at least, no instances have been
adduced in proof of it, which have come to my know-
ledge. No credit has been given to the government
of Bengal for having added more than a crore of
rupees*, in the midst of all its difficulties, to the public
revenue ; no remembrance retained of the applause
bestowed on the same administration for former re-
trenchments made, and a system of ceconomy formed,
when the temper of the times admitted it ; no con-
sideration allowed for the sums invested in the support
of the Company's commerce, which it has alone sup-
ported ; nor for the defence of the Company's other
Presidencies, which but for that defence would have
been lost ; no merit ascribed to it for having main-
tained the splendour of the national character in all its
military operations, unalloyed by a single failure of
success, or imputed error ; nor for having insured the
blessings of peace, security, and abundance to the
subjects of its immediate dominion, while it dealt out
the terrors of conquest to the remotest enemies of the
parent state, and of its own associate members ; and
while every other member of the British Empire was
afflicted with the plagues of war or insurrection. As
■'' One million, one hundred thousand pounds sterling.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 23
little was It noticed, with how Inconsiderable a charge
upon Its fixed resources these services were performed,
and how disproportionate, beyond all degrees of com-
parison, with the growth of the national debt, or with
the product of that debt In the national services,
within the same period. It was sufficient that our
expences had greatly exceeded those of our peace
establishment, to infer from it, without farther
inquiry, that the excess was solely the effect of
dissipation.
Yet let me be allowed to repeat the supposition
which I have already taken occasion to make : were
Lord Clive to awake from the dead, or Mr. Vansittart,
great as was the mind of the former, and extensive as
the knowledge, and ready the resources of the latter,
and to be told what powerful exertions had been made
by Bengal within the last six or seven years, and what
was Its actual state and capacity ; neither one nor the
other would give credit to the information, but pro-
nounce It to be impossible from the recollection of what
they knew of the powers of that Government, and from
any allowance which they could make for its subsequent
improvements.
Yet I do not affirm that the charge was absolutely
groundless. There never yet was a system of public
ceconomy to which it would not in a degree apply. Some
of its offices were overpaid, nor were the emoluments
allotted to all exactly proportioned to their Importance,
trust, or the ability required for discharging them. It
is Impossible that they should, where offices exist at
the time in which their salaries are determined, and
many are to determine them. Men were not invari-
ably appointed to offices to which they were suited, or
best suited by their talents, experience, or integrity.
It is impossible that they should, where the power
24 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
of patronage Is in many hands, and exercised under
the influence of personal favour, or of superior
patronage.
Contingent bills, which form the most uncontroulable
source of the general disbursements, were neither
audited as they came in, (and every delay is in this
case a cause of increase in expence) nor when audited,
corrected with that severity with which contingent
accounts ought to be corrected ; and the foregoing
causes may be alledged for this effect also.
To enumerate every case would be endless. In a
word, while the power of Government is in the hands
of many ; and the smaller the number is, the greater
is the evil in this case ; while each hand holds an equal
share of it ; while the members of Government retain
their places by sufferance, and the terrors of dismission
and disgrace are held out against them at home ; when
their accusers and the expectants of their places are
the judges of their conduct, and preparers of the
evidence on which it is to be tried ; when the members
of the Government themselves are in disagreement
with each other, and that disagreement (with regret
and shame I suppose it) is excited by the voice of
authority ; when each member stands in need of
support from home, and owes returns for the support
which he receives ; when each claims an indulgence
from the others, and has it in his power to retaliate
every disappointment, which n)ay be easily understood,
but can never be imputed ; and lastly, when the
meritorious conduct is denied its credit, and even the
sacrifices of interest are branded with the reproach of
venality ; from a government so constituted, what
reformation can be expected ?
Yet what could be doue, has been done; and I know
not whether I feel most satisfaction or regret in the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 25
reflection, that my administration closed with an act
which, though most necessary to the public expecta-
tion, will give cause of mortal offence to numbers both
in India and in England, and subject me to the charge
of ingratitude from every friend at home who regards
the return of personal favour as an obligation superior
to the consideration of public exigency ; and I expect
to experience this, and worse effects of it. Yet there
never was a time in which I stood in more need of
personal support, or had a stronger private inducement
to court it. But as I saw a necessity for attempting
a new and complete reformation, I could not reconcile
it with duty or honour, to leave so invidious a work to
my colleagues, when I could render it less odious, to
them at least, by taking a share, and a principal one,
in the formation of it ; when I thought (as every man
in my station ought to think) that I could perform it
with more effect than others could ; and especially
when I considered, that it was an act that would, or
ought at least, to extend in its operation to the distance
of years beyond my own time, and was therefore the
most important subject of my attention, as the most
laudable of my ambition, as to the execution, that is
the most easy part of it ; for when the plans are formed
and issued in orders, what remains is merely negative :
and it will require little trouble to refrain from creating
new offices, or additions of salary ; nor stretch of
capacity to refuse unnecessary advances of cash, or the
sanction of prohibited charges.
Before I left Calcutta on my visit to Lucnow, in
February 1784, I with some difficulty prevailed on the
Board to constitute a committee for auditing accounts.
I was induced to recommend this measure, by the long
experience of the insufficiency of the superior Board
for that kind of detail, especially where the members
26 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
of it did not mutually possess an implicit confidence,
and most cordial agreement. Besides, the examination
of accounts requires an ocular inspection, and that
kind of abstracted attention which cannot be bestowed
on a Secretary reading them, nor by many ears attend-
ing. In eftect, though the Board assembled regularly
on every Thursday in their department of inspection,
for the professed purpose of examining accounts ; I can
securely affirm, that the whole aggregate of business
transacted by the Board in this department collectively,
in the course of a twelvemonth, was not equal to that
which a single member, uninterrupted, could have dis-
charged, in one morning.
In the plan which I gave in for the formation of the
new office, and which was passed with little alteration,
I adopted the construction of the Board of Accounts
which existed at Fort St. George at the time in which
I was a member of the Council there ; and which was
admirably calculated for quick dispatch, as well as to
preclude, as much as possible, all unfairness from pre-
judice or favour.
I was the more desirous of effecting this point at
the time, from the apprehension of being long absent
from the Presidency ; and I flattered myself that by
this expedient the most important and essential part
of the current business would be dispatched with
regularity. The event did not answer my expectations,
the construction of the Committee differing essentially
from the principles of its constitution. The civil
audits were indeed brought up to the latest period,
which was a very material point attained ; but the
military, the most important, were in long arrears,
and the accounts of all the foreign detachments, which
the Board had with great labour examined, and either
passed the minuter corrections, or laid down the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 27
general rules for those which were of the same kind,
but of more frequent occurrence, with orders for their
reference for complete adjustment to the Commissary
General, remained after the lapse of a year unnoticed,
having neither been transmitted to the Commissary
General, nor even transcribed from the rough minutes.
These, and all the other depending accounts, under-
went the separate inspection of the m.embers of the
Board, a work of great labour ; those of the military
detachments referred with proper instructions to the
Commissary General, and all the rest brought up to
the end of the month of December, by the 27th of the
month ensuing.
I have enlarged on this subject beyond the claim
which it may appear to have from its obvious conse-
quence ; both because it is connected with the general
principle of frugal o^conomy, and with the principle of
that duty with which I shall close this recapitulation ;
I mean the obligation of leaving as few incumbrances
as possible on the hands of my colleagues, and especially
of my successor ; and for that purpose of bestowing an
unusual portion of my own personal labour upon them
before my departure.
In my accommodation with the Nabob Assoph ul
Dowlah, I had agreed to withdraw the detachment
commanded by Col. Sir John Cummings from Fur-
ruckabad, and had continued the estimate of its
expence in the sum which the Nabob was charged
with for the current year no longer than to the end of
December, allowing the intermediate time for the
return of the detachment within our own borders ;
and I left orders for that effect in the hands of my
military secretary Major Palmer, whom I left as my
agent at Lucnow, to be issued whenever the force
destined to supply its place from the Nabob's own
28 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
establishment should be ready to occupy the station.
This detachment stood at a yearly charge of near
twenty-three lacks of rupees, of which nine lacks
consisted in staft' allowances, and exclusive disburse-
ments appertaining to it as a separate corps. The last
sum would have been immediately saved by the
reduction ; and a saving of the whole, or nearly the
whole, might have followed by the discharge of as
many sepoy regiments as the number composing the
detachment, no longer wanted with the termination of
the service in which it was then employed. I had
once before attempted the same measure in the year
1782, and had even recalled the detachment then
stationed at Furruckabad ; but I was under a necessity
caused by many considerations of a policy to which I
should have yielded little respect under a better
constituted system of government, to revoke it. The
Nabob had never solicited the aid of a military force
for the defence of that frontier, and he alone was, or
ought to be, the judge of his own wants. In truth, ic
was not wanted ; but it greatly injured his authority,
it affected his revenue, and added a large sum to the
annual excess of his debt to the Company, without any
real saving to our own disbursements ; since it was a
superfluous increase of our military strength, if not
required for that specific service. Besides, it was
too remote for discipline and control ; and many
foul evils, unknown to the service before the forma-
tion of the corps which were entertained by our
government for the Nabob's service and pay in the
year 1775, had originated from this deleterious
source.
The opportunities which my residence at Lucnow,
and a nearer and more intimate intercourse with the
King's ministers afforded me, of estimating the strength
THE STATE OF BENGAL 29
of the different states whose possessions bordered on
the Nabob's northern dominions, or who might approach
them in their occasional incursions, impressed me with
the strongest conviction of the inutihty of the appro-
priation of any part of our miUtary strength to such a
defence, for which a much smaller force of the Nabob's
own sepoys, rabble as they were, were more than
adequate against a worse rabble of any that could
be opposed to them. But the other members of the
Board judged otherwise, and resolved on continuing the
detachment ; and, however I might feel the instant
mortification of seeing my own judgement, formed on
actual knowledge and intimate observation, superseded
by private suggestions ; for no knowledge could the
other members have had, but from individuals ; I was
but too sensible of the disadvantage under which I
should contest this point, if I did contest it, in my
approaching separation from the service, which in-
vested my successor with a plea, specious at least, for
an exclusive option in the provision of measures which
were required by his sense of the public danger in
which I had no longer any concern. And w4ien I
found both him and the other Member of the Council
inflexible against the arguments which I urged in
support of my own proposition, I submitted ; making
the repeal of my former orders an act of my own
authority, that it might not appear the effect of
opposition, and produce a dangerous influence on the
credit of the succeeding: administration.
More need not now be recapitulated of it than its
termination, which was a corrected adjustment of the
Nabob Vizir's debt, now settled, with the growing
subsidy and other current payments due for the year
of the computation called Fusselee, which ends with
the English month September 1785, at 1,05,00,000
30 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
rupees of the Lucnow standard, and made payable
according to the following monthly installments : —
To be paid to the end of Bhadoon,
In ready money . _ . . - 9,00,000
In bills 10,00,000
19,00,000
To be paid to the end of Coar 5,00,000
Ditto - - Kateg 5,00,000
Ditto - - Augun 5,00,000
Ditto - - Poos, viz.
In ready money 5,00,000
Bills on Surat or Calcutta - - - 15,00,000
20,000,00
To be paid to the end of May ----- 3,25,000
Ditto - - Phagoon . . . - _ 3,25,000
Ditto - - Cheyt 3,25,000
To be paid to the end of Bysaak 3,25,000
Ditto - - Seyt, viz.
In ready money 3,25,000
Bills on Surat or Calcutta - - - 10,00,000
13,25,000
To be paid to the end of Assar 3,25,000
Ditto - - Sawan 3,25,000
Ditto - Bhadoon, viz.
In ready money ----- 3,25,000
Bills on Surat or Calcutta - - - 15,00,000
18,25,000
Lucnow Rupees of 23, 24, 25, and 26 Suns - - - 1,05,00,000
T had the satisfaction of learning a few days before
my departure, that the kist, or demand for Poos,
w4iich was the last due, and which was the heaviest
kist of the year, had been completely discharged ; and
I have every well-grounded reason to believe, that the
remaining payments will be as punctually made ; so
that the Nabob's debt, which, when I went to Lucnow^
amounted to 72,95,656. 4. 7. current rupees*, and
* Vide Account drawn out by the Accomptant-General, and laid
before the Board, with his letter of the 2-±th of February 1784.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 31
was the accumulated growth of many years, was now
reduced to about 23,00,000 rupees*.
The other transactions of the Board, which passed
in the period of this review, having arisen out of acci-
dental emergency, unconnected with any fixed and
followed rule of conduct, I shall be brief in my recital
of them.
On the 16th of November, letters were written to
the Marquis de Bussy, to the Director and Council for
the Dutch settlement at Colombo, to the Government
General of Batavia, and to the President and Select
Committee of Fort St. George ; proposing, and war-
ranting the means for accommodating the long-depend-
ing dispute betwixt the latter and M. de Bussy,
respecting the mode of transferring the cession of
Trincomale, according to the late treaties with France
and Holland, to the representatives of the latter ; the
Marquis de Bussy claiming to deliver it immediately to
the Dutch Government at Colombo, accordinof to the
intent and spirit of the treaties, and Lord Macartney
and his Committee, to be put in possession of it on the
part of Great Britain, that it might be delivered on
their part, and by their agents, to the Dutch, accord-
ing to the letter of the treaties. After a variety of
elaborate and subtile discussion of this unsubstantial
difference, by which, if all parties were not losers, none
apparently gained ; it had been agreed between the
tM^o Governments of Fort St. George and Pondicherry,
to refer the point in dispute to their respective Courts
* By late advices from Bengal, the East India Company are
informed that the Nabob Vizir has faithfully complied with every
engagement he entered into with Mr. Hastings — that his debt was
not only completely cleared oft', but he was actually in advance
in his current monthly payments : the debt here alluded to is that
which was struck out of the Company's statement in November
1783, and pronounced absolutely irrecoverable by the minister of
that period.
32 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
In Europe ; and a French frigate had l)een dispatched
from Pondicherry for that purpose, in which Mr.
Staunton, private Secretary to Lord Macartney, had
been permitted to take his passage for the explanation
of what had passed on the side of the Government of
Madras in relation to this contest. We decided,
(deeming ourselves, as the superior and controlling
power on the part of the British nation in India,
competent to decide) that the Marquis de Bussy
should cause the cession to be immediately made by
his own agfents, w4iom in that case we authorised to
act as ours, to those of the Dutch Government of
Columbo ; and we required him in return, to restore
the town of Cuddaloor to the Government of Fort
St. George, which had been withheld by this unprofit-
able delay ; the treaties having expressly stipulated,
that the restitution of all places taken in the course of
the war, which were to be restored, should take effect
at the same period of time. Period ! — an unhappy
word, the grammatical construction of which occupied
a large portion of the correspondence which passed
between the Select Committee of Fort St. George and
the Marquis de Bussy, and yet remains unresolved.
If superstition may be admitted to suggest the
sources of those untoward series of political events
which the common sense of mankind cannot reconcile
to any intelligible causes, that which I have been
relating seems to be under the government of a
peculiar kind of fatality ; for to a plain understanding,
there appears to be no reason which could have
hindered the effect of the treaties on their first pro-
mulgation, but many to promote it ; yet, after the
professed endeavours of all parties ; and the expiration
of many months, it was more distant than ever ; and
when a peremptory measure was adopted which seemed
THE STATE OF BENGAL 33
to ensure its easy success, the death of the Marquis de
Bussy, of which we were apprised a few days preceding
my departure, will most probably have defeated the
end of that also. In the mean time, the Dutch lose
the benefit of their confessed right of possession ; the
French have the charge of it without any dependant
advantage ; and keep the possession of our Fort and
territory of Cuddaloor, probably with as little ad-
vantage, though to our certain loss and injury '"'.
My report of the negotiations, which I performed at
the injunction of the Board, for obtaining the return
of the Prince Mirza Jehander Shaw to his father's
court, contains all that is necessary for information on
that detached subject, and it has already been pub-
lished. As an object of mere curiosity, I shall however
add, in an Appendix, a narrative written by the Prince
himself of his flight, which will perhaps afford more
entertainment to most readers of these immerous
sheets, than the contents of all the rest.
Some time preceding, the Select Committee of Fort
St. George had, by different ships, sent round many of
the King's officers and soldiers to Calcutta. Their
motive for this act was probably to free themselves
from the expence of their subsistence, for we had no
official information of the purpose of it, nor indeed
were we at all apprised by what authority many of these
consignments were made. This laid the Board under
some difficulties. The senior officer, Colonel Gordon,
had received orders from the Provincial Commander in
Chief upon the coast, concerning the disposition of
these men, and for recruiting the corps to which they
* The Cessions were mutually made in conformity to the orders
of the Governor General and Council here alluded to, as appears
by letters received from Bengal since Mr. Hastings's arrival in
England.
34 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
belonged ; and he in virtue of this commission assumed
the exercise of an authority which the Board (having
no regular knowledge of him) could not admit. The
personal merits and ingenuous manners of Colonel
Gordon exacted from the Board a degree of respect,
in the observance of which, something too much was
yielded of a power of which he was either entitled to
the complete exercise, or of which he should have been
denied the right altogether.
It is needless to enumerate all the little subjects of
altercation which arose out of this equivocal state. It
is sufficient to say, that the Board finally decided, as
the proper and only judges in such a contest, by
ordering all the men whose time of service was expired,
and were willing and fit to enter into the Company's
service, to be entertained, and the remainder to be
embarked for England. To the officers, who were
more than a hundred in number, and who would have
been subjected to great inconvenience, nor the com-
manders to less, by being crowded as passengers in the
Company's chartered ships, were allowed, to those
who chose it, fixed sums as passage-money, to provide
their own means of conveyance. An ill-judged claim,
asserted by Colonel Gordon, to supersede the authority
of the Board in appointing general courts-martial,
afforded an occasion for addressing the Court of
Directors upon the general subject of the contradictory
and ill-defined powers of the Board and the King's
military Commanders-in-chief in India, as they at this
time stood in relation to each other, and to treat it
with a large and free discussion.
I now come to the chief object of this recapitulation ;
namely, my separation from the service. Although I
considered this as an event already determined, having
myself long since fixed the necessity and obligation of
THE STATE OF BENGAL 35
it by declarations which left no option to my discretion,
and little chance of their being: rendered null bv the
reservations* which a due respect for authority had
impelled me to annex to them ; yet as the possibility
at least of these reservations being verified by the
event was implied in my having made them, and as I
knew that the Parliament of Great Britain was, at the
time of the last advices from thence, employed in the
consideration of such points as necessarily led to those,
which, in one determination of them, might prove the
pledged grounds of my continuance in office, I resolved
to wait the arrival of the next dispatches, which I was
given to expect, by those of the Surprise, would soon
follow in the Fox packet, or in the Cygnet sloop of war.
But so near was my sense of this suspension to cer-
tainty, that I was exceedingly anxious to give early
notice to the Court of Directors of my determination
in this state of it ; nor was it less necessary to repeat
the advice of the loss which the constitutional adminis-
tration had already received by the death of Mr.
Wheler, of which no information had yet been sent,
except an express dispatched by myself in November
from Benares, and intended for a conveyance by land
from Bombay, The Surprise having approved herself
the fittest vessel that we could procure for a voyage of
expedition, the Board agreed to hire her for this
occasion for a freight estimated by the inverted pro-
proportion of the time in which she performed her-
passage. She was taken up on the 19th of November,,
and left her pilot on the 16th of December.
* The reservation here alluded to was contained in Mr. Hastings's,
letter to the Court of Directors of the 20th March 1783. In that
letter he desired they would appoint a successor to the Government
of Bengal, and notified his determination to resign it the following
year, unless he was furnished with those powers which have lately
been conferred upon Lord Cornwallis.
3—2
36 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
In this letter, I expressed my intention of waiting
the arrival of the next regular dispatches from
England ; but on the 20th of the same month, I
received a packet by the way of Bussorah, which put
an instant period to all my hesitation. It brought
me letters dated in London as late as the 3d of August,
and information of a bill for the regulation of all the
various branches of the British possessions in India, on
an entirely new and permanent system, which had
actually passed the House of Commons, and had been
received with so little opposition in the House of
Lords, as to denounce its passage, with no essential
change, through that channel of the legislature also.
The parts of it which bore a relation to my office, and
to those points which I had fixed as ultimately decisive
of my resolution, were the clauses which declared the
constitution of the Government of Bengal to reside in
a Governor General and a limited number of counsellors,
with the same equality of powers as that of the exist-
ing constitution ; and which, though it confirmed the
present members in their places, left their removal at
the discretion of the King's Minister.
The first of these clauses was a determinate removal
of the supposition, in the eventual verification of which,
I had declared that I would still continue to retain
the service and my ofiice, and by a consonant and
necessary inference imjoosed on me the indispensable
obligation of resigning both ; for I had repeatedly, in
addresses to the highest authority to which I was
permitted to address myself, declared, that I would
do it. As to the latter, it had no other efiect upon
my mind, in respect to my determination already con-
firmed, than to divest it of all concern for the conse-
quence, since the grounds assigned for the construction
of the new bill, as I gathered them from printed
THE STATE OF BENGAL 37
extracts, and from the concurrent information of
private letters, written to others as well as to myself,
were such as indicated my dismission as the necessary
conclusion from them ; nor could I descend to so
humble a sense of my own unimportance as to suppose
that the declarations which I had made and repeated
of my intention would pass totally unnoticed, when
they related to an effect of such magnitude, as the
transfer of the first efficient authority by which the
new system was to be conducted, into hands not
expressly selected for it. I therefore concluded, that
either my destined successor was already on the way,
or such orders as were to prescribe the intended suc-
cession, in whatever mode it was to take place In
virtue of the new act. It is true that no public or
official notice had been received of the act, nor were
we informed yet by any authority that it had actually
passed ; but my private conviction of both was com-
plete ; nor was this a consideration determinable by
the grounds of prescribed authority. My resignation
of the service was left by the power which had
conferred it to my own free option ; and I had there-
fore no other rule for determining It than my own
private sense of public obligation, and consistency of
character. I knew that the Company's dispatches,
which even In cases of the most pressing emergency
had of late years been subjected to great delays, had
received other causes of obstruction from the multipli-
cation of the channels through which they were now
to pass ; and it appeared as absurd to me, as it would
have to others the appearance of presumption, to wait
for confirmation of what I already knew sufficiently for
my own use, and lose by waiting, as I most probably
should, the season for my departure. But why should
I expatiate on a point of so little moment to any but
357135
'38 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
myself? If I am conscious of having maintained to
the last act of my public life the integrity of conduct
and the consistency of those principles which I had
laid down for the regulation of it ; neither my consti-
tuents, whose interests even in this instance were my
leading object, nor my friends, who have withheld
from me their belief in my professions, nor my enemies,
if I yet have such, who have laboured to effect by
violence that act which I have performed upon myself,
have any right to pass their censures upon me. I am
accountable to myself alone ; and in the approbation
of my own mind, I feel a support which the world
cannot move. Yet may I feel a regret, to see that
hope which I had too fondly indulged, and which I
had sustained during thirteen laboured years with a
perseverance against a succession of difficulties which
might have overcome the constancy of an abler mind,
of being in some period of time, however remote,
allowed to possess and exercise the full powers of my
station, of which I had hitherto held little more than
the name and responsibility ; and to see with it
the belief which I had as fondly indulged, that I
should become the instrument of raising the British
name, and the substantial worth of its possessions in
India, to a degree of prosperity proportioned to such a
trust ; both vanish in an instant, like the illusions of
a dream ; with the poor and only consolation left me
of the conscious knowledge of what I could have
effected, had my destiny ordained that I should attain
the situation to which I aspired, and that I have left
no allowable means untried, by which I might have
attained it. But enough of this.
I have already said, that I had protracted the
time of my departure, as I had originally fixed it, on
account of the appeal made to me by the Nabob
THE STATE OF BENGAL 39
Vizir. The same cause might yet detain me. It was
therefore the first provision which I had to secure in
forming my resolution ; and before I formed it. I
accordingly delivered to the Board a minute in which
I mentioned the probability of my early departure,
and required, as one previous ground of my determina-
tion, the positive declaration of their intentions with
respect of my late arrangements with the Nabob Vizir,
to whom I had pledged my word that I should, before
my resignation of the service, exact such an explana-
tion from the members of the Board, and that I would
not resign it unless I received from them an absolute
and unqualified promise on record, and confirmed by
letter from my eventual successor to him, that no
resident should be sent, nor any deviation made from
my engagements, whilst he and his ministers performed
theirs in the punctual discharge of the monthly pay-
ments of the year. My minute was communicated to
the other members of the Board on the 4th of January,
and answered on the 14th, by a joint and liberal
assurance on their part, expressive both of their
resolution to abide b}^ my engagement, and of their
sense of it as an obligation independent of the actual
occasion. Of one part only they made an exception,
which was the continuance of the detachment at
Futtygur, which subject had already been discussed
at large, and concluded. Indeed it made no essential
part of my engagement with the Nabob Vizir ; and
the Nabob himself had seasonably furnished me with
a recent plea for suspending the execution of this
measure, by the alarm which he had taken at the
events which had followed the death of Affrasiah
Cawn, the King's Minister, of which I may have
occasion to speak hereafter, and by his apprehension
of troubles on that frontier ; an apprehension which I
40 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
thought, and still think, to have had no just warrant,
but which, as he entertained it, afforded an idea of
better security to him from the continuance of the
detachment, and to the public eye, the appearance of
its being- dictated by a regard to his interests. Yet
as the expence of this corps had no provision made for
it in the Kistbundee after the end of December ; and
the Nabob's resources, of which a large portion had
been derived from credit and the contributions of his
nearest relations*, were barely equal to the sum
already pledged ; to have demanded this subsidy in
addition, and made it payable in the current year,
would have been equivalent to a dissolution of his
agreement, by annexing to it a demand which it was
not possible for him to answer. I therefore on the
same day stated the farther necessity of receiving the
clear determination of the Board on this subject, and
received it in the most satisfactory and unequivocal
terms.
Knowing how rapid the report of a change so
interesting to many would prove in its progress and
extention as soon as I had notified it, though my first
notification of it was private and confidential, and
withheld from the consultations, I had early prepared
the Nabob and his ministers for it, and repeated the
assurance which I had before made them of providing
for the security and duration of my engagements with
them.
As soon as the Board had passed their last resolu-
tions above mentioned, letters were immediately
written and dispatched to them by Mr. Macpherson
■''• It is something remarkable, that these loans were made in
Oude, upon the faith of Mr. Hastings's declarations, and from a
confidence in his personal character, precisely at the time that the
}>eople of P^ngland were told he had lost the confidence of the Nabob
Vizir, atid of every person in his dominions.
THE STATE OF P.EXGAL 41
and myself, to a})j)rise them of the substance of them.
These minutes and letters, with others which com^H-ise
the connected progress of this transaction, have already
been published.
I had now another point to attend to, which was to
guard against the effects to which the impending
change in the administration might be liable, without
some precautions taken to prevent it. The length of
time in which I had held the first oftice of the govern-
ment, although with no efficient powers derived from
its constitution, had invested me with many peculiar
or personal advantages. My character was known ;
or (which was equivalent in its consequences) the
general opinion of it was fixed : the invariable train
of success with which all the measures, which were
known to be of my own formation, were attended ; the
apparent magnitude and temerity attributed to some
of these, which proved most fortunate in their termina-
tion ; and the wonderful support and gradual elevation
^^'hich my personal character had derived during a
long and progressive series of contingencies, such as
have rarely fallen to the lot of an unconnected and
unpatronized individual, from the coincidence of events
appertaining to remote and foreign causes, or to the
course of nature, with the crisis of my own fortune ;
and above all, from the virtuous and indignant spirit
of my immediate employers, and the voice of my
country, fortuitously combining my fate with other
objects of infinitely higher consideration* ; had alto-
gether contributed to excite a degree of superstitious
belief, in the minds of almost all men who were situated
within the sphere of my authority or influence, that
* This Avill not appear an extraordinary reflection, to those who
recollect, that the mismanagement of Mr. Hastings, and the desola-
tion of the Company's provinces under his government, were
originally stated as the grounds of Mr. Fox's India Bill.
42 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
the same success would crown all my future endeavours ;
nor let it be a matter of wonder that such a prepos-
session should gain credit with men to whose religious
principles it is familiar : I m3'^self avow the same belief
so long as my actions shall be directed by the sole
impulse of duty unbiassed and unmixed with regards
of personal interest, and even of personal reputa-
tion.
My correspondence with the chiefs and rulers of
Hindostan and Decan had been improved to a style
and state of more intimate connection than is usual in
such distant communications, by frequent opijortunities
of reciprocal kindness and co-operation of interests.
All the defects of our government, and the consequent
divisions and instability of our counsels, were known
to all the states around us. From all the preceding
causes it was to be apprehended, that my departure
from office, and the succession of another whose
character was yet unfixed, and whose political opinions
had hitherto appeared very different from mine, would
be attended with many consequences of distrust and
uncertain expectation.
To prevent this, I wrote early letters to all our
political friends, apprising them of the probability of
the impending change even before it was finally deter-
mined, and preparing them to receive Mr. Macpherson
as a connection bequeathed to them with the same
ties of sentiment and attachment, and united with me
in the same plan of supporting the faith of alliances
abroad, while I availed myself of what influence I
might be allowed to possess at home, to render them
more stable and permanent, by endeavouring to obtain
for them the sanction of higher authorities for their
security and lasting duration.
These sentiments and designs were declared more
THE STATE OF BENGAL 43
formally and explicitly in my last letters*, and con-
* Nizam Ally Cawn has accompanied his reply to Mr. Hastings's
letter with a letter to His Majesty, and a small box, or bulse, which
in his letter to Mr. Hastings the Nizam informed him contained a
diamond, to be delivered by Mr. Hastings to the King. To Mr.
Hastings, to Major Scott, and to Lord Sidney, there could appear
neither mystery nor doubt in this transaction, l^ecause Major Scott
delivered to his Lordship the Nizam's letter to His Majesty, and the
bulse, with the Persian seals of his Highness upon them, quite perfect;
and with these he also delivered to Lord Sidney a translation of the
Nizam's letter to Mr. Hastings, and also of his letter to the King,
in the handwriting of Mr. Johnson, the British minister at the
Nizam's court, to whom his Highness had communicated the contents
of both letters previous to their being dispatched from his palace at
Hydraljad, and both mentioned having sent a diamond to the King.
— That the malice of a defeated party, or their desire of vengeance
should induce them to excite suspicions against Mr. Hastings in the
minds of the people of p]ngland, is not at all extraordinary — besides,
it will be recollected, that the same party have accused him of for-
feiting the confidence of the native princes of Lidia ; and Mr. Burke,
in his memorable speech of the 1st of Deccm1)er 1783, 'published hi
himself, has had the folly to say, that Mr. Hastings was "loaded
"with the execrations of the natives." — Such a mark of confidence
and regard as the Nizam placed in Mr. Hastings, on hearing of his
departure from Bengal, as to make him the channel of conveyance
for the high opinion he entertained of His Majesty and the British
nation, was certainly a very strong contradiction to Mr. Burke's
favourite doctrine, when added to all the circumstances that attended
Mr. Hastings's departure from Bengal, where the regret felt by the
natives of all ranks, and his own countrymen, was too palpaljle for
concealment, and could not be explained away. A new and a most
extraordinary battery was therefore opened — Insinuations of the
most abandoned nature were made, which, while confined to the news-
papers, were too contemptilile for notice ; but when the libels daily
published were alluded to in a place where nought but truth should
be uttered ; when it was asserted, that an extraordinary fine diamond
had been presented to the King by Mr. Hastings at an extraordinary
time — the affair became indeed serious : for if the insinuation meant
anything, it meant this, that Mr. Hastings had pretended to receive
from the hands of Mr. Blaer, of Portland Place, a diamond, which
he desired Major Scott to deliver publicly to Lord Sidney, one of
His Majesty's Secretaries of State, to be by him the following day
delivered to the King, as coming from Nizam Ally Cawn, the Soubah
of Decan, Avhen in fact it was a present from himself, to answer
some corrupt motive, not hitherto explained. The same body of
men, who would insinuate that Mr. Hastings is capable of a conduct
so mean and despicable, have at other times attacked him for his
boldness, and the perfect indifference which he has shewn for the
U MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
firmed by declarations consonant to them from Mr.
Macpherson, whose conduct towards the Nabob of
Owde, which was to be less seasonable in its operation
than liberal in its principle, would serve as a yet
stronger assurance of the continuation of the same
spirit influencing our government to all who had the
opportunities of viewing our transactions with that
state, and who were acquainted with the differences
which had formerly subsisted between us respecting it.
Nor was it in letters only that I strove to inculcate
and proclaim this expectation, I enforced it by verbal
assurances to the foreign agents and ministers resident
in Calcutta, some of whom had for many years been
my constant attendants, and by suitable instructions
to our own.
In a word, I considered it as a duty indispensable
with the act which I was about to perform, to guard
it by all possible means against all possible ill conse-
quences ; not by the ostensible forms and cold language
of oflicial notification, but by the use of every honest
practice that could be suggested by a zeal determined
on accomplishing its purpose. What remains for the
part of my successor is easy, and I have no doubt of
the effect being such as to expose me to abundant
event of the present prosecution. — They have said that he has come
forward to his accusers in a tone and stile of defiance ; that he has
told those, who are sitting in judgement upon him, that they haA'e
(many of them at least) brought disgrace and ruin upon this country,
whereas an invariable train of success has attended his measures,
and that he has preserved an empire to Great Britain ; and, to use
Mr. Burke's elegant phrase, ho had vomited forth the proffered
pardon in their faces, had talked to them rather in the style of their
master, than as a culprit l)efore them, and boldly and loudly de-
manded reparation for his injured honour — that he had not pleaded
parliamentary re-appointments against their proceedings, but, on the
contrary, appeared indignant, and proudly angry at what had passed ;
had disclaimed even the doctrine of a set-off, and desired that every
act of his government should be determined by its merits and success.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 45
ridicule, if ever these sheets shall become public, for
attributing to myself so much importance as to appre-
hend any consequence whatever from my being in or out
of an office, in which I possessed so little real influence.
If the reverse should happen, I may be as much
censured for not having foreseen it as unavoidable.
I shall now endeavour to describe, in as minute a
manner as possible, the state of affairs as they stood
at the time of my de})arture in every department of
the Government, and close it with such necessary
observations as shall occur to me respecting it.
The political state of Bengal claims the first place in
this description, not so much from its conceived as from
its real and intrinsic consequence. I make this dis-
tinction, because I know that every sentiment of my
own on this subject will be repugnant to the opinions
of many, and liable to the cavils of every man who
looks only for an occasion of cavil.
This head may be divided into two parts ; the first
its relation to foreign European states ; the second, Its
relation to those of India.
First, The states of Europe, which I rank in the
following order, as best agreeing w^ith their respective
consequence in India : the French, the Dutch, the
Danes, and Portuguese. When I left Bengal, the
French had not yet reclaimed the possession of their
factories ; and the old Inhabitants of Chandenagore
still drew their subsistence from the bounty of the
Company. I apprehend no difficulty from their return,
as they are intitled to no greater privileges by the
treaty of peace, than those which they possessed before
the war. But if the agents, who are commissioned to
receive their possessions, are of captious characters,
or are instructed to make unreasonable demands, they
may give trouble; which, however, may be easily avoided
46 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
by a refusal on our part to argue with them, referring
every point of dispute to the letter of the treaty, for
which a provision is made in it ; and leaving them to
apj)eal to Europe for any other pretensions.
The Dutch were replaced in their settlements, the
form of displaying their colours being singly denied
them, until they were intitled to complete possession
by the execution of those stipulations of the treaties
with France and Holland, which prescribe that the
restitution of all conquests, made by each nation on
either of the others, should take place at the same
period of time ; the French still retaining Cuddaloor.
The Dutch received this concession without thanks,
and complained, in coarse and indignant terms, of the
national distinction being withheld from them.
The Danish settlement of Fredericknagore was
become a great resort of trade, and the chief, Mr. Bie^
whose behaviour, as well as that of his predecessors,.
had been invariably humble and unassuming, had
lately adopted a tone of independence, and laid claim
to immunities in virtue of a pretended firmaun, of which
he refused to produce a copy.
The exclusion of the French and Dutch during the
past years of war, and the security with which their
ships navigated the India seas, while ours were sub-
jected to great risques and high rates of insurance,
had thrown almost the whole trade of Bengal into
their hands. To this effect two other causes con-
tributed ; one, the exemption claimed by the Danes,
and in part obtained, though disputed, from the rigour
of our offices of custom ; and the other, the assistance
afforded them (as I have always understood and believe)-
by British subjects under the Company's protection,
in providing their investments. The former of these
causes is likely to operate with a more extensive-
THE STATE OF BENGAL 47
mischief when the French and Dutch are completely
restored to their factories, and resume the privileges
of their trade. Nor can I devise any better expedient
for obviating it, although I have given it much and
frequent consideration, than a total abolition of all
duties whatever ; for in what way soever they may be
modified, the foreign settlements will dispute our right
to search their ships, or levy the duties of their trade
by detail ; and they will of course pay much less than
the merchants of our own dependance.
It is true that the British government, having the
power, might with ease repress every opposition to its
rights, and to the rules which it has prescribed to the
navigation of the river Ganges, which is its proper
dominion : but if a brutal commander shall refuse to
admit the visits of our officers, and ill-treat them, I am
not sure that it will be always prudent for the members
of government to punish the outrage, although it would
certainly be their duty to do it ; since it would, without
fail, become a subject of passionate and exaggerated
appeal from the suffering party to its constituent state ;
and if it should not suit the situation of our own at the
time to hazard an open rupture with it, an easy sacri-
fice might be made of the devoted offenders, and that
conduct, which in a better supported member of the
British dominion would be applauded and rewarded,
would in this instance be reprobated with the aid and
influence of that fashionable prejudice which ascribes
every act of the government of Bengal to improper
motives, and brands the authors with criminality.
One example may be quoted to contradict this
reflection, which, therefore, I shall state to justify it.
A little before the bemnnino; of the late war a
French ship did refuse to admit an officer from the
fort of Budge Budgea, though his orders were no more
48 MR. HASTIXGS'S REVIEW OF
than to require the name of the ship, and the nation
it belonged to. The Governor General and Council,
after much temperate consideration of the case, deemed
the insult offered to their authority, connected with
the peculiar time of its commission, a proper ground
for checking it as a first attempt to infringe their
privileges. An order was issued to prevent the ship
from passing the batteries of Fort William, for it had
been suffered, by the delay, to pass those of Budge
Budgea, until it had complied with the law of the
port ; and the commander persisting, some blood was
unhappily spilt, in consequence of which he submitted.
Vehement remonstrances and protests were issued
against us by Mr. Chevalier, who was never slack
upon such occasions : and there is no doubt that his
representation of the affair was not less violent to the
court of France : but the war in the mean time break-
ing out, sunk this, with other similar grievances in
oblivion. It must be acknowledged, that our behaviour
in this instance passed with impunity ; but on the
other hand it received no approbation from home ; and
I humbly conceive that such an act ought in the first
instance to have been either expressly condemned, and
the repetition of it prohibited under severe penalties,
if wrong ; or, if right, not barely approved, but liberally
commended.
Besides the difference arising from the resistance
whicli I have described, there is another, occasioned
by the adherence to an ancient right which the
Company possesses, to collect a duty on all goods
imported into the town of Calcutta, or exported from
it. During the long indecision of the question of
territorial right, an obvious policy will keep up the
exercise of every acknowledged right which the
Company possessed before they had acquired more
THE STATE OF BENGAL 49
than their ancient commercial territory, and the
Custom House of Calcutta is one of them. Were
this question determined, and the commercial and
territorial property adjudged to the same primary
charge, it would certainly be adviseable to abolish
this duty, since it subsists to the great injury of
the trade of the Presidency, which is subjected to
a double payment and the vexations of two offices,
while the dependants of the foreign settlements pay
but to one, and that but partially.
A total abolition of all the customs, with a due
reservation of the Company's ancient right, and of
course the removal of all the chokies, or places estab-
lished for levying them, which no regulations or
vigilance of Government have been able to restrain
from being an intolerable oppression on the native
traders, would abundantly diffuse the trade of the
provinces, and, by the natural effect of multiplied
competition, increase both their wealth and resources
of revenue. This measure is liable to one strong
objection : its effects, though demonstrable, would be
secret and constructive ; but the sacrifice made to
obtain them would be immediate and visible, in the
loss of eight or ten lacks which are now annually
brought to account from the collections of the customs,
and in the enhanced prices of the Company's investment.
The Board had taken some steps in the investigation
of this subject, but without any satisfactory result ;
nor is it likely that they will have proceeded in it in
the present state of their authority.
The other cause to which I have attributed the
growth of the Danish trade, namely, the collusion of
British influence, will subsist with other evils of much
greater magnitude, in defiance of all the orders from
home, while those consist in simple prohibitions and
4
50 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
denunciations of severe penalties, w^ithoiit co-operative
means taken to enforce them, and a generous allowance
for the interests, feelings, and natural claims of indi-
viduals ; without which, all laws will be but the
instruments of tyranny, or prove abortive.
For proof of what I have said concerning the actual
state of the Danish trade in Bengal, and it may be
offered as a collateral proof of the protection bestowed
on it by our Government, I shall merely observe, that
the ships which have imported at Fredericknagore
during the last nine months, amount to no less than
twenty-two vessels of all dimensions, but mostly of
three masts, and many of those from Europe, and their
burthen altogether to 10,830 tons.
The Portuguese import annually three or more
vessels from China, besides others which come directly
from Europe. They claim no privileges, receive the
protection of the port, and seem to merit encouragement.
I have not mentioned the Americans among the
foreign importers ; but as their ships have already
found their way to China, other adventures may come
to Bengal. No orders have been written from England
concerning their reception in such case ; and I do
therefore conclude, that they will meet with encourage-
ment on the general principle, that every accession of
national commerce must prove an accession of national
wealth. Objections may be suggested to the applica-
tion of this maxim to the case supposed, but none that
will not originate from the equivocal state of the
Company's property, which is in a thousand instances
hurtful to the general interest ; and in this particular
case, it may be a sufficient answer to the objection,
to say, that if the Americans are denied the direct
privilege of the trade of Bengal, they may obtain it in-
directly, and to our great loss, through other channels.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 51
Secondly ; of the political state of Bengal, with
relation to the states of India, and, first, of the
Marattahs. The peace concluded with the Peshwa
through the intervention, and with the guarantee of
Mahdajee Sindia*, had received every coincident ac-
cession of general interest and particular policy which
could ensure its long duration ; for the general state
had recovered by the treaty all the places which had
been taken from it by the war ; it had no object in
view which it could claim from us, or with which our
power stood in competition ; and it had more of evil to
dread from the ambition and rapacity of its neighbours,
who w^ould not fail to take the advantage of their
being again engaged in war with us, than they could
hope of good from any success against us. A trivial
dispute had arisen between the Government of Bombay
and the administration of Poonah, concerning a petty
chief of the Marattah dej^endency, who had drawn on
himself the resentment of his superiors by rejDeated
and avowed acts of hostility, and the Presidency of
Bombay, in consequence of a treaty of defensive
alliance subsisting between them, had interposed with
some angry letters to save him. The matter having
been referred to us by that Presidency, in this state
of it, we clearly decided, that their engagement with
him could in no case operate against that recently
made with the state of which he was a vassal, much
less in that of acts in which he was confessedly the
aggressor ; and we peremptorily directed them to
withdraw their interference.
The minority of the Peshwa, and the degree of
independency, confirmed by long prescription, which
the principal Jagheerdars, or Feudal Members of the
* In the month of May 1762; ratified in the following De-
cember.
4—2
52 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
Marattah state, have acquired, and maintain by various
adventitious advantages, still liable to be overthrown
by the superior pretensions of the sovereign authority
w^henever it shall be in a capacity to assert them, have
created an opposition of inferior policy amongst them,
which is more likely to concern our interests in the
event of a war, were any other cause to produce a war,
than to produce one.
The power of Nanna Furneess, the dewan or minister
of the Peshwa, is derived solely from his office, and the
feeble and variable support of some of the other Chiefs ;
that of Moodajee, the acting rej)resentative of the
Booslah family, from his high rank and right of
territory acquired by the sanction of written treaties ;
and that of Mahdajee Sindia from his military
strength and personal ability. The rest deserve no
notice.
Nanna Furneess showed an early disposition to con-
nect himself with the French, and still maintains a
friendly intercourse with them. To this policy he
seems to have been impelled more by his dread of the
ascendancy of Mahdajee Sindia, as it affected his own
influence, than by any consideration of the general
state : and Mahdajee Sindia appears to have formed
as early a view to an alliance with our nation, which
soon manifested itself in effects incapable of being
attributed to any other cause, and has produced its
substantial accomplishment in two treaties, one con-
cluded separately with himself, and the other with the
Peshwa, investing him, under the character of guarantee,
with a power constructively superior even to that of
his own sovereign in all cases which relate to our
nation.
The Booslah family possessing a constitutional claim
to the sovereignty, a more ascertained right of separate
THE STATE OF BENGAL 53
dominion, and but a scanty revenue, stands in con-
tinual awe of the superior state, and of every member
of it around them, occasionally uniting their interest
with each, but principally with Nizam Ally Cawn,
whose territory lies intermixed with theirs, and who
is no less an object of their apprehensions. Their con-
nection with the Government of Bengal, which origin-
ated in advances made by Shabajee Booslah in the
year 1773, was continued with his successor Moodajee,
and has subsisted undisturbed to this time. The
interest which they felt in it was manifested by many
substantial and uncommon instances of kindness, and
though the man who planned this policy is no longer
living, there is no doubt that this, as well as every
other general measure of his formation, is still followed
by the present administration. The person to whom
1 allude is Dewagur Pundit, who was successively
dewan, or minister of Janoojee, Shabajee, and Moodajee,
and the ruler of all their councils.
What was his object in soliciting our alliance with
so much ardour as he evidently shewed to attain it,
cannot with certainty be affirmed, though many
obvious motives may be assigned for it ; and as obvious
are the causes, though too long to enumerate, and un-
necessary to the present discussion, which have hitherto
restrained him and the administration which succeeded,
from endeavouring to draw any direct advantages
from it : there is no present cause to apprehend any
alteration in this disposition of the family, and it will
be always the interest of our Government to culti-
vate it.
It may be proper to mention as a circumstance
perhaps not universally known, that the dominion of
the Booslah family, commonly known by the general
name of Berar, speads over a great extent of country
54 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
adjoining, or intermixed with those of the Peshwa,
Nizam Ally Cawn, Mahdajee Sindia, and Bengal ; and
that Nagpore, its capital, is the central point of all
Hindostan and Decan.
Having mentioned the different interests which
seem to divide the present members of the Marattah
state, I should leave the subject imperfect, were I not
to add, that the Marattahs possess alone, of all the
people of Hindostan and Decan, a principle of national
attachment, which is strongly impressed on the minds
of all individuals of the nation, and would probably
unite their chiefs, as in one common cause, if any great
danger w^ere to threaten the general state.
Tippoo Saheh is the next power in consequence.
The peace concluded with him has every appearance
of duration, though ill kept on his part, many of our
soldiers and sepoys being still detained in his hands,
and many officers missing of whom no account has
been obtained : and for them his plea may be, that
they fell the victims of his barbarity before we obtained
a right by treaty to their deliverance. Some other
symptoms of hostility were said to have appeared near
the frontier of the Carnatic, but may have arisen from
the mutual suspicions of the contiguous garrisons, and
at any rate could not have been of much importance,
since, as I recollect, tw^o or three companies of sepoys
had been sent to repel them. It is not likely that
Tippoo should so soon chuse to involve himself in a
new war with us, deprived of all his confederates, and
these become his rivals ; nor that, whenever he shall
have formed such a design, he will suffer it to break
out in petty broils with our borderers. Strong indica-
tions of approaching hostilities had appeared both
between Tippoo Saheb and the Marattahs, and between
him and Nizam Ally Cawn ; the Marattahs, wishing
THE STATE OF BENGAL 55
to regain their former territory wrested from them by
Hyder, and Tippoo making encroachments on the pos-
sessions of Nizam Ally Cawn.
Nizam Ally Cawn, the Subadar of Decan, is more
respectable from his rank and descent than from any
other cause. His dominions are of small extent and
scanty revenue ; his military strength is represented
to be most contemptible ; nor was he at any period of
his life distinguished for personal courage, or the spirit
of enterprise. On the contrary, it seems to have been
his constant and ruling- maxim to foment the incentives
of war among his neighbours, to profit by their weak-
ness and embarrassments, but to avoid being a party
himself in any of their contests, and to submit even to
humiliating sacrifices rather than subject himself to the
chances of war. Yet, if we may judge by events, he
may be supposed to possess, with an abundance of the
pride of illustrious blood, a sound and discerning judge-
ment. Our nation has no cause to hold him in con-
tempt ; for it is indebted to his policy both for the
first design and execution of the confederacy formed
by himself, the Marattahs, and Hyder, which, in its
consequences, had nearly caused our deprivation of the
Carnatic, and has left it an incumbrance upon us which
no time can retrieve.
Nizam Ally Cawn both avowed himself the instru-
ment of this fatal measure, and justified it on the
principles of self-defence against the acts and declara-
tions of the presidency of Fort St. George. The early
redress afforded him against both, by the Governor
General and Council, either withdrew him from the
confederacy, or yielded him a specious pretext for
declining the part which he had engaged to take in it;
and from that period we may date his connection with
the superior government of Bengal, with which he has
66 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
ever since maintained a friendly intercourse and
allowed the residence of a minister of theirs at his
court : allowed ; for his fears, not causelessly excited,
opposed the reception of a successor to Mr. Holland,
our first minister, on any other ground than that of an
occasional commission durable at his pleasure.
Mr. Richard Johnson, the present resident, has
recently communicated to the Board the plan of a new
and lasting alliance which had been the result of many
conferences with the Nabob and his ministers, and
consisted, in abridgement, of the following pro-
positions.
First, The restitution of all the Sircars or Northern
Districts, obtained from him by the treaty of 1768, for
an equivalent in price ; explained to be the sircar of
Guntoor in exchange for all the arrears of the
Peshcush ; and the others for one crore and half of
rupees.
Secondly, An alliance offensive and defensive.
Thirdly, A stipulated number of regiments, of native
troops, to be stationed with him for a subsidy of
25,000 rupees per month for each regiment ; the
Nabob in like manner to supply the Company on
demand with 5000 cavalry ; I forget at what rate of
pay ; nor is it material, as the condition is not likely
to be ever exacted.
Fourthly, The Peshwa to be included as his ally.
Fifthly, That we should acknowledge him the only
lawful Subadar of Decan.
Sixthly, That all other Europeans should be excluded
from Decan and Balagaut.
Seventhly, Confirmation of all former treaties in such
articles as were not revoked or altered by this.
Eighthly, That the treaty should be ratified by the
King of Great Britain.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 57
To understand the quality of the first article, which
is the most essential, it is proper to mention the
following circumstances :
1st, That the sircar of Guntoor, estimated to yield a
rent of 2,07,500 pagodas, or 7,26,250 rujjees, became
our right of property by the death of Bissalut Jung,
the brother of Nizam Ally Cawn, in whose possession
it had been allowed to remain, and our claim to it
suspended, during his life. He died on the 25th of
September 1782; but the Nabob Nizam Ally Cawn
retained the possession of it, the circumstances of our
affairs not admitting of our then reclaiming it.
2dly, The arrears of the Peshcush for the sircars in
our possession, which was five lacks of rupees per
annum, stood on the 1st of March 1784 at 31,32,666:5:4;
to which that of Guntoor to the same time was nearly
1,50,000 rupees, making together 32,82,666 rupees.
And odly. The rent of Guntoor, estimated by the
lease granted by the presidency of Fort St. George to
the Nabob Wala Jah in 1779, at the sum above m.en-
tioned, afforded us a claim of above ten lacks of rupees
on the Nabob Nizam Ally Cawn.
Of the value of the sircars I avoid to speak. My
private opinion furtively obtained stands on the records
of the Court of Directors ; and has been severely repro-
bated. But as I do not form my opinions in haste,
and what has since past has rather added to the weight
of the arguments on which that was founded than
diminished it, I need scarcely add, that if I were the
sovereign disposer of the Company's actual property
and interests, I would most eagerly accept the terms
offered for the release of the sircars with some qualifi-
cation of the inferior stipulations, where they might
appear to clash with other existing engagements.
This transaction has been referred by the present
58 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
dispatch to the Court of Directors, and Mr. Johnson
directed to keep the negociation upon it suspended till
their instructions regarding it may be received.
It seems to have been the fixed policy of our nation
in India to enfeeble every power in connection with it ;
and I shall not be surprised to see the above proposal
combated on that ground, with others more defensible.
As a general maxim, I affirm it to be a most dangerous
one ; for in every application of it, we inflict a wound
on the credit of our faith, and expose those who have
trusted to it to the dano^er of fallins: a sacrifice to their
more powerful and independent neighbours. The
Sovereign of Hydrabad can never be an object of
apprehension to the Company from any advantage
which he derives from his dominions, were they of
twice their present extent ; but if any intestine or
other cause of disorder in the Marattah state, should
leave Tippoo Saheb at liberty to prosecute and accom-
plish his designs against them, their accession to his
present strength would prove more fatal to the British
interests, than any other external event that in the
probable course of fortune could befal them.
The King Shah Allum can scarcely be with propriety
mentioned among the powers of India. Yet his name
and family subsist, with all the latent rights inherent
in them ; and these are respected in a degree pro-
portioned to their distance from observation, though
but little, even by those who most profess to acknow-
ledge their obligation. The wretched apathy and
indolence of the Shah himself, render him incapable
of availing himself of any support, however powerful,
to retrieve his affairs, or even to assume the direction
of them in any state. These have been successively
administered by NudjiflP Cawn, Mirza Shuffy Cawn,
and Atfrasiab Cawn. The two last perished by assas-
THE STATE OF BENGAL 59
sinatlon ; that of the latter happened on the 2d of
November last. Mahdajee Sindla having casually
arrived in the neighbourhood of the royal camp, which
was at Agra, at the time of this event, assumed the
charge of the King's administration in the name of
the peshwa, for whom he obtained the royal grant of
the office of Wakeel Muttaluk, a dignity of special
appointment, and rarely known in the annals of the
house of Timur.
What consequences this new-assumed policy of the
Marattahs may produce, I cannot foresee ; but think
it more likely to embarrass Sindia himself by the
burden of a ruined country and an exhausted revenue,
than to add to his own power, or to yield more than
a title of faded splendor to his master. I regret it
only as it must compel him to adopt a system of
caution, which will disable him from aftbrding that
support which he had promised to the Prince Jehandar
Shah ; but in no respect can it prove hurtful to our
interests, or weaken his connection with us.
The Sics, who may be considered rather as a sect of
schismatics than as a nation, have for some years past
taken advantage of the weakness of the King's ad-
miinistration to invade and possess all his northern
dominions. For what relates to them, to the King,
to the Prince Jehandar Shah, and to the actual state
of the Marattah power in that quarter, I refer to my
minutes on those subjects already before the public ;
in which perhaps more will be found to gratify
curiosity, than to afford useful information to those
who do not carry their views far into futurity.
Of the Nabobs Assof o' Dowlah and Walah Jah, I
forbear now to speak. Their condition is not to be
explained in the limits of a summary description, and
has been brought to the full view of the Court of
60 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
Directors, and possibly of the public, in volumes which
have been written upon both.
I shall add some reflections upon the general subject
of the political interests of the Company, or of the
British nation in India, which I deem connected with
the scope and design of this review, as they arise out
of the past occurrences, or are connected with the
actual state of our affairs ; and if in these also I shall
appear to speak too much of myself, let it be remem-
bered, that the whole of this composition is in eifect
a portion of the history of my own life, in those events
of it which were blended with the public. Besides, I
am not sure that the Company possessed a political
character, or can be said to have conducted their inter-
course with other nations on any system of established
policy, before the period in which I was appointed to
the principal administration of their affairs.
I know how readilv many will both allow the
position, and reprobate the system, and admit me for
its author, for the sake of reprobating me also for it.
I am not its author. The seed of this wonderful
production was sown by the hand of calamity. It was
nourished by fortune, and cultivated, and shaped (if I
may venture to change the figure) by necessity. Its
first existence was commercial : it obtained, in its
growth, the sudden accession of military strength and
territorial dominion, to which its political adjunct was
inevitable. It is useless to inquire whether the Com-
pany, or the nation, has derived any substantial benefit
from the change, since it is impossible to retrace the
perilous and wonderful paths by which they have
attained their present elevation, and to re-descend to
the humble and undreaded character of trading ad-
venturers. Perhaps the term of the national existence
in India may liave become susceptible of a shorter
THE STATE OF 15ENGAL 61
duration by it ; but it is that state which it must
henceforth maintain, and it must therefore adopt those
principles which are necessary to its preservation in
that state. To explain those principles, and to shew
the necessity of their construction to the duration of
the British dominion in India, is foreign from the
present design, as it is perhajDS too late to attempt it
with any chance of its application to any purpose of
utility. Yet so much as I have said, was necessary to
obviate the common objection, to which every measure
and every maxim are liable, which are built on a
different ground from that which exists only in the
idea of those who look upon the East-India Company
still as a body of merchants, and consider commerce as
their only object.
I have been represented to the public as a man of
ambition, and as too apt to be misled by projects of
conquest. Though the only two facts* on which this
'■' Since Mr. Hastings printed the first impression of this work,
the Rohilla and the Marattah wars have been so much the subject of
conversation, both in and out of parliament, that I am induced to
bring to one point of view, a few circumstances, which I think will
effectually clear Mr. Hastings from the suspicion of having acted
improperly either in the Kohilla or the Marattah war. — Lord North
was pleased to observe, very lately, that the liohilla war was not
sufficiently known in England, till the Secret Committee published
their Reports. His Lordship, however, as the Minister of this
country, either did or ought to have known every particular of the
rise, progress, and conclusion of the war, so early as June 1775. It
was commenced in April, and concludecl in October 1774. But in
order that every fair and impartial man may have an opportunity
of determining upon the justice of the war, I insert the following
particulars, which I have taken from the Appendix to the Fifth
Report of the Secret Committee. Early in the year 1772, before
Mr. Hastings became Governor of Bengal, negociations were
entered into between Sujah Dowlah and the Rohillas ; and on the
r7th of June 1772, a treaty was finally concluded between them,
and reciprocally interchanged in the presence of Sir Robert Barker,
and authenticated by his signature. On the 24th of March 1773,
Sir Robert Barker made a proposition from Sujah Dowlah, that if
the Rohillas break their treaty, he will pay the Company 50 lacks
62 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
imputation has originated, have been refuted on the
clearest conviction, and this in the principal instance
of rupees, if they assist him in getting possession of their country.
On the 6th of May 1773, Sir Robert Barker writes to Mr. Hastings
and the Select Committee, " It is well known, neither promises nor
" oaths have been able to bind this treacherous sect of people to
" their engagements : their own interests, or their own fears, are the
"only springs by which they can be moved." On the 15th of May
1773, Sir Robert Barker writes, that Haffez Rhamet still declines
answering the payment of the treaty ; that his excuse appears more
to delay time, that he may discover how the affairs of his quarter
are likely to turn out : and the General adds in the same letter, " I
" beg leave to send you the copy of the Rohilla treaty, by which you
" will perceive how literally it has been executed and performed,
"notwithstanding the evasion of their chiefs." When Mr. Hastings,
and the Select Committee, in the latter end of 1773, determined to
join their forces to Sujah Dowlah, in the prosecution of the Rohilla
war, they stated very fully the breach of the treaty of June 1772, as
the strong argument for the justice of the war. We were parties
to that treaty ; and Sir Robert Barker bears testimony to the
Vizir's performance of all his conditions, as well as to the part the
English took.
With respect to the Marattah war, it has been so clearly detailed,
that not a dou])t remains, I imagine, upon the mind of any man on
that subject. It originated in Bombay. It was disapproved of in
Bengal. It was concluded, by a minister from the Governor
General and Council. The peace was not approved of at home; and
a discretionary power was given to the Governor General and
Council, to renew the engagements with Ragoba, if the conditions of
the peace were not strictly fulfilled. The Governor General and
Council took every step in their power to carry into effect the stipu-
lations in Colonel Upton's treaty. Not a single article was per-
formed, when, on the 26th of January 1778, Mr. Hastings entered
that minute, which, in a resolution of the House of Commons, is
allowed to have been grounded on the Orders of the Court of
Directors ; but though Mr. Hastings laid so much stress upon the
important intelligence he leceived from Mr. Elliott, and it is pub-
lished in the Sixth Report of the Secret Committee, this circumstance
seems to have escaped the attention of many. Colonel Leslie's
detachment was formed, and began its mai'ch in June 1778. The
Court of Directors approved the measure. They approved, with
the knowledge of His Majesty's Ministers, the plan formed by Mr.
Hastings for defeating the views of the French in the West of India.
They never accused him of breaking the treaty of Poorunda. From
the month of June 1779, and not before, the responsibility of the
Marattah war unquestionably rested Avith the Governor General and
Council. The Marattah Ministers required, as preliminaries to a
THE STATE OF BENGAL 63
is universally acknowledged ; the imputation still
remains ; and I much fear that it has served, with
others equally opposite to truth, for the ground of a
recent and great national measure, most unfortunate
in its construction, if such were the causes of it.
I can affirm, that the charge, so far as it respects
myself, and I fear that I stand too conspicuous a mark
before my fellow-servants to be missed, or not to have
been the aim of its intended direction, is wholly and
absolutely false, as it is inconsistent with any motive
to which it could be ascribed of pride, avarice, or thirst
of power ; for what profit or advantage could I have
acquired, or hoped to acquire, for instance, in a
Marattah war ; or what reputation in any war, the
operations of which must necessarily depend on
another, and hmi either taken in his turn from the
roster, or with a choice divided at the most between
two or three officers standing at the head of the list of
the army ? The first acts of the government of Bengal,
when I presided over it, were well known at the time
to have been of my formation, or formed on principles
which I was allowed to dictate. These consisted of a
variety of regulation, which included every department
of the service, and composed a system as complete as
a mind incompetent like my own, though possessed of
very superior aids, could form, of military, political,
productive, oeconomical, and judicial connection. I
found the Treasury empty, the revenue declining, the
expences unchecked, and the whole nation yet languish-
ing under the recent effects of a mortal famine. Neither
was this a season for war, nor, occupied as I was in it,
treaty, the surrender of Kagoba, and the cession of Salfette. I do
not find tlaat the Directors, or His Majesty's Ministers, have at any
time censured Mr. Hastings, or his Council, for not acceding to those
preliminary articles.
64 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
would candor impute to me even a possible disposition
to war. The land required years of quiet to restore
its population and culture ; and all my acts were acts
of peace. I was busied in raising a great and weighty
fabric, of which all the parts were yet loose and
destitute of the superior weight which was to give
them their mutual support ; and (if I may so express
myself) their collateral strength. A tempest, or an
earthquake could not be more fatal to a builder whose
walls were uncovered, and his unfinished columns
trembling in the breeze, than the ravages or terrors
of war would have been to me and to all my hopes.
I laid my plans before the Court of Directors, and
called upon them to give me the powers which were
requisite for their accomplishment and duration. These
were silently denied me, and those which I before
possessed, feeble as they were, were taken from me.
Had I been allowed the means which I required, I will
inform my readers of the use to which I intended to
apply them. I should have sought no accession of
territory. I should have rejected the offer of any
which would have enlarged our line of defence, without
a more than proportionate augmentation of defensive
strength and revenue. I should have encouraofed, but
not solicited, new alliances ; and should have rendered
that of our government an object of solicitation, by the
example of those which already existed. To these I
should have observed, as my religion, every principle
of good faith ; and where they were deficient in the
conditions of mutual and equal dependance, I should
have endeavoured to render them complete ; and this
rule I did actually apply to practice in the treaty which
I formed with the Nabob Shujah o' Dowlah in the
year 1773.
With respect to the provinces of the Company 's>
THE STATE OF BENGAL 65
dominion under my government, I should have studied
to augment both their value and strength by an
augmentation of their inhabitants and cultivation.
This is not a mere phantasy of speculation. The
means were most easy, if the power and trust were
allowed to use them. Every region of Hindostan, even
at that time groaned under different degrees of op-
pression, desolation, and insecurity. The famine which
had wasted the provinces of Bengal had raged with
equal severity in other parts, and in some with greater,
and the remembrance of it yet dwelt on the minds of
the inhabitants with every impression of horror and
apprehension. I would have afforded an asylum in
Bengal, with lands and stock, to all the emigrants of
other countries : I would have employed emissaries for
their first encouragement ; and I would have provided a
perpetual and proclaimed incentive to them in the
security of the community from foreign molestation,
and of the Individual members from mutual wrong ; to
which purpose, the regulations already established
were sufficient, with a power only competent to enforce
them. And for the same purpose and with a professed
view to it, I early recommended, even so early as the
year 1773, the erection of public granaries on the plan
since happily commenced.
Those who have been in the long- habits of familiar
communication with me, whether by letter or by
discourse, will know that the sentiments which I have
been describing are of as old a date as that of my late
office in the first appointment and state of It : and to
every candid reader I appeal for his conviction of their
effect, If I had been permitted to follow their direction:
for what man Is there so immovably attached to his
native soil, as to prefer it, under the scourge of
oppression, the miseries of want, and the desolation of
5
66 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
war, embittering or destroying every natural affection,
and ultimately invading the source of life itself, to a
state of peace, of external tranquillity, and internal
protection, of assured plenty, and all the blessings of
domestic increase ?
Those who have seen, as I did, in a time of profound
IDeace, the wretched inhabitants of the Carnatic, of
every age, sex, and condition, tumultuously thronging
round the walls of Fort St. George, and lying for many
successive days and nights on the burning soil, without
covering or food, on a casual rumour, falsely excited,
of an approaching enemy, will feelingly attest the
truth of the contrast which I have exhibited in one
part of it, and will readily draw the conclusion which
I have drawn from it, even without attending to the
rest. That such a state as I have described would
have been attained without imperfection or alloy, I do
not pretend to suppose ; but I confidently maintain,
that under an equal, vigorous, and fixed administra-
tion, determined on the execution of such a plan to its
accomplishment, it would have been attainable, even
with common talents prosecuting it, to a degree as
nearly approaching to perfection as human life is
capable of receiving. The submissive character of the
people ; the fewness of their wants ; the facility with
which the soil and climate, unaided by exertions of
labour, can supply them ; the abundant resources of
subsistence and trafficable wealth which may be drawn
from the natural productions, and from the manu-
factures, both of established usage and of new intro-
duction, to which no men upon earth can bend their
minds with a readier accommodation ; and above all,
the defences with which nature has armed the land, in
its mountainous and hilly borders, its bay, its innumer-
able intersections of rivers, and inoffensive or unpower-
THE STATE OF 15EXCiAL 67
ful neighbours ; are advantages which no united state
upon earth possesses in an equal degree ; and which
leave little to the duty of the magistrate ; in effect,
nothing but attention, protection, and forbearance.
But though I profess the doctrine of j^eace, I by no
means pretend to have followed it with so implicit a
devotion as to make sacrifices to it. I have never
yielded a substantial right which I could assert, or
submitted to a wrong which I could repel, with a
moral assurance of success proportioned to the magni-
tude of either ; and I can allude to instances in which
I should have deemed it criminal not to have hazarded
both the public safety and my own, in a crisis of un-
common and adequate emergency, or in an occasion of
dangerous example.
I have ever deemed it even more unsafe than dis-
honourable to sue for peace ; and more consistent with
the love of peace to be the aggressor, in certain cases,
than to see preparations of intended hostility, and
wait for their maturity, and for their open effect to
repel it. The faith of treaties I have ever held in-
violate. Of this I have given the most ample and
public testimonies in my conduct to the Nabob Shujah
o' Dowlah, to the Nabob Assof o' Dowlah, the Nabob
Walla Jah, to the Rana of Gohid, to the Nabob Nizam
Ally Cawm, Raja Futty Sing, and Mahdajee Sindia ;
and I have had the satisfaction of seeing the jDolicy, as
well as the moral rectitude, of this practice justified by
the exemplary sufferings of all who have deviated from
it, in acts of perfidy to myself, or to the government
over which I presided during the time that I have had
charge of it.
If in this display of my own character, I shall appear
to have transgressed the bounds of modesty, I shall
not decline the charge, nor fear to aggravate it by
68 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
adding, that I have never yet planned or authorised
any military operation, or series of operations, which
has not been attended with complete success, in the
attainment of its professed objects ; and that I have
never, in any period of my life, engaged in a negocia-
tion which I did not see terminate as I wished and
expected : and let this conclusion be offered as an
undeniable proof of the propriety and efficacy of the
principles on which I have regulated my conduct in
both.
It would not be either an unpleasing or an unprofit-
able employment to turn from the survey of our neigh-
bours, and from the contemplation of their views,
interests, powers, and resources, and to look back on
our own ; mixingf with the reflections obvious to our
habits of thinking, those which would occur to the
people with whom we have been engaged in past
hostility, or who may expect to be eventually con-
cerned with us, whether as friends or foes, in future
operations. Very different would be the observations
made by a spectator in such a point of view, from
those which pass in the mind of a mere individual,
through the clouded medium of his own wants and
feelings, and with the terrors and discontents of his
fellow-citizens aggravating his own : and such, perhaps,
as the following would be his reflections, as the
different objects of his contemplation passed in suc-
cession before him.
No state can carry on extensive military operations
for any lengtli of time, without imposing some burdens
upon its subjects, or subjecting them to consequent
inconveniencies ; and those that suffer will complain,
and condemn measures which create partial exigency,
without considering their ol)ject and tendency. To
the complaints of individuals, the adherents of party
THE STATE OK BENGAL 69
will superadd their accusations, exaggerate the tem-
porary evil that exists, and darken, by despondency,
the bright expectations of a future period. Sucli
particularly has been the case in Bengal ; and murmurs,
suspicions, and despair, have been transmitted from
India to England.
In proportion as our distresses have been, or have
appeared to be, pressing, the power, resources, and
advantages of our enemies have been supposed to
accumulate ; and an idea is adopted without reflection,
that the cause which diminishes our resources, operates
on one side only, without producing a similar effect
on the strength of our enemies ; as if it were in their
power to marshal armies, and undertake military
expeditions, without any augmentation of expence or
distress to individuals. With as limited a judgement
men are apt to draw conclusions from the errors and
deficiencies of government, and the mismanagement of
military operations, not reflecting that our adversaries
have also their difficulties to surmount, which arise out
of the imperfection of human policy and the deprava-
tions of self-interest : and that the fortune of contend-
ing states, as of simple individuals, as often turns on the
different effects of their mutual blunders and mis-
conduct, as on the superiority of skill and exertion.
But widely different is the estimate formed by those
whom necessity has led us to oppose or attack, of our
strength and resources. They behold with astonish-
ment the exertions that have been made from the
banks of the Ganges ; and reasoning as we have done
from their own distresses, lament the necessity that
has engaged them in wars with a power capable of
making such exertions, and whose resources, instead
of being diminished, must appear to them to augment.
Instead of being able to extend their Incursions to the
70 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
capital of our dominions, which at a period Httle
remote from the estabHshment of the Company's
authority they did with success ; they find themselves
attacked in the center of their own territories, and all
their exertions required for the defence of them. They
find, notwithstanding the temporary success they have
derived from accident or mismanagement, that we
have fresh armies ready to take the field, and that
whilst our spirit is unabated, our strength is sufficient
to give efficacy to its resolutions.
The conclusion I would draw from these premises is,
that the vio-orous exertions which we have made for
the defence and security of our own possessions, have
impressed an idea of our strength and I'esources among
the powers of India, which will, more than any other
motive, contribute to establish the present peace on a
firm foundation ; to shew that if our resources have
suftered a diminution, those of the states with which
we have been engaged in war, have felt, in probably a
greater degree, the same inconvenience ; and finally,
to evince the propriety of those exertions, notwith-
standing the expence with which they have been made,
by the event itself, which has evidently proved to all
the powers of Hindostan and Deccan, that their
combined strength and politics, assisted by our great
European enemy the French, have not been able to
destroy the solid fabric of the English powder in the
East, nor even to deprive it of any portion of the
territories over which its control extends.
Revenues. — The three principal sources of the
revenues enjoyed by the Company in Bengal, are, the
land-rents, salt, and opium.
The system established in February 1781, for the
management and collection of the land-rents, has
continued to the present period, without any material
THE STATE OF BENGAL 71
variation ; and the complete information which has
been laid before the Company upon this subject,
renders particular explanations superfluous. I shall
therefore content myself with inserting a few general
remarks.
The establishment of the present Committee of
Revenue, or some other founded on the same principles,
appears to me the properest mode of agency that can
be adopted for the control of the revenue department.
The system of government in Bengal is so compli-
cated, and embraces so many and distinct objects, that
it would be difficult for any set of men, who may
become members of the supreme administration, to
enter into the detail attending the revenues ; and this
difficulty will amount to an impossibility, if those who
possess the supreme control should be appointed
members of it without any previous local knowledge
and experience.
It will be observed, that the amount of the settle-
ment annually varies, and that it has never been
completely realized without some balance. I may
venture to affirm, that this has been the case for the
last century, and that our predecessors the Mahom-
medans, though possessed of advantages which a
fluctuating European administration can scarce ever
hope to attain, cannot boast of ever having collected
the entire annual assessment. It may perhaps, in
time, be possible to prevent nearly any diminution
either in the amount of the settlement or collections ;
but whilst the government requires so large a propor-
tion of the produce of the country, causes beyond the
reach of human control will occasionally operate, to
render some indulgence in favour of its subjects indis-
pensable ; and the formality of agreements will but ill
justify the rigour of exaction.
72 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
With respect to the amount of the present settle-
ment, I am so far from deeming it too heavy, that I
am clearly of opinion it may, by prudent management,
formed upon local experience, admit of an increase. I
sjDeak generally ; for the particular distribution will in
many instances be found unequal ; a defect in the
system, which can never be remedied by any per-
manent rule, but must be corrected by temporary
application according to the exigency of particular
circumstances.
The public in England have of late years adopted
very high ideas of the rights of the Zemindars in
Hindostan; and the prevailing prejudice has considered
every occasional dispossession of a Zemindar from the
management of his lands, as an act of oppression. I
mean not here to enter into any discussion of their
rights, or to distinguish between right, fact, and form,
as applied to their situation. Our Government, on
grounds which more minute scrutiny may, perhaps,
find at variance with facts, has admitted the opinion
of their rightful proprietorship of the lands. I do not
mean to contest their right of inheritance to the lands,
whilst I assert the right of Government to the produce
thereof. The Mahommedan rulers continually exer-
cised, wdth a severity unknown to the British adminis-
tration in Bengal, the power of dispossessing the
Zemindars on any failure in the payment of their
rents, not only pro tempore but in perpetuity. The
fact is notorious ; but lest proof of it should be
required, I shall select one instance out of many that
might be jDroduced ; and only mention that the
Zemindary of Bajeshahy, the second in rank in Bengal,
and yielding an annual revenue of about twenty -five
lacks of rupees, has risen to its present magnitude
during the course of the last eighty years, by accumu-
THE STATE OF BENGAL 73
lating the property of a great number of dispossessed
Zemindars, although the ancestors of the present
jDOSsessor had not by inheritance a right to the
jDroperty of a single village within the whole Ze-
mindary,
I shall only farther observe on the proposed"' plan
of restoring the Zemindars to the possession of their
lands, and the management of their revenues ; that
niiless care should be taken at the same time to
establish some mode of guardianship, with a view to
remedy the defects of minority, profusion, and in-
capacity of the Zemindars ; their restoration, which
carries with it the appearance of justice, will often
terminate in acts of the greatest severity ; in the total
dispossession of the Zemindars, or in concessions on
the part of Government in their demands for the
revenues.
It may not be improper to take notice of the
assiduity exercised in establishing a belief in Europe,
that the collection of the revenues in Bengal is
enforced by repeated acts of personal severity. No
proof has yet been exhibited to the public of this
assertion ; and I might content myself with this
observation, without adding that the fact is incapable
of proof, since it does not exist. During the last four
years, a proportion, exceeding one half of the whole
revenue of Bengal, has been received at the Khalsa in
Calcutta from the different renters, without any inter-
mediate agency ; and I am authorised in affirming,
that during this period, a single instance cannot be
jDroduced of any renter having been beat there, for the
* The plan of a general restoration of Zemindars to the possession
of their lands, as originally proposed by Mr. Fox, and as afterwards
inserted in Mr. Pitt's bill, underwent very considerable alterations
before the latter bill passed into a law, and a discretionary power is
now left in the Governor Genei-al and Council.
74 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
jDurpose of compelling the payment of his stipulated
rent.
I shall close this subject with a reflection, that
appears to me too important to be omitted. In recom-
mending the institution of the Committee of Revenue,
I mean it with a reserve, that the express objects
designed by it should be carried into execution. The
candour and sincerity which I have ever professed in
giving my opinion to the Company on matters of
importance to their interests, or of even personal
concern to myself, call upon me to make a confession,
which other motives should induce me to conceal. I
acknowledge that some parts of this institution, which
depended upon the supreme administration in Bengal
for their completion, still remain unaccomplished ; that
even its professed and fundamental object of making
Calcutta the place of receipt of all the revenues,
without passing through the subordinate treasuries,
has been defeated by causes which my situation did
not allow me to control. This object comprehended
the gradual removal of the different collectors, as fast
as their services could be dispensed with, and on this
account only was unattainable. If the same act of the
legislature which confirmed me in my station of Presi-
dent over the Company's settlements In Bengal, had
invested me with a control as extensive as the new
denomination I received by it Indicated ; if it had
compelled the assistance of my associates In power,
instead of giving me opponents ; If, Instead of creating
new expectations which were to be accomplished by my
dismission from office, it had imposed silence on the
interested clamours of faction, and taught the servants
of the Company to place their dependence upon me,
where It constitutionally rested ; If, Avhen It transferred
the real control over the Company's affairs from the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 75
Direction to the Ministers, instead of extending, it had
Hmited the claims of patronage, which every man
possessing influence himself, or connected with those
who possessed it, thought he had a right to exert ;
and if it had made my continuance in oflice to depend
upon the rectitude of my intentions, and the vigour
with which they were exerted, instead of annexing it
to a compliance with those claims, I should have had
little occasion, at this period, to claim the public
indulgence for an avowal of duties undischarged. But
the reverse took place in every instance. I mean to
apply these reflections, those suggested by one circum-
stance only, to my situation in general.
If the interests of the nation are truly consulted, a
total change in the system must take place : for whilst
private interests are allowed to stand in competition
with, or in opposition to, arrangements founded on the
public good ; whilst those who censure the concessions
made to them, in all instances which have not a
reference to themselves or to their connections, still
persist in recommending them ; and whilst the official
existence, public reputation, and private fame, of the
members of the government of Bengal are maintained
or sacrificed in proportion to the concessions made, or
withheld, the interests of the British nation in it must
verofe to a decline.
Enough has been said to shew the pernicious conse-
quences of this system, which is publicly proscribed,
and privately supported ; which no man dares avow,
yet many combine to maintain. To discuss it more
minutely would be invidious, and perhaps entail upon
me resentments, which, though I do not fear, I would
wish to avoid. 1 have made a sufficient sacrifice to
truth ; my successors in office may perhaps benefit by
this concession. The duties and functions of the
76 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
supreme government in India will never be well dis-
charged, unless it meets with the consideration due to it.
But to return from this digression to the two
remaining sources of the revenues, the salt and the
opium. My observations on both will be short.
The plan for the management of the salt was of my
formation. The minuteness of investigation employed
to fix the stamp of demerit on my plans in general,
will justify the seeming vanity of asserting my claim
to approbation for the success of one institution at
least, which in its outset was opposed, and condemned
universally. The intricate, desultory series of manage-
ment, which was formerly applied to this department,
has given place to one uniform system of control ; the
23erplexity of the former accounts of the salt no longer
exists, and the advances for the manufacture of the
quantity produced, and the amount gained, are made
to appear in clear, concise statements ; an uncertain
collection has been gradually improved into a per-
manent and increasing revenue ; and as long as Mr.
Yansittart, or some other person of qualifications equal
to his, shall preside over the ofiice, and be allowed to
conduct it according to the rules of its institution, I
may venture to assure the Company of an annual
revenue of fifty lacks of rupees* from this department,
being the clear and neat amount of a new and simple
appropriation of a natural source of revenue to the
public stock, without tax or exaction ; substituted in
the place of an old system of artificial intricacy, by
which, in the process of the last three years of its
existence, the Comj^any had sustained a loss instead
of derivinof a benefit from it.
■■'' By a clause of the regulating or remedial bill brought in by
Mr. Fox, in the late House of Commons, this source of revenue
would have been entirely given up.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 7T
The conquest of a foreign principality, which had
added half a million of pounds sterling to the national
income ; a splendid extention of dominion ; and a
large store of lucrative offices to ministerial patronage^
though purchased with the blood of thousands, main-
tained with an enormous expence of fortresses and
military garrisons, and the hazard of national disgrace^
with the loss of it ; would have crowned the warrior,
by whose fortunate valour it was won, with deathless
glory ; and votes of parliamentary thanks, bonfires,
and illuminations, would have proclaimed his praise
and the public triumph. A bloodless accession of
public income, gained by the silent operation of official
arrangement, perpetuated in its duration, and fixed in
its value by its inherence to the essence of the state
itself, unincumbered with military establishments and
frontier defences, and ministering subsistence to a
whole people both in its immediate distribution as a
necessary of life, and by the returns of a foreign com-
merce, is allowed to sink unnoticed in the blended
accounts of the general treasury, because it was not
produced by any of those efforts of the mind to which
human pride has affixed the claim of renown, and in
which every man appropriates to himself a share of
the national glory.
It is well known to those few who have access to
the records of the government of Bengal, or rather to
the fewer who may have imposed on themselves the
heavy labour of perusing them, that the measure which
produced this fund was not only of my formation, but
undertaken against the judgement of all my colleagues,
and barely suffered to pass with the responsibility of
it at my own re- iterated instance thrown exclusively
on myself for its success. Surely then I may be
allowed to make this display of its acknowledged
78 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
merits, since its failure would have entailed on me
endless disgrace, with the aggravated reproach of pre-
sumption, ignorance, and warned temerity.
It has also been urged as a reproach against me,
that in providing the opium by contract, I have con-
sulted the interests of my friends in preference to those
of the Company. This charge, like many others, has
often been repeated, and as often refuted ; I shall
therefore only briefly remark, that whilst the manu-
facture of opium was managed by the Company's
servants in the Behar province, the profit upon the
sales was too inconsiderable to be deemed an article of
revenue ; that the Company, in consequence of con-
tracting for the provision of opium, have in fact
derived a certain annual income from an article which
scarcely yielded any before, by appropriating to them-
selves those profits which w^ere diverted into other
channels ; and that I know no law, either moral or
municipal, that should preclude my friends from taking
upon themselves the charge of an engagement, the
profits of which were to arise from their skill, industry,
and exactness in the performance of it. It must be
remembered that this remark, as well as the reproach,
applies to a single instance only.
I have already spoken of the population of the
country, and shall conclude the subject of the revenues
with some observations on the state of cultivation :
I am authorised by my own experience to assert, what
every man who has resided long in Bengal, and has
had opportunities of visiting the countries beyond the
Company's jurisdiction, is qualified to confirm, that
the territorial possessions of the English in Bengal and
Behar are not only better cultivated than the lands of
any other state of Hindostan, but infinitely superior to
what they were at the time the Company received the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 79
grant of the Dewanny, or for many years preceding
that period. It is also a fact, that the produce of the
lands in common years, so much exceeds the quantity
required for the consumption of the people, or for the
purposes of exportation, that the difficulty of convert-
ing it into specie considerably affects the collection of
the revenues in many parts of the country, and in
some degree distresses the E-yots to furnish their
stipulated quotas of rent ; that there is no country in
the world, where the inhabitants in general procure a
subsistence with the same ease and cheapness as in
Bengal ; and that, if by any sudden exertion of
industry, the quantity of land in cultivation could be
greatly increased, the Company would derive no
advantage from it, nor the labourers receive any
compensation for their toil.
I have often with pleasure expatiated on the peculiar
talents of the late Mr. Cleveland, in civilizing the
inhabitants of the mountainous districts of the Jungle-
terry, or wild and hilly lands of Rajemehal, by a
system of conciliation which will long endear his
memory to those who have felt the benefits of it ; and
I cannot deny myself the gratification arising from the
reflection, that the exertion of those talents was in a
great measure owing to the public support and private
encourag-ement which he received from me. In the
honours bestowed upon his memory, the Board have
consulted the interests of the Company, by holding
forth for imitation a character so worthy of it. The
immediate advantages of his labours are seen in the
.security which the inhabitants of the adjacent lands
possess ; no longer apprehensive of being plundered of
the produce of their labour by a lawless banditti, they
have extended their cultivation over large tracts of
land, till lately impassable ; and the country at the
80 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
bottom of the Kajemehal hills, which I myself have
seen in a state of nature, has assumed an appearance
of universal fertility. The remote advantages will be
more considerable, should the continuance of the same
plan of civilization increase the intercourse which has
so lately been established between the inhabitants of
the hills, and those of the low lands. At all events,
the Company have acquired a large accession of new
subjects, who are not only peaceable in themselves, but
have been successfully employed in maintaining the
peace of the country, and who, being warmly attached
to us, by the superior benefits they have received from
their civilization, may, in case of public exigency, be
usefully employed in the defence of our territories
ao;ainst foreig'n invasion.
Of the business of the commercial department I shall
speak but little. It is a subject of too great extent,
and involves too many nice and important questions to
be fully comprised in the narrow limits which I have
prescribed to myself in this summary review ; yet I
cannot pass it over without a few reflections.
The instructions which the Court of Directors framed,
in consequence of the act of the 13th, and transmitted
to Bengal, marked the first limits of the respective
powers of the general and commercial departments ;
and in fact constituted the latter independent on the
former. The provision of the investment was left to
the sole management of the latter ; the salaries of its
members were fixed ; and it was expressly declared,
that they should not be liable to be suspended, or
dismissed by the authority of the general government.
The only power which was given to the Governor
General and Council relative to the Board of Trade,
was that of supplying the necessary funds : but this
power afforded them no means of control over the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 81
conduct of that Board in the provision of the invest-
ment, or the apphcation of the money ; since in the
exercise of it they must be regulated by other con-
siderations than the conduct of the Board of Trade ;
for whatever that might be, the supplies must be the
same, and could not be either vi^ithheld or diminished
without a material injury to the Company's affairs :
yet this was the only power that the Governor
General and Council possessed. Men whose salaries
were fixed, and who neither held their appointments,
nor could be removed from them by the authority of
the Governor General and Council, naturally felt them-
selves independent ; and the consequence has been,
that the Governor General and Council, instead of
attempting to control the management of the Board
of Trade, have been even unable to impose on their
correspondence those restraints of decency and respect
which are due from one public body to another. In
one instance only has it been in the power of the
Superior Government to interfere with the manage-
ment of the Board of Trade, and in that their inter-
ference was attended with an immediate and acknow-
ledged advantage to the Company.
I allude to the provision of the investment in the
years 1781, 1782, and 1783, by means of the sub-
scription loan, when the members of the Board of
Trade resident in Calcutta, to whom the charge of it
was entrusted, acted rather as the factors of the
Superior Board than as agents for the Company in
their official and collective character.
But the power of interference, which the Board
exercised in this instance, was grounded on very
peculiar circumstances, which may never again occur ;
and it is not therefore to be considered as an exception
tending to invalidate the general position which I
6
82 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEAY OF
have asserted, that the Board of Trade, in the provision
of the investment, are constituted independent of the
Governor General and Councih
Yet in all the late correspondence from Europe, the
Court of Directors seem to consider the responsibility
as primarily vested in the Governor General and
Council. Whether applause or censure result from
the management of the business of providing the in-
vestment, it is to the Governor General and Council
that the strictures of the Court of Directors are
expressly directed and applied. They are afterwards,
indeed, communicated by them to the Board of Trade ;
but applause and censure equally lose their force when
they are not openly and pointedly applied, and when
they pass through the medium of others, who may
diminish their efficacy by participation, but, possessing
no authority themselves, cannot increase it in the
conveyance.
From these 2^i"emises I have demonstrated, that the
management, direction, and execution, of all matters
relative to the Company's commerce, are wholly and
independently vested in the Board of Trade, whilst
the responsibility virtually rests with the Governor
General and Council. This is so absurd a contra-
diction of principles, that it is sufficient to have proved
its existence without tracing its consequences. In a
former part of this review, I have avowed my opinion
that the attention of the superior government of
Bengal should not be perplexed with the intricacies
of commercial detail ; but it is clearly expedient, that
either some degree of efficient control should be vested
in the Governor General or Council, or the responsi-
bility wholly withdrawn from them, and transferred
to the Board of Trade. These are questions for the
THE STATE OF BENGAL 83
Company to determine. I do not offer any opinion
on them at present.
The next defect which I have to point out in the
constitution of the Board of Trade proceeds from the
rule estabhshed by the Company, that all their
servants, according to their seniority of rank in the
general list, shall succeed to the seats becoming vacant
at the Board of Trade. This is founded on principles
of justice towards their servants ; but it is productive
of essential injury to their own affairs.
The general government, and the commercial depart-
ment in Bengal, which might otherwise be considered
as two separate and distinct lines, are so blended in
this respect, that the persons who fill the inferior
stations of either, are all chosen from the general list
of servants under the authority of the Governor General
and Council. The business, however, of each requires
very different talents, and to excel in either, habitual
practice and long applications are necessary : so that
although removals are not positively prohibited, few
ever change the line in which they have once engaged,
until they arrive at a certain rank in the service ;,
when all, whatever their talents may be, and whether
they desire it or not, must rise into the Board of
Trade ; by which means often the services of those
who have made the revenues or other branches of the
general department the objects of their study and
attention, aie lost to the Company ; and they are
thrown into a line where all their former knowledge
becomes totally useless, and they are destitute of that
which they ought to possess ; probably too late in life
to study a new profession ; their minds are therefore
disgusted at the change ; and their thoughts are bent
on returning to their native country.
If the servants of the commercial department were
6—2
84 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
completely separated from those of the general govern-
ment, it might })erhaps be proper, when no particular
objection existed, that the former should rise according
to their seniority of rank to fill the vacant seats of the
Board of Trade. But whilst the servants of both
departments continue to rank in one general list,
seniority should be set aside, or only allowed the pre-
ference where equal talents and knowledge come into
competition. I do not pretend to say whether the
right of choice should rest in the Court of Directors
at home, or in the superior government in India.
Another defect in the present constitution of the
Board of Trade consists in the number of its members.
Four members have been thought sufficient by the
legislature of Great Britain, for the general govern-
ment of India ; and the Company have thought fit to
continue the original number of members in the Board
of Trade, which is no less than eleven. For what
purpose is there so great a difference ? It will never
be alledged, that the objects of deliberation of the
latter are more important or numerous than those of
the former. It will perhaps then be said, that they
have a greater detail of executive transactions. This
is not true ; and if it were admitted, I would require
no other grounds for reducing the number ; for I
affirm, and every man who has been conversant in the
practice of Boards must be sensible, that the detail of
minute executive transactions is more correctly and
expeditiously conducted by a few, or even by a single
man, than by many. The Company's investment w^as
never, I believe, at any time, better managed than in
the year 1773, when it was left to the sole super-
intendency of Mr. Aldersey.
Possibly it will be observed; that although the
Board of Trade consists of eleven, yet there is never
THE STATE OF BENGAL 85
that number assembled at the Presidency, it being an
estabhshed rule that four of the commercial chiefships
shall be filled by the members in rotation. This also
I affirm to be one of the defects of their constitution.
The charge of the subordinate stations should never
be given to persons 2:)ossessed of a right to vote at the
Board ; for under such circumstances their merits will
seldom be impartially scanned ; either their faults will
be overlooked, or, if party disputes should unhappily
prevail, their exertions w411 be disturbed and checked
by unnecessary cavils.
In these observations which I have made on the
defects of the present system, I do not allude to any
particular instances. I speak only of general prin-
ciples, which must always invariably produce the same
consequences. I shall now offer a few remarks on the
general subject of the Company's commerce in Bengal.
Although we have so long been in possession of the
sovereignty of Bengal, and have provided our invest-
ments, not as the returns of commerce, but as the
means of remitting the surplus of the revenues of the
country ; yet we have not been able so far to change
our ideas with our situation, as to quit the contracted
views of monopolists for objects tending to promote
the prosperity of those territories, from which we
derive so valuable a tribute.
Hence it is that in all the correspondence of the
Board of Trade we find constant complaints of private
merchants making advances to the Company's weavers ;
of their giving greater prices than have hitherto been
given by the Company ; of their debasing the quality
of the manufactures, by taking off goods which the
Company refuse ; and, in short, of their injuring the
provision of the Company's investment by their com-
petition and interference. Let all this be. It is of
86 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
less consequence, considered as a national concern,
that the investment should be procured cheap, than
that the commerce of the country should flourish ; and
I insist upon it, as a fixed and uncontrovertible
principle, that commerce can only flourish when it is
equal and free : nor in truth do I think that the
Company, considered merely in their mercantile capacity,
would much suffer from the operation of such a
principle. When commerce is left to itself, it will
correct its own evils. The private merchant, ever
quicksighted to his interest, will only maintain a
competition whilst a profit is to be derived from the
trade ; and so long as he derives a profit, the Company
ouDj'ht to derive one also. But if in the course of this
competition the prices paid to the manufacturers
should rise beyond their just proportion, compared
with the sales, or if the market in Europe should
become overstocked, the private merchant will soon
desist, prices will fall in India to their former rate, or
even lower, and the stock in the market, from not
being supplied as usual, will again be reduced to a
quantity more proportionate to the demand. This
must inevitably be the consequence, whilst the con-
sumption continues, and cannot be supplied (which I
believe is the case with most of the articles of the
Company's trade) from the productions of any other
quarter of the world.
If, however, the Company's investment should now
be productive of less profit on the invoice than
formerly, the cause is less to be traced in the
increase of the prime cost of the goods j^aid to the
manufacturers in India, than in the great growth of
the trade of foreign nations, which has raised a
competition against the Company in the sale of Indian
commodities in all the markets of Euro23e.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 87
This suggests an Idea of monopoly to which I am
not averse ; because if it be pursued, it will affect only
our European rivals, without prejudicing the commerce
of our territories. But it must be pursued not by
restrictions, but by counteraction. To find what
means are in our power for this purpose, let us return
to those circumstances v/hich I have in another place
enumerated as the causes of the growth of the trade
of the Danes, and I might have added the Portuguese.
These I have said are, first, the advantage they
possessed during the late war, of navigating their
ships in safety, whilst our own and those of the
French and Dutch were exposed to great risk.
Secondly, the facility with which they procured credit
in India, even from the subjects of Great Britain.
The former of these causes ceased with the war :
the latter still exists ; and it is there that we must
apply our means of counteraction. The Danish and
Portuguese vessels that have lately come to India are
mostly fitted out by private adventurers : no great
capital is necessary, and little credit is required in
Europe for their outfit, as their cargoes outward
bound consist only of provisions and bulky articles,
which are procured at a small cost. When they
arrive in Bengal, the avidity with which individuals
embrace every opportunity of remitting their fortunes
to Europe, enables them easily to procure money or
credit for the purchase of a valuable investment.
They grant bills or bonds payable in Europe at a
distant period. They then carry home their cargoes,
and convert them into money in time to discharge
their bills or bonds when they become due. All this
operation, therefore, is chiefly carried on by means of
the money or credit which they meet with in Bengal.
But the profit on the voyage is their own ; and their
88 MR. HASTINGS'S RE\'IEW OF
nation gains in the increase of its navigation and
wealth.
Let us now suppose that the Enghsh Company
were to open their treasury, and extend their invest-
ment in proportion to the sums which they could
procure in India for bills on Europe. I believe it is
certain, that if such a measure had the sanction of the
Company at home, and the terms were equal, few
British subjects would hesitate to lend them their
money in preference to foreigners. The consequence
would be, that the Danes, Portuguese, and others,
would be obliged to bring from Europe the amount
necessary to purchase an Indian investment, which
would require a capital that few private adventurers
are possessed of, and would occasion a long outlay of
money, and consequently a heavy loss of interest.
With these disadvantages entirely on their side, they
would have to enter into competition with the English
Company, who, from having established factories
under the direction of servants accustomed to deal
with the manufacturers, and from being able to make
their advances long before the season for receiving
and shipping the goods (without availing themselves
of the influence which they might derive from their
being in possession of the government of the country)
ought to have a decided advantage over all foreigners,
and particularly over j)i"ivate adventurers, whose stay
is limited to a few months, in providing their invest-
ments both of the best quality and at the cheapest
rates.
If, nevertheless, foreign nations should still find it
for their advantage to pursue this commerce, they
must then be obliged to carry it on by means of gold
and silver brought from Europe ; for there is scarcely
any thing else which would answer ; the consumption
THE STATE OF BENGAL 89
of European articles in Bengal being confined chiefly
to the European inhabitants, and of a very limited
extent ; and such an important addition to the circula-
tion of money would be attended with the most
beneficial effects in enriching the provinces under the
Company's government. Nor need the Company
grudge the high prices wdiich a competition under
such circumstances might occasion in the first cost of
their goods. They would still receive the greatest
part of their investment virtually for nothing ; not as
the return of commerce, but as a tribute. The sources
from which this tribute flow would increase with the
prosperity of their territories ; the tribute itself would
be rendered more valuable ; and their profits on that
part of their investment, which they procured for bills
on Europe, would at least be equal to those which
induce foreign nations to persist in the competition.
It appears plain, therefore, from what I have said,
that if the Company were to open their cash for
bills on Europe, one of these consequences would
ensue : either their provinces would be enriched by
the bullion and specie imported by foreigners, or the
foreigners must desist from the trade, and leave to
the Company not only a national but an universal
monopoly ; from which the nation, not less than the
Company, would be gainers in proportion as England
would become the emporium for supplying all the
other countries of Europe with the productions and
manufactures of India.
I shall now hasten to bring this, perhaps already
too tedious, performance to its close, having lengthened
it greatly beyond my first expectation, and with
much apparent deviation from its professed object
As the labour of perusal will be increased by both
these causes, the readers of it, whoever they may be.
90 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
for I have written it without any knowledge of its
destination, will have a right to be informed of the
23urposes for which this trouble was exacted from
them ; and this satisfaction I hope they will receive in
the following apology.
My original design, as I have stated it in the
commencement, was, first, to assign the motive for my
resignation of the service ; secondly, to detail the
means which I took to surrender my place in it
unencumbered to my successor, and unsusceptible of
any ill consequence to the joint administration ; and
thirdly, to deliver a summary review of the actual
state in which I left the government of Bengal in its
distinct departments at the time of my separation
from it.
The three subjects, though thus discriminated, will
be found on examination to bear so close a relation to
each other, that it was not well practicable to treat
of the first without entering into as large a discussion
of the other two, both successively and necessarily
following it. It is in effect the recapitulation of the
transactions of three months winding up an adminis-
tration of thirteen years. In the former, it was not
more my study to clear oif the weight of incumbent
business, than to fix the direction of it by the
principles to which I had invariably, from the com-
mencement of my office, endeavoured to conform it.
It was not possible to explain the circumstances to
which this rule was applied, without assuming a yet
wider circumference, including both the application of
recent measures to the construction of those which
were connected with them in a remote period of time ;
the vindication of the latter from the imputation of
error, inconsistency, or misconduct ; and even the
declaration of what I would have preferably done, if
THE STATE OF BENGAL 91
left to the free exercise of my judgement in cases in
which no present option but the choice of proffered
evils.
Indeed the nature of my subject, considered as a
vindication, required a larger and more elaborate
detail than similar recitals of facts and events w^hich
pass nearer the sphere of common observation. At
such a distance, any charge may be successfully
hazarded against the devoted victim of a party, and
more especially of one possessing the reverence of
names which stand too high for imputation, and
holding the trust of compiling materials for the
formation of opinions and acts of the first national
authority. Against such antagonists the voice of
truth itself, so remote, will scarce be heard ; and if
heard, will make no impression on minds under the
influence of prejudice, or determined by worse motives
against the acknowledgement of conviction. I should
not have been surprised if to the accusations of
rapacity, corruption, oppression, thirst of blood and
other enormities with which the clamour of privileged
calumny has assailed my character, it had borrowed
the aid of contempt to swell the foul catalogue with
gambling, drunkenness, and every species of profligacy
that could debase the human mind. Equal credit
would have been given to the asj^ersion by those who
on no better grounds have given it, or have affected
to give it, to other tales of equal falsehood and
malignity ; and probably such would have been my
lot, had I not possessed, in the incomj^arable vigilance
and ability of my declared agent in England, and
other 230werful and well-informed minds, such instru-
ments of repulsion as might discourage the attempt
by the certainty of its recoiling with shame on the
assailants.
92 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
But however diffuse these sheets may be beyond
the limits which candour may be willing to allow me,
I yet hope and believe that they will he found to
contain both new and useful information. I know not
Avhether I may ascribe these qualities to the following
reflections, which I have purj^osely reserved for the
close.
From the vehemence and perseverance with which
my immediate superiors laboured during the course of
ten years to weaken my authority, to destroy my
influence, and to embarrass all my measures, at a time
when their affairs required the most powerful exertions
to sustain them, which I alone by my office could
direct ; and from the great importance which they
have ascribed to points, some of which had no relation
to their interests, and others were even repugnant to
them ; I nmch fear, that it is not understood as it
ought to be, how near the Company's existence has on
many occasions vibrated to the edge of perdition, and
that it has been at all times suspended by a thread so
fine, that the touch of chance might break, or the
breath of opinion dissolve it : and instantaneous will
be its fall whenever it shall happen. May God in His
mercv loner avert it !
To say why a dominion held by a delegated and
fettered power over a region exceeding the dimensions
of the parent state, and removed from it a distance
equal in its circuit to two thirds of the earth's circum-
ference, is at all times liable to be wrested from it,
would be a waste of argument, nor would it be
prudent to aggravate the portrait by displaying all
the artificial evils by which a fabric, so irregular
even in its best construction, is loosened and debili-
tated.
It is true, that it has hitherto stood unimpaired,
THE STATE OF BENGAL 93
because it has met with no domestic stroke of fortune
to agitate and try its texture, one late instance
perhaps excepted, which was too suddenly repelled to
produce the effect which might have attended a longer
duration of it. And it may yet stand for some years
to come, though still liable to the same insecurity.
The remedy is easy and simple ; but I fear it will be
vain to propose it ; because, if it is not (as I believe
it is not) contrary to the principles of our national
constitution, it will at least meet with very for-
midable obstacles in the prejudices which arise out
of it.
I affirm, as a point incontestable, that the adminis-
tration of the British Government in Bengal, distant
as it is from the reach of more than general instruction
from the source of its authority, and liable to daily
contingencies, which require both instant decision, and
a consistency of system, cannot be ruled by a body of
men variable in their succession, discordant in opinion,
each jealous of his colleagues, and all united in common
interest against their ostensible leader. Its powers are
such, that if directed by a firm and steady hand, they
may be rendered equal to any given plan of operation ;
but may prove the very instruments of its destruction,
if they are left in the loose charge of unconnected
individuals, whose interests, passions, or caprices, may
employ them in mutual contests, and a scramble for
superiority.
It has been my lot to derive, from long possession
and casual influence, advantages which have overcome
the worst effects of my own deficiencies ; and it has
been one maxim of my conduct (may I be pardoned for
the apparent boast, but necessary allusion) to do what
I knew was requisite to the public safety, though I
should doom my life to legal forfeiture, or my name to
94 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
infamy. I could verify this by instances in v^^hich by
an implicit submission to positive duty and express
orders, the Company's possessions might have been
devoted to desolation, and even its existence anni-
hilated. I hazarded an opposite conduct ; and what-
ever may have been its effects, I have at least had the
happiness to see one portion of the British dominion in
India rise from the lowest state of degradation ; another
rescued from imminent subjection ; and that which
gives life to the whole, enjoying the blessings of peace
and internal security, while every other part of the
general empire was oppressed by war, or the calamities
of intestine discord.
I may not exjDatiate on such a discussion. I mention
it only to shew, that if the British power in India yet
holds a reprieve from ruin, it derives its preservation
from causes which are independent of its constitution ;
and that it might have been lost if left to that alone
for its protection.
The inference to be drawn from these premises is,
that whatever form of government may yet be estab-
lished for these provinces, whether its control be
extended to the other presidencies, or confined to its
own demesnes ; it is necessary that the Governor, or
first executive member, should possess a power abso-
lute and complete within himself, and independent of
actual control. "^ His character, which requires little
more than two qualifications, an inflexible integrity
and a judgement unsuscejDtible of the bias of foreign
suggestion, should be previously ascertained, and it&
consistency assured by the pledge of his life for the
faithful discharge of so great a trust.
I have said that this is an unpopular doctrine, and
* The legislature has now adopted the system recommended by
Mr. Hastings for the government of India.
THE STATE OF BENGAL 95
liable to be rejected as opposite to our domestic consti-
tution ; but it derives its source even from the
constitution itself, which requires, in every remote
member of the general state, a construction of govern-
ment not merely different from its own, but that from
which its own nature is most abhorrent. The negli-
gences, vices, and crimes, of a political agent, are all
totally foreign in their qualities from those offences in
common life which the law defines, and against which
it has made a provision in the degrees of punishment
denounced against the commission of them. The
factious or corrupt member of a council, may weaken
every useful spring of government ; may embarrass,
obstruct, and thwart, all its measures ; may stop the
execution of its daily official business ; may occasion-
ally employ its powers for the most pernicious purposes,
and still keep clear of legal condemnation. He may
even avail himself of the letter of jDrescribed orders
in such a manner, either by a strained or ill-timed
obedience, as to defeat their intention, or pervert them
to effects the most opposite to it.
The real character of such a man will not escape the
observation of those who live within the sphere of his
agency ; and to them the motives of all his actions
will be known on rounds of the strongfest internal
conviction, though incapable of direct and positive
evidence. Yet it is on positive evidence only that his
offences can be proved ; nor even when proved can
they operate to his punishment, unless they fall within
the prohibition of some positive law ; although the
lives of multitudes may have been destroyed, and the
safety and honour of the state itself endangered, by
the perpetration of them. But it is only by a process
of law, and by a breach of some written statute, or
known law of the land, that the subject of a free
96 MR. HASTINGS'S REVIEW OF
state can be condemned. A constitution formed of a
governor, with limited powers, and a council, may
subsist under an arbitrary monarch directing it, and
be better conducted than that of a governor alone ;
but it cannot be too simple and unrestrained for the
rule of a province so remote from a free state like that
of Great Britain.
To obviate misconceptions, I think it proper to
mention that I allude only to such powers as appertain
to the nature of government ; not to such as might
affect the lives, persons, or property of individuals
living within its authority, but under the protection of
the law of England. In all cases which do not neces-
sarily fall within the cognizance of those who have the
immediate charge of the state, the jurisdiction of the
governor ought to be no more than that of any other
civil magistrate, or justice of the peace. It Is unneces-
sary in this place to treat of the mode of succession, or
the other dependant arrangements of the general
system.
Though the state of kingdoms Is liable to dissolution
from causes as mortal as those which Intercept the
course of human life ; and though my opinion of the
distempers which threaten that of the British empire
in Bengal, may obtain credit from all who read it, yet
I fear that few will yield to its impression. Like the
stroke of death, w^ilch every man knows will come, but
no man acts as if he felt the conviction which he
avows and thinks he feels, the very magnitude of the
catastrophe may In this case blunt the sense of those
to whom it is visibly apparent.
I expect this eft'ect, and foresee that I may expose
myself to much obloquy by recommending so new and
unpopular a system. Yet these considerations have
uot deterred me from endeavouring to render litis last
THE STATE OF BENGAL 97
■service to my country, and to my ever-respected con-
stituents ; being assured, if successful, of my reward in
the conscious applauM of my own mind hrlghteniny the
(Mine of my existence; and of this consolation in the
dreaded reverse, that no means within the compass of
my ability had been left untried to prevent it.
APPENDIX
A Narrative, written by the Prince
Jehandar Shah.
Tj^ROM the first arrival of His Majesty at Dehly* to
-^ the end of the life of the Nabob f Zoolfeccar
u'Dowlah, there was, in some sort, a clieapness of
jDrovisions, a proper cultivation and policy in the royal
domains, a punishment of rebellious and wicked men,
a respect to the dignity of the sovereign, and an
observation of obedience and duty. On the J 23d of
Rubbee u'Sanee, A. H. 1196, the above-mentioned
Nabob departed from this vain mansion, after a com-
plicated illness of four months, and the troops became
distressed and anxious for their arrears of pay : for as
he left no son, who, in the succession of his dignities
and honours, would consider their rights as his own,
Mudjid u'Dowlah, who had formerly been a minister
of the empire, having been confined since the adminis-
tration of the late Nabob, Mahommed Yaccoob Khawn,§
Khowass, who enjoyed His Majesty's confidence, pro-
cured letters to be written to the chiefs present and
■' In December, 1771. I Nudjift' Khawii.
X April 7, 1782. This is probably an error, the lunar computa-
tion being always luicertain. From more accurate authority it
appears, that Nudjift" Khawn died on the 6th of April.
§ A servant constantly attendant on the King's person.
98
APPENDIX 99
absent, assuring some of continuance in their offices,
and others of higher dignities from the royal favour.
The morning after the Nabob's death I saw that
the attendants on His Majesty were consulting to send
some persons to the house of the deceased, in order to
calm disturbances ; and at last,* the wisdom enlight-
ening the world, and all the courtiers resolved on
deputing me to effect that object. This faithful
servant,! agreeably to the commands of His Majesty
(whose empire may God perpetuate !) having departed
with all speed, and given assurances to the afflicted,
the friends of the departed had leisure to wash and
dress the body, and the disturbances and clamour
l)egan to cease. After necessary preparation, I
attended the corpse to the Musjid Jehan-nummah ;
and the dues of Islaum,]: as prayers and blessings,
being paid, sent it to the place of interment under the
care of Afrasiab Khawn, who was the cherished in the
bosom of the bounty of the noble deceased, whose
sister also regarded him as her adopted son ; after
which I returned to the imperial palace.
As it was the wish and choice of the Begum § that
Afrasiab Khawn should succeed her brother, he became
ambitious of the dignities and possessions of the
deceased ; and the Begum petitioned His Majesty in
his favour with earnest entreaty ; but this proved dis-
agreeable in the far-extending sight of the royal
wisdom, as Mirzah Shuffeh Khawn, who had a great
army and considerable resources, looked to the suc-
cession, and would never agree to such a supercession
in the administration ; so that contentions would of
necessity ensue. Through the instigation of female
obstinacy the Begum would not withdraw her request ;
♦ The King. t The Prince.
I Religion. § Nudjift" Khawn's sister.
7—2
100 APPENDIX
and regard and compassion for the situation of a widow
in affliction, like her, worthy of the royal Indulgence,
at length operated, and her petition was, though
reluctantly, favoured with compliance. The honours
of the splendid khelaat * of Ameer ul Omrah, and
acting minister, were conferred on Afrasiab Khawn by
His Majesty, who directed this household servant
(sensible of the ill consequences of the measure, and
the royal doubts) to write to Mirzah Shuffeh to hasten
to the presence, so that no suspicions might remain
with him of partiality in the rejection of his rights on
the part of the King.
Afrasiab Khawn, alarmed at the knowledge of
the royal favour to Mirzah Shuffeh, and esteem-
ing Mudjld u'Dowlah of great influence with His
Majesty, made a treaty with that Ameer, released him
from confinement, and havino^ brought him to court,
procured him the imperial kindness and favour.
Mirzah Shuffeh Khawn arriving soon after with his
army at Dehly, and connecting himself with the
Begum, who was nearly related to him, and who had
promised him in marriage the daughter of the late
Nabob, encamped near the Turkomaan gate, so called
from the tomb of Shah Turkomaan. He appointed his
brother Zein-ul-Aub-u'Deen, and his vakeel Raow
Munny Khawn, to negoclate for him in the presence.
On this account disputes arose at Court, and dissen-
tions in the city ; so that open war was on the point
of occurring. At length Afrasiab Khawn, seeing the
inclination of his Majesty tend towards Mirzah Shuffeh,
thought it best for the preservation of his own honour
to obtain dismission from court ; and leaving Mudjld
u'Dowlah and Nudjiff Kooly Khawn on his part in the
presence, to retire to his foujedarry, Ajjheer. Mudjid
* Garments of investure.
APPENDIX 101
u'Dowlah and Niidjiff Kooly Kawu having contrived
to indispose his Majesty towards Mirzah ShufFeh, that
chief, highly enraged, and seeing them without forces,
surrounded them in their houses,* took them prisoners,
and confined them both in the palace of the Begum,,
where he himself resided. After being guilty of this,
presumption, he studied to bring His Majesty into his
own power, and his influence and authority became
supreme.
His Majesty, in this situation of affairs, directed me
to negociate with Mirzah Shuffeh ; and I, obedient to
the royal will, having obviated the alarms of that
chief, obtained for him the khelaat of Ameer-ul-Omra,
and manager of the imperial affairs. Much time had
not elapsed when Mahommed Yaccoob Khawn, who
favoured the views of Afrasiab Khawn, and by his in-
sinuating representations had procured the approbation
of His Majesty, secretly gained to his purpose Mon-
sieur Pauly, who commanded Sumroo's battalions, and
the Eunuch Luttafut Ally Khawnf persuading them
to enrol themselves among His Majesty's servants. He
instructed them to desert suddenly from their master,
and repair to the gate of the palace royal ; which they
did accordingly, and drew over with them most of the
Mirzah's other battalions. J Mirzah Shuffeh Khawn,
finding it unsafe to remain in the city, made his escape,
and His Majesty heading the troops repaired to the
Musjid Jehan-nummah. Upon intelligence of this
event I alone of His Majesty's sons repaired without
delay to the presence, and represented that it was
most advisable for His Majesty to pursue the Mirzah,
■•' 11th and 12th September 1782. Mudjid u'Dowlah was arrested
on the 11th, and Xiidjiff Kooly Khawn the following day.
t The commander of six battalions of sepo\'s in the service of the
Nabob Vizier, attendant on the King.
I October 1782.
102 APPENDIX
secure his adherents and the Begum in the royal
palace, and take possession of his effects and artillery
for the royal use. The courtiers regarding the ex-
pulsion of the Mirzah as sufficient success, were
satisfied with their march to the Musjid, and soon
after returned with His Majesty to the palace.
Mirzah Shuffeh with great alarms being arrived at
Kosee, and seeing that he was not pursued by an
army, halted there, and resolv^ed on putting to death
Mudjid u'Dowlah, whom he had brought a prisoner
along with him ; but was withheld by his promising,
if he would spare his life, to soften the resentment of
His Majesty, and procure for him his highest favour,
and a restoration to office. Moved by his arguments
he set him at liberty, and also prevailed on Mahommed
Beg Khawn Hamadanee to join him by a promise of
the office of Vakaalut Mutulluck.*
Monsieur Pauly and Latafat Khawn, upon intelli-
gence of this junction, prevailed on His Majesty to
encamp at Khizzerabad near which t Mirzah Shuffeh
Khawn and Mahommed Beg shortly after arrived, and
through Mahommed Yaccoob Khawn began negocia-
tions and proposed a meeting with Pauly and Latafat ;
who, satisfied by assurances, accepted the offers, and
begged leave of His Majesty to make peace. At this
time I from loyalty observed, that in such quarrels
there was no room for peace ; that the force with His
Majesty was equal to crush more powerful rebels than
the present, who were only a rabble, and dared not to
face the royal standard, but would mostly join it, or
in the space of a few days separate of themselves ; that
if at all events peace was resolved upon, they should
'•' An oiRce superior in dignity to the Vizier, and seldom granted
but in great emergencies,
t November 1782.
APPENDIX 103
be called to the presence, instead of being visited ; but
that if at any rate the latter was resolved on, prudence
demanded that only one chief should be sent, and the
other remain with His Majesty.
As the designs of Providence had weakened the ears
of their understandings, and the eyes of their per-
ception with the mist of ill-fortune, an interview
appeared to them most advisable ; and mutual sus-
picion rendered each unwilling that one should go and
the other remain in camp, lest he who went should
make his own terms without the other. In short both
went, and at the instant of meeting, fell, together with"^
Mahommed Yaccoob Khawn, into the snare of imprison-
ment and ruin. Upon this event, perturbation seized
the imperial camp, and dread of the treachery of the
rebels wholly occupied in the mind of His Majesty.
The important services performed by me, though
without power, on this occasion for His Majesty in
appeasing the passions of Mirzah ShufFeh and
Mahommed Beg Khawn, are fully known and cele-
brated. Afrasiab Khawn, who had marched on
pretence of reconciling divisions, seeing Pauly and
Latafat ruined, joined the successful ^^arty. I brought
all the three chiefs to make their submissions in the
royal presence, and they, assisted by Mujid u'Dowlah,
took up the throne upon their shoulders, as an acknow-
ledgement of their obedience ; after which they were
permitted to mount their horses, and attended His
Majesty to the palace, where they were distinguished
by the gift of splendid khellaats. Mirzah Shufteh
Khawn was restored to the office of Ameer-ul-Omrah,
and Mudjid u'Dowlah to that of Dewan to the Khalsah
Shereefah ; but the promise of the former to Mahommed
Beg of the Vakaalut Muttulluck was not performed.
* 20th and 21st November 1782.
101 APPENDIX
Soon after this Mirzah Shuffeh Kliawn, with the
Begum, his women, and all the dependants of the late
Nabob, marched for Agra, and requested me to go
with him ; but seeing the confusion of affairs, the evil
disposition and treachery of the Mirzah, also the dis-
inclination of His Majesty, I would not comply with
his petition. Being without remedy, he obtained leave
from His Majesty for my dear brother Soleyman
Shekoh to command him, and began his march.
It was at this period that much anxiety and
melancholy intruding on the sacred mind of His
Majesty, asylum of the world, and also on the breast
of his loyal servant, Mahommed Akbar Khawass was
dispatched to the English goveriunent by me, in order
to prove the faith and attachment of the English
Chiefs to His Majesty. It was my design to go
myself, as without that step the accomj^lishment of
such important business appeared difficult, if not
impossible. It had fiequently fallen from the revela-
tion-explaining speech of His Majesty, that no con-
fidential and faithful person occurred to him, who was
capable of expressing the sentiments of his heart, and
the wickedness and ill-behaviour of the followers of
error, to his royal chiefs ; or of delivering to them in a
proper manner his commands, and satisfying their
doubts, or of bringing their answers. At last he
expressed his wishes equal to commands, to this servant,
in such a manner, that I resolved on moving to the
Eastward ; but with the firm hope of important
services from the English, in the punishment of the
rebels already mentioned. Various commotions pre-
vented me ; till at length the assassination* of Mirzah
Shuffeh — the succession to his office by Afrasiab — his
* Mirzah .Shutieh was assassinated by Mahommed Beg Hamma-
danee on the il3d of .September lT8o.
APPENDIX 10'.
chusing for his patron my dear brother Mu'zah
Soleyraan Shekoh, that lie might remain master of the
imperial affairs, and continue the mode of error — came
to pass. These various quarrels of the usurpers had
occasioned the greatest confusion in the public affairs,
and numerous distresses and injuries were felt by His
Majesty ; and on account of my known regard to the
English for their virtues and loyalty, various instances
of their hatred and dislike were shown to myself; and
as far as they could, they neglected no insult to me,
bound in the same difficulties with my sovereign.
Driven by necessity, for the restoration of affairs,
and in obedience to the commands of the glorious
presence, I laid my plan for escaping from the palace,
and confided it to Mofizem u'Dowlah, the governor.*
This Ameer, who is nearly related to His Majesty, was
from his infancy cherished in the bosom of my favour,
and the confidant of this devoted to the royal pleasure.
I had ever esteemed him my firm friend and trusty
counsellor, and de2:)ended upon his loyalty to His
Majesty ; for several times, when secrets were agitated
in the presence, in the Assud Bastion, he was fully
informed of His Majesty's desires. I requested that
he might convey me out of the j^alace, or into
Noorghur, which joins to it, and was under his care ;
from whence I could prosecute my journe}^ to the
English Chiefs. He from his base mind, and regard
to the relation which he bore to Koottub-'u-deen
Khawn, the son-in-law of Mudjid-u'Dowlah, communi-
cated my secret to that minister ; who questioned the
news- writer of the Nabob Vizier, if I liad set on foot
any negociations with his master, which he denied.
He then informed His Majesty, who guessed that his
own inclination had proved the incitement of this
'•■■ Of the palace, or citadel.
106 APPENDIX
design ; but to prevent suspicions of himself, he went
with Mudjid u'Dowlah to view the state of the Fort,
under pretence of the numerous robberies of the
Goojers, and other thieves. I seeing that my secret
was betrayed, in order to remove farther suspicions of
my designs, pointed out to His Majesty many unknown
breaches in the walls, and used great activity in order-
ing their repair ; so that for the following eight months
such a degree of incaution possessed every one, that
all suspicion of my design was done away from their
minds, and they even accused my betrayer of false-
hood.
At length, having certain accounts of the Governor
General's arrival at Lucnow,* I was convinced that
no better opportunity could ever occur for my going
to him, to disclose the wishes of His Majesty, and
for bringing about the recovery of the royal affairs,
because the wisdom and loyalty of the Governor
exceed those of every other subject.
I did not think it adviseable to entrust my design
to any person, but the faithful Mukkurrim u'Dowlah,
brother to my most honoured parent of the Begum
Taaje Mahal, who by the assistance of Abdul Rhaman
Khowass, Ummuldar of my Jagheer at Pakul, the
residence of some Goojer Chiefs, collected a number of
horse and foot of that tribe to attend me, and my
departure was fixed for the night of the 23d t of
Jemmad-ul-Awel. The place of my residence was
composed of various courts, at each of which were
stationed porters and guards of His Majesty, who
watched constantly the proceedings of my family, and
used even to come several times in the night while I
slept to inquire about my motions ; so that with such
spies upon me it was very difiicult to effect my purpose.
* 27th March, 1781. t Uth April, 1784.
APPENDIX 107
Thus situated, I desired the retired in the concealment
of chastity and purity, Kuttulluk Sultan Begum, who
had been for twelve months privy to my design, and
had sacredly promised to keep it secret, that no one
might enter my chamber, and that she would say, I
was indisposed. When four Gurries* of the night
were past, the sky grew cloudy, and it became so dark,
that the hand could not be perceived, I arose, and in
the room of long drawers put on jungehsf and girded
my waist with a turban and silk loongeh,| given me
by the head of holy teachers, and chiefs of the pious
Molwee Fukher u'deen, who is the chosen of God, and
a blessing to the age. Upon my head I put a linen
cap, over which I tied a shawl handkerchief under my
chin : over all I wore two black shawls in the manner
of a koit. About five Gurries of the night being past,
I ascended to the terrace of my house, and from thence
passed from terrace to terrace to the Fyez Nahar,§
which runs over the wall of the garden Hyaut-Buksh.
Here not finding those whom I expected to wait for
me II agreeably to appointment, I began to search
about, but in vain. At length despairing, I returned
towards my own terrace, that I might, should they
from dread of danger have deserted me, be informed of
it ; or if I should find them on the way, bring them
back with me. When I had advanced near the
terrace, I perceived a man, and thinking he might be
a centinel led by the sound of my feet to follow me, I
ran and seized him violently by the throat, when he
* About eight o'clock.
t Short and tight breeches reaching but half way down the
thigh.
I A cloth passed round the loins.
§ Aqueduct.
II Mirza Imaum Buksk, Abdul Ehaman, Sabit Ehaman, Meer
A yum, Shek Fyezulla, and Buksh}^ Allah Beg.
108 APPEXDIX
exclaimed I aiii Abdul Khamun, your servant. Taking
him along with me, I returned. Such was the dark-
ness of the night, and the violence of the wind, that
Abdul lihaman stumbled on the roof of a bath, and
fell in. I helped him out with difficulty, and then
went to the Fyez Naher. When I had passed half
way through it, I perceived another figure cloathed in
black, and seizing him by the throat, asked who he
was. By his voice I knew him to be Sabit Khawn,
and desired him to follow me. In the Fyez Naher
there was a wall at the place fixed for my going out,
which I had three days before broke through, and
made a window large enough to admit me, from which
I now descended on a spot adjoining to my armory.
Here, under the rampart of the Fort facing the Jumna,''"
I found the four remaining persons appointed to meet
me. Imaum Buksh Khawn before my arrival had
made a rope ladder, and fixed it to the battlements of
the Fort wall, which is twenty-two dirrhest in height,
and I hastened to descend. First I commanded Bukshy
Allah Beg to descend, and after him Sabit Khawn. Next
I began to descend myself, and had got half way, when
one twist of the rope broke. I then recommended
myself to God, and making myself light by the science
of Hittublmss (holding the breath) slipped safely by
the blessing of God to the end of the rope to the
ground. Imaum Buksh then repairing the rope, came
down, and after him Sehkh Abdul Rhaman, and Meer
Aazim. Shekh FyezuUah I commanded to stay behind
and efface every trace of my escape, then to retire to
his house by the way he had come, and to follow me
at leisure.
It had been settled that some Goojers, to shew me
* The river Jumna.
! Sixtv feet and a half. One dirreh is 33 inches.
APPENDIX 109
the road, should attend me near Neelah Chutteiy,
which is under Noorghur, and that Mnkkurrim
u'Dowlah should wait for me at Putter Gunge Ghaut
with five hundred men ; also that Abdul Rhaman
should be ready with my own horse at about an
arrow's flight from the place of my descent. Mnkkur-
rim u'Dowlah, as agreed upon, had left his house with
the Goojers at about four Gurries of the night, and
reached the Sand near the Neelah Bastion, which is
at the extremity of the city wall ; when rain, lightning,
and clouds of dust, prevented their proceeding, and
the Goojers, unable to stand the storm, would not
advance, though earnestly entreated by Mnkkurrim
u'Dowlah, but instead of listening to him, began to
insult and threaten him. Unmoved by threats, he
stood his ground with only two horsemen. From the
decrees of Providence, against which human reason
has no remedy, Abdul PhamAn, with some things
belonging to me, fled with that wretched band. Mnk-
kurrim u'Dowlah, who had now with him only two
persons, consulted with them how to act ; and it being
determined to go back, he returned to his own house
with a regretful and sad heart. I had about this time
entered the ditch of the Fort wdth my five attendants :
at about twenty paces from the place of my descent
was the guard of the private watch on one side, and on
the other a guard of His Majesty's red battalion
stationed with Ahmed Ally Khawn. At the sound of
our feet a centinel cried out, " Take care, and attend
" to every noise." They answered, " We are watchful."
I was between both guards, and relying on the pro-
tection of the Divine Being, picked my way, step by
step, under the wall of the Fort, towards the bridge of
Noorghur ; but though I endeavoured to prevent the
noise of my feet, it was impossible, as the ditch was full of
110 APPENDIX
dried leaves ; so that at last I drew my sword, and
rushing between the two guards, resolved, if any one,
should challenge me, to kill him ; but by God's blessing,
notwitlistanding the sound of so many steps, no alarm
was given, so that probably they were frightened, and
thought it best to be silent. I reached the place
appointed for Abdul Rhaman to wait for me, and made
signals and noises ; but received no answer : after
which I went to the bridge of Noorghur, and called
out, but no reply was given. As the river flowed
under the bridge, I waded through it up to my middle,
and arrived at Neelah Chutterree, the last expected
place of meeting any one ; but not a person could I
find. I stood here some time to wait for the Goojers ;
but seeing no sign of them, and at last despairing,
with much labour and difiiculty I proceeded through
Melon Beds, and three inlets of the Jumna, to the
Neelah Bastion, which was near three cose ;* but saw
no one. My mind became now very uneasy, and each
of my attendants offered advice agreeable to his ability ;
that I should go to Mudjid u'Dowlah or Afrasiab
Khawn, who would procure from His Majesty forgive-
ness of my faults, and my life would be safe, though
those of my servants might be sacrificed ; or that I
should repair to Ahmed Ally Khawn, who would
convey me privately into the Fort ; for independently
of the danger of enemies, and the beasts of the desert,
there was in remaining longer cause of dread from
robbers and murderers. I answered them all, that
nothing remained in my view but death ; that I could
never submit to the insults of my enemies, to which I
preferred death ; that if I had strength in my feet, I
would walk to Tughlimabad, a settlement of Goojers,
seven cose distant, and trust for the rest to the
■■'■ 8ix miles.
APPENDIX 111
graciousness of God. Giving not fortitude from my
hands, I remained in this dangerous spot, and sent Meer
Azim to inquire after Mukkurrim u'Dowlah, and if he
was at his own house, to bring him to me ; after which
I uncovered my head, and prostrated myself in prayer
to God, with much earnestness and sincerity of heart.
After three Gurries, by permission of the Ahiiighty, a
man's voice struck my ear ; when I Hfted myself from
the ground, and tried those who were approaching by
a particular call, which they answered, and approached ;
but the night was so dark, and the wind so violent,
that till they came close to me, I could not distinguish
who they were. One was Mahommed Azim, and the
other Ahmud Khawn, from whom I learnt that Muk-
kurrim u'Dowlah was following them with seven
attendants, and such horses as he could bring from his
house. Soon after this he arrived with Goojer Khawn,
whom I requested to show me a ford of the river
from Patter Ghaut. He informed me, that he was
ignorant of that road, but could lead me a way by
Raaj Ghaut, towards which I proceeded. On the road
the watch of the night cried, " Who are passing V
And my companion answered, " We are Afrasiab's
" soldiers, and go against the Sics." — At length, with
a thousand difficulties, we got over four inlets of the
Jumna full of mud ; and in our search for the ford,
which we could not find from the darkness of the night,
passed through several cultivated fields, in one of
which we found a husbandman watching his crop, and
by his guidance crossed the river.* I once resolved to
* This passage seems so repugnant to the feelings of humanity,
and so contrary to the real character of the illustrious writer, that I
should have been tempted to suppress it, if I could reconcile the
suppression to my regard for truth, although even this principle
may suffer by impressing the reader with an opinion which I know
to be foreign from the temper and disposition of the Prince, which
112 APPENDIX
kill the guide, lest he should inform the enemy of my
route ; but on reflection spared him, relying on the
has in its composition as much of the milk of human kindness as
any character- that I have ever known. I was myself so much hurt
by it, that I took the liberty to ask the Prince, with that tenderness
requisite to the censure implied by the question, what were his
motives, and especially whether the guide performed this service
freely or by force. The Prince answered, that the man was pressed,
l)ut did not provoke violence by resistance. — He said coolly, "I
"believe that I ought to have put the man to death, as by the for-
" bearance of this caution I left it in the power of an individual to
*' defeat my purpose, l)y Ijetraying me, and with it to expose my life
"to the most desperate extremity, having resolved to sacrifice it if
" any attempt M'as made to stop me, and 1 could no other way escape
" the ignominy of being carried back a prisoner ; but I did not
"approve it, and preferred to recommend myself to the care of
" Providence, and suffered him to escape. In effect," added he,
" the man justified my suspicion, for he instantly went to
" the nearest guard, and gave information of my route, as 1
"learnt soon after; but T made such speed that my pursuers
"could not overtake me." It should be obseived, that the Prince
considered himself as embarked in a design, on the event of which
the fortunes of his house, and even of a great empire, depended, with
which the life of an individual was not to be placed in competition,
and no doubt this sentiment was strongly urged by his less feeling
attendants ; for his reply indicated a misconception of the drift of
my question, and was not so much intended to justify his first
impulse, as to palliate the supposed weakeness of having opposed to
it the dictates of his own clemency.
I cannot more strongly illustrate this inference than by the
following extract of a letter written to me l)y Mr. Fowke, the
resident at Benaris, who certainly did not write for the purpose of
furnishing me with such an evidence, and which exhibits a trait of
character totally foreign from that which might Ije deduced from
the passage which I have thus explained, had it passed without a
comment. W. H.
" I attended him (the Prince) to the Eidgah, for there is one here,
"on the day of the Eid, with all the principal people, both
" Europeans and natives It is, you know, a part of the ceremony
"that he should kill the goats and the camel with his own hand.
" From a reflection he made, after it was over, of the injustice of
" depriving any animal of life, I imagine he was struck with this
"scene. Indeed the convulsions of an animal of a camel's size,
" expiring by the opening of a single artery, and the livid appearance
" of the tongue and blubber, which at that time it throws out of its
"mouth, present the idea of death in as shocking colours as the
■"destruction of any thing not human can well suggest."
APPENDIX 113
protection of God, the divine preserver : and went on
to Lissoundah, the Jagheer of my mother, five cose
from Dehly ; where I put on my proper apparel, as
Goojer Khawn requested I would halt a little, and he
would procure some horsemen to attend me. He
accordingly soon brought Jissoo Sing, who was his
brother by exchange of turbans, and conducted me to
Serrora, ten cose from Dehly. Jissoo Sing here brought
to me Oudah Kirrum, and other Goodjir Zemindars of
the place, who were related to him. Here I performed
my ablutions, and my morning devotions. Oudah
Kirrum represented that it would be better for me to
repose here all day, and that at night he and his people
would attend my stirrup, and conduct me to a Ghaut
of the Ganges, to see me safely over that river. I
observed, " How could I halt, since a detachment of
" my enemies would certainly come after me in
" pursuit ?" He replied, " We are two hundred horse-
" men. Fifty of us will engage the pursuers, and the
" rest will remain with your Highness while you take
" repose." In compliance with their requests, I rested
the whole day ; and mounting about half an hour
before sun-set, travelled all night, and at dawn of
morning arrived at Aurungabad, forty cose from
Sorrora, where I said morning prayers. Oudah Kirrum
here sent to me his son, with Nunsing Goojer, who
had lately become a Sic*: and they having paid their
respects, requested I would enter the fort of Sirrabad ;
to which T replied, that it was not agreeable to me,
but I would go from regard to their desires. Accord-
ingly I went, and there the son desired that I would
go to Perrechut Ghur, and make one or two halts ; to
which I replied, it was not agreeable, and that I would
cross the Ganges that day. — As they continued their
* A religious sect inhabiting the province of Punjaub.
.114 APPENDIX
importunities, I put my hand upon my sword, and,
relying on God, declared, that any one who should
oppose my departure would give away his life to the
winds of annihilation. The Divine Being so impressed
their minds with dread, that they now came to me
with the utmost humility, and declared, with solemn
oaths, that they meant nothing but dutiful attention.
Upon this I complied with their wishes to remain till
mid-day, and proceeded on after prayer. At length,
by the divine blessing, I reached the Ganges, which is
about twent}^ cose from the Fort of Sirrabad, and
crossed the river at the Ghaut of Kummir-u-deen-
Nuggur, said my evening prayers, and returned thanks
to God for his mercies. As from fatigue, sustained
both day and night, together with the excessive heat
of the sun, a feverish symptom shewed itself on my
person, and I had been seized while crossing the river
with a fainting fit, from which I soon recovered, I
waited till one Gurry of the night, and then proceeded
to Suddamunnah, about four cose from the Ghaut.
The next morning Jemmaut Sing Goojer, Foudejar of
the place, came to pay his respects, and presented me
with a mare. Having reposed here all day, I set off
about five o'clock, and came to Putchra-noo, in the
country of the Vizier, about eight at night. In the
morning I marched to the town of Omerooh, about
twelve cose ; and the chief inhabitants of the place
presented Nuzzirs agreeable to their conditions. After
spending the night in repose, I moved at dawn to
Moradabad, about thirteen cose, and upon the arrival
of my suite near the house of the late Dundee Khawn,*
his son, the worthy of favour, engaged to the utmost
of his ability in providing for my entertainment ; and
I took up my lodging in the house of the Dewan Kaeen
* A Eohilla chief.
APPENDIX 115
Mull, a stately edifice, where I remained one day. I
then proceeded ten cose to Kampoor,* the chief of
which place, Fyezullah Khawn, had set out to meet
me, but from the mistake of the guides, my suite going
a wrong road, I came suddenly into the house of
Fyezulla Khawn ; and as I had no acquaintance with
any one, all were astonished at seeing a single horse-
man enter freely the palace of their chief By accident
there happened to be present Moatimud-u'Dowlah, the
son of the late nobleman of that title, Yacoob Ally
Khawn, an ancient servant of the royal household.
He knew me at a distance, and running up, kissed my
feet, pointing me out to Fyezulla Khawn, who imme-
diately advanced, kissed my stirrup, and conducting
me into his Dewant, seated me on a rich musnud ;
after which he offered me a nuzzir of one and twenty
mohurs, and his sons and followers made their offerings
according to their ranks. While I remained at Ram-
poor, Fyezullah Khawn, shewing the proper respect
and submission, regarded my approbation as his chief
blessing. He presented me with two thousand rupees,
two elephants, and several horses and tents, with
proper carriage. After two days T marched to Tukkia,
three cose from Rampoor, and from thence to Ameer
Gunge. On Friday, the 2d| of Jemmaud-u'Sani, I
pitched my tents at Barelly, and took up my residence
for two days in the house of Manroy. Roy Roopnarain,
and Roy Sadooram, relations of Rajah Soorut Sing,
who governs the country on the part of the Vizier,
came and attended me. The next day the Rajah
himself came to pay his respects, and presented a
female elephant, with the sum of five thousand rupees,
* The capital of the district of that name, the only remaining
territory of the Rohillas lying North of the Ganges.
t Hall of audience. I 23d April.
8—2
116 APPENDIX
and I honoured him with a doputta'"' worn by myself.
E-ajah Jagganaut, his relation, was also favoured with
a pair of shawls. On this day also arrived Sheikh
FyezuUa, whom I had left behind to remove the rope
ladder, and destroy every trace of my escape. The
5d t day, being the 5th of the month, I marched from
Barelly, and encamped at Ferreedpore, the chief
inhabitants of which paid their respects. On the 6th
I moved ten cose to Kuttereh, and on the 7th proceeded
to the house of the late Moatimud-u'Dowlah, in the
town of Shahjehanpore. Here arrived addresses from
my brothers, dear as life, the chief of nobles of high
rank, the pillar of the pillars of state, the support of
the empire, the Nabob Vizier ul Momalic, and the
noblest of nobles, Ameer ul Momalic ; Mr. Hastings,
with the copy of an imperial shookeh.^ The alarms of
both, occasioned by the contents of the shookeh, con-
cerning my march, appeared fully, and I immediately
answered their addresses, by disclosing the real wishes
of His Majesty, and shewing that he had written
contrary to them, merely to please the minds of his
refractory servants, that both might be relieved from
their anxiety. On the 8th I marched thirteen cose,
and encamped near Serromunnagur, and on the 9th§
to Dirga Gunge, which was a very long stage. From
thence I moved to Bugwantnugger, where I halted
two days out of tenderness for my followers, who were
all much wearied with successive marches. What is
extraordinary, the road on this day's march is much
infested with banditti, who plunder and murder
caravans, yet not a man molested my followers or
baggage, though straggling and ^^dthout guards ; yet
* A cloth of two folds, used as a sash. f 28th April.
X A letter from the King under the privy seal.
§ .30th April.
APPENDIX 117
just In their rear they robbed a caravan coming from
the westward. On the 12th* I moved to Tukkia, and
the next day, at the distance of six cose, Captain Scott,
sent by my brother, dear as life, Ameer ul Momallc,
Mr. Hastings, and Kajah Gobin Ram, on the part of
my brother the Ylzler ul Momallc, had the honour of
paying their respects on the road. The former pre-
sented three elephants, with an ambaree fayedarf , and
a silver howdah, and a standard and flags, according
to the royal ceremonial, from the governor, with
addresses from him and the Nabob Vizier, expressive
of their loyalty and attachment. As the Vizier had
pitched tents near Almass Gungej for my reception,
I halted there for the day, and the next morning
encamped near the town of Mahawn§, where letters
came from my dear brothers, requesting me to halt,
that they might come to wait upon me in the morning.
I comphed with their request, and the next day, upon
Intelligence of their approach, sent Mukkurrim u'Dow-
lah, Syed Akber Ally Khawn to meet and conduct
them to me. At about four ghurrles of the day they
arrived in the presence, when the Vizier and Governor,
and also all the P^ngllsh gentlemen with them, pre-
sented nuzzirs according to their ranks. The Vizier
laid before me a peshcush|| of four elephants, with a
silver ambarree, five horses, and a standard of drums.
I honoured each of my brothers with a khelaat of a
turban, a goshebundTI, and jeggah and serpeisk** of
jewels, with a neem-asteen, a string of pearls, a shield
* 3d May. 1 A covered seat or canopy on an elephant.
I About 24 miles from the city of Lucnow.
§ Ten miles from the city.
II Offerings to the royal line are so called.
H A band of embroidery tied round the head.
** Jewels tied to the turban ; the first in the form of a feather,
the other fixed horizontally.
118 APPENDIX
and sword, also an elephant and horse. After some
ghurrles I dismissed them with the favours of the
Betel and Otter. On the 17th I marched to the
Bowley, ahout a cose from Lucnow, attended by the
Vizier in the Khawass, who, on my alighting, returned
to the city. On the 1 8th * the Vizier and the Governor,
coming to meet me, conducted me to Lucnow in great
pomp, and the inhabitants were filled with such joy
and satisfaction at my arrival, that they adorned the
streets and shops to express their gladness. The
Vizier, having conducted me to his own palace,
performed the necessary ceremonials of respect, and
having offered a peshcush of two elephants, two horses,
and a silver pallekee, together with trays of jewels,
cloths, and arms, attended me to the house prepared
for my reception in the English cantonments.
- 8th May.
END OF PRINCE JEHANDAR SHAHS NARRATIVE.
A NARRATIVE
THE INSURRECTION^
WHICH HAPPENED IN THE
ZEMEEDARY OF BANARIS
IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1781
AND OF THE
TRANSACTIONS OF THE GOVERNOR-
GENERAL IN THAT DISTRICT
/
^PHE following sheets were written to guard the
minds of my superiors against the suspicions
to which all great political movements are liable,
especially such as pass at a distance from observation,
and are attended with violent convulsions, or revolu-
tions in any of the great dependencies or relations of
Government, and to which from their conformity to
that description my late transactions in Banaris were
particularly exposed. On the same grounds they are
now made public for the purpose of effacing the like
unfavorable impressions from the breasts of my
countrymen, if I, or my actions, shall have been
deemed of so much consequence as to have drawn on
me that effect of their attention. Had I been
prompted by the vain ambition of displaying my
own importance, a levity of which I have never
displayed any symptoms, I should certainly have
selected other passages of my public life for the
gratification of such a disposition. I claim no merit
in having surmounted, by the successful zeal and
exertions of others, the troubles, of which, though
long before conceived, my own acts had accelerated
the birth ; unless I may be allowed a small portion of
applause, that I never suffered them to embarrass the
hands in which I had left the care of the superior
Government, nor myself to despair of the public
safety.
WARREN HASTINGS.
To Edwakd AVheler and John MTherson EstiUiRES
Members of the Council of Fort William.
Gentlemen.
J HA VE now the honor to send you the Narrative
tchicJi I pro7nued in m\) letter of the l^tJi of
October, of the transactions and events which passed
during the course of the late Insurrection of this
Province.
I had begun it at the time of the date whicli is
prefixed to it; but the busy scenes which followed, both
while I was at Chunar and after my return to Banaris,
hindered 7}w from prosecuting it till a few days before
the date which I have subjoined to it. I did not chuse
to alter the introduction, although written at such a
distance of time from that in which the body of the
work was executed, and even from the existence of the
events which are recorded in the latter ; because I
found it not easy to give it a new form, icithout a total
omission of what had been already produced, lehile my
mind, was animated by the recent and actual scenes in
which it was engaged, to an anxious and most feeling
solicitude, not more for the issue of the impending
contest, than for its consequences on my own reputa-
tion. In the consciousness of the rectitude of my
intentions, I had allowed myself to use an appeal the
most solemn and most sacred that could bind my
relation to truth, or impress the conviction of it on the
124 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
hearts of others ; nor could I consistently with my own
se7ise of its obligation withdraw it, or coldly place it
after the Narrative already written, and written under
the check which 1 had imposed upon it. I know not
whether I shall he clearly understood : If I am not, yet
let this endeavour to e.Tplain a seeming impropriety iii
the construction of this performance he accepted for its
apology.
I have only to add my hope, that as I have received
the most cordial su-pport in the past events from you,
my respectable and most respected Associates in the
administration, and as it has been my unvaried study
to prevent your suffering any embarrassment from
them ; my conduct in litem may also receive its first
reward in the testimony of your approbation.
I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obediejit, and most faithful servant^
Warren Hastings.
Banaris,
31s^ December 1781.
A NARRATIVE
OF THE INSURRECTION, &c.
Chunar
Isf September 1781.
T N whatever manner the scene may close in which I
-*- am now engaged, the calamities with which it
opened will not fail, in their first impression, to
influence in some degree the minds of all men in
forming their judgment of it. In the following
narrative, if I can trust to my own sentiments ; or if
those who shall read it will credit this declaration of
them, I shall less study to efface that impression, than
seek to divest my mind of all partial bias, and to
<leliver all the past transactions and occurrences with
the strictest and most faithful regard to truth ; in
which if I fail, I fail unknowingly : And may the God
of Truth so judge me, as my own conscience shall
condemn or acquit me of intentional deception.
The motives and objects of my journey were various.
With these the design of my transactions at Banaris
had but a remote and secondary connection. I left
Calcutta on the 7th of July. At Buxar Rajah Cheit
Sing paid me the customary duty of respect, by
advancing to that place, which lay the nearest to the
boundary -line of his Zemeedary. He brought with
him a great fleet of boats, which, as I afterwards
125
126 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
learned, were crouded with two thousand armed and
chosen men. This circumstance was noticed by many
of the gentlemen who accompanied me, and was
certainly a deviation from the established rules of
decorum ; not only such as are observed from vassals
to their superiors, but even such as pass between
equals. An instance of this will be remembered by
many to have happened at Banaris in the year 1773,
in the meeting which took place there between the
late Vizeer Shujah-ud-Dowlah and myself. He had
left his Capital with a large retinue ; but hearing that
I came unattended, he dismissed his followers, and
met me with a state as humble as mine.
I received the Rajah with civility, and without any
expression of displeasure. I left Buxar the next
morning, and received a second visit from the Rajah
in my boat. After a short space he desired to speak
to me in private. The particulars of our conversation
I do not exactly remember : I can only relate the
substance of it. He professed much concern to hear
that I was displeased with him, and contrition for
having given cause for it ; assuring me that his
Zemeedary, and all that he possessed were at my
devotion ; he expressed his fears for Owsan Sing, who
had been some days in my suite, and of the intrigues
of his relations ; and he accompanied his words by an
action either strongly expressive of the agitation of
his mind, or his desire to impress on mine a conviction
of his sincerity, by laying his turband on my lap. I
replied, that I had not seen Owsan Sing, nor con-
cerned myself about him, nor should I descend to be a
party in his family disagreements ; that my business
was with him, and with him only ; that what he had
heard, or might have conjectured, of my displeasure
was true, and I entered into a full discussion of the
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 127
causes of It ; that I had been already once deceived by
his oaths and protestations, and should not suffer my
purpose to be changed, or my duty to be over-ruled,
by any verbal concessions or declarations, which were
made with little cost, and for the observance of which
I had no pledge, nor warrant to credit them. He
pleaded his inability to answer my charges against
him ; admitted that he was in every respect faulty ;
but desired that I would forget the past, and form my
opinion of him on his future behavior. I declined any
further conversation upon the subject, and he took his
leave.
As the preceding conversation was accidental, and
made no part of the plan which I had concerted in my
own mind for ray conduct with the Rajah, I kept no
minutes of it, nor should have thought it deserving of
a place in this narrative, but for the weight which he
has since given to it, and that it might not be
imputed to me as a designed suppression, if I made no
mention of it. I shall proceed to relate the subjects
to which it alluded, and add the purposes which I had
in contemplation concerning them.
On the first intelligence of the war with France, in
July, 1778, it was resolved in Council that Rajah
Cheit Sing should be required to contribute an extra-
ordinary subsidy, for the expence which this new
exigency had imposed on our Government ; and the
sum was limited to five Lacks of Rupees for the
current year. After many excuses and protestations
of inability, he at length consented, with a very ill
grace, to the payment, and with a much worse
discharged it. The next year the same demand was
repeated, and he attempted in like manner to elude it,
afiecting to borrow money in small sums, and to sell
his plate and jewels to raise it ; nor was it paid at last
128 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
till he had reduced the board to the extremity of
ordering two battalions of Seepoys to the neighbour-
hood of Kamnagur, and quartering them upon him
with their pay charged to his account, until the whole
payment was completed.
Early in the following year, about the month of
May, he deputed LalJa Suddanund, who was his
Buxey, and the confidential manager of his affairs, on
a private commission to me to solicit my forgiveness
of his past conduct, and to give me assurances,
confirmed by oath, of his future submission to the
orders of my government, and compliance with my
advice. I accepted his excuses, and promised him an
oblivion of all that had passed of exceptionable in his
conduct, and my future protection and every good
office in my power, so long as he adhered to his
professions ; requiring only as the pledge of their
sincerity, that he would immediately notify his ready
and unreserved consent to the demand which would
he made upon him, this being the period for it, of the
subsidy for the current year, and that he would use
no delay in discharging it. I at the same time
explained to Suddanund the nature of the demand, its
conformity to the customs of all states in times of
extraordinary emergency, and assured him that though
he must expect a repetition of it every year so long as
the war lasted, yet it could not be justly drawn into a
precedent for exacting an increase on his regular and
stipulated rent ; and so far as it could depend upon
me, I gave him the strongest assurances, and, I
believe, very solemn asseverations, that it should not.
Suddanund vowed the fullest obedience on the part of
his master ; the demand was accordingly made ; and
the Rajah answered it with a liberal and unreserved
declaration of his acquiescence. I exj^ected the
A NARRATIVE OF TITE INSURRECTION 129
immediate payment of the whole sum according to his
promise, and I placed a reliance upon it so far, as to
destine the appropriation of it to the support of the
detachment, which was then acting in the province of
Malva, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Camac, not apprehending any policy which could
warp him from the strong obligation of such an
engagement, and from the evident interest which he
had in fulfilling it. I was mistaken. The first pay-
ment was made in different periods in the course of a
month, amounting to about a Lack of Rupees ; and
there, as I recollect, he stopped, and even descended
to the meanness of writing to solicit the forbearance
of the remainder, that it might be included in the
regular payments of the ensuing year which was then
approaching. I am not possessed at this time of the
materials for ascertaining the dates of the demand
and of his letter written in acquiescence of it, nor the
dates and correspondent sums of the subsequent
payments ; but I desire that these may be inserted by
the Secretary as a note to this page of the narrative.*
It is sufficient to say that the demand was made, and
the whole payment consequently due in July ; that it
was not until the month of October, nor until the
* Note by the Secretary. — Demand, Secret Consultation
L'2d June 1780. Acquiescence expressed in a letter from the Resi-
dent dated 21st July Pul)lic Consultation 7th September 1780.
Dates of payment viz.
30 July 1780 - - - - - 37,000
31st Do. - . . . . 20,000
3d August .... - 27,500
.5th Do. 1.5,500
20th September . . . . 1,00,000
24th Do. - - - - - 47,000
18th October 3,000
20th Do. 2,50,000
Rs. 5,00,000
9
130 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
same constraint was practised to compel his obedience
as had been used in the preceding year, by an order
for the advance of two battahons of Seepoys for that
purpose, that the balance of the subsidy, which was
two lacks and a half of Rupees, was discharged. In
the meantime the resident received an order from the
board to remit the money, as he received it, by bills
to the Paymaster of Lieutenant- Colonel Camac's
detachment ; but these from the lateness of the
receipts were not sent until the detachment had
suffered the extremity of distress from the want of
money, and very great desertions, all which calamities
I charge to Jiajah Cheit Sing's account, as it is certain
that my reliance on his faith, and his breach of it,
were the principal causes that no other provision had
been made for the detachment, and that it suffered
such want in consequence.
It is with the greatest tenderness that I recur to the
past dissentions in our government ; but I am compelled
to it on this occasion for the elucidation of the conduct
of this man, which had the appearance of being Invari-
ably guided by tlie reports which were made to him
of the state of my influence. When he deputed his
Buxey Suddanund to me in the manner which I have
mentioned, an apparent harmony had taken place in
our Councils, with the general expectation of Its being
permanent. The powers of our govermnent whenever
united, and. If I may use the term, consolidated, by
such an event, will ever recover the res])ect which is
due to them, especially from those who have rendered
themselves obnoxious to Its terrors. The subject
whicl) produced the subsequent contest between Mr.
Francis and myself originated a little before the
departure of Suddanund from the Presidency, but was
not 2)erha23S either generally known, or known to have
A NAKRATI\K OK TIIK INSURRECTION 131
i;iowii into a decided breach, till the latter end of
.Inly. A reference to the proceedings of that period
will prove the trrounds of this supposition. It was
tlie prescribed duty of Cheit Sing's Vakeels in
( V\lcutta to furnish him with every little anecdote
which bore any relation to the state of our govern-
ment. I believe that the deliberate manner in which
he made the first payment of the subsidy of that year
was dictated by the doubts suggested of the firmness
of my authority ; and I am morally certain that his
subsequent excuses and delays in the payment of the
residue of the subsidy were caused by tlie belief that I
was no longer able to enforce it ; and possibly, for
such was the report, that a few months would close
the period of my administration altogether. That I
had his solemn promise in the manner which 1 have
recited to pay the subsidy, I as solemnly afiirm ; and
his letter assenting to the payment, which is recorded
on our consultations, is a strong presumptive evidence
of it ; and that he evaded the performance of his
])romise, that he attempted to the utmost of his power
to elude it altogether, is also proved by the record of
the dates of the different payments, the minutes of the
])oard relating to them, and the order of the board for
the march of a detachment for the purpose of com-
pelling him to perform it. That this order had a
principal effect in bringing him to a compliance I
believe; but I also attribute a share of it to the
approachiiiii' departure of Mr. Francis, which was
pubHshed and generally expected.
I owe it in candor to the gentleman whose name I
have reluctantly repeated in this digression, to obviate
an inference which might otherwise be unwarily drawn
IVom it, by declaring that I mean not by the most
."llstant hint to impute any part of this policy to lilm,
•J — -2
132 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTIOX
and in my heart do totally and deliberately acquit
him of any concern in it ; however in the resentment
of instant disappointment I may have suffered my
mind to catch such a suspicion ; although I believe
that, if I have, it has been sacredly confined to my
own breast.
This was the first direct charge which I had to
prefer against the Rajah. The second was similar in
its quality and })rinciple. On the 2d of the month of
November 1780, a resolution passed the board, that a
letter should be written to the Nabob Yizeer, advising
him to require from the Nabob Fyz-Oolla Khan the
number of troops stipulated b}^ treaty, expressed, as it
was then understood to be, 5,000 horse ; and that the
like demand should be made on Rajah Cheit Sing for
all the cavalry in his pay which he could spare for our
service. At that time we stood in need of every aid
that could be devised to repel the multiplied dangers
Avhich surrounded us. The Rajah was supposed to
maintain a very large and expensive standing force,
and the strengtli of his cavalry alone was estimated at
two thousand. I had formerly experienced their
utility in the war with the Senassees, in which they
were successfully employed, and liberally rewarded.
The demand was formally made both in a letter from
myself, and in person by the Resident, Mr. Fowke, in
the easy and indefinite terms mentioned above. His
answers were evasive, pleading (as I recollect, for I
am not in i)ossession of them) the scantiness of the
establishment, its employment in enforcing the
collections, and the danger of these failing, if the
detachment were withdrawn. At length a more
peremptory order was sent to him, and repeated by
the present Resident, Mr. Markham. The number
required was 2,000, and afterwards reduced to the
A NAItHATl\K OF TlIK lNSrHi;KCTION Vyj
demand of 1,500, and lastly to 1,000, but with
no more success. He offered 250, but furnished
none.
These instances of contumacy and disobedience,
criminal as they were in themselves, and aggravated
by the extreme and known distresses and dangers of
the superior state, to which he owed not only personal
fealty, but every voluntary aid which all the resources
of his Zemeedary could contribute, appeared to me of
less consideration as such, than as they were evidences
of a deliberate and systematic conduct, aiming at the
total subversion of the authority of the Company, and
the erection of his own independency on its ruins.
This had been long and generally imputed to him. It
was reported that he had inherited a vast mass of
wealth from his father, Bulwant Sing, which* he had
secured in the two strong fortresses of Bidjeygur and
Lutteefpoor, and made yearly additions to it ; that he
kept up a large military establishment both of cavalry,
of disciplined and irregular infantry, and of artillery ;
that he had the above, and many other fortresses of
strong construction, and in good repair, and constantly
well stored and garrisoned ; that his Aumils and
Tenants were encourasfed and habituated to treat
English passengers with inhospitality, and with
enmity ; that he maintained a correspondence with
the Marattahs, and other Powers who either were, or
might eventually become, the enemies of our state ;
and if the disaffected Zemeedars of Fyzabad and
Behar were not included in the report, Avhich I do not
recollect, we have had woful proof that there was
equal room to have suspected the like intercourse
between them ; and lastly, that he was collecting, or
had prepared, every provision for open revolt, waiting-
only for a proper season to declare it, which was
134 A XARRATHE OF THE IXSURRECTIOX
supposed to depend either on the arrival of a French
armament, or on a Marattah invasion.
This design had been greatly favoured by the
unhappy divisions of our government, in which he
presumed to take an o^^en part. It is a fact that
when these had proceeded to an extremity bordering
on civil violence by the attempt to wrest from me my
authority in the month of June 1777, he had deputed
a man, named Sumboonaut, with an express commission
to my opponent ; and the man had proceeded as far
as Moorshedabad, when hearing of the change of affairs
which had taken place at the Presidency, he stopped,
and the Rajah recalled him.
It may perhaps be urged in favour of Ilajah Cheit
Sing, that he was justifiable by the principle of good
policy in seeking a state of independency ; that we
had no natural right to his vassalage, having acquired
it, with all our other rights of dominion, by no other
charter than the successful spirit of enterprize. Were
this truly the case, it would reduce the relation
between us to the primitive law of nature ; and it
would be equally incumbent on us on that ground
alone, to use every means to confirm and perpetuate
his subjection, as it would be allowable in him to
emancipate himself from it. But something more, I
apjDrehend, was due both as a political, and even moral
obligation from him. His father Bulwant Sing derived
the degree of independency which he possessed, during
the latter period of his life, from the })rotection and
intervention of our government. His Son Cheit Sing-
obtained from our influence exerted by myself the first
legal title that his family ever possessed of property
in the land of wliich he till then was only the Aumil,
and of Avhich he became the acknowledged Zemeedar,
by a Sunnud granted to him ])y tlie Nabob Shujah-ud-
A XARHATIVK OF TlfK INSURRECTIOX 135
Dowlah at my instance in the month of September
1773. On the succession of the Nabob Assof-ud-
Dowlah the rio-hts of sovereignty which were held by
him over the Zemeedary were transferred by treaty
to the Company. Those rights were indisputably his,
and became by his alienation of them as indisputably
the Company's ; and every obligation of fidelity and
obedience which is due from a Zemeedar to the
superior Magistrate by the constitution of Hindostan
became as much the right of the Company from Cheit
Sing, as it had been due to his former sovereign, with
the additional ties of gratitude for the superior
advantages which he was allowed to possess with his
new relation. The unexampled lenity of our govern-
ment in relinquishing to liim the free and uncontrouled
rule of his Zemeedary subject to a limited annual fine,
and the royalties of the mint, administration of justice,
and police, ought to have operated as an additional
claim on his fidelity ; but evidently served to stimulate
his ambition, and perhaps to excite in his mind an
opinion that he possessed an inherent right of self-
dependency.
I considered Cheit Sing as culpable in a very high
degree towards our state, and his punishment, of which
I had given him frec^uent warnings if he did not amend
his conduct, as an example which justice and policy
required equally for the reparation of the wrongs
which its dignity had sustained, and for the future
preservation of its authority. I was resolved to draw
from his guilt the means of relief to the Company's
distresses, and to exact a penalty which I was con-
vinced he was able to bear, from a fund which I was
also convinced he had destined for purposes of the
most dangerous tendency to the Company's dominion.
In a word, I had determined to make him pay largely
136 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
for his pardon, or to exact a .severe vengeance for his
past delinquency.
Those who have been accustomed to regard Cheit
Sing as a vassal or tributary Prince may revolt at the
idea of treating him with such indignity, and call it
an oppression. They will suppose nothing due from
him to the Company but the payment of his stipulated
tribute, and that the pledge of his exemption from
every other claim. I suspect too that the deeds which
passed between him and the Board on the transfer of
the Zemeedary to the Company in 1775 are by many
understood to bear the quality and force of a treaty of
optional conditions between equal states. To such I
reply, that such an opinion is itself criminal to the
vState of which he was a subject, ajid that he was
himself amenable to its justice, if he gave countenance
to the belief He paid no tribute to the Company ;
but a fixed annual rent. The deeds by which he held
his Zemeedary, and the Company their claim to their
portion of its revenue, were a Sunnud or grant, and a
Potta or lease, executed on the part of the Company ;
and a Cobooleeat or agreement, and Kistbundy or
account of payments to be made by instalments, on
his part. These, excej)ting tlie special priviledges
allowed to the Rajah, of the Mint, the Cutvvallees of
Banaris and Jowanpoor, the Fowjdary and Aumeeny ;
that is so far as they relate to the Zemeedary alone,
are drawn precisely in the same forms as instruments
of the same denominations interchanged with the
Zemeedars of Bengal. I refer to the instruments
themselves, which will make a number in the Appendix
to this narrative, in whicli it \\ill be seen on how
different a tenure, and how infinitely below inde-
])endency, he really held his Zemeedary. The Sunnud
and Cobooleeat are counter-parts of each other. The
A XAKKATIVI-: OF TlIK 1 NSIJtHKCTIOX 137
former prescribes the revenue wliicli was to he
paid and the duties wliich were to be performed, as
the conditions on which the liajah was confirmed in
the possession of his Zemeedary ; and of these con-
ditions the Cobooleeat is a pledge or engagement
for the performance. In the first the Government
and Sovereijiity of the Zemeedary transferred by the
Nabob Assof-ud-Dowlah to the (Jompany, are stated
as the basis of it : Tlie Zemeedary is confirmed to
him : A strict observation and e.vecutioji of the duties
ineumhent on him; — to behave ivith moderation and
kindness to the Reyots and People; to promote the
cultivation and increase of the inhabitants and j'^'t^oduce
of the lands ; — to preserve the peace and punisli the
disturbers of it; and to pay a yearly rent of twenty -
three lacks, forty thousand, two hundred and forty-
nine Mahidar rupees in monthly payments agreable to
the Kistbundy ; are most strictly and positively com-
manded and enjoined : And the ofiicers of the Zemeedary
are commanded to regard him as the Zemeedar, and
to aeknowledye his authontij in the secend aets appertiiin-
ing thereunto. I nuist observe that in the translation
of the Sunnud the yearly revenue is in one place
through the negligence of the translator expressed
b}'' the word t/'ilmte ; but it is not on the translation,
nor on the will of the translator, that the riofhts of the
Company depend. I afiirm the word to be false, as it
is inconsistent with the proper term revenue immedi-
ately following in the same translation, and with the
same term revenue occurring in the translation of the
Cobooleeat or agreement.
The Cobooleeat also sets ofi:' with stating the
Company's sovereignty as the basis of the agreement,
and acknowledges the grant made by the Company to
Rajah Cheit Sing of the Zemeedary, and other privi-
138 A XARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTIOX
ledges recited in the Sunnud : And it proceeds to
express, that it shall he his duty to do everything that
may be needful and usual for the interest of the country ;
to provide for the icelfare of the inhabitants ; to he
attentive to the inerease and security of cultivation and
improvement of the revenues; to use his endeavours — to
expel robbers, dec, and pay the annucd revenue of Govern-
ment in the manner prescribed by the Sunnud.
To obviate misapprehensions I think it proper to
remark, that in the above recitals I have abridged the
text where it was too prolix and involved for literal
quotation, and given the substance in the closest sense
of it ; but where I have used the original words of the
translations I have distinguished them by Italic letters
as such. The copies in the appendix will shew with what
fidelity I have conformed to the text in both instances.
I have dwelt with a greater stress, and with a more
minute exactness, on the foregoing subject, because it
is on this point that the justice and propriety of my
conduct must wholly turn. If Rajah Cheit Sing-
possessed the Zemeedary of Banaris in his own right,
and with an inherent and exclusive authority ; if he
owed no allegiance to the Company, nor obedience
beyond the payments of a stipulated tribute ; I am
liable to condemnation for exactnig other duties from
him, and for all the consequences of that exaction ;
and he is guiltless ; but if the Company possessing the
acknowledged rights of his former sovereign held an
absolute authority over him ; if in the known relation
of Zemeedar to the sovereign authority, or the power
delegated by it, he owed a personal allegiance and an
implicit and unreserved obedience to that authority,
at the forfeiture of his Zemeedary, and even of his life
and property, at the discretion of those who held or
fully represented the sovereign autliority ; if in
A NARRATIVE OF TlIK IXSIKRECTIOX 13'.>
corroboration of the i;-eiieral and Implied obligation, lie
was bound to it by written engagements and specific
conditions ; I am warranted in my assertion of the
rights of government which were fully and wliolly
delegated to me ; and he alone is responsiljle for his
opposition to them, and for all the consequences which
have attended that opposition.
Whether I have exercised the power vested in me
with justice and with moderation, will appear from
the preceding relation, and the following parts of this
narrative.
Before I quit this digression, I must further trespass
on the patience of the board, and of those for whose
judgement it is ultimately written, by a more pointed
application of the above to my own personal conduct
and character.
I will suppose for a moment, that I have erred :
that I have acted with an unwarranted rigor towards
Cheit Sing, and even with injustice. Let my motive
be consulted. I left Calcutta impressed with the belief
that extraordinary means were necessary, and those
exerted with a strong hand, to preserve the Company's
interests from sinking under the accumulated weight
whicli oppressed them. I sa\\- a political necessity for
curbing the over-grown power of a great member of
their dominion, and making it contribute to the relief
of their pressing exigencies. If I erred, my error was
prompted by an excess of zeal for their Interests
operating with too strong a bias on my judgment.
But rare are the instances in which the judgment
suffers the bias of such an operation ; and mucli
stronger is the presumption, that acts prompted by an
unmixed attention to the public Interests are founded
on just principles, than that they are the result of a
misguided judgment.
140 A XARRATIVE OF THE IXSUKRKCTIOX
Possibly it may be suspected, — and may God forgive
those who know me, and countenance the suspicion ;
I have no title to an exemption from it with others :
— that I was influenced by a secret and mercenary
interest. I have heard of the practice of holding out
the terrors of authority, and the denunciations of
disgrace, dismission, and war, as the instruments of
private rapacity. Though the charge if true, is capable
of positive conviction, yet I know of no direct evidence
which could refute it, where it were false ; for no one
can be conscious of the recesses of another's mind. I
can therefore only ofl:er such presumptive proofs of my
intention as the nature of it will admit, and accident
has provided. These are my early and confidential
declarations, and the attestations of those to whom
they were made. In a point of such public moment,
independently of the near interest which I have in
establishing the truth of it, Mr. Wheler will pardon
my appeal to him, although in one light it may tend
to involve him in a participation of the reproach of
those who may regard every severity shewn to Cheit
Sintr as criminal, hoM^ever founded. He will doubtless
recollect the conversation which I had with him on
the subject, on the eve of my departure from Calcutta ;
our mutual opinion of Cheit Sing's past conduct ; mine
of the justice and policy of exacting an exemplary
punishment for it by a large pecuniary mulct ; the
sum to which I then declared my resolution to extend
it ; my conviction of his ability to pay it ; and the
two alternatives on which I had resolved, if he refused
to submit to it. He will also remember, that I bespoke
his confldence in the means which 1 should use for this
end, and his support in the issue of them. 1 entreat
him to give me his formal and circumstantial attesta-
tion of these facts, and that he will permit it to be
A NARRATIVK OF THE IXSURRECTION 111
inserted in this part of my narrative/'^ After such an
appeal it would be as superfluous as indelicate to call
in the aid of other testimonies, if all that were required
were no more than to ascertain that I did hold such a
conversation as that which I allude to with him. The
conclusion will be much strengthened by its agreement
with declarations made by me on the same subject,
and nearly at the same point of time, to others. 1
shall therefore require similar attestationst from Major
Palmer my military Secretary, and from Mr. Anderson
my appointed Assistant on this deputation. With
these references and their result, I shall make my last
and solemn appeal to the breast of ev^ery man who
shall read this ; whether it is likely, or morally
possible, that I should have tied down my own future
conduct to so decided a process and series of acts, if I
had secretly intended to threaten, or to use a degree
of violence, for no other purpose than to draw from
■■'■ Mr. Wheler,
I have the pleasure to complj' with the Governor General's
request ; and will cheerfully record in this place what I at present
recollect to have passed betAveen us at the time, and on the circum-
stances which he mentions.
I well remember that on the eve of the Governor General's
departure from Calcutta, the conduct of Cheit Sing late Rajah of
Banaris was a principal subject of a confidential discourse between
us, and that he bespoke my support of the measures which he
intended to pursue towards him. I recollect that the Governor
General thought the Kajah's offences were such as to require early
punishment ; and as his wealth was great, and the Company's
exigencies pressing, it was thought a measure of policy and justice
to exact from him a large pecuniary mulct for their relief. The
sum to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend the
fine was forty or fifty Lacks. His ability to pay it was stated as a
fact that could not admit of a doubt ; and the two alternatives on
which the Governor declared himself to have resolved, if Cheit Sing
refused to comply with the requisition, were to the best of mj'
recollection, either a removal from his Zeraeedary entirely, or by
taking immediate possession of all his forts, to obtain out of the
treasure deposited in them the above sum for the Company.
t V. Appendix.
142 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
the object of it a mercenary atonement for my own
private emolument, and suffer all this tumult to ter-
minate in an ostensible and unsubstantial submission to
the authority which I represented : Whether it is likely,
or morally possible, that I should have chosen to
irritate the feelings of my colleague in office, and
expose myself to all the effects of his indignatioji, by
so wanton and unnecessary a deception ; or lower my
own dignity and character, and afford so base an
example to my inferiors, by pretending to make them
privy to acts which I never meant to perform, and
from which I could not depart with any possible shew
of reason, but the manifest sacrifice of my integrity.
A man actuated by such a motive, and possessing the
trust which I held, would have used a cover to his
venality : He would not have compromised himself by
positive declarations of what he would do, much less
by detailing his intentions in a series of trials, as they
inight successively fail : 1jut would have been contented
with distant and indefinite intimations and suggestions,
which obviously left his actions open to inquiry and
variation ; which could not subject him to the imputa-
tion of inconsistency, if they were productive of no
effect ; and which he might use as justifications, if his
artifices should chance to operate with the effect
ostensibly portended by them.
I now return to my narrative.
I arrived at Banaris on the morning of the 14th of
August ; the Eajah some hours later. I forbad his
coming that evening to my quarters, as he had
intended; and required him to defer his future visits
until he should receive my permission, as I had some
previous matters to settle with him, of which lie would
be informed by the llesident, whom I should depute
to him the next morning for that purpose.
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSUHKELTIOX 143
My narrative will be best continued, nor will the
thread of it be broken, by the following copy of my
report of my proceedings, and of the consequences
Avhich attended them, to Mr. Wheler, then the only
effective member of the Board.
" To Edwakd Wheler Esq ;
" Sir,
" I arrived at Banaris on the 14th instant. My
" transactions with the Bajah being of a most important
" nature to the present and future interests of the
'' Company, I have determined to inform you of them
" without delay, in the order in which they have
"' occurred.
*' The first step which I judged it necessary to take,
'"as the ground on which my future proceedings with
■' the Kajah were to be cojiducted, was to recapitulate
"in writinof the several instances of his conduct which
" for some time past have repeatedly drawn upon him
•' the severe reprehensions of the board, and to demand
'■ a clear and satisfactory explanation.
" This paper I sent to the Kajah by the hands of
" Mr. Markham, who was directed to require an imme-
" diately answer. Late in the evening his answer
" arrived.
" The following are copies of both."
" No. I. To Hajah Cheit Sing.
" It is about 16 months since Lallah Suddanund,
" your Buxey and confidential servant, came to Calcutta
" charged with an express commission and authority,
*• to make excuses for your past conduct, and to give
" me assurances, confirmed by oath, of your future
"submission to my advice and the orders of my
141 A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTIOX
" government. As a test of your sincerity I required
" an immediate and unreserved acquiescence in the
" demand, which at the same time was made to you
"in the name of the Governor-General and Council, of
'•' a subsidy of 5 Lacks of Kupees for the expences of
" the war. With this demand you ostensibly complied
" in your answer to my letter ; and the Buxey promised
" me verbally in your name, and in terms so strong as
" amounted to the fullest assurance, that there should
" be no delay in the payment. Relying on this agree-
" ment and promise, I gave orders to Mr. Fowke, who
"was then Resident at this place, to receive the
" Money, and remit it to Colonel Camac for the pay
" of the army which had been ordered to march towards
" the province of Malva, and I made no other provision
" for it : Such was my confidence in your faith. But
"you deceived me; and after having made the first
" payment of a few Rupees, either consulting the
" temper of the times, or conforming to a premedi-
" tated design, you by shifts and pretexts withheld
" the remainder, until the army, for whose use it
" was intended, was reduced to the last state of
" distress. Many hundreds deserted, and had an
" enemy at that time appeared against them, their
" total destruction had been inevitable. In all this
" time daily application was made to you by the
"Resident, and I wrote repeated letters to you ; but
" you paid no regard to either. Besides this I required
" in the name of the Governor General and Council by
" letter, and ordered Mr. Fowke to repeat the re-
" quisition in person, that you should furnish a body
" of horse to assist and act with the armies of the
" Company ; and when Mr. Markham succeeded Mr.
" Fowke, I gave him an order to repeat the demand,
" which he did accordingly with frequent and almost
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 145
" daily importunity, limiting the number to 1 , ')00, and
'"afterwards to 1,000. To this demand you returned
"evasive answers, nor to this hour have you contri-
" buted a sinole horseman.
" I pass over other instances of your conduct, in
" which, through the means of your secret agents, you
"' have endeavoured to excite disorders in the govern-
" ment on which you depend ; and your neglect of the
"duty which you owe to it, and to the subjects of this
" Zemeedary, by suffering the daily perpetration of
" robberies and murders, even in the streets of the city
" of Banaris itself, to the great and public scandal of
"the English name, and in violation of one of the con-
" ditions on which you received the confirmation of
" this Zemeedary. But as the two foregoing instances
" amount to a direct charge of disaffection and infidelity
" to the government on which you de})end, and
"happened at a time in which it was your dutv more
" especially to have exerted yourself in the support of
"its interests, 1 have therefore judged it proper to
"state them to you thus fully in writing, and to
"require your answer to them; and this I expect
*' immediately."
"No. II. From Bajah Cheit Sing to the Hon'ble
THE Governor General.
" I received your letter delivered to me by Mr.
" Markham, and I have understood every particular of
" its contents. Sir, after the arrival of Sheakh Ally
" Nucky, I observed all the orders which you sent me ;
"and I received the letter which the deceased Sheakh
"brought me, informing me that every suspicion was
" now completely removed from your mind, and that
" I must consider you, as formerly, attentive to me.
10
14(; A XAliliATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTIOX
But I have not experienced from you the same
generosities as formerly. I sent you repeatedly
letters representing to your consideration my un-
happy circumstances ; but you never honoured
me with any reply. For this reason I sent my
Buxey Suddanund to your presence, enjoining
him to represent to you the firmness of my obedience
and attachment ; to lay before you the particulars
of my situation ; and to learn the disposition of your
mind towards me. He arrived accordingly in your
presence, and represented everything in a proper
manner. I have never deviated in the smallest
degree from these professions ; and the benefits and
civilities with which you have honored me have
given me the greatest satisfaction ; and I have con-
sidered you as the source from which I derived the
fulfilment of all my wishes and desires. It is my
firm hope that I may be always favoured with your
directions. In this manner I complied, with the
utmost readiness, with the order you sent me for the
payment of 5 Lacks of Kupees on account of the
expences of the war. I sent first one Lack of Rupees
with an answer to your letter. Afterwards, having
paid to Mr. Fowke the sum of one Lack and seventy
thousand Rupees, I sent a letter requesting a further
allowance of time to enable me to make some pre-
parations. To this I received no rej)ly, it being no
time for delay. Notwithstanding this, I was not
a moment inattentive to this concern, and as soon
as my Buxey arrived, I paid immediately the remain-
ing part of the sum. The remitting of this to the
army did not depend on me : If any delay happened
on this head, I could not help it. If besides the
payment of the money, the remittance of it also to
tlie army had rested with me, a delay of this kind
A NARKATIVI-; Ob' THE INSURRECTIOX 147
" should not have happened. I have enclosed in this
" Letter a paper specifying the particular sums which
" have been advanced, with their dates.
" With respect to the horse, you desired me in yoiu'
" letter to inform you of what number I could afford to
" station with you, and I sent you a particular account
"of all that were in my service, amounting to 1,300
" liorse, of which several were stationed at distant
"places; but I received no answer to this. Mr.
" Markham delivered me an order to prepare 1,000
" horse. In compliance with your wishes I collected
" 500 horse, and as a substitute for the remainder 500
" Burkandazes, of which I sent you information ; and I
" told Mr. Markham they were ready to go to whatever
" j^lace they should be sent. No answer however
" came from you on this head, and I remained
"astonished at the cause of it. Repeatedly I asked
"Mr. Markham about an answer to my letter about
"the horse, but he told me he did not know the
"reasons of no answer having been sent. I remained
" astonished. With respect to the Sepoys I received
" first an order to station two of my companies,
" which I did. I was then desired to give a Tunkaw
" for the payment of the Sepoys, and likewise to
" pay the Captain ; which has been done every
" month.
"Excepting Abdullah Beg and his attendants none
" of my people, either dependants or servants, or
" others in any shape connected with me, have ever
"gone to Calcutta. My enemies, with a view to my
"ruin, have made false representations to you. Now
" that, happily for me, you have yourself arrived at
" this place you will be able to ascertain all the
" circumstances relative to the horse, to my people
" going to Calcutta, and the dates of the receipts of
10—2
148 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
' the particular sums above-mentioned. You will
' then know whether I have amused you with a false
' representation, or made a just report to you. I have
' given my Aumils most particular injunctions, and
' have taken a penalty-bond from them, that they
' shall keep no thieves in their district. What power
' have they to act otherwise ? But if ever a murder
' or robbery is committed in the country, I have been
' careful to impale, or otherwise punish the culprit.
' If a person having committed a delinquency should
' escape to some other place so as to elude all dis-
' covery, in that case I am helpless ; but to the utmost
' of my power I endeavour to fulfil your orders. I
' have never swerved in the smallest degree from my
' duty to you. It remains with you to decide on all
■ these matters. I am in every case your slave.
• What is just I have represented to you. May your
' prosperity increase !
'Account of Five Lacks of Rupees advanced for the
EXPENCES OF the WaR.
' 1st Shaabaun - - - - - 1,00,000 Rs.
29tli Ramzaii ----- 1,70,000
7th Shewal ----- 1.30,000
18th Shewal ----- 1,00,000
5,00,000 Rupees.
" This answer you will perceive to be not only uii-
' satisfactory in substance, but offensive in stile ; and
' less a vindication of himself, than a recrimination on
' me. It expresses no concern for the causes of
' complaint contained in my letter, or desire to atone
' for them ; nor the smallest intention to pursue a
' different line of conduct. An answer couched nearly
' in terms of defiance to requisitions of so serious a
A XAKKA'rnK OF THK IXSURREOTIOX 149
" nature, I could not l)ut consider as a strona: Indica-
" tion of that spirit of independency which the Ilajah
" has for some years past assumed ; and of which
" indeed I had early observed other manifest symp-
" toms both '^'before, and from the instant of, my
" arrival.
" Under these alarming appearances of the Rajah's
"conduct and disposition, I conceived myself indis-
" pensably obliged to form some immediate and decisive
"plan for obviating their consequences, and for the
"preservation of the Company's rights and interests
"in this Zemeedary. To have left him in the full
"exercise of powers he had notoriously abused, and
" which it was to be apprehended he would employ to
" the most dangerous purposes, was totally inconsistent
" with the maxims of justice and prudence. To divest
"him entirely of the Zemeedary, though justifiable on
" the grounds stated above, would have been attended
"with an appearance of severity, and might have
"furnished ground for constructions unfavorable to
' ' the credit of our Government, and to my own re-
" putation, from the natural influence which every act
" of rigor exercised on the persons of men who stand
"in elevated stations, is apt to impress on the minds
" of those who are too remote from the scene of action
"to judge by any evidence, but of the direct facts
' ' themselves, of their motives or propriety.
" Thus circumstanced, and attentive to these opposite
" considerations, I laid down the following plan for
" my future proceedings.
" I first directed the Resident to repair to the
" Rajah, who resided at his house situated on this side
"of the river, at the distance of about two miles, and
" ii'ave him the followino- instructions."
150 A XARRATIA'E OF THE LXSUKRECTION
"No III. Mr. William Mabkham,
" Resident at Ban arts.
" Sir,
"It is my order that you proceed early to
" moiTOw morning to the house of RajSh Cheit Sing
" with your usual guard, and put him in arrest. You
" will require his immediate submission, informing him
" that you act under orders given you by me ; and in
" case of his refusal, you will Avait the arrival of two
" companies of Sepoys belonging to Major Popham's
•' detachment, who are directed to follow and assist you
"in the execution of this service. Having secured
" the Rajah, you will keep him in your custody until
" further orders."
" I am, &c."
*' 'Banakis, I5fh August 17S1.
'"10 rt/ night.
" On the next morninof Mr. Markham went accord-
" ino- to his forearoino' instructions, and was followed
" by two Companies of Grenadier Sepoys belonging to
" Major Popham's detachment. The Rajah quietly
'• submitted to the arrest ; and Mr. Markham returned
'■ to me with the following letter from the Rajah,
" leaving him under the charge of Lieutenants Stalker,
'■ Scott, and Simes. For the particulars which passed
" at this interview I refer you to the following report
"which Mr. Markham delivered to me on his return."
" No. IV. Letter from Ka.jah Cheit Sing.
" At this time Mr. William Markham being come to
"me, has informed me that your Highness's orders are,
"' tliat I should remain under a guard. My protector.
"1 before represented to you on l)oard your pinnace,
"that I was the servant of the Honorable Company,
A NAlil^ATlVK OF Till-: IX.SrHHKCTIO.X 151
** and was ready from my heart and soul. Whatever
" may be your pleasure, do it with your own hands :
*' I am your slave. What occasion can there be for a
"guard ?"
"No. Y. llEruRT OF Mr. Markham.
'''To THE Hox'ljle Warren Hastin(;s Es<,). ; Goverxuk
General Ac. &c.
"Hon'ble Sir,
"1 this morning, in obedience to your orders of
" last night, proceeded with a few of my Orderlies,
" accompanied by Lieutenant Stalker, to Shewallah
"Ghaut, the present residence of llajah Cheit Sing,
"and acquainted him it was your pleasure he should
"consider himself in arrest ; that he should order his
" people to behave in a quiet, orderly manner, for that
" any attempt to rescue him would be attended with
" his own destruction. The Kajali submitted quietly
" to tlie arrest, and assured me, that whatever were
" your orders he was ready implicitly to obey : He
" hoped that you would allow him a subsistence ; but
" as for his Zemeedary, his forts, and his treasure, he
"was ready to lay them at your feet, and his life if
" required. He expressed himself much hurt at the
" ignominy which he affirmed must be the consequence
** of his continement, and entreated me to return to
"you with the foregoing submission, hoping that you
" would make allowances for his youth and inexperi-
"ence, and in consideration of his father's name,
"release him from his confinement, as soon as he
"should prove the sincerity of his offers, and himself
" deserving of your compassion and forgiveness.
" Nearly a quarter of an hour after this conversation
"Lieutenant Scott arrived with the two Grenadier
ir.2 A XAHKATni': OK TilK LXHUJdtKCTlOX
"Companies of Major Popham's detachment, to whose
" and Lieutenant Stalker's care I left the Rajah, having
"given them the following instructions; that they
" should disarm every servant of the Rajah's ; that they
"should allow him any such eight or ten Kismutgars
" for the attendance of his person as he should approve
"of; that these men should be shewn to the Sepoys
' ' lest any deceit should be practised ; but that they
" might indulge him in any request consistent with the
" security of his person.
" I am now returned to acquaint you with my
" proceedings, and to receive any further instructions
" which you may think necessary.
" I have the honor to be,
" Hon'ble Sir,
" Your most obedient humble servant
" (Signed) William Markham."
" ' Banakis,
"' im Auiimt 1T8L
"As the Rajah in the above letter had desired that
" Mr. Markham might be sent back to him, I was
"preparing instructions for that purpose, when I
"received another letter from the Rajah, of which the
"following is a translation."
" No. YI. Letter from the Ra.jah.
" I am the servant of the Sirkar, and am ready from
' my heart and soul in the performance of your orders.
' My honor was bestowed on me by your highness : It
'depends on you alone to take away, or not to take
' away the country out of my hands. In case my
' honor is not left me, how shall I be equal to the
' business of the Sirkar ? Whoever with his hands in
' a supplicating posture is ready with his life and
A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURREOTION 153
" property, what necessity, can there be for him to be
" dealt with in this way ?"
" From the apparent despondency in which these
" letters were written, I thought it necessary to give
" the Rajah some encouragement, and accordingly
" wrote him the following answer."
" No. VII. Letter from the Governor General.
" I have received your two Arzees from the hands
"of Mr. Markham, and understand their contents.
" That Gentleman will wait on you in the afternoon,
"and explain particulars. Set your mind at rest, and
"do not conceive any terror or apprehension."
" To this I received the following reply."
" No. YIII. Letter from the Rajah.
" Your gracious letter has been received, and has
" made me acquainted with your commands. You
"order that in the afternoon Mr. William Markham
" will come to me, that I must not suffer any appre-
" hension to disturb me, but remain at ease in my
"mind. My Protector ! Wherever you spread your
"shadow over my head, I am entirely free from
" concern and apprehension ; and whatever you, who
"are my master, shall as such determine, will be
" right."
" At this time I had prepared Mr. Markham's second
"instructions ; but before he could set out with them,
"intelligence came that large bodies of armed men
" had crossed the river from Ramnagur, and had
" proceeded to the Rajah's house. What follows is a
154 A XARRATIVK OF THK INSUKHhXTION
" scene of sucli horror, that it is with the greatest
"reluctance I submit to the painful duty of relating
"it. The guard placed over the Rajah consisted of
" two companies of Grenadier Sepoys, as above men-
" tioned, from Major Popham's detachment, connnanded
" by the officers already named ; who were stationed
"in an enclosed square which surrounded the apart-
" ment where the Rajah Avas. The Resident's guard
"had returned with him. It now appeared that these
" troops had taken no amnmnition with them. Major
" Popham sent another company of Sepoys under an
"officer, with ammunition, to reinforce and support
"the first party. When the latter arrived at the
"Rajah's house they found it surrounded, and all the
"avenues blockaded, by a nmltitude of armed men
"who opposed their passage. The minds of this
" tumultuous assembly becoming soon inflamed, some
"of them began to fire upon the Sepoys within the
"square: and immediately, as if this had been the
"concerted signal, made an instantaneous and fierce
" attack on the Sepoys ; who wanting their accustomed
"means of defence, were capable of making but a
"feeble resistance, and fell an easy sacrifice to the
"superior numbers of their assailants, who cut almost
" every man of this unfortunate pai'ty to pieces. The
" offic&rs, it is supposed, were the first victims to their
"fury; but not until they had by astonishing efibrts
"of bravery, and undismayed amidst the imminent
"dangers which surrounded them, involved a much
"superior number of their enemies in their fate. In
" this general report of them all accounts concur,
"though varying in circumstances. I yield to my
"own feelings in bestowi^ig this just but unavailing
" tribute to these unhappy gentlemen,
" In the midst of this confusion tlie Rajah found
A ^".\KHAT1^■|•; of TIIK 1.\SL'HJ{KLT10,\ 155
" means to escape through a wicket which opened to
"the river, and the banks being exceedingly steep in
" that place, he let himself down by Turbands tied
" together into a boat which was waiting for him, and
" conveyed him to tlie opposite shore. Those who
" had effected his escape followed him across the river
" in the same tumultuous manner in which they had
" assembled, leaving the party of our Sepoys which
'' had last arrived, in possession of the house. On the
" first intelligence of this commotion I had directed
" Major Popham to repair innnediately to his camp,
" which was about two miles from the Resident's, and
"at the same distance from the Ilajah's house, and to
" march instantly with the remainder of his detach-
" ment to the support of the party.
" This order was executed with all possible expedi-
" tion ; but Major Popham arrived too late, and had
" the mortification to be a spectator of the effects of a
" massacre, which he could neither prevent nor revenge.
" He returned to me immediately, and made the
" following report."
" No. IX. Major Popham's Rkport.
'• Consequent to an order for the detachment under
" my command to proceed to the support of the
" Grenadier Companies under the order of Lieutenant
" Stalker, I carried it with as nmch expedition as
'• possible to Cheit Sing's palace, which I found to be
'■ entirely evacuated by the Ilajah's people who were
" already landed on the opposite side of the river.
'' Of the two companies commanded by Lieutenant
" Stalker very few remained alive, and the majority of
" those appeared to be severely wounded. The bodies
" of Lieutenants Stalker, Scott, and Simes ^\'ere lyiug
156 A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTIOX
"within a small distance of each other, shockingly
"mangled, and without any signs of life.
" It may be necessary to observe that Lieutenant
" Birrell was despatched with one company of Sepoys
" upon the first rumour of the Rajah's coercive in-
" tentions ; but the fate of the companies which pre-
" ceded him was decided prior to his being able to
"enter the palace : There were however some of the
" Rajah's people, whom he effectually cleared it of. In
" his attack he met with some loss. My utmost
" endeavors have hitherto proved insufficient to procure
" an exact detail of the killed and wounded in this
"unfortunate transaction. I thought it necessary to
" leave a company with a Subaltern in the palace.
" (Signed) William Popham,
" Major."
'•'Banaris,
'"16//; August 1781.
" I cannot learn with certainty what is become of
" the Rajah, but the prevailing report is that he fled
" from Ramnagur, his usual residence on the other side
" of the river, in the middle of the night, and proceeded
" with his Zenanna and effects to Lutteefpoor, a strong
" fort of his situated about ten miles from Chunar.
" He was accompanied by Sujan Sing, his brother, and
" Munnihar Sing a relation and son by adoption of
"Rajah Bui want Sing. He has also had the pre-
" caution to take with him Ranny Goolaub Kooer, the
" widow of Rajah Bulwant Sing his father, her son-in-
" law Doorgbijey Sing, and his two sons, her grandsons.
" In them he })ossesses every member of his family
" who can have any plea to dispute with him the right
" of inheritance from his father Rajah Bulwant Sing,
"if that were ever a question, his right to the
" Zemeedary being derived exclusively from Sunnuds
A XAHKATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 157
■■ which his father never possessed, but which were first
•' granted to Cheit Sing by the late Vizeer Shujah-ud-
'' Dowlah through the influence of our government in
" 1773, and since repeated by similar grants from our
■■government, when the sovereignty was ceded to the
■■ Company by the present Nabob Assof-ud-Dowlah.
" I have made choice of Bauboo Owsan Sing who
'■ held the office of Dewan during several years of the
"life of Rajah Bulwant Sing, and for a considerable
'• period since the accession of the present Rajah, to
•■ administer the revenues and government of this
" country in the quality of Naib, until it can be deter-
■• mined to whom the Zemeedary may legally belong,
'■ and who may be in a capacity to receive it.
" To this effect I have caused a proclamation to be
'■ made through the city of Banaris, and have notified
"it by circular Perwannahs to all the Zemeedars and
■■ Aumils of the Zemeedary.
'' To enforce the execution of these acts, to maintain
•■ tranquillity and order in the country, and protect
■' the inhabitants, I have ordered one battalion of
'■ Sepoys from Chunar-gur, the remainder of Major
''Popham's detachment from Mirzapoor, and one
•■ regiment of Sepoys from Dinapoor. to march imme-
'• diately to Banaris.
'■ The detail of these 23roceedings shall be transmitted
'■ to you in a subsequent letter. I do not expect they
'■ will detain me here much beyond the time I had
■■ [)rescribed to myself, which was about se\en or eight
■■ (lays.
■' I have the honor to be with the greatest esteem,
" Sir,
" Your most obedient humble servant
(Signed) ■" Warrex Hastings."
158 A XARRATni-: OF Till-: IXSURRECTIOX
" P.S. The delay occasioned in copying this letter
'■ from its great length has afforded me an opportunity
•■ of contradicting the latter part of it, and I have now
" the satisfaction to add, that Tianny Goolaub Kooer,
" together with her son-in-law, Doorgbijey Sing, and
'• his two sons, are safe at Banaris. I have this morn-
•• ing received a visit from Doorgbijey Sing, and his
■■ eldest son, Mehipnarain."
I have read over the preceding letter with great
attention, but can find nothing in it, with the advantage
of recent and better means of information, to correct ;
nor do I know that it requires a comment. That
which I am now about to make may appear trivial ;
but I make it as it impels me by its present impression.
The liajah in his reply to the charges which I had
preferred against him insists much on the many letters
which he wrote to me praying to be dispensed from
his obedience to the orders of government, and my
neglect to answer them ; and this charge against me
he repeats in a manner not the most respectful. I do
not know but it may be true. He had received
positive orders, and those had been repeated. It was
his duty to obey them, not to waste my time with
letters of excuse, to cavil with my answers for evasions,
or with my silence for delays. His Vakeel was in
daily attendance on me, and knew my mind sufficiently
upon these subjects ; and what he knew I am sure he
wrote to his master. As to his plea of inability to pay
the residue of the subsidy without preparation, that is,
without contriving the means to raise the money, after
having sacredly promised the full and instant discharge
of it, it was as insolent as we now know too surely
that it was most egregiously false.
It was truly reported that C'heit Sing after his
A XARUATIVK OK THE IXSUHIIl'X'TION' 159
escape from Shewallah Ghaut Immediately fled to
Lutteefpoor, taking his family, and his whole force,
with him, except the ordinary guard which had been
early appropriated in the time of his father Bulwant
Sing, under the command of Gudgerauge Sing, who
had the title of Kelladar, to the charge of Ramnagur.
This was a vast pile of irregular but massy buildings
constructed of stone on the river-side, and within the
bed of the river. To its original strength Cheit Sing
had added two or three small bastions of stone and
earth : A large town had grown round It, which
rendered the approach to It suspicious ; and the
Intricacy of the apartments and passages of the palace
was such, that a cautious officer would hesitate under
almost any encouragement to enter it. I had early
information that it was In effect evacuated, and I
believed it ; but not being certain, I did not chuse to
hazard a repulse, nor had I a force equal to any
operation of doubtful success, much less of enterprlze.
My whole strength had consisted originally of six
companies of Major Popham's regiment, about sixty
Sepoys which I had taken from the garrison of Buxar
for the protection of my boats, and a few men who had
been newly recruited for the Resident's guard, who
had yet neither arms nor discipline. Of Major Popham's
regiment 82 men had fallen in the massacre of She-
wallah Ghaut, and 92 were wounded. The whole
number of killed and wounded of every corps and
denomination was 205.
Every circumstance of an event and time so critical
to the present existence, and to the permanency of the
British interests in India, will merit notice In a relation
of this kind. If Cheit Sing's people, after they had
effected his rescue had proceeded to my quarters at
Mahadew Dass's garden, Instead of croucling after him
160 A XAKRATIVE OF THE IXSUKKECTIOX
in a tumultuous manner, as they did, in his passage
over the river, it is most probable that my blood, and
that of about thirty English gentlemen of my party,
would have been added to the recent carnage ; for they
were above :2,000 in number, furious and daring from
the easy success of their last attempt, nor could I
assemble more than 50 regular and armed Sepoys for
my whole defence. Let it not be thought that I
attribute too much consequence to my own person
when I suppose the fate of the British Empire in India
connected with it. Mean as its substance may be, its
accidental properties were aequivalent' to those which,
like the magical characters of a Talisman in the
Arabian mythology, formed the essence of the state
itself; representation, title, and the estimate of public
opinion. Such a stroke as that which I have supposed
would have been universally considered as decisive of
the national fate ; every state around it would have
started into arms against it ; and every subject of its
own dominion would according to their several abilities
have become its enemy. What really passed approach-
ing to such an effect from the sole apprehension of such
a cause more than warrants the conclusion of what
would have followed the cause itself, had it existed.
Tlie effects of the first consternation having subsided,
a number of men, reputed 2,000, returned to Ramnagur
on the 18th under the command of Ramjeeawun, a
confidential and domestic Chief of the family.
The remainder of Major Popham's detachment, con-
sisting of four companies of Sepoys, one comjjany of
Artillery, and the company of French Rangers, lay at
^Mirzapoor.
These were ordered to march innnediately to Kam-
nagur. Lieutenant-Colonel Blair was ordered to detach
a battalion of Sepoys from the garrison of Chunar on
A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTIOX 161
the same destination. It was intended that as soon
as these corps had joined, and were properly equipped
for service, Major Popham should take the command,
and proceed against the forces quartered in Ramnagur.
I wrote an order express to Captain Blair who
commanded the battalion from Chunar, commanding
him to halt at a secure distance from Ramnagur, and
wait for further orders ; and Major Popham, whom I
had afterwards vested with the command in form,
wrote a similar order to Captain Mayaffre, the officer
commanding the residue of his detachment, with an
additional caution to avoid hostilities and attend to the
safety of the whole party, of which being the senior
officer he would have the command till Major Popham
assumed it. To ensure the success of his operations
on that side, he had chosen a convenient and open
plain on the shore opposite to Ramnagur for a battery
of two mortars which were expected from Chunar ; nor
can there be a doubt that a place so peculiarly ill
formed for such a mode of attack, and in no state of
defence against a wary assailant, would have proved
an easy conquest. Unhappily the ill-timed ambition
of a rash individual defeated this plan, and had nearly
caused the destruction of the whole party. Captain
Mayaffre unwilling, as it appears, for no other possible
motive can be ascribed to so precipitate and irregular
a conduct, to lose the opportunity which his present
and casual command afforded him of acquiring a
military reputation, without plan, without enquiry,
against the advice of his officers, and against order,
ordered the detachment to march into the narrow
lanes of the town, where they were opposed by the
fire of an enemy surrounding them unseen ; and the
party which entered was in an instant annihilated
rather than defeated. Twenty-three men of the corps
11
162 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
of Rangers, with their commander Captain Doxat who
led the attack, were killed, and ten wounded. The
1st battalion of the 6th regiment of Sepoys commanded
by Captain Blair which followed lost 57 killed and 41
wounded. The whole loss sustained in all the corps
was 107 killed, and 72 wounded. Captain Mayaffre
was killed. The detachment instantly retreated. The
retreat appears to have been conducted by Captain
Blair, and in a manner that did him much credit.
The enemy pursued with little effect, their numbers
gradually lessening till the detachment arrived within
four miles of Chunar, which it regained the same
evening.
This unfortunate aftair happened on the morning of
the 20th of August.
I considered myself now as plunged in a decided
war, and made every provision both for its speedy
termination, and for its confinement to the scene in
which it had opened.
Orders were written and dispatched in multiplied
copies to the different military stations for assistance ;
to the Resident of the Vizeer's Court for a supply of
treasure, and to Lieutenant- Colonel Blair for an instant
reinforcement. The detail of these orders will be
found in the Appendix. Very few reached their
destination, the communication with every quarter
being intercepted, and all the country in arms against
us, and our emissaries, unused to this dangerous
service, either made prisoners, or not daring to execute
it, and secreting their despatches. Two of my letters
reached Colonel Blair, who ordered Captain M'Dougal
with the 2nd battalion of the 6th regiment to march
on the next day, which was the 21st, to Banaris. I
now passed an interval like that of a dead calm pre-
ceding a violent storm, and fraught with all the
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 163
symptoms of its certain approach. Successive notices
were brought to me by various channels of preparations
making at Ramnagur for an assault on my quarters,
which stood in the midst of the suburbs of Banaris,
and consisted of many detached buildings within one
large enclosure, surrounded by houses and trees, which
intercepted ever}'- other prospect. The whole force
which I had left amounted to about 450 men. The
reports of an intended assault, which was fixed for
that night, grew stronger as the day advanced ; the
boats on the other side of the river were seen to be in
motion ; and besides the moral certainty of the real
existence of such a design, the obvious advantages
which it presented to the enemy who had nothing left
to fear, and nothing else to do, precluded all hesitation
but on the choice of expedients for defeating it. There
were but two, which were, to wait the danger and try
the chance of repelling it, or to retreat to a place of
greater security or of equal advantage for the
encounter. The confined state of the place, of which
any description will be insufficient to convey an
adequate idea, rendered the first plan impracticable.
We had not a force sufficient to guard all the defences
of that place, nor a store for the provisions of a day,
even for that small number. The only arguments for
it were the disgrace of a flight, and the consideration
of our wounded Sepoys whom it might leave at the
discretion of a merciless enemy. The former considera-
tion yielded to the superior weight of necessity : The
latter to the impossibility of protecting the wounded
men in either case, as they were quartered at the
distance of near a mile from Mahadew Dass's garden ;
nor would it have been possible in their condition, and
in the multiplicity of pressing exigencies which the
resolution to remain would have created, to remove
11—2
164 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
them. Yet these considerations held me suspended
during the whole course of the day. In the evening-
it became necessary to come to a final determination,
as the delay of a few hours might now preclude every
option. I consulted Major Popham. He declared the
defence of that place impossible and advised a retreat
to Chunar. There were other Field-officers with me.
I asked for their opinion separatel3^ They clearly and
unhesitatingly agreed in the same advice. My opinion
had been determined from the instant that I received
the certain information of Captain Mayaffre's defeat.
I had not yet received the news of Captain M'Dougal's
march, nor any answer to the letters which I had
written to Lieutenant- Colonel Blair for a reinforcement ;
nor could I know whether these had reached him. I
yielded to the reluctance of a few minutes. My
resolution was taken, and declared, and orders given
to form our little corps, that we might have time to
gain the open country before the enemy having notice
of the design could cross and attack us at the dis-
advantage of the streets, lanes and broken ground
which we had to pass before we could reach it. These
orders were issued between seven and eight o'clock,
and by eight the line was in motion, having been
much retarded and impeded by an incredible tumult of
servants, Palankeens and baggage of every denomina-
tion, which for a time threatened a total obstruction
to our march. Fortunately this enormous mass took
the wrong road, which left the right with a free and
undisturbed passage for the Sepoys. On the way we
passed Captain M'Dougal's battalion about nine o'clock.
We sent him timely notice of our movement : He
turned and joined us. Early the next morning we
arrived at Chunar.
It is proper to mention that as soon as I had formed
A XARltATlVE OF THE IXSUKHECTION 1G5
my resolution to leave Baiiaris, I sent my Moonshy to
the Nabob Saadut Ally Khan to inform him of it, and
to recommend the woiuided Sepoys to his care,
believing that the Rajah from a consideration of policy
would not chuse to molest them, especially as he could
have no motive or object to it but revenge, if he would
shew a determined resolution to protect them. The
same request I made to him in writing after my arrival
at Chunar. I owe him the justice to attest that he
faithfully and liberally complied with my request. He
visited them himself, and furnished them with pro-
visions and with money, and appointed native surgeons
to attend them, and as they were able to bear it he
caused them all to be removed to his own quarters.
Many reports and suspicions have prevailed of his
being concerned in some of the designs which were
formed against us. I can neither credit nor refute
them. The evil imputed to him is at best doubtful :
The good which he did is certain, and he is entitled to
the entire merit of it.
I avail myself of this repose in my narrative to
relate another instance of private merit in Beneram
Pundit the Vakeel or minister of the Ilajah of Berar,
and his brother Bissumber Pundit. These persons had
come to pay their customary attendance at my quarters
about the time that the line was already on the march.
They immediately joined it. Some time after I saw,
and spoke to them, expressing some concern to find
them in that situation. They were on foot without a
single servant or attendant. I suffered them to accom-
pany me till we came to the plain and halted. I then
thanked them for the proof which they had shewn of
their attachment, with which 1 was satisfied, and
desired them to return, as they had a large famih' in
Banaris which would be exposed by their continuance
166 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
with me to the resentment of Chiet Sing, and perhaps
to the worst effects of it ; nor could by their presence
afford me any service which could repay what I myself
should feel of compunction for suffering them to be
exposed to such hazards. They refused me in a
peremptory manner, without compliment, or the
ostentation of performing meritorious service ; and
persisted, although I as peremptorily insisted on their
return. I then desired that the elder brother who was
corpulent, and of a constitution less equal to fatigue,
would return, and the younger only remain ; but could
not prevail. A few days after my arrival at Chunar
I casually mentioned to them my distress for provisions,
Avhich was occasioned principally by the want of money ;
for such was our total loss of credit that we could not
raise a sufficiency even for the ordinary wants of our
small detachment ; and it was with great difficulty,
and a degree of violence that Lieutenant-Colonel Blair
extorted from the Shroffs of Chunar, who had lived
and grown opulent under the protection of the garrison,
the small sum of 2,500 Rupees, which was distributed
among all the Sepoys, and afforded a satisfactory relief.
Beneram Pundit immediately, and with an eagerness
which belonged to his character, told me that he had
a Lack of Rupees in ready-money lying in his house at
Banaris, which I might take, if I could find any means
to receive and convey it to Chunar ; and the younger
brother advised, as the simplest expedient, to send a
battalion of Sepoys for that purpose, which could easily
go and return without interruption, as there were no
troops stationed near the town on that side of the
river, offering to accompany it himself, and to bring
away the money. I rejected this proposal for an
obvious reason, and preferred the trial of the means
which the Shroffs are supposed to practise for the
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 167
conveyance of money on such occasions. I accepted a
draught on their family for the sum, payable to Contoo
Bauboo, my Dewan, who had been left in Banaris, and
sent it inclosed in a letter to him, with directions to
concert with Gopaul Dass the means of conveying it
to Chunar. This proved ineffectual. Contoo Bauboo
could not be found. Gopaul Dass was seized, I forget
at what exact period of time, and sent a prisoner to
Lutteefpoor ; and in a short time after Contoo Bauboo
was also taken, and conveyed to the same place of
confinement. I was oblig-ed therefore to wait for a
more favorable opportunity, which never happened
while I remained at Chunar. After my return to
Banaris, Beneram again repeated the offer. I accepted
it, and received the whole amount on the instant,
giving him a note in the Company's name and in the
usual form for the same.
Examples of fidelity and national attachment merit
the first reward of being recorded. In me it is a duty
both of public and private obligation to relate what I
have related. Their merit is national ; for under
whatever impressions their assistance was offered, its
object was the national service ; nor can my person in
such an instance be separated from my public
character.
On the 20th or 21st, I forget which, I received a
letter from Kajah Cheit Sing, filled with expressions
of slight concern for what had passed, and professions,
but indefinite and unapplied, of fidelity. I did not
think it becoming to make any reply to it, and I think
I ordered the bearer of the letter to be told that it
required none.
On the morning of the 21st a person came to Mr. R.
Johnson, who was one of my party, and desired his
interposition with me to receive a letter and messenger
168 A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURREOTION
from the Rajah in the evening with proposals for an
accommodation. The hke appUcation was made by
Myrza Abdullah Beg, the Rajah's Vakeel, to my
Dewan Contoo Baiiboo ; and with my permission
Contoo Bauboo returned to his own house in the
evening to meet the Vakeel by appointment for that
purpose ; by which means he missed the opportunity
of going off with me, the intelligence of my intention
reaching him too late for him to join me, or his infirm
state of body not admitting of his taking so hasty a
resolution. The substance of the message, as it has
been since delivered to me by Abdullah Beg in writing,
was to exculpate himself from any concern in what had
passed, which he charged to the insolent behavior of
a servant of the Resident who was present, and the
resentment of his own people ; and to profess his
obedience and submission to my will in whatever way
I should dictate.
I regarded this as an artifice to gain time, since the
message, whatever were the substance of it, might
as easily have been delivered in the morning as in the
evening, and the messenger might have obtained an
easy access to me without the intrigue and mystery of
secret and indirect applications.
I have been since confirmed in this opinion by the
two following anecdotes, and their exact coincidence
with the design to which I attribute that just recited.
On the morning of the 21st, while preparations were
making to cross Captain M'Dougal's battalion, three
men, two strangers, and all volunteers, went suc-
cessively to Captain Blair with intelligence that a
design was formed to escalade the fort of Chunar with
a numerous force on that night, and an earnest
caution that he should not diminish the strength of
his garrison.
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 169
The intelligence and advice delivered by each were
expressed nearly in the same words. When M'Dougal's
battalion was on the road, three men, strangers and
volunteers like the former, came to him successively
with intelligence that a large body of armed men lay
wait to intercept him at a village called Beeteeburr,
and warned him not to proceed. He proceeded, but
did not meet a man. Lieutenant- Colonel Blair caused
a more than ordinary watch to be kept on that night
in the fort, but not a man appeared to attack it. Not
one of these emissaries has ever been seen since.
As it had been my original intention to make but a
short stay at Banaris, the Nabob Vizeer in the ex-
pectation of my visit had already left his capital, and
advanced to a short distance to meet me. I considered
that his presence would prove of much service by Its
Influence on our credit ; and his troops, rabble as they
were, might serve to keep the country in awe, and to
divide the attention of the enemy. But these advan-
tages would invert the relation of our alliance, and
give him a superiority in our meeting which would
defeat the purposes of it : Besides that I did not think
it consistent with the dignity of our government to
employ a foreign aid for the suppression of a rebellion
of its own subjects. I therefore wrote a letter to the
Nabob requesting him to return to Lucknow, and
remain there until I should have leisure from the
actual disturbances to prosecute my original journey.
The Nabob refused to comply with this injunction, and
on the first intimation of my difiiculties resolved to
join me ; and he executed this purpose with such
apparent earnestness, that he made his first stages
with no other attendance than about 100 horse, and
about four companies of his body-guard, with his usual
domestic attendants. As soon as I was informed of
170 A XARRATIYE OF THE INSURRECTION /
this, to remove any unfavorable impression of my
former letter under the construction of distrust, 1
wrote another to the Nabob expressing the warmest
sense of such a testimony of his attention, apologizing
for what I had before written from an unwillingness
to involve him in a scene of trouble, and expressing
my desire to see him at Chunar according to his own
wishes.
In the mean time I had received several intimations
imputing evil designs to the Nabob, and warning me
to guard myself against them ; and especially to be
careful that I did not expose myself to the effects of
concealed treachery by visiting him without a strong
guard. Many circumstances favored this suspicion.
No sooner had the rebellion of this Zemeedary
manifested itself, than its contagion instantly flew to
Fyzabad and the extensive territory lying on the
north of the river Dewa, and known by the names of
Gooruckpoor and Bareech. In the city of Fyzabad
Nawaub Allea and Jenauby Allea, the mother and
grand-mother of the Nabob, openly espoused the party
of Cheit Sing, encouraging and inviting people to
enlist for his service ; and their servants took up arms
against the English. Two battalions of regular Sepoys
in the Vizeer's service under the command of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Hannay, who had been entrusted with
the charge of that district, were attacked and sur-
rounded in various places ; many of them cut to pieces,
and Colonel Hannay himself encompassed by multitudes
narrowly escaped the same fate. The Nabob Vizeer
was charged with being privy to the intrigues which
had produced and fomented these disturbances, and
the little account that he seemed to make of them
served to countenance the suspicion. I can truly say
for myself, that I never afibrded it the slightest degree
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 171
of credit, neither his character, the tenor of his past
conduct, the expectations which I knew he enter-
tained of assistance and relief from myself, nor his
inability to support himself without the protection of
our government, allowing me for a moment to entertain
a thought so injurious to his fidelity, and so contrary
to probability. Yet I was not perfectly free from
apprehensions similar to such a suggestion. The
Nabob was surrounded by men base in their characters,
and improvident in their understandings, his favourites,
and the companions of his looser hours. These had
every cause to dread the effect of my influence on
theirs ; and both these, and the relations of the family,
whose views of consequence and power were intercepted
by our participation in the administration of his affairs,
entertained a mortal hatred to our nation, and openly
avowed it. These all joined in prescribing the most
pernicious and fatal counsels to the Nabob, represent-
ing this as the time to deliver himself from what they
described as the yoke of servitude. Although he
firmly rejected all their persuasions, and I was assured
of it, yet he himself was at their mercy ; and it was in
their power to use both his authority and his person
for the perpetration of their own designs ; nor could I
use any precaution to avoid them, which would not
appear to proceed from a distrust of the Nabob himself.
I never communicated my apprehensions, nor acted
from them ; and had the satisfaction of receiving the
Nabob, of maintaining an intercourse with him with
every mark of the most secure and mutual confidence,
and of parting with him with every demonstration of
mutual satisfaction.
I had before written to Colonel Morgan for assist-
ance. I now repeated the order ; and as the issue of
a war begun with such disadvantages on our side, and
172 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
with the total loss of the country, was doubtful, I
added an order to follow with his whole force, with
another to Colonel Sir John Gumming, who commanded
at Futtehgur, to supply his place at Khaunpoor. I
considered that if we were successful with a less
exertion, it would be easy to countermand these orders
before the troops could have advanced far in the
execution of them ; but if we failed of success, and
such orders were not sent, it might be too late to issue
them with any hoj^e of effect from them, or even of
their being received, since the communication which
was now very difficult and uncertain, might then be
absolutely precluded. None of my letters reached
Colonel Morgan till he had taken his resolution.
Reports were conveyed to him of my situation, and
past misadventures. The sudden failure of intelligence
convinced him of the truth of what he heard ; and justly
concluding that orders had been sent which had been
stopped in their way to him, he at once resolved to
execute their supposed and obvious purport, and de-
tached a force superior to that which I had required,
to my assistance. It consisted of two regiments of
Sepoys, thirty European Artillery-men, and two
companies of the European i-egiment, with four six-
pounders, one howitz, tumbrils, ammunition, draft and
carriage cattle. For the greater expedition he ordered
this detachment to proceed by water. The zeal of the
officers so well seconded that of their commander, that
although it appears that the resolution was taken on
the 29th, the whole were embarked, and in movement
on the 3Lst of the month. Major Crabb commanded
the detachment.
A long interval of time, which acquired its full
measure from the magnitude of the events which were
expected to grow out of it, nnd their uncertain pro-
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 173
duction, passed in total Ignorance of the success of the
various orders w^hich had been dispatched, and of the
succors which might be preparing for us. One half of
the province of Owd was in a state of as complete re-
bellion as that of Banaris. Futteh Shah had invaded
Sirkar Saurun in our own province, Bahar, supported
by supplies of money, and encouraged with promises
of more, from Chiet Sing ; many of the Zemeedars of
Bahar had discovered symptoms of disaffection ; and
reports were made to me of levies of men openly enter-
tained for the enemy from our own subjects in that
province ; even the wretched subjects of Napaul dared
to seize by force some villages to which the}' had a
claim, and had sometime before supplicated the
attention of our government to it. In my impatience
for advices I dreaded that every packet would bring a
fresh accumulation to our distresses, and the news of
commotions in every quarter. At this period a letter
found its way to me from Colonel Muir, who com-
manded the army employed against Mahdajee Sindia,
informing me of overtures made by that Chief for a
separate peace. This had been one of the objects of
my journey to this quarter ; but eagerly as I had
sought such an event, I was proportionably mortified
to learn with what facility it might have been accom-
plished, and how unseasonably our domestic misfortunes
had happened to defeat so fair a prospect of it. I had no
money, nor credit equal to the supply of 3,000 Bupees ;
and by an unfortunate train of official perplexities,
which had happened some time preceding this, both
Major Popham's regiment, the Bangers, and all the
corps of the garrison of Chunar, were four months in
arrears. This was our situation.
What force could be spared from the garrison of
Chunar, added to Major Popham's regiment, was formed
174 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
into a detachment under his command, and encamped
on a plain about a mile to the eastward of Chunar.
The greatest strength of the enemy was collected at
Pateeta, about seven miles from Chunar in the same
direction.
On the 27th of Auo^ust Lieutenant Polhill arrived
with six companies of Sepoys belonging to the Nabob
Vizeer's body-guard stationed at Illahabad. He was
ordered to encamp on the opposite bank of the river
for the purpose of keeping our communication open
with that shore. On the 29th he attacked and defeated
a considerable body of troops under the command of
a principal chief, named Shehaub Khan, M^ho was
stationed at a small fort and town called Seeker,
within sight of Chunar. The advantages gained by
this success were the removal of that part of the
enemy, and the acquisition of a considerable booty in
grain, which had been the object of the enterprise.
On the 3d of September Major Popham despatched
Captain Blair with his battalion and two companies of
his own grenadiers to surprise the camp at Pateeta.
They marched at three in the morning, and arrived
at the ground by daylight ; but found it abandoned,
and the enemy waiting for them in complete order at
about a mile beyond it. A bloody action ensued ; in
which the enemy, as might be expected from men
flushed with recent successes, fought with a desperate
intrepidity. Our Sepoys began to break into disorder,
when by a well-timed and successful attack of the
enemy's guns by two companies of grenadiers headed
by Lieutenants Fallon and Birrell, the fortune of the
day turned in our favor, and the field was left to our
possession, with four guns and four tumbrils. One of
the guns, its carriage being broken, was spiked and
left. The other three, with one of the tumbrils loaded
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 175
with as much ammunition as it could carry, were
brought away. The other three tumbrils, with 200
maunds of loose powder, were blown up. About 1,500
round shot of different weights, and mostly hammered,
were found and left in a village adjacent.
Our loss in this action was very great. We had 48
men killed, and 85 wounded. That of the enemy was
unknown, but must have been considerable. Their
guns were well served, and it was from their execution
that we principally suffered. It was remarkable that
they had all the apparatus of our artillery, such as
port-fires, tubes, chain and quilted grape shot, &c.
equal, or nearly equal, to the production of an European
laboratory. Samples of each kind will be sent to the
board. Their artillery did not answer to the quality
of the stores. One gun was of modern cast, and with
its carriage, which was not bad, said to have been
made at Kamnagur. The others were of a very old
cast and construction, and their carriages bad and
much worn. This was the general character of all the
ordnance taken in the course of the war.
Dearly as this victory was purchased, with the
expenditure of one fourth of the party, it was yet a
victory, ascertained and acknowledged ; and had its
due effect of impressing the enemy with discourage-
ment, and our own men with confidence ; and it was
an earnest of our future success in the public opinion,
which at all times of high importance to our political
influence, was especially so at this, in which the minds
of all men were suspended for the decision of the part
which they were to take, either in the immediate con-
test, or in their own conduct as dependant on it.
I must not omit in this place an instance of
vengeance which marks the sanguinary character of
Cheit Sing, and too strongly proves, that if the other
176 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
excesses committed by his people were not authorized
by his express order, they were perpetrated under the
influence of his example, and the knowledge of his
inclination.
Fourteen men of the corps of Rangers had been left
sick at Mirzapoor when the remainder of Major
Popham's detachment marched under the command of
Captain Mayaifre to Ramnagur. They were made
prisoners, and sent to Lutteefpoor. They arrived there
on the 3d of September, about the same time that
news was received of Captain Blair's action at Pateeta,
which happened on that morning. What provocation
they gave, or whether any, is not known. It is
surmised, but I know not the authority, that one of
these unhappy men expressed a joy on hearing that
our arms had been successful. They were all butchered
on the spot, and almost in the immediate presence of
the Rajah ; except one man who made a shift to crawl
with a mangled body to the neighbouring woods, where
he subsisted for a few days, returned to the fort,
received mercy, and is still living, and in our camp.*
On the 10th of September at about 7 in the morning
Major Crabb's detachment appeared on the opposite
shore. It consisted of the corps already related. It
had proceeded as far as Illahabad by water, but much
retarded in its course by strong and adverse winds ;
on which account, the course of the river also winding-
very much between Illahabad and Chunar, Major
Crabb had prudently disembarked the men and stores,
and marched them by tlie high road, remanding the
boats to Khaunpoor, whither indeed their return would
have been impracticable, had they passed the boundary
of this Zemeedary.
* The particulars of this massacre have been since verified with
some unessential variations from my relation of it, in an afiidavit of
the survivor, which will ]>c annexed.
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 177
Major Roberts with his regiment, and a Lack of
Kupees in silver, arrived on the 13th of September
from Lucknow, to which place, as I have before related,
he had been ordered to repair for the guard of my
person in my intended visit to that capital. A further
supply of 50,000 Rupees was a few days after received
from the Nabob's Aumil of lllahabad.
The money was immediately distributed among all
the troops in equal proportions, and by satisfying their
wants facilitated Major Popham's prejDaratives for the
commencement of active operations.
I have a pleasure in testifying that, distressed as
the Sepoys had been for the want of money, they had
never manifested the least symptom of discontent. I
had frequently visited the camp, and passed the lines
each time in review. Once, and only once, I heard
one or two voices of complaint, but neither clamorous
nor disrespectful.
On the 1 1th, the Nabob Vizeer arrived at his encamp-
ment, which had been formed on the opposite shore. I
chose to make him the first visit, which was performed on
the same morning, and was returned by him on tlie next.
Hyder Beg, the Nabob's second minister, arrived at
the same time. He had been deputed early to meet
me at Banaris, and had arrived there about two days
after my departure from it. Instead of following me
to Chunar, he had suffered himself to be detained by
Lalla Bucherauge, the Shroff, who had promised to
accompany him with a supply of money. In the mean
time a sudden and gi-eat swell of the river rendered
the Burna Nulla, behind which he was encamped,
impassable. The Rajah's people at the same time
carried away all the boats ; and after a long and fruit-
less negociation with them for an unmolested passage,
which he did not think it prudent to attempt at the
12
178 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
hazard of an opposition, he at length did attempt it,
and met none. His indecision on this occasion furnished
ground for various suspicions ; but I know, and had
assurances from a person in my suite w^ho had taken
refuge with him, and acquired his confidence, and on
whose authority I could implicitly rely, that they were
wholly devoid of foundation. I had a pleasing and
incontrovertible evidence of his fidelity soon after the
conclusion of our troubles, in a letter which Captain
Blair picked up at Lutteefpoor, and which I shall add
to the appendix ; not merely as a justification of the
minister, but as a relief to the dry and unentertaining
materials with which it is associated, if it shall convey
the same opinion of the good sense of the writer to
other minds as it has done to mine.
On the 15th Lieutenant Polhill crossed and joined
Major Popham's camp. The whole detachment now
consisted of the following strength. Viz.
1 company of European Grenadiers commanded by Captain
Grant.
1 company of European Light Infantry commanded by Captain
Harrison.
1 company of French Rangers commanded by Lieutenant
Wade.
•30 European Artillery-men commanded by Captain Hill.
1 Regiment of Sepoys, the 7th, commanded Ijy Major Crablj.
1 do. do. the 19th, do. Major Balfour.
1 do. do. the 30th, do. Major Roberts.
1 do. do. the 35th, do. Major Popham.
1 Battalion, the Lst of Gth Regiment, commanded by Captain
Blair.
6 Companies of the Nabob's Body-guard commanded by Lieu-
tenant Polhill.
The following is a catalogue of Oheit Sing's whole
force which has been since delivered to me by one of
his principal officers ; and as it made a part of a sworn
affidavit, I admit and credit it as genuine. It is
certainly not exaggerated.
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 179
" List of tpie Established Forces in the Service of Cheit
Sing, Cavalry, Sepoys, Matchlock-men, &c.
"Cavalry ---.-.-_ 1700
Select troops, or Body-guard, Horse and Foot - 700
Sepoys - - 1150
Matchlock-men ------- 1800
Attached to Bullum Dass, Horse 300, Foot 500 - 800
With Soojaun Sing, Cavalry and Infantry 500, with
two guns, Sepoys and Artillery-men, 340 - - 840
With Munnear Sing, Cavalry and Infantry - - 700
Total established Troops - - 7690
Troops Entertained after the arrival of Cheit Sing at
Lutteefpoor.
First, entertained at Lutteefpoor Matchlock and
Sword-men - 2000
Second, Nujjeeb Sword-men from Lucknow - - 1000
Total 3000
Troops assembled from different Places.
Horse and Foot with Juggur Dew Sing - - 500
Matchlockmen arrived with Bukht Sing by order
from the Rajah - - - - - - 1200
With Gomaun Sing, sent for by the Rajah, Match-
lockmen -------- 500
From the Fougedar of Biddevee arrived. Matchlock-
men - 1000
Rajepoots of the tribe of Rugbunfee from Kurraukut 3000
Arrived with Dillun Sing Fougedar of Mukurun
Badshapoor, Matchlock-men - - . . 1500
Cavalry & Infantry arrived with Rezza Cooli Khan
from Mirzapoor -.-... 300
Rajepoots collected from Agoree and Pin-wah by
Dia Lutchoo - 500
Of the tribe or cast of Khummaur collected by
Soojaun Sing 1000
Sword and Matchlock-men with Ramjeeawun - 2000
11500
Total Troops in the Service of Cheit Sing - 22190
^' To which are to be added husband-men and adventurers who
took up arms voluntarily, making the foregoing number
amount to near forty thousand."
12 2
180 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTIOX
These forces were divided between Lutteefpoor,
Pateeta, and Ramnagur. The best reputed of them
were at Pateeta, and the great mass composing the
last corps, with a part of the others, at Lutteefpoor
with the Pajah, who had fixed his residence at that
place since his flight from Shewallah Ghaut.
Before I proceed it may not be improper to state
the other resources on which he, not very unreasonably
depended for lengthening the war, if not for success in
the course of it.
First, his fortresses, of which there are many, and
some of considerable extent and strength, erected in
various parts of the Zemeedary. Of these the two
jDrincipal are Bidjeygur and Lutteefpoor. Ramnagur
scarcely deserves to be named with them, and Pateeta
has been rendered considerable only by its having been
a capital scene of his opposition, and of our victories.
Bidjeygur is a fort erected on the solid rock of a hill
rising to the height of 745 perpendicular feet from the
level ground. It lies about fifty miles in a south-east
direction from Chunar. It was the depository of all
his and his father's treasures.
Lutteefpoor is a large fort built with stone, and
surrounded by hills, and either from neglect or design
obstructed from distant view by trees and thick shrubs
surrounding it. It lies about 14 miles eastward from
Chunar.
Pateeta is a very large town surrounded by a ram-
part of earth extending to a great distance beyond it
to the hills adjoining. The fort itself is a small square
house of stone, itself fortified with four round towers,
and enclosed with a high rampart, and a ditch, which
is in most parts broad and deep. Its greatest ad-
vantage against an enemy to whom delay was defeat,
was that it was invisible to its assailants.
A XARKATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTION 181
Ramnagur has been described already. The other
forts, whatever their consequence under a different
train of successes might have been, are of none to the
events of this narrative.
His next great resource was liis wealth, on which he
looked, and thought himself invincible ; an expression
wliich I borrow from one of the meanest of his de-
pendants. It is credibly affirmed that he inherited
from his fither, Bulwant Sing, a complete Crore of
Rupees, to which it is believed that he made consider-
able additions.
The distresses of our government, and the power
and number of its enemies, may also be reckoned,
though negative, yet amongst his resources. The rest
were delusory, which the false and violent counsels of
his brother, Soojaun Sing, and his Buxey, Suddanund,
imposed on his inexperience, and the pliancy and
aptitude of his disposition.
It would break the attention, and perplex the thread
of the narrative, to relate every distinct event in its
exact order of time : I have therefore in the minuter
points endeavoured rather to arrange them according
to their relation to the greater, or to find a place for
them in the vacant intervals and pauses of it. It may
be proper in this place to mention, that during the
time of inaction which succeeded to my arrival at
Chunar, I received several letters from Cheit Sing,
besides letters from Mr. Barnet, and one from Coiitoo
Bauboo, who were both his prisoners at Lutteefpoor,
which were written by his order. These were all alike
in substance, containing acknowledgments and pro-
fessions of submission to my authority ; assertions of
his own innocence, charging the massacre at Shewallah
to the Chubdar whose insults provoked the resent-
ment of his servants whom he could not restrain, and
182 A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTION
claiming a merit from his having in the three past
actions been the suffering party, though successful, and
in none the aggressor ; adding general offers of accom-
modation, and in the letters written by his order a
pompous display of his inexhaustible wealth, the
multitude and bravery of his forces, and the devoted
affection and fidelity of all his subjects. I refused to
answer them, letting him know that they were written
with too much presumption, in the style of equality,
and with inapplicable professions, which were no better
than none. Some of these letters will appear in the
appendix : The rest were lost.
It had been intended to begin our operations with
the attack of Ramnagur ; partly because it had been
the scene of our first disgrace, and principally because
the repossession of the capital, which would follow the
capture of Kamnagur, would, it was thought, redeem
our credit with the public, and be deemed equivalent,
in the distant reports of it, to the complete recovery of
our authority over the country ; as the existence of a
fugitive chief in the wilds and mountains would be
little regarded, when he was expelled from the capital
of his ofovernment and the seat of his collections. For
this purpose battering cannon and mortars were ordered
to Major Popham's Camp, and every other preparative
made for a siege. This caused the delay of some days.
In the mean time a man, named Bundoo Khan, a
native and inhabitant of the town of Chunar, gave
information, that as the Rajah's force was principally
collected at Lutteefpoor and Pateeta, and was daily
accumulating, it would become exceedingly difficult to
dislodge him, if he was allowed to gain too great
strength there by a process of detailed and consecutive
operations ; that the approaches both to Pateeta and
Lutteefpoor were strongly guarded, and especially
A NARRATIVE OF TTTE INSURRECTION 183
those of Lutteefpoor, which he described as unassailable,
but with a great and certain loss, on this side, the only
road to it lying through Pateeta ; and even if carried,
untenable from the strength of the pass behind it, of
which the enemy would keep possession in defiance of
all our efforts, and against any superiority of numbers.
This pass takes its name from the adjacent village of
Suckroot. He advised a divided plan of attack, to be
executed at the same point of time ; one on the fort of
Pateeta, the other on the pass of Suckroot ; of which,
our forces coming on it by surprize, it being unguarded
and easier of access from above, might easily obtain
possession, and by that means gain the same advantage
over the garrison of Lutteefpoor, as that would have
over us if we first took possession of the fort ; with the
command of every road of communication, if, which he
did not doubt, we succeeded against Pateeta. He
offered to conduct the party which should be destined
on the service against the pass of Suckroot, by a road
unfrequented, and unknown, which he described with
a minute, and as it has since appeared, correct detail.
The confidence with which he spoke, and the consist-
ency of his assertions and reasonings upon them,
acquired a great additional strength from his former
recent conduct. He had accompanied Captain Blair
in both actions of Ramnagur and Pateeta, and had
been very serviceable to that officer by his knowledge
of the ground, and by his advice in the application of
it. His service on both occasions had been gratuitous,
nor did he profess any motive for that which he now
offered, but the interest and safety of a large family,
which depended on our success.
Major Popham at once saw the propriety of his
advice, and adopted it. The evening of the 15th was
appointed for the first execution of the plan. In the
184 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
mean time it was concealed with the most profound
secrecy. As a security for the fideUty and steadiness
of Bundoo Khan he had a promise of a Jagheer in
perpetuity for himself and his family, if the enterprize
succeeded. This engagement has been since amply
performed. Major Popham formed his army into two
divisions, one destined for the more distant enterprize
and commanded by Major Crabb. It consisted of the
7th regiment Major Crabb's, the 1st battalion of the
Gth regiment, Lieutenant Polhill's (\ companies of the
Nabob's bodyguard, four six-pounders and a 5j inch
howitz. These corps were told off, and began their
march about 11 that night. Major Popham began his
march with the other division at about 3 o'clock in the
morning to Pateeta.
On his arrival there he found the works much
stronger, and the approach more hazardous, than he
had expected from the description which had been
given of the place. He applied for the two battering
cannon, and the mortars which had been originally
intended for the attack of Pamnagur, and remanded
on the change of plan. They were sent, but made no
impression ; and he resolved on the encouragement of
a five- days experience, and from the fear of a delay
operating against the other part of his plan, to attempt
a storm. This was ordered and executed on the morn-
ing of the 20th with an instant and complete success.
Major Roberts commanded the storming party. The
enemy made a slight stand at the outer entrenchment,
and fled through the fort, our men following without
opposition. A slight attack was made at this time on
our camp, but repelled with some loss on the part of
the enemy, and none on ours. We lost during the
siege eleven men killed, besides ten wounded.
On the same morning Major Crabb having conducted
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 185
his division through almost impracticable ways arrived
at a village called Lora, which lies about two miles
from the pass. Here he found a body of men with
three guns posted to oppose him. They made a firm
stand, but were defeated with a considerable loss.
Ours was twelve men of every denomination killed,
and twenty-two wounded. The enemy fled through
the pass to Lutteefpoor. Our detachment followed to
the head of the pass, and there encamped for the
remainder of the day.
The news of these concurrent successes beinof con-
veyed to the Rajah at the same instant of time alarmed
him exceedingly for his own personal safety. His fears
were excited with a more forcible impression by the
surprize of the advance of so great a force from a
quarter where he had not expected any. With his
face turned towards Chunar, and his whole attention
and that of his people directed to the movements
which were made on that side, they had no suspicion
of any design being formed behind them. The first
intelligence which was received of Major Crabb's party
described it as consisting of the followers of Owsan
Sing, and only three companies of our Sepoys ; the
Hircarrahs who conveyed the news possibly mistaking
the advanced-guard for the whole force, and re}3orting
it accordingly ; nor was the real strength of the party
known even by that which was detached to oppose it,
until the instant of the action. This circumstance was
related at the time, and has been since confirmed to
me by an officer named Myher, who commanded a
small body of the Rajah's Sepoys and the guns in the
action. No design could be more judiciously planned,
or more happily executed. Even the impediments and
disappointments which attended it served but to
promote the coincidence of the final movements of its
186 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
operation, with so well-timed an effect, that the differ-
ence of time which passed between the engagement at
Lora and the conquest at Pateeta, was little more
than that which would be required by the difference
of the distances of each from Lutteefpoor, for the news
of each success to reach Lutteefpoor at the same
instant.
Cheit Sing instantly prepared for flight. His road
to Bidjeygur, which was his last refuge, lay through
the pass, which he durst not attempt. He left Lutteef-
poor about three or four in the afternoon ; and making
a circuit over the hills gained the high road at the
distance of some miles beyond the pass, and proceeded
with a few followers to the neighbourhood of Bidjeygur.
Some others followed and rejoined him. The rest left
without orders stayed but to plunder the place, and
evacuated it. The Gaung-wallahs, or Militia composed
of the husbandmen, who had been summoned to attend
him, all fled to their own homes. So rapid was the
report of this event in its communication, and so
decisive in its effect, that the fort of Sutteefgur, which
lies about seven or eio-ht miles to the northward of
Lutteefpoor, and the palace of Ramnagur, were
evacuated on the same evening ; and the allegiance
of the whole country restored as completely in the
course of a few hours from a state of universal revolt
to its proper channel, as if it had never departed
from it.
On the next morning, the 21st, Major Crabb marched
through the pass to Lutteefpoor, and found it
abandoned.
On the same day Major Moses Crawford, with tlie
28th regiment of Sepoys, arrived from Dinapoor, and
joined the detachment.
Major Balfour was detached on the morning of the
A NARRATIVK OF THE IXSURRECTIOX 187
22(1 to Ramnagur, of which he took quiet possession.
No one remained to oppose him.
Being desirous of returning without loss of time to
Banaris, and the presence of the Nabob Vizeer being
more urgently required for the quiet of his country, we
parted on the 25th with every expression of mutual
and real satisfaction. The annexed copy of my letter
to the Board dated the 29th of November contains the
detail of my transactions with him.*
On the next morning I arrived at Bamnagur, and
on the 28th returned to my old quarters at Mahadew
Dass's garden at Banaris.
To quiet the minds of the people proclamations were
issued, offering pardon to all who should peaceably
return to their obedience, excepting the persons of
Cheit Sing, and his brother Soojaun Sing, whom their
late rebelUous conduct, and their rancour manifested
to our nation in the deliberate murder of our soldiers,
and even defenceless passengers, who had the mis-
fortune to fall into their hands, had precluded from
every title to lenity. Among the unhappy sufferers to
whom the above exception alluded was a person of the
name of Hooker, who had followed the occupation of
a dealer in European wares to our camps, and had
ventured to pass in his Budgerow, a little after the
unhappy affair of Shewallah, near Ramnagur, where
he was seized, and unarmed as he was, and pleading
the innocence of his profession, murdered in cold blood.
Soojaun Sing had the command at that time in Ram-
nagur. Two soldiers also of Ma;jor Crabb's detachment
having wandered from the line were taken and
murdered at Gopee Gunge. For this reason that
town was excepted in the proclamation, and has since
been destroyed.
* See Appeiulix, Part I. ^'u. 1.
188 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
My first care after my return to Banarls was to
determine the succession to the Zemeedary and E.auje
vacated by the forfeiture of Cheit Sing. The right of
Company to the disposal of it certainly had not
suffered by the past events. The territory had been
wholly lost to their dominion, and wholly conquered
by their arms : Yet the rest of the family who formerly
possessed it had not merited by any act of theirs to be
involved in the punishment of a man who had been
equally their enemy, and whom they had regarded as
the usurper of their more legal rights ; nor perhaps
would it have been prudent to have put the submission
of the people to the test of a new species of dominion.
I therefore resolved, in virtue of the full powers which
I possessed from the board for that purpose, to bestow
it on the next lineal heir. This was Bauboo Mehlp-
narain. He was the grandson of Rajah Bui want Sing
by a daughter married to Bauboo Doorgbijey Sing.
The widow of Bulwant Sing, named Banny Goolaub
Kooer, was still living and in an extreme old age. By
the Hindoo law she might claim the inheritance. Her
daughter also, the wife of Doorgbijey Sing, might
assert the like pretension. Had it become a matter of
contest, I had resolved to leave it to the decision of
the whole body of the Pundits of Banaris. But this
reference was unnecessary. Doorgbijey Sing yielded
up the pretension of his wife, and the old Banny her
own by a writing, sealed with her name, and acknow-
ledged in the presence of a confidential person whom I
deputed to her for that purpose, declaring it to be her
wish and request, that the Bauje might be conferred
on her grandson Mehipnarain. He was accordingly
invested and proclaimed on the 30th of September.
His fatl)er Bauboo Doorgbijey Sing was at the same
time invested with the office of Naib, and is in effect
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 189
the sole acting manager. He is about thirty-five years
of age, his son nineteen.
I have thought it proper to estabhsh a distinct and
independant magistracy for the town of Banaris. The
reasons for this act, the description of the office, and
of the officers subordinate to it, are detailed in the
subjoined letter to the board dated the 1st of November.'"
Allee Ibrahim Khan, the person chosen for this charge,
was duly invested with it on the 20th of October.
On the 5th of November I concluded the settle-
ment of the revenue which was to be paid by Rajah
Mehipnarain, being Rs. 33,33,333-5-8 for the current
year, and a perpetual rent of 40,00,000 Rs. for tlie
future.
The particulars of this transaction are contained in
my letter to the board dated the 21st of November.f
It has been already mentioned that soon after my
flight to Chunar Colonel Muir advised of overtures
by Mahdajee Sindia for a separate peace. I sent to
Colonel Muir credentials and instructions ; and on the
13th October a treaty was concluded with Mahdajee
Sindia. To confirm and improve the advantages
obtained by it, I deputed Mr. Anderson to Mahdajee
Sindia, and at the same time sent Mr. Chapman, with
Bissumber Pundit, on a similar commission to Moodajee
Boosslah, the Rajah of Berar. The particulars of these
transactions, and of my views relating to them, are
contained in the annexed copies of my instructions to
Colonel Muir, and of my letter to the board adjoined,
dated the 25th November. |
The annexed letter to the board dated 22d November
contains also the circumstances of some new airange-
ments made in the customs. § :
* See Appendix, Part I., No. 2. f Ihiil, Part I., No. 3.
+ Ibid., Part I., No. 4. § Ibid., Part L, No. 5.
190 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
On the 8th October Major Naylor with the 23d
regiment having been detached to the rehef of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Hannay, arrived on the northern banks
of the Dewa, defeated a large force which had
assembled round Colonel Hannay, and entirely dis-
persed them. The return of the Nabob soon after
effectually restored the quiet of the country.
About the same time a regiment of Sepoys under
the command of Major Lucas, defeated and drove
Futteh Shah from the district of Sirkar Saurun.
After having gained possession of Lutteefpoor, Major
Popham lost no time in prosecuting his march to
Bidjeygur. Cheit Sing did not wait his approach, but
fled, taking with him as much treasure as his elephants
and camels could carry, which has been reported to
me to have consisted of one Lack of Mohrs, and fifteen
or sixteen of silver*, besides jewels to an unknown
amount. His wife, a woman of an amiable character,
his mother Pauna, and all the other women of his
family, and the survivors of the family of his father
Bulwant Sing who were connected with his, were left
in the fort of Bidjeygur. He took the route of Bewa,
and from thence proceeded to Panna, the capital of
Boondelcund, paying and plundered as he passed. He
was by the last advices in that country, the Bajah
professing in his letters to me a resolution to with-
draw his protection from him, and secretly favoring
him.
The fortress of Bidjeygur surrendered b}'- capitulation
on the 10th of November, yielding to Major Popham
the peculiar credit of having surmounted all the
obstacles which nature and art had opposed to
the conquest of two of the fortresses of Hindostan
* Annmnting to about 400,000 Pounds Sterling, exclusive of the
Jewels.
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 191
which had been before universally deemed im-
pi'egnable.
I have now brought my narrative to its proper con-
clusion, at that point in which all the movements
which form the subject of it, and all their objects,
appear to have attained their full and complete
termination. I regret the length to which it has been
drawn ; and fear that it will appear unreasonable to
those who may consider it a point of duty to give it a
thorough perusal, and who will scarce fail to reflect,
that it contains in effect the history of but one month.
To myself the reflection aflbrds a diff'erent sensation,
when applied to the multitude of events, and their
magnitude, comprized within so short an interval of
my public life. I have aimed at brevity, both in the
selection of facts, and in the narration of them ; having
omitted every circumstance which, though engaging a
portion of my attention at the time, had no connection
with the general train of events, or influence on the
character by which they are discriminated from the
ordinary course of aftairs. For the satisfaction of such
as shall have more patience or leisure to look into
them, I have added as an appendix copies of all the
material papers which have a relation to the narrative,
but which would have encreased the bulk of it, and
disturbed the attention, if inserted in the body of it.
I have also added attestations of all the principal
facts and events, sworn before the Chief Justice, to
whose advice I am obliged for having suggested it. It
did not strike my mind, that matters of such notoriety
here would require some more authentic verification
of them at home, than the recital of the man whose
reputation is so immediately concerned, as mine is, in
the judgment which my superiors, and which the
public at large will have a right to form upon it. I
192 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
am sensible of the wisdom of the precaution, and sorry
that it was not earher intimated, that I mio-ht have
had time to have collected a larger fund of evidence ;
although I have reason to be satisfied with the M^eight
of that which I have obtained. Let it be also re-
membered that this relation itself has been written
under the force of an obligation as binding as that
of an oath administered and taken in all its leg-al
forms.
Whatever judgment may be passed on my particular
conduct, I am yet happy that it has proved the means
of calling forth the inherent virtue of my countrymen,
and displaying to all the powers and people of India
both the national character, and the national constitu-
tion, by such effects as have been unrecorded in their
histories, and are scarce conceivable by their habits of
thinking.
The suddenness of our calamities ; the distance of
assistance ; the privation of every present resource ; the
manifest interest which animated and impelled every
corps and every individual to the support of the
common cause ; and the rapidit}^ with which they
rushed to repel the common danger ; are facts of
universal observation ; and will contribute more
effectually to the permanency of the British influence
and dominion, than the most splendid victories obtained
over adversaries of the highest reputation ; because
they shew the harmony which unites all the parts of
our government, and their augmented strength under
the compression of external violence ; and will be re-
membered as a most striking example, which every
man concerned in its operations will apj)ly to his own
interests and feelings, that its greatest and most
successful exertions have arisen out of the most
desperate emergencies, and have fallen in every such
A NARRATIVE OF THE IXSURRECTION 193
instance with the most dreadful veno-eance on the
heads of its aoi-o-ressors.
For the sense which I have entertained of the
particular conduct of the officers who have distinguished
themselves in the late service, I cannot express myself
in stronger terms than those of the following extract
of my letter to the board, dated the 29th of September,
and copy of one dated the 7th of October.
Extract of a Letter from the Governor General
TO THE Board dated the 29th of September
1781.
" I have forborne any particular comments in this
" place, reserving them, where they will be more
" properly introduced, for my detailed narrative. Yet
" I cannot suppress without a violence to my own
" feelings the testimony which is due, especially from
" me, to the unexampled zeal and public spirit of all
" our officers, and the wonderful activity with which
" these qualities were displayed on the late occasion. I
" have already acknowledged the early exertions which
" were made by Colonel Blair during my former short
" and calamitous residence at Banaris. Of Major
" Popham I cannot say sufficient to express my sense
" of his services. Though my letters were everywhere
" intercepted. Colonel Morgan, with a decision and
"solicitude that reflect equal credit upon his character,
" detached Major Crabb with his party to my assist -
" ance on the first and instant rumour of my situation.
" Colonel Sir John Gumming, with the like alacrity
" obeyed the order for his march to Kaunpoor ; as did
" Colonel Ahmuty in the immediate dispatch of Major
" Crawford and the troop of cavalry. The same spirit
"animated every officer of every corps, and infused
13
194 A :n'arrative of the insurrection
" itself into the men under their command with an
" effect so far exceeding the common occurrences of
" human affairs, that in the complete space of one
" month this ereat and valuable Province, which had
" been suddenly and wholly lost, was in substance
" wholly recovered, to the British Empire.
" I am Sir &c."
Copy of a Letter from the Governor, General
TO the Board dated 7th of October.
"I have had frequent occasion to express in public
orders the highest approbation of the zeal, spirit, and
good conduct exerted by all the ofEcers and troops in
all the late operations for reducing this rebellious
Zemeedary to obedience. Several of the officers have
merited and received particular thanks by name ; and
it would give the greatest satisfaction to distinguish
and rcAvard each individual in proportion to his
station and services. But as no government is
possessed of the means of such diffusive recompense,
it must be miavoidably confined to those whose
elevated rank, or peculiar situation, affords them
opportunities of laying immediate claim to the more
honorary or beneficial testimonies of public gratitude.
But such testimonies, whilst they are in possession of
persons in superior rank, give hopes to, and excite
the emulation of those also who are in the inferior ;
and thus by well timed and judicious rewards the
prosperity of the state and the interests of its servants
are united.
" It is on this principle that I request permission to
solicit the consideration of the board for an honorable
recompense to the two oflficers who have been first in
A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION 195
^' rank, and most conspicuous in services, during the
" commotions in this district.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Blair who commanded at
" Chunar-gur, from the day of the fatal catastrophe in
" this town, manifested a general zeal for tlie public
" interests, and for my safety above all considerations
" for his own. Every requisition which I made to him
''was instantly complied with, and he sent me a rein-
" forcement of a battalion of Sepoys at a time when he
" had the strongest grounds to believe that an attack
"would be made on his own garrison, which it was
" incapable of sustaining.
"It is perhaps scarce less meritorious in Colonel
" Blair to have not only submitted without repining to
" the preference of an inferior officer to a command of
" such importance within the limits of his own, but to
" have assisted and co-operated with that officer with
" as much alacrity, as if the success was to have
" redounded to his own honor.
"This is not the first occasion on which the attention
" of the board has been called to the distinguished
" merit and services of Major Popham. They have
^' been again most happily exerted in his present
" command for the safety and interests of the Company
"in a very perilous situation. I have been in a manner
" an eye-witness of them. I wish to express and to
" shew my sense of them, but I want language for the
"first, and means for the latter.
" As from the knowledge which I have of the char-
■" acters of Lieutenant- Colonel Blair and Major Popham,
" I am certain that the most honorable reward Avill be
"to them the most acceptable, I beg leave to propose
" that they be promoted by brevet to the ranks imme-
" diately above those which they at present respec-
•" tively hold ; that is. Lieutenant- Colonel Blair to the
13—2
196 A NARRATIVE OF THE INSURRECTION
" rank of Colonel, and Major Popham to the rank of
" Lieutenant-Colonel.
" This 231'efernient, whilst it is an honorable clis-
" tinction to these officers, cannot be deemed an injury
" to their seniors, as their promotion will not be thereby
" retarded : They may be always employed on separate
" service and their rank will not be affected, when they
" rise in the regular course of succession.
" The company owe so much to the eminent services
" of Major Popham, that I may think it incumbent
"upon me at a future period to recommend him to
" their further consideration.
" Whilst I bestow the just tribute of praise due to
" those officers who acted upon the spot, I should be
" guilty of an unpardonable neglect, and even injustice,
'* if I omitted to express my sense of equal approbation
" of the conduct of others more remote.
" Colonel Morgan on the first intelligence which
" reached him of my situation, and without waiting for
" official information or authority, in the true spirit of
" an able and zealous officer, detached a very consider-
" able portion of his brigade, and all the supplies of
" provisions which he could procure.
" Colonel Sir John Cumming likewise moved with
" the utmost diligence and alacrity, on receiving an
" order to occupy the station of Kaunpoor in the room
" of the second brioi'ade. He marched with his whole
" force in fifteen hours after receiving the orders, and
" reached Kaunpoor in four days, himself, officers, and
" troops chearfuUy making their utmost efforts in the
" common cause.
" Such have been the spirited and judicious exertions
" of your officers and troops in support of the Company's
" most valuable rights and possessions, of the dignity
" of their government, and of the honor and safety of
A NARKATIVK OF THE INSURRECTION 197
" their chief magistrate : A conduct wliich manifests
"the strongest attachment and affection on their parts
" and impHes an observance of justice and regard to
"the prosperity and happiness of those who are placed
" under our authority, on ours. These are circumstances
" which will always afford me the most pleasing re-
" flections, notwithstanding the calamities which have
" produced them.
" I have the honor to be &c."
WAKREN HASTINGS.
" Chunar,
''the \st of December 1781.
ME. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH ON THE
NECtOCIATIONS of 1781.
Fort William,
SOfh April 1781.
TN our General Letter to the Hon'ble Court of
-^ Directors, bearing date the 27th Instant, we have
acquainted them with our Intention of transmitting to
you in a separate Address an Account, or Narrative, of
our Proceedings with Respect to the Berar Government
and the army of the Berar Rajah stationed for a long
Time in the Province of Orlssa, which contained Matter
of too secret a Nature to appear on the Face of our
Records, and we have now the Honor of communicating
the same to you.
To render the subject of the Narrative clear and
intelligible it will be necessary to revert to some Circum-
stances which happened a few Months ago, and to
unfold the Dispositions and Views of some of the
principal powers of Hindostan.
In the Month of September 1780 Advices were re-
ceived here from the Governor and Council of Madras
of the Melancholy Fate of Colonel Baillie's Detach-
ment, the retreat of the Army under General Munro,
and the Desperate State of our Affairs on the Coast of
Coromandel. It was immediately resolved that the
most Vigorous Measures should be taken to assist the
Presidency of Madras with Men and Money from
199
200 MK. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Bengal. Accordingly, Transports were fitted out with
all Expedition, and General Sir Eyre Coote was sent
round by Sea with a supply of 15 Lacks of Rupees
and a strong Detachment of European Infantry and
Artillery, the Flower of our Army, and it was agreed
that a further Reinforcement of Five thousand Sepoys
should be Assembled at Midnapore, and sent afterwards
by Land under the Command of Colonel Pearse.
At this important Period we were engaged in a War
w^ith the Maratta Government at Poonah, which had
lasted for some Years ; Much Expence had already been
incurred, and notwithstanding a constant Train of
successes which had attended all the operations of our
Army under the Command of General Goddard, We
had still no immediate Prospect of Terminating the
War.
It was at this Time known that Moodajee Bhosila,
the Rajah of the Maratta State of Berar, and Nizam
Ally Cawn, the Soubah of the Deccan, had united in a
Plan of Confederacy against the English with Hyder
Ally, the Nabob of Mysore, and the Ministers of the
Peshwa's Government at Poonah. Moodajee was to
invade Bengal, and the Nizam was to enter the
Company's Circars of Cicacole, whilst Hyder was to
pass the Gauts and lay waste the Carnatic. The
Government of Poonah, pressed in their own Terri-
tories, could only contribute to this Plan of offensive
War by Grants of Lands to its Allies.
Tlie Rajah of Berar had nevertheless on many Occa-
sions given the most evincing Proofs of his pacific Dis-
position towards the English, and had even given us
early intimation of this Confederacy, alledgiiig that he
had been compelled to enter into it from a Dread of the
Resentment of his Associates, and assuring us that,
whatever Appearances he might l)e constrained to
.MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH ^!01
Assume, be would not involve the Berar Government
in a decided Enmity with the English. In conformity
to this Plan of Policy Moodajee had sent from 30 to
40,000 Horse under the Command of his Second Son,
Chimnajee Baboo ; they received their Dismission on
the Day of the Dusserab, or the 11th of August 1771).
The plan of Operations prescribed to them by the Con-
federates was to march into Behar, which they might
have reached in two Months ; but instead of follo^^'ino;
this plan they took a different Ptoad, and by studied
Delays had only reached Cuttack in the Month of May
following, being about the Time when the periodical
Bains usually set in in that Province, which of Course
served them as a pretext for deferring the prosecution
of their professed Design ; and they were at this Time
still laying at Cuttack.
The Nizam had committed no open Hostilities against
us, though there is every Reason to suppose (and he
has even himself avowed it) that he was the Projector
of the Confederacy, and had Secretly supplied the other
Powers with Money to carry on their Operations
Against Us.
The Advices from Madras proved but too fully the
Activity and Spirit with which Hyder had begun to
perform his Part in this Alarming Confederacy.
Such was the posture in which we stood with respect
to the Powers of this Country. Our Advices reofarding:
our European Enemies were uncertain : It was. how-
ever, firmlj^ believed that an Expedition would be
attempted by the French in the course of the season
against some of the Company's Settlements in India,
though it was impossible to foresee whether it would
ftiU on Bengal, Madras, or Bombay, tho' the latter was
most probable.
Under these Circumstances, it became ex})edient to
202 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
contract as much as possible the Sphere of our MiHtary
Operations, so that, without endangering the safety of
our own Possessions in Bengal, We might be able to
Act with more Force and Efficacy in our Endeavors to
recover the Carnatic and to revenge the Injury which
the English had sustained from Hyder Ally Cawn.
The Government at Poonah had long borne an inveterate
and avowed Enmity against Hyder, and though tem-
porary Policy had now united them in one Cause, Yet
his great and unexpected Successes might naturally
revive their former Jealousy and Alarm the Ministers
of Poonah with Apprehensions for the future safety of
their own Territories. The Opportunity, therefore,
seemed favorable for proposing to them Terms of
Reconciliation from this Government, and as Moodajee
Bhosila had always professed the strongest Desire of
effecting a pacification betwixt us and the Maratta
States, it was thought necessary to engage him as a
Mediator in the intended Negociation. With these
Views a Treaty was drawn out by us and sent to
Naugpore, and Moodajee was desired to get it executed
by the Peshwa and his Ministers, and to sign it him-
self as the Guarantee for the punctual Observance of
it on both Sides.
Whilst this Negociation was in suspence it was
agreed to postpone the March of the Detachment
destined by Land for Madras, because its Poute lay
through the Territories of Moodajee Bhosila, and it
must necessarily pass by that part of his Army which
was laying at Cuttack under the Command of
Chimnajee, — Circumstances which, without having
obtained the previous Concurrence of Moodajee, might,
in the unsettled state of our Connection with that
Prince, not only expose the Detachment to Difficulties
and Opposition in its March, but lead it into Opera-
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 203
tions very Difterent from the Intention of its Equip-
ment, and draw on us the Decided Enmity of Moodajee,
whose Power when exerted against us would prove an
important Acquisition to the Strength of Hyder and
the Ministers of Poonah. The great Exertions which
had already been made by this Government required
also some Time before the necessary Arrangements
could be made for fitting out a new Detachment which
was to perform so long a March and be employed in
Service of so much Importance.
On the 9th January 1781 Answers were at length
received from the Hajah of Berar and his Ministers,
which contained, however, so many Objections to the
proposed Treaty that little Room was left to hope for
an immediate Accommodation with the Government of
Poonah ; And besides the Points which came into Dis-
cussion from their immediate Connection with the
Treaty, these Letters contained a Variety of Claims
and propositions Asserted by Moodajee on his own
Account, which, though they were not wholly new,
were recapitulated in a Style that imj^ressed us with
Doubts regarding the sincerity of Moodajee's former
Professions and Assurances.
The Season for'Action was now far advanced, Colonel
Pearse's Detachment was almost ready, and the State
of our Affairs on the Coast would not admit of longer
Delay ; it was evident also from the Answers which
had been received from Moodajee that he conceived
that our Affairs were reduced to a state more Desperate
than they really were. To remove, therefore, this
Impression, as well as to afford the most speedy Assist-
ance to the Presidency of Madras, it was resolved that
the Detachment should immediately proceed and make
its way through the Province of Orissa against all
Opposition. To reconcile Moodajee, however, to this
204 MR. HASTIXGS'S DESPATCH
Measure by every Mark of Attention in our Power,
and to prevent, if possible, a rupture from the meeting
of the two Armies, it was agreed to depute a Gentle-
man from this Government to Chimnajee Baboo at
Cuttack. Mr. Anderson was selected for this Service,
and the following Instructions were given to him : —
Fort William,
lif/i Januarf/ 1781.
Sir, — We hereby appoint you our Special Minister
to Rajah Chimnajee Bhosila, the Commander of the
Army of the Government of Berar, now in the Province
of Cuttack, and we direct you to proceed thither with
all possible Expedition for the following Purposes : —
First, — You will produce to the Bajah your
Credentials, and deliver to him and to the Dewan
Bowanny Pant Appa the introductory Letters which
you will receive from the Governor General.
Secondly. — You will Notify to them in Form that
Orders have been given to Lieutenant-Colonel Pearse,
the Commander of the Army lately formed at Midna-
pore, to March into the Carnatic by the way of Cuttack,
its only practicable Boute, apprizing them that this
information is given them in consideration of the
Ancient Friendship which has Subsisted between our
Forces in the Carnatic and the Government of Naupf-
pore, and for the prevention of any Cause which might
eventually Disturb it. For this reason We have in-
structed you to request them in our Name to cause
such of tlieir Troops as may yet be in the Boad through
which our Army must pass to remove at such a dis-
tance from it as may prevent the Individuals on either
side, and particularly the Followers of the Camps,
whose Licentiousness is the most dithcult to be re-
strained, from engaging in Mutual Broils, which might
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 205
imperceptibly lead to serious and alarming Conse-
quences Affecting the Union of the two States, and to
acquaint them that the strictest Orders have from the
Same Motives been issued to the Commander of the
English Army, who is a Man of Understanding and
Prudence, to observe all the Duties of Friendshij) with
the Kajah and his People, and to avoid whatever may
tend to create a Misunderstanding with either ; that
the Force has been some time since assembled and
ready to March, but Letters having been before sent
to Naugpore containing the Substance of a Treaty
proposed for the Guarantee of Eajah Moodajee Bhosila
and the Acceptance and Ratification of the Ministers
of the Peshwa, with other subjects tending to draw the
two Governments of Berar and Bengal into a closer
and firmer Connection of Friendship and Interest, the
March of the Army was therefore withheld till an
Answer should be received from Naugpore ; that an
Answer has been received, but not Conclusive, many
Points remaining for Adjustment, which may be the
Avork of Time ; that we are Assured of the inflexible
determination of the Bajah to Maintain the Ancient
Friendship of the Bhosila Family with this Govern-
ment, and to unite with it in one Common Cause
whenever the Terms and Objects of it can be settled to
our Mutual Satisfaction, but that we cannot suffer the
necessary Plans and Measures of Government to remain
Suspended in the Expectation of this Conclusion, nor
our Armies to lose the Season of Action, while those of
our Enemies are employing it against us ; and that,
having acquitted Ourselves of the Obligation imposed
upon us by our Sense of the Belation subsisting
between the two Governments, the rest remains with
them, and they must be Answerable for the Conse-
quences if they do not conform to our Example. You
206 :\1R. HASTIXGSS DESPATCH
will be careful to make them understand that the
Orders to Colonel Pearse are positive to prosecute his
March and make his way against all Opposition.
Thirdhj. — If you find the Rajah and his Dewan dis-
posed to take a more decided part in our Favor, of
which, indeed, We have no Expectation, We desire
that you will Solicit the Aid of 2,000 effective and
Chosen Horse, or any less Number which they may be
willing to contribute, to accompany Colonel Pearse and
to act under his Command, and receive their Pay from
the Company through their Paymaster, the Mode and
rate of which We empower you to settle by written
Stipulation.
Fourthly. — We expect that this application will
draw from them other demands ; but these We direct
3^ou to transmit to us, and wait our Answers to them,
not judging it either necessary or expedient to give
you more positive Orders upon other points.
It is our Order that you Correspond with Lieutenant-
Colonel Pearse, transmitting to him Speedy and regular
Information of all Matters proper for his knowledge. —
We are, &c.
Mr. Anderson having received these Instructions
proceeded on his Journey towards Cuttack. On his
arrival at Ballasore he found that Chimnajee had
Marched with his Army against the Fort of Dheckanall,
which is situated among the Hills, and that it would
be impossible at that Time to penetrate through the
Passes which were in the Possession of the Mountaineers.
Mr. Anderson communicated this Difliculty to the
■Governor General in the following Letters : —
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 207
Ballasore,
22nd Januarij 1781.
Hon'ble Sir, — I arrived here this Morning. The
Maratta Army is, I find, engaged in the Siege of
Dheckanall, which lays amongst the Hills a consider-
able distance to the Westward of the Cuttack E,oad.
The communication is, I am told, almost entirely
stopped, as there is a thick Jungle of near 17 Coss in
length betwixt the Road and Dheckanall, which is so
much infested by the People of the rebellious Kajahs,
that some days ago a considerable Body of Horse which
Attempted to penetrate to the Army with some supplies
from Cuttack were obliged to return.
I foresee, therefore, a great Difficulty in reaching
Chimnajee's Camp in Time to carry on any Negociation
before the Arrival of Colonel Pearse's Detachment ;
and what will, I fear, considerably Augment it is the
Absence of the Phousdar of this Place, for wdiom I
brought a letter from Beny Bam Pundit. I have
delivered the Letter to his Naib, but having no previous
Notice, he seems undetermined how to act untill he
shall receive Directions from the Subahdar at Cuttack.
This would require a delay of four or five days, but
you may be assured I shall endeavor to find means of
proceeding sooner.
Whilst I regret extreamly this delay, it is with
Some Pleasure that I remark that the same Circum-
stance which is the cause of it renders the object of my
Deputation less important than it would have been had
the Army of the Marattas been unemployed and on
the high Road to Cuttack.
If I can get the Naib Phousdar's Permission and a
few of his Servants for my Protection, which, I find
from Experience, is absolutely necessary, I shall set
208 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
out to-morrow for Cuttack, and there wait until I can
hear from Chimnajee, or until I can get an Escort to
conduct me through the Hills. — I have, &c.
Ballasore,
23rd January 1781.
Hon'ble Sir, — I had the Honor to write you
Yesterday. I have how^ determined to set out for
Cuttack to-morrow Morning at all Events. The Naib
Phousdar has promised to send two or three of his
Sepoys along with me, which will, I hope, prevent any
Delay from my being stopped by the Chowkedars on
the Road. Bissumber Pundit, is, I find, with Rajah
Ram Pundit at Cuttack ; I shall consult with him about
my future Ojoerations, and if the Road to Chimnajee's
Camp is impracticable, I shall wait at Cuttack untill I
shall receive your Orders, or untill I can find Means to
convey a Letter and receive an Answer from Chimnajee.
I do not understand that there are many Troops in
this part of the Country ; they are mostly gone with
Chimnajee into the Dheckanall Country. The few that
are left are, I believe, under the Command of Rajah
Ptam Pundit, who is a Man of High Rank and much
respected Amongst the Marattas. I think it is probable
that the Chief Object of my Deputation may be
answered by an Interview with him ; I mean the
Declaration which you have enjoined me to make with
Respect to the March of Colonel Pearse. But if you
should think it at all Events necessary that I should
find means of waiting on Chimnajee to pursue the
remaining Object of my Commission, viz., to pursuade
him to take an Active Part and join us, or to enter
into some Engagem^ent to remain passive, it will be
necessary to send me more particular Instructions,
because these Propositions will, as you have observed,
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCJl 209
lead to Demands on his Part that I shall be unable to
Answer until I can write to the Board and receive their
Orders, which (hemmed in as Chimnajee is at present
by the rebellious Rajahs) would be very difficult, and
if effected, would be attended with so much Delay as to
render my Negociations with the Marattas, either
regarding a Junction or remaining passive, of no use.
With Respect to Colonel Pearse's Detachment, I beg
leave to submit these Circumstances to your Considera-
tion, and to request your Orders, which, as far as I can
Judge at present, may reach me before it will be in my
Power to leave Cuttack. — I have, &c.
The Governor General laid these Letters before the
Board, and as there appeared so little probability of
Mr. Anderson's being able to effect an Interview with
Chimnajee, and that Gentleman's Presence was wanted
at the Presidency for the duties of a very important
Station to which we had lately appointed him. We
Agreed to direct him to return to the Presidency and
to leave the subject of his Commission with Rajah Ram
Pundit, the Naib of Cuttack. The following Letter
was accordingly written to him by the Secretary : —
Fort Wn.uAM, Council Chamber,
2%thJanuarij 1781.
Sm, — I am Directed to convey to you the Orders of
the Hon'ble Governor General and Council that you
immediately return to the Presidency, Delivering the
subject of your Commission to Rajah Ram Pundit, the
Naib of Cuttack, to be by him communicated to
Chimnajee Baboo. — I have, &c.
Mr. Anderson in the mean Time proceeded on to
Cuttack, and during his stay there wrote the following
Letters to the Board : —
14
210 MR. HASTIXGS'S DESPATCH
CUTTACK,
31st Januarij 1781.
Hon'ble Sir and Sirs, — On my Arrival here three
Days ago I was informed that Rajah Chimnajee was
encamped with his whole Army amongst the Hills
about 24 Coss from this place ; that the Mountaineers
were in general up in Arms against the Marat ta Govern-
ment ; that they had for some time entirely cut off the
Communication betwixt this place and the Rajah's
Camp ; but that it was then again in some Measure
opened by the Reduction of the Rajah of Dheckanall,
who had been one of the principal and most active
Leaders in the Rebellion. I immediately Dispatched
Letters to Rajah Chimnajee and his Dewan, Bhowanny
Pundit, informing them of my Deputation from you
and of my Arrival here, and requesting to know if it
would be agreeable to them that I should wait upon
them in Camp. It is with concern I am obliged to
acquaint you that the Hircarrahs who carried the
Letters have now returned, and inform me that it is
utterly impossible to pass through the Hills, even Con-
siderable Bodies of Horse who have attempted to join
the Main Army being obliged to return. This Infor-
mation is confirmed by the Voice of all those with
whom I have had an Opportunity of Conversing.
As there, has been no Intercourse whatever betwixt
this Place and the Camp for some Days, it is im-
possible to say where the Army is at Present. All the
Inhabitants here conclude from a Variety of Circum-
stances that it is in Motion. But different Opinions
and reports prevail regarding its Destination ; some
alledge that it was Chimnajee's Intention to March
against the Rajah of Sumbelpore, who had refused
to submit to the heavy Exactions imposed by the
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 211
Marattah Government, whilst others conjecture that
He is now actually on his March towards the Western
Passes of Bengal. Though this is merely conjecture,
yet the well-known Distresses and Importunities of
Chimnajee's Army, and the Impossibility of finding any
further Resources in this exhausted Country, give it an
Appearance of Probability that will not allow me
wholly to reject it.
I think it necessary to inform you that there are few
or no Troops at present in this part of the Country.
I am this Evening to have a Conference with
Manojee, the Dewan of Rajah Chimnajee's Duftur, and
Hurdy Ram, the Dewan of Cuttack, which will prob-
ably determine me regarding the Measures which are
now left for me to pursue. — I am, &c.
5fh February 1781.
Hon'ble Sir and Sirs, — I had Yesterday Evening
the Honor to receive your Secretary's Letter of the
29th Ultimo.
Rajah Ram Pundit being at present with Chimnajee
Baboo, and it appearing the Intention of your Order
that I should communicate the subject of my Com-
mission to the Persons who for the Time beinor micrht
be considered as the Representatives of the Mahratta
Government at Cuttack, I this Morning waited on
Manoojee Pundit and Hurdy Ram, the former of whom
as Phurnoveesse possesses great weight in the Councils
of the Berar State, and the latter as Dewan of Cuttack
holds the executive Authority of this Soubah in the
absence of Rajah Ram Pundit. I had at a former
Interview opened to them the Intention of my Deputa-
tion, and I this Morning entered on the Subject more
fully, explaining it to them nearly in the words of my
14—2
212 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Instructions. During the Course of our Conversation
Manoojee and Hurdy Ram at first expressed some
Apprehensions from the E-esentment which the Peshwa
and his Ministers would entertain at their Master's
suftering Colonel Pearse's Detachment to pass. They
enlarged much on the steady Attachment shewn by
Moodajee to the English, even whilst all the other
Nations were at Enmity with us, and observed that he
had sent his Son to command the Troops, who, not-
withstanding the pressing Instances of the Peshwa and
his Ministers, had thus long avoided an Invasion of our
Territories, and had even now, under pretence of
reducing some petty Rajahs, removed his Army to a
considerable Distance on purpose that our Troops
might the more easily pass. This was a proof of
Friendship which had not occurred to them at our first
Interview. I was pleased, however, to find it adduced,
and readily admitted it : I pursued the favorable Dis-
position which it discovered, and I have the pleasure to
inform you that Manoojee and Hurdy Ram promised
that Orders should be sent to all the Tanadars and
Ofiicers on the Road, not only to avoid doing anything
which might be productive of disputes, but to assist as
far as possible in supplying the Detachment with Pro-
visions in their Route. The performance of this
promise must, however, I am sensible, depend on the
Intentions of the Maratta Government and the Orders
which may be received from Chimnajee. At the request
of Manoojee and Hurdy Ram I delivered to them the
Letters of Introduction, which I received from the
Governor-General for Chimnajee, and some Dispatches
which I had brought from Beny Ram Pundit to his
Brother, and they promised that they would imme-
diately forward them to Camp under a strong Escort,
together with a Letter from themselves to Rajah
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 213
Chimnajee informing him of the Subject of my Com-
mission.
I learned from Manoojee and Hurdy Ram that Chim-
najee, with almost the whole of his Army, was at a
Place called Khond, on the Boundaries of the Cunjer
Country, about 35 Coss from hence. It lays, I am
informed, nearly N.W. from Cuttack, and no Inference
can be drawn regarding Chimnajee's Intentions from
the supposed situation of the Army, as it is said to be
Almost equally convenient for Marching to any of the
places for which Report variously destines it — to
Sumbulpore, to Great Naugpore, or to the Western
Frontiers of Beno-al.
o
In Obedience to your Orders of the 29th Ultimo I
shall set out To-morrow on my return to Bengal. —
I am, &c.
Mr. Anderson afterwards left Cuttack and set out
on his Return to the Presidency ; on his Arrival at
Ballasore he Overtook Bissumber Pundit, a Vakeel
whom Chimnajee Baboo had sent through the Hills
under a strong Escort with Dispatches to the Governor
General. Mr. Anderson agreed to Travel in Company
with Bissumber Pundit to Calcutta ; but before he left
Balasore he heard that Chimnajee, with all his Army,
was come down into the open Country, which was con-
firmed by a Letter which he received from Chimnajee's
Minister, Bowanny Pundit, expressing a great desire
to see him, and requesting him to return from Balasore
to Chimnajee's Camp, which was then in the Neigh-
borhood of Jaagepore. But as the Order of the Board
of the 29tli January was positive, and Mr. Anderson
knew not on what Grounds it was issued, he thought
he could not take upon himself to deviate from it ; he
excused himself, therefore, to Bowanny Pundit in the
best manner he could, and havinof written all the
214 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Circumstances to the Gov^ernor General, he proceeded
by slow Journies towards Calcutta, expecting to receive
on the Road further Orders for his Conduct. The
Governor General accordingly did write to him three
Letters directing him to comply with Bowanny Pundit's
Desire ; but as they were sent by one Road and
Mr. Anderson proceeded by another, they did not reach
him till after his Arrival at Calcutta.
In the mean time Colonel Pearse's Detachment
entered the Maratta Territories, and Chimnajee Baboo,
whose Army was now within a few Miles of the Road,
not only suffered him to pass without opposition, but
directed one of his principal (Officers to attend the
Colonel and supply the Detachment with whatever they
might want. The Colonel's Letters afforded daily
Testimonies of the care with which the Officer executed
his Instructions, and the Detachment during the whole
of the March through Orissa had the most plentiful
supplies of Grain and every kind of Provisions.
Repeated Dispatches were about this Time received
from Chimnajee and his Ministers (vide Appendix
Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, y) professing their Friendly Disposition
towards the English, and declaring their resolution to
afford Colonel Pearse every assistance during his March
through Orissa, but all of them complaining at the
Same Time of the Hardships which their Friendship
for the English had brought upon them, and the
Difficulty which they found in ^^acifying their Troops,
who complained of their want of Pay, and loudly called
out to be led to plunder. A Letter was likewise about
this Time received from Bowanny Pundit, the Moon-
shee of Rajah Moodajee Bhosila, addressed to Benyram
Pundit, the Berar Vakeel at Calcutta, which throws
some light on the Views and Policy of the Court of
Berar.
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 215
The Message which Ijissumber Pundit conveyed
from Rajah Chimnajee Baboo contained sevei'al pro-
positions of* great Importance, and as the Rajah had
expressed some chagrin at not seeing Mr. Anderson uii
his first Deputation, We agreed to send that Gentle-
man back to him ; the Governor General also Sent Bis-
sumber Pundit back at the Same Time with Answers
to the Rajah's Propositions. As it became necessary
to inform Mr. Anderson of the Propositions conveyed
by Bissumber Pundit, and to direct him to sound the
Dispositions of the Rajah and his Ministers regarding
several Objects of a secret Nature, it was thought
advisable to issue his Instructions from the Governor
General only, without Minuting the particulars of
them on the usual Records of the Council. The
following is a Copy of the Letter which, being agreed
on by the Board, was Written to him : —
FouT William,
'2Sfh Frhruarn 1781.
Sir, — For the better Accomplishment of the Views
of this Government in the general Commission with
which you have been charged, I tliink it proper to
furnish you with the following Materials of Information
and Instructions for their occasional Application : —
The immediate and professed design of your Deputa-
tion is, as it originally was, to reconcile the Govern-
ment of Naugpore to the Passage of Colonel Pearse's
Detachment through the Province of Crissa, and to
afford it the most public Mark of Attention and
Respect. It may, however, be productive of other
Consequences, and these I proceed to ex])laln.
The Cause assigned by the Government of Naugpore
for sending so large a Force to our Frontier is the Neces-
sity in which it found itself of complying ostensibly with
•216 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
the sudden Requisitions which were made to it by the
ruhng Administration of Poonah and the Nabob Nizam
Ally Cawn, and the danger to which a Refusal would
have exposed it from the Power of the Confederacy in
which they had recently engaged. This Intention was
early notified to us with solemn Professions of Friend-
ship and a fixed Resolution to maintain it. Hitherto
I have no reason to doubt these Assurances, for they
have been verified by Facts. Chimnajee received his
dismission, and is said to have began his March on the
Dussera, or the 11th of August of the year 1779 ; he
proceeded by studied Deviations and delays, and instead
of entering Bahar, which was the prescribed scene of
his Operations, he kept the Road of Cuttack, where he
arrived in May last, and has Confined himself to that
Province, though greatly distressed ever since. In
the Month of October I secretly furnished him with
three Lacks of Rupees to relieve the pressing Wants
of his Army, and gave him Expectations of a larger
supply if the Answer to the Letters then despatched
to Naugpore were such as I required, that is, if
Moodajee accepted the Guarantee of our Treaty
offered to the Peishwa, and issued Orders either for
the junction of the Army under Chimnajee with ours,
or its Recall. He has done neither, but captiously
objected to every Article of the Treaty, proposing such
Amendments and Additions as he must have known
would be rejected, and declined to send the Orders
required to his son, but still professing an inviolable
Attachment. It is possible that these declarations
were made only to save appearances, as the barren
Expedition against Dakkanaul at the precise Instant
in which Colonel Pearce was preparing to March into
Orissa can only be reconciled with any Princi})le of
rational Policy by the supposition that it was calcu-
MR. JIASTIXGS'S DESTATCH 217
lated to remove it from the Line of his Route. He
has been permitted to pass without Interruption, an
Officer of that Government appointed to conduct him,
and he has to this Time been plentifully supplied with
Provisions either by the Command or the connivance
of the Rajah. You will be yourself a competent Judge
whether the consequent Conduct of the Rajah is
answerable to the Conclusion which I have stated of
the Authority which has prescribed it.
It can only be ascribed to two Motives — one, that
which I have supposed ; the other to profit by the
departure of so considerable a part of our Force, and
to invade the Province of Bahar with less Hazard of
Resistance. I have no suspicion of the latter, because
it is inconsistent with my Belief of the Policy of that
State, and with the season of the year, which is already
too far spent for such an Undertaking.
The Object of this temporizing system is to obtain
the Acknowledgment of the claim of the Government
of Berar to the Chout of Bengal, and I have no doubt
that this concession alone would instantly Purchase
their alliance and their decided and open declaration
in our Favor. I know that this is their Object,
although it has never yet been declared in Form :
possibly you will be questioned upon the subject. If
Chimnajee has authority to treat upon this or any
other Subject, receive his Proposals and transmit them
to the Board ; if he has not, you will with propriety
refer him back to his Principal, with whom it ought
to originate, since he must ratify whatever is concluded
respecting it. Profess yourself unqualified to talk
upon any point not included in your Instructions, but
hear and report whatever the Rajah or his Minister
may say to you, and rather encourage than Check any
Hope which they may entertain of our Compliance
218 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
with their Pretensions, endeavouring to learn from
them what Advantage they are disposed to offer for
so important a Concession, whether they will engage
to unite with Us in the Prosecution of the War against
Hyder to his final Extirpation, whether they will
accept an Equivalent, or even more than an Equiva-
lent, in any other Quarter for the Chout, either the
Portion acquired by General Goddard of Guzeraut and
Cocan, or such Conquests as may be made by Colonel
Carnac in Malva or Khandish, or any other which
they may suggest. Be careful not to put Questions
to them directly, by which they may Construe a
yielding Disposition in this Government, or an Eager-
ness to court their Friendship by too great Sacrifices ;
but rather endeavour to lead them to the Information
which you may Want by Questions of Explanation,
and by such Observations, and even Misapprehensions,
as may be most likely to produce the discovery of their
real Sentiments and Expectations.
In the mean Time it is possible that some Advantage
may be made of the particular and personal Views of
the young Itajah himself. As the immediate Heir of
his Father, he has Pretensions to the Succession of the
Sovereign Authority of the Maratta State, and it seems
to be the only Provision which can be made for him
to secure his future Independency. Without this his
Father's death will leave him at the Mercy of his
Brother and without a liesource, for it is not likely
that his Brotlier should expend the Wealth or hazard
the Power of his own State to promote his Interest
and raise him to a dignity suj)erior to his own ; neither
is it improbable that Moodahjee would be glad to see
the Accomplishment of such an Establishment for both
his Sons. The Policy of the Dewan is, as I am told,
more directed to the Elevation of the Family and
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 219
Government than to the Establishment of any indi-
vidual Interest in it, except, perhaps, that of Ragoojee,
the eldest Son by Blood of Moodajee, but the Son
and Successor of Janoojee by Adoption. Beneram and
Bissumber Pundit are properly his Servants, and
strongly attached to him ; Bowanny Pundit is in the
same Interest, and was chosen to his present Trust by
Dewagur Pundit. These three Persons would take
Alarm at any suggestion of a separate Interest of
Chimnajee, and on this account you will cautiously
avoid touching on any Subject tending to it with them.
But I recommend that you seek an Opportunity to
sound Chimnajee himself upon it : I am told that,
though young and unexperienced, he does not want
Understanding ; that he is Ambitious, Spirited, and
impatient of Controul. Seek an (3pportunity of con-
versing with him alone ; he will, perhaps, afford you
one without any Contrivance on your Part, and this
will be better. Avail yourself of it to inspire him with
Hopes of the Bauje. Ask him, what is his present
Object in the Command assigned him ? Is it the
Attainment of any Settlement in Bengal ? This, if
accomplished, whatever it be, will become the Portion
of his Brother and his own dependance more confirmed
by it, and to effect it he may lose the Friendship of
the English, by which it may be in his Power to raise
himself to a Condition of higher State and Splendor
than any that his Family have yet known. There is
no Power in the Maratta State which can oppose his
Pretensions if immediately asserted ; if deferred beyond
the present Crisis, it may be too late. His own pre-
carious Situation and future Vassalage and the Pru-
dence of endeavouring to obtain some Provision during
his Father's Life are Arguments which may likewise
be suggested with Ef][ect. The Subject is delicate ;
220 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
break it to him warily : first try his disposition ; pro-
ceed as you find him affected by what you have said,
but do not go beyond the Encouragement which he
may give you. The Effect will at least l3e to gain
Time, and to render him less solicitous for the Prosecu-
tion of any Measures which may involve him in a
decided Enmity with the English ; and if you should
be able to make such an Impression on his Mind as to
induce him to become a Party with his Father for our
Cause, it is as much as I can expect from it, unless he
should at once resolve to anticipate his Father's Con-
currence and join a Part of his Forces to Colonel
Pearse's Detachment.
Bissumber Pundit has received his dismission from
me, and will immediately return with answers to the
four Propositions which he brought from Chimnajee
Baboo. These you already know. I shall therefore
only State them in short Heads, which will be sufficient
to mark the Relation of my Answers to each.
Preliminary. Moon-^efee. — This Word, which Bis-
sumber Pundit has constantly repeated by itself as
comprizing the whole of the Bajah's Meaning, I do not
very satisfactorily Understand. But supposing it to
require my Advice for his future Conduct, I have given
it in the following Terms : — The Government of Berar
has already afforded so many and so public Instances
of its disposition to favour Ours, that it can no longer
answer any useful Purpose to temporize ; and why
should it temporize ? The reply to this Question is,
for their Imaun, that is, for the Credit of their Faith.
To this I have answered that the Faith of the Con-
federacy, if ever binding on them, having been origin-
ally imposed by Violence, has been long since dissolved
by every other Party composing it — lat, by Hyder
Ally Cawn, in soliciting and obtaining from the King
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 221
a Firmaun for the Subadarry of Deccaii to the total
Exclusion of the Kights of the Nazim, and to the
Injury of the Peishwa himself, who Possesses a Part
of the Territory which is included in the Grant ; nor is
the guilt of the Act extenuated by the Inefficacy of
the Patent, the disposition being equally manifested
by it : 2ndly, by Nizam Ally Cawn, who promised to
support the projected Invasion of Bengal by a similar
attempt on the Circars of Seecacole, &c., as soon as
Chimnajee's Army was on its March, which Promise
he has neither performed, nor has ever made the least
Movement towards it : Srdly and ithlij, by the Peishwa
himself, or the Minister Acting for him, first, in order-
ing Beessajee to take Possession of the district of
Gurrah Mundelah, which but a few Months before had
been granted in Jagheer to Moodajee as one of the
Conditions for his engaging in the Confederacy ; and
secondly, in failing to send the stipulated supplies of
Money for the Expences of the detachment destined
for the Service in Bengal. A Breach of Faith in any
one of the confederated Powers in any One of the
Instances which I have enumerated, except the last,
which may be justified, is a virtual dissolution of the
original Engagement with the offending Party, if not
with the whole ; but in these the Forfeiture is complete
on all sides except that of Moodajee, who is, therefore,
to chuse what Line of Policy or Connection may hence-
forth best suit his own Interests. As to his personal
Attachment to the Peishwa, let him retain it. We
bear no personal Enmity to the Peishwa, nor seek for
any Object in the War with him but the Means of
bringing it to an honorable Conclusion. Our Wish is
to establish a firm and lasting Friendship with the
Maratta State, and to Unite with it In destroying our
common Enemy, Hyder Ally ; he is equally the Enemy,
222 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
and should he (which God forbid) prove successful in
the War with the English, would become a fatal One
to all his present Associates. Let the Government of
Berar declare itself in our Favor ; its Influence will not
fail to draw after it the Peshwa's Administration,
which subsists only by the Powers of its Allies and
nominal Dependants, for it has neither Wealth nor
Resources left, having yielded a Territory of eighty
Lacks to Hyder, the Province of Candish to Sindia,
Aurungabad (if I mistake not) to Nizam Ally, and lost
both Guzerat and Cocan to the English. Moodajee
has frequently declared that he will not suffer the
liange, which is his Patrimony, to be ruined. Let
him now stand forth to save it, and assert his own
E-ight to the Possession of it. He has no Competitor,
for even the Title is vacant, nor is he likely to meet
with an opponent. He may command our Assistance,
and in his Name and under the Sanction of his Family
the Maratta State and the British Nation may be
united for ever. On these Grounds my Advice is, that
Chimnajee look only to such a Conclusion as I have
described, and either wait the Issue of it, if his Orders
restrain him from Acting Openly in our Cause, or, if
he may do it, join our detachment against Hyder Ally.
The Interest which I have in offering this Advice does
not lessen the Propriety of it if it is reasonable in
itself, and for that let him estimate it by the Truth of
the Facts and Reasonings on which I ground it.
I proceed to the Propositions : —
l.S'^. Expence of the Troopf^. — You may engage to
supply them with twelve Lacks of Rupees, the sum
which I formerly promised my Interest with this
Government to grant to them in the Event of the
Rajah's Compliance with the Requisition made to him
in October last, and which, added to the former supply,
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 223
will make fifteen Lacks. He must not expect more,
and for this he must solemnly promise either to return
with his Army to Naugpore, or not to employ it
against us. The Money shall be either paid to his
Orders, or sent to Balasore by Sea.
2nd. Ragonaut Row. — This question can only be
properly treated with his Father ; but as such a
reference might imply a Hesitation which would be
dishonourable, I have plainly told Bissumber Pundit
that in no state of our Affairs will I ever consent to
surrender Bagonaut Row to any Power or Person upon
Earth, although I should think it allowable to break
off all connection with him, if that should be required
as the Condition of any future Engagement whether
with the Government of Berar or Poonah.
^rd. To retreat by the way of Gya, and burn a feio
villages for a Pretext^ or shew of Hostility in the Way.
— This I have treated as a subject of Ridicule, not of
Argument ; besides, I have said that it is too late to
temporize. The Line once passed, it would be diffi-
cult, perhaps impossible, to stop or retreat ; and the
Road to Bahar is at this Time impracticable, unless he
would force the Passes of which our Troops have
Possession, and I will never disgrace our Arms by
ordering them to give Way to him.
4:th. Choiit. — This is a subject upon which I can
make no reply but to his Principal, if he shall ever
exact it. Beneram urges it with uncommon Earnest-
ness as the Point which must decide the Union of the
Boosla Family with Bengal, and proposes that it be
granted as the condition of their alliance and Fealty
under any Title that may exjDress the Tenure by which
it is to be so held and efiace the Odium of the present
Name. I have rather discouraged than countenanced
this Idea, but not so as wholly to preclude it from
224 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
future discussion, and I now mention it that connect-
ing it with what I have before written npon the
general subject, you may accommodate your Language
to mine upon it.
I recollect nothing further to add. You will regu-
late the Time of your Continuance with Chimnajee by
your own discretion, provided he shall solicit it ; but
should he not, or should you see no good Reason for
staying, I shall wish you to return early, as your
Presence will be much wanted for the Business of the
approaching Settlement. — I am, &c.
Letter from the Governor General.
Barasset,
lstMa)xh, 1781.
Dear Sir, — I now send you my private Instruc-
tions ; they are such as could not properly or prudently
be given in public orders : and exposed, as, of course,
these would be, to our official Records, Mr. Wheler
approves them and authorizes me to declare his appro-
bation of them. They appear rather longer than the
matter of mere Conversation needs to be ; but I should
have made them still longer had they been addressed
to a person less informed or less capable of drawing
the probable Conclusions from known or supposed
Facts than you are ; for I think much will depend on
the Temper and Inclinations of the young Rajah, and
therefore I have been so particular in stating the
Points which are most likely to influence his mind,
and even to prescribe the manner in which you may
most successfully urge them.
I recommend to you to take Minutes of every Con-
versation with him ; they will be useful not only for
Reference, but, by connecting the sentiments of the
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 225
Rajah expressed at different Times, they will afford
you a better Clue to his real views and Inten-
tions.
Respecting the Connexion of the Government of
Berar with Nizam Ally Cawn, I would rather refer
you to Bissumber Pundit, who can give you the fullest
Information concerning it. I will only say in a few
words that I consider them as natural Enemies,
although they are on Terms of outward Friendship.
I can perceive that Moodajee (or rather his Dewan,
whose Dictates the Rajah implicitly follows in all
political Measures,) stands in some Awe of Nizam
Ally, and I have sometimes intimated the possibility
of our being driven to the necessity of Courting his
Alliance in the manner in which I have hitherto
sought that of the Government of Berar if the Latter
should continue to procrastinate. He was the pro-
jector of the present Confederacy, and is said to be at
this Time detached from it by the Report of Hyder's
having obtained a Grant from the Kino- of his Domin-
ions. The Report is certainly true.
Do not fail to make my acknowledgements to
Chimna-jee for the liberal manner in which he has
acted to Colonel Pearse, of which the Colonel writes
his daily Testimony. He has a claim to a grateful
Return, and on that Footing I would Yield him
Advantacres which should be withheld from him for
o
ever if he employed the means of hostility or Menace
to obtain them.
Rajah Ram Pundit has been very useful to us by
his Influence and Counsels. Let him know that I
know it, and am sensible of it. If you shall judge it
necessary to ensure either his or Bowanny Pundit's
Friendship by Gifts of Mone}'', or to make similar
Presents to others, you have my Authority to draw on
15
226 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
me for any Sums, and to Distribute them according to
your Discretion.
If anything that I have said should require further
Explanation, and such as can only be conveyed effectu-
ally by conversation, as I shall of course return to
Town for a day in a day or two hence, let me know,
and I will go earlier to see you. — I am, &c."
Mr. Anderson having expressed some doubts regard-
ing the Intention of some parts of the preceding
Instructions, the Governor General thought it neces-
sary to explain them more fully in the following
Letter : —
Barrasut,
2nd March 1781.
" To remove every Ambiguity in the construction of
the Paragraph concerning which you have expressed
your Doubts, I desire you will read it with the follow-
ing correction : —
" You may engage to supply them with twelve Lacks
of Rupees. This is the sum which I formerly promised
my Interest with this Government to grant them in
the Event of the Rajah's (that is, Moodajee's, ) Com-
pliance with the Requisition made to him in October
last."
This Requisition was that he should execute the
Treaty which was proposed to him, and Order his
Troops at Cuttack either to return or to join us : the
Requisition has not been complied with. I now oifer
the same sum to Cliimna Baboo, with the condition
only that he will return, or solemnly promise not to
emjoloy the Forces under his command against us. I
limit the condition to no Time, but to the Forces which
are actually under the command of Chimna Baboo.
These must never be emj)loyed against us.
Here I think it necessary to distinguish between
aiR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 227
the Motive of this Bounty or the condition for which
it is granted, and the condition on which it is granted,
and I desire that you will mark the Distinction in all
your Discourses upon the subject. It is this : I con-
sider the Government of Berar as a sufferer by the
many Instances which it has given of its Attachment
to ours, and therefore entitled to some Retribution
from us. To the World the appearance of its Forces,
so near to our Borders, and their professed Destination
against our provinces, will be construed an Hostility.
To me, who know the compulsion under which this
Measure was undertaken, and the pretexts which have
been used to elude the purpose for which it was pro-
fessedly formed, to whom both its professed Destina-
tion and the intended Evasion of it were early notified,
and the latter verified by the slow progress of the
Army, its Inactivity, its distresses, and, above all, by
its Forbearance with an English Army passing in their
Boute and through their own Territory, it is an Evi-
dence of the pacific disposition of the Government of
Berar, and its Attachment to ours equal even to the
Hospitality shewn by it to General Goddard's Detach-
ment. We cannot repay the Expence which they have
incurred by so long an employment of so large a Body
of Cavalry in Inaction and in a remote and destitute
Country, but I deem it incumbent upon our Government
to relieve its present Wants and to afford it the means
of a Betreat. It is a Debt of Honor, Justice, and even
of Policy, for I doubt whether the Bajah could return
with them unless he could either discharge a part of
their Arrears, or lead them to plunder. It is there-
fore as a compensation for Losses sustained on our
Account, as an Acknowledgement and Return for past
kindness, not the purchase of future Forbearance, that
we consent to grant them the Aid which you are in-
15—2
228 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
trusted to tender to them. At the same Time We
have thought it proper to give it with the obvious
precaution that it be not employed to our own Hurt,
nor the Right forfeited on which it was granted by
future Hostilities.
You must not exceed the Sum of Two Lacks in
private Distributions : even that you will doubtless
consider an Excess, unless some very substantial
Benefit can be purchased by it. — I am, &c.
P.S. — I am not satisfied with the preceding Explana-
tions, complete as they may appear ; they want their
direct and positive application, which I now add. If
Chimnajee, in his Acceptance of the sum proffered to
him, shall insist on any Keservation of the Right to
employ his Forces against us in the next Season, or
at any Period before their return to Naugpore, you
must declare to him that his Claim to this supply will
become forfeit by such a Reservation, and that it will
put it out of our power to grant it ; in a Word that
we will not o^rant it."
With these Instructions Mr. Anderson proceeded to
the Maratta Camp, where he held several long Con-
ferences with the Rajah and his Ministers. The subject
of these Conferences will best appear from the follow-
ing Papers, which were sent by Mr. Anderson to the
Governor General ; they were originally intended by
that Gentleman to have been considered only as
private Information previous to his finding leisure to
deliver in a regular Report of his proceedings to the
Board ; but as these papers were written almost at
the moment in which the general Conferences related
in them actually passed, they will afford the best
Insight into the Views of the parties, and probably be
more acceptable than a Relation more leisurely and
methodically digested : —
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 229
Camp,
13th March 1781.
On my arrival Yesterday Evening I was received in
Camp with every Mark of Attention and Respect. I
was introduced to the Rajah and all his principal
Officers Assembled; I delivered to him and his Dewan,
Bhowanny Pundit, the Letters which I received from
you. I took occasion at this Interview to inform the
Rajah that you had sent him some Presents of Silks,
which, together with all my own Baggage, had been
left at Beercool, the Coolies who carried them having
run away terrified at the Reports of the Depredations
committed by a Body of Maratta Horse which had
entered the Province of Jellasore. The Rajah assured
me that these Outrages on our Territories were com-
mitted in Opposition to his Orders, and that the
Moment he had heard of them he had sent to recall
the plundering Party and to Punish the Persons who
composed it. I deemed it necessary to obtain this
Assurance before I entered on the Subject of my Com-
mission.
This Morning I again waited on the Rajah by
Appointment, and had a very long Conference with
him, or rather with the Dewan, Bhowanny Pundit, in
his Presence. Having produced my Credentials, I
explained the professed objects of my former and of
my present Deputation. Our Conversation afterwards
turned on the Propositions which had been made to
3'ou through Bissumber Pundit. I was called on for
the Answers, as Bissumber Pundit had referred them
to me, and had affected an Ignorance of your Senti-
ments, even on those Points which you have replied to
in the clearest Terms. The Dewan, in discussing the
preliminary Article of these Propositions, endeavored
to involve under it the Nature of our Situation with
230 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Respect to the Peshwah, and it was with some difficulty
that I could confine the Question to the Point of View
in which you had considered it, and which at the Time
of stating it was certainly the Point of View in which
it was intended you should consider it, being an Appeal
from the E-ajah to your Justice. I went through all
the Arguments which you have so fully laid down in
my Instructions, and as the Dewan seemed inclined to
Combat every one of them, the Conversation was
carried on to a great length. The Dewan at last in
some Measure concurred in the propriety of the advice
which you had given to the Pajah, but he rested every-
thing on your Compliance with his Expectations re-
specting the first Article of the Propositions, namely,
the Expence of the Troops. I then proceeded to
inform the Pajah of the Ofier which you had impowered
me to make him, of the Motives which induced you to
grant him that supply, and of the Promise which you
had directed me to exact from him. The Pajah, his
Dewan, Pajah Pam Pundit, One or Two of the Ministers
who were present, and even Bissumber Pundit, Afiected
much Surprize at the Smallness of the Sum ; they
observed that near Two Crores of Pupees had been
expended on Account of their Attachment to the
English ; they expatiated on their present distresses,
and remarked that the sum which you had tendered
was scarcely adequate to discharge the Arrears of a
single Jemmautdar, and insinuated the Consequences
to which they might be driven by Hunger, Disappoint-
ment, and dispair. I acknowledged in the fullest
degree the sense you entertained of their Attachment,
and admitted the Peality of their Distresses. I re-
quested, however, that they would consider also the
situation of our Government ; that We were engaged
in Wars with several powerful States ; that although
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 231
We had, indeed, latterly been successful, yet that these
successes had been obtained at a vast Expence of
Treasure, and that much more might still be necessary;
that as these Troops had not come thus far at our
Request, nor even been employed in our Service, it was
not to be expected that We could defray the whole of
their Expence : all that could be looked for was, that
We should assist in relieving them from their present
distresses, of which their Attachment to our Govern-
ment had partly been the Occasion ; and this, I assured
them, you had attended to in as full a degree as our
own situation could possibly admit. In short, much
Argument passed on the subject ; and as the Dewan
seemed to reject the Offer with a kind of slight which
I deemed inconsistent with the Connection which has
subsisted betwixt the Two Governments of Berar and
Bengal, I thought it my duty to turn to the Bajah and
Ask whether this was a positive and final Answer, or
whether it would be agreeable to him before he gave
me my dismission to take some days to weigh all that
I had said in his own Mind, and then give me an
Answer.
I proceeded to communicate your Answers regarding
the remaining three Propositions. I was permitted to
go through those which relate to Rogonaut Bow and
the Passage of the Troops through Goyah without
being interrupted or receiving a Reply. When I came
to the last Article, and when I questioned whether the
Bajah was Authorized to treat upon it, the Dewan
informed me that he was ; and on my telling him that
I should in that Case hear and transmit to you what-
ever he might say, he replied that too much delay had
taken Place on that subject already. He ran tlirough
the whole story of the Manner in which the Chout had
been acquired, said that the Exaction of it had been
232 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
suspended on Account of the troubles which had hap-
pened in the Berar State, but that the Right still
remained, and that the Troops who had acquired it
were still the same. I satisfied myself with replying
that the Troops of Aliverdy Cawn and those of the
English were different ; and We soon afterwards imper-
ceptibly passed from this Article without my having
an Opportunity of fully sounding their Disposition in
the Manner which you have enjoined. The Article of
the Expences seemed to engross the whole of their
thoughts. They said they were willing to engage here-
after in any of Our Views, particularly to unite with us
against Hyder Ally if he had actually solicited Sunnuds
for the Deckan, but the Arrears of their Troops must
first be paid, without which it was impossible for them
to do anything ; that it was with the utmost difiiculty
they could now prevent them from Mutinying by
buoying up their Hopes with Promises of relief from
Bengal ; and that if a Mutiny should happen, it might
prove very fatal to the Rajah and them all ; that their
Distresses and Apprehensions were now such that if I
went away without fulfilling the Expectations of the
Troops, the Bajah must go also from necessity and
throw himself upon you for Belief at Calcutta. On the
whole, you will not imagine that I had much Beason
to be satisfied with the Expectations shewn by the
Dewan in this day's conversation. I am not, however,
entirely discouraged, as I ascribe it chiefly to the Idea
with which Bissumber Pundit has impressed them of
my being possessed with full Powers to settle any Sum
which I may think fit, and it is natural for them to try
every Method of raising it as high as possible. I am
endeavoring to remove this Idea, and I would fain
hope that when this is effected the Dewan will change
his opinion regarding the Offer which you have made
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 233
to the Rajah. You will observe from the Manner in
which this conversation has been carried on that I have
little to expect from an Attention to the particular
disposition of the Young Rajah. He showed a kind of
complacent Indifference during the whole Time, and it
was in Vain that I endeavored to engage him in the
discussion by frequent Appeals to him on Points where
the Dewan and I differed. I am again to visit him to-
morrow Evening to deliver your Presents, which I
understand are arrived at Balasore ; I shall then confine
Our Conversation to subjects of less Importance, and
endeavor to obtain a more thorouorh Insight into his
Temper and Character, and to acquire his good Will
and favorable Opinion. I shall be in no haste to leave
his Camp whilst there remains the smallest Hope of my
stay being productive of any good. Rajah Ram Pundit,
who has frequently visited me since my Arrival, has
particularly implored me to represent to you their dis-
tresses, and entreat you to prevent them by a more
considerable supply. It is in vain that I have repeated
to him, and, indeed, to all the rest who have spoken to
me, that you have fixed a Sum, and that I was certain
that you would on no Account exceed it. Under the
present Appearances I have thought it would be to no
Purpose and premature to try the Mode which you
have Authorized of private distributions Notwith-
standino; the leno-th of this Letter I have been obliged
to Omit many things which I could wish to have men-
tioned. I must make an Apology for the hasty and
inaccurate Manner in which I have written, and
request that you will consider it as a private Letter
addressed to yourself only. — I am, &c.
Postscript, I4:th, in (he Morning. — Bissumber Pundit
has just now been with me with a Message from the
Rajah ; he has shewn me your Letters to him to evince
234 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
that I have a discretional Power to encrease the sum
tendered as I may think fit. I have explained to him
that although you have referred the Rajah to me, yet
you have communicated to me your utmost Intentions,
and I must abide by them. He desired in the Rajah's
Name to know whether he should March forwards to-
day, and whether he should give me my dismission. I
have told him that I wish him to weigh well the Views
wliich I had suggested yesterday and to act accord-
ingly ; that it is not my desire to leave him so soon ;
that, on the contrary, it is my Wish to stay some Time
with him that I may obtain acknowledge of all his
Sentiments and Wishes, so that on my Return I may
be enabled to explain them to you ; but that on both
the above Points it must rest with him to determine
that I could not give him any Expectations whatever
of a larger Sum. I do not imagine he will give me my
dismission, though possibly he may make a shew of
Marching. I am to Visit Bhowanny Pundit this
Mornino-.
On a further consideration of my Instructions some
doubts arise in my Mind, which, as they may still
have their application, I beg leave to state in short
Questions.
1st — Shall the Rajah's Promise to return or not
employ his Troops against us be in Writing, or will a
Verbal Promise be enough ?
2nd. — Shall it, either in Writing or Verbally, be
required to be o?i Oath f
ZnL — Shall the Word never be positively expressed,
or will it be enough if the general Tenor of the
Rajah's discourse shews no Inclination ever to employ
his Troops against us, and in his formal Promise
will the Word not instead of never be in such case
sufficient ?
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 235
If you think any of these Points of consequence, I
beg you will be pleased to send me answers to them,
as they are not particularly expressed in my Instruc-
tions, and I wish to adhere closely to your Inclinations
in everything.
Minutes of several Conferences on the 14^A and 15th
March.
lith. — I received several cursory Visits in the course
of the Day from Bissumber Pundit and Kajah Bam
Pundit, but as little passed excepting Expressions of
the apprehensions which they entertained of the conse-
quences which would accrue to both parties from our
not being able to come to an agreement on the present
Occasion, I forbear to Minute at full length the Parti-
culars of our Conversation.
In the Evening I went with them to pay a Visit to
the Dewan. The Conversation was begun by his
Asking me if I had considered the Particulars of
Yesterday's Conference, and what advice I had to
offer. I replied, that my advice in conformity to that
of the Governor was for them to acce^^t of the Sum
which in regard to their Attachment had been pro-
ferred for the relief of their present Distresses, and
either resolve to join us when circumstances would
admit in carrying on the War against Hyder, or in
prosecuting the Object which I had pointed out to
them of acquiring the Rauje of the Marattah State for
the Bhosilah Family. The Dewan replied that Supplies
were necessary. To this I answered, that when they
should resolve to join in the former Object the Terms
of our Union would necessarily be settled ; but that, if
they should embrace the latter proposal, the object
would be more for their Benefit than for Ours, and that
236 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
I imagined it could be effected without their incurriug
much Expence ; that our Troops alone had already
reduced the Government of Poonah to the greatest
Extremity, but that when joined with theirs, or sup-
ported w^ith the Sanction of their Name, they could
not fail of success ; that the Rauje was now vacant,
insomuch that even the Name of it was scarcely pre-
served ; that (as they themselves must be sensible) it
w^as their known hereditary Kight ; that there was
probably no Power who would be inclined, and none, I
was certain, would be capable, to oppose their Preten-
sions ; and that, on the whole, therefore, I thought the
acquisition would be easy and infallible. The Dewan
replied, that their engaging in this Object was a matter
which must depend on the Councils at Naugpore ; that
this, therefore, would require some delay, and that in
the meantime what were they to do to relieve the
distresses of their Troops which had come thus far,
and which had for Sixteen Months depended on their
expectations from our Government ? I replied, that
for this Purpose the Sum was now tendered them.
He answered, that the Sum tendered w^as scarcely a
Mouthful ; that the Rajah had remarked to him that
the Governor had stiled him in his Letters Yeazaz-az-
jaan, dearer than Life. Was this a proof of it ? Was
this all that he would do for one who was so dear to
him ? It would appear that he regarded Money as
more dear. I informed him that I had not had an
Opportunity of knowing the subject of all the Con-
ferences which had passed betwixt the Governor and
Beny Ham Pundit and Bissumber Pundit, or of all the
Letters which had been written to and from Naugpore,
but that I never had understood that any more than
w^hat was now proffered had ever been required or
promised ; that I had seen one Letter from Dewagur
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 237
Pundit, which though it mentioned high Expectations
in case of a junction against Hyder Ally, yet it implied
no higher Expectations for the Relief of the Troops
sent to Cuttack. I asked him if any higher Promise
had ever been made ; he acknowledged that no express
Promise had ever been made of a larger Sum, but that
the Governor had always Promised his Friendship, and
in Promising that had given them reason to expect a
Supply adequate to their Necessity. Pajah Pam
Pundit observed that the Letter to which I alluded
from Dewagur Pundit related to a particular occasion
when the supply wanted was only for One or two
Months. I think it here necessary to remark that
Pajah Ram Pundit yesterday observed at the Con-
ference held in Presence of the Rajah that the Sum
now tendered was only equal to what was in Agitation
at the end of the Rains, when the Treaty was first
offered to the Poonah Government, and that eight
Months' Expences had since been incurred. I then
replied that the subsequent delay could not be ascribed
to us, but to their own Government, which had returned
the Treaty with Propositions which could not easily be
acceded to. To return to the Conference of to-day,
The Dewan Asked what mighty Matter it would have
been if the Governor, considering their hereditary
Claims on Bengal, and from a regard to his Friendship
to Chimnajee, as well as to prevent the consequences
which may arise to our own Territories from their
distress and dispair, had made each of the Zemindars
contribute to raise a sum to relieve Chimnajee and
enable him to return to Naugpore. He laid so much
stress upon this method of raising a supply that I
thought it necessary to inform him that Money paid
by a Contribution by our Zemindars, or Money paid
from our own Treasury, was to us much the same
238 MR. HASTINGS'S DESrATCH
thing, or if there was any difference, the latter was
preferable.
Bissumber Pundit having declared to them that he
knew not the extent of the Governor's Intentions ;
that he had only told him that he would assist them
with a supply in Proportion to his Abilities ; and that
he had deputed Me with full Powers for this Purpose,
I thought it necessary to repeat to them again and
again that the Intention of my Deputation was chiefly
to afford a Public Testimony of the acknowledgements
of our Government for the Friendship shewn by
Chimnajee in regard to Colonel Pearse's Detachment ;
that the Governor had, however, for my Information
communicated to me the Answers which he had deliv-
ered to Bissumber Pundit to the Propositions conveyed
to him from the Bajah, and had Instructed Me in con-
formity to his Answer regarding the expences to engage
to supply the particular sum which he had expressed ;
that it was not in my Power to deviate from it ; that,
however, if they chose, I should certainly write to the
Governor and communicate to him all that had passed ;
but that I could give them no Hopes that this would
be productive of a larger Supply. They did not require
me to Write, but left it to me to do as I pleased. We
afterwards mutually Regretted the Interruption which
from present Appearances was likely to take Place in
the Friendship which had subsisted betwixt the English
and Berar Government, and which, if preserved. We
agreed might have tended to the mutual Benefit of
both States. This is almost Word for Word all that
passed at this Interview. I studiously avoided Argu-
ment, because I had observed a Captiousness in the
Dewan, which, notwithstanding frequent Professions
of Friendship gave our Yesterday's Conference more
tlie appearance of dispute than I thought consistent
MR. HASTINGS'S DESrATCH 239
with Calm and friendly discussion. Nothing, how-
ever, of this Nature passed at this Interview : every-
thing was said in a cool and deliberate Tone, and due
attention was paid by each to whatever was said by
the other. I afterguards went and paid a Visit to the
Rajah and Delivered to him the Governor's Presents,
which he accepted with much seeming Complacency.
Nothing passed at this Interview relating to Business.
I endeavored to engage the Rajah in ordinary Topics
of Conversation, but, either owing to a natural Shy-
ness of disposition, or to the diffidence of a young Man
unaccustomed to converse with Strangers, or, perhaps,
to the restraint imposed upon him by his Ministers, he
shewed little Inclination to enter into any discourse.
His answers were always short, and his Questions very
few, but his Silence shewed no want of affiibility.
Bissumber Pundit came to me afterwards and informed
me that Rajah Ram Pundit would shortly come to me
with a Message from the Rajah to ask me whether he
should March on to-morrow. The effect of his March,
We both agreed, would be the letting loose all those
plundering Parties who had hitherto with so much
difficulty been restrained, and Bissumber Pundit
acknowledged that M^hen a Fire was once kindled it
was not easy afterwards to extinguish it. Bissumber
Pundit said that the Rajah's expectations were about
Fifty Lacks ; he has since talked of Thirty or Twenty-
five. About Ten at Night Bissumber Pundit came
again, and informed me that Rajah Ram Pundit was
coming to ask me about the March of the Troops. I
desired he would tell Rajah Ram Pundit beforehand
that I had no right to object to the Rajah's Marching
to any part of his Territories, but the Manner In which
this March Avas proposed immediately after our Con-
ferences would to all the World carry the ajDpearance
240 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
of a threat, as it really was ; and that as I was In-
structed to offer a supply from motives of Gratitude
and not from motives of Fear, I should not, if the
Rajah Marched, think myself authorized to repeat the
ofier which I had made to him ; that I had now done
everything in a public Capacity that lay in my power
to prevent a Kupture, but that there was, indeed, one
thing of a private Nature which I could take upon
myself to do, and that was to make Presents to the
amount of a Lack or one and a half, or thereabout, to
Bowanny Pundit, Pajahram Pundit, or any of the
Pajah's Ministers ; and this he might mention to Pajah
Pam Pundit.
The same Night, about half-past 11, Bissumber and
Pajah Pam Pundit came to me. Pajah Pam Pundit
said that Bissumber Pundit had mentioned to him all
that I had told him ; he observed that in settling
Forms of Purgunnahs or Business of such a Nature,
Presents to the Mutsuddies employed were usual and
proper, but that this was a Matter in which the Lives
and Happiness of thousands were eventually concerned,
and that in such a Negociation such Presents could
have no Place. I excused myself to him ; I reminded
him that the Idea had been suggested by himself the
Evening before, when he had insinuated to me that, if
my object was to obtain anything for myself, the
House of Bhosilah could easily give it. I repeated to
him what I had said to Bissumber Pundit about the
March of the Troops, and the impossibility of my con-
tinuinof after it the Governor's offer. He then drew so
strong a Picture of the distresses which the English
would thus entail on their Provinces, that, considering
it as a kind of Menace, I begged he would desist from
such discourse ; that it was, perhaps, improper for me
to answer it, as I was sent only on the Idea of their
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 241
pacific disposition ; but that I would once for all repeat
to them that Fear for our own Territories had no part
in the Governor's Intention in sending me ; that our
Troops were in possession of all the Gauts, and that
We had a Body in the Field which the whole of the
Maratta Army could not Face ; that all that could
happen to us (independent of the loss of distant
political Views) would he the spreading Terror amongst
the Inhabitants of Midnapore, Jellasore, and, perhaps,
part of Burdwan. Rajah Ram Pundit then told me
that, as I could not be brought to alter my offer, a
thought had occurred to him, which was for the Army
to go on to Ramchunderpore, and for him and Bissum-
ber Pundit and me to go to the Governor at Calcutta
to see and prevail on him to give a larger Supply, but
that I must promise to use my Endeavors in persuading
the Governor, and that We should in the mean Time
leave Mr. Redfearn with the Rajah.
I objected to leave Mr. Redfearn after I should go
myself, but I said that I would send Mr. Redfearn
with them and stay with the Rajah myself; that their
going, however, would, I was certain, be to no Purpose
if the Army moved any nearer our Provinces after
what had passed, as the Governor would not afterwards
confer on the subject ; that as to my persuading the
Governor, Bissumber Pundit could tell him that the
Governor did everything from himself; that his reason
and Judgement were much superior to mine ; that it
was my duty to regulate mine by his, and not to
attempt to influence his ; that I could not even promise
to advise ; that I wished to preserve Peace, and had a
regard for the Rajah ; but all that I could engage was
to represent all that I had seen and heard, and con-
cluded with tellinsr him that I could sfive him no further
assurances or Expectations of better success with you.
16
242 jMR. HASTIXGS'S DESPATCH
It was agreed by Kajah Ham Pundit and Bis-
sumber Pundit to represent what had passed to the
Kajah.
15^/?. — Early in the Morning Bissumber Pundit came
to me and told me that the Bajah had approved of
Rajah Ram Pundit's going with Bissumber Pundit,
Mr. Redfearn, and me to the Governor, and that the
Rajah had desired him to apologize to me for any want
of Aifability which he might have shewn yesterday ;
that I must make allowance for his feelings as a Soldier
hurt at being stopped in his March from what I had
said in the Morning. Rajah Ram Pundit said that he
was hurt at something that Passed betwixt him and
Some of his Jemmautdars.
Received the following Letter from the Governor
General : —
Fort William,
l\ih March 1781.
Sir, — A Letter is received from Major McPherson,
which reports that on the 7th Instant a large party of
Marattas crossed the Soobanreeka and came so near to
Fort Knox that the Officer stationed there Fired upon
them, and that they moved off, As he supposed, in
search of plunder. He adds that Dumdareea with a
considerable Force was expected in the Same Quarter
on that Evening; or the next Mornino-.
I desire that you will remonstrate with Chimnajee
Baboo on the Impropriety of this Conduct, and require
his instant orders for the Retreat of his Troops from
our neighbourhood, declaring that We shall consider
their passing our frontier Line, and even their con-
tinuance near it, as a decided Hostility, since neither
can be attributed to any other Design. It is also my
order that you forbear to make the Tender to Chimna-
jee Baboo directed m my Instructions, or if you have
mi. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 243
made it, that you formally retract it until he shall
have recalled all his Forces of every Denomination to
a Man to the Southward of Ballasore.
Mr. Wheler authorizes me to Notify his Concurrence
in these Orders, which you will therefore regard as
equivalent to those of the Board delivered in the
Customary Form. — I am, &c.
P.S. — A Letter since received from Mr. Piearce con-
firms the Intelligence of Major McPherson. I herewith
send you a Copy of it, by which you will see the
Consequences which this indiscrete Act, if it hath
not received the Authority of the Rajah, is likely to
produce.
I visited afterwards the Kajah and communicated
to him the purport of the Governor's Letter. He
desired me to assure the Governor that he had already
issued the Orders which the Governor required. I
shall Minute the particulars of this Interview here-
after ; suffice it for the present to say that the Rajah
dismissed me pleased with the Marks of Attention
which he shewed to me, and with the good Inclinations
which he discovered towards our Government.
Maratta Camp near Balasore,
15th March 1781.
As I have not Leisure to send you a regular detail
of my Proceedings in the Form of an Address, I
have taken the liberty to send you enclosed a Copy
of the Minutes which I have taken agreeable to
your direction of everything that has passed since
my last Letter ; they are incorrect, but will, perhaps,
communicate to you a more clear Idea of the State of
Opinions here than I could possibly convey to you in
a Studied and regular Address.
It is now settled that Rajah Ram Pundit, Bissumber
IG— 2
244 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Pundit, and I and Mr. Redfearn are immediately to
proceed to Calcutta, and that in the mean Time the
Army is not to move from this Place. I am sensible
that Pajah Pam Pundit's visit and the Representation
which he will make to you of the distresses of this
Army will put your Feelings as an Individual to a
severe Trial ; But considered in a political Light, Pajah
Pam Pundit's proposal of Visiting you seemed so much
to our Advantage that I could not possibly Object to
it. It will transfer the Appearance of a submissive
disposition from Us to them. It will prevent an imme-
diate Pupture, if there was any danger of it, and will
so long protract Negociation that you will have the
Power to dictate Terms without regard to any other
Considerations but those of present Compassion or
Gratitude, and a View to future Advantages from an
Alliance between the Two States. This Army will
then depend almost entirely on your Mercy ; for the
Season will be too far spent for them Afterwards to be
able to do any Mischief, a Consideration which I doubt
not must have its Weight with you, tho' I have con-
stantly and invariably in all my Conferences main-
tained the contrary. It is probable, I think, that
Pajah Pam Pundit will be instructed to converse with
you on the more important Views which I have sug-
gested of a junction against Hyder, or the Acquisition
of the Pauje. Their Faith towards the Peshwa or
their Connection with Hyder has scarcely been men-
tioned, and I have no doubt but something of impor-
tance would be struck out betwixt you and Pajah
Pam Pundit if the present Emergency could be got
over.
I am thoroughly convinced tliat Nothing but distress
will ever induce the Pajali or his Ministers to break
with the English. Whatever has i)assed of a different
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 245
Tendency since my Arrival here has proceeded from
the Mistaken Notion that it might work on me to
Augment the Supply that I had proferred. The
Young Rajah, who received me to-day without Re-
straint, has desired me to implore you to take him and
his Army under your Protection, to consider them as
much your Own as General Goddard's detachment, to
enable them to return to Naugpore, and to command
their Services Afterwards as you may think fit. We
shall travel by daily Journies to Naraingur, and from
thence I have desired Mr. Piearce to relay Bearers to
Oolbareah. I have written to my Correspondent at
Calcutta to send down a sufficient number of Boats and
Budfferows to Oolbareah, so that there will be no occa-
sion for you to take any trouble about our Journey ;
but I beg leave to suggest to you the Propriety of
sending down some Gentleman of your Family to meet
Rajah Ram Pundit : this will be a mark of Respect to
which his Rank, and still more his Attachment to the
English, entitles him, and it will be only a Return for
a Similar mark of Respect which was shewn to me. — I
am, &c.
I expect to be at Oolbareah in five days.
P.S. — The Rajah has expressed so much Anxiety for
my Speedy Return to you, that I have been obliged
to receive my dismission without finding the Oppor-
tunity I wished for of speaking to him in private.
It would have given much suspicion if I had desired
that his Ministers and Bissumber Pundit should
withdraw, and he has always been surrounded b}'-
them.
On receiving the two first of these Letters the
Governor General wrote the following Answer to
Mr. Anderson : —
246 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Fort William,
18th March 1781.
Sir, — I have received your Letters of the 10th
and 11th.
Inform the Kajah that the Offer which you have
been Authorized to make him was purely gratuitous,
not intended for Negociation, but acceptance, and
dechne any further discourse upon it as improper.
The Rajah's promise to return or not to employ his
Troops against us may be expressed either in writing
or Verbally, but the Requisition must be Verbal and
not in Writing.
It is indifferent whether the word " not " be used or
never.
I am perfectly satisfied with the Care which the
Rajah has taken to repress the licentious Spirit of his
People, and to publish his Disapprobation of the late
Instance of it, of which I desire you will give him an
Assurance. — I am, &c.
Whilst Mr. Anderson was at Ballasore Letters were
received from Dewaofur Pundit, the Minister of Mooda-
jee Bhosilah, repeating the Circumstances of the Em-
barrassments under which his Connection with the
English had drawn him, and strongly urging the
Necessity of our supplying the Troops under Chim-
najee with Money.
Mr. Anderson on his Return delivered to the Governor
General the following Letter : —
Fort William,
26^/i March 1781.
Hon'ble Sir, — In the Minutes which I had the
Honor to send you from Ballasore I had only Leisure
to mention In a few words my last Interview with
Rajah Chimnajee ; I shall now beg leave to mention it
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 247
more circumstancially. The Bajah early in the Morn-
ing sent me a Message that he wished Mr. Kedfearn
and I would come and dine in his Tent before our
Departure ; we accordingly went, and found the E-ajah
sitting with little Ceremony amongst a few of his
officers. He received us with a frank and chearful
Air ; all that cold Reserve, that affected Indifference,
which I had remarked at our former Meetings was now
changed into an open and animated Behavior. We
talked of indifferent subjects, such as the Customs of
Europe and Asia, with much good Humor ; and his
Officers, who had at our former Interviews preserved
a formal and respectful silence, now mixed in our Con-
versation with easy Familiarity. At length our Dis-
course turned on my Departure for Calcutta ; the
Rajah then changed his Mien ; his Distresses rushed
full into his mind, and he discribed them with a Degree
of Energy that excited Compassion ; then, taking hold
of my Hand, he in a Tone of supplication begged that,
as I had been an Eye Witness of his Distresses, I
would represent them to you in their real Colors ; that
I would put you in Mind that they were drawn upon
him by his desire of preserving a Friendship with the
English ; and that I would in his Name implore you
to take himself and his Army under your protection,
to consider them as much your own as Colonel God-
dard's Army, to make as great Exertions for their
Relief, and to enable them only to return to Naugpore,
and afterwards Command them as you please. He
insisted more than once on my promising to represent
all those Matters in the strongest manner, and earnestly
entreated me to become his Advocate with you. I
could only repeat to him that I should faithfully report
everything to you.
When the Servants informed us that the Dinner
248 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
which the Rajah had Ordered to be prepared for
Mr. Kedfearn and me was ready, we retired to a
separate Tent ; the Rajah, however, soon afterwards
followed, and, standing at a distance, pressed us to eat
in a manner that shewed the strongest desire of pleas-
ing. I mention this Circumstance, though apparently
trivial, because it was a kind of Condescension, which
to me marked the disposition of the Rajah's Mind more
strongly than the most exaggerated professions.
We afterwards returned to the Rajah's Tent, and
passed more than an Hour with him before he would
consent to give us our Dismission ; Bowanny Pundit
in the meantime joined us, but he took little part in
the conversation, being chiefly employed in dictating
to the Moonshee answers to the Letters which I had
brought from you.
Before we received our Dismission the Rajah insisted
on our accepting of a Horse, a Turban, and a few
Pieces of Cloth, and then, having repeated his Request
that I would join Rajah Ram Pundit and intercede in
his Behalf with you, he took leave of us with a degree
of Warmth and Emotion that shewed both how much
he was desirous of my representing his Conduct in a
favourable Light and how much he considered his
future Welfare as dependant on your Determination.
— I am, &c.
P'oRT William,
30//i J2ml 1781.
PtAJAH Ram Pundit arrived at Calcutta on the
25th March, and the next day waited on the Governor
General.
During the first two visits Rajah Ram Pundit drew
a Strong picture of the Distresses of Chimnajee's Army ;
and to prove how incumbent it was on us to relieve
them, he exjoatiated on the Friendship which had been
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 243
shewn by the Berar Government towards the English.
He enumerated a variety of Instances ; their Conduct
towards General Goddard's Detachment at Hoshunga-
bad ; their delivering up Monsieur Chevalier, who had
taken refuge in their Country ; their forbearing to
invade our Territories, notwithstanding the Remon-
strances of all their Allies ; and lastly, the Assistance
which they had afforded to Colonel Pearse on his
March thro' Orissa. He discussed with great ability
the Interests of the Maratta States, and shewed that
he was very sensible how much it would be for the
Mutual Advantage of the English and Moodajee
Bhosila to unite Cordially in a close Alliance ; still,
however, his Observations were general, and he seemed
to avoid any clear or particular propositions : it was
agreed therefore, for the purpose of bringing the
Negociation to a Speedy Conclusion, that the follow-
ing Propositions should be stated in Writing and
communicated to Pajah Pa,m Pundit by Mr. Ander-
son : —
" That as a Peturn for the proofs of Attachment
shewn by the Berar Government to the English, and
to relieve the Troops from the Distresses which they
at present suffered, and which were in some Measure
Occasioned by their Amicable Inclinations towards
this Government, We would mve them 12 Lakhs to
Complete the Sum which we had formerly promised
to them.
" That we desired to know what was afterwards
necessary to be done to effect the Desired Union of the
two States. Would Chimnajee resolve immediately to
send 3,000 or even 1,500 of his best Horse to join
Colonel Pearse and act with him against Hyder ?
Would he return with the rest of his Army to Naug-
pore ? And would he promise to Interest himself with
250 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
his Father to engage in Alliance with us, and to Send
a Person from Naugpore to settle finally the Terms of
a Treaty ? That the following might be the Grounds
of the Plan : That we should engage to Assist them
with a Part of our Troops in taking Possession of the
Forts of Burhanpore and Assur, and the Country of
Khandeish which had been lately Assigned by the
Peshwa as an annexation to the Jagheer already
possessed by Madajee Scindia ; that if it should be
advisable to pursue further Conquests, We would
Assist on a Plan of Participation ; and that they on
their parts should engage to Unite with us in effecting
the total Extirpation of Hyder Ally Cawn. But that,
if such a Plan could not be settled, We desired to
know clearly what they would do on their Parts to
Merit any further Assistance from us."
The next Day Rajah Bam Pundit returned an
Answer to the following purport : — " The Demands of
Chimnajee's Army Amount to two Crores of Bupees ;
in part thereof Fifty Laaks have already been paid ;
let the English pay fifty Laaks more : the Troops will
then have received one half of their Pay, with which
it will be in Chimnajee's Power in some Measure to
satisfy them ; and in this case He will Send 3,000
Men along with Colonel Pearse, and will March the
rest to Naugpore. If it is desired that a more close
connection should take place, let a trusty Person be
sent from hence to Naugpore, and a Treaty may there
be concerted and settled for the Establishment of a
permanent Alliance betwixt the English and the
Marattas and the Extirpation of Hyder Naig, or let
Mr. Anderson be sent immediately with 50 Laaks to
Chimnajee to satisfy the Troops, and bring Bowanny
Pundit to meet the Governor at the Subunreeka, or in
either of the English Camps at Dantoon or Narraingur,
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 251
to settle with him a Treaty containing the Terms of an
AlHance. If this is approved, the sum of 50 Laaks
must be sent immediately, because it will not be in
Chinmajee's power to leave the Troops untill he has
satisfied them. If the Governor will give some
Assurances that these propositions will be shortly
taken into Consideration, Kajah Ham Pundit will
accept of the Twelve Laaks tendered for the present
as a part of the Fifty, and will Cause the Army imme-
diately to March to a greater Distance from Bengal.
But unless some Assurances of the kind are given he
must decline receiving the Twelve Laaks, will repay
the sum of three Laaks which was formerly sent to
Chimnajee, and desires to receive his Dismission
immediately."
These propositions seemed so highly unreasonable
that the Governor General immediately sent Mr.
Anderson to Kajali Bam Pundit with a Message, the
substance of which was as follows : — " That he would
send the 12 Laaks if Bajah Bam Pundit would accept
of that sum in the Name of Chimnajee ; that no more
would be given ; that the Bajah on the acceptance of
this sum must return to Naugpore and not stay any
longer at Cuttack ; that if he would send 2,000 Horse
with Colonel Pearse, their Charge should be defrayed
by us ; that the Governor General must decline a
meeting with the Bajah, unless the Grounds on which
they are to meet are previously settled, as he cannot
possibly think of meeting to treat about Money ; that
Bajah Bam Pundit may stay here if he pleases, but
that he need not stay in Expectation of more Money,
as that subject must now be drojoped."
This Message being accordingly communicated to
Bajah Bam Pundit, he desired Mr. Anderson would
return to the Governor General with the following
252 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Answer : — " He consents to send 2,000 Horse with
Colonel Pearse, who may receive the pay which shall
be Agreed on ; he accepts the sujjply now Offered as a
Keturn of kindness ; but, to j^J^event a Mutiny of the
Troops, requests that a Loan of a further sum of
25 Laaks may be given, so that he may be enabled to
quiet them : it does not signify although a delay of 12
or 15 days should take place in procuring the Loan : if
it is only Agreed to by the Governor, he will immedi-
ately send off the Twelve Laaks and cause the TroojDS
to remove towards Naugpore. He proposes that the
Loan should be obtained either in his Name or in that
of Syna Behader (Chimnajee) from Merchants, and that
the Company should be security ; it may afterwards be
repaid by means of Conquests of Countries on a plan
which may be settled : it is requested from necessity,
because Syna Bahader has no means of satisfying his
Troops. He desires that this may be accepted as an
Apology for his repeating with so much Importunity
the subject of Money ; he begs that the Governor
General will take Syna Bahader under his protection
and relieve him in his present distress. If this loan is
not Acceded to, Bajah Ram Pundit wishes to be
dismissed as soon as the Governor General pleases ;
And in that case nothing can be settled, as the sum
Tendered cannot be accepted, and a Mutiny must be
the Consequence amongst the Troops in Orissa."
The above propositions being laid before the Board
the following Besolution was passed: — "It is necessary
to brino; this Neo:ociation to a Conclusion : We cannot
comply with either of the propositions made by Bajah
Bam Pundit. We cannot advance the Money re-
quired ; We cannot give our Security to the Loan,
because we know it to be impracticable at the Bate of
Interest allowed by our Bonds, and to allow a higher
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 253
rate will destroy our own Credit, besides that such a
security will be construed, and will be in effect a pay-
ment. If the Government of Naugpore is willing to
concur with our Views for its Aggrandizement, and a
connection of Interests in the Manner which has been
held out to it, We are ready to assist them with our
Forces ; We will endeavor to give them the possession
of Burhanpore and of Assur, which will Yield a
Eevenue of 80 Laaks, and of Gurrah Mundela, of
which the amount is unknown, but Valuable. If the
Government of Naugpore looks only to the acquisition
of ready Money, We have it not to give, nor will
their Friendship be an object to us on such a Footing.
Let this be understood to be our final Answer."
Rajah Ram Pundit, on being informed of the above
Resolution, returned a New Sett of Propositions, the
Substance of which was as follows : —
" That the Sum formerly tendered to the Govern-
ment of Naugpore was 16 Laaks, and that only three
have yet been paid; That he will accept of the remain-
ing thirteen Laaks, which he will dispatch to Syna
Bander for the relief of his Army ; That he will cause
the Army to March immediately to Dhekanaul on the
way to Gurrah Mandelah ; That he himself will stay
here for some time longer on this Government's giving
him Assurances that they will afterwards Assist him
in procuring a Loan of Ten or fifteen Laaks, to be
repaid in two Years from the Money to be acquired
from the Conquest of Gurrah Mundelah, and for which
he as Naib of Cuttack will be Security. That he will
for the present engage to send 2,000 Horse to join
Colonel Pearse, and to assist in the M'^^ar against Hyder
Ally, and that Dewagur Pundit will afterwards come
from Naugpore and settle more fully the Terms of an
Alliance betwixt the two States."
254 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
These Propositions were declared to be final. The
point on which our Negociations hinged was now
reduced to an Object which appeared of little Magni-
tude when compared with the vast Importance of
turning the Scale of the powers of Hindostan by
detaching the Berar Government from the Confederacy
formed against Us, and engaging it on our side. When
the propositions, therefore, were laid before the Board,
it was immediately resolved to Accede to them. Ac-
cordingly, the Sum of 13 Laaks was advanced to Rajah
Ram Pundit, and on the Second of April he attended
us in Council and laid before us the following Articles
of Agreement, which he desired to be considered as
preliminary to a definitive Treaty betwixt the English
and Berar Government : —
Account of the Monthly Expence of the Troops
TO BE sent along WITH CoLONEL PeARSE.
2,000 Suars or Horse, at 50,000 Rupees per Month
for each 1,000, making altogether One Laak
of Rupees per Month.
Dated 8th Rebbee-ul-Sanee in the 22nd Year of the
Reifyn.
The said allowance shall commence from the Time of
the Troops leaving Cuttack, and when they shall have
finished the Service, and (having received their Dis-
mission from the Commander of the English Troops)
they shall return to their own Country, their Pay
shall be continued according to the Number of
Munzel'^, or Days' Journies, which there may be
from the place of their Dismission to the City of
Cuttack.
Whereas a Friendship is firmly established betwixt
MR. IfASTINGS'S DESPATCH 255
Maha Rajah Moodajee Bhosila and the Enghsh, the
following Articles are Accordingly settled by Syna
Behader through Rajah Ham Pundit : —
l5^. — That Rajah Syna Bheader shall send 2,000
Good and effective Horse along with Colonel Pearse to
Assist the English in the War against Hyder Naig ;
that the Officer Commanding them shall act under the
Orders of the said Colonel, or the Officer who shall
Command the Bengal Troops in the Carnatic ; And
that they shall receive from the Officer who shall
Command the Bengal Troops in the Carnatic an
Allowance for their support at the rate which hath
been settled in a Separate Paper by the Governor
General and Council and Rajah Ram Pundit Month
by Month, in the same proportion as the English
Troops shall receive their pay.
2nd. — That the Army of Rajah Syna Behader will
immediately leave Orissa and March on an Expedition
against Gurrah Mundelah ; Let the Governor General
and Council of the English, from a Regard to the
Friendship which subsists betwixt the Family of
Bhosilah and the English, give Orders that an English
OtBcer, with a Body of the Troops now Stationed in
Hindostan, may March from that Quarter to Assist
the Rajah in the above-mentioned Expedition, and
having reduced Gurrah Mundelah establish innnedi-
ately the Rajah's Garrisons there.
2>rd. — That in Order that the Friendship betwixt
the Family of Maha Rajah Moodajee Bhosilah and the
English may daily be strengthened and Augmented,
let the Governor General and Council for the present
send a Trusty person to Naugpore, and hereafter the
Dewan, Dewagur Pundit, will come from that place
and have an Interview with tlie Governor General,
when, with their Mutual advice and Approbation, the
256 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
Desires and Demands of both parties will be adjusted
and Settled.
Uh. — That if it should happen from particular Cir-
cumstances that an Interview betwixt Dewagur Pundit
and the Governor General cannot take place, In that
case the Desires and Demand of both parties may be
settled at Naugpore by the Intervention of a Trusty
Person, and the Bounds of Friendship shall be so firmly
established betwixt the Family of Bhosilah and the
English, that no Infraction or Injury can ever by any
Means happen to them.
These Papers being signed by us and Pajah Pam
Pundit with the Testimony of Beny Pam Pundit, the
Vakeel of Moodajee Bhosilah, Copies of them were
mutually interchanged. An Order has since been
issued by us to the Sub-Treasurer to advance such
Sums on Account of the intended Loan of Ten Laaks
as the State of our Treasury will admit, and Pajah
Ram Pundit has delivered to us an engagement to the
following purpose : —
" Whereas the Governor General and Council of the
English have promised that in order to Assist in
supplying the Expences of the Troops of Maha Rajah
Moodajee Bhosila, which are Arrived with the Rajah
Syna Behader in Orissa, they will procure the Sum of
Ten Laaks of Sicca Rupees from Merchants of the
Province of Bengal and deliver it as a Loan through
the Hands of Beny Ram Pundit, and accordingly an
Order has been delivered to the said Pundit for the
said Sum of the Eng-lish Treasurer. In consideration
thereof it is Stipulated and written on Behalf of the
aforesaid Rajah Syna Behader by Rajah Ram Pundit,
that he will Discharg'e the said Sum within the Term
of Two Years, and will pay Interest at the rate of
8 Per Cent. Per Annum, to be calculated from the
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 257
dates of the several Payments which will be ascer-
tained from the Receipts of Beny Ram Pundit. In
case the said Loan and Interest should not be punctu-
ally rej^aid by Maha Rajah Moodajee Bhosilah and
Rajah Syna Behader, Rajah Ram Pundit, who is Naib
of the Province of Orissa, engages on his own Part
that he will Pay in the Term above Limited the said
Sum, with Literest at the rate above mentioned, either
from his own private fortune, or from the Revenues of
the Province of Orissa.
Written the 6th April 1781, or 11th of Rebbee-ul-
Sannee, 1170 of the Hegyra."
Rajah Ram Pundit has since taken his leave and is
gone to Chimnajee's Camp to make the necessary
Arrangements for the March of the 2,000 Horse which
are to join Colonel Pearse.
We have thus fully given a Narrative of this
Negociation, because We think the Issue of it may be
productive of an important change in the Political
State of Hindostan. We shall now beg leave to close
it with a few Observations. By acceding to Rajah
Ram Pundit's propositions we have effectually detached
one of the most powerful States from the general Con-
federacy against us into which it had apparently
entered. We shall by this Measure add strength to
ourselves in proportion as We diminish that of the
Confederacy. The Separation of the Berar Govern-
ment will doubtless excite Distrust amongst the re-
maining Powers ; and probably the Example will be
followed. The Nizam, who has not yet entered into
open Hostilities against Us, and the Ministers of
Poonah, who already Tremble for their own Existence,
Seeing the Confederacy begin to dissolve, will naturally
be desirous of securing themselves by an early Peace.
The mere Fame of an Alliance betwixt the English and
17
258 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
the Government of Berar will have a great Effect. We
shall no lonp-er be considered as sinking; under the
united Weight of every State in Hindostan : The
Scale of Power evidently turned in our Favor ; and
this is of more Importance than could be well imagined
in Europe, where the Policy of Nations is regulated by
principles the very reverse of those which prevail in
Asia. There in Contests betwixt Nations the weaker
is held up by the Support of its Neighbors, who know
how much their own safety depends on the preserva-
tion of a proper Balance. But in Asia the Desire of
partaking of the spoils of a falling Nation and the
dread of incurrino- the Resentment of the Strono^er
party are the immediate Motives of Policy, and every
State wishes to Associate itself with that Power which
has a decided Superiority.
It is true the Alliance which is held out in Bajah
Bam Pundit's propositions apparently relates to Ob-
jects of a very limited Nature. But it is not to be
doubted that when once the Marattas of Naugpore are
fairly involved with us in the Prosecution of these
Objects, it will not long rest with them to set Bounds
to our connection. The Assistance which is to be
given to us in the War with Hyder is as full a
Declaration of Hostility against that Prince as if they
had sent their whole Army ; and their Employing our
Forces to assist them in recovering: Gurrah Mundelah
from a Tributary of the Peshwah will probably lead to
a Complete Junction of their strength and ours against
the Government of Poonah, or reduce the latter to the
Necessity of becoming a Party with them and Us.
We will now consider what would have been the
Alternative if we had refused to accede to propositions
which were evidently so desirable. Whatever might
have been the real Inclination of Chimnajee, or the
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 259
Dictates of his Father, Moodajee Bhosila, his unpaid
Troops had long been kept quiet only by the Hopes
which were held out to them of acquiring Wealth from
the plunder of Bengal. And if no supply had been
granted to them, it is probable that Extreme Distress
would have compelled them to seek for support by an
Invasion of our Frontiers. It would be little Consola-
tion to us to know that their own Destruction would
be the certain Effect of such a Measure. We know
that before they could have been totally Destroyed, or
even expelled, much Mischief would have been done in
the Provinces of Burdwan and Midnapore by their
De23redatious, and still more by the Alarm which they
would have excited amonofst the Inhabitants. The
Revenues and Investments must have been put to a
stop from the Desertion of the Boyets and Manufac-
turers ; the immediate Loss would have considerably
exceeded the Sum now requested ; and the fatal Conse-
quences of such an Irruption would have been felt
throughout these Provinces, and particularly in the
Manufactures, for many succeeding Years. We can
mention on the best Information that the Desertion of
the Manufacturers for only 3 Days from the Aurung
of Badnaofur alone would have occasioned a Loss of
4 Laaks of Bupees, as the Silk Worms must have been
wholly destroyed, and their Loss could not have been
recovered for many Years. If the Troops of Chimnajee
had been driven to this Extremity, a War must inevit-
ably have ensued with the Government of Berar, more
Dangerous to our possessions in Bengal than any in
which we have ever been engaged since our Acquisition
of the Dewanny.
Nor are the advantages to be derived from the
present Agreement merely Speculative or Negative.
The great and almost the only Defect of the Detach-
17—2
260 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
ment sent under the Command of Colonel Pearse to
the relief of the Carnatic is the want of a Body of
Cavalry. The present ofier of 2,000 of Chimnajee's
Horse will amply supply this Defect ; they will be
fully sufficient to prevent the Detachment from being
harassed on the March, or suffering from want of Pro-
visions, and though little can be expected in the Field
of Battle from the Discipline of Maratta Horse, yet as
much may be expected from them as from the Horse
which will be oj^posed to them by Hyder Ally. The
Junction of this Body will prove, therefore, of real and
immediate Service.
We are aware that Men who are inclined to object
will not fail to employ the most SjDecious Arguments
to draw Censure on this Negociation. They will avail
themselves of Maxims which have already obtained the
popular Opinion ; they will without Hesitation ascribe
our Conduct in supplying Chimnajee with Money to
weakness or want of Foresight ; and they will declaim
that the History of all Ages, from the remotest period
down to the present Century, shews that to purchase
the Forbearance of invading Enemies serves only to
tempt them to return with encreased Numbers. It is
in vain to attempt to answer every objection which
Ingenuity may devise. We must rely on your Candor
to impute our Conduct to more honorable and judicious
Motives. It cannot escape your Attention that the
Negociation for Money began at a Time when we could
have little to aj^prehend, though much to hope, from
the Government of Naugpore ; That it was held out as
an Inducement to obtain their Assistance in effecting
an Accommodation with the Government of Poonah ;
and that the professed object of it was a Betribution
for the heavy Expence which they had incurred from
their Desire of preserving Peace with the English.
MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH 261
When their Answers from Naugpore affected a higher
Style and indicated a change of Disposition, Mr.
Anderson was sent to Cuttack without any Authority
to treat on Money ; Colonel Pearse was Ordered to
proceed through Orissa in Defiance of all Opposition ;
and an Army was Assembled under the Command of
Colonel Ironside for the Defence of our Frontiers of
Burdwan and Midnapore. During all this Time the
Negociation for Money was dropped, nor was it re-
newed untill Colonel Pearse had passed without
Opposition close to the Maratta Army, and untill new
proofs were given us of an Amicable Disposition. The
Governor General's Letter of the 2nd March to Mr.
Anderson will fully explain to you that though we
thought it in j^rudence necessary to Stipulate the
Return of Chimnajee's Army as a Condition of grant-
ing the Supply, yet the Motives or the Conditions for
which we were willing to grant it were different. And
the Governor General's Letters of the 11th and 18th
March will shew that when Motives of Gratitude
ceased and Hostilities were expected. We instantly
directed Mr. Anderson to retract our Offer and to
decline any further Discourse on the Subject of Money.
At length the Affecting manner in which the Pajah
opened his Distresses to Mr. Anderson at his last
Interview and threw himself on our Mercy for relief
induced us to resume the subject with Pajah Pam
Pundit. These Circumstances have not escaped the
Attention of the Marattas themselves, and we are
satisfied that they in whose Opinion the public is,
perhaps, most interested have not mistaken the
Motives of our Conduct ; nor need we apprehend that
the supply which they have received will ever tempt
them to return to these Provinces : They best know
the extreme Distresses which they have sufiered, the
262 MR. HASTINGS'S DESPATCH
heavy Expences which they have incurred, and the
Misery which they entailed by this Expedition on their
province of Orissa ; and it is not to be supposed that
they will ever again attempt to fit out an Army of
30,000 Horse at an unavoidable Expence of more than
a crore of Rupees to March a thousand Miles through
a hilly Country in the Expectation of Acquiring a
supply of 12 Laaks of Kupees. On the whole, what-
ever the designing or uninformed part of the world
may say, We flatter ourselves that you, in whose
Approbation we are most particularly interested,
having all these Circumstances fully before you, will
be pleased, not only to approve of the Motives which
have influenced us in this Negociation, but also of the
favorable Issue to which we have happily brought it.
It remains only for us to Observe that Letters have
lately been received from Chimnajee confirming every-
thing that has been settled by Rajah Ram Pundit, and
we have the pleasure to think that he has now engaged
Sincerely and Cordially on our Side.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
BENGAL IN 1772, POETEAYED BY WAEEEN
HASTINGS
To the Hon'ble the Court of Directors for Affairs of the
Hok'ble the United Company of Merchants of
England trading to the East Indies. Dated Fort-
William, the 3d November 1772.
Bevenue Department.
Hon'ble Sirs, — In our address by the Colebrooke, dated the
13th April last, we acquainted you with the state of your revenues
in Bengal to that period, since which we have closed the account
of the neat settlements and collections for the last Bengal year,
a copy of which we now transmit a number in this packet.
From it you will please to observe that the total receipts, includ-
ing some deductions written off to profit and loss in the Moor-
shedabad treasury, amounted for last year to sicca rupees
1,57,26,576 : 10 : 2 : 1 ; so that the Ballances for that year are
now reduced to Es. 12,40,812 : 7 : 15, a great part of which we
shall hope to realise ; and we flatter ourselves that this reduction
of the Ballances, and the comparative view we hope you will take
of the Bengal collections for these several years past, with those
of the last year, will fully satisfy you as to the favourable Success
we have met with in collection of the revenues. The Moorshe-
dabad books, that will be transmitted to you by the next ship
compleatly ballanced, will further elucidate the statement of the
last year's revenue, which we have now the honour of enclosing.
At a meeting of your Council of the 30th August, it was
unanimously resolved to adopt the plan proposed by our President
and members of the Committee of Circuit at Cossimbazaar, for
removing the Seat of the Eevenue Business to the Presidency,
2G3
264 APPENDIX A
and for putting this important Branch of your affairs under the
immediate management of your Governor and Council ; in con-
sequence of which we formed ourselves into a Board of Eevenue
the 13th ultimo. Since that time all affairs respecting the Col-
lections or internal Government of the Pi'ovinces have been con-
fined solely to this department, and we shall henceforth address
you separately upon all matters which come under these
Heads.
In order to give you a distinct Idea of this subject, and to
make it the more complete, we shall begin by recapitulating the
most important measures that have been lately taken, and in
which you have been in part advised in our former Letters.
In one letter by the Nottingham, you were informed of our
intention of letting the lands throughout the provinces in farm,
upon long and well-regulated Leases; and we are happy to reflect
that such a material and principal mode of conducting the Collec-
tions, should coincide so entirely with your sentiments and orders
on the subject. After the most serious and mature deliberation
on this point, we determined, in our proceedings of the Com-
mittee of the Eevenue of the 14th May, to establish a plan for
settling the several districts upon this footing, and for the future
government of your Collections. This being the Constitutional
Ground-work of all our subsequent measures, and of the system
which we have since attempted to build upon it, we have thought
it necessary, for your immediate attention, to transmit a copy
of it as a Number in the Packet, with our reasons at large for
adopting the Eegulations therein laid down.
Before we proceed further upon this subject, it may not be
improper to premise some general Eemarks on the State of the
Province at this Juncture.
The effects of the dreadful Famine which visited these Pro-
vinces in the Year 1770, and rag( d during the whole course of
that Year, have been regularly made known to you by our former
advices, and to the public by laboured descriptions, in which
every Circumstance of Fact, and every Art of Languages, have
been accumulated to raise Compassion, and to excite Indignation
against your Servants, whose unhappy lot it was to be the wit-
nesses and spectators of the sufferings of their fellow-creatures.
But its influence on the Eevenue has been yet unnoticed, and
even unfelt, but by those from whom it is collected ; for, not-
withstanding the loss of at least one-third of the Inhabitants of
the Province, and the consequent decrease of the Cultivation, the
nett collections of the year 1771 exceeded even those of 17G8, as
APPENDIX A 2G5
will appear from the following Abstract of Accounts of the Board
of Eevenue at Moorshedabad for the four last years : —
Bengal Year.
1175 [176S-G9].— Net Collections 1,52,54,856:9:4:3
1176 [1769-70]. — The year of dearth, which was produc- \
live of the Famiue in the following I 1,31,49,148 : 6 : 3 : 2
year, i
1177 [1770-71].— The year of the Famine and Mortality, 1,40,06,030 : 7 : 3 : 2
1178 [1771-72], . . . .1,57,26,576:10: 2:1
Deduct the amount of deficiencies
occasioned in the Revenue by
unavoidable losses to Govern-
ment, 3,92,915:11:12:3
• 1,53,33,660:14:9:2
It was naturally to be expected that the diminution of the
Eevenue shou'd have kept an equal pace with the other Conse-
quences of so great a Calamity. That it did not, was owing to
its being violently kept up to its former Standard. To ascertain
all the means by which this was effected will not be easy. It is
difficult to trace the Progress of the Collections through all its
Intricate Channels, or even to comprehend all the Articles
which compose the Eevenue in its first operations. One Tax,
however, we will endeavour to describe, as it may serve to
account for the Equality which has been preserved in the past
Collections, and to which it has principally contributed. It is
called Najay, and it is an Assessment upon the actual inhabi-
tants of every Inferior Description of the Lands, to make up for
the Loss sustained in the Eents of their neighbours who are
either dead or have fled the Country. This Tax, though equally
impolitic in its Institution and oppressive in the mode of exact-
ing it, was authorised by the antient and general usage of the
Country. It had not the sanction of Government, but took
place as a matter of course. In ordinary cases, and while the
Lands were in a state of cultivation, it was scarcely felt, and
never or rarely complained of. However irreconciliable to strict
Justice, it afforded a preparation to the State for occasional De-
ficiencies ; it was a kind of Security against Desertion, by making
the Inhabitants thus mutually responsible for each other ; and
precluded the inferior Collector from availing himself of the
Pretext of waste or Deserted Lands to withhold any part of his
Collections. But the same Practice which at another Time and
under different Circumstances would have been beneficial, became
at this period an insupportable Burthen upon the Inhabitants.
The Tax not being levied by any Fixed Eate or Standard, fell
266 APPENDIX A
heaviest upon the wretched Survivors of those Villages which
had suffered the greatest Depopulation, and were of course the
most entitled to the Lenity of Government, It had also the addi-
tional Evil attending it, in common with every other Variation
from the regular Practice, that it afforded an opportunity to the
Farmers and Shicdars to levy other Contributions on the People
under color of it, and even to encrease this to whatever magni-
tude they pleased, since they were in course the Judges of the
Loss sustained, and of the Proportion which the Inhabitants were
to pay to replace it.
Complaints against this Grievance were universal throughout
the Province, and it was to be feared that the continuance of it
would be so great a check to the Industry of the People, as to
impoverish the Eevenue in the last Degree, when their former
savings by which it was supported were gone.
Though 7 Years had elapsed since the Company became
possessed of the Dewanny, yet no regular Process had ever been
formed for conducting the Business of the Revenue. Every
Zemindaree and every Taluk was left to its own peculiar Cus-
toms. These indeed were not inviolably adhered to. The
Novelty of the Business to those who were appointed to super-
intend it, the chicanery of the people whom they were obliged
to employ as their agents, the accidental Exigencies of each
District, and, not unfrequently, the just Discernment of the
Collector, occasioned many changes. Every change added to
the confusion which involved the whole, and few were either
authorised or known by the presiding Members of the Govern-
ment. The Articles which composed the Revenue — the Form
of keeping Accounts, the Computation of time, even the Technical
Terms, which ever form the greatest part of the obscurity of
every science — differed as much as the soil and productions of
the Province. This Confusion had its origin in the Nature of
the Former Government. The Nazims exacted what they could
from the Zemindars ; and great Farmers of the Eevenue, whom
they left at Liberty to plunder all below them, reserving to them-
selves the prerogative of plundering them in their Turn, when
they were supposed to have enriched themselves with the spoils
of the Country. The Muttisiddees who stood between the
Nazim and the Zemindars, or between them and the People,
had each their respective shares of the Public Wealth. These
Profits were considered as illegal Embey;zlements, and therefore
were taken with every Precaution that cou'd ensure secrecy ;
and being, consequently, fixed by no Rate, depended on the
APPENDIX A 267
Temper, Abilities, or Power of each Individual for the Amount.
It therefore became a duty in every man to take the most
effectual measures to conceal the Value of his Property, and
elude every Inquiry into his Conduct, while the Zemindars and
other Landholders who had the Advantage of long Possession,
availed themselves of it by complex Divisions of the Lands and
intricate modes of Collection to perplex the Officers of the
Government, and confine the knowledge of the Eents to them-
selves. It will easily be imagined that much of the Current
Wealth stopped in its way to the public Treasury. It is rather
Foreign from the purpose of this Exposition, but too apposite
not to be remarked that it was fortunate such a system did pre-
vail, since the Embezzlements which it covered preserved the
Current Specie of the Country, and returned it into Circulation,
while a great part of the Wealth received by the Government
was expended in the Country, and but a small superfluity re-
mained for remittances to the Court of Delhee, where it was lost
for ever to this province.
To the original Defects inherent in the Constitution of these
Provinces, were added the unequal and unsettled Government of
them since they became our property. A part of the Lands
which were before in our possession, such as Burdwan, Midna-
pore, and Chittagong, continued subject to the authority of the
Chiefs, who were immediately accountable to the Presidency.
The 24 Pergunnahs, granted by the Treaty of Plassey to the
Company, were theirs on a different Tenure, being their im-
mediate property by the Exclusion of the Zemindars, or hereditary
Proprietors : their rents were received by Agents appointed to
each Pergunnah, and remitted to the Collector, who resided in
Calcutta.
The Eest of the Province was for some time entrusted to the
joint-charge of the Naib Dwan and Kesident of the Durbar, and
afterwards to the Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad, and to
the Supervisors who were accountable to that Council. The
administration itself was totally excluded from a concern in this
Branch of the Eevenue.
The internal arrangement of each District varied no less than
that of the whole Province. The Lands subject to the same
Collector, and intermixed with each other, were some held by
Farm, some superintended by Shicdars, or Agents on the part of
the Collector, and some left to the Zemindars and Talucdars
themselves, under various degrees of Controul. The First were
racked without mercy, because the Leases were but of a Year's
268 APPENDIX A
standing, and the Farmer had no Interest or Check to restrain
him from extracting more than the Land could bear. The Second
were equally drained, and the Eents embezzled, as it was not
possible for the Collector, with the greatest degree of attention
on his part, to detect or prevent it. The latter, it may be sup-
posed, were not exempted from the general corruption. If they
were, the other Lands which lay near them would suffer by the
migration of their inhabitants, who wou'd naturally seek Eefuge
from oppression in a milder and more equitable Government.
The Administration of Justice has so intimate a connection
with the Eevenue, that we cannot omit the mention of it, while
we are treating of this subject in a general view, although we
have already given our sentiments upon it at large in another
place, to which we shall crave Leave to refer. The Security of
private properity is the greatest Encouragement to Industry, on
which the wealth of every State depends. The Limitation of the
Powers annexed to the Magistracy, the Suppression of every
Usurpation of them by private authority, and the Facilitating of
the access to Justice, were the only means by which such a
Security cou'd be obtained. But this was impossible undei: the
circumstances which had hitherto prevailed. While the Nizamut
and the Dewannee were in different Hands, and all the Eights
of the Former were admitted, the Courts of Justice which were
the sole Province of the Nizam, though constituted for the
general Eelief of the Subjects, cou'd receive the Eeformation.
The Court and Officers of the Nizamut were continued, but their
Efficacy was destroyed by the Euling Influence of the Dewannee.
The regular Course of Justice was everywhere suspended ; but
every man exercised it who had the Power of compelling others
to submit to his Decisions. The People were oppressed ; they
were discouraged, and disabled from improving the Culture of
their Lands ; and in proportion as they had the demands of
Individuals to gratify, they were prevented from discharging
what was legally due to Government.
Such was the State of the Eevenue, when your Commands
were received by the Lapwing, and happily removed the difficulties
which had hitherto opposed the Introduction of a more perfect
System, by abolishing the Ofiice of Naib Dwan, and authorising
your administration to assume openly the Management of the
Dewannee in your Name, without any Foreign Intervention.
In the execution of these your Intentions, the points which
claimed our principal attention, as will appear from the above
Desci'iption, were to render the Accounts of the Eevenue simple
APPENDIX A 269
and intelligible, to establish Fixed Eates for the Collections, to
make the Mode of them uniform in all parts of the Province, and
to provide for an equal administration of Justice. In the steps
which we have already taken, we have laboured to obtain these
ends ; with what Success will be seen hereafter.
The Eegulations which we have before mentioned being com-
pleated, and the Committee of Circuit appointed, consisting (as
we mentioned in our last) of the Governor, Messrs. Middleton,
Dacres, Lawrell, and Graham, We published our Intention of
Farming all the Lands of the Province of Bengal, on Leases of
Five Years, and invited all Persons to make Proposals.
The Committee first proceeded to Kishennaggur, and there
entered on the Settlement of the District of Nuddea.^ The Pro-
posals which were delivered to them were expressed in so vague
and uncertain a manner, and differed so widely from each other
in Form, that it was impossible to make a comparison, or to
ascertain the Proportional Amount of each ; and the few only
that were intelligible, contained very low and disadvantageous
Terms. The Committee were therefore of opinion that these
Offers shou'd be rejected, and that the Lands shou'd be put up at
Public Auction, tho' contrary to the original Intention.
To remove all obstacles that might present themselves, from
an uncertainty in the Bidders with respect to the more Minute
Articles of the Collections, and the Grounds on which the Settle-
ment was to be established between the Farmer and Cultivator,
the Committee found it indispensably necessary before the Sale
began, to form an entire new Hustabood, or Explanation of the
diverse and complex articles which were to compose the Collections.
These consisted of the Assail or Original Ground Eent, and a
variety of Taxes called Aboabs, which had been indiscriminately
levied at different periods by the Government, the Zemindars,
Farmers, and even by the inferior Collectors. One of these
Aboabs we have explained above ; many of them are incapable of
any Explanation.
After the Committee had made a thorough investigation of
the above articles of the Eevenue, they proposed to deduct such
as appeared most oppressive to the Inhabitants, or of a late
Establishment, at the same time reserving those which were of
long standing, and had been chearfuUy submitted to by the
Eyotts, these being in fact a considerable part of the Neat Eents.
Among the former were the Duties arbitrarily levied by the
Zemindars and Farmers upon all Goods and Necessaries of Life
^ Proceedings of the IGtli and 2Sth June, 1772.
270 APPENDIX A
passing by water thro' the interior part of the country. The
Bazee Jumma, or Fines for petty crimes and misdemeanours,
were also, agreably to the humane and equitable spirit of your
Orders, totally abolished, as well as the Haldarry, or Tax upon
Marriage, which yielded a triding Eevenue to the Government,
was very injurious to the State, and could tend only to the dis-
couragement and decrease of Population, — an object at all times
of general Importance, but more especially at this Period, from
the great Loss of Inhabitants which the country has sustained by
the late Famine, and the mortality which attended it. These
several Deductions in favour of the Natives, altho' the imme-
diate cause of decreasing the Eent Koll, will doubtless in time be
productive of the most salutary effects, as they tend to encourage
the Manufactures and Trade of the country, to retrieve the loss
of Inhabitants, to free the People from vexatious prosecutions,
and by promoting the general Ease of the country, virtually to
support and improve its Revenue.
In order to secure the Inhabitants in the quiet Possession of
the lands whilst they held them on terms of cultivation, and to
prevent such Exactions as aforementioned in future, the Com-
mittee formed new Amulnamas or Leases, in which the claims
upon the Ryotts were precisely and distinctly ascertained, and
the Farmers restricted from making any further Demands, under
the severest Penalties. To this end, and to prevent the Farmers
from eluding this restriction, they were ordered to grant new
Pottahs, or Deeds, to the Eyotts, the Form of which was drawn
out by the Committee and made public, specifying the conditions
on which they were to hold their Land, the separate Heads or
Articles of the Rents ; and every encouragement was contained in
them to cultivate the waste ground on a moderate and increasing
Rent.
Another principal Object with the Committee was to reduce
the Charges of Collection as low as possible, from a conviction
that the retrenchment of improper and unnecessary Expences
opens a source of Increase of Revenue the most eligible, because
the most consistent with the ease of the Inhabitants. For this
purpose We have formed an uniform and regular Establishment,
for all the necessary Charges to be incurred in the Cutcherries of
the several Districts, under positive Restrictions that they shall
not be exceeded without our being previously advised. This, We
doubt not, will prove a great saving to the Hon'ble Company,
as it will be the effectual means of preventing in future all
superfluous and unnecessary Disbursements. And We think We
APPENDIX A 271
may venture to promise that this Article will be duly attended
to, as it will be almost the only Care of the Auditor to prevent
every Deviation from it, in the Accounts which are to pass his
Inspection.
After these previous steps were resolved on, the Lands of
Kishenangur were put up to Public Auction, and a Final Settle-
ment was made for Five Years, on an accumulating Increase, for
the Particulars of which we must beg leave to refer you to the
proceedings of the Committee, which are now transmitted.
During the course of the sale at Kishennagur, the Rajah of
that place gave in proposals for farming the whole District,
which leads us to the following general observations on the
Subject of Zemindars and Talookdars in the Province of Bengal.
Where it can be done with propriety, the entrusting the Col-
lections of the Districts to the Hereditary Zemindars wou'd be a
measure we shou'd be very willing to adopt, as we believe that;
the People would be treated with more tenderness, the R^nts
more improved, and the Cultivation more likely to be encouraged,
the Zemindar less liable to failure or deficiencies than the Farmer,
from the perpetual Interest which the former hath in the Country,
and because liis Inheritance cannot be removed, and it would be
improbable he would risk the loss of it by eloping from his
District, which is too frequently practised by a Farmer when
he is hard pressed for the Payment of his Ballances, and is
frequently predetermined when he receives his Farm.
With respect to the Talookdarrys and inconsiderable Zemin-
darrys, which formed a part of the Huzzoor Zilahs or Districts
which paid their rents immediately to the General Cutcherry
at Moorshedabad, as well as many others of the same kind in
different parts of Bengal ; all Arguments have been weighed,
whether in favour of the just Claim Government has upon their
Lands for a Revenue adequate to their real Value, or of the
Zemindars and Talookdars in support of their Rights and Prive-
ledges, grounded upon the Possession of Regular Grants, a long
series of family Succession, and fair purchase. These being duly
considered, there occurred to us only the two following Modes
which could be pursued in making their settlement. The First
was to lett (sic) the Lands to Farm ; to put the Renters in entire
Possession and Authority over them, obliging them to pay each
Zemindar or Talookdar a certain allowance or percentage for the
subsistence of himself and family. The Second was to settle
with the Zemindars themselves on the footing of Farmers, obliging
them first to enter into all the Conditions of a farmer's Lease ;
272 APPENDIX A
Secondly, to pay the same Eevenue that could be expected from
Farmers ; Thirdly, to give responsible securities ; and Fourthly,
to admit a reserve in favour of Government for making, during
the course of their actual Lease, an exact Hustabood (Valuation
from Accounts), or a Measurement of their Possessions, in order
to ascertain their true Value at a future settlement, shou'd the
present Accounts be found to be fallacious, or concealments
suspected. We have allowed a degree of v^eight to the argu-
ments of the Zemindars and Talookdars in favour ol their plea
of Eight, which, by adopting the first mode of settlement, wou'd
doubtless be exposed to Kisk ; for as the Authority given to the
Farmers wou'd reduce the present Incumbents to the level of
mere Pensioners, and greatly weaken their claims as Proprietors,
so in the course of a few long Leases, their Eights and Titles
might, from the designs of the Farmers to establish themselves
in their Estates, the death of the old Inheritors, and the succes-
sion of Minors, be involved in such obscurity, doubt, and con-
troversy, as to deprive them totally of their Inheritance. To
expose the Zemindars and Talookdars to this risk, is neither
consistent with our Notions of Equity, nor with your orders,
which direct, " that we do not by any sudden change alter the
constitution, nor deprive the Zemindars, etc., of their antient
priviledges and Immunities."
Another argument, drawn from the conduct naturally to be
expected from the Zemindars and Talookdars, weighed strongly
■with us, and proves an objection to adopting the first Mode.
From a long continuance of the Lands in their Families, it is to
be concluded they have rivetted an authority in the District,
acquired an Ascendency over the Minds of the Eyotts, and
ingratiated their affections. From Causes like these, if entire
Deprivation were to take place, there could not be expected less
Material Effects than all the Evils of a divided Authority, preju-
dicial to the Eevenue, and Desertion and Desolation of the
Lands. Whereas, from continuing the Lands under the Manage-
ment of those who have a natural and perpetual Interest in their
Prosperity, provided their Value is not of too great an amount,
solid Advantages may be expected to accrue. Every considera-
tion then sways us, where it can be done with the prospect of
the advantage before mentioned, to adopt the second mode in
settling with the Inferior Zemindars and Talookdars. First, an
equivalent Eevenue may be thereby obtained, with security for
its punctual Payment. Secondly, the converting them into
Farmers establishes the Government's right of putting their
APPENDIX A 273
Lands on that Footing, when'ever they shall think proper ; the
Awe of which must constantly operate to secure their good
behaviour and good Management. Thirdly, the Clause of
Scrutiny, to which they are subjected, will also have the same
Tendency, at the same time that it may be strictly put in force
where there is cause to suspect Concealments, or a prospect
presents of Increase to the Eevenue.
Agreeably to these Ideas, the Committee at Kishennagur
exempted the several Talooks in that District from the Public
Sale, as the Possessors engaged to abide by such a Settlement as
should be deemed equivalent and just ; and an exact valuation
was accordingly made of their Lands. It was, however, found
that the Terms offered by the Zemindar of Kishennagur, as
before mentioned, were not equivalent to the expectations the
Committee had reason to Entertain from the Public Auction of
the separate Farms, and the Faith of Government having already
been engaged to such Farmers whose offers had been formally
accepted. For these Eeasons, joined with the well-known subtle
and faithless character of the Zemindar, it was determined to
reject his proposals, and to give the Preference to the offer of
the Farmers, which were more advantageous to Government.
The Settlement of Kishennagur being concluded, a fixed
Dewan was chosen by the Committee to be joined with the
Collector in the Superintendancy of the Eevenues, conformably
to our Established Eegulations before referred to ; and instruc-
tions were accordingly given him for his guidance.
We have been thus explicit in relating the Transactions at
Kishennagur, both as these will serve to point out the various
effects of our previous Determinations, as well as the Motives
which gave Occasion to those which were superadded by the
Committee, from local or general Observation, and to convey an
Idea of the Plan on which the settlement of the whole Province
will be formed, of which that of Kishennagur may be regarded as
the Model.
From Kishennagur the Committee proceeded to Cossimbazaar,
and arrived there the beginning of July. One of their first objects
was the regulating the Nabob's Household and Stipend, and the
appointing of the necessary Officers for the Management of his
Affairs. But as these Matters will be fully discussed in our
Letter from the General Department, We shall confine this
Address solely to the current Business of the Eevenue.
The Province of Eadshahy and the Huzzoor Zilahs were
taken next into Consideration, and the same Eegulations estab-
18
274 APPENDIX A
lished previous to their Settlement, as at Kisennagur. Public
Advertisements being made for receiving Proposals for farming
the different Purgunnahs in Eadshahy, and a proper time limited
for their delivery, the terms given in for the whole of the Western
Division were examined, and the 'Offers of the Farmers and
Zemindar accurately compared. Those of the latter were found
more advantageous to Government. A settlement for five years
was accordingly concluded with the Ranny Bowanny, the Zemin-
dar of that District, whose Substance, Credit, and Character
rendered the Conditions of her Offer the more desireable,
especially as she consented to the Committee's Plan of sub-
dividing the Lands into fourteen Lots or Farms, and engaged to
deposit the Farmer's Cabooleats or Agreements as a Collateral
Security with her own, for the punctual Payment of her Eents.
No other Proposals being given in for the Eastern Division of
Eadshahy, it was in like manner farmed to the zemindar, whose
Knowledge of, and long-established Reputation in, the Country
enabled her to make more advantageous Offers for this also than
any other person ; and We doubt not that We shall realise the
whole of the Revenue from these important and extensive Dis-
tricts, which will receive an additional Advantage, besides a
Reduction of the Expence of the Collections, in being thus united
under the hereditary and ancient Proprietor.
For the Particular Reasons and Arguments urged in our
several Proceedings, referred to in the margin, and which will
be farther treated on in our Letter from the other Department,
you will observe that We have found it expedient to annex to
Mr. Middleton's Appointment of Resident of the Durbar and
Chief of Cossimbazar, the Superintendency of the Collections of
Radshahy, in the conducting of which, the whole being put under
the immediate Management of the Zemindar, his only care as
Collector will be to receive the monthly Kists as they may
become due, to attend to the Complaints and Representations
of the Ryotts, and to see that the Regulations which have been
made are duly adhered to.
The Huzzoor Zillahs, and the inferior Zemindaries and
Talookdaries bordering on Moorshedabad and Rajshahy, were
also settled on the same Plan, a Preference being always given
to the Offers of the Hereditary Possessors as before observed.
But as it would take up too much of your Time to descend to a
minute Detail of these numerous Settlements, we must take the
Liberty of referring you to the Proceedings of the late Committee
of Circuit. You will therein notice that we have appointed five
APPENDIX A 275
additional Collectors to superintend the Eevenue of those Dis-
tricts. It was with some reluctance we found ourselves under
the necessity of increasing the Number of these Appointments.
They were rendered unavoidable by the Intricacy of those parts
of the Huzzoor Zilahs, which have been thus distributed amongst
them ; but We hope that the Liberty which We have given to the
Farmers, who may be so disposed, to pay their Rents immediately
to the Sudder or Head Cutcherry, will in time enable us to reduce
these Establishments.
In the Intervals of Public Business, the Committee were
employed in deliberating on the steps referred to them, which
were proper to be taken for carrying into Execution your late
Orders by the Lapwing, where you declare your Intention of
Standing forth as Dewan by the Agency of the Company's
Servants, to assume the " entire Management of the Revenues,"
leaving it to us to plan and execute this important Work, "by
adopting such Regulations, and pursuing such Measures, as
should at once insure to the Company every possible Advantage."
The first Consideration was whether the Board of Revenue
at Moorshedabad should be abolished, and the Business of the
Collections in all its Branches, put under the management of the
Members of your Administration at the Presidency ; and after
allowing due Weight to every Argument that occurred, We agreed
unimously with the Committee in the Necessity of this last
Measure, which has accordingly been since carried into Execu-
tion. We take the Liberty of laying before you the Grounds
upon which we have ventured to make this Alteration, in the
flattering hopes that it will meet with your approval.
As the Administration of Justice, and the Collection of the
Revenue, are by far the most important object of Government,
they certainly claim the first Attention of your President and
Council, especially at a time when so many weighty matters,
intimately connected with them, are entrusted by you to our
Investigation and Judgment, and when the State of the Country
requires timely, well-digested, and spirited Measures. While the
Controuling and Executive Part of the Revenue, and the corre-
spondence with the Collectors, was carried by a Council at Moor-
shedabad, the Members of your Administration had not an
opportunity of acquiring that thorough and comprehensive know-
ledge of the Revenue, which can only result from practical
Experience. But as your late orders tend to establish a new
System, enjoin many new Regulations and Enquiries which could
not properly be delegated to a Subordinate Council, it became
18—2
276 • APPENDIX A
absolutely necessary that the Business of the Eevenue should be
conducted under our immediate Observation and Direction.
This change, We trust, will aiford great Eelief to the Inhabi-
tants of the Provinces, in opening to them a more ready Access
to Justice, insomuch that Appeals from the Decisions of the
Inferior Courts may novs.^ be made directly to the Presidency,
whereas formerly they were first transmitted to the Council at
Moorshedabad, and from thence an Appeal lay to Us.
Another good Consequence will be the great Increase of
Inhabitants, and of Wealth in Calcutta, which will not only add
to the Consumption of our most valuable Manufactures imported
from home, but will be the means of conveying to the Natives a
more intimate Knowledge of our Customs and Manners, and of
conciliating them to our Policy and Government.
Besides the Eeasons above urged for the Dissolution of the
Council at Moorshedabad, We must beg leave to add this farther
Argument, in reply to the objection which may possibly be made
to it as repugnant to your Commands of the 30th June 1769.
We now conceive them, however, to be superseded by your later
Orders and the Discretionary Power you have given us in your
letter by the Lapwing. Nevertheless, we should have thought
ourselves indispensably bound to have adhered to the Spirit of
them, so far as they could be made to coincide with the new
System of the Dewanny, but we found them totally subverted
by it.
While Moorshedabad remained the Seat of your Collections,
every consideration required the Establishment of a Council to
Superintend them, as it was a trust every way too great for an
individual. On these grounds alone we presumed your Orders
for forming such Councils at Moorshedabad and Patna were
framed. But when the office of Naid Dwan was abolished, and
you had declared your Eesolution to place the Collections under
the immediate charge of your own Servants, there remained no
Eeason for continuing that Department of the Eevenue at such
a distance from the Observation of your Governor and Council ;
and the Eemoval of the Collection to the Presidency, as it left
no Business for an inferior Council, of course rendered their con-
tinuance, and the charges attending such an establishment, need-
less. We will indulge ourselves, therefore, with another Hope,
that an annual saving of some Lacks of Eupees will be derived
from this alteration, altho' We are well aware of the Expence and
Inconvenience which ever attends Innovations of all kinds on
their first Institution.
APPENDIX A 277
As the Eeasons for the Removal of the Khalsa are treated on
very largely in the Proceedings of the Committee of Circuit of
28th July, and contain many Observations on the Nature of the
Eevenue in general, which are too voluminous to be inserted in
the Body of this Letter, we wish to recommend these to your
particular attention.
The Plan which we have formed for conducting the Business
of the Khalsa, or Superior Office of the Collections, will go a
Number in the Packet.
The more regular Administration of Justice was also delibe-
rated on by the Committee of Circuit, and a Plan was formed by
them which afterwards met with our Approbation. We cannot
give you a better Idea of the Grounds on which this was framed,
than by referring you to a Copy of it, together with a Letter from
the Committee to the Board on the Occasion, both of which
make Numbers in this Packet ; and we earnestly recommend them
to your Perusal, requesting to be assisted with such further
Orders and Instructions thereon as they may require for com-
pleating the system, which we have thus endeavoured to establish
on the most equitable, solid, and permanent footing. We hope
they will be read with that Indulgence which We are humbly of
Opinion is due to a Work of this kind, undertaken on the plain
Principles of Experience and common Observation, without the
advantages which an intimate Knowledge of the Theory of Law
might have afforded us. We have endeavoured to adapt our
Eegulations to the Manners and Understanding of the People,
and Exegencies of the Country, adhering, as closely as We were
able, to their Antient Usages and Institutions. It will be
still a Work of some Months, We fear, before they can be
thoroughly established throughout the Provinces ; but We shall
think our Labors amply recompensed if they meet with your
Approbation, and are productive of the good Effects we had in
view.
Our President returned to Calcutta about the middle of
September. Mr. Middleton remained at Moorshedabad to take
charge of his Appointments, and the other three Members of the
Committee of Circuit proceeded to Dacca, where they are now
employed in making the Settlement of that Province and the
adjacent Districts, after which they will continue their Tour to
the remaining Divisions on the Eastern Side of Bengal ; and We
hope to transmit the further Particulars of their Proceedings by
one of the Ships of this Season, together with a Compleat State-
ment of your Eevenue for the following five Years.
278 APPENDIX A
Besides the General Plan before mentioned for regulating the
New System of conducting the Eevenues, and the several other
Points therein referred to, the Committee of Revenue at the
Presidency, composed of the remaining Members of your Council,
were employed in preparing the Settlements of the Districts of
Hougly, Midnapore, Beerbhoom, Jessore, and the Calcutta
Lands. These, together with the Districts allotted to the
Committee of Circuit, compleat the whole of Bengal, excepting
Burdwan, where the Lands are already lett in Farm, on Leases
of five years, which do not expire till the end of the Bengal year
1182 (a.d. 1775).
In consequence of the Public Advertisement for making the
Settlement of Hougly, a number of Proposals for farming the
Lands were delivered in ; and after an exact scrutiny was made
into them, those which appeared to be the most advantageous to
Government were accepted. It was originally intended to have
lett them in small Farms ; but the Offers for large Lots being
much higher than the others. We weie tempted to prefer them.
There were likewise many Talookdarries and petty Zemindarries
in this District, the Possessors of which represented to us the
Length of Time they had held their Lands, and the wretched
condition they would be reduced to were they now to be deprived
of them. As they engaged to pay to Government an increased
Eent in proportion to their value. We were induced by the same
Motives as actuated the Committee of Circuit in similar Instances
to continue to them their hereditary Possessions. In one or
two of the Pergunnas some Deductions were found necessary
to be made, on account of the particular degree in which they
had suffered by the late Famine ; but a favourable increase being
added to the other Purgannas, We have reason to be satisfied
with the good success which has attended the Settlement of
Houghly and its Dependancies.
The Settlement of Beerbhoom, Bissenpoor, and Pacheat has
also been effected upon an increasing Revenue, on a Plan similar
to the other Farmed Lands.
The Districts of Jessore and Mahomed Shahy are Settled on
Terms advantageous to Government, as appears by the Accounts
delivered in by Mr. Lane, a Member of our Board, who was
deputed to accomplish that Business ; and a full Representation
of his Proceedings is recorded on (sic) our Consultation of the
10th of August.
By the Proceedings it appears that the Calcutta Lands have
been compleatly farmed ; but as some of the Farmers have flown
APPENDIX A 279
off from their Engagements and absconded, and the Execution of
the Title Deeds with the rest is delayed, We have hitherto been
prevented from finally adjusting this Business. We shall there-
fore defer transmitting a further Statement of these Lands till the
next Ship, as well as that of Midnapoor, the settlement of which
is now in great forwardness.
In pursuance of your positive Injunctions, We have been
endeavouring for some time past to collect the fullest Information
concerning the Salt Business in Bengal, that we may be enabled
to form such Kegulations as shall appear the best calculated for
securing the Duties of Government upon that article, and for the
general Benefit of the Trade. For our Proceedings in these
Matters, so far as we have hitherto been able to effect, we refer
you to the Consultations now transmitted, and particularly to
that of the 7th October. And as this subject is one of the first
that will fall under our Consideration, W"e expect in our next
Advices to furnish you with a Compleat State of it.
The Hougly disputed Ballancies of Salt, which have been
a Matter of Contention and Difficulty for these two years past,
We have at length happily adjusted, as recorded in our Proceed-
ings of the 1st of October.
The Bukshbunder or Customs at Hougly, as well as those of
the Pachetra at Moorshedabad, have not been lett to farm, but
continue to be collected by the Officers of Government, in order
that no Obstacles may occur in New-modelling this Source of
your Eevenue agreeably to your Instructions. At present
we wait for Advices and further Lights from the Committee
of Circuit at Dacca concerning the Shawbunder, or Head
Custom House, in that District. Being furnished with these,
We shall proceed to form one general and uniform Plan for
the Collection of Duties, which will be duly transmitted for your
Information.
The humane Attention shown in your Commands of the 30th
June 1769, and recommended in many of your Letters since that
Date, to the Eights of the Zemindars who have Inherited Lands
from their Ancestors, encourages us to solicit your Compassion
for the antient Proprietors of the Twenty-four Pergunnas, or Cal-
cutta Lands, which became the Company's Zemindarry by the
Treaty of Plassey, and from which they were consequently dis-
possessed. A small Part of their Lands were before that Time
united with the Zemindarries of Burdwau and Nuddea, whose
Zemindars are amply provided for. The other Zemindars and
Taalindars (sic) have continued since that Time in a State of
280 APPENDIX A
extreme Indigence. Some of them have large families to main-
tain. It has been the usual Rule of the Mogul Government,
when any Zemindar was divested of authority, to allow him a
Substance out of the Rents of his Zemindarrie proportioned to
the annual Income of it. This Proportion commonly ammounted
to One Tenth. We would not recommend so large an Allow-
ance for these people. We are persuaded that they will be con-
tented with a much more moderate income, and receive it with
Gratitude. As this Indulgence has been extended to all the
other Zemindars in both the Provinces since they were placed
under your Government, We Lave judged that this Representa-
tion of the Case of those who alone have been excluded from it
would not be unacceptable to you.
As the Settlement of the Province of Bahar had been made
for a Term of Years, and therefore did not require any immediate
Alteration, We shall wait to finish the whole of our Regulations
in Bengal before we attempt any Innovation in that Province.
The only point on which We think We can give you any previous
Intimation of our future Proceedings in those Parts is, that we
deem it proper to unite the Collections with those of Bengal, and
establish the same Regulations in both Provinces, as soon as We
can do it with conveniency, and without adding to our present
Embarrassments.
In the Proceedings of our Committee of Revenue of the 10th
May is recorded the Particulars of a Dispute which subsisted
between the late Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad and the
Supervisor of Dinagepore, Mr. Henry Cottrell, the Consequence
of which was the recalling the latter from his Appointment. The
several Arguments urged against his Conduct by the Council of
Revenue at Moorshedabad, as well as his Letter in Vindication
of himself, appear fully in the above Proceedings ; and we must
beg leave to refer you to them, that you may form such a Judge-
ment of this Affair as your Candor and Justice may point out.
We are, with great Respect, Hon'ble Sirs, Your most faithful
humble Servants,
(Signed) Wakken Hastings.
R. Barker.
W. Aldersey.
Thomas Lane.
RiCHD. Barwell.
James Harris.
h. goodw'in.
FoRT-WiLLiAM, the Zd Kovemlev 1772.
APPENDIX B
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR AND
COUNCIL AT FORT WILLIAM, Etc.
Copy of the Fortieth Paeagraph of the Letter from the
Governor and Council in Bengal, for the Depart-
ment OF THE Revenues, to the Court of Directors,
dated 3d November 1772;
The more regular Administration of Justice was deliberated on
by the Committee of Circuit, and a Plan was formed by them,
which afterwards met with our Approbation : We cannot give
you a better Idea of the Grounds on which this was framed, than
by referring you to a Copy of it, together with a Letter from the
Committee to the Board on the Occasion ; both of which make
Numbers in this Packet, and we earnestly recommend them to
your Perusal, requesting to be assisted with such further Orders
and Instructions thereon, as they may require, for completing the
System which we have thus endeavoured to establish, on the most
equitable, solid, and permanent Footing. We hope they will be
read with that Indulgence, which, we are humbly of Opinion, is
due to a Work of this Kind, undertaken on the plain Principles
of Experience and common Observation, without the Advantages
which an intimate Knowledge of the Theory of Law might have
afforded us : We have endeavoured to adapt our Regulations to
the Manners and Understandings of the People, and Exigencies
of the Country, adhering, as closely as we are able, to their
ancient Usages and Institutions. It will be still a Work of some
Months, we fear, before they can be thoroughly established
throughout the Provinces ; but we shall think our Labours amply
recompensed, if they meet with your Approbation, and are pro-
ductive of the good Effects we had in View.
281
282 APPENDIX B
COPY OF A LETTER FEOM THE COMMITTEE OF
CIECUIT TO THE COUNCIL AT FORT WILLIAM,
DATED COSSIMBUZAR, 15th AUGUST, 1772
In the Copy of our Proceedings, which accompanied our
Letter of the 28 ultimo, we intimated our Intention of com-
municating to you our Sentiments in a future Address, upon the
Subject of the Magistracy of this Province, which, though an
Appendage of the Nizamut, we considered is not necessarily con-
nected with the Propositions which were then recommended to
your Attention, and of too much Importance to be lightly or only
occasionally treated.
We now transmit to you the Result of our Deliberations on
this Subject, in the enclosed Paper, intituled " A Plan for the
Administration of Justice "; and if it meets with your Approba-
tion, we wish to receive your Instructions for carrying it into
immediate Execution.
For the Information of our honourable Employers, it may be
necessary to premise, what you will readily perceive, that in
forming the enclosed Plan, we have confined ourselves with a
scrupulous Exactness to the constitutional Terms of Judicature
already established in this Province ; which are not only such as
we think in themselves best calculated for expediting the Course
of Justice, but such as are best adapted to the Understandings of
the People. Where we shall appear to have deviated in any
Respect from the known Forms, our Intention has been to recur
to the original Principles, and to give them that Efficacy, of which
they were deprived by venal and arbitrary Innovations, by partial
Immunities, granted as a Relief against the general and allowed
Abuse of Authority, or by some radical Defect in the Constitution
of the Courts in being ; and these Changes we have adopted with
the less Hesitation, as they are all of such a Nature, as, we are
morally certain, will prove both of general Satisfaction and
general Ease to the People.
The general Principles of all despotic Governments, That
every Degree of Power shall be simple and undivided, seems
necessarily to have introduced itself into the Courts of Justice ;
this will appear from a Review of the different Officers of Justice
instituted in these Provinces, which, however unwilling we are to
engross your Time with such Details, we deem necessary on this
Occasion, in Proof of the above Assertions, and in Justification
of the Regulations which we have recommended.
APPENDIX B 283
First. — The Nazim, as supreme Magistrate, presides per-
sonally in the Trials of capital Offenders, and holds a Court
every Sunday, called the Eoz Adawlat.
Second. — The Dewan is the supposed Magistrate for the
Decision of such Causes as relate to real Estates, or Property
in Landj but seldom exercises this Authority in Person.
Third.- — The Darogo Adawlut al Aalea is properly the
Deputy of the Nazim ; he is the Judge of all Matters of
Property, excepting Claims of Land and Inheritance ; he also
takes Cognizance of Quarrels, Frays, and abusive Names.
Fourth. — The Darogo Adawlut Dewannee, or Deputy of
the Dewan, is the Judge of Property in Land.
Fifth. — The Phoujdar is the Officer of the Police, the
Judge of all Crimes not Capital ; the Proofs of these last are
taken before him, and reported to the Nazim for his Judgment,
and Sentence upon them.
Sixth. — The Cazee is the Judge of all Claims of Inheri-
tance or Succession ; he also performs the Ceremonies of
Weddings, Circumcision, and Funerals.
Seventh. — The Mohtesib has Cognizance of Drunkenness,
and of the Vending of Spirituous Liquors and intoxicating
Drugs, and the Examination of False Weights and Measures.
Eightii. — The Muftee is the Expounder of the Law.
Memorandum. — The Cazee is assisted by the Muftee and
Mohtesib in his Court : After hearing the Parties and
Evidences, the Muftee writes the Fettwa, or the Law applic-
able to the Case in Question, and the Cazee pronounces
Judgment accordingly. If either the Cazee or Mohtesib dis-
approve of the Fettwa, the Cause is referred to the Nazim,
who summons the Ijlas, or General Assembly, consisting of
the Cazee, Muftee, Mohtesib, the Darogos of the Adawlut, the
Moulavies, and all the learned in the Law, to meet and decide
upon it. Their Decision is final.
Ninth. — The Canongos are the Eegisters of the Lands.
They have no Authority ; but Causes of Land are often
referred to them for Decision, by the Nazim, or Dewan, or
Darogo of the Dewanee.
Tenth. — The Cootwall is the Peace Officer of the Night,
dependant on the Phoujdarree.
From this List it will appear that there are properly Three
Courts for the Decision of Civil Causes (the Canongos being only
made Arbitrators by Reference from the other Courts) and One
284 APPENDIX B
for the Police and Criminal INIatters, the authority of the
Mohtesib in the latter being too confined to be considered as an
Exception : Yet, as all defective Institutions soon degenerate, by
Use, into that Form to which they are inclined, by the unequal
Prevalence of their component Parts ; so these Courts are never
known to adhere to their prescribed Eounds, but when restrained
by the Vigilance of a wiser Euler than commonly falls to the Lot
of despotic States ; at all other Times, not only the Civil Courts
encroach on each other's Authority, but both Civil and Criminal
often take Cognizance of the same Subjects ; or their Power
gradually becomes weak and obsolete, through their own Abuses,
and the Usurpations of Influence. For many Years past the
Darogos of the Adawlut al Aalea, and of the Dewannee, have
been considered as Judges of the same Causes, whether of real or
personal Property ; and the Parties have made their Application
as Chance, Caprice, Interest, or the superior Weight and Authority
of either, directed their Choice. At present, from obvious Causes,
the Dewannee Adawlut is in Effect the only Tribunal: The
Adawlut al Aalea, or the Court of the Nazim, existing only in
Name.
It must however be remarked, in Exception to the above
Assertions, that the Phoujdarree, being a single Judicature, and
the Objects of it clearly defined, it is seldom known, but in Time
of Anarchy, to encroach on the Civil Power, or lose much of its
own Authority ; this however is much the Case at present.
The Court in which the Cazee presides seems to be formed
on wiser Maxims, and even on more enlarged Ideas of Justice,
and Civil Liberty, than are common to despotic Notions of Indian
Governments.
They must be unanimous in their Judgment, or the Case is
referred in Course to the General Assembly ; but the Intention of
this Eeference is defeated, by the Importance which is given to
it, and the insurmountable Diflaculties attending the Use of it :
Few Cases of disputed Inheritance will happen, in which the
Opinions of Three independent Judges shall be found to concur :
There is therefore a Necessity, either that One shall over-rule the
other Two, which destroys the Purpose of their appointment, or
that daily Appeals must be made to the Nazim, and his Warrant
issued to summon all learned in the Law, from their Homes,
their Studies, and necessary Occupations, to form a tumultuous
Assembly to hear and give Judgment upon them : The Conse-
quence is, that the General Assembly is rarely held, and only on
Occasions which acquire their Importance from that of the
APPENDIX B 285
Parties, rather than from the Nicety of the Case itself: The
Cazee therefore either advises with his Colleagues in his
own particular Court, and gives Judgment according to his own
Opinion, or more frequently decides without their Assistance or
Presence.
Another great and capital Defect in these Courts is, the "Want
of a Substitute or subordinate Jurisdiction, for the Distribution
of Justice in such Parts of the Province as lie out of their Reach,
which in Effect confines their Operations to a Circle, extending
but a very small Distance beyond the Bounds of the City of
Moorshedabad : This indeed is not universally the Case : but
perhaps it will not be difficult to prove the Exceptions to be an
Accumulation of the Grievance ; since it is true that the Courts
of Adawlut are open to the Complaints of all Men ; yet, it is only
the rich, or the vagabond Part of the People, who can afford to
travel so far for Justice ; and if the industrious Labourer is called
from the farthest Part of the Province to answer their -Com-
plaints, and wait the tedious Process of the Courts, to which
they are thus made amenable, the Consequences in many Cases
will be more ruinous and oppressive, than an arbitrary Decision
could be, if passed against them, without any Law or Process
whatever.
The Defect is not however left absolutely without a Remedy ;
the Zemindars, Farmers, Shicdars, and other Officers of the
Revenue, assuming that Power for which no Provision is made by
the Laws of the Land, but which, in whatever Manner it is exer-
cised, is preferable to a total Anarchy : It will however be obvious,
that the judicial Authority, lodged in the Hands of Men who gain
their Livelihood by the Profits on the Collection of the Revenue,
must unavoidably be converted to Sources of private Emolument ;
and, in Effect, the greatest Oppressions of the Inhabitants owe
their Origin to this necessary Evil : The Cazee has also his Sub-
stitutes in the Districts, but their legal Powers are too limited to
be of general Use ; and the Powers which they assume, being
warranted by no lawful Commission, but depending on their own
Pleasure, or the Abihty of the People to contest them, is also an
Oppression.
From this Variety of materials we have endeavoured to form
the Plan of a more complete, but more extensive, System of
Judicature, by constituting Two Superior Courts at the Capital ;
the one composed of the United Magistracy of the Adawlut al
Aalea, the Adawlut Dewannee, and the Cazee (or Cazee's Office)
for the Decision of Civil Causes ; the other corresponding to the
286 APPENDIX B
Phoujdaree, for the Trial of Criroinal Cases. To prevent the
Abuse of the Power vested in these Courts, and to give Authority
to their Decrees, each, instead of a single Judge, is made
to consist of several Members ; and their Enquiries are to be
conducted under the Inspection and Sanction of the Supreme
Administration. To render the Distribution of Justice equal
in every Part of the Province, similar, but inferior, Courts are
also proposed for each separate District, and accountable to
the superior. The usurped Power of the Officers of the Collec-
tions, and of the Creditor over the Persons of their Debtors, is
abolished.
The Judicial Authority, which by the Tenth Regulation is
still allowed to the Farmers of the Eevenue, is a single Exception
to the general Eule, which we have laid down, of confining such
Powers to the Two Courts of Adawlut ; but as this is restricted
to Cases of Property, not exceeding Ten Eupees, and as they
have no Power of inflicting Punishment, or levying Fines, we
think an ill Use is not likely to be made of so inconsiderable a
Privilege, especially as they themselves are amenable to the
Courts of Justice, which will be always ready to receive Com-
plaints against them ; and some such Means of deciding the
trifling Disputes of the Eyots upon the Spot is absolutely
necessary, as they cannot afford, nor ought to be allowed, on
every mutual Disagreement, to travel to the Sudder Cutcherry
lor Justice.
The detestable and authorized Exactions of the Phoujdarree
Court, which had its exact Imitators in every Farmer and Aumil
of the Province, under the Denomination of Bazee Jumma, have
been prohibited, conformably to the wise and humane Injunc-
tions of our honourable Masters ; who, from the same Spirit of
Equity, have renounced the Eight hitherto exercised by the
Country Government, and authorized by the Mahometan Law, to
a Commission on the Amount of all Debts, and on the Value of
all Property, recovered by the Decrees of its Courts ; a Practice
repugnant to every Principle of Justice, as it makes the Magis-
trate a Party in the Cause on which he decides, and becomes a
legal Violation of the Eights of private Property, committed by
that Power which shoald protect and secure it.
It has also been our Aim to render the Access to Justice as
easy as possible.
By keeping exact Eecords of all judicial Proceedings, it is
hoped that these Institutions, if they receive the Sanction of
your Approbation, will remain free from the Neglects and Charges
APPENDIX B 287
to which they would be liable from a less frequent Inspec-
tion.
We have judged it necessary to propose some Exceptions to
the Order of the honourable Court of Directors, for the total
Abolition of Fines in the Court of Phoujdarree. All Offences are
not punishable by Stripes ; and to sentence Men of a certain
Eank in Life, or of a superior Caste, to such a public Disgrace,
would exceed the Proportion of the Offence, and extend the
Punishment to all the Eelations and Connections of the De-
linquent ; to suffer him to escape with total impunity, would be
an Injustice in the other Extreme. In such Cases there is but
the middle Way, which we can adopt with an equal Eegard to
the Spirit of our honourable Masters' Commands and the Eights
of Justice, and that is, by levying the Fine upon the Offender,
but converting it to a Eeparation of the Injury.
Our Motives for the Abolition of the Fees of the Cazees and
Muftees, will best appear in the following Extract of a Minute of
our Proceedings at Kissen Nagur, relating to the Haldarree, or
Tax on Marriages, which, for the Eeasons therein assigned, we
forbad to be levied any longer, and deducted from the Settlement
of Nuddea .- Convinced of the pernicious Effects of so impolitic a
Tax, we propose to grant the same Exemption to the other
Districts subject to our Direction ; and submit to your Con-
sideration, whether it will not be proper to make it general
throughout the Province.
The same Eeasons which have induced us to abolish the
Haldarree, operate with equal Force against the Fees of the
Cazees and Muftees, which have always proved a heavy
Grievance to the Poor, and an Impediment to Marriage : We
have therefore determined on a total Abolition of these, and of
the other less Dues hitherto allowed to these Officers, and to put
them on the Footing of Monthly Servants with fixed Salaries :
We were led to this Eesolution, not only by the speculative
Advantages which it promised, but by the Experience which
this Country has already had of its Effects, from a similar
Institution of the Nabob Meer Cossim, about the Beginning of
the Year 1763, which (as we are assured) was productive of more
Marriages than had been known to take Place for Years before ;
and Instances have been even quoted of Men of Forty and Fifty
Years of Age, who till then had led a Life of Celibacy, imme-
diately availed themselves of this Exemption, to enter into a
State, from which they had been before precluded solely by the
Want of Means to support the various Expences attending it.
288 APPENDIX B
EXTEACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE
AT KISSEN NAGAE, DATED THE 28th JUNE, 1772
" The Collector explains the Haldarree, or Custom on Marriage,
" to be a Tax levied by Government, at the variable Eate of Three
" Eupees, Three Eupees Eight Annas, and Four Eupees Four
" Annas each : Besides the Haldarree, there are Fees paid to the
" Cazees and Muftees : The former receive from the principal
" Inhabitants Two Eupees ; from the Second Class, One Eupee
" Eight Annas ; and from the lowest Class One Eupee : The Fees
" of the Muftees are received from the Musicians, and other People
" who officiate at the Festival; so that, on the Whole, the Fees of
" Marriage may be estimated at Six Eupees for each, exclusive of
"the Dues, or voluntary Benefactions of the Gentoos to their
" Bralimins."
"The Committee are of Opinion, and resolve accordingly,
" that all the Fees and Taxes of this Article, which produce a
" Eevenue to Government, be abolished, as tending to discourage
" Population ; an Object at all Times of Importance to Govern-
"ment, but more especially at this Time, from the great Loss of
" Inhabitants, which the Country has sustained by the late
" Famine, and the Mortality which followed it : They are further
"of Opinion, that the abolishing of the Fees to the Cdzee and
" Muftee will afford a great Belief to the Inhabitants, as it will
" not only absolve them from the Fees themselves, but also from
" the Effects of the oppressive Mode in which these Dues are
" exacted : But on this Subject they judge it will be more proper
" to come to a general Eesolution at the City, and therefore
" postpone the further Consideration of it until their Arrival at
" that Place."
We have judged it necessary to add to the Eegulations, with
respect to the Courts of Phoujdarree, a Proposal for the Sup-
pression and Extirpation of Decoits, which will appear to be
dictated by a Spirit of Eigour and Violence, very different from
the Caution and Lenity of our other Propositions, as it in some
Eespect involves the Innocent with the Guilty. We wish a
milder Expedient could be suggested ; but we much fear, that
this Evil has acquired a great Degree of its Strength from the
Tenderness and Moderation which our Government has exercised
towards those Banditti, since it has interfered in the internal
Protection of the Provinces. We confess that the Means which
we propose can in no wise be reconcileable to the Spirit of our
APPENDIX B 289
own Constitution ; but till that of Bengal shall attain the same
Perfection, no Conclusion can be drawn from the English Law,
that can be properly applied to the Manners or State of this
Country. The Decoits of Bengal are not hke the Eobbers in
England, Individuals driven to such desperate Courses by sudden
Want : They are Eobbers by Profession and even by Birth :
They are formed into regular Communities, and their Families
subsist by the Spoils which they bring home to them ; they are
all therefore alike criminal ; Wretches who have placed them-
selves in a State of declared War with Government, and are
therefore wholly excluded from every benefit of its Laws. We
have many Instances of their meeting Death with the greatest
Insensibility ; it loses therefore its Effect as an Example ; but
when executed in all the Forms and Terrors of Law, in the
Midst of the Neighbours and Eelations of the Criminal ; when
these are treated as Accessaries to his Guilt, and his Family
deprived of their Liberty, and separated for ever from each
other, every Passion, which before served as an Incentive to
Guilt, now becomes subservient to the Purposes of Society, by
turning them from a Vocation, in which all they hold dear,
besides Life, becomes forfeited by their Conviction ; at the same
Time, their Families, instead of being lost to the Community,
are made useful Members of it, by being adopted into those of
the more civilized Inhabitants. The Ideas of Slavery, borrowed
from our American Colonies, will make every Modification of it
appear, in the Eyes of our own Countrymen in England, a
horrible Evil ; but it is far otherwise in this Country ; here
Slaves are treated as the Children of the Families to which they
belong, and often acquire a much happier State by their Slavery,
than they could have hoped for by the Enjoyment of Liberty ; so
that, in Effect, the apparent Eigour, thus exercised on the Children
of convicted Eobbers, will be no more than a Change of Con-
dition, by which they will be no Sufferers ; though it will operate
as a Warning on others, and is the only means, which we can
imagine capable of dissipating these desperate and abandoned
Societies, which subsist on the Distress of the general Community.
A true Copy.
Alexander Higginson,
Secretary.
Revenue Department,
Fort JFilliam, M Xov. 1772.
19
290 APPENDIX B
A PLAN FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE,
EXTRACTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE
COMMITTEE OF CIRCUIT, 15th AUGUST, 1772
That in each District shall be established Two Courts of
Judicature, One by the Name of Mofussul Dawannee Adawlut,
or Provincial Court of Dewannee, for the Cognizance of Civil
Causes ; the other by the Name of Phoujdarree Adawlut, or
Court of Phoujdarree, for the Trial of all Crimes and Mis-
demeanors.
11.
That for the better ascertaining the Jurisdiction of each
Court, and to prevent Confusion, and a Perversion of Justice,
the Matters cognizable by each respectively are declared to be
as follows :
All Disputes concerning Property, whether real or personal ;
all Causes of Inheritance, Marriage, and Caste ; all Claims of
Debt, disputed Accounts, Contracts, Partnerships, and Demands
of Rent ; shall be judged by the Dewannee Adawlut.
But from this Distribution is excepted the Right of Succes-
sion to Zemindarrees and Talucdarrees, which shall be left to
the Decision of the President and Council.
All Trials of Murder, Robbery, and Theft, and all other
Felonies, Forgery, Perjury, and all Sorts of Frauds and Mis-
demeanors, Assaults, Frays, Quarrels, Adultery, and every
other Breach of the Peace, or violent Invasions of Property,
shall be submitted to the Phoujdarree Adawlut.
III.
That in the Provincial Court of Dewannee, the Collector of
each District shall preside on the Part of the Company, in
their Quality of King's Dewan, appointed by the President and
Council, and the other Officers of the Cutcherry ; that the Court
shall be regularly held on every Monday and Thursday, and
oftener if Necessity require ; and that no Causes shall be heard
or determined but in the open Court regularly assembled.
IV.
That in the Phoujdaree Adawlut, the Cazee and Muftee of
the District, and Two Moulavics, shall sit to expound the Law,
and determine how far the Delinquents shall be guilty of a
APPENDIX B 291
Breach thereof; but that the Collector shall also make it his
Business to attend to the Proceedings of this Court, so far as
to see that all necessary Evidences are summoned and examined,
that due Weight is allowed to their Testimony, and that the
Decision passed is fair and impartial, according to the Proofs
exhibited in the Course of the Trial ; and that no Causes
shall be heard or determined but in the open Court regularly
assembled.
V.
That in like Manner Two Superior Courts of Justice shall
be established at the Chief Seat of Government, the one under
the Denomination of the Dewannee Sudder Adawlut, and the
other the Nizamut Sudder Adawlut.
VI.
That the Dewannee Sudder Adawlut shall receive and deter-
mine Appeals from the Provincial Dewannee Adawlut ; that the
President, with Two Members of the Council, shall preside
therein, attended by the Dewan of the Khalfa, the Head Canon-
gos, and other Officers of the Cutcherry : In Case of the Absence
of the President, a Third Member of the Council to sit ; that is
to say, not less than Three Members to decide on an Appeal, but
the whole Council may sit if they chuse it.
VII.
That a chief Officer of Justice, appointed on the Part of the
Nation, shall preside in the Nizamut Adawlut, by the Title of
Darogo Adawlut, assisted by the Chief Cazee, the Chief Muftee,
and Three capable Moulavies ; that their Duty shall be to revise
all the Proceedings of the Phoujdaree Adawlut ; and in capital
Cases by signifying their Approbation or Disapprobation thereof,
with their Reasons at large, to prepare the Sentence for the
Warrant of the Nazim, which shall be returned into the
Mofussul, and there carried into Execution ; that with EespecC
to the Proceedings in this Court, a similar Controul shall be
lodged in the Chief and Council, as is vested in the Collectors
in the Districts ; so that the Company's Administration, in
Character of King's Dewan, may be satisfied that the Decrees
of Justice, on which both the Welfare and Safety of the Country
so materially depend, are not injured or perverted by the Effects
of Partiality or Corruption.
19—2
292 APPENDIX B
VIII.
That, in order to preserve the Dignity and Importance of
the Two Superior Courts, there shall be Two Courts of Adawlut
established at the Seat of Government, exactly on the same Plan
as those of the Districts : In that of the Dewannee, a Member
of the Council shall preside; and in that of the Phoujdarree
another Member of the Council shall exercise the Controul
specified in the Fourth Eegulation : These Duties to be per-
formed by the Members in Eotation.
IX.
That, as nothing is more conducive to the Prosperity of any
Country, than a free and easy Access to Justice and Eedress, the
Collectors shall at all Times be ready to receive the Petitions of
the injured ; and further, to prevent their being debarred this
Access from Motives of Interest, Partiality, or Eeseutment, in
the Officers or Servants of the Cutcherry, that a Box shall be
placed at the Door of the Cutchtrry, in which the Complainants
may lodge their Petitions at any Time or Hour they please ; that
the Collector shall himself keep the Key of this Box, and each
Court Day have such Arzees as he may find in it read immediately
in his Presence, by the Arizbeggy of the Cutcherry.
X.
That in summoning from the Farmed Lands Persons com-
plained against, or Evidences called on by the Parties, the Eule
laid down in the Ninth Article of the Public Eegulations be
strictly adhered to. The Collector ought further to avoid,
as studiously as possible, summoning any Persons from the
Mofussul, who are any ways connected with the Eevenue,
during the Months of Bhadoom, Assln, Auguii, and Poos, unless
in Cases which call for immediate Enquiry and Example.
XL
That in Order to facilitate the Course of Justice in trivial
Causes, and relieve the Eyot from the heavy Grievance of
travelling to a great Distance to seek for Eedress, all Disputes
of Property, not exceeding Ten Eupees, shall be decided by the
Head Farmer of the Purgunnah to which the Parties belong ;
and his Decree shall be final.
XII.
That the Process observed for trying Causes, in the Pro-
vincial Dewannee Adawlut, shall be as follows — First, To file and
APPENDIX B 293
read the Petition of the Complainant. Secondly, To allot a
limited Time for the Defendant to give Answer, which when
received shall also be filed and read. Thirdly, To hear the
Parties, viva voce, and if necessary examine Evidences. And
lastly. To pass Decree. — That if, in adhering to this Order of
Process, the Defendant shall evade or delay giving Answer within
the limited Time, Judgment shall pass against him.
XIII.
That complete Records shall be kept in the Mofussul Dewannee
Adawlut, in which shall be inserted the Petition of the Com-
plainant, the Answer of the Defendant, the subsequent Process,
and Examination of Evidence, and finally the Decree ; that upon
Decree being passed, both Parties shall be furnished with a Copy
thereof, free of Expence, and that such Copies shall be authenti-
cated under the Public Seal and the Signing of the Collector :
That a Copy of the Eecords entire shall also be transmitted
Twice a month to the Sudder Dewannee Adawlut, through the
Channel of the President and Council.
XIV.
That each Collector shall also keep an Abstract Register of his
Adawlut, in English, containing the Names of the Plaintiff and
Defendant, the Substance of the Suit, the Substance of the
Decree, the Date of the Cause being filed, and the Date of the
Decree being passed ; and this Abstract also shall be transmitted
Twice a Month to the Sudder Dewannee Adawlut.
XV.
That as the Litigiousuess and Perseverance of the Natives of
this Country, in their Suits and Complaints, is often productive,
not only of Inconvenience and Vexation to their Adversaries, but
also of endless Expence and actual Oppression, it is to be observed
as a standing Rule, that Complaints of so old a Date as . . . Years
shall not be actionable : And further, should they be found guilty,
as is often the Case, from the Principles abovementioned, of flying
from the One Court to the other, to prevent and protract the
Course of Justice, the Party, so transgressing, shall be considered
as nonsuited, and shall, according to his Degree in Life, and the
Notoriety of the Offence, be liable to Fine or Punishment.
N.B. — By the 3faJiometan Law, all Claims which have lain
dormant for Twelve Years, whether for Land or Money, are
invalid. — This also is the Law of the Hindoos, and the legal
Practice of the Country.
294 APPENDIX B
XVI.
That the Custom of levying Chout, Dussuttra, Puchuttra, or
any other Fee or Commission, on the Account of Money recovered,
or Etlak on the Decision of Causes, as well as all heavy arbitrary
Fines, is absolutely and for ever abolished,
XVII.
That as, however, Cases may occur, in which it will be highly
necessary, for the Welfare of the Community, to curb and restrain
trivial and groundless Complaints, and to deter Chicane and
Intrigue, which Passions amongst these People often work to the
Undoing of their Neighbours, a Discretion shall in such Cases be
left to the Court, either to impose a Fine, not exceeding Five
Eupees, or inflict corporal Punishment, not exceeding Twenty
Lashes with a Eattan, according to the Degree of the Offence,
and the Person's Station in Life.
XVIII.
That in adjusting the Claims of old Debts, it shall be observed
as a Eule, that they bear no further Interest after such Adjust-
ment, but that the Amount shall be payable by Kistbundee,
according to the Circumstances of the Party : And as the Eates
of Interest, hitherto authorized by Custom, have amounted to
the most exorbitant Usury, the following Eates are now estab-
lished to be received and paid, as well for past Debts as on future
Loans of Money : viz. On Sums not exceeding One Hundred
Eupees Principal, an Interest of Three rupees Two Annas per
Cent, i^er Mensem, or Half an Anna in the Eupee : On Sums
above One Hundred Eupees Principal, an Interest of Two Eupees
Ijcr Cent, pier Mensem, the Principal and Interest to be discharged
according to the Condition of the Bond ; and all Compound
Interest, arising from an intermediate Adjustment of Accounts,
to be deeined unlawful and prohibited : When a Debt is sued for
upon a Bond which shall be formed to specify a higher Interest
than the established Eates, the Interest shall be wholly forfeited
to the Debtor, and the Principal only recoverable ; and that all
Attempts to elude this Law, by Deductions from the original
Loan, under whatever Denomination, shall be punished by a
Forfeiture of one Moiety of the Amount of the Bond to the
Government, and the other Half to the Debtor.
XIX.
That all Bonds shall be executed in the Presence of Two
Witnesses.
APPENDIX B 295
XX.
That whereas it has been too much the Practice in this
Country for Individuals to exercise a judicial Authority over their
Debtors, a Practice, which is not only in itself unlawful and
oppressive, seeing a Man thereby becomes the Judge in his own
Cause, but which is also a direct Infringement of the Prerogative
and Powers of the regular Government ; that Publications shall
therefore be made, forbidding the Exercise of all such Authority,
and directing all Persons to prefer their Suits to the established
Court of Adawlut ; and that the Collector shall particularly
attend to this Eegulation, which, it is apprehended, will prove a
great Means of Eelief to the helpless Ryot, from his merciless
Creditor the Money Lender.
XXI.
That in all Cases of disputed Property, regarding Lands,
Houses, Landmarks, &c., where a local Investigation is required,
an Aumin shall be chosen with the mutual consent of the Parties ;
or, if they cannot agree in the Choice of One Person, each shall
have the Privilege of nominating his own, and the Collector shall
decide upon their joint Eeport of Circumstances. The Collector
is also to attend, that the Aumins do not accumulate Expences
by unnecessary Delays, but that their Scrutinies and their Wages
be limited to the Time he judges sufficient for performing the
Service in Question. The Expence of the Enquiry is to be defrayed
by the Person who is cast.
XXII.
That in all Cases of disputed Accounts, Partnerships, Debts,
doubtful or contested Bargains, Non-Performances of Contracts,
and so forth, it shall be recommended to the Parties to submit
the Decision of their Cause to Arbitration, the Award of which
shall become a Decree of the Dewannee Adawlut ; the Choice of
the Arbitrators is to rest with the Parties, but they are to decide
the Cause without Fee or Reward. The Collector, on the Part of
Government, is to afford every Encouragement in his Power to
Inhabitants of Character and Credit to become Arbitrators, but is
not to employ any coercive Means for that Purpose.
XXIIL
That in all Suits regarding Inheritance, Marriage, Caste, and
all other religious Usages or Institutions, the Laws of the Koran
296 APPENDIX B
with respect to Mahometans, and those of the Shaster with
respect to Gcntoos, shall be invariably adhered to : On all such
Occasions, the Moulavies or Brahmins shall respectively attend
and expound the Law, and they shall sign the Eeport, and assist
in passing the Decree.
XXIV.
That the Decree of the Provincial Dewannee Adawlut, on all
Causes for Sums not exceeding Five Hundred Eupees, shall be
final ; but that for all above that amount, an Appeal shall lie to
the Sudder.
XXV.
That the Court shall have a Eight of decreeing to the Party,
in whose Favour Judgment is given, any specific Sum for Costs
within the real Amount, or in general to decree with Costs. The
Bill in both Cases to be taxed by the Court.
XXVI.
That Persons found guilty of preferring groundless, litigious,
or vexatious, Appeals, shall be punished at the Discretion of the
Sudder Dewannee Adawlut, by an Enhancement of the Costs,
which shall be given to the Eespondent, as a Compensation for
the Trouble and Expence which he shall have sustained.
XXVII.
That complete Eecords shall be kept, and transmitted from
the Provincial Phoujdaree Adawlut to the Nizamut Sudder
Adawlut, Twice every Month, through the Channel of the
President and Council. This exclusive of the Trials for capital
Crimes, which are to be transmitted as soon as closed.
XXVIII.
That the Collector shall also keep an Abstract Eegister in
English, of the proceedings of this Court, in which shall be
inserted only the Names of the Prisoners, the Crimes or Offences
of which they stand charged, and the Sentence or Acquittal,
which shall be transmitted in like Manner, Twice every Month,
to the Sudder Adawlut.
XXIX.
That the Authority of this Court shall extend to corporal
Punishment, Imprisonment, sentencing to the Eoads, and Fines,
but not to the Life of the Criminal. In capital Cases the Opinion
of the Court, with the Evidences and Defence of the Prisoner,
APPENDIX B 297
shall be transmitted to the Nizamut Adawlut, and having
obtained their Confirmation, it shall be ultimately referred to the
Nazim for Sentence, which shall be carried into immediate
Execution, as directed in the Seventh Article.
XXX.
That Persons guilty of petty Misdemeanors, -whose Eank,
Caste, or Station in Life, shall be thought to exempt them from
corporal Punishment, may be made liable to Pines ; but should
such Fines be laid for a larger Sum than One Hundred Eupees,
they are not to be inforced or levied v^ithout the Confirmation of
the Nizamut Adawlut ; for which Purpose they are to be im-
mediately reported, with a State of the Case, and the Cause of
their being imposed,
XXXI.
That as the Forfeiture and Confiscation of the Property and
Effects of Delinquents sentenced to the Loss of Life may often
occur, it is to be observed that such Forfeiture and Confiscation
is not to depend on the Provincial Phoujdaree, but upon the
Nizamut Adawlut : It is to be a standing Eule, therefore, to
transmit, with the Proceedings of the Trial, an Account of the
Property and Effects of the Delinquent, and wait the Orders of
the Sudder, whether they are to be surrendered to the Heirs, or
confiscated to the State ; In the latter Case a Sale is to be made,
and the Amount brought to public Account.
XXXII.
That whereas the honourable Company, from Motives of
Tenderness, and Solicitude for the Peace and Happiness of the
Eyots, have determined to abolish the Eevenue which has
hitherto arisen from the Collections of the Phoujdaree BAzee
Jumma, the same is accordingly to be made public ; the Court
is still to take Cognizance of all such Offences, but shall inflict
no other Punishment for them than Stripes or Imprisonment, or
Damages to the Party injured.
XXXIII.
That the same Motives of Eegard for the Tranquillity and
Happiness of the Eyots, having induced the Government to
rehnquish the Eevenue arising from the Eassooms, or Fees of the
Cazee and his inferior Officers, of which the inhabitants have
long complained as a severe Grievance, the Cazee and Muftee
are therefore introduced in the List of Adawlut Officers at a
298 APPENDIX B
Monthly Salary : in this Capacity they are to continue to attest
all Wi'itings, to perform all Ceremonies of Marriages, Births, and
Funerals, and to discharge all their other Functions as was
customary heretofore ; and as they are thus to be supported at
the Expence of Government, they are to exact no Fees, Dues, or
Taxes whatsoever : Any Present or Gratification, made with the
entire free Will of the Party, on the Occasion of a Marriage or of
a Funeral, is not prohibited by this Eegulation ; but if upon
Complaint it shall appear that Force or any other undue Influence
has been used to extort such Gratifications, the Cazee or Muftee
so convicted shall be ipso facto dismissed from his Office, with
Marks of public Disgrace.
XXXIV.
That the Office of Yetasub, having become obsolete, is now
totally abolished ; but that the Cuzee and Muftee shall be
allowed each Two Deputies for performing the Duties of their
Office in the Purgunnahs ; these to be stationed by the Collector
at such convenient Distances, as that the Eyots may not have
above One Day's Journey to perform for calling in their
Assistance.
XXXV.
That whereas the Peace of this Country hath for some Years
past been greatly disturbed by Bands of Deceits, who not only
infest the High Eoads, but often plunder whole Villages, burning
the Houses, and murdering the Inhabitants : And whereas these
abandoned Outlaws have hitherto found Means to elude every
Attempt, which the Vigilance of Government hath put in Force,
for detecting and bringing such atrocious Criminals to Justice, by
the Secrecy of their Haunts, and the wild State of the Districts,
which are most subject to their Incursions, it becomes the indis-
pensable Duty of Government to try the most rigorous Means,
since Experience has proved every lenient and ordinary Eemedy
to be ineffectual : That it be therefore resolved, that every such
Criminal, on Conviction, shall be carried to the Village to which
he belongs, and be there executed, for a Terror and Example
to others ; and for the further Prevention of such abominable
Practices, tliat the Villages of which he is an Inhabitant shall be
fined, according to the Enormity of the Crime, and each Inhabi-
tant according to his Substance, and that the Family of the
Criminal shall become the Slaves of the State, and be disposed
of for the general Benefit and Convenience of the People, accord-
in" to the Discretion of the Government.
APPENDIX B 299
XXXVI.
That the Tannaclars and Pikes of the Districts shall be
punished by Dismission, or Fines, if they neglect the Duties of
their Charge ; and as an Encouragement for them to exert them-
selves in the Protection of the Villages committed to their Care,
and in detecting, opposing, and bringing to Justice, all Decoits
and other Offenders against the Public Peace, pecuniary Kewards,
Grants of Lands, or particular Privileges and Immunities, shall
be granted them, proportioned to their Deserts, and the Services
which they shall have rendered the State.
XXXVII.
That in addition to these general Eegulations, the Collector
shall form such subsidiary ones, for promoting the due Course of
Justice, and the Welfare and Prosperity of the Eyots, as the
local Circumstances of their respective Districts shall point out
and require, and that they shall report the same to the Committee
of Circuit, in order to their being communicated to the Board, for
their final Sanction and Confirmation.
That they shall in particular, and without Delay, regulate and
transmit for Confirmation, the Fees to be received by all Peons
and Pikes, employed in the Service of the Courts of Adawlut,
which can only be done with Accuracy from Information on the
Spot. And that they shall further establish such Rules, with
Penalties annexed, as may serve effectually to eradicate the
Practice among the Officers and Servants of the Cutcherry, of
exacting and receiving Bribes from the Parties who have Causes
in Suit ; a Practice not only criminal in the Persons who are
guilty of it, but which reflects Discredit and Reproach on the
Government under which they serve.
A true Extract.
Alexander Higginson, Secretary.
Revenue Depaetment,
Fo7-t William, Zd Nov. ]772.
APPENDIX C
A PLAN FOR THE BETTER ADMINISTRATION OF
JUSTICE IN THE PROVINCES OF BENGAL
The distribution of justice in these provinces is yefc very defective
in two essential points : First, in the want of a provision for
cases which are excluded by the late Act of Parliament from the
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Judicature ; and, secondly,
in the limitation of the powers of that Court, which is impractic-
able in many cases, and which, if it were practicable in all, would
defeat the first purpose of its institution, if that purpose was to
relieve the inhabitants from oppression.
We presume that the Legislature did not intend by the act to
form a complete system either of Government or Judicature ; but
rather an introduction to one more perfect, which should be
accomplished by successive improvements, as necessity and ex-
perience might suggest them. To effect this it is necessary in
the first place that the Government itself should be made entire ;
the powers which it is permitted to exercise should be legally
annexed to it ; the distinctions of Nizamut and Dewanny should
be abolished, and the British sovereignty through whatever
channels it may pass into these provinces should be all in all.
The only use for which the Company have enjoined the
observance of these distinctions cannot longer avail them. The
French and Dutch have long since repeatedly declared that there
is no ruling power in these provinces but the English Company ;
and if a fact of such glowing notoriety could be disputed, the late
publications made under the authority of Parliament itself would
afford incontestable evidence of its reality.
The uses, which may be made of these distinctions, in
securing the acts of Government from interruption by warrants
and writs issued from the Supreme Court of Judicature will be
found fallacious on examination, and may be perverted to the
most dangerous of all abuses. Those who are aggrieved by
300
APPENDIX C 301
unwarrantable acts of Government ought to have a refuge from
it. Those who fly to the Court as an asylum against the regular
and official acts of Government will be disappointed with costs
and fruitless ti'ouble ; and it will soon be publicly known what
cases are, and what are not, within the cover of its protection.
But were every titular department of the Nizamut, and every
agent of the Dewanny, to be exempted from the claims of justice,
or, which would be the same in effect, accountable only to the
Nazim or his sensible Minister, or to the Governor-General and
Council, crimes of the most atrocious nature might be committed
by such instruments, private property might be invaded, evidences
suborned ; and even the lives of men might be sacrificed to
accomplish the designs of avarice or ambition, or to gratify
private revenge. In a word, every evil, for the suppression of
which the Supreme Court of Judicature was constituted and
armed with such an extensive jurisdiction, not only over all
British subjects and their dependents, but over every person
directly or indirectly employ'd by the Company or their agents,
might be practiced by those very agents with impunity under the
sanction of the Nizamut and Dewanny, and the jurisdiction of
the Court reduced to the trial of common felonies and breaches
of the peace, and the examination of litigated property among
the inhabitants of Calcutta.
The Government being constituted in the manner which has
been proposed, let the power of the Supreme Court of Judicature,
which should accompany it in every stage of its growth, be
extended to all parts of the Provinces without limitation, and
even to such countries as may at any time now or hereafter be
annexed to them, as hath lately been the case with Cooch
Behar.
If the bounds to which the Judges of the Supreme Court are
by nature restricted, could admit of the possibility of their
deciding in their own persons all the causes and offences which
might be brought before them in so extensive and populous a
country as this is, their jurisdiction alone would be a sufficient
blessing to it. But this is impossible, they must have aids.
These should be conformable to the laws, usages and manners of
the people, to the necessities of the State, and to the constitution
of the Supreme Court, in such points as might be found necessary
to connect them with it, and fix their depeudance upon it.
The following plan is proposed on these united principles. It
has for its groundwork the plan which was formed by the late
President and Council in August 1772 with the alterations since
302 APPEXDIX C
made to it in December 1773 on the establishment of the
Provincial Councils.
1st. — That the following Courts be established for administra-
tion of justice.
{1st) The Sudder Dewanny Adaulut or Superior Court,
(.2nd) The Provincial Councils.
{3rd) The Courts of Adaulut Dewanny Zillajat, or
Provincial Dewanny Courts.
{ItJi) The Courts of Adaulut Dewanny Mofussul, or
Subordinate Dewanny Courts.
That the first of these shall be composed of the Governor-
General and Council, and the Chief Justice and Judges of the
Supreme Court of Judicature, assisted by the Eoyroyan, the
Canongos and other Chief Officers of the Khalsa. That not less
than three members shall decide on any cause, of whom one shall
be a Member of the Council and another a Member of the Court,
but that the whole may sit if they chuse it. That this Court
shall receive all appeals from the Provincial Councils in causes of
personal property exceeding one thousand rupees, or of Mulguz-
zarry lands (or lands which pay the common rent to Government)
the jumma of which (or rent paid to Government) is more than
one thousand rupees, or of alienated or free lands of which the
jumma is more than one hundred rupees. That its decrees shall
be final. That it shall be lawful for the Court, if they see
occasion, to receive fresh exhibits, and to examine new witnesses
to any appeal before them ; but not to take up any cause which
shall not have been appealed from the Provincial Councils. That
the Court shall sit every Wednesday without a summons, and as
often besides as the business may require by a summons from the
Governor-G eneral.
That the second shall consist of the Provincial Councils in
their usual and official meetings assisted by the Provincial Dewans,
the Canongos, Mowlavies and Pundits. That they shall hear and
determine all complaints from the inhabitants of their i-espective
divisions, or refer them at their option to the 3rd and 4th Courts,
and that they shall receive such appeals as shall be made to
them from the 3rd and 4th Courts. That the judicial proceed-
ings of the Provincial Councils shall be entered on their official
records ; but that separate copies shall be extracted of their
proceedings on all cases which shall be appealed and be trans-
mitted to the Sudder Dewanny Adaulut.
That the third shall be superintended by a Member of the
APPENDIX C 303
Provincial Council in each division in yearly rotation, assisted by
the Provincial Dewan, the Canongos, one Mowlavy and one
Pundit, who shall be appointed by the Governor-General and
Council to hear and determine all complaints from the inhabitants
of the division with an appeal, as above, to the Provincial
Councils. That these Courts shall be held in the capital town of
each division. That they shall sit regularly three days in every
week, and oftener if the business shall require it. That the
Superintendant of each division shall deliver into the Provincial
Council, on or before the 5th day of each month, a fair copy of
his proceedings in the preceding month, and that an abstract of
the same containing the names of the parties and the causes of
action, and expressing for whom the decree was given, be
immediately transmitted by the Provincial Courts to the Sudder
Dewanny Adaulut to be kept in the records of that Court.
That the fourth shall consist of the Naib Dewan and the
Canongos of each respective district, one Mowlavy and one
Pundit, which shall be appointed by the Governor-General and
Council. That they shall be held in the Cutchery, or capital
town of each district formerly superintended by the Collectors.
That they shall sit four days in every week, and oftener if
required. That they shall hear and determine all complaints
from the inhabitants of their districts with an appeal as above
to the Provincial Councils of the divisions to which they respec-
tively appertain.
2nd. — That it shall be lawful for the Governor-General and
Council and the Chief Justice and Judges assembled together in
the Dewanny Court to frame such laws, rules, and ordinances as
they shall judge necessary, whether for the regulation of the pro-
ceedings of the Dewanny Courts or for the good government of
the country and for the welfare of the people, and to amend or
repeal such laws, rules, ordinances and usages in being, as they
shall judge detrimental to Government or to the welfare of the
people ; but that it shall be necessary in both cases that the
majority of the Members of the Council, and the majority of
the Members of the Supreme Court shall agree in the said resolu-
tions, without which they shall not be valid. That such regula-
tions shall be subject to the same controul in England as the
rules and orders formed by the Governor-General and Council
with the allowance of the Judges as directed by the Act of
Parliament.
3rd. — That all the forms, usages and rules which have been
generally practiced, or which have been constituted for the
304 APPENDIX C
management and collection of the revenues, shall be valid and
legal untill they shall be repealed, or abrogated by the Governor-
General and Council and by the Chief Justice and Judges in the
manner directed by the preceding Article. This is proposed to
obviate all doubts ; although the practice of the Court has been
invariably guided by this maxim, and the Chief Justice on reading
this article has declared that he considers the local laws and
customs of the provinces, proved in the Court, as rules by which
he is to administer justice, in the same manner as the local laws
and customs in England are understood to be part of the common
law thereof.
■ith. — That it shall be lawful for the Royroyan and the Super-
intendant of the Khalsa Eecords to issue their warrants under
the seal of the Eoyroyan and signature of the Superintendaut of
the Khalsa Eecords to apprehend any person against whom
complaints shall be made and referred to them, either by the
Governor-General and Council or the Judges, or by any individual
of either, to answer to the said complaints and to summon
witnesses to attend and to give evidence on the same. That
they shall report to the Sudder Dewanny Adaulut their proceed-
ings on such complaints, but shall not inflict any punishment,
nor detain any person in custody, against whom complaints shall
have been made longer than forty-eight hours, nor on any person
summoned as an evidence longer than the time which shall be
required for his examination.
5th. — That it shall be lawful for the Eoyroyan and the Super-
intendant of the Khalsa Eecords to issue their warrants under
the seal of the Eoyroyan, and signature of the Superintendaut
to apprehend any farmer, under-farmer, security, or other person
of whatever denomination, on whom the Chief and Members of
any Provincial Council shall have complained for payment of the
public revenue, and shall require them by a letter under the
hands and seal of the said Chief and Council to apprehend and
send the said persons to the said Provincial Council ; and that it
shall be lawful for the Eoyroyan and Superintendaut of the
Khalsa Eecords to cause the persons whom they shall have
apprehended in compliance with such requisition to be trans-
ported and delivered over to the said Provincial Council, to be
dealt with as the nature of the case shall require. That each
letter of requisition as aforesaid shall specify distinctly the cause
for which the warrant of the Eoyroyan and Superintendaut is
required, and the sum in which the person, who is the object
of it, is indebted ; and that a copy of the said letter shall be
APPENDIX C 305
delivered to the party by the ofBcer who shall serve the warrant
upon him for his information.
Gth. — That no officer of the Khalsa shall be liable to an
action or punishment for the execution of a regular summons
on warrant of the Eoyroyan or Superintendant of the Khalsa
Eecords, nor the Eoyroyan or Superintendant be made accountable
for them, but that if the farmer or other person who shall have
been apprehended in virtue of the warrant of the Eoyroyan and
Superintendant of the Khalsa Eecords, and sent to the Provincial
Council which required his presence, shall deem himself aggrieved
thereby, he shall have his action against the members of the
Provincial Council, who shall be liable to such penalties as the
Chief Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court shall think proper
to inflict, if it shall appear that they have acted without sufficient
grounds to warrant such a proceeding ; and that they have been
guilty of wilful oppression.
7th. — That no officer of the Provincial Councils, or of any of
the other Courts of the Dewanny, shall be liable to an action or
punishment for any legal acts committed by him in the execution
of a written order or warrant of the Provincial Councils or Courts
given him in the usual form, but that if any person against whom
any such order or warrant shall have been issued, shall deem
himself injured thereby, he shall have an action against the
person or persons by whom the said order or warrant was
signed, who shall be liable to such pains or penalties as the Chief
Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court shall think proper to
inflict, if it shall appear to have been a wanton or wilful act of
oppression.
8th. — That it shall be lawful for the Chief Justice and Judges
of the Supreme Court of Judicature to refer to the Provincial
Councils, or to any other of the inferior Dewanny Courts, such
causes as shall at any time be brought before them, which may
be more easily or speedily decided in the said Courts, or which
from the nature of the causes requiring numerous witnesses or
exhibits, or from the distance of the places where the parties
may reside, cannot without great loss or vexation to the parties
be tried in Calcutta ; and to order the said Courts to hear and
decide the same in the usual forms, which order the said Courts
shall be obliged to obey. And that it shall be further lawful for
the Chief Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judica-
ture to issue their orders to the Provincial Councils, or to the
other inferior Dewanny Courts, to stop their proceedings in any
cause, which shall be pending before the said Courts, that the
20
306 APPENDIX C
same may be tried in the Supreme Court, which orders the said
Courts shall be obliged to obey.
9th. — That the following Courts shall be established for the
administration of criminal justice : —
(1st) The Nizamut Sudder Adaulut.
(2nd) The Courts of Foujdarry Adaulut.
That these Courts be constituted precisely on the mode and
form established by the plan formed by the late President and
Council in August 1772 and intitled " A plan for the administra-
tion of justice," but that it shall be lawful for the Governor-
General and Council and the Chief Justice and Judges, or the
majority of both, to constitute such other subsidiary rules and
forms as they shall judge necessary for the controul, government
and process of the said Courts, subject to the same controul in
England as the rules and orders formed by the Governor- General
and Council with the allowance of the Judges as directed by the
Act of Parliament.
10th. — That the Daroga of the Nizamut Adaulut, under the
title of Naib Nazim, be informed to confirm, mitigate, or change
the punishments decreed in the Fellwahs or sentences of the
Nizamut, and to issue warrants under his hand and the seal of
the Nazim or under any other official form which may be after
appointed for the execution of the sentences of the Nizamut
Adaulut, or of such other punishments as he shall decree in their
stead, provided that such warrants shall have been first sub-
mitted to the inspection of the Governor- General and Chief
Justice and obtained their sanction to be carried into execution.
The latitude here proposed to be allowed to the Naib Nazim
of changing the punishments ordained by the strict letter of the
law has always been exercised by the Nazim, and is founded on
a principle of the Mahometan Law which appears to be dia-
metrically opposite to that of the Criminal Laws of England.
These are highly penal and require mitigation from the Supreme
Magistrate. The letter of the Mahometan Law inflicting punish-
ment is mild to an excess ; but the law itself injoins the Magis-
trate to increase the punishment in cases of enormity, for the
sake of example.
11th. — That the Amlas or Judges of the Foujdarry Adauluts
shall not be made liable to any action or punishment on any
complaint of imprisonment or punishment inflicted by them in
the regular discharge of their functions ; but shall be accountable
APPENDIX C 307
for their conduct only to the Nizamut Adaulut, which shall pass
sentences thereon, subjected to the correction of the Naib Nazim
with the ultimate sanction of the Governor-General and Chief
Justice as in the preceding Article.
12th. — That no officer of the Foujdarry Adaulut shall be
liable to any action or punishment for the execution of any
regular warrant or summons of the Court under which he serves,
but that the Daroga or Members of the Court who issued the
warrant or summons shall be answerable for the legality of the
same before the Nizamut Adaulut.
13th. — That the President and Members of the Board of
Trade and the Chiefs of the Provincial Councils shall be Justices
of the Peace.
11th. — That for the more easy and effectual maintenance of
the peace in the City of Calcutta, and for the relief of the Governor-
General and Members of the Supreme Court, who cannot bestow
that portion of their time which is necessary to so important an
object, the city be formed into a certain number of divisions,
each of which shall be superintended by an officer called a Kut-
wall, who shall be chosen by the Governor-General and Council
and the Judges from amongst the people of that sect or nation
which constitutes the majority of the inhabitants of the division,
and shall preside over the peace of that division with power to
imprison during no longer a space of time than twenty-four
hours or to inflict corporal punishment not exceeding twenty
lashes with a rattan on such vagabonds or offenders against the
public peace as shall be apprehended within his division ; and
that an officer shall be appointed under the title of Superin-
tendant of the Police, who shall receive daily reports from the
Kutwalls, with such prisoners as they may have in charge, whom
he shall either punish immediately by stripes given with a rattan
not exceeding fifty in number or bind them over to the next
quarter Session or Sessions of Oyer and Terminer ; and that for
this purpose he be invested with the powers of a Justice of the
Peace. The subsidiary regulations which may be necessary to
make this office more complete may be formed upon those which
were published by the late President and Council, the 26th
November 1772, and which require only the sanction of the
Council and the Supreme Court for their legal confirmation.
15th. — That the plan for the administration of justice which
was formed and published by the late President and Council in
August 1772 be confirmed, except such parts of it as it is proposed
either to amend or cancel by these regulations.
20—2
308 APPENDIX C
The following additional regulations have been recommended
by the Chief Justice : —
IGth. — That an able Advocate shall be appointed for the
management of all lawsuits in which the Company shall be
a party or indirectly engaged.
17th. — That as many offences may be committed which either
partiality or other motives may prevent the superior servants of
the Company from prosecuting with effect, and others which may
be hid from their knowledge, an Advocate on the part of the
Crown be appointed, who shall receive petitions, and being satis-
fied on a summary enquiry of the truth and enormity of the
grievances complained of therein, shall be authorized to prosecute
the offenders to conviction.
IStJi. — That there be a power in the Supreme Court to con-
demn criminals, who in England would be sentenced to be
transported in His Majesty's American Colonies, to work on the
highway, or on the public works, for such time as according to
the degree of the crime the Court shall, in their discretion, think
proper ; and also to give the like discretion to the Court to
condemn for a limited time to the like punishment all capital
convicts to whom His Majesty may hereafter be pleased to
extend his mercy, unless he shall signify his gracious pleasure
to the contrary.
Wakren Hastings.
ElCHARD BaKWELL.
APPENDIX D
THE EOHILLA WAR
Minute by Waeken Hastings, 3rd December, 1774
In the beginning of the year 1772, the Mahrattas invaded the
country of the Rohillas which, after a short but ineffectual opposi-
tion at Sukkertoll, was left at large exposed to their ravages.
The Vizier, alarmed at their approach to the only part of his
dominions which was easily accessible by such an enemy, applied
with such earnestness to Sir Robert Barker, who was at that time
with him, for the assistance of an English force, and the General
thought the necessity so urgent, that of his own authority he sent
orders to the first brigade, which was stationed at Dinapore, to
march instantly into the Province of Oude. The Board disap-
proving this irregular proceeding refused their confirmation of it,
and the brigade having reach'd the length of Benares remain'd
there till the beginning of June and then returned to its former
station. The Vizier availing himself of this movement offered
his protection to the Rohillas and entered into a general treaty
of alliance with the chiefs of that nation, and a separate one with
Hafiz Rahmut Khan their principal, who, in their name and with
their authority, engaged to pay him 40 lakhs of rupees for that
support, whenever the Mahrattas evacuated the country. Trans-
lations of both treaties are recorded at length in the consultation
of the 23rd of July 1772, and the original of the latter is in the
actual possession of the Secretary, attested by General Barker,
who was present at the ratification of both.
On the approach of the rainy season, the Mahrattas evacuated
the country, and the Vizier demanded the stipulated recompense
from the Rohillas, but they evaded the payment.
In the latter end of 1772, the Mahrattas having extorted from
the King a grant of the districts of Korah and Kurrah which had
been ceded to him by the Company for the express purpose of
309
310 APPENDIX D
maintaining his dignity, were preparing to take possession, and as
this acquisition would have made them masters of the whole tract
of country lying between the rivers Ganges and Jumnah, and
bordering upon the Province of Oude, the Vizier again applied for
assistance to repell such dangerous neighbours.
The proceedings of the late Council in their Secret Department
of the 1st of February 1773, treat this subject very largely, and
show how much they considered not only the safety of the Vizier,
but even of the Company's possessions to be endangered by this
formidable encroachment of the Mahratta State. It was ultimately
concluded, to comply with the requisition of the Vizier, by send-
ing the first brigade for the protection of his dominions against
any attempt which the Mahrattas might make on them, and also
determined to prevent their design on Korah, by taking prior
possession for the Company, who had certainly the best title to
it when the King could no longer keep it. It was not to be sup-
posed the Mahrattas would submit quietly to the loss of a terri-
tory which they had used the most perfidious means to obtain,
and every precaution was therefore necessary to guard against
their efforts to recover it. The Company's orders of the 28th
August 1771 expressly allowed the necessity of departing, on some
occasions, from the limited plan which they had for a long time
past enjoined, and in consequence the Eohilla country north of
the Ganges was included within the line of action prescribed to
the General in his instructions, because if the Mahrattas, either
by the defeat, or, which was as likely to happen, by the desertion
of the Rohillas to their cause, should gain a footing in that
country, nothing could oppose their entering into the Province of
Oude and laying it waste, in spite of any attempts of our forces
to prevent them. The map which accompanies this will demon-
strate this truth, more powerfully than any verbal argument.*
It was not to be supposed that the Mahrattas whose ambition
for some years past had aspired to universal conquest, and who
had extended their arms from the center of the Balaghaut to the
northern extremity of Indostan, should sit do\^n contented when
they had added the Duab, Korah and Illahabad to their dominions.
On the contrary, there was every reason to apprehend, and it was
publickly reported in their own camp, that they would next carry
their operations into the country of the Vizier, and even into the
Company's own possessions.
On the grounds which I have descril)ed, it was agreed to main-
[iciial
No 11111]! was found by nio in tlio Imndlo of papers. The records in tlie Ira-
al Roeord Oflice at Calcutta were searched in vain to discover it. — G. AV. V,
APPENDIX D 811
tain the Province of Korah against the Mahrattas and afterwards
to extend our arms beyond the prescribed line of the dominions
of our ally into the Rohilla country, by a discretional latitude
allowed the General as above mentioned, which he accordingly
made use of by marching the brigade as far as Ramgaut, and we
have the strongest reason to believe that it was attended with
every immediate advantage which we had projected from such a
measure, as the Mahrattas lay during the whole campaign of
1773 in the neighbourhood of our army, but without daring either
to cross the river or to approach the borders of Korah ; and before
the setting in of the rains of that year, tlaeir domestic troubles
obliged them to return into their own proper dominions.
Of the I'esolution to enter the Rohilla country for its defence
against the Mahrattas, the Court of Directors were first advised
in the general letter by the Resolution of the 31st of March 1773,
which arrived in England long before the departure of the trans-
ports.
The effectual protection thus afforded the Rohillas, and the
departure of the Mahrattas, having established beyond all contest
the right of the Vizier to the 40 lakhs which had been stipulated
for this important service, and which by the terms of the engage-
ment were really due the preceding year, on the retreat of the
Mahrattas from their country, he demanded payment of Hafiz
Rahmut Khan, who refused it. The Vizier also accused him of
having secretly encouraged the Mahrattas and sent them a supply
of money, and, if I mistake not, General Sir Robert Barker in
some of his letters mentions the same circumstance. The plea of
justice thus coinciding with the principles of sound policy, which
dictated to the Vizier the necessity of securing himself against
the perfidy and intrigues of the Rohillas, who from their situation
were most capable of hurting him in his contests with more
powerful enemies, and from their natural weakness and the
jealousy inseparable from it, would ever seek for their safety in
fomenting or joining in attempts against him, he formed the
design of invading and reducing the country. As his own strength
was unequal to such an undertaking, he solicited the aid of this
Government for effecting it, and made on offer of 50 lakhs of
rupees to be paid on its accomplishment.
As this proposal was urged in the warmest terms, both in
person to Sir Robert Barker and in his letters to me, and this
had long been a favourite project of the Vizier, the Board judged
with me, that it might afford a fair occasion to urge the improve-
ment of our alliance, by obtaining his assent to a more equitable
312 APPENDIX D
compensation for the expence attending the aid which he occasion-
ally received from our forces, and to free the Company from the
embarrassment to which they might be subjected by retaining
the property and possession of the remote districts of Korah and
lUahabad. For this purpose it was agreed that I should write
the following letter to the Vizier which I beg leave to quote at
large, because it fixes the source of these engagements, which
took place by a progressive train of measures and terminated in
the Eohilla war, and will mark at least that this was not the
effect either of a precipitate and unweighed resolution or a tame
acquiescence in the Vizier's schemes of ambition, but the result
of long deliberation originally devised and consistently employed
as an instrument of promoting the interests of the Company, of
perpetuating the dependance of their ally, and converting it to the
channel of solid utility.
Fort William, 2\st April 1773.
" I have received Your Excellency's letter mentioning the
particulars of your operations against the Mahrattas. You
promise to the General that whenever the Mahrattas should be
driven out of the Eohilla country and Hafiz Eahmut Khan shall
fulfill his agreement of 40 lakhs of rupees, you will give half that
sum to the Company, and that should the Eohilla Chiefs be guilty
of a breach of their agreement and we thoroughly exterminate
them and settle Your Excellency in the country, you will in that
case pay the Company 50 lakhs of rupees in ready money, and
exempt them from the King's tribute. Upon the same subject
the General has also written to me fully. Every circumstance
which you have written to me I consider as a proof of the cordial
attachment which subsists between us, and of the confidence and
reliance which you place in the friendship of the English Com-
pany ; but the points which you have proposed require much
consideration, and the previous ratification of a formal agreement,
before I can assent to them, otherwise I may incur the displeasure
of my employers.
"It is true that I have long thought that the union of the
Eohilla country with yours, either by a sure and permanent
obligation of friendship, or by reducing it to obedience, if they
should render such an attempt justifiable by an act of enmity or
treachery, would be an advisable point for you to attain, because
by that means the defensive line of your dominions would be
completed, by including within it all the land lying on that side
of the river Ganges, and you would be in no danger from an attack
APPENDIX D 313
on that quarter, whenever the Mahrattas should commit disturb-
ances in another.
" But it appears to me that this is an object not to be obtained
by an occasional view of that country, and its distance from the
province of Bengal will not admit of the continuance of the English
forces longer than the period which remains of dry weather. You
will please to remember they were sent for your assistance, and
to defend the province of Korah against the Mahrattas. Thus far
only I am authorized by the commands of my superiors to employ
them beyond the limits of their own possessions, and even this is
the cause of a heavy loss and risk to their affairs, especially in
the expence of their troops and stores, and in the absence of so
great a part of their force, which was originally destined for the
sole defence of the countries dependant on Bengal. You have
frequently repeated in your letters the remark, ' that to wait till
the enemy was at your door, and then to write for the assistance
of our forces, could answer no good purpose, but that every year
the same cause would require their return to the same service,
and pass without effecting any purpose of real advantage.' My
friend, all this is true, but it proceeds from the want of proper
measures having been previously taken, and from the imperfect
footing on which affairs between us have been established.
" The concern which the Company takes in your safety, and
the duties of friendship which their commands and our own
inclinations equally enjoin us to observe inviolably to their allies,
and especially one so closely united by an approved attachment
to them, would not suffer us to withhold our aid when your affairs
require it. But it has always been with reluctance that we have
suffered the army to pass the frontiers of our own country, because
the loss and inconvenience attending it was certain, and altho'
joined with your forces, there is no cause to fear the most powerful
efforts of our enemies, yet the events of war are at the disposal of
the Almighty, and the only fruits which the most splendid suc-
cesses can afford us, are the reputation of having retained the
faith of our alliance in opposition to every incentive of self-
interest and self-defence.
"Thus circumstanced, we are precluded from deriving any
benefit from your support, and ours can only afford you a relief
from present danger, without any provision of future security.
For these reasons I have often wished for a personal interview
with you, for the purpose of removing difficulties and perpetuating
the alliance with Your Excellency on terms more suitable to our
mutual interests : Your Excellency also hath repeatedly expressed
314 APPENDIX D
the same inclination. I therefore write, that if your affairs will
at this season admit of your giving me a meeting, I will hasten
to obtain it as soon as I am able, after the receipt of your letter
in reply to this ; if otherwise, I must wait for it at some more
distant period, as the affairs of this Government will indispensably
require my presence at this place after three or four months, and
it is uncertain when I shall again have an interval of leisure for
such a journey.
" In the meantime Your Excellency and the General are at a
great distance from the Province of Korah, and as the affairs of
that Province require the presence of a person on the behalf of
the Company to regulate and take charge of it, until it shall be
hereafter determined in what manner it shall be finally disposed
of, I have judged it advisable to depute Mr. James Lawrell, a
gentleman of the Council of Calcutta, on this service, and he will
set out accordingly in a few days, which I hope you will approve."
The allurement thus held out to the Vizier succeeded. He
proposed in reply a meeting with me at Benares, which took
place accordingly. I found him still equally bent on the design
of reducing the Eohillas, which I encouraged, as I had before
done, by dwelling on the advantages which he would derive from
its success, but objecting with great force the orders of the Com-
pany restricting us from such remote schemes of conquest, to
which therefore I could not assent without such conditions
obtained in return for it as might obviate their displeasure and
win their sanction to so hazardous and unauthorized a measure.
I fear not to quote these expressions, addressing myself to
fair and unbiass'd judges who will not infer my real sentiments
from the style and arguments of a political negotiation.
I told him that the Company had drawn themselves into fresh
distress by the enormous load of their military expences, one
entire brigade being kept up for the sole purpose of maintaining
a connection with him, since it was useless and unnecessary to
the protection of our own provinces, that if he wished therefore
to avail himself of our aid, either in preventing or even in repelling
the designs of his enemies, he must first agree to bear a more
equal share of the burthen of the expence by paying the whole
charge of the forces lent him for this service while they were so
employed. To this, after much contention, he assented, and the
sum of 2,10,000 rupees, which the General computed to be the
amount of the expence, was fixed as the monthly subsidy to be
pay'd for the brigade, when it should pass the borders of the
APPENDIX D 315
Province of Bahar on his requisition. Having obtained this point,
which I considered in the light of a perpetual military fund, I
easily yielded my assent to the Rohilla plan, on the stipulation of
40 lakhs for its accompHshment, 10 lakhs being deducted from
his first offer on account of the difference which had taken place
in the subsidy.
This agreement was no sooner made than he suddenly repented,
desired to decline the war with the Eohillas, till a more favourable
conjunction when he should be less embarrassed by other engage-
ments, agreeing however to the monthly subsidy whenever his
future occasions should oblige him to require the aid of our forces.
Thus the Eohilla plan remained rather suspended than wholly
abandoned, although it was left optional in our Government to
reject or assent to it on a future occasion. Messrs. Lawrell and
Vansittart, who were with me at the time, and to whom I made
a daily communication in writing of the substance of every con-
versation which passed between the Vizier and myself, will vouch
for the literal truth of this narrative, as corresponding with what
I then repeated to them, and I believe it will appear from it, that
although I had not engaged the Government by any express
obligation to comply with any future application of the Vizier to
support his pretensions on the Eohillas, yet as the most essential
article of the Treaty had originated from this design, and had
been yielded to in consideration of my agreement to engage in it,
it would have been dishonourable to decline the undertaking,
when proposed under circumstances as favourable to its success,
and to the general interests of the Company, as they were when
I first offered to engage in it.
Soon after my return to Calcutta the Vizier renew'd the pro-
posal for invading the Eohillas, and repeated his desire of engaging
in it on the conditions before agreed on. A variety of arguments
concurr'd to favour it at this particular time ; none to oppose it.
The Mahrattas were so much occupied by their own dissensions
that they could not even defend their own possessions in the
Duab, much less were they likely to interrupt our operations
against the Eohillas. The King had no means of interference,
but by his General Nudjuf Khan, for whose attachment we had
stronger security in his interest and his fear of his rival Abdulabed
Khan, than his master had in his allegiance. The Eohillas were
too weak to resist so powerful an attack, and as their country was
open and undefended, either by defiles, woods or fortresses, and
in its greatest extent did not exceed 200 miles, its entire subjec-
tion did not require any length of time.
316 APPENDIX D
To these inducements, which apply only to the success of the
undertaking, other motives equally powerfully engaged our atten-
tion to it, as a measure necessary to the interests and safety of
the Company,
All our advices, both public and private, represented the dis-
tresses of the Company at home as extreme. The letters from
the Court of Directors called upon us most loudly for ample
remittances and a reduction of our military expences ; at the same
time such was the state of affairs in this Government that for
many years past the income of the year was found inadequate to
its expences, to defray which a heavy bond debt, amounting at
one time to a hundred and twenty-five lakhs of rupees, had
accumulated. The Board bestowed much labour and time in the
retrenchment of their expences, but much remained yet to be
done, and the regulations which they had already formed required
time to produce any visible efl'ects. By allowing the Vizier the
military aid which he required, a saving of near one-third of our
military expences would be effected during the period of such a
service ; the stipulation of 40 lakhs would afford an ample supply
to our treasury and to the Currency of the country. The Vizier
would be freed from a troublesome neighbour, and his dominions
would be made more defensible, while his alliance with the Com-
pany subsisted, by being completely shut in between the river
Ganges and the Mountains, and his dependance on the Company
would be increased by that extension of his possessions, as he
himself was incapable of defending even his ancient possessions,
without our support.
For a more ample discussion of these arguments, I beg leave
to refer to the consultation in the Secret Department of the
26th November 1773, in which it was concluded after a long
del^ate to consent to the Vizier's requisition. As a precaution
against any effects which were to be apprehended from the Vizier's
irresolution, the conditions originally accepted for this engage-
ment were dictated to him in the form of a letter to be written by
him, in which a clause was inserted that whether the country was
conquer'd or a peace concluded between him and the enemy, the
stipulation for the payment of the 40 lakhs should become equally
due. Of this engagement I shall speak more hereafter.
On the 24th February 1774 the brigade arrived within the
territory of the Vizier, on the 17th of April the united forces
entered the borders of the Rohilla dominions, and on the 28rd of
the same month engaged and defeated the Rohillas with the
death of their leader llaiiz Rahmut Khan. From that period the
APPENDIX D 817
conquest of that country may be dated, no material opposition
having been since made.
On the Gth of October the war was finally concluded by the
treaty with Fyzoollah Khan, 15 lakhs of rupees which he engaged
to pay to the Vizier in ready money were to be immediately
appropriated to the payment of part of the stipulation of 40 lakhs
due from the Vizier to the Company, and we are informed that
the Vizier is returned with expedition to Fyzaliad for the express
purpose of discharging the remainder. The subsidy had been
punctually paid to the end of September by the last advices
received on that subject from Colonel Champion, dated the
24th of October.
I now proceed to answer the objections which have been
urged against the propriety of this undertaking. These may be
reduced to the following heads —
1st. — That it was contrary to the express peremptory and
repeated orders of the Company.
2nd. — That it was contrary to the repeated declarations and
promises of the Board.
3rd. — That it was unjust.
4th. — That it exposed the Company to the hazard of an inde-
finite or an endless war.
5tli. — That it might have involved the Company in a war with
the Mahrattas, and may still draw on us their future
resentment.
Gth. — That by a removal of the third part of the whole military
establishment to so great a distance, our own Provinces
were exposed to danger.
7th. — That by aggrandizing the Vizier it might render him a
dangerous neighbour, and deprive the Company of the
benefits of his alliance.
8th. — That it was resolved on precipitately without a formal
treaty ; the conditions of it appearing only in a letter
from the Vizier, where they are loosely expressed and
liable to evasion.
9th. — That the conditions which the Vizier expresses that the
brigade should never depart without his permission
was an instance of arrogance in him and of an un-
becoming submission in the late Administration, and
might prove the cause of their being detained for
ever.
318 APPENDIX D
In the above articles I have not confined myself to the public
records, but have endeavoured to collect the substance of all I
have seen or have heard upon this side of the
c's's^*^ Minute "^e"' ^^g^^^nt, and have chosen to clothe it in my own
teied iu Consul- language ; that which I have found prepared for
tation of the 3rd j^g j^q^ being in every instance such as I allow
myself to use, even in retaliation of personal
injury, much less in application to measures which immediately
regard myself, I shall reply separately to each.
1st. — I have read over with great attention all the letters
which have been received from the Hon'ble Court of Directors
since the year 1769 and long ago abstracted all the paragraphs
written within that period upon the subject of the Company's
political concerns, those having been given me for my special
guidance in my negociations with the Vizier the last year at
Benares. I find nothing contained in any of these
General letter, which expressly applies to the case in question.
para. 346. ' ^ meet with injunctions, " to avoid new connec-
30th June 1769, tions," to endeavour "to keep peace in Bengal
pajas. s an ^^^ with the neighbouring powers," and to confine
our views to the security and tranquillity of Bengal,
not to acquire further possessions, but to advert to the good
management of those which we have, "to incline to those few
Instructions to ^^^^^^ ^^ Indostan who are in a condition to
the Commission- struggle with the Mahrattas," " to defend the
ers, para. 2nd. King's person and the district of Korah and
Illahabad " which is mentioned as an exception to their limited
plan, "to make known to the powers of India, that it is by no
means the intention of the Company to encroach upon their
neighbours or to acquire an extension of dominion by conquest,"
General letter "that they regard with a jealous eye the encroach-
15th September ing power of the Mahrattas," and " that it would
1769, para. 28. -^^ ^^^g^ policy to take part in any operations which
might weaken the few remaining chiefs who are in a condition to
oppose their encroachments." But the following extracts are so
pointedly apposite to the subject, that I shall take the liberty to
quote them at large.
" It is with the most serious concern we learn from your late
General letter ^'dvices, that the incursion of the Mahrattas had
28thAugust 1771, spread such a terror and despondency into the
para. 45. minds of those powers which were the remoter
barrier of our possessions, that the irresolution and timidity of
the most potent of them have given rise to such successes as have
APPENDIX D 319
encouraged the Mahrattas to invade the dominions of the King
and lay claim to a part of the territory of Sujah Dowla, but the
conduct of the Eohillas and Jauts is rather a matter of concern
than surprise to us, as the King and Sujah Dowla neglected that
occasion to unite with those powers effectually, to repell the
common disturbers of the empire and confine them within the
limits of their former possessions. To whatever causes this
general timidity or supineness may have been owing, we find
ourselves equally affected^ and the tranquillity of the provinces
endangered thereby ; but as the projects of the King or the con-
duct of the Vizier are at present too mysterious for us to decide
on the motives of their inactivity, and as we know not what
alliance may be formed to justify us in carrying our arms beyond
the bounds of their dominions, we are prevented from proposing
any plan for your guidance in this respect, but should your subse-
quent advices enable us to form a more certain judgment of the
expediency of departing from the plan we have laid down, we
shall communicate it to you by some early conveyance how far
we may be disposed to carry our arms beyond the bounds of the
Provinces or the territories of our allies and become the parties
in an offensive war. In the meantime we trust your sole objects
will be the security of our possessions and those of the powers
with whom we are connected both by treaty and interest ; and as
this appears to have been the guide of your conduct upon the
Mahrattas invading the Province of Korah, we with pleasure
approve the measures you have taken for defending the dominions
of the King and Vizier from their inroads and depredations, more
especially as those measures are not only justified by necessity,
but are within the line which we have prescribed for your conduct
in such a conjuncture."
" The line of neutrality is still recommended, but the Board
, , are authorised to depart from it, whenever the
General letter, . ,. , ^, i n i ^ ^
to Fort St. George, interests of the Company shall be endangered, or
24th November shall materially require it."
" ' ^^^^' ' "■ The directions promised us in the letter of the
20th August 1771, have never yet been sent us, nor have we yet
since received any further lights to guide us on this important
subject, which I presume to place to the account of the troubles
which have embarrassed the Company at home."
From the above quotations and the consistency which strongly
marks all the orders on this subject, I apprehend it will clearly
appear that the principle primarily insisted upon by the Hon'ble
Court of Directors respecting their political and military opera-
320 APPENDIX D
tions was to avoid the extension of territory, and this we have
never attempted.
The prohibition of military expeditions, undertaken beyond the
prescribed bounds of their own provinces and those of their allies,
on prudential and cautionary motives or other causes, independent
of territorial acquisition, is only to be inferred from the tendency
and tenor of their reasonings on their former subjects ; it is
evident that it was not from inattention that their orders never
expressed a prohibition of this kind, but that they rather avoided
ic from a conviction that it might soyyietimes be necessary, and
because it would have been difficult to mark the limitations of it.
This conclusion I draw not only from the two last paragraphs of
their orders which I have quoted at length, and which were
dictated by the experience of past advices, and a more intimate
consideration of the subject, but even from their orders so far
back as the 30th of June 1769, in which having declared against
an extension of possession in the 1st paragraph, they add in the
3rd their " opinion that the most prudent system they could pur-
sue and the most likely to be attended with a permanent security
to the provinces, would be to incline to those chiefs of Indostan
who yet preserve an independence of the Mahratta power and
are in a condition to struggle with them." But in the two last
of the above quotations there is no occasion of logical surmises to
discover the intentions of the Hon'ble Court of Directors ; they
tell us plainly that it is their wish " to confine their views to the
security of their own possessions and those of their allies, but
that they foresee the necessity in certain cases of carrying their
arms beyond those bounds, and of becoming parties in an offen-
sive war," and they promise in an early communication of their
instructfioDS with regard to the lengths to which they will allow
this doctrine to be extended. In their letter to the Presidency of
Fort St. George they authorise them in expr-ess terms " to observe
no longer the neutrality so heartily wished for by them " in case
they should judge it necessary for their interests to depart from
it, and it is not to be supposed that the Court of Directors would
recommend one line of conduct for their Government of Fort
St. George and an opposite one for Bengal, much less that they
would admit of such a deviation from their former pacific plan on
merely political motives attended with a heavy expence, and yec
prohibit it under circumstances which, in addition to the same
motives, have every consideration of economy to i-ecommend it
with the prospect of an increase to their finances, at a time when
their distresses both at home and abroad so urgently required
APPENDIX D 321
such an increase, and their most peremptory commands (as I
have already observed) rendered it the first object of our
attention.
I presume to affirm, both for myself and the other members
of the late Council, that no period in the Company's annals has
been more evidently characterized by an exact submission to their
commands than that in which I have had the honor to preside in
the administration ; and for the truth of this I dare appeal to
the Hon'ble Court of Directors.
But in cases to which their commands do not specially apply,
to adopt such measures as at the same time approach nearest to
the spirit of their general instructions and tend most to the
advancement of their interests, is the fairest test both of our
obedience and fidelity. We might have suffered the Mahrattas
under cover of the King's grant to take possession of Korah and
Illahabad, to have alHed themselves with the Eohillas or estab-
lished themselves in that territory, and lain with their armies
unmolested on the borders of the open country of our ally the
Vizier, till they had completed every preparation for invading it.
Such a forbearance might perhaps have been vindicated, by the
plea that the Company had promised at the distance of two years
preceding it to furnish us with their instructions for a different
conduct, and that, wanting those instructions, we took for our
rule their latest orders on the subject, which enjoined us to con-
fine our views to the bare security of our own possessions and
those of our allies.
This might have been a sure way to guard our characters
against legal imputation, although in fact it would have been
inconsistent with the security required ; but it is not by such cold
and prudential cautions that the British name has acquired such
a lustre in India, nor that the British Empire in Bengal is likely
to be perpetuated, neither is this the conduct which the Compauy
demands of us. Their orders are enforced by a more liberal
spirit, and allow in such cases as are not reducible to fixed and
invariable positions, a discretional latitude for the zeal of their
servants to exert itself for their security. I cannot better illus-
trate this than by the following extract of their general letter,
dated the 30th June 1769, paragraph 5th — " We esteem ourselves
bound by treaty to protect the King's person, and to secure Lim
the possession of the Korah and Illahabad districts. When we
wrote the 11th November 1768, we apprehended the consequences
of keeping the brigade at Illahabad would be creating in Suja
Dowla a jealousy that would involve us in fresh troubles, having
21
322 APPENDIX D
at that time no cause to esteem him an enemy, but impressed
as you were with an opinion of his hostile intentions and growing
strength at the time of the dispatch of the ' Valentine,' we shall
not blame your conduct for deferring the execution of your orders
for its removal, nor shall we at this time attempt to give positive
directions for your conduct, which in such critical cases ought
seldom to be done, and in which the situation of affairs may be
varied by unforeseen events at the very moment we are writing ;
but having given you with as much precision as possible a general
view of the system by which we wish to have our affairs regulated,
we must leave it to you to improve to the utmost of your power
every opportunity of drawing towards that point, and whenever
you think yourselves obliged for our security upon emergent
occasions to adopt measures of a contrary tendency, you are to
give us very full reasons for such a deviation, and endeavour to
return to the path we have marked out as soon as circumstances
will admit."
2nd. The second objection is partly true : the Board has re-
peatedly declared in their general letters to the Court of Directors,
their intentions to adhere to the defensive plan recommended to
them, and confine their military operations within the limits of
the Vizier's territories ; and such were their determinations when
these letters were written, but at those times they had not fully
experienced the inconveniences which attended our engagements
with the Vizier in the prosecution of that system, nor had the
remedy occur'd which since presented itself in the conditions
offer'd for prosecuting the Rohilla enterprize, and which has been
successfully applied. Our treaty of alliance obliged us to support
the Vizier, when his possessions were threatened with invasion
at a heavy increased military expence, and the exportations of
our currency with our troops ; for three successive years these
inconveniences had recurred, and it is impossible to say how often
they might recur : at last an occasion took place when, by a sligbt
deviation from the defensive plan, our alliance with the Vizier
might be converted into solid advantages, the employment of our
troops made to save near a third part our military expences, and
the success of their operations to bring a large flow of Currency,
not only into the Company's territories, but into their Treasury.
In effect the very same reasons which before urged us to shirk
every military expedition, namely the expence attending it and
the exportation of our Currency, now operated in the contrary
direction, and recommended the employment of our army for the
purpose of reducing our expences and adding to our Currency.
APPENDIX D 323
The preceding argument respects only the general subject of
foreign expeditions. It has been urged also, as an argument
against the particular case in question, that the Board, when
they adopted the measure of the Rohilla war, were convinced of
the impropriety of it from the declarations made by them re-
peatedly in their letters to the Court of Directors, of their wish
and hope that it might not take place. Upon this I beg leave to
offer the following reflections.
A consistency of measures is difficult to be preserved among a
body of men, because an accidental majority may occasionally
decide for contrary resolutions, yet such a case has never happen'd
at our Board. A consistency of opinions is not to be expected.
The proposition of the Eohilla war, aiter having passed the Select
Committee, was debated for three successive days in Council, in
which the Board met, as I recollect, both morning and evening
to discuss it : no two members agreed exactly in opinion, and it
was difficult to reconcile them ; at last they came to a final agree-
ment to leave it to me, to accommodate my own as nearly as I
could to the collective sense of the whole, which was done with
much management, and the proposition was agreed to in the
manner in which it stands in consultation, the 26th November
1773.
My sentiments were the same invariably from the beginning,
as will be seen from my report to the Board of my proceedings at
Benares, and my minute entered in the consultation above referred
to. Private letters are not commonly admissible as authorities,
but on this occasion I cannot produce a stronger both of my own
fixed opinion from the first movement of this proposition, and of
the apprehension which influenced the Board, and I confess my-
self also, against it, than the following extract of a letter which I
wrote to Mr. Sulivan by the first dispatch after my return from
Benares. " I was glad to be freed from the Rohilla expedition,
because I was doubtful of the judgement which would have been
passed upon it at home, where I see too much stress laid upon
general maxims and too little attention given to circumstances
which require an exception to be made from them ; besides this,
an opinion still prevaila of the Vizier's great power and his
treacherous designs against us, and I cannot expect that my word
shall be taken as a proof of their non-existence. On the other
hand, the absence of the Mahrattas and the weak state of the
Eohillas promised an easy conquest of them, and I own that such
was my idea of the Company's distress at home, added to my
knowledge of their wants abroad, that I should have been glad of
21—2
324 APPENDIX D
any occasion to employ their forces that saved so much of their
pay and expences."
When the measure was determined upon, and we had come to
a general agreement, I was averse to introduce any new subject of
debate, and therefore easily acquiesc'd in the expression of a wish
entertain'd by the Board which might be construed as inconsistent
with the resolution we had taken. My sentiments of the propriety
of the expedition had undergone no change, but I will not deny
that I felt myself influenced by the same fears which operated on
the other members of the Council, that the propriety of the
measure might not be seen in the same light by our constituents
which we knew, from the temper of the times, might not only
draw upon us their severe resentment, but aggravate the load of
popular odium which has of late fallen on their servants, and, if I
mistake not, these reasons were assign'd in express terms upon
our proceedings.
3rcl. The engagements between the Vizier and the Rohillas
which have been already quoted, sufficiently evince the justice of
the attack upon them ; they agreed to make him an acknow-
ledgement of 40 lacs of rupees upon certain conditions ; he per-
formed these conditions and they refused to pay any part of the
money they had promised.
4th. No political transaction can be mathematically demon-
strated to be totally free from danger : the probable advantages
must be weighed against the probable disadvantages ; when the
present measure was undertaken there was every reason to expect
that it would speedily be brought to a happy conclusion, and the
event has proved that our expectations were well grounded.
5th. The Mahrattas did not possess nor had any claim upon
any part of the Eohilla country on the north of the Ganges when
we undertook to assist the Yizier in the conquest of it. They
might with more reason have attacked us for opposing them in
their designs on the Korah district, of which they had obtained a
grant from the King. But, in fact, a timid conduct would have
been more likely to have involved us in a war with them, than
either of those measures ; had they been allowed to subdue the
Korah district and the country of the Rohillas, the Vizier's terri-
tories would have been open to their incursions, their numerous
horse might have plundered it in spite of the efforts of our in-
fantry, and their continued ravages might have obliged him to come
to an accommodation with them as was once apprehended, on
terms which would have afforded them an easy entrance into our
own provinces. In short we are much better secured against their
APPENDIX D 325
attacks than we should otherwise have been, and the better we
are secured, the less will they be disposed to attack us.
Gth. In reply to this objection, I will in the first place affirm
that merely for the defence of our own provinces, two brigades,
upon the present establishment, are sufficient; a third is necessary
to add to our influence among the powers of Indostan, to support
our alliance with the Vizier, and to answer other exigencies,
which may happen at a more remote period of time. Upon the
late occasion, when the Eohilla expedition was undertaken, our
apprehensions of an invasion from the French had entirely ceased ;
the dissensions among the Mahrattas fully employed them at
home, and are mentioned among the secondary inducements in
favour of the undertaking. There was no other enemy from
whom we could have the least apprehension of danger : such was
the occasion to be embraced for effecting our purpose by a tem-
porary employment of a third part of our forces, and under such
circumstances, even without reckoning upon the acquisition which
was the immediate object of the enterprise, to reduce the
Company's military expences by employing that proportion of
their troops which was superfluous for the purpose of their own
defence was a great and manifest advantage ; but when the
stipulated acquisition of 40 lacs and the political advantages result-
ing from the measure are superadded, the visionary idea of
danger, which did not exist even in imagination at the time the
expedition was undertaken, can have no weight as an objection;
especially as from our knowledge of the open and defenceless
state of the Eohilla country, we were morally certain that the
undertaking would soon be brought to an issue. By our ancient
treaty with the Vizier we are bound to assist him with our forces
within his paternal dominions, and the distance between their
borders and the remotest part to which our troops have marched is
only 200 miles. I will only add that so long as no immediate danger
threatens our own Provinces, it is my earnest wish that one of our
three brigades might be constantly employed with the Vizier, as
well to save so large a proportion of the expence to the Company,
as to prevent the ill consequences of total inactivity to the army.
7th. The addition of territory acquired to the Vizier instead of
raising him to be a dangerous neighbour, serves to render him
more dependant upon us than before, as he has more occasion for
our assistance to enable him to maintain it, and to support him
against the claims of other powers. If his increase of wealth be
an object of jealousy, let it be considered how largely the Company
share in it. From September 1773 to September 1775 the sum
326 APPENDIX D
we have to receive from him by our late engagement amounts to
130 lacs of rupees.
8th. I have already remarked that the first proposition for the
Kohilla war was made by the Vizier in a letter which I received
from him in June 1773, that it was employed afterwards in the
negotiations at Benares as an instrument for winning his consent
to the payment of the full expences of our troops employed in his
service, and that it was not finally resolved on till the 26th of
November, after the most ample discussion in the Select Com-
mittee and in the Council : it was not therefore precipitately
resolved on. It is true that no formal treaty was executed for the
conditions on which we were to assist the Vizier, nor did the
occasion, which was only temporary, require it. The multiplica-
tion of treaties weakens their efScacy, and therefore they should
be referred only for very important and permanent obligations.
The form which was dictated to the Vizier for the letter, which
was to describe the conditions of this engagement it is true, is not
of itself sufficiently clear, but it is explained by my letters which
accompanied it, and the reference therein made to the conditions
which had been formerly proposed at Benares, as they stood in
the three first articles of the draft, which had been prepared for
the treaty, before the Eohilla expedition was suspended, for the
fuller elucidation of the subject. These articles are here sub-
joined ; the two first had been agreed to by the Vizier, to the third
he objected, wishing rather to engage for the payment of the
whole sum at once, when the conquest was completed. It is for-
tunate that the latter mode was adopted ; the completion of the
conquest being actually efi"ected, and the stipulation, although
objected to by the Vizier when first demanded after the defeat of
the Eohillas, having since been acknowledged by him to be due.
The three first articles of the first draft of the Treaty.
1st. " Whereas the Eohilla Chiefs in the month of June 1772
entered into a treaty with the Vizier in the presence and with the
concurrence of General Sir Eobert Barker, by which they engaged
to pay him 40 lacs of rupees for his assistance against the
Mahrattas, and which treaty they have treacherously broken. It
is therefore agreed that a brigade of the Company's forces shall
join the Vizier and assist to punish them, and that he shall pay
the whole of its expence. By a brigade is meant two battalions
of Europeans, one company of artillery and six battalions of
sepoys, and the expense settled at sunant rupees 2,10,000 per
APPENDIX D 327
month. The Company's troops shall not cross the river Ganges,
nor march beyond the first of the hills. The Vizier shall retain,
as his own, that part of the Eohilla country which lies on the
north-east side of the Ganges ; but in consideration of the Company's
relinquishing all claim to share in the said country, although it is
to be conquered by their joint forces, the Vizier engages to make
them an acknowledgement of 40 lacs of rupees, and in future to
defray the whole expense of the Company's troops, agreeable to
the date above mentioned, whenever he has occasion for their
assistance, notwithstanding it is stipulated in the second article
of the Treaty of Illahabad, concluded by the Vizier and the
Company on the 16th August 1765, that he shall pay only their
extraordinary charges."
2nd. "The Vizier may retain the brigade aforesaid on the
above mentioned terms as long as he shall require it, unless it
shall be necessary to recall it for the defence of the Company's
own territories, and he may employ them for the protection of any
part of his country, but they shall be kept together in one body
and not dispersed on different commands, except such detach-
ments as the commanding officer shall judge necessary in the
time of actual service. He may return the whole or a part of the
said brigade whenever he has no further occasion for their services,
and he shall cease to defray their expences as soon as they shall
enter the Province of Bahar. But as the Company cannot risk
the credit of their arms, by allowing a smaller force to remain
with the Vizier than half a brigade, it is provided that he shall
retain one-half of a brigade, or return the whole. Upon their
dismission they shall return with all convenient expedition, and to
prevent any future disputes from arising on this subject, the time
of their march to the borders of his Province, shall be computed
by the rate of 5 coss per day from the place where they commence
their march."
3rd. " The Vizier engages to pay the 40 lacs of rupees stipu-
lated in the first article, by monthly payments of 4 lacs, to
commence from the end of the month Kilbi-ul-awul, or 10th of
June 1774, but should any accident (which God forbid) obhge
our forces to retire from the Eohilla country and prevent the
Vizier from obtaining possession of it the said 40 lacs shall not be
demanded."
9th. It was neither arrogant nor unreasonable in the Vizier to
require that since his entire dependance for the success of the
enterprise which he had projected was on the brigade of the
Company's forces, the brigade should not abandon him while he
328 APPENDIX D
was engaged in it nor while the issue of it remained incomplete ;
nor can I devise any other condition which could have removed
his apprehensions. If the Board judged the proposition reason-
able, it certainly was not unbecoming in them to assent to it. It
remains therefore to examine whether it was reasonable, and
whether this power granted to the Vizier was liable to danger or
inconvenience.
I have already shown that the removal of the brigade to such
a distance could not prove of danger to our own provinces, because
it was not wanted for their defence ; that it could be productive
of no inconvenience because it occasioned an entire suspension of
the Company's payments during its employment. It is not to be
denied that there are possible cases in which it may be wanted for
the protection of Bengal, but these are out of the reach of all
probability and too remote to be quoted as an objection to the
present engagement.
I am not apprehensive that the Vizier will insist upon keeping
the brigade continually with him ; my fears are that he may dis-
miss it, as there is every reason to wish for its continuance with
him, and none, no not one, for its recall. When the brigade was
formerly employed with the Vizier and the share of its monthly
expences defrayed by him was only 30,000 and afterwards 1,15,000
rupees per month, he never showed earnestness for its continuance
with him beyond the duration of the particular service for which
it had been wanted, but was ever ready to propose its return ; it
is not likely therefore that he should be more solicitous now for
its perpetual residence in his country at an expence to him of
25 lacs a year, which he must pay, and which his income, with
the late additions to it, can barely afford. He knows that when-
ever he shall require the presence of the brigade, it will be for our
interest to grant it, and he will therefore part with it when his
own occasions, which in this instance must be confined to the
defence of his own dominions, no longer require it, that the charge
of its maintenance may be shifted from his account to the Com-
pany's and that he may be subject to that burthen only when he
is an immediate gainer by it.
This may suflice to show the little risk we ran, had we abso-
lutely engaged the brigade to him as long as he might chuse to
retain it. But in the present case (as I have already explained in
the preceding article) it was understood by both parties and
indeed is inseparable from the nature of the engagement and the
original conditions of our mutual alliance, that we might recall it,
if required for our own protection, not only without any imputa-
APPENDIX D 329
tion of breach of faith but (unless it was done in so precipitate a
manner as to defeat the purpose of the expedition) even without
affording him a pretext for refusing the payment of the 40 lacs.
I have been thus explicit in vindicating my conduct in relation
to the Eohilla war for the sake of obviating any impression which
a partial representation of this measure may make upon the
minds of my employers, as I know that the majority of the
Council, which has condemned it, will labour to paint it in
the blackest colours which they can lay upon it, as an excuse for
the precipitation with which they have proclaimed their reproba-
tion of it, and violated the engagements on which the right of the
Company to participate in the fruits of its success essentially
depended. But it is not on the propriety of my conduct that I
shall rest for proof of the impropriety of theirs, which is equally
incompatible with the interest of the Company whether the trans-
actions of the late Administration shall be approved or condemned
by our superiors, whose judgement only can decide upon it. A
recapitulation of the principal acts of the new Council will amply
suffice for this purpose.
The three members who came passengers in the Ashhurnliam
from England arrived at noon of the 19th of October. The next
day I met them in Council, which was adjourned to the 24:th,
both to afford time to Mr. Barwell to join us, and to myself to
prepare the business, which might be proper for the immediate
cognizance of the new Board. To this effect I drew up a minute
describing the nature and state of two subjects, which were un-
doubtedly the first in point of importance, the establishment of
the revenue and the transactions in our political system. If I
could have conceived a more regular or a more candid way of
leading the Board into the knowledge of past affairs, without the
influence of my own particular judgement or prepossessions, I
would have adopted it. This minute I laid before the Council
held on the 24th of October. On the 25th the General moved
and the Board (Mr. Barwell only dissenting) resolved to require
that I should produce the whole correspondence between me and
Mr. Nathaniel Middleton, my agent at the Vizier's Court, and
Colonel Champion, the late provincial Commander-in-Chief, both
official and private, for their inspection : I offered the first and
refused the second, for reasons which appear in my minutes. To
what I have already recorded on this subject I will further add
that there are few persons in the service of any considerable trust
or rank in it with whom I have not maintained that distinct
mode of intercourse. My predecessors have ever followed the
330 APPENDIX D
same rule, and I am persuaded would have thought it a dis-
honourable breach of confidence, had they inserted on the records
of the Company, any letters which had been addressed to them as
extra-oilicial and private, without the consent of the writers of
them. Lord Clive, Mr. Yerelst, Mr. Cartier, General Smith and
General Sir Eobert Barker are able to contradict me if I have
misquoted their practice, and I shall be glad to appeal to them
for the truth of it, if there can be a doubt upon the subject. A
circumstance exactly in point to the present matter in dispute,
happened in the course of Colonel Smith's correspondence with
the Select Committee in 17GC, when by some mistake the subject
of a private letter from the Colonel to the President was only
alluded to in a letter from the Select Committee, upon which
occasion the Colonel asserts his sentiments of the sacred rights of
private correspondence in the following words: "I have been
made accountable to a public board for an unprejudiced discussion
of facts which ought never to have transpired beyond the breast
of the right honourable person to whom, and whom only, they
were addressed." And the Select Committee, by their silence,
acquiesced in those sentiments.
The same subject was resumed the next day the 26th. On my
refusal to deliver the correspondence in the manner in which it
was required of me, Colonel Monson moved, and the General and
Mr. Francis agreed, that Mr. Nathaniel Middleton should be
recalled from his station, and it was resolved by a subsequent
resolution of the same majority, that the negociations of this
Government should be thenceforth committed to Colonel Cham-
pion (who ought by a parity of reasoning to have been recall'd
too) or to the officer who on the receipt of the orders, should
chance to be the first in command of the brigade in the field. To
these acts Mr. Barwell and myself dissented, and I entered my
protest against all the consequences to which they were liable.
The sentiments and intentions of the majority with respect to
the Eohilla war and the future destination of the army were
sufficiently manifested in this meeting, and left me less room for
surprise at the propositions which were made at the next, which
was held on the 20th. These propositions, which had been
previously drawn up by the General, having undergone some
alterations in substance and form stand recorded as follow.
The General proposes the following questions, viz.
1st. — " That the demand of 40 lacs from the Vizier be repeated
and that Colonel Champion, or the Officer Command-
ing the second Brigade be instructed to that effect.
APPENDIX D 331
2nd.— "Th&t the Colonel or Commanding Officer be also
instructed to make a demand, for such further pay-
ments as may be due from the Vizier on the receiving
these instructions, and to liquidate what accounts
may be unsettled with him at the time.
3rd. — "That he be further instructed, that although he is to
make an immediate demand of the whole 40 lacs,
and for such other payments as may be due at that
time, yet if he finds that it is impossible for the
Vizier to comply with the whole of these demands,
he is to receive what can be obtained in ready money
not to be less than 20 lacs, and the rest to be pay-
able in different periods within 12 months.
4th. — " That the Colonel or Commanding Officer be further
instructed, that in case the Vizier shall refuse to
comply with these demands, he is to enter a protest
against him declaring that the Company have ful-
filled all their engagements with him, and within
14 days after the receipt of these instructions, to
retire with the army under his command and with-
draw it into the Company's territories.
6th. — "That further orders be sent to Colonel Champion or
the Officer Commanding the Brigade that after
having finished the negotiations for the money now
due, he do immediately withdraw the whole of the
forces under his command within the limits of the
Province of Oude, and that unless the Vizier should
require the continuance of the troops for the defence
of his original dominions, with the Provinces of
Korah and lUahabad, he return with them to the
Cantonments of Dinapore.
gtJi^ — " That in quitting the Vizier he shall acquaint him that
the Governor-General and Council propose to appoint
a person to reside at his court, and to declare that
they mean to adhere strictly to the Treaties of
Illahabad and Benares, till the pleasure of the Court
of Directors, regarding the latter, be known.
2th. " That he be further instructed, that if he should appre-
hend any difficulty or danger from the Vizier in his
retreat, that then he should suspend his declaration
and take the best means in his power for the preser-
vation of the army, and advise the Board imme-
diately of his situation."
332 APPENDIX D
I prevailed upon the majority to defer coming to any con-
clusion upon these propositions until the next Monday's consulta-
tion, this being Friday, both to allow time for each to come
prepared with his opinions upon them, and for the gentlemen of
the majority to read all the proceedings which had any relation
to the subject, and of which I had furnished them with a complete
list of references in my minute recorded on the consultation of
the 25th.
On Monday the Slst the Council being assembled, I delivered
in a minute containing my opinion on each proposition. Mr. Bar-
well did the same, both expressed an assent to the three first, but
objected wholly to the 4th, 5th, and 7th, and to the last clause of
the 6th.
The sum of our objections to which I crave leave to refer as
the force of them must be lost by an abridgement, was that the
4th was too peremptory, and left no room for the Vizier to pro-
pose any other alternative, in case his present means for future
resources should not enable hiin to comply literally with the
demands which were made upon him. That the 5th was a direct
violation of the engagements which had been formed with him by
the last Government, and would afford him a just pretext to
declare his also void, and to refuse payment of the 40 lacs ;
besides the danger of losing the new conquered country by so
precipitate a retreat from it. That the last clause of the 6th was
an alarming suggestion of the invalidity of the public treaty,
which ought not even to be supposed till it were pronounced by
the Company ; and that the 7th left it to the option of the Com-
manding Officer of the Army to declare war with the Vizier.
The other gentlemen brought no opinions in writing, but
resolved on all the propositions except the last clause of the 6th
which was omitted.
It is proper to remark that an army, joined by the Vizier's,
had pursued the remains of the Rohilla forces which had re-
assembled under the command of Fyzulla Cawn, to the extremity
of the country and continued encamped more than a month within
a very few miles of them, which interval had been employed in
negociations till the 2nd of October, when Fyzulla Cawn repaired
in person to the English camp, and as it appears from Colonel
Champion's letters on the faith of some assurances given for his
safety. Since the negociations continued the enemy remained in
arms and our army still advanced nearer to them making pre-
parations for an assault in case terms of peace could not be agreed
on. Thus far our advices had reached us when the General
APPENDIX D 333
introduced the propositions above mentioned. Yet at this crisis
of affairs, without waiting for the event which a very few days
must have determined, the majority came with their resolutions
decided for withdrawing the brigade from the service in which it
was engaged whether it were completed or not, and to compel the
Vizier to the instant adjustment of all his accounts dependent
with the Company, or to abandon him altogether.
One reason alledged by the majority for the demand, which
had with so much perseverance been made for Colonel Champion's
and Mr. Nathaniel Middleton's letters, was, that without them,
and specially without those I withheld from them, their know-
ledge of the state and circumstances of the Rohilla war, which
was to enable them to judge of the propriety of continuing the
army in that quarter, or to determine its removal, would be in-
complete : yet they had neither taken time to read the series of
the former political records which I had recommended to their
perusal, nor the letters of Colonel Champion and Mr. Nathaniel
Middleton, with which I had promised to furnish them, although
these were surely as necessary for their information as the private
letters addressed to me, the contents of which they could not
know, and I had declared to them contained no information on
the points on which they wanted it.
Soon after we heard that the Vizier had consigned over the
15 lacs which FyzuUa Cawn had engaged to pay him in ready
money to Colonel Champion, in part payment of the 40 due from
him, and had hastily set out on his return for his capital with
Mr. Nathaniel Middleton for the declared purpose of acquitting
himself of the remainder, and that the brigade was in orders to
march back to Eamgaut. Fearing the consequences of the orders
which had been lately issued, I thought this a fit opportunity to
induce the majority to moderate that for the immediate recall of
the brigade, and proposed, that as our payments were in so fair a
channel of acquittance and Eamgaut lay at little more than
60 miles from the border of the Province of Oude, to which they
had destined its future station, a discretionary power might now
be entrusted to the Commander of the Army, to continue it at
Eamgaut for a short period, until the Vizier's consent could be
obtained for its entire removal, or until he himself should judge it
might leave the Eohilla country without hazard of losing it by a
fresh invasion or insurrection.
I think it incumbent upon me to remark a small geographical
error, which I have committed in my report of the situation of
Eamgaut, which I found laid down in my own handwriting upon
334 APPENDIX D
an old map in my possession at the distance which I have
described, but having since received a more correct map of that
quarter from Captain Barwell, the Surveyor-General, which accom-
panies these papers, I find that it is near 40 miles more remote
from the territories of the Vizier, an error of little consequence I
apprehend to my argument, but I mention it that it may not be
imputed to me as a deception.
My proposal was rejected; for the reasons both for and against
it, I beg leave to refer to my minute in consultation the 8th
November, and to the replies of the majority in consultation of
the 14th.
As a doubt is expressed respecting the nature of ^Ir. Nathaniel
Middleton's appointment as Kesident or Agent for the Governor
at the Court of the Vizier, it is necessary 1 should say a few words
to reconcile the propriety of styling him my particular agent, and
at the same time considering his appointment in the nature of a
public one. By the Company's orders of long standing and now
repeated, all correspondence with the country powers is directed
to be carried on by the President, and the intention of appointing
a Resident with the Vizier was for the purpose of facilitating
and perfecting this correspondence ; which being the particular
province of the Governor, he was my especial agent, and his
appointment was at the same time a public one, as it related to
the public service, and was conferred upon him by the Board,
though at my recommendation.
That the objects of my remonstrance may not be lost or mis-
taken in the long narrative and arguments with which I have
introduced them, I beg leave to repeat, I ground my charge
against the members who form the majority of the Board on the
recal of my public agent at the Court of the Vizier, on their pre-
cipitate resolution of abandoning the Vizier, and of withdrawing
entirely from his alliance unless he complied in the given time of
14 days with their demands in the exact form and mode in which
they were prescribed to him, on their resolution to withdraw the
brigade from the Rohilla country, even if he did comply with
these demands, whether the conquest of it was secured, or it was
in danger of being wrested out of his hands ; and, lastly, on the
extraordinary licence which they have given to the commander of
the brigade, of forcing the Company into a war with their ally
under cover of taking measures to preserve the army from danger.
Actions so evident in their nature and bearing such strong
appearances of determined hostility, though proceeding from the
most just causes of provocation, seldom fail of producing sus-
APPENDIX D 335
picions of worse intended, and in the means which fear suggests
for self-defence too often prove the cause of working up a slight
complaint into the most fatal excess of a declared rupture ; but
under the circumstances of the present Government nothing
could have so evident a tendency to precipitate this conclusion.
The jealousy with which a new administration is naturally
viewed by those who are connected with it is of itself sufficient to
render even their indifferent transactions liable to misconstructions ;
but what sentiments must have struck the Vizier, when with the
first notification of the constitution of the present Council, he
received advice of the recall of the public minister of this Govern-
ment from his presence, and of the resolutions respecting the pay-
ment and the removal of the brigade. He will have concluded
that a majority of the new Council had combined to overthrow my
authority and to raise their own on its ruins, and had determined
to force him to a rupture in order to depreciate the measures I
had taken. It will avail little that these proceedings are tempered
with solemn professions of an inviolable attachment to former
engagements ; such assurances accompanying the actual breach
of engagements, are more likely to destroy confidence than to
inspire it, as they too manifestly infer the conviction of an
irregularity of conduct, which requires such declarations to explain
and palliate it.
I have been too long versed in public affairs to look for a con-
currence of all men's opinions in any one proposition however
expedient, nor am I so much addicted to my own as to take
offence at an opposition to it, where that opposition proceeds from
a judgement unbiassed by personal animosity : I appeal to the
minutes of the majority for proofs of the temper which swayed
their resolutions. Had a mere sense of duty impelled them to
declare their disavowal of the expedition in which they found a
part of the army engaged against the Eohillas, or if they had
judged the continuance of that force beyond the line of the
Vizier's possession inconsistent with the orders of the Company,
the path which they should have pursued lay very plain before
them, by which they might have amply manifested their own
fidelity and guarded the Company's orders against the like viola-
tion hereafter. In many cases I understand it to be a pro-
position of law that quod fieri non debet factum vaxt — and I
believe it was never more applicable than to the present occasion.
The measure was an act of the past Administration, it was on the
point of being concluded ; all the dangers and inconveniences to
which it could ever have been liable were past ; of the conditions
336 APPENDIX D
which had been agreed to on the part of the Company to this
engagement nothing remained but to bring the war to a period,
to place their Ally in the secure possession of the new conquest,
and to retire within their former bounds : — the payments which
formed the conditions of the Vizier's part of the engagements
were just due, nor had any reason yet appeared to justify the
suspicion that he would have failed in the performance of them.
Under such circumstances I presume that the members of the
new Council, who disapproved of the enterprize, ought to have
recorded their disapprobation of it, to have declared their deter-
mination not to give their consent to the employment of any part
of the Company's forces beyond the line which they judged to be
prescribed by the orders of the Court of Directors after the service
in which they were then engaged should be accomplished, but to
have permitted the brigade to have remained in the Eohilla
country, so long as that service and the engagements subsisting
between this Government and the Vizier required it, leaving the
responsibility of the measure to the members of the last Adminis-
tration who formed it, and under whose authority it was brought
to the crisis in which the new Government found it.
The same temperate conduct might have been observed with
respect to Mr. Nathaniel Middleton: his appointment as Eesident
on the part of the Government at the Court of the Vizier might
have been confirmed, and the relation of it transferred from me to
the Board at large.
Such a conduct without the smallest sacrifice either of their
integrity or duty would have accommodated their sentiments to
the faith of Government ; the alarms unavoidably attendant on a
change of Government and the consistency of its measures so
totally new, would have subsided ; the Vizier could have had no
pretext to refuse or withhold the sums which were due from him,
and the Rohilla war would have ended with honour, with un-
sullied faith, with the restoration of that lustre to our arms,
which an inaction of many years had almost obscured in the
minds of the people of Indostan, with a great addition of wealth
to supply our almost impoverished resources, and without a
single inconvenience or cause afforded to regret it.
Let the reverse of this conduct be examined in the first acts of
the new Council.
By their violent recall of my agent from the Vizier's Court,
they have proclaimed the annihilation of my authority in that
branch of the Government in which the Company, for obvious
political reasons, have ever thought it necessary to invest their
APPENDIX D 337
Governor with the ostensible power, and which in their very first
orders to the new Administration, they have directed should be
continued to be conducted through him.
They have disregarded the faith of our engagements which
even in the most violent revolutions have ever been transmitted
as sacred from one government to that which has succeeded it ;
they have exposed the conquest which the British arms have
acquired for the Vizier, to be wrested from him, with the loss of
our military reputation ; they have risked the loss of the pecuniary
resources, which were stipulated for the Company as the fruits
of their successes, and they have precipitately withdrawa the
brigade from its station, where its whole expence is borne by the
Vizier, to become again a heavy and useless burthen upon our-
selves.
I now once more make my solemn appeal to the Honourable
Court of Directors, from the measures already decided by the
majority of the Council, and protest against every future act of
the same unvaried majority, declaring that I hold myself no
longer responsible for the consequences which the interest of my
employers are liable to suffer, while I am deprived of the means
which their commands, which the Parliament of Great Britain,
which (if I presume not too rashly on the information com-
municated to me) even the gracious intention of my Sovereign,
have committed in an especial manner to my charge for the
security of those interests, and the support of the national Honour
and Dominions in this great and valuable branch of the British
Empire,
22
INDEX
Abdali (the Afghan), i. 22
Abdulahed Khan, ii. 815
Abdullah Beg, ii. 147, 168
Abdul Rhaman Khowass, ii. 106,
108
Aboabs explained, ii. 269
Adventurers, Danish and Portu-
guese, ii. 87, 88
Affrasiah. See Afrasiab
Afrasiab Khan, his influence, i. 309,
ii. 39, 58, 99, 100
Agra, i. 177, ii. 104
Ahmed Khan invades India, i.
29
Ahmuty, Colonel, Warren Hastings
on, ii. 193
Ajjheer, ii. 100
Aldersey, W., ii. 84, 280
Ali Khan, Nizam, ii. 43, 53 ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 55, 67, 200,
202
Ali Muhammad, i. 27
Ali Nucky, Sheakh, ii. 145
Aliverdv Khan, ii. 232
Allahabad, i. 201, 23, 32, 44
Ally Cawn. See Ali Khan
Ally Ibrahim Khan, i. 230 ; ii. 189
Aim ass Gunge, ii. 117
Almora Kaja, the, i. 66
Ambur, i. 255
Ameer Gunge, ii. 115
Ameer ul Omrah, ii. 100 ; office of,
ii. 103
Amulnamas explained, ii. 270
Anderson, Dr., examines Nimd-
coomar, i. 112
Anderson, Mr., i. 145 ; at Scindia's
Court, i. 252, ii. 141, 189; his
instructions, ii. 204 ; at Ballasore,
ii. 207 ; at Cuttack, ii. 210; instruc-
tions to, ii. 215 ; proceeds to Mar-
atta Camp, ii. 228; his interview
with the Eajah, ii. 229 ; letter from,
ii. 246, 251
Arcot, Fall of, i. 253 ; Tippoo at,
i. 263
Arizbeggy, ii. 292
Arni, Battle of, i. 272
Arras, Battle of, i. 142
Asadpur, i. 31
Ashbiirnham, the, ii. 329
Assail explained, ii. 269
Assof. See Assoph
Assoph ul Dowlah, Nabob, ii. 27-9,
59, 67, 135
Attock, E., i. 308
Auber, Peter, his Bise of British
Power in India quoted, i. 159
Augusta, H.M.S., i. 167
Aumin, choice of, ii. 295
Auriol, Mr., Assistant Secretary,
i. 86, 234
Aurungzebe, i. 19
Ava, Kingdom of, i. 314
Bahadur Beg, i. 204 ; arrested, i. 206
Bahar, Settlement of, ii. 280, 314
Bahoo Begum, the, i. 236
Baillie, Major, ii. 199
Balaghat, the, i. 70, ii. 56, 310 (also
Balagaut, Balaghaut)
Balfour, Major, ii. 178
Ballasore, Mr. Anderson at, ii. 206-7
Barasset, Warren Hastings at, ii.
224
Bardwan, i. 16
Barelly, ii. 115
Barker, Sir Robert, General, i. 30-1,
44, 58, 69 ; ii. 61, 62, 280, 309,
330
Barnet, Mr., ii. 181
Barwell, Richard: appointed Mem-
ber of Council, i. 53 ; on the Oudh
Treaty, i. 76, 83 ; withdraws from
33S
INDEX
389
the Board, i. 85 ; i. 128, 153, 156;
his support of Warren Hastings,
i. 158 ; contemplates returning
to England, i. 181, 183 ; leaves
India, 184 ; ii. 239, 280
Bassein, i. 140, 252
Bazee Jumma explained, ii. 270, 286
Beckford, Alderman, Macaulay on,
i. 3
Beerbhoom, Settlement of ^ ii. 278
Behar : revenues of, i. 2, 21 ; i. 52,
301 ; opiuiu in, ii. 78
Bekar Ally Khan, i. 247
Bellecoinbe, General, i. 174
Benares : Shuja-ul-daulah at, i. 22,
32, 39, 178 ; Warren Hastings
visits, i. 221 ; i. 301 ; crime in, ii.
145
Bengal, revenues of, i. 2, 21 ; i. 52, ii.
12, 19
Beny Earn Pundit, ii. 165, 207, 208,
212, 214, 219, 225, 233, 236, 256
Berar : Raja of, i. 251 ; extent of,
ii. 53
Besaji, flight of, i. 31
Beveridge, Mr., on Nundcoomar's
trial, i. 98
Bhowanny Pundit, ii. 204, 213, 225 ;
conference with Mr. Anderson,
ii. 229
Bhosila. See Moodajee Boosla
Bhow Begum, the, i. 248
Bhutan, i. 311
Bidjeygur, ii. 133 ; described, ii. 180 ;
surrender of, ii. 190
Bie, Mr., Warren Hastings on, ii. 46
Birrell, Lieutenant, at Pateeta, ii. 174
Bissalut Jung, brother of Ali Khan,
ii. 57
Bissenpoor, Settlement of, ii. 278
Bissoulv, i. 63
Bissum'ber Pundit, ii. 165, 189, 213,
235, 238, 239, 242
Blaer, Mr., of Portland Place, ii. 43
Blaine, Major, at Arni, i. 273
Blair, Captain : at Ramnagar, i. 226 ;
at Pateeta, i. 227, ii. 162, 174, 178
Blair, Lieut. -Colonel, ii. 160, 166,
169 ; Warren Hastings on, ii. 193,
195
Bogle, George, i. 145 ; his mission to
Thibet, i. 311
Bolakee Dass, i. 99
Bolts, William, his Consideration of
Indian Affairs quoted, i. 18
Bombay, ii. 5
Booslah family, ii. 52
Bowanny Punt. See Bhowanny
Braithwaite, Colonel, i. 271
Bristow, Mr. : Resident at Fyzabad,
i. 140 ; removed, i. 144 ; at Oudh,
i. 236, 238 sqq. ; conduct towards
the Nawab of Oudh, i. 300-3; ap-
peal against, ii. 2
Brix, Mr., defends Nundcoomar,
i. 109 ; letter of, i. 125
Broach given to Siudia, i. 276
Brougham, Lord, his Statesmen of
the Time of George III. quoted,
i. 133, 197
Budaun, district of. i. 31
Budge-Budge, Battle of, i. 1
Budge-Budgea, Fort, ii. 47
Bugwantnugger, ii. 116
Bukht Sing, ii. 179
Buksh, Mirza Imaum, ii. 107, 108
Bukshy Allah Beg, ii. 107-8
Bukshbunder, the, ii. 279
Bulse explained, ii. 43
Bulwant Sing, i. 229 ; wealth of,
ii. 133, 134
Bunack Begum, the, i. 247
Bundlecund, i. 175
Bundoo Khan, ii. 182
Bur ford, the, i. 270
Burgoyne, General, surrender of,
i. 166
Burke, Edmund : sides with the
E.I.C.ji. 4; on the Munny Begum,
i. 10 ; on the Rohilla War, i. 74 ;
made Paymaster of the Forces,
i. 294 ; his invectives against Has-
tings and the E.LC, i. 294, 320;
on Warren Hastings, ii. 43
Burr-tree, simile of the, i. 321
Bussy, Marquis de : negotiations
with, ii. 31 ; death of, ii. 33
Busteed, — , Eclioes from Old Cal-
cutta quoted, i. 300
Buxar : Battle of, i. 29, 78 ; Cheit
Sing meets Warren Hastings at,
ii. 125 ; Hyder Beg at, ii. 177
Cabooleats explained, ii. 274
Calcutta, ii. 5
Calcutta Review quoted, i. 205
Camac, Major, i. 177 ; Colonel,
i. 222 ; in Malva, ii, 129, 130
Camel, sacrifice of, ii. 112
Camden, the, ii. 18
Cannanore, capture of, i. 287
Canongos, duties of, ii. 283
22—2
340
INDEX
Canton, mode of remittance to,
ii. 17, 19
Cantoo Baboo, i. 88, 95
Carangoly, Fort, i. 254
Carnac, General, at Kura, i. 29
Carnatic : Hjaler enters the, i. 94 ;
panic among natives of, ii. 66
Cartier, Mr., i. 58, ii. 330
Cavendish, Lord John, Chancellor
of Exchequer, i. 294
Ca7.ee, duties of, ii. 283
Chambers, Robert, Judge, i. 53 ;
tries Nundcoomar, i. 109 ; inter-
view with Farrer, i. 116
Champion, Colonel : his criticisms on
the Nawab, i. 47 ; negotiations
with Fyzoollah Khan, i. 49 ; sug-
gests prize money, i. 51 ; on the
Rohillas, i. 52, 58 ; on the Rohilla
War, i. 67 ; his charges against
the Nawab, i. 72 ; ii. 317, 329, 333
Chandernagore, capture of, i. 169 ;
ii. 45
Chapman, Mr., sent to Berar, ii. 189
Chapussetin, A. M. A., maiden name
of Mrs. Hastings, i. 157
Chauki-Chaukee explained, i. 17
Chevalier, Mr. : protests by, ii. 48 ;
at Berar, ii. 249
Chevt Singh, Rajah : requisition on,
i.'l68, 222, 224; arrested, i. 225;
status of, i. 231 ; action of Warren
Hastings with regard to. i. 234';
ii. 125 ; subsidy from, ii. 127 ; his
evasions, ii. 131 : Warren Has-
tings on, ii. 134 ; his relation to
the Company, ii. 136; letter from
Warren Hastings to, 143 ; reply,
ii. 145 ; ai'rested, ii. 150 ; letter
from, ii. 150; another, ii. 153;
escape of, ii. 156, 167
Chillumbrum, attack on, i. 259
Chimnajee Bhosila, Rajah, ii. 201,
204; before Dheckanall, ii. 206,
213, 226, 242, 246, 255
Chingleput relieved, i. 255
Chittagong, i. 16
Chokies explained, ii. 49
Chout, ii. 294
Chunar, i. 226 ; defence of, ii. 168,
174
Clavering, General John, i. 36 ;
Member of Council, i. 53, 63 ; sup-
ports Francis, i. 76, 81 ; presides
at the Board, i. 85, 96 ; refuses to
endorse Nundcoomar's petition.
i. 126, l,'->0, 151-3, 1.54-6; invested
with Order of the liath, i. 157 ;
dies, ibid. ; effect of his death,
i. 158
Cleveland, Mr., Warren Hastings
on, ii. 79
Clive, Lord : his regard for Warren
Hastings, i. 1, 5, 17 ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 23, 330
Coboolecat explained, ii. 136, 137
Cocan, ii. 218
Code prepared by Impey, i. 212
Colebrookc, the, ii. 263
Collectors, British, first appointed,
i. 161
Colombo, Dutch at, ii. 31
Commaul O Deen, i. 97 ; gives
evidence, i. 113
Comorin, Cape, i. 230
Contoo Bauboo imprisoned, ii. 167,
181
Conjeveram, i. 172
Cooch Behar, fort taken, i. 19
Coote, Sir Eyre : made Commander-
in-Chief, i. 195 ; at Madras, i. 253 ;
relieves Chingleput and Wande-
wash, i. 255 ; relieves Cuddalore,
i. 257 ; attacks Chillumbrum,
i. 258 ; at Porto Novo, i. 261-3 ;
at Sholingar, 264 ; illness, i. 265 ;
relieves Vellore, i. 265-6 ; at Arni,
i. 272 ; sails for Bengal, i. 282 ;
death, i. 284 ; his character, i. 285 ;
ii. 200
Cootwall, duties of, ii. 283
Corah, i. 20-1, 23, 32, 44, 70, 75
Coromandel Coast, i. 165
Corporal punishment, ii. 294
Cose explained, ii. 110
Cossijurah, case of the Rajah of,
i. 199
Cossimbazaar, W^arren Hastings at,
i. 1 ; Settlement of, ii. 273
Cottrell, Henry, supervisor at Dina-
gepore, ii. 280
Courts, Civil and Criminal, estab-
lished, i. 16
Coveyitry, the, i. 284
Crabb, Major, ii. 172, 176, 178 ; at
Lora, ii. 185, 186 ; W^arren Has-
tings on, ii. 193
Crawford, Major Moses, i. 226,
ii. 186, 193
Croftes, Mr., i. 145, 178
Cuddalore : relief of, i. 257 ; capitu-
tion of, 271 ; ii. 32, 46
INDEX
341
Cummings, Colonel Sir John, ii. 27 ;
in command at Futtehgur, ii.
172; Warren Hastings on, ii. 193,
196
Curra-nama explained, i. 118
Cuttack, ii. 201, 204 ; Mr. Anderson
at, ii. 210
Cygnet, the, ii. 85
Dacca, i. 16
Dacoits, suppression of, ii. 288,
298
Dacres, Mr., ii. 269
Daniel, Mr., i. 258
Dantoon, ii. 250
Daroga explained, i. 214
Darogo Adawlut al Aalea, duties
of, ii. 283
Darogo Adawlut Dewannee, duties
of, ii. 283
Dastak explained, i. 17
Daud Khan, i. 26, 65
Day, Sir John, i. 191
Decoits. See Dacoits
Dewa, R., ii. 190
Dewagur Pundit, ii. 219, 236, 246,
253
Dewan explained, i. 6, ii. 115 ;
duties of, ii. 283
Dewaun. See Dewan
Dheckanall, Fort, ii. 206
Dia Lutchoo, ii. 179
Dickson, Lieutenant, at Cooch
Behar, i. 20
Dinagepore, i. 16, ii. 280
Dinapore, i. 40, ii. 309
Dillun Sing, ii. 179
Dirga Gunge, ii. 116
Dirreh explained, ii. 108
Diwani Adalat, Courts of, i. 209
Doab, the, i. 38
Do-auba, the, i. 45
Doorgbijey Sing, ii. 156, 158, 188
Doputta explained, ii. 116
Dow, Colonel, captures Chanderna-
gore, i. 169
Doxatt, Captain : at Ramnagar, i.
226 ; killed, ii. 162
D'Oyh", Sir John, Persian trans-
lator, i. 87
Driver, Mr., attorney, i. 100
Duncan, Jonathan, Resident at Be-
nares, i. 318
Dundas, Mr., drafts Pitt's India
Bill, i. 297
Dundee Khan, ii. 114
Du Pre, Mr., i. 5
Durham, Mr., i. 102 ; counsel
against Nundcoomar, i. 109
Dussuttra, ii. 294
Dustuck. See Dastak
Eagle, the, i. 270
East India Company, Parliamentary
Committee on, i. 4
Elliot, Alex., interpreter, i. 109, ii.
62
Etawah, i. 38
Etlak, ii. 294
Fallon, Lieutenant, at Pateeta, ii.
174
Famine in 1770, ii. 264 ; its effect on
revenue, ii. 265
Farrer, Mr., advocate, i. 100 ; de-
fends Nundcoomar, 109
Faujdars explained, i. 213
Fayedar explained, ii. 117
Ferreedpore, ii. 116
Fettwa explained, ii. 283
Fines, how levied, ii. 297
Forbes, J., Oriental Memoirs
quoted, i. 321
Fowke, Mr., charged with con-
spiracy, i. 97-8, 222, 233, ii. 132,
144, 146
Fox, the, i. 3, 35
Francis, Philip, i. 36 ; appointed
Member of Council, i. 53; Macau-
lay on, i. 54 ; examines Colonel
Leslie, i. 64 ; and Major Hannay,
i. 66 ; visited by Nundcoomar, i.
78, 80, 81 ; on Nundcoomar's im-
prisonment, i. 101, 128, 139, 156 ;
reconciled to Warren Hastings,
i. 183 ; his duel with Warren
Hastings, i. 189, 191, 192, 194;
leaves India, i. 196 ; his later
career, i. 197 ; on Indian Judges,
i. 198 ; Warren Hastings on, ii.
130, 131
Fredericknagore, Dutch at, ii. 46,
50
Fulta, Warren Hastings at, i. 1
Furruckabad, ii. 27, 28
Fusselee explained, ii. 29
Futteh Shah, ii. 173 ; defeated, ii.
190
Futty Sing, Rajah, ii. 67
Fyzabad, i. 34 ; Colonel Hannay at,
i. 245, ii. 170, 317
Fyez Naher, the, h. 107-8
342
INDEX
Fyzoollah Khan : Colonel Champion
negotiates with, i. 49, 247 ; ii. 108,
115, 132; treaty with, ii. 317, 332
Ghauzipore, 1. 76
Gleig, G. Pi., Memoirs of Warren
Hastings quoted, i. 8, 11, 16, 19,
26, 48, 60, 94, 135, 149, 176, 179,
183, 186. 199, 249, 303, 305, 310
Goddard. General, i. 176, 189, 192
Gogra, R., i. 246
Gohud, liana of, i. 192
Gomaun Sing. ii. 179
Goodwin, H., ii. 280
Goojer Khan, ii. 113
Goolaub Kooer, Ranny, ii. 156, 158,
188
Goonda, i. 246
Gopaul Dass imprisoned, ii. 167
Gordon, Colonel, ii. 33 ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 34
Goring, Mr., i. 92
Goshebund explained, ii. 117
Graham, Mr., Hastings' letter to,
i. 135, ii. 269
Grant, Captain, ii. 178
Gungabissen, i. 119
Guntoor, Sircar of, ii. 57
Guzerat, ii. 218, 222
Hafiz Eahmat Khan, i. 29 ; his
breach of faith, i. 33, 38 ; death
of, i. 46 : ii. 309, 311, 312 ; death
of, ii. 316
Hafiz (the poet), confused with
Eahmat Khan, i, 46
Haldarry explained, ii. 270 ; evils
of, ihid.
Hamadanee, ii. 102, 103 ; assassi-
nates Mirzah Shuffeh, ii. 104
Hamilton, — , his History of the
BoliiUa AfgJians quoted, i. 27,
30, 32, 74
Hanney, Lieutenant-Colonel : peril
of, ii. 170 ; surrounded, ii. 190
Hannev, Major: evidence of,i. 64-7 ;
on Oudh, i. 246
Harris, James, ii. 280
Harrison, Captain, i. 178
Hastings, "Warren : early career of,
i. 1 ; first return to England, i. 2;
member of Madras Council, i. 5 ;
promoted to Bengal, i. 6 ; his dis-
pute with the Council concerning
Mahomed Eeza Khan, i. 7 ; his
settlement of the revenues, i. 12 ;
establishes Civil and Criminal
Courts, i. 16 ; his foreign policy,
i. 20 ; visits Benares, i. 25 ; results
of his interview with the Vizier,
i. 42 ; refuses Champion's request
for prize-money, i. 51 ; appointed
Governor-General, i. 53 ; protests
against recall of Mr. Middleton,
i. 60 ; is accused by Nundcoomar,
i. 78 ; refuses to meet Nund-
coomar before the Board, i. 83 ;
his letter to Lord North (March 27,
1775), i. 134 ; his administrative
and other reforms, i. 144 ; tenders
his resignation to Directors, i.
150 ; refuses to abdicate, i. 153 ;
his ascendancy secured, i. 158 ;
receives news of Burgoyne's sur-
render, i. 167 ; determines to seize
French settlements, i. 169 ; charge
of bribery against, i. 179 ; accom-
modation with Francis, i. 183 ;
their renewed dispute, i. 186 ;
duel with Francis, i. 188 ; replies
to Francis's defence, i. 190 ; on
the Cossijurah case, i. 199 : his
Minute of. September 29, 1780,
i. 209 ; second visit to Benares,
i. 221 ; third visit, i. 229 ; his
action with regard to Cheyt Sing,
i. 234 ; makes treaty with the
Vizier of Oudh, i. 243 ; his re-
marks on the case of the Begums,
i. 249 : his objections to the "Treaty
with Tippoo Sahib, i. 288 ; his
I'eview of his policj-, i. 290 ; de-
fence of his pohcy, i. 298 ; declares
intention of resigning, i. 299 ;
arrives at Lucknow, i. 306 ; sends
mission to Thibet, i. 310 ; returns
to Calcutta, i. 314 ; close of his
administration, i. 316 ; his vindi-
cation, i. 322 ; Minute on Eohilla
War, ii. 309 ; letter to Vizier of
Oude, ii. 312 ; meets Vizier at
Benares, ii. 314
Higginson, Alex., ii. 289, 299
Hill, Captain, ii. 178
Hocquart, M.. i. 170
Hoogly, i. 162
Hooker, Mr., murder of, ii. 187
Hornby, William, recalled to Eng-
land, i. 292
Hoshungabad, General Goddard at,
ii. 249
Hougly, Settlement of, ii. 278
INDEX
343
Hughes, Admiral Sir Edward, i. 194 ;
at Madras, i. 269 ; second action,
i. 274
Hurdy Earn, Dewan of Cuttack,
ii. 211, 212
Hussein Khan in Kather, i. 26
Hustabood explained, ii. 269, 272
Huzzoor ZUahs, ii. 271, 273
Hyde, John, Justice, i. 53 ; commits
Nundcoomar, i. 100, 103 ; tries
Nmidcoomar, i. 108 ; issues writ
against Eajah of Cossijurah, i. 199
Hyder Ah : his interview with the
British envoy, i. 277 ; his death,
i. 262 ; his character, ibid.; ii. 200
Hyder Beg, ii. 177
Ijlas explained, ii. 283
lUahabad, i. 61, 70, 75, ii. 310, 318,
821
Impey, E. B., his Memoirs of Sir
E. hnpey quoted, i. 152, 153, 216
Impey, Sir Elijah : appointed Chief
Justice, i. 53, 97, 98 ; sums up in
the case of Nundcoomar, i. 120,
125 ; letter to Lord Thurlow, i.
152; Warren Hastings on, i. 155 ;
becomes Judge of the Sudder Di-
wani Adalat, i. 211 ; prepares a
code, i. 212 ; attacked in England,
i. 214 ; his recall demanded, i.
215 ; resigns his Judgeship, i. 215 ;
his letter to the Governor-General
and Council, i. 216, 217 ; Macau-
lay's attack on, i. 218
Janssjee, ii. 53, 219
Jarret, Mr., Nundcoomar's attorney,
i. 125
Jauts, ii. 319
Jehandar Shah, ii. 59 ; his narra-
tive, u. 98
Jelagoon, i. 175
Jemmaut Sing Goojer, ii. 114
Jenauby AUea, ii. 170
Jessore, Settlement of, ii. 278
Jissoo Sing, ii. 113
Johnson, Richard, resident at
Nizam's Court, ii. 43, 56, 58, 167
Jones, Captain, at Cooch Behar,
i. 20
Jowar Ally Khan, i. 247
Judicial reforms, i. 213
Juggur Dew Sing, ii. 179
Juggut Chund, i. 85
Jumna, Eiver, i. 177
Jungehs explained, ii. 107
Jungleterry defined, ii. 79
Justice : Mahomedan , i. 13 ; ad-
ministration of, i. 268, 277, 281,
290
Kabulyat explained, i. 232
Kamal-ud-din. See Commaul O
Deen
Karar-nama. See Curra-nama
Kather, situation of, i. 26
Kaye, Sir J. W., his Administration
of the East India Company
quoted, i. 55, 159, 160
Kazi explained, i. 204
Kellinoor, Hyder at, i. 272
Khalsa Eecords, Supplement of, ii.
305
Khalsah Shereefah, ii. 103
Khelaat. See Khellaut
I\liellaut explained, i. 138 ; ii. 100
Khizzerabad, ii. 100
Khond, Chimnajee at, ii. 213
Kissen Juan Doss examined, i. 118
Kissennagur, i. 12 ; auction of lands
at, ii. 271, 273
Kistbundy explained, ii. 5
Knox, Fort, ii. 242
Koottub-'u-deen Khan, ii. 105
Korah, ii. 309, 310, 313, 318, 321
Kumaon, Eaja of, i. 26
Kummir-u-deen-Nugger, ii. 114
Kura, Battle of, i. 29
Kurrah, ii. 309
Kuttereh, ii. 116
Kuttulluk Sultan Begum, ii. 107
La Fendant, i. 284
Lalla Bucherange, ii. 177
Lalla Suddanund, Buxey, ii. 128,
130, 143
Lambert, Mr., i. 36
Land revenue, settlement of, i. 144,
158
Lane, Thos., ii. 278, 280
Lang, Colonel, i. 265
Lapwing, the, ii. 268, 275
Larkins, Mr., estimates by, ii. 16
U Auriston captured, i. 270
Lawrell, James, i. 36, ii. 269, 314,
315
Lecky, W. H., his History of Eng-
land quoted, i. 55
Le Maistre, S. C, Justice, i. 53 ;
commits Nundcoomar, i. 100,
103 ; tries Nundcoomar, i. 108
344
INDEX
Leslie, Colonel : on Rohilla War, i.
62-4 ; in command, i. 1G6, ii. 62
Lindsay, Hon. Captain, at Arni,
i. 273
Loll Dang, i. 68
Loongeh explained, ii. 107
Lora. engagement at, i. 228
Lubin, Chevalier de St., at Poona,
i. 164
Lueap, Major, defeats Futteh Shah,
ii. 190
Lueknow, Warren Hastings at, ii.
2, 25, 28, 106
Luttaf!ut Ally Khan, i. 248, ii. 101,
102
Lutteefpoor, capture of, i., 228; ii.
133, 180, 183, 186
Macartney, Lord : disregards Sir E.
Coote's advice, i. 269 ; negotiates
with Tippoo Sahib, i. 287 ; ii. 31
M'Dougal, Captain, ii. 162, 164
Macaulaj', Lord : his essay on
Warren Hastings quoted, i. 71 ;
exaggerations of, i. 73, 108, 207,
220 ; his attack on Impey, i. 218
Macleane, S., Colonel, negotiates
on Warren Hastings' behalf, i.
148-9
Macpherson, John, Member of
Council, ii. 40, 42, 44, 123
McPherson, Major, ii. 242 3
Madajee Sindia. See Mahadajec
Madras, i. 173 ; naval action at,
i. 269 ; second action, i. 274
Madras Council, Warren Hastings
Member of, i. 5
Maganime, H.M.S., i. 274
Mahadajee Sindia. i. 291; ii. 52;
made Wakeel Muttaluk, ii. 59,
67 ; treaty with, ii. 189
Mahadew Dass, ii. 159
Mahawn, ii. 117
Mahe : surrender of, i. 174 ; attack
on, i. 278
Mahomed Elich Khan, i. 239
Mahomed Eeza Khan : at Moorshe-
dabad, i. 6 ; trial of, i. 11 ; em-
bezzlement by, i. 79, 138
Mahomed Shahv, Settlement of, ii.
278
Mahommed Akbar Khawass, ii. 104
Mahommed Yaccoob Khan, ii. 98
101, 103
Mahon, Lord, his History of Eng-
land quoted, i. 4, 153
Mahratta affairs (1780), i. 176
Mahrattas : WaiTen Hastings on,
ii. 51 ; invade Kohilla country,
ii. 309
Malabar Coast, i. 192
Malwa, Province of, i. 222
Mamdy, i. 65
Manojee, Dewan, ii. 211, 212
Markham, Sir C. E., quoted, i. 314
Markham, William, i. 223-4, ii.
132, 143, 145, 150 ; arrests Cheit
Sing, 151, 153
Marriage, impediments to, ii. 287
Massulipatam, Colonel Pearse at,
ii. 4, 21
Maujid, i. 246
Mayaffre, Captain : at Piamnagar,
i. 226, ii. 161 ; killed, ii. 162,
176
Meer Aazim, ii. 108
Meer Ayum, ii. 107
Meer Cassim, defeat of, i. 78
Meer Jaffir : Warren Hastings at
the Court of, i. 1 ; his widow, i. 7
Mehipnarain, Bauboo, ii. 188
Meradabad, i. 65
Merivale, — , Memoirs of Sir P.
Francis quoted, i. 197
Merfofi, H.M.S., i. 167
Middleton, Nathaniel : arrests Eeza
Khan, i. 6 ; Eesident at Ouilh,
i. 49, 56 ff; recalled, i. 60 ; rein-
stated at Oudh, i. 144, ii. 269 ;
at Moorshedabad, ii. 277, 829,
830, 333, 334, 836
Midnapore, i. 2, ii. 200 ; Settle-
ment of, 278
Mill, James : his History of India
quoted, i. 21-8, 28 ; inaccuracy of,
i. 33, 35, 36, 44, 67, 261
Minto, Lord, made Governor-
General, i. 197
Mirza Amaunay, Nawab, i. 76
Mirza Jehander Shah, ii. 33
Mirza Shuffy Khan, ii. 58, 99, 100,
101, 102, 104 ; assassinated, ii.
104
Moatimud u'Dowlah, ii. 115
Moazem u' Dowlah, ii. 105
Mocha, attempt to trade with,
ii. 18
Mohtesib, duties of, ii. 283
Mohun Pershaud, i. 85, 99, 132
Molwee Fukher u deen, ii. 107
Momalic, Nabob Vizier ul. ii. 116,
117
INDEX
345
Monarca, H.M.S., i. 275
Monmouth, the, i. 270, 275. 276
Monson, Hon. George, i. 36 ; ap-
pointed Member of Council, i. 53 ;
supports Francis, i. 76 ; his rela-
tions with Nundcoomar, i. 81,
82, 83, 85 ; on Nundcoomar's im-
prisonment, i. 103 ; on Nund-
coomar's petition, i. 126, 128,
139 ; death of, i. 151 ; ii. 330
Moodajee, ii. 52, 53
Moodajee Boosla, i. 291, ii. 189,
205, '255
Moonsefee, its meaning discussed,
ii. 220
Moorshedabad, i. 11, 15, 16 ;
address from, to Warren Hast-
ings, i. 319 ; Board of Revenue
at, ii. 275
Moradabad, ii. 114
Morgan, Colonel Charles, ii. 21,
171 ; Warren Hastings on, ii.
193, 196
Mudjid u'Dowlah, ii. 100
Muchulka explained, i. 233
Mufti explained, i. 204 ; duties of,
ii. 283
Muir, Colonel : in command against
Sindia, ii. 173 ; concludes treaty
with Sindia, ii. 189
Mukkurrim u'Dowlah, ii. 106, 109,
117
Munnihar Sing, ii. 156
Munny Begum : made guardian of
the Nawab, i. 7, 10; Nund-
coomar produces letter from,
i. 85
Munro, Sir Hector : repulsed by
Hyder Ali, i. 194, 261 ; retreat of,
ii. 199
Murteza Khan, i. 239, 242
Musjid Jehan-nummah, the, ii. 99,
101
Muttisiddees, ii. 266
Myher, ii. 185
Nagpur, i. 181 ; importance of,
ii. 54
Naib Dwan, abolition of, ii. 268
Naib Nazim explained, ii. 306
Naib Phousdar, the, ii. 207
Najay explained, ii. 265
Nana Fadnavis joins the French,
i. 164
Nanna Furneess, Dewan of the
Peshwa, ii. 52
Narrainqur, ii. 250
Natives, litigiousness of, ii. 293
Nawab, meaning of, i. 1
Nawaub Allea, ii. 170
Naj'lor, Major, relieves Hannay's
force, ii. 1 90
Nazims, ii. 266 ; duties of, 283
Negapatam, capture of, i. 269
Neel explained, i. 311
Neelah Chuttery, ii. 109
Nerbudda, River, i. 252, 320
Nobkissen, Rajah, examined, i. 113
Noorghur, ii. 109
North, Lord : his placidity, i. 134 ;
on the Rohilla War, i. 147 ;
ii. 61
Nottingham,, the, ii. 264
Nuddea, i. 12 ; Settlement of, ii.
269, 279
Nujiff Khan, Rohilla Chief, i. 195 ;
ii. 58. 98, 100, 315
Nundcoomar : Warren Hastings on
the character of, i. 8, 9 ; his ac-
cusations against Warren Hast-
ings, i. 78 ; appears before the
Board, i. 85 ; charged with for-
gery, i. 100 ; his letter to the Board,
i. 101 ; committed to prison, i. 103 ;
trial of, i. 108 ; verdict, i. 125; exe
cution of, i. 126
Nunsing Gosjer, ii. 113
Orissa, revenues of, i. 2, 21 ; i. 52
Oudah Kirrum, ii. 113
Oudh, ii. 309 10
Oudh : the Begums of, i. 235 ;
charges against, i. 245
Oudh, Vizier of, draft of treaty
with, ii. 326
Owen, Colonel, announces Sir E.
Coote's death, i. 285
Owsan Sing, ii. 126, 157
Pacheat, Settlement of, ii. 278
Pachetra, the, ii. 279
Palmer, Major, Military Secretary,
ii. 27, 141
Panipat, Battle of, i. 22, 68
Panna, capital of Bundelcund, ii.
190
Pateeta, Battle of, i. 227, ii. 175 ;
described, ii. 180, 183
Patna, i. 15, 16 ; Battle of, i. 29
Patna Cause, The, i. 203
Patter Ghaut, ii. Ill
346
INDEX
Parliamentary History of Eng
land quoted, i. 292
Pauly, Monsieur, ii. 101, 102
Pearse, Colonel : at Pulicat. i. 263
in the Carnatic, ii. 4, 21, 200
his route to the Carnatic, ii. 204
his march through Orissa, ii. 214,
225, 254, 260
Pellybeet, i. 66
Permacoil relieved, i. 255
Perrechut Ghur, ii. 113
Peshcush explained, ii. 117
Phoujdar, duties of, ii. 283
Phoujdarree Court, exactions of, ii.
286
Piearce, Mr., ii. 243, 245
Pikes, rewards to, ii. 299
Plassey, Battle of, i. 1, 68
Plassey, Treaty of, ii. 267
Polhill, Lieutenant, i. 226 ; defeats
Shehaub Khan, ii. 174, 178
Pondicherry : capture of, i. 172 ;
Eyre Coote at, i. 256, ii. 32
Pone (or Poony), River, i. 265
Poona, St. Lubin at, i. 164, 181,
ii. 51
Popham, Major : captures Gohud
and Lahar, i. 177 ; at Ramnagar, i.
226 ; at Lutteefpoor, i. 228; ii. 152,
154 ; report by, ii. 155, 159, 161,
164, 178, 183 ; at Pateeta, ii. 184 ;
pursues Cheit Sing, ii. 190 ; cap-
tures Bidjeygur, ihid. ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 193, 195
Portland, Duke of, Prime Minister,
i. 294
Porto Novo, Battle of, i. 259
Pottah explained, i. 232, ii. 270
Puchuttra, ii. 294
Pudmohun Doss, i. 120, 122
Purandhar, Treaty of, i. 143, 163,
166, 176
Putchra-noo, ii. 114
Puttergur, i. 63, 66
Radachurn, acquittal of, i. 98
Radshahy, Settlement of, ii. 273
Raghoba, Treaty with, i. 140, ii. 63
Raghunath Rao, i. 22 ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 223
Ragoojee, ii. 219
Raja Amrit Sing arrested, i. 6
Rajahram Pundit. See Ram
Rajemehal, ii. 79
Rajshahy. See Radshahy
Raja Goordas proposed as Dewan,
i. 7, 80, 126
Ramchurn, i. 93
Ramghat, i. 31, 34, ii. 311
Ramjeeawun, ii. 160, 179
Ramnagur, i. 226; described, ii. 159,
160, 163. 1H2
Rampore, i. 65, ii. 115
Ram Pundit, Rajah, ii. 235, 239,
244 ; at Calcutta, ii. 248
Raow Munny Khan, ii. 100
Redfearn, Mr., ii. 241, 244, 247
Reforms instituted by Warren Has-
tings, i. 12
Regvilating Act (1773), i. 52; failure
of, i. 55
liesolute, the, i. 284
Revenue, Board of, i. 159
Revenue, difficulty of collecting,
ii. 266
Rezza Cooli Khan, ii. 179
Roberts, Major, ii. 177, 178
Rockingham, Marquis of, dies, i.
293
Rockwood, Sir E. Coote buried at,
i. 285
Roebuck, H.M.S., i. 167
Roh, boundaries of, i. 28
Rohilcund, i. 25 ; invaded by Mah-
rattas, i. 29, 30, 63, 69
Rohilla sardars. i. 30
Rohilla War, i. 45 ; inquiry into,
i. 61 ; review of, i. 68 ; despatch
on, i. 136 ; Minute by Warren
Hastings on, ii. 309, 316 ; his
answer to objections, ii. 317
Roopnarain, Roy, ii. 115
Rouse, Boughton, i. 98
Royroj-an, duties of, ii. 304
Roz Adawlut explained, ii. 283
Saadit Ally, i. 247, ii. 165 (Saadut
Ali Khan)
Sabit Rhaman, ii. 107, 108
Sadooram, Roy, ii. 115
St. George. Fort, i. 194
Sairul-Mutakerin on Xundcoomar's
trial, i. 126
Sakaram Bapu, i. 165
Salbai, Treaty of, i. 277, 286
Salsette, i. 140, 252
Salt administration, i. 161 ; business
of, ii. 279
Sambhal, i. 32
Scindia. See Madajee
Scott, Captain, ii. 117
IXDEX
347
Scott, Lieutenant, ii. 150, 151 ;
killed, ii. 155
Scott, Major, i. 314, ii. 43
Seeker, fort and town, ii. 174
Serpeisk explained, ii. 117
Serroniunnagur, ii. 116
Serrora, ii. 113
Shabajee Booslah, ii. 53
Shah Alum : in Kather, ii. 26 ;
Warren Hastings on, ii. 58
Shahjehanpore, ii. 116
Shah Turkomaan, tomb of, ii. 100
Shawbad, i. 65
Shawbunder, the, ii. 279
Shehaub Khan, ii. 174
Shelburne, Lord, Prime Minister,
i. 293
Shewallah, ii. 187
Shicdars, ii. 267
Shitab Koy : at Patna, i. 6 ; trial of,
i. 11 ; embezzlement by, i. 79
Sholingar, Battle of, i. 264
Shookeh explained, ii. 116
Shore, Sir John : assists Francis,
i. 144 ; on Warren Hastings, 321
Shujah - ud - Dowlah : defeated at
Kura, i. 29 ; meeting with Warren
Hastings, ii. 126
Sics (Sikhs), ii. 59, 111, 112
Sidney, Lord, ii. 43
Silabut, i. 113
Simbu, i. 63
Simes, Lieutenant, ii. 150 ; killed,
ii. 155
Sindia, Mahadajee, i. 195. See also
Mahadajee
Sirrabad, Fort, ii. 113
Slaves, condition of, in India, ii. 289
Smith, General, i. 58, ii. 330
Soleyman Shekoh, ii. 104, 105
Soobanreeka, River, ii. 242
Soorut Sing, Rajah, ii. 115
Souba explained, i. 10
Stalker, Lieutenant, ii. 150, 151 ;
killed, ii. 155
Staunton, Mr., Private Secretary,
ii. 32
Stephen, Sir J. F., his Story of
Nuncomar quoted, i. 82, 86-7, 89,
91, 97. 108, 111, 114, 121, 130,
133, 155, 205
Strachey, Sir John, his Hastings
and the Bohilla War quoted,
i. 74, 137
Stuart, General, commands Madras
army, i. 283, 286
Subadar explained, i. 21
Subunreeka, the, ii. 250
Suckroot, pass and village, ii. 183
Suddamunnah, ii. 114
Suddanund, Buxey, ii. 146, 181
Sudder-odin, i. 94
Sujah-u-dowla, ii. 64, 67, 319, 321
Sujan Sing, ii. 156, 179, 181, 187
Sukkertol, ii. 309
Sullivan, Mr. : friend of Warren
Hastings, i. 178, 183 ; letter from
Warren Hastings to, ii. 328
Sultan, H.M.S., i. 274
Sumboonaut, agent of Cheit Sing,
ii. 134
Sumbul, i. 65
Sumbulpore, ii. 213
Siiperh, the, i. 270, 275, 276
Supervisors, British, i. 14
Surajah-ul-Dowla, i. 1
Surat, i. 175 ; detachment at, ii. 21
Surprise, the, ii. 7, 35
Swalloiv, the, i. 189, 190
Syed Akbar Ali Khan, ii. 117
Taaje Mahal, Begum, ii. 106
Talookdars, Warren Hastings on,
ii. 271
Tanjore, i. 173
Tannadars, rewards to, ii. 299
Taylor, William, on Mahratta
affairs, i. 143
Teesho lama, i. 311
Terai, forests of, i. 29
Thanadars explained, i. 213
Thibet : Bogle's mission to, i. 311 ;
Turner's, i. 312
Thornton, Sir E., his History of
British Empire in India quoted,
i. 151
Thurlow, Lord, on Oudh, i. 244
Timur, the House of, i. 310
Tipperah, i. 16
Tippoo, son of Hyder Ali, i. 283,
291, ii. 54, 58
Trichinopoly, i. 173
Trincomalee : capture of, i. 269 ;
cession of, ii. 31
Tughlimabad, ii. 110
Tukkia, ii. 115, 117
Turner, Charles, his mission to
Thibet, i. 312
Upton, Colonel, i. 143
Usury, suppression of, ii. 294
348
INDEX
Yalentia, Lord, Voyages and Tra-
vels quoted, i. 251
Valentine, the, ii. 322
Vansittart, Mr., i. 2, 36 ; Warren
Hastings on, ii. 23, 76, 315
Veesmaswar, teruple of, i. 319
Vellaar, Eiver, i. 259
Vellite, M. de, i. 174
Vellore, i. 173 ; mutiny at, i. 198 ;
relief of, i. 265
Verelst, Mr., i. 58, ii. 330
Yizier of Oudh, death of, i. 75
Wala Jah, Nabob, ii. 57, 59. 67
Wandewash : reheved, i. 255 ; siege
of, raised, i. 263
Wargaum, Convention of, i. 176
Wazir explained, i. 21
Westland, J., report on Jessore,
i. 214
Wheler, Edward : appointed to
Council, i. 150; Member of Coun-
cil, ii. 123, 140, 141, 143, 224, 243
Whitehill, Mr., Governor of Madras,
i. 254
Wilks, Colonel, History of Mysore
quoted, i. 258, 265, 285
Williams, Colonel, on Oudh, i. 247
Williams, Dr., examines Nund-
coomar, i. 112
Wilson, — , Glossary of Indian
Terms quoN3d, i. 17
Worcester, the, i. 270
Yeazaz-az-jaan explained, ii. 236
Y'etasub abolished, ii. 298
Yule, Colonel H., and A. C. Burnell,
Hohson-Jobson quoted, i. 1, 6,
10, 138, 204
Zabitta Khan, i. 34
Zein-ul-Aub-u'Deen, ii. 100
Zemindars : administration of, i. 13,
ii. 72 ; Warren Hastings on, ii. 271
Zoolfeccar u'Dowlah, ii. 98
BILLING A2JD SONS, LTD., PRIXTIiRS, criLDFORD
WORKS BY G. W. FORREST, CLE.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
SELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERS, DESPATCHES,
AND OTHER STATE PAPERS Preserved in the Foreign
Department of the Government of India, 1772-85.
" It is impossible to exaggerate the historical value and importance of
the three volumes of Selections." — Times'first notice.
" Mr. Forrest, by the publication of these three volmnes of records, has,
for the first time, converted the acquittal of Warren Hastings by the House
of Lords into a complete historical discharge of the high crimes and mis-
demeanours of which he stood impeached." — Times' second notice.
" In publishing the Proceedings of the Secret Select Committee of the
Bengal Council from 1772 to 1785, Mr. Forrest enables us to trace the
whole course of Hastings' Indian Administration from the day when he
took his seat as Governor of Bengal to the day when he resigned the office
of Governor General. . . . More light was needed to dispel the mist that
still hung around a great man's memory. The light now turned upon it
from Calcutta reveals the full extent of the injustice done to Hastings both
in his lifetime and since his death. These Bengal State Papers deal the
death-blow to the group of legends invented by Philip Francis for the use
of Burke, and brought into order, and more lasting currency, by Macaulay.
. . . In a masterly introduction of a hundred pages, Mr. Forrest condenses
the political history of the thirteen j^ears during which Hastings governed
Bengal. His narrative bristles with references, and with quotations, not
only from the State Papers, but from every known authority of any weight."
— AthencBum.
" The reader will therefore be grateful to Professor Forrest for the lucid
and masterly introduction in which he relates the history of the period
covered by the Selections. In performing this task it was impossible for
him to avoid constant reference to the attacks made both at the time and
afterwards on every act of Hastings' career. He is careful, however, not
to allow the personality of that much-badgered ruler to overshadow the
exciting incidents of his times. With rare skill and perfect fairness he
reviews the whole period, and while showing the relation of the men to the
events, it is to the events rather than to the men that he directs our atten-
tion. It is this attitude that constitutes the special value of the intro-
duction, for after all what concerns us moderns in these selections is not
so much the character of the men as that of the measures by which the
British Empire in India was established." — Pioneer.
SELECTIONS FROM THE STATE PAPERS Preserved in
the Bombay Secretariat (Home Series).
" The two volumes now before us deal with the great Company's
domestic affairs in India from 1630 to 1788, the year before Tippoo pro-
voked the wrath of Cornwallis by his attack upon Travancore. ' In the
letters and narratives of the chief actors we have here related,' says the
able Editor, 'the earliest domestic history of our Indian Empire.' In
these volumes we can trace the gradual change in the servants of the
Company from factors to soldiers and rulers of men. They show us how
the modest little factory founded at Surat in 1614 proved to be the germ
of a dominion nearly as large and populous as all Europe.
"In an introduction of fifty-two pages Mr. Forrest provides an excellent
historical summary of the period embraced in these two volumes.
( 2 )
" The Editor's share in the production of these volumes cannot be too
hif,dily praised. . . ." — Athcnceuvi, 9th June, 188H.
" They contain an immense amount of curious and valuable information
not only about the commercial and political affairs of the East India Com-
pany, but also on the subjects of the mode of life followed by Englishmen
resident in the country and of their relations with the natives. . . . These
volumes contain umch new material towards the history of the East India
Company which is sure to be written sooner or later, now that our latest
investigations of the manuscript records, still happily existing both in
London and in India, are establishing the incompleteness and frequent in-
accuracy of the hitherto accepted standard work — ' Bruce's Annals.'
Among those who have brought this hidden wealth of knowledge to light,
no one deserves more credit than Mr. Forrest." — Asiatic Quarterhj Review.
SELECTIONS FROM THE STATE PAPERS Preserved in
the BoMiJAY Secretariat (Mahratta Series).
" In a quarto volume of more than seven hundred pages, Mr. Forrest,
of the Deccan College and the Bombay University, has brought together
the first fruits of his researches among the mass of records preserved in
the Bombay Secretariat. By means of these records he has traced anew
' the history of the Mahrattas from their founder Shivaji, who welded a
few tribes into a great nation, to their defeat by the matchless genius of
Wellington.' The documents which form the bulk of the volume record,
in fact, our dealings with the Mahrattas from 1739 to 1803 — that is, from
the siege of Bassein to the battle of Assaye.
" So carefully has he discharged it to the smallest detail, that there is
hardly a misprint noticeable in the whole volume.
" In his ' Short Historical Introduction ' of thirty-four quarto pages.
Professor Forrest has extracted the pith and essence of the raw material
contained in the body of the book. This clear, lively, and connected
narrative of the Company's dealings with the Mahrattas during sixty
eventful years shows how skilfully, with how much care and judgment,
the Editor has discharged his difficult task. OnW those who have waded
through the original records can fully appreciate the skill and labour
bestowed on a summary which may be read with interest and advantage
by many who might not choose to explore further. Among the new matter
reserved for this opening essay is the letter in which Lieutenant Pruen, of
the Bombay Marine, describes in sober, official language an exploit rival-
ling that of Sir Richard Grenville on board the Revenge." — Athenceum.
"A considerable portion of these State Papers is rather the source of
history than history- itself. But Mr. Forrest has written a prelimmary
chapter in which he connects one event with another, and gives to the
whole work somethmg of unity, consistency, and design. . . . But argu-
ments on this and other suggestive topics should be studied carefully in
Mr, Forrest's valuable contribution by those who wish for something
better than a mere superficial sketch of early empire in India and a spite-
ful caricature of the character and aims of its founders." — Saturday
Bevieiv.
SELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERS, DESPATCHES,
AND OTHER STATE PAPERS Preserved in the Military
Department of the Government of India, 1857-58.
" Mr. Forrest, the Director of Records to the Government of India, has
issued a volume of Military Selections of great interest. It consists of the
Mutiny papers preserved in the Militarj' Department in Calcutta. We
hope to notice adequately this carefully-prepared work at an early date
( 3 )
Although Mr. Forrest travels over well-trodden ground, his patience and
accuracy have succeeded in presenting, in a new light, several important
facts connected with the Mutiny. His introductory chapter is, as usual
with him, an admirable piece of impartial historical narrative. At present
we have only space to welcome his work without attempting even to sum-
marize its contents." — Times' first notice.
" Not only has Mr. Forrest, while indulging in no padding and no fire-
works, clothed the skeleton of his abstract with the Hesh and blood of a
' live ' and interested as well as interesting story, but he has managed at
the same time to articulate and display that skeleton so clearly, that the
reader has no difficulty in recognizing the connection of all the proceedings
recounted later under the legal and professional verbiage of courts-martial
and despatches." — Saturday Bevietv.
" Mr. Forrest's book consists mainly of a selection from the military
archives of those papers which exhibit clearly the causes and circumstances
of this extraordinary revolt ; showing hoAV it began with premonitory
symptoms of mutiny among the troops in Lower Bengal, seemed for the
moment to have subsided under vigorous repression, but soon exploded
into murderous insurrection at Meerut and Delhi. Then follow the official
documents recording in detail the vicissitudes of that brief but fierce cam-
paign, which broke the neck of rebellion by the storm of the Imperial city.
To the student of Anglo-Indian history, to all who love graphic particulars
of great transactions, to those who desire to know not only what was done
but how it was done, these papers will be very welcome and very interest-
ing. More : Mr. Forrest has given an introduction, wherein the whole
story is told in clear and vivid style, accurately and comprehensively ; with
the sympathetic animation of one who describes a sharp and stubborn
contest, yet without the fervid exuberance, whether of praise or of pathos,
that has been indulged in by certain (otherwise excellent) writers upon the
event." — National Observer.
" The narrative in this volume is one of profound and absorbing interest.
We say the narrative, because, after all, it is the introductory chapter by
Mr. Forrest rather than the despatches and other documents which fill the
greater part of the volume, that will be most attractive to the general
reader. And what a narrative it is ! . . . It is this splendid story of which
we have the full account in Mr. Forrest's volume, told not only in the
graphic narrative of the editor, but in the contemporary despatches of the
chief actors in the memorable drama. After reading the narrative, one
turns with renewed admiration to the documents on which it is based only
to find ourselves called upon to admire afresh the stern simplicity of these
records, the conspicuous absence of anything like self-praise or hysterical
exaggeration. Clearly it was only the men who could do such deeds who
were capable of writing of them with such studied calmness and self-
restraint.'' — Sj^ealer.
SEPOY GENERALS : WELLINGTON TO ROBERTS.
With Portraits.
"A writer who recalls in stirring language the deeds of the great men
who won the Empire is deserving of a double welcome. . . . There are
names amongst them which stir the blood of Anglo-Indians as the bugle
stirs the war-horse turned out to grass. . . . They are all recalled to life
in this admirable volume, by a master of all the enthralling mystery of the
English Orient." — Daily Telegraph.
" Mr. G. W. Forrest was well inspired in revising and republishing these
studies of Sepoy Generals. His lively style lends play to his erudition, and
he has the one supreme merit in the narrative of stirring events — that of a
keen eye for an effective quotation from contemporary records." — Pall
Mall Gazette,
( 4 )
"Mr. Forrest, in his admirable 'Sepoy Generals,' has sketched com-
manders of either kind. Wellington and Roberts belong to the history of
the world. Herbert Edwardes and John .Jacob did all their work and won
all their glory in India itself. But Mr. Forrest has drawn them all with
equal skill. . . . lie knows the history of our great dependency as few
living writers know it ; he is as familiar with the Indian records as most
men are with the daily paper ; and it is inipossible to read a page of his
book without recognizing the grasp which he has of a subject peculiarly
his own." — Spectator.
" Mr. Forrest, who displays a lively affection for the natives of India, is
always careful to bring out every good point in their character, and to
record their gallantry in action. . , . The descriptions of battles are spirited,
which is a great thing, and, what is even less common, they are in-
telligible." — Standard.
"His work is altogether invigorating and delightful." — St. James's
Budget,
" The subject is intensely interesting ; it is dealt with in a bright and
interesting way within manageable bounds, and the author has kept the
general reader steadily in view. On the other hand, these biographical
studies are the result of long and careful original research carried on by the
writer in circumstances peculiarly favourable to the acquisition of accurate
information. For this reason the book is worthy the attention of the
serious historical student, while at the same time it is put in a fc^rm which
will attract the casual reader and provide him with entertainment as
well as instruction in a period of our Imperial existence which is liable to
be overlooked nowadays. The Scotsman, Mr. Forrest, has put together an
interesting and valuable book, comprising succinct sketches of those great
British soldiers and administrators who have helped to give Great Britain
her Empire of India.'' — Irish Times.
" All are well worth perusal, but probably the one to which most readers
will turn in the first place is that of the present Commander-in-Chief of
our Army. They will there find an admirable account of Lord Eoberts'
services in the Indian Mutiny, based on official records and contemporary
literature ; a story of the Afghan Campaign mainly told from Lord Roberts'
own despatches, which the author had occasion closely to examine as he
was at one time asked to edit the official history of the war ; and finally,
an account of Lord Roberts' share in the South African campaign, mainly
based on his own despatches." — United Service Gazette.
" It is written with equal spirit, knowledge, and discretion." — Navy and
Army Illustrated.
'■' Close reading as the volume is, the pages are brim full of interest from
start to finish." — Naval and Military Record.
" Of the quality of Mr. Forrest's book nothing but good can be said. . . .
We should be glad, for many reasons, if more currency could be given to
Mr. Forrest's volume. It is essentially a work which is calculated to do
good both in India and in England." — Times of India.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE MARQUIS OF LANS-
DO WNE, Viceroy and Governor - General of India,
1888-94. K ^
''Valuable and interesting." — Times.
" Into a thin octavo volume of fewer than seventy pages, Mr. G. W.
Forrest has compressed a full, clear, and faithful summary of Lord Lans-
downe's Indian Administration, from the close of 1888 to the beginning of
1894. As Director of Records to the Governor of India, Mr. Forrest adds
to his many other qualifications the special knowledge and experience
which such a task demands." — AthencBum.
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