Proceedings at a General 
 Court of Proprietors of East- 
 India Stock. . .Relative to the 
 Hon. barren Hastings
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 ATA 
 
 GENERAL COURT, &c.
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 GENERAL COURT 
 
 PROPRIETORS 
 
 EAST-INDIA STOCK, 
 
 HSLD AT THfc 
 
 INDIA-HOUSE, 
 
 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1783, 
 
 8.ELATIVS T THS 
 
 Hon. WARREN HASTINGS, 
 
 GOVERNOR GENERAL OF BENGAL. 
 
 " l"o' ft i> o N : 
 
 Printed for J. D E B R E T T, pppofite BVRLINGTOlT- 
 
 Houst, PICCADILLY. 
 
 M. D. C C. L X X X 1 I!.

 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 order to elucidate the following important 
 debate, we wifh to bring to the recollection of 
 the public, the following circumftances : 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1782, the late Lord 
 Advocate of Scotland propofed a refolution in 
 V the Houfe of Commons, " That it was the du- 
 ' ty of the Court of Directors to recal Mr. Haf- 
 tings from the Government of Bengal.'* 
 5 On the i8th of June following, the Court of 
 Proprietors refolved, that the Directors were 
 not to carry into effect any refolution they might 
 come to for the removal of Mr. Haftingr, 
 |? without laying it before a General Court. 
 
 On the 2^d of October, 1782, after violent 
 debates at the India Houfe, thirteen Directors 
 voted for the removal of Mr. Haftings ten 
 Directors oppofed the meafure, and feven of 
 thefe gentlemen protefted againft it in the ftrong- 
 eft manner. 
 
 On the 24th, this refolution was laid before 
 a General Court, wheivit was fully and ably de- 
 bated, and the following motion was made by 
 Governor Johnftone, and feconded by Samuel 
 Smith, jun. Efq. member for Ilchefter. 
 
 That it appears to this court, from incontef- 
 table evidence drawn from the records of the 
 r r >4- 1 ^ Com-
 
 ivi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Company, and fupported by the unanimous 
 opinion of the Houfe of Commons, that the 
 war in which we are nqw .engaged with the 
 Marattas, " was evidently founded on the fenti- 
 ments of the Court of Directors, conveying 
 .demands on the Maratta adminiftration greatly 
 exceeding the conditions of the treaty of Poor- 
 under ; which fentiments of the Court of Di- 
 rectors opened the firft defign of fending a de- 
 tachment from Bengal to the Malabar coaft ;" 
 and that confequently it would be the height of 
 injuftice to lay the blame of that war, or trie 
 evils which have flowed from it, upon Mr. 
 Haftings, when it appears, " that the diflatis- 
 faftion of the Court of Directors expreffed at 
 the treaty of Poorunder, in their letters to Ben- 
 gal of the 5th of February, and to Bombay of 
 the 1 6th of April, 1777, gave the ftrongeft en- 
 couragement to both prelidencies, to feize the 
 liigbteft pretence of provocation from the mi- 
 nifters of the Maratta ftates, to renew their en- 
 gagements with Ragobah." Neither have the 
 meafures adopted by Mr. Haftings, in confe- 
 quence of fuch inftrucYions, ever received the 
 {lighter! cenfure from the faid Court of Direc- 
 tors ; in confideration whereof, it is now recom- 
 mended to the Court of Directors to refcind 
 their late refolution refpecling the removal of 
 Warren Haftings, Efq. Governor General of 
 
 Bengal ;
 
 INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 Bengal ; more efpecially as it appears to this 
 Court that, according to the laft f official difpat- 
 ches from Bengal, dated the 8th April, 1782, 
 the profpecl: of peace with the Marattas was then 
 propitious, becaufe it feemed to be wiftied for 
 by all the Maratta ftates ; becaufe hoftilities 
 with them had ceafed for many months, and 
 that a peace had actually been concluded with 
 Mahdajee Sindia, one of the principal chiefs of 
 that confederacy ; and farther, that the Govern- 
 ment General of Bengal were ufing every 
 means in their power to effect a general paci- 
 fication ; and that the conduct of the faid Go- 
 vernment General, tending to produce a gene- 
 ral pacification, or to unite and fupport, by 
 powerful refources, a general confederacy of the 
 country powers, to defeat . the combination of 
 Hyder Ally and the French, (fnppofing the faid 
 Hyder Ally mail not accept of the .reafonable 
 terms of accommodation which have been of- 
 fered to him in confequence of his propofals 
 for peace) merits the warmeft approbation of 
 this Court; and that therefore it would be evi- 
 dently Injurious t the interefts of the Company 
 and the nation to remove any of thofe princi- 
 pal fervants cf the Company, now difcharging 
 their duty with fuch uncommon exertions, abi- 
 lity, and unanimity, or to fhake the authority 
 repofed in them by the legiQature and the Com- 
 pany,
 
 vffi -I N T R O D U C T I O K. 
 
 pany, at a period fo critical, when the profpe- 
 rity of the British interefts in India will de- 
 pend, in a great meafure, on the confidence 
 which the native princes of the country may 
 place in the Government General of Bengal." 
 
 Several Gentlemen who were prefent expreded 
 a wifh that this motion (hould be determined by 
 a ballot, and the friends of Mr. Haftings being 
 very defirous to take the fenfe of the Lait- India 
 Company upon fo important a queftion, in the 
 fulleft and the faireft manner, very readily ac- 
 qniefced, and fome of them figned the requifi- 
 tion for the ballot. On the 31 ft of October 
 the ballot was taken, and the numbers ftood as 
 follow : 
 
 For the queftion 428 
 
 Againftit 75 
 
 Majority in favour of Mr. Haftings 353 
 
 This was the laft proceeding in 1 782, relative 
 to Mr. Haftings. Nothing was done in Parli- 
 ament ; and in confequence of the intelligence 
 received from Bengal by the Supriz^ Packet, 
 Governor Johnftone and eight Proprietors ad- 
 dreffed a letter to the Court of Directors on 
 the 29th of October, defiring that a General 
 Court might be called to confider the late ad- 
 vices from Bengal. It was fixed by the Directors 
 
 to meet on Fridav the 7th inftant. 
 
 P R O-
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 ATA 
 
 GENERAL COURT, &c. 
 
 At a numerous and refpeElable Meeting of the 
 Proprietors of Eaft-Intiia Stock, held at their 
 Houfe In Leadenhall-Street, on Friday^ No* 
 vember 7, 1783; among many other diftin- 
 gui/Jjed Characters prefent were, his Grace the 
 Archbifoop of Tork, General Oglethorpe, the 
 Honourable Mr. Greville, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 fome private bufmefs of little importance^ 
 Sir Henry Fletcher informed the Court of Proprie- 
 tors of the reafon of their being fummoned It was 
 to confider the late advices from Bengal, in con- 
 fequence of a letter from nine proprietors but 
 before they mould enter on the fubjedt for which 
 they were affembled, he begged leave to propofe thac 
 the petition to the Houfe of Commons, prefented 
 B la
 
 laft feffion, in confequence of which they had re- 
 ceived certain aid, but not all they required, might 
 be renewed. He ftated the circumftance to which 
 the petition particularly alluded. They had prayed 
 for liberty to borrow 1,500,000!. Of this fum they 
 had been fuffered to borrow '500,000!. and tempo- 
 rary aid was given them for the i,ooo,oool. but that 
 aid they wifhed to be permanent and the fpecific 
 amount of the relief prayed for would make the only 
 difference between the prefent and the laft petition. 
 
 This buGnefs being finifhed, and the letter read, 
 Governor John/lone addrefled the Chairman 
 
 Sir HENRY FLETCHER, 
 
 The letter which has been read for calling the Ge- 
 neral Court, has already informed the proprietors of 
 the purpoie for which they are aflembled. Thofe ad- 
 vices from the Eaft Indies which they are to take un- 
 der conlideration, have been publifhed in the newfpa- 
 pers, and extracts of all the material intelligence they 
 convey have lain open for the perufal of the proprie- 
 tors, as appears by the public ad'/ertifement for calling 
 the Court ; otherwifc in point of form, I fhould begin 
 by reading the advices to which I mean to refer, be- 
 fore I propofc the motion I intend to fubmit to the 
 confideration of the Court : but as the reading of 
 voluminous public difpatches is often difgufting to 
 fuch affemblies, when the matter under difcufiion is 
 of public notoiiery, and where all who are anxious 
 to undcrftand the particulars have had an opportu- 
 nity
 
 [ 3 ]. 
 
 nity fo to do, 1 mall therefore adopt another mode 
 of proceeding, which is^ by giving the reafons for 
 the motion I mall propofe before I fit down ; and 
 then referring to the particular articles in the dif- 
 patches on which the motion is grounded,, that th~y 
 may be read by the cierk. 
 
 The taik I have impofed upon myfelf is, indeed, 
 attended with much difficulty, not from want of 
 fufficient and fuperabundant matter to vindicate the 
 motion, with which I mean to conclude, giving 
 thanks to Mr. Haftings and his council, for the exer- 
 tions they have, made in the public caufe ; but from 
 that difpofition of party and fade ion. in the ftruggles 
 foi power, which has diftradted this community in 
 every part: to which I impute our late misfortunes, 
 much more than to the exertions of our enemies. 
 Thrsfpirit has gone forth to fueh a rancorous degree 
 that it is hardly pofiible, in the opinion of fome, to 
 give praife to one man, without throwing cenfure on 
 others: but this cenfure is far from being my in- 
 tention ; it is rather my wiflv to heal the diflentions 
 that have prevailed, and to correct that fpirit fo de- 
 trimental to the community, than by any irritation 
 to inflame it. I am not dexterous in my choice of 
 words i but, once for ally I .declare this to be my 
 meaning. Neverthelefs, if there are men of fuch 
 malignity of difpofition, that they cannot view the 
 great actions of men with whom they have been 
 connected in political enmity, without confidering it 
 as a reproach to themfelves, I freely acknowledge I 
 B z would
 
 would rather incur the enmity of fuch men, than 
 withold, as far as I am able to enforce it, that tri- 
 bute of applaufe which is due te thofe who have 
 greatly ferved their country. It has been my lot, 
 Sir, in the ftruggles which this country has under- 
 gone againft her numerous enemies, to attach my- 
 fclf chiefly to thofe characters who were willing 
 boldly to meet the danger, not tamely to fubmit to 
 the indignities of our enemies j nor, by croaking de- 
 fpondency in the hour of diftrefs, when nothing but 
 animated exertion could fave us, unman themiclves, 
 and difpirit their countrymen. It has been the for- 
 tune, or misfortune of other men in this commu- 
 nity, to employ themfelves in curious inveftigation 
 to diminilh the luftre of thofe characters ; but, thank 
 God! juft as the effects of their laborious refearches 
 were likely to burft on my friends, by the news of 
 fome great and glorious action, achieved by thofe 
 perfons, arriving, their reputation has been faved, 
 and the men who would have blafted their fame have 
 been obliged to join in the public applaufe. Such 
 was the cafe of Lord Rodney, who, when abfent in 
 the fervice of his country, had a committee of the 
 Houfe of Commons fitting in fevere fcrutiny on his 
 actions at St. Euftatius. The report was made by 
 the fame right honourable gentleman who has fa- 
 voured the world with the Ninth Report, and other 
 papers, criminating Mr. Haftings nay, the day 
 of his condemnation was fix^d, and his recal had al- 
 ready taken place, when the accounts of the glori- 
 pus 1 2th of April came to raife the fpirit of his 
 
 friends,
 
 t 5 ] 
 
 friends, and to abafh the malignity of his enemies. 
 In like manner, after the inquifitorial proceedings of 
 the Seled Committee had been given to the Houfe 
 of Commons, and induftrioufly circulated to the 
 public, to prejudice the character of Mr. Haftings 
 after he had been repreTented in a great national af- 
 fembly as a public robber, and molt notorious op- 
 .preffor after his enemies had held out the hopes 
 he had given of faving our pdffeflions in the Eaft 
 Indies as fo many fcenes in a feries of delufions, there 
 comes, in a moment, as critical in his favour as the 
 victory of the i2th of April was in that of Lord 
 Pvodney an account of the Maratta treaty, fet- 
 tling and commanding the peace of India, the re- 
 treat of Tippoo Saib from the Carnatic, the taking 
 of the province of Bednore, and the furrender of 
 J/Iangalore; which leaves no longer any doubt of 
 the triumph of our arms, and the (lability of our 
 pofleflions in the Eaft. The conducl of Mr. Haft- 
 ings and Lord Rodney, may be compared to that of 
 Sylla, when profecuting the war againft Mithridates. 
 Being informed by one of the officers of the pro- 
 ceedings of Marius, he was afked how he could re- 
 main in Afia while fuch perfecutions were carrying 
 on againft him at Rome ? Sylla made anfwer, "It 
 is by this I am making the moft cruel war againft 
 Marius. I will firft conquer the enemies of the 
 Republic, and then return to R.ome and punifh 
 Marius." Upon fuch an occafion as the pre- 
 fent, I would recommend to thofe who have been 
 the profeficd enemies of Mr. Haftings, to follow 
 l the
 
 the exact line they did in the cafe of my Lord Rod- 
 ney. They were the firft to run to the fenate, and 
 the firft to propofe public thanks upon fo great an 
 event : and the orator, upon whofe reprefentations 
 they had chiefly relied for their former opinion, de- 
 clared that he could no longer look through fuch a 
 blaze of glory at the faults he had difcovered, and 
 was ready to cover them with the enfigns which he 
 had taken from the enemy. In like manner, admit- 
 ting for the fake of obtaining unanimity in the mo- 
 tion I fhall make, that Mr. Haftings has had fome 
 faults in his conduct, yet I defire that thofe who 
 were formerly difpofed to view him in that light wilt 
 now cover thofe errors with the Maratta treaty,, 
 with the ftandards of Tippoo Saib, with the 
 enfigns of Bednore and Mangalore. In the fame 
 fpirit I would advife thofe who] are fo charmeo* 
 wkh the wic of the Ninth Report of the Select 
 Committee, to read, as an antidote, the hiftory of 
 the tranfacbions I have enumerated. During the laft 
 recefs of parliament, I have often heard it afked, 
 have you read the Ninth Report ? If ever than 
 qucftioa is put again, I advife the friends of Mr. 
 Haftbgs to make no other anfwer than this : have 
 you read the Maratta Treaty ? In great national af- 
 fairs, like thjis under our confideration, upon which 
 the fate of an empire depends, it is in vain to call 
 upon me to look at little fpecks in the conduct of 
 fuch men ; they may be true or falfe ; I will difdain 
 to confider them at fuch a moment, when my heart 
 fliould be- filled with the efFufions of joy and grati- 
 tude.
 
 t 7 3 
 
 tude. It was left for the Examiner and his afiociates, 
 to find out that the Duke of Marlborough had 
 given a contract to this or that man improperly, but 
 who, on receiving the account of the battle of Blen 
 heim or Ramillies, would have flopped the tribute 
 of his praife and admiration, upon fo trifling a tale. 
 The Court of Directors fhould be particularly cautious, 
 not to admit any prejudice in their minds from the re- 
 ports of the Select Committee. It is well known, that 
 as ftrong reports as could be framed, were brought 
 down by that refpectable Committee againft two 
 of your own body , * but when the accufation came 
 to be fifted, it appeared fo frivolous and ill founded, 
 that the framers of the report were afhamed to bring 
 the iflue to a public difcuffion and decifion. If this 
 has happened refpecting men on the fpot, how much 
 more may we fufpect the labours of that difintereftcd 
 body, refpecting a man at the diftance of four thou- 
 fand leagues ? But, I mould be forry to be under- 
 ftood, as meaning to infmuate that actions, however 
 great in themfelves mould cover any injuftice to indi- 
 viduals. Thefe are fubjects of proper difcuffion 
 for the courts of juftice ; or if Mr. Haftings, in the 
 prefllng exigency of his fituation, has exacted more 
 men or money from any perfon, than equity or found 
 policy will warrant in the defence of the State ; 
 let the Court of Directors order compenfation when 
 the peace is eftablifhed. All I contend for at prefent 
 is, that the fituation was critical, the affiftance requi- 
 fite-, and if there appears fame fault in the mode of 
 enforcing the payments, it was an excefs of zeal in 
 * Mr. Sulivan and Sir William Jumes. 
 
 your
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 your fervice, and not for his own emolument -, there- 
 fore it fhould not (top the current of your approba- 
 tion on this day. 
 
 But, Sir, the General Court of Proprietors are 
 more particularly called upon to exprefs their fenti- 
 ments, upon the late advices from the Eaft Indies ; 
 they have been vilified, traduced, and abufed ; nay, 
 all their privileges, fecured by facred charters, 
 threatened to be taken away by that afiembly, which 
 ought to be the guardians and protectors of public 
 rights, becaufe they had offered to interfere againft 
 a torrent of intemperate proceedings, and fupport 
 this very man in his fituation, who has now fulfilled 
 their expectations, and fo completely vindicated their 
 character and his own. Though I can by no means 
 recommend the fpirit of exultation, where I wifli to 
 heal the wounds of difcord, yet I cannot, on the 
 other hand, afiume that modefty, which would 
 deny bringing thofe tranfactions to the recollection 
 of the public. If this court had not interpofed, firft 
 by the refolution in June, and afterwards by that in 
 October, 1782, I believe there is none acquainted 
 with the affairs of the Eaft, who will not allow, 
 that inftead of rejoicing for public events, we fliould 
 have had caufe to mourn over misfortunes, worfe 
 than the lofs of America : even you, Sir, who was 
 :hen of opinion, that the Maratta treaty was a de- 
 lufion, and that the afpect of our affairs, as we had 
 painted them, in the motion for refcinding that re- 
 folution of the Court of Directors, which had dif- 
 
 mifTed
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 miffed Mr. Haflings, will now acknowledge it has 
 been attended with the belt effects. Since, then, 
 all our prognoftics have proved true, fmce the courfe 
 of events has exceeded the expectations of the moft 
 fanguine, it would be unworthy our characters not 
 to claim the merit of our conduct under fuch cir- 
 cumftances. 
 
 That the fubfequent part of my difcourfe may be 
 better underftood, I mall here read the motion with 
 which I intend to conclude, and when the three refolu- 
 tions are taken together, I mall not confider them as 
 that part of my conduct in life, which gives me the 
 lead fatisfa&ion, in having had the honour to pro- 
 pofe them. * 
 
 As far as I have been able to catch the pulfe 
 of the public, I underftand there will be little 
 oppofition to any part of the motion I have read., 
 except the conclufion. Government are very apt, 
 when they chufe, to interfere io an extraordinary 
 manner in the affairs of the Eaft-India Compa- 
 ny, to hold a language in which I do not en- 
 tirely difagree with them -, that the affairs of the 
 Eaft are now of fuch magnitude and confequence 
 to the ftate a that every man in high flation in 
 that country may be confidered as the immediate 
 fervant of the public ; but I obferve this language 
 is more frequently affume4 when they are pleafed to 
 throw cenfure, than to communicate praife. The 
 thanks of the Houfe of Commons have been given 
 * Here the motion iufeited at the end of the fpe;ch was read. 
 
 C to
 
 C ] 
 
 to Sir Eyre Coote, in my opinion moil defervedly, 
 The thanks of that Houfe have likewife been given 
 to Sir Edward Hughes, with equal juftiee; but 
 great and illuftrious as thefe characters are, noble as 
 their exertions muft ever appear, will any one, who 
 underftands the tranfactions of the Eafl Indies, fay 
 they have performed greater public fervices than 
 Mr. Haftings. ? Sir Eyre Coote will not fay fo ; for, 
 on the contrary, he has told you, the fav ; ng of the 
 Carnatic has been ovying to the extraordinary exer- 
 tions of the Governor General. Sir Edward Hughes 
 will not fay fo, who, with a peculiar modefty, for- 
 getting his own merit, has dvveit with pleafure and 
 admiration on that of his friend, Governor Haftings. 
 If thofe officers, acting on the fpot, afford us this 
 teftimony of approbation, and the conclufion of the 
 fcene vindicates their opinion, mall we believe them, 
 or the judgment of a Committee who have not been 
 farther than the avenues of Sr. James's ? Neither do I 
 fee how it is pcffible with juft reafoning to aflent to 
 the firft part, and deny the conclufion. It may be 
 faid, however, what motives have this Committee to 
 miflead the public ? It does not become me to enter 
 into the motives of men ; the ftroggles for power 
 are often productive of the worft mifchiefs to the 
 public, and the moft cruel injuftice to indviduals. 
 It is potTible alfo that thofe gentlemen feel none of 
 the refcntments they would endeavour to raife in 
 our minds. Men, moving in the higher orbits, fel- 
 dom enter the circle of inveteracy ; that is left to 
 the inferior orders of rren, if they are weak enough 
 to be drawn into the eddy ; but what we have lately 
 
 feen,
 
 [ I' ] 
 
 may teach us to avoid this fituation. Perhaps 
 if Mr. Haftings had quitted his office of Governor- 
 General of Bengal, we fhould have heard no more 
 complaints againil him ; he might have remained as 
 quiet as any other difplaced minifter, nay, I fhould 
 not be furprized if his greateft enemy, fucceeding 
 to his office, fhould, in a ihort time, pronounce his 
 eulogium, and that all our fquabbles at this end of 
 the town ihould end in as pleafmg a coalition, as 
 that which has appeared at St. Stephen's. If I am 
 prefled dill farther to explain the motives of the 
 Committee, I mould fay, that I confider the whole 
 as the labours of the principal member of that 
 Committee, and that I apprehend the enmity he has 
 taken up againft Mr. Haftings, arifes, as I have 
 faid in another place, from the tendernefs of his 
 mind, and his extreme humanity, which does not 
 permit him to view, with his ufual judgement, 
 thofe fcenes of horror which are incident to war. 
 There is hardly a campaign under the mildeft officer 
 that does not exhibit fcenes, which when painted 
 by a lively imagination, are not fufficient to make us 
 fick of exiftence ; but when ^thoic fcenes are ex- 
 amined, with the caufes that produced them, and the 
 effects that followed, and the neceffity which im- 
 prefled, as the belt means to attain the end, the ha- 
 tred againft the perfon who directed the execution is 
 removed. When the King of Prufiia burnt the 
 beautiful fuburbs of Drefden, when Sylla ordered 
 his troops to fet fire to Rome to drive Marius from 
 the Capitol ; in confidering only the horrors and def 
 vaftation which enfued, our minds are apt to re vole 
 C 2 againft
 
 r l 
 
 againft the man who cculd ifiue fiich orders ; and, 
 accordingly, there are many philofophic writings 
 which have condemned thofe acts, while other 
 writers on the art of war have praifed the magnanimi- 
 ty and promptitude of fpirit which directed them. 
 In the fame way I apprehend the ftory of Chcyt Sing 
 has been mifunder flood, by not confidering the whole 
 of the tranfadtion, as neceflary to the ftatc of the 
 war, and the preiervation of our pofleffions in the 
 Eaft ; and when we come to refleft that this is the 
 only quarter of the globe in which the Rritifli arms 
 have fuftained their luftre without lofmg territory, we 
 ihould be more cautious in imputing blame to the Go- 
 vernor General, who has preferved them ; or in with- 
 holding our praife for his having fo done j if I look 
 to North America, the profpect is too melancholy ; if 
 I cad my eye to the Weft Indies, a number of iflands 
 appear under the Mags of our enemies ; if I go to the 
 Mediterranean, I fee Minorca loft : it is in the Eaft 
 alone we have fuftained the Ihock with credit; it will 
 hardly be faid we have refifted the power of our ene- 
 mies by the wifdom of our councils at home : fup- 
 pofing they had fhewn fufficient fagacity in that re- 
 fpect near their immediate contronl, the diftance of 
 our poflfefiions in the Eaft Indies renders the direction 
 of the refources of that country impofllble. It is 
 therefore owing to the government exifting on the 
 fpot. Under fuch circumftances, if it were only to 
 prevent the invidious parallel, I fhould hope his 
 Majefty's Minifters would not with-hold their tribute 
 of thanks upon fuch an occafion. Whoever will 
 trace the progrefs of the negociation with the Ma- 
 
 rattas
 
 [ '3 ] 
 
 rattas from the beginning to the conclufion, the 
 means applied to bring about that event, will find 
 fufficient caufe to excite his admiration, and to ex- 
 tinguim any malevolence he may entertain againft 
 Mr. Haftings. There is a degree of fpirit and per- 
 fpicuity through the whole of that bufmefs, that 
 makes me, while I rejoice it was under the manage- 
 ment of fuch able hands, wifh for a moment the 
 fame judicious, active councils could have been com- 
 municated to other parts that flood in equal need 
 of them. To trouble the Court with a long citation is 
 always diftgKeeable to popular afiemblies; neverthe- 
 Jefs, there is one letter, although of fome length, 
 which I cannot refrain from reading, as conveying 
 an idea of that determined fpirit which pervaded the 
 whole. The Court will be pleafed to obferve, that 
 this letter was written to Mr. Anderfon, at a period 
 when all others, except Mr. Haftings, were ready to 
 fink into defpondency. 
 
 (COP Y.) 
 
 Fort William, Dfc.^ } 1782. 
 
 MY DEAR ANDERSON, 
 
 I Have received yours of the 1.3 th ult. It is near 
 a month fince your letters informed me, that the de- 
 livery of the ratified treaty had been promlfejd in 
 fifteen days, and repeated and pofitive affurances 
 given by Mahdajee Sindia, that his engagements 
 fhould be fulfilled to your entire fatisfaftion, or 
 Something to that effect, for I have not your letters 
 
 by
 
 t '4 ] 
 
 by me. If, when you have received this letter, the 
 ratification has not been made, nor Sindia afforded 
 the proofs, whatever they may be, of his fidelity to 
 his engagements, and ability to maintain them him- 
 felf, and enforce them on others, I fhall pay no 
 attention to his future declarations. Had I the 
 power to a<ft from myfelf alone> I fhould bring this 
 bufmefs to a very fhort ifiue. Let us, however, do 
 what we can. Tell Sindia, but tell him in perfon, 
 and in my name; ift, That you have continued too 
 long with him for the honour of our government, 
 if you were only to be the attendant on his perfon j 
 2d, That it is neceffary to come to a full explanation, 
 and a determinate one, on the points which remain 
 to be adjufted, and for which alone you have been 
 permitted to remain fo long with him; jd, That 
 thefe points are, rirft, the ratification of the treaty ; 
 and, fecondly, a plan of co-operation againfl Hyder 
 Ally; 4th, That we have expected the former only 
 as it led to the latter, not confidering it neceflary to 
 the confirmation of the Peace, which by our ratifi- 
 cation of the general treaty, and its conclufion by 
 him under the full powers which he pofiefled is as 
 fixed and binding as the mod folemn of all poflible 
 fanftions could make it ; 5th, That until the treaty 
 is ratified, we mail confider him in his own perfon 
 as the party to it, and when it is ratified, as the 
 guarantee ; but the ftate bound equally in either 
 cafe, the form of the ratification being hrs concern, 
 not ours; 6th, That we are fatisfied with our alli- 
 ance with him -, and prefer his name and faith to any 
 
 other
 
 [ '5 ] 
 
 other for the fecurity of the engagements of his 
 nation ; 7th, That the general treaty was concluded 
 and executed feven months ago, and ratified by us 
 on the inftant of its receipt j 8th, That the procraf- 
 tinating fpirit of the Marattas, which is proverbial, 
 in all their negociations and concerns with others, 
 has already been the caufe of one renewal of hoftili- 
 ties with the Englilh, in fpite of the laboured endea- 
 vours of this government to prevent it, and has al- 
 ways a tendency to produce the like confequences by 
 .the difiruft infeparable from fuch appearances ; 9th, 
 That I acquic him of this national cenfure, having 
 found him decided and confident in every tranfaction 
 which has paffed between us ; and which depended 
 on himfelf alone; lo.h, That therefore this remon- 
 ftrmce is intended for otners, with whom we have 
 no connection but through him ; i ith, That Gene- 
 ral Sir Eyre Coote having come to Bengal for the 
 recovery of his health, expects to be able to return 
 to the Carnatic in the beginning of the next month ; 
 i2th, That we mall in the mean time conceit with 
 him the plan of his operations there, whether for 
 peace or war, and give him final inftruftions ; ijth* 
 That Hyder himfelf is defirous of peace, and would 
 agree to it on eafy conditions; Hth, That his re- 
 fourc - are greatly exhaufted, his army reduced in 
 numbeis, and difcontenied ; i5th, That the Carna- 
 tic, which afforded them a fubfiftence, and the in- 
 citements of plunder, is now a defert, and more 
 unprofitable to them than to us; i6th, That we 
 have received large reinforcements of foldiers, of the 
 
 King's
 
 I 16 ] 
 
 King's own army from England, which lie inactive 
 becaufe we are waiting the determination of the' 
 Maratta government, not chufing to involve our- 
 lelves in any defigns which might eventually impede 
 or embarrafs our engagements with them; iyth, 
 That it is therefore my defire to know, and I con- 
 jure him to tell me with that fincerity which has 
 hitherto marked and done honour to his character, 
 whether the engagements which we are willing to 
 conclude with the Peihwa againft our common enemy, 
 can be formed and executed in this feafon, or whether 
 
 "\ it is impracticable ; i8th, That in this act we muft 
 require the fanction of the Pefhwa's name, and the 
 concurrence of the minifter to give it its due influ- 
 ence and credit; and for the fame reafon, I wifh for 
 the ratification of the treaty likewife, becauie the 
 world will not believe them to be in earned while 
 they with-hold it; ipth, That I wifli to bring our 
 conteft with Hyder to an iflue, while we have a fu- 
 periority in ftrength, as there is a probability that he 
 will be joined by a powerful armament from France 
 in the next year, which may enable him to bid' 
 defiance to our united efforts, if delayed fo long ; 
 20, That if they will engage in a plan of imme- 
 diate co-operation with us, we will make that our 
 object; 21, But if they will not, we will take 
 care of ourfelves , 22, 1 hat we make no fcruple 
 of avowing our wants, becaufe we know theirs to 
 
 / be at leaft equal to them -, fince the total lofs of the 
 Garnatic, were we to lofe it, would be no real lofs to 
 us ; it would indeed be a lofs of credit, and injure 
 
 f\ 2 our
 
 [ '7 1 
 
 our national character by involving the ruin of an 
 old and faithful ally; but our fubftantial pofleffions 
 would acquire an additional value from it, Hyder is 
 in pofleffion of a large portion of Marratta do- 
 minions, and with the conqueft of the Carnatic (an 
 event which I only fuppofe for argument) would be 
 in a condition to make an eafy prey of the reft of 
 the Decan j but if he is only freed from the war 
 with the Englifh, and left at liberty to carry all his 
 forces towards the Kriftna, he will not only be able 
 to fecure his new poffefiions in that quarter, but add 
 to them. 
 
 I rely on your firmnefs and addrefs to give this 
 remonftrance complete effect. It is certainly my wiftl 
 to profecute the war againft Hyder to his deftruction; 
 but if the Marattas will not affift us, our Forces and 
 refources in the Carnatic are not equal to a war with 
 him and his allies the French ; and it will be more 
 for our intereft, and even credit, to make peace with 
 him. This alternative I have therefore refolved to 
 adopt for myfelf. The General, I believe, inclines 
 to a peace, and would be pleafed to be the inftru- 
 ment of effecting it. Thefe are my own fentiments ; 
 make what ufe of them you pleafe. Thofe of my 
 colleagues in this matter I have not confulted, 
 
 I am, 
 My dear Anderfon, 
 
 Your moft affectionate Friend, 
 (Sgned) WARREN HASTINGS. 
 
 D
 
 [ ,8 ] 
 
 This letter had its effect, and was the principal 
 caufe of bringing matters to a fpeedy eonclufion. 
 As to the latter part of the motion, it is neceffary to 
 declare as my own fentiments, and the fentiments of 
 thofe with whom I am acting, that we do not mean, 
 as has been induftrioufly given out in the world, to 
 continue Mr. Haftings in the perpetual government 
 of Bengal ; on the contrary, it is our wim that his 
 fucceffor fhall be appointed ; but until a proper fuc- 
 ceffor mould be found, we do not wifh our affairs 
 Ihould be left in confuHon before the arrangements 
 neceffary upon a peace eftablifhment fhall have taken 
 place ; we think alfo for obvious reafons, that Mr. 
 Haftings is thefitteft perfon to carry thefe regulations 
 into execution : whoever his fucceffor may be, it 
 can be no dimunition of his dignity, nor any lofs 
 in fullfilling the purpofes of his commiffion, to 
 hear and fee the plans Mr. Haftings may have 
 adopted ; fo far from wiming a fucceffor may not be 
 appointed, we are defirous it may take place. Mr. 
 Haftings has formally announced his wifh to re-vific 
 his native country, and defired a fucceffor might be 
 appointed ; but we are jealous in confidering who 
 that perfon may be. The maintaining dominion af 
 fuch a diftance, is one of the mod xvonderful fcenes 
 in human fociety, it can only be held by the exercife 
 of the utmoft wifdom : this reflection, Sir, muft often 
 occur to your mind in moving the goofe-quill with 
 xvhich you give or take away a kingdom at the other 
 fide of the globe. It is not every perfon who may 
 make a figure at a court, that is fit for fuch a truft. 
 
 The
 
 [ '9 ] 
 
 The numerous qualities which are requifite, are 
 hardly to be found united in the fame perfon. Our 
 pofieffions in the Eaft Indies feem now to be our beft 
 ftake, the chance of holding them muft not be tam- 
 pered with In this choice neither favour or affec- 
 tion, but real efficient qualities ihould prevail. His 
 Majefty may give titles and honours, but he cannot 
 communicate the wifdom and experience which are 
 requifite to a Governor General of Bengal, where 
 the want of local knowlege, if the choice fhould fall 
 on one who has never been in the country, can only 
 be made up from that general knowledge and expe- 
 rience, which is capable of applying its reflections to 
 every fituation in life. Such men are not to be met 
 with in every club of this great city, even if we pro- 
 ceed in our fearch to thofe tn St. James's Street ; 
 perhaps they muft be fought for in the made of re- 
 treat. That the proprietors of Eaft- India (lock fhould 
 have fome opinion in the choice, is what I main- 
 tain ; that they fhould alone direct, is more than I 
 contend for. To fall ib low as we are placed by 
 the compiler of the Ninth Report, is a fituation to 
 which I never will fubmit, until the plan he pro- 
 pofes of annihilating our privileges, lhall be car- 
 ried into execution. It is curious to examine the 
 conceit and the principles which are apparent in that 
 performance. He tells you that all the Reforma- 
 tions which Parliament have attempted hitherto, have 
 been deftructive of the end propofed ; and yet, with- 
 out drawing the natural conclufion, of precaution in 
 breaking ancient inftitutions with too much temerity ; 
 D 2 where
 
 t ao 1 
 
 where the united wifdom of the nation has failed, 
 this gentleman is for levelling every barrier in the 
 eonftitution of our body, and breaking in pell-mell 
 upon thofe rights and privileges which have fuftained 
 the intercourfe of the Eaft fo long, which conquered 
 the dominion in queftion, and has preferved it un- 
 der the -late defperate attacks. 
 
 Another reafon for conceiving the motion in thofe 
 words, is to avoid any mock between the jurifdiftion 
 of the Court of Directors, and the Governor Gene- 
 ral of Bengal ; where the dignity of both feera to be 
 jcommitted -it is net my wim to enter into the con- 
 troverfy. If Mr. Haftings is requefted by this 
 Court to continue in his government, the reiteration 
 of Cheyt Sing is necefiarily given up ; while at the 
 fame time, it may be proper on his parr, to fubmit 
 to the reftoration of Mr. Briftow and Mr. Fowke-r- 
 but while I fay this, and declare it as my opinion, 
 that in every controverfy between the Directors and 
 the Governor General, the power of the Directors 
 muft be fupreme. I beg leave to remark on the 
 pther hand, that much dilcretion muft neceflarily be 
 left with the Governor General, and a due deference 
 p his rank and fituation ought always to be obferved. 
 From the diftance at which he is placed, many 
 things may occur, which could not be known at the 
 time of ifluing the order wherever it {hall evi- 
 dently appear, that fuch circumftances are material 
 jn determining on the point in iflue, at the time of 
 giving the orders, and which were not known to 
 
 the
 
 the Court of Directors, I mall not think the Go* 
 vernor General to blame in referring the matter 
 again to their con fide rat ion ; but when, with all 
 thofe circumftances before them, they have a fecond 
 time refolved, their orders muft be implicitly obeyed. 
 In the lame manner the Court of Directors muft, by 
 our conftitution, fubmit to the decifion of a General 
 Court while the General Court Ihould always be 
 careful and cautious not to violate the refpe<5b which 
 is due to the perfons they have chofen for the ma- 
 nagement of their affairs Thus in the cafe of Mr. 
 Briftow and Mr. Fowke-, I think Mr. Haftings was 
 bound to place them in the fituations, to which the 
 Court of Directors had ordered them to proceed, 
 at Oude and Benares. At the fame time I am of 
 opinion, that it was below the Court of Directors 
 to make this a caufe of difference with their chief 
 Governor, who mould undoubtedly have the choice 
 of the men he is to employ in confidential embattles 
 to foreign powers. It is impofTible the Court of 
 Directors can be fo good judges of the merits of 
 their fervants in this refpect, as the Governor Gene- 
 ral on the fpot. Even the nomination of Mr. 
 Briftow and Mr. Fowke, mew that they were not 
 appointments in the ordinary line of fuceflion, be- 
 caufe many of their feniors mighc have claimed thofe 
 ilations fuppofing the Court of Directors had in- 
 terfered in the appointment of Mr. Anderfon to ne- 
 gociate with Scindia, it is probable that no other man 
 could have been found of equal ability; this mews 
 Mr. Haftings is not inattentive to merit in the objects 
 i of
 
 t ] 
 
 of his felection : the politics of Oude and Benares arc 
 equally links in the chain of negotiation. It would be 
 deemed extremely fcvere even in his Majeft-y, to in- 
 fill upon appointing ambaiTadors to the courts of Eu- 
 j-ope, notorioufly hoftile to the miniilry he employed ; 
 and yet there is no doubt of his Majefty's power to 
 fend any ambaffadors he thinks proper. In every fitu- 
 ation there are confidential places, which the Supreme 
 power always leaves to the efficient perfon, who i:- to 
 carry his orders into execution, to fill up as he pleafes. 
 The Admiralty has an undoubted right to appoint 
 captains, but it is always left to a flag officer to name 
 fuch a perfon as he approves, for the command of 
 the fhip where the flag is hoifted. The anfwer of 
 Mr. Haftings was putting the controverfy in a true 
 light, " If you perfift in ordering thofe gentlemen 
 to confidential pods which have always hitherto 
 been filled up by the Governor General, you ought 
 to recall me-, it is better that I mould be removed, 
 than the authority of your government be weakened 
 in the eyes of the natives," In this there was nothing 
 difrefpedful, it was the language of a man who felc 
 the dignity of his truft, and the intcreft of the pub- 
 lic good. When Hannibal arrived in Afric to the 
 relief of Carthage, the council fent him orders how 
 he was to proceed in the manner of attacking Scipio. 
 His anfwer was, u That in matters of civil concern, 
 the council of Carthage mud determine -, but while 
 they entrufted him with the command of their army, 
 he mud be left at liberty to judge how to attack the 
 Romans. 
 
 Another
 
 Another reafon why I am anxious this queftion 
 ihould pafs unanimoufly is, the effect it will neceffa- 
 rily have on his Majefty's Minifters. They will 
 certainly be more cautious in proceeding to punifh 
 thofe men who have received fuch teftimonies of 
 public applaufe ; at leaft it will oblige them to exa- 
 mine true merit with their own eyes. Whatever 
 prejudices they may have received from the repre- 
 fentations of the principal member of the Select 
 Committee, I imagine when the approbation of 
 fo refpedable a circle of Proprietors as are now 
 aflembled, they will deliberate twice before they 
 proceed in the career he has pointed out. There 
 was a time when the influence of that gentleman was 
 fuch, that his authority would have been fufficient 
 to have directed the refolutions of his party without 
 farther examination 3 but I believe this implicit influ- 
 ence no longer exifls. If therefore our proceedings 
 have no other effect than to enforce a ftridl exami- 
 nation, I think we have gained a great deal; neither 
 can I believe for my own part, that the Duke of 
 Portland, and his friends the Cavendifhes, noted 
 as the Bourbons for good-nature, will bind them- 
 felves to the refentment of others, and join in the 
 perfecution of a man who has rendered fuch natio- 
 nal fcrvices ; nor that they who formerly maintained 
 the danger of violating chartered rights, will in the 
 firil feffion of Parliament after getting into power, 
 forget all the doftrines they have held on the fubject 
 reflecting this very Company. 
 
 I there-
 
 I therefore move, Sir, " That it is the opinion of 
 this Court, that Warren Haftings, Efq. Governor 
 Genera], and the other members of the Supreme 
 Council, have difplayed uncommon zeal, ability 
 and exertion in the management of the affairs of 
 the Eaft-India Company during the late hoftilities 
 in India, particularly in . fupporting the war in 
 the Carnatic, under fo many preffing difficulties, 
 when that country was in danger of being loft by the 
 fuccefsful irruption of Hyder Ally Cawn, aided 
 by the French, and alfo for concluding the late 
 treaty of peace with the Marattas, at a period fo 
 very critical, and on terms fo honourable and advan- 
 tageous to the permanent interefts of the Company. 
 
 c Refolved, therefore, That the thanks of this 
 Court be given to Warren Haftings, Efq. and the 
 other members of the Supreme Council, for the 
 above fpecified great and diftinguifhed fervices ; and 
 that this Court doth requeft the faid Warren Haf- 
 tings, Efq. Governor General, not to refign the 
 ftadon he now holds, until the tranquillity of our 
 pofieffions in India fhall be reftored, and the ar- 
 rangements neceflary upon the re-eftablilhment of 
 peace mail have taken place." 
 
 Before I fit down I hope the Court will indulge 
 me in faying a few words on a fubjecl:, which I ad- 
 mit is fomewhat extraneous to the prefent queftion> 
 while at the fame time it naturally rifes from the oc- 
 currences I have mentioned in the debate. The 
 
 fubjeCt
 
 fubjectl allude to is the fufpenfion of General Mat- 
 thews, after being inftrumental in fo glorious a degree 
 to the conqueft of Bednore and Mangalore. I am far 
 from faying there may not be good caufe for his ful- 
 penfion ; at the fame time I declare, 1 am filled with 
 every prejudice in his favour to induce me to think 
 the contrary. I (hall go farther, by faying that all 
 the reafons I have yet heard afiigned in vindication 
 of fuch proceedings, fortifies me more and more in 
 opinion, that they do not exift on any juftifiable 
 grounds. This officer ftems to me to have revived 
 that fpirit of irregular enterprize by which we ac- 
 quired our polTefilons in the Eaft Indies, and by 
 vvhich we muft preferve them. It was more parti- 
 cularly applicable to the countries which he attacked 
 where European armits had not before penetrated 
 The condufl of a General in fuch proceedings can 
 only be eltimated by his fuccefs. The ignorance of 
 our adverfaries, the fear which our raftmefs con- 
 veys fo their mind, the enthufiafm the troops acquire 
 in fuch a career, are all to be eftimated in the fcale 
 of our proceedings. Who can pretend tomeafure the 
 conduct of Cortez by the fcale of human prudence ? 
 We are told, that the caufe of fuperfeding General 
 Matthews, is the ftorming a number of forrs which 
 he might have marched round without lofing any 
 of his troops ; perhaps this was neceflary both to 
 intimidate the enemy and to encourage his own men, 
 when they faw that fuch fortifications could give no 
 protection to the one, nor obftruction to the other ; 
 perhaps a moment's delay in marching by detours 
 E would
 
 would have hazarded the main enterprize ; in fliort, I 
 can imagine a thoufand fituations which would ren- 
 der fuch a conduct commendable, inftead of being 
 liable to any blame. Another charge is, that General 
 Matthews had marched to the capital of Bidnour (Hy- 
 dernagur) without provifions or any ammunition, and 
 thereby rifqued the whole army. This alfo is vindi- 
 cated by his fuccefs. He took the province, and has 
 fince conquered Mangalore. There are hardly any 
 accounts of our tranfaclions in the Eaft which are 
 more fplendid, or of more confequence, or which 
 happened at a time more critical ; and yet this 
 officer is fuperfeded and difgraced, upon the com- 
 plaint of fome of his Majefty's officers who would 
 have profecuted the war according to the more e- 
 ftablimed rules of their profefiion. I wifh to pay 
 every deference to his Majefty's officers ; I wifli to 
 ihow them every attention that does not diminiih 
 the fpirit of the Company's troops. They are both 
 in their feveral ftations, officers of the State, which 
 has thought an incorporated Company the beft mode 
 of governing thole poffefiions, whofe profits can 
 only be made beneficial by the means of commerce ; 
 but, whenever the fpirit of that fervice lhali be 
 broken, or ideas fhall go forth, that a man, becaufe 
 he holds his Majefty's commiffion is neceflarily more 
 knowing than a perfon under the authority given to 
 the Company, though the one may have feen many 
 years of fervice, while the other can claim no con- 
 lideration from experience ; I fay, that in fuch a ftate 
 of things, it were better to furrender the charter 
 
 at
 
 C *7 ] 
 
 at once than admit of fuch maxims ; and, therefore, 
 as long as we hold the power, we muft fupport the 
 perfons neceffary for maintaining it, not in any 
 partial conteft between the King's troops and the 
 Company's troops, but in an exact and equal diftri- 
 bution of juftice on any difpute that may arife be- 
 tween them ; and this is all I (hall fay on fubjec~t at 
 prefent, farther than adding, by way of recommenda- 
 tion, that no time may be loft in rendering this juftice 
 to General Matthews. 
 
 When the Governor had finifhed his fpeech, the 
 clerk read extracts from the public difpatches, by 
 which it appeared that the fucccfles of General Mat- 
 thews had been moft rapid and important : that he 
 had taken Onore and Merghy, where he found a 
 very confiderable fupply of naval ftores belonging to 
 Hyder Ally ; and had burnt one fixty-four gun (hip, 
 and two fifties, which were nearly compleatcd, be- 
 fides feveral fmaller veflels : that he afterwards en- 
 tered the province of Bidnour, and took feveral 
 forts forced the pafles to the capital, uhich lur- 
 rendered to him upon terms in February laft: and 
 that Mangalore, the capital of Hyder's puflefiions 
 on the Malabar coaft, had fmce been taken by Ge- 
 neral Matthews. The clerk then read a letter from 
 Mr. Anderfon to the Court of Dire&ors, in which 
 he ftates that fmce the final ratification of the Ma- 
 ratta peace, he had made great progrefs in a fepa- 
 rate treaty of alliance with the Marattas againft 
 Tippoo Saib ; and he next read an account of the 
 E 2 retreat
 
 retreat of Tippoo Saib from the Carnatic, and that the 
 Britifli troops took pofleflion of Arcot on the ijth of 
 March. The fupplies fent to Madras and Bombay 
 fince the commencement of the prelent war, by 
 the Governor General and Council of Bengal, were, 
 to Madras, ab:>ut two hundred and ten lacks of 
 rupees, and to Bombay, three hundred and thirty 
 lacks, making above five hundred and forty lacks of 
 rupees, or fix millions fterling. The accounts farther 
 flated, that the troops in the province of Oude had 
 been paid to a day, and that there was a very confi- 
 derable increafe in the revenues. 
 
 Mr. Dallas rofe to fecond the motion, but was 
 prevented by Mr. Edward Moore, who defired to 
 know if there were no other papers to read. He 
 wiflied to aik the Chairman if he was not prepared 
 with an anfwer to the very extraordinary letter which 
 had been received from Mr. Haftings ; and he won- 
 dered that that letter had not been read. That letter 
 contained a direct charge againft the Directors. Mr. 
 Moore was proceeding, when he was called to order 
 by Governor Johnftone, who faid, that as the ad- 
 vices had been open for the inflection of the pro- 
 prietors, he had not called for farther papers j and 
 particularly that he thought there was no occafion to 
 call for that letter, as it had been read at the laft Ge- 
 neral Court, and confequently was before the pro- 
 prietors ; add to this, it had been printed in all the 
 newfpapers: but that the honourable gentleman might 
 
 undoubtedly
 
 undoubtedly move for the reading of any paper he 
 thought proper. 
 
 General Oglethorpe defired to fpeak to order. He 
 faid the Court had then a motion before them, which, 
 as he underftood, a learned gentleman was ready to 
 fecond i afterwards the honourable and worthy gen- 
 tleman might undoubtedly move for the production 
 of any paper he thought proper : but the General 
 begged they would proceed in order, and that Mr. 
 Dallas mould be permitted to fecond the motion 
 then before the Court. 
 
 Mr. Dallas then rofe, and feconded the motion, in 
 words nearly to the following effect : - 
 
 Mr. Chairman, 
 
 1 RISE to fecond the motion made by the honou- 
 rable Governor ; and in the difcharge of a tafk, fo 
 grateful to my feelings, I mall have occafion to take 
 up but little of the time of the Court ; becaufe I 
 am fenfible, that it is not in my power to throw ad- 
 ditional light upon a fubject which the honourable 
 Governor has already placed in fo ilriking a point of 
 view ; and befides, that I hope, this is a motion 
 which will meet with no oppofition. However much 
 we may have differed upon former occafion s, I trull 
 that in the prefent inftance the Court will have but 
 one feeling, and one voice.
 
 t 3 ] 
 
 At the fame time that I fay this, I fliould be ex* 
 tremely forry if the objeft of the prefent motion were 
 to be the refult of fenfelefs -unanimity, or carelefs in- 
 difference. I feel that we are foliciting for Mr. 
 Haftings, what to a mind independent like his, and 
 above mean and bafe confiderations, muft be the 
 moft valuable reward, the approbation of his conftitu- 
 ents, publicly and honourably exprefied. I am aware, 
 however, that the thanks of bodies of men have, of 
 late, been proftituted to fuch unworthy purpofes, 
 that they can fcarcely be confidered as conferring ho- 
 nour or diftinclion ; and that a man of real merit 
 may turn away with contempt from an offering, 
 which the empty profeffions of every artful impoflor 
 never fail to obtain from a credulous and deluded 
 public. But the thanks for which we move this 
 day, muft be founded upon great and meritorious 
 fervices, of which undeniable evidence is upon 
 your table ; and I truft, that they will be offered and 
 accepted as the effufion of real gratitude, and the 
 genuine tribute of the heart. 
 
 Before I enter upon the confederation of the pre- 
 fent motion, I muft be permitted to look back to 
 what patted upon a former occafion, I mean that me- 
 morable day, when the manly and fpirited interpofi- 
 tion of this Court refcued Mr. Haftings from 'unjuft 
 obloquy and unmerited punimment ; and by conti- 
 nuing him in his prefent ftation, in oppofition to the 
 vote of the Court of Directors, enabled him, as the ho- 
 nourable Governor has pointedly obfcrved, to perform 
 
 2 thofe.
 
 [ 3' I 
 
 thofe Cervices which, to-day, are the fubject of public 
 congratulation. At that period of time our affairs, 
 at beft, wore a doubtful afpect: we were engaged in 
 a long and ruinous war, and had nothing but the 
 affurances of Mr. Haftings, that peace would be 
 foon reftored. Oppofed to thefe affurances were 
 the confident declarations of men in high and 
 refponfible fituations, that Mr. Haftings either de- 
 ceived the Court of Proprietors, or was himfelf 
 deceived upon the occafion. Yet upon a ballot, 
 when notwithftanding, if there were no direct: in- 
 terference, yet the fenfe of administration was fup- 
 pofed to be hoftile to Mr. Haftings ; with the votes 
 of the Directors in fupport of their own refoludons; 
 with all their influence exerted among their friends 
 and connections, and their authority exercifed over 
 their dependants ; with all the difappointed men, 
 and pcrfonal enemies, which the long pofiefiion of 
 power can never fail to create : of upwards of twelve 
 hundred Proprietors, only the miferable number of fe- 
 venty-five could be collected together to vote for Mr. 
 Haftings's removal. If fuch, at that time, were the 
 fupport he received, will he be deferred, at the pre- 
 fent day, by thofe whofc affiftance he then pofleiTed ; 
 after he has brought our affairs to the moft favour- 
 able ifTue ; when hope is realized, and expe&atioa 
 fulfilled ; and his conduct has completely juftified 
 the confidence repofed in him ? 
 
 But if any oppofition fhould arife to the prefent 
 motion, I will ftate upon what grounds it appears to 
 
 me
 
 t V ] 
 
 me that oppofition muft reft. The motion con fills 
 of t\vo diftinft propofitions : the firft, A. vote of 
 thanks to Mr. Haftings and the other members of 
 the Supreme Council for fpecified fervices , the 
 fecond, A requeft to Mr. Haitings, no: to refign his 
 preient ftation until the tranquillity of our poffeffions 
 in India (hall be reftored, and the anv.r.gements ne- 
 ceflary upon the eftabiifhment of peace Ihall have 
 taken place. Whoever refifts the firft part of the 
 motion, muft either Deny the exiftence of the facts 
 which it afierts, or affirm, That they are not of a na- 
 ture to entitle Mr. Haftings and the members of the 
 Supreme Council to thanks : and with refpecl: to the 
 iecond part, undoubtedly, evidence to (hew, That 
 though in thefe particular inftances Mr. Haftings has 
 deferved well of the Company, yet his general con- 
 dud: has been of a nature to render fuch a requeft 
 improper, will be ground, upon which, if juft, it 
 ought to be oppofed with fuccefs. 
 
 With regard to the relief of the Carnatic, it is a 
 circurrvftance of public notoriety, a particular ac- 
 count of which is upon the table, and therefore a 
 faft which I mail treat as beyond denial. It re- 
 mains 'only to be confidered, whether, and in what 
 degree, that relief was owing to the Governor 
 General, and the Supreme Council of Bengal. 
 
 Of the ample and extraordinary fupplies fent from 
 time to time by the government of Bengal for the 
 relief of the Carnatic, the paper which was read fome 
 
 time
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 time ago contains a detailed account, and affords 
 irrefiftible evidence. Thefe fupplies have 'been fur- 
 nifhed during a period of public diftrefs, and when 
 the enemies of Mr. Haftings were loud in their af- 
 fertions, that the refources of Bengal were not equal 
 to the exigencies of its own government. An im- 
 poverifhed country, an exhaufted treafury, an army 
 in arrear, the civil fervants unpaid, it was confi- 
 dently predicted, could terminate in nothing lefs than 
 difaffeclion in the provinces, revolt in the troops, 
 impotence in the hour of foreign attack, rebellion 
 among the civil fervants, in a word, in the ruin of 
 the Eaft India Company's affairs. Yet notwithftand- 
 ing the internal diftrefs of Bengal, a diftrefs unavoid- 
 ably occafioned by a long and expenfive war, under- 
 taken, as this court has already voted, in obedience 
 to the pofitive commands of the Court of Directors, 
 the exertions of that government enabled it to af- 
 ford the relief you have heard ftated, and to pre- 
 ferve, within itfelf, tranquillity and peace. I admit 
 the diftrefs of Bengal to have been great ; but 
 I contend, that in proportion to that diftrefs is 
 the merit of the Supreme Council, in afford- 
 ing fupplies to the Carnatic, at a time when their 
 own wants were of fo preffing a nature. In addi- 
 tion to the evidence you have already heard, I will 
 beg leave to add the teftimony of thofe who were 
 upon the fpot, and whofe fituations render them 
 competent witneffes upon the occafion. General 
 Stuart, in a minute recorded upon the Madras con- 
 fultations, begs leave to diflent from a paragraph 
 F contained
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 contained in the general letter from that govern- 
 ment to the Court of Directors, and which afcribes 
 our fuccefs in the Carnatic to the good conduct oi s 
 Lord Macartney, becaufe he is convinced that it is 
 owing to the gallantry of Sir Eyre Coote, and the 
 unparallelled exertions of Mr. Haftings. Sir Eyre 
 Coote himfelf, that great and gallant officer, who, 
 with a handful of men, has triumphed over mighty 
 nations, and achieved conquefts, than which the 
 page of hiftory can afford none more brilliant, in a 
 letter to the Supreme Council, imputes his fuccefs 
 to the liberal fupport with which Mr. Haftings had 
 furnimed him. And here, let me draw the atten- 
 tion of the Court to a fa ft which will ftrongly en- 
 force the propriety of the prefent motion. Sir Eyre 
 Coote has received the thanks of the nation for the 
 fervices he has performed in the Carnatic. We 
 have his own authority, that thefe fervices were tha 
 confequences of the liberal fupplies he received from 
 Mr. Haftings. What then ! Shall Sir Eyre Coote 
 receive the thanks of his country for the fervices he 
 has performed, and fhall they be denied to Mr. Haf- 
 tings, who enabled him to perform thefe fervices ? 
 
 Allowing to the other members of the Supreme 
 Council all the praife that zeal and ability employed 
 in the public lervice deferve, the honourable Gover- 
 nor has informed the court, that to Mr. Haftings 
 the relief of the Carnatic is moft peculiarly to be 
 afcribed. One fad alone will place this truth be- 
 yond doubt, and above contradiction. 
 
 The
 
 t 35 ] 
 
 The frrft* intelligence of the irruption of Hyder 
 Ally into the Carnatic, was communicated to the 
 Supreme Council at Bengal, with all thofe circum- 
 ftances of diftrefs and horror which attended it, at a 
 period when their own refources were in an exhauf- 
 ted ftate, and when the long prevalence of internal 
 difcord in the public Councils had relaxed all the 
 fprings of Government. Terror confounded, def- 
 pair overwhelmed every ordinary mind. But the foul 
 of Mr. Haftings was incapable of difpondence. The 
 Council was alTembled. With advice fuited to the 
 occafion, he propofed, by a vigorous and daring ef- 
 fort, to afford the government of Madras, their only 
 chance of fafety, and to fend them an immediate fup- 
 ply of fifteen lacks of rupees, and a reinforcement of 
 fix hundred and thirty Europeans, with Sir Eyre Coote 
 to head the army. Thefe troops were to be tranf- 
 ported by fea, at a feafon of the year when the na- 
 vigation was fuppofed to be impracticable, and had 
 been unattempted even by the adventurous fpirit of 
 commerce. But what was the conduct of Mr, 
 Francis upon the occafion ? Inftead of propofing any 
 meafures for the relief of the Carnatic, he trembled 
 for the fafety of Bengal. The project of Mr. Haf- 
 tings communicated frem terrors to his breaft. He 
 objected to the fupply of treafure, becaufe it was 
 impoflible to forefee how foon their own government 
 might ftand in need of it ; and he oppofed the rein- 
 forcement of troops, becaufe it was inconfident with 
 the fafety of Fort William. Let us retire into the ci- 
 tadel and defend ourfelves, was the advice cf Mr. 
 F 2 Francis.
 
 I 36 3 
 
 Francis. Let us march out, and attack the enemy 
 upon the confines, was the cry of Mr. Haftings. 
 In what fituation would the Company's affairs have 
 been, had the prudent counfels of the former gentle- 
 man prevailed ? If Sir Eyre Coote, with this actual 
 fupply in -money and troops at the time, and with 
 additional fupplies poured -in occafionally, could 
 barely ftem the tide of battle, and maintain 
 his ground, what would have been his fate had he 
 iarrived upon the coaft, without treafure and without 
 "troops, to head a difpirited army, againft an enemy 
 confident from victory, and rlufhed with fuccefs ? 
 Was not the honourable Governor warranted to af- 
 fert, that the relief of the Carnatic is peculiarly ow- 
 ing to the fpirited conduct of Mr. Haftings ? 
 
 If fuch were the peculiar merit of Mr. Haftings 
 in the relief of the Carnatic,- let us confider whether he 
 has an exclufive claim to praife for his conduct, 
 with refpcct to the Maratta peace. The firft and 
 immediate caufe of that peace is generally admitted 
 to have been the attack upon Mahdajee Scindia's 
 dominions ; and I will now ilate to the court the 
 hiftory of that attack. 
 
 A minute entered upon the public confulta- 
 tions of the 12th of June, 1789, in the fecrct de- 
 partment, and figned by Mr. Mailings, after flating, 
 in general terms, the probable advantages of acti- 
 "vity in bringing the Maratta war to a conclufion, 
 contains the following propofal : Let it fa given iu 
 
 injlruftions
 
 I 37 I 
 
 toiftrufltotis to Major Camac, if kejball find- it practi- 
 cable, to march bis Attachment, in conjunction with the 
 forces, which the Ranna by his treaty will be obliged in 
 Juch a cafe to fumi/h, directly to the capital of the terri- 
 tory dependent upon Mahdajee Scindia. Tikis cannot fail 
 to divert him from the war in Guzzerat ; and by bringing 
 it home to bis own inter efts, ivl-ich have hitherto been 
 wholly exempted from //, induce him to be an equal folici- 
 torfor peace, to which at this time he appears to be the 
 'wly impediment. Whoever, with the knowledge of ' 
 what hasfince happened, fhall read this minute of Mr. 
 Hayings, and confider the actual ftate of affairs in 
 India at the time, to him it will more refemble the 
 fpirit of prophecy, than the efforts of a human mind 
 from caufes deducing their effects. It feems as if 
 his penetrating eye had pierced into futurity. In- 
 fpirited by the confidence of fuccefs, he concludes 
 this minute with more than his ordinary waimth, and 
 conjures his colleagues in the mod prefiing terms to 
 concur with him in the meafure, or, at lead, if they 
 cannot concur, to defift from oppofing, and to leave 
 to him all the refponfibility, and the confluences 
 attending it. At length, kindling into enthu- 
 fiafm, he adds, Would to God I could be anf\ver- 
 able with my life for the confequences I To thofe who 
 are acquainted with the character of Mr. Haftings, 
 this will not appear a vain-glorious boaft; nor will 
 they hefitate to believe that he would chearfully re- 
 iign, at the public call, a life, of which three and 
 thirty years have conftituted a feries of unremitted 
 efforts for its lervice. 
 
 Such 
 >l >' a- i *
 
 [ 38 } 
 
 Such was the minute which Mr. Haftings delivers 
 ed in upon this occafion. Succefs, however, was 
 cot the confequencej and Mr. Wheeler's name 
 appeared to a minute, jointly with that of Mr. 
 Francis, dating objections, and diffenting from th?; 
 mcafare. The enormous expence which would 
 attend the expedition, was urged, among other rea- 
 fons, why it ought not to take place. And now, 
 let me entreat the ferious attention of thofe who hear 
 me to the conduct of Mr. Haftings. In his anfwer 
 given in to this minute, he obviates the objection of 
 expence in a manner which will fcarctly occur to any 
 mind. I will quote, at length, the paflage, for the 
 honour of human nature " As the expence which 
 will attend the mcafure which I have recommended 
 is the only formal objection made to it, I hope I may 
 be allowed to remove it, by offering to exonerate the. 
 Company from it, and to take it upon mylelf. The 
 contingencies of the detachment are the only expence 
 that can reafonably be charged to the expedition, 
 Thefe I rate at far below two lacks of rupees.* That 
 fum I offer to contribute to this difburfement. I have 
 already depofited it, within a fmall amount, in the 
 hands of the fub-treafurer ; and I beg that the Board 
 will permit it to be accepted for that fervice." Let 
 the noify declaimers againft eaftern venality and cor- 
 ruption (land forward, and produce, from the annals 
 of their own times, a fimilar inftance of zeal for the 
 public ferrice ! Let the barefaced pretenders to pa- 
 
 * ,C 2 5>ooo (terling. 
 
 triotic
 
 [ 39 1 
 
 triotic virtue, who daily ftun the nation with their 
 impudent profeffions, exhibit, in the ftory of their 
 own lives not an offer of fervice in this extent 
 but any thing that refembles the principle which gave 
 birth to it ! Of the numerous volumes produced by 
 the Seleft Committee, and devoted to the purpofes 
 of foul accufation, could not one page be refcued 
 from its odious fate, and confecrated to the recital of 
 fuch an inftance of exalted virtue ? Did conference 
 draw felf-degrading comparifons ? I forbear to enquire 
 into the motives which occafioned this filence But 
 this much I will venture to predict, Though thought 
 unworthy to be regiftered in the dignified productions 
 of the Select Committee, it will live in the public 
 memory, long after their authors ihall be laid in duff, 
 and themfelves, and tlkir productions, equally for- 
 gotten. 
 
 This minute had the misfortune to experience a 
 like fate with the former, and only drew from 
 Mefirs. Francis and Wheeler a laboured reply, in 
 which they perfift in their oppofition. I admit thac 
 reply to abound in plaufible and ingenious argument ; 
 in fubtle objections, and refined diftinctions. Nei- 
 ther do I mean to infinuate, that it did not proceed 
 from the confcicntious exercife of their judgement. 
 In truth, it was a project to ftagger every ordinary 
 mind. Even the honourable gentleman who makes 
 this motion, and who is not apt to be confounded 
 by the boldnefs of any fcheme, has declared upon a 
 former occafion, it would have ftartied him. But it 
 i is
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 is in the perilous conjuncture, and upon the defperate 
 occafion, that the genius of Mr. Haftings afferts its 
 fuperiority. While the gentlemen who oppofed him? 
 were difmayed with the difficulties and dangers of 
 this plan ; alarmed at the diftance of the expedition ; 
 terrified at its expence -, with-holding the public 
 treafure to provide for the laft extremity ; urging the 
 poflibility of an invafion of their own provinces, 
 which would be left irr a defencelefs ftate : Mr. 
 Haftings felt that there were feafons when the public 
 fafety mufl be rilked ; and when upon the dangerous 
 hazard of daring councils, depends the only re- 
 maining chance of fuccefs. I turn away from the 
 unhappy perfonal confcquences, which afterwards 
 iollowed from this minute, betwixt Mr. Haftings 
 and Mr. Francis. It is fufficient to fay, the expe- 
 dition at length took place. Every thing Mr. Haf- 
 tings had predicted was verified in the event. Mab- 
 dajee Scindia's camp was attacked with fuccefs ; bis at~ 
 tention was drawn off from the War in the Guzzerat to 
 the defence of bis own territories ; he became a Jolicitor 
 for $eace- t and from the enemy whom we had mod 
 reafon to dread, was converted into the friend in 
 whom we had moft caufe to confide ; and the faith- 
 ful negociator, by whofe interpofition Mr. Haftings 
 was enabled to accomplifh the prefent peace. 
 
 In dating the minutes which paffed upon this occa- 
 fion, I hope it will not be imagined, that I mean any 
 difrefpect either to the name of Mr. Francis or Mr. 
 Wheeler. I refpeft the abilities, and I regard the 
 
 . integrity
 
 [ 4i J 
 
 integrity of Mr. Francis ; but it is from the triumph 
 over the oppofition of fuch abilities, that the eha- 
 rafter of Mr. Haftings derives additional luftre. 
 With refpect to Mr. Wheeler, Mr/Haftings himfelf 
 has borne the moft honourable teftimony to his pri- 
 vate worth, and to his public merit. 
 
 Having ftated, at fome length, to the Court, the 
 conduct of Mr. Haftings, with refpect to the attack 
 upon Scindia's dominions, I have only one circum- 
 fiance more to mention, that regards this fubject. 
 The plan for a feparate peace wfth Scindia, after the 
 fuccefs of that attack, was dictated by Mr. Haftings 
 while upon the Benares expedition -, fubfequent to 
 the afTaflination of the troops ; all the horrors of 
 that fcene yet recent ; the ground ftill fmoaking with 
 the blood which had been ihed ; dangers encompaf- 
 fing his own perfon; a retreat to be effected with an 
 inconfiderable efcort through a country, which it was 
 apprehended might rife up in arms at fuch a time, 
 difregarding the dangers which furrounded him ; 
 his mind, calm and undaunted, was only employed 
 upon projects for the public benefit ; and he form- 
 ed, and difpatched to Colonel Muir, the plan of 
 that feparate peace with Mahdajee Scindia, which 
 has fmce conducted to a general pacification with all 
 the Maratta powers. In the progrefs of the negotiation 
 he had every difficulty to encounter. The moft vio- 
 lent oppofition upon the fpot, was countenancedby the 
 fupport of the Court of Directors at home. . The 
 language which ifiued from this country, was of a 
 G nature
 
 [ 4* ] 
 
 nature to difpirit Mr. Haftings, and render thofe, 
 with whom he had to treat, imperious and imprac- 
 ticable. The neceffity of peace was ftated in the 
 moft abject terms, and the deplorable ientiments 
 entertained by thofe, who had the management of 
 the Company's affairs, were circulated with active 
 zeal through all the nations of Indoftan. Cenfures 
 were aimed, and threats denounced againft Mr. 
 Haftings. Every method was purfued to counter act 
 his efforts, by leffening his perfonal weight and confe- 
 quence. Yet under all thefe circumftances, without 
 friends, and without fupport, obnoxious to the rc- 
 fcntmcnt of the Court of Directors, and conducting 
 a war, the unavoidable expence of which had ren- 
 dered it unpopular to the nation ; he has manifefted 
 through every part of this arduous negotiation, a 
 firmnefs of mind which no circumftances could fhake ; 
 a fpirit proof againft the contagion of fear ; and in- 
 ftead of fufTering his conduct to be influenced by 
 the oppofition he received, he has acted with the 
 fame confidence, as if he had been backed with all 
 the fupport the country could afford. Not to have 
 defpaired of the Commonwealth, was, in Roman times, 
 a fubject for public thanks. What praife then is 
 due to him, by whofe fpirited conduct, through a 
 long fcafon of general defpondence, we have at length 
 obtained a moft honourable and advantageous peace ! 
 
 You all remember how confident were the predic- 
 tions of Mr. Haftings's enemies, that the aflurances 
 of this peace were delufiye and deceitful 5 with 
 
 what 
 r
 
 [ 43 1 
 
 what contemptuous fneers they treated our weak cre- 
 dulity, and ridiculed a belief which could only be 
 occafioned by the mod profound ignorance. Theic 
 predictions mud either have been the effect of inte- 
 refted malice, or of confcientious belief. In the 
 firft cafe, it is in vain to urge the advantages of the 
 prefent peace ; for that malice will not be lefs inve- 
 terate, becaufe covered with lhame ; but in the lat- 
 ter, Mr. Haftings muft receive all the commenda- 
 tion liberal minds can beftow. Such aflsrtions were 
 acknowledgments of the difficulties which flood in 
 the way of a peace ; and muft now become tefti monies 
 to the merit of the man whofe unparallelled exer- 
 tions have removed thefe difficulties. What will they 
 fay who predicted no peace, tofucb a peace ? It feems 
 the characteristic of Mr. Haftings, not only to refute 
 the malicious prognoftics of his enemies, but to out- 
 do the moft extravagant predictions of his friends. 
 
 I have now, Sir, troubled the Court, very much 
 at length, upon the former part of this motion ; and 
 I flatter myfelf no doubts remain, that the conduct of 
 Mr. Haftings, and the other members of the Su- 
 preme Council, is entitled to our thanks, in the two 
 inftances of the relief of the Carnatic, and of the 
 Maratta peace. I have a few words to add with re- 
 fpect to the latter part of the motion, The requeft to 
 Mr. Haftings not to refign hi* government at the pre- 
 fent period. 
 
 G 3 I have
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 I have faid, that if evidence can be produced to 
 fiiew, That the general condudof Mr. Haftings has 
 been of a nature to render fuch a requeft improper, 
 this part of the motion ought to be oppofed with fuc- 
 cefs. What has been that general conduct ? 
 
 The honourable gentleman who made the motion 
 has already adverted to a report prepared by a com- 
 mittee of the Houfe of Commons, and which contains 
 ferious accufations againft the conduct of Mr. Haf- 
 tings. I rejoice that the honourable Governor has 
 introduced this fubjecl:, becaufe this is an occafion 
 upon which it would have been unfair not to have 
 adverted to a circumftsnce of fuch a nature, and 
 befides, that the enemies of Mr. Haftings have cir- 
 culated this report, during the recefs, with the 
 moft malevolent afilduity, as a publication which, 
 they flatter themfelves, will prove deftructiye to his 
 fame. It falls within my own experience that this 
 publication has undoubtedly left impreffions un- 
 favourable to Mr. Haftings upon honourable and 
 impartial minds ; and it is become incumbent upon 
 his friends to prevent, as far as may be in their 
 power, thefe prejudices from affecting the public 
 opinion. It is true, that fubfequent to that report 
 having been prcfented to the Houfe, the intelligence 
 arrived of the Maratta peace ; a fervice of fo bril- 
 liant a nature, that the honourable Governor flat- 
 ters himfelf, it will not only fhicld Mr. Haftings 
 from all farther profecutjon, but that thofe who 
 have been molt vehement in his cenfure, will become 
 
 moil
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 moft earned in his praife. With his political ex- 
 perience, and found knowledge of mankind, can the 
 honourable gentleman ferioufly entertain fuch hopes ? 
 If great and meritorious fervices, if unblemimed in- 
 tegrity, if virtuous confiftency of conduct, could have 
 difarmed his enemies, would Mr. Haftings have en- 
 dured the perfecution he has already undergone ? It 
 is, as the honourable Governor has truly dated it to 
 be, A ftruggle for power ; and the ardour of thofe 
 engaged in it will only encreafe from what has hap- 
 pened ; their efforts will be violent in proportion as 
 their lituation is become defperate. Againft thefe 
 efforts it becomes us. to provide, and to afford Mr. 
 Haftings a fupport, as honourable to ourfelvcs, as I 
 hope it will prove beneficial to him. 
 
 An honourable gentleman (Mr. Moore) behind N 
 me, was very anxious, fome time fmce, that a letter, 
 dated the 2oth of March, 1783, and addrefled by ^ 
 Mr. Haftings to the Court of Directors, (liould be 
 read to the court, and he charged the honourable Go- 
 vernor with partiality in having moved thatfjch pa- 
 pers only might be read as would conduce to the pur- 
 pofe of his motion, and holding back from the pub- 
 lic view thofc which might juftify an oppofition to it. 
 Having made this attack upon the conduct of ano- 
 ther, the honourable gentleman will permit me to 
 enquire how far his own will ftand examination. 
 In anfwer to a queftion put to him by the honour- 
 able Governor, the worthy Proprietor declared, that 
 he had not read the Maratta treaty, the chief piper 
 
 in
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
 in iupport of this motion, and which, one would 
 imagine, not merely thole immediately interested, 
 but every man not totally indifferent to public 
 events, would have attentively confidered. But yet, 
 though this paper be fo material to his information, 
 and I take leave to add, indifpenfable to his fair de- 
 cifion upon the fubjedV, the honourable gentleman 
 never moves for it, though it has not been read, but 
 calls for another paper, which he thinks will crimi- 
 nate Mr. Haftings. If he wilhed for full infer ma- 
 tion, he was equally bound to move for one paper 
 as for the other , but if not to move for every paper 
 be a proof of partiality, in the fame fentence in 
 which he has urged the accufacion againft another, 
 he has incurred the guilt of it himfelf. Which be 
 the moft venial offence, a partiality to acquit, or a 
 partiality to condemn ? let the Court determine. 
 Thus much with refpecl to the honourable gentle- 
 man's impartiality, and the temper with which he 
 comes to the difcuflion of this queftion. But, in 
 truth, there is no foundation for the charge which 
 he has preferred. With regard to the letter which 
 he has mentioned, I myfelf would have feconded his 
 motion, if I had not entertained too much regard for 
 the time of the Court, to trouble them with the long 
 reading of a paper, read, as the honourable Gover- 
 nor has flated, at a former Court, and inferted in all 
 the public prints. While fublimity of thought, 
 while dignity of fentiment, and magnanimity of foul, 
 can command admiration, this letter of Mr. Haf- 
 tings will (land in the foremoft rank of the compo- 
 i fitions
 
 t 47 i 
 
 fuions df the human mind. It is true, it does con- 
 tain accufation againft the Court of Directors, and 
 that accufation ftated in terms of reproach; but 
 dictated by a generous abhorrence of crimes with 
 \vhich he flood falfely accufed. It is the tone of in- 
 fulted honour ; it is the language of injured virtue. 
 Inftead of kneeling to unmerited cenfures, and 
 crouching to the menacing arm of power, Mr. Haf- 
 tings, with the boldnefs of confcious innocence, turns 
 upon his accufers. Why did not the honourable 
 gentleman call for the minute of the 1 4th of Novem- 
 ber, 1782, as a frefh proof of the haughty and impe- 
 rious fpirit of Mr. Haftings ? In that minute, after 
 ftating the unhappy effects which muft neceffarily re- 
 fult from the adminiftration of a man, deprived of 
 public confidence, and ftripped of all fupport, he 
 dictates to the Court of Directors a fpirited line of 
 conduct, and conjures them immediately to confirm 
 or rccal him. He enforces the neceflity of coming 
 to fome inftant refolution, for that either part of the 
 alternative is fafety, when compared with the mif- 
 chiefs which mud refult from an unfettled govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Thefe were fentiments fuited to the bold and 
 manly fpirit of the right honourable Secretary of 
 State (Mr. Fox ;) and immediately upon the receipt 
 of this minute, he declared in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, that whoever had read the laft difpatcheS 
 from India, muft be convinced of the abfolute ne- 
 ceflity, that fomethirrg; fhould immediately be done. 
 
 A fhort
 
 [ 4? ] 
 
 A fhort time afterwards he informed the Houfe, 
 that nothing but reafons of necefiity could juftify 
 delay in the bufincfs; that fuch reaf. ns exifttd; and 
 among others, the Select Committee, he underftood, 
 had prepared a report, big with material informa- 
 tion upon the fubject, and neceflary to enable the 
 Houfe to determine wifely upon the occafion. In fo 
 urgent a conjuncture, the world will naturally expect 
 that report to contain nothing but material informa- 
 tion ; and if it mail appear to have been delayed till 
 near the rifmg of the Houfe, from the inveftigation 
 of frivolous charges, and the infertion of unimpor- 
 tant matter, whoever has thus delayed it, has trifled 
 with the fecurity of the Britim polTeflions in India. 
 But if farther it (hall be evident, that the aim of 
 this report is more the deftruction of an individual, 
 than the advancement of the public good ; be the 
 author of it whom he may, he is a traitor to his 
 truft. 
 
 This report, big with the fate of India, has at 
 length appeared ; and I will venture to fay, it is a 
 production different, in its nature, from any which 
 have preceded it. The world has hitherto been ac- 
 cuftomed to confider a Committee of the Houfe of 
 Commons, as in the nature of a Court of Juftice ; 
 the members of which, though bound by no reli- 
 gious tie, are under the moft facred moral obliga- 
 tions to divert themfelves, as far as poffible, of every 
 corrupt view, partiality, and refentment; to enquire 
 temperately, and report difpafiionately. How far 
 
 this
 
 r 49 ] 
 
 this duty has been obferved in the prefent Jnfance, 
 the world will determine. It is the firit report of a V 
 Committee of the Houfe of Commons, (and I ap- 
 peal to the Journals of the Houfe, and to the ex- 
 perience of every man converfant with parliamen- 
 tary bufmefs) in which ridicule, irony, and invective, 
 are made ufe of as the means to criminate individuals, 
 and perfuadc the Houfe. A practice of fo unjuftifia- 
 ble a nature, will, I truft, produce no other effect than 
 to alarm thofe who are ultimately to decide ; and will 
 draw their attention to a more Uriel examination of 
 the evidence, when they have difcovered the temper 
 with which the report is prepared. In this examina- 
 tion, I aflert in the face of the world, they will detect: 
 infmuation without ground ; affertion without proof; 
 facts without evidence; language unwarrantably 
 conftrued ; unjuft inferences j and unfair conclu- 
 fions. Thefe are bold accufations, and I do not ex- 
 pect credit for them. I am not entitled to it. In 
 every cafe the impartial mind muft be determined by 
 the greater degree of probability ; and I confefs it is 
 infinitely more probable that I, from mifconception, 
 from officious zeal, from blind attachment, or, if 
 you pleafe, from unworthy motives, mould prefer 
 fuch cha r ges, than that a right honourable gentleman 
 fhould prepare, and a Committee of the Houfe of 
 Commons approve, a report fubject to them. But 
 I throw out this warning to the world in the name 
 of an abfrnt man. The only effect I wifh to pro- 
 duce by it is, that whoever fhall read the charges 
 contained in this report, may likewifc read the evi- 
 H dence
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 dence in fupport of them ; and that no man whs 
 has not done this, will form an opinion upon the re- 
 y \ port unfavourable to Mr. Haftings. This requeft I 
 am entitled to obtain, not merely on account of the 
 aflertions I have made, but becaufe it is reafonable 
 in itfelf ; and I make it the more earneftly, from the 
 certain knowledge > that many minds have already 
 been prejudiced by reading the report without a re- 
 ference to the evidence. Let them be compared 
 with each other, and ihe character of Mr. Haitings 
 will fultain no injury. The poifon and the antidote 
 will be taken in together. 
 
 But, after all, what does this black catalogue con- 
 tain ? Stale accufations, and exploded charges. Nine 
 years have elapfed from the date of moft of thefe fup- 
 * pofed offences. The affair of Meflrs. Briftow and 
 Fowke is once more revived. The refignation by 
 Mr. Macleane is renewed with every circumftance of 
 aggravation. The charge of corruption made in 
 times of the greateft political virulence, of which 
 the acrimony of contention could explore no proof, 
 and which was afterwards abandoned by ihofe who 
 had preferred it, is again attempted, and held forth 
 Co public view, No tale is too improbable ; no 
 teflimony too bafe. Even the gibbet muft produce 
 an evidence againft him, and the infamous name of 
 Nuncomar once more offend the fight. The honour- 
 able Governor has particularly adverted to the charge 
 of the Opium contract given to Mr. Sulivan. This 
 contract was held by Mr. .Sulivan upon the fame 
 
 terms
 
 terms it h.^d been poflcficd'by o'ther perions,' and 
 this was the manner in which (-whi)e General Clave- 
 fing and Mr. Francis fat at the Supreme Board) thofe 
 terms were fettkd. It war. puc up to public stiver- 
 tiiement, and 'of twelve cornpetiton-, bellowed upon 
 him who offered the lowed terms. But Mr. Suli- 
 van was the fon of a gentleman v:ho had eight times 
 filled the Chair of the India -Company, the -private 
 friend, and the public fupporter of Mr. Haftings, 
 and the aim of the charge is, that it was given as a 
 means of future influence, or as the reward of pad 
 attachment, to a gentleman whofe fituation in the 
 fervice did not entitle him to it. I will admit the 
 full effect of the charge, and abandon Mr. Haftings 
 to the cenfure which he merits upon the occafion. 
 It was referved for the accufer of Mr. Haftings to 
 exhibit, upon his accefllon to power, fplendid inftan- 
 ces of difintereftednefs and felf-dcnial; to refift the 
 claims of kindred and of blood, in favour of thofe 
 who had claims upon the public ! But thefe are not 
 the feelings of common men. Mr. Haftings is a 
 common man ! fubject to all the frailties and infirmi- 
 ties f human nature ; to the impulfe of friendship 
 where it may be indulged without material detriment 
 to the public fervice ; to the feelings of gratitude, 
 where public duty does not rigoroufly forbid him to 
 give way to them. Indeed, indeed, thefe are piti- 
 ful accufations ! If the character of Mr. Haftings 
 is not of a fufficient polilh to.caft off fuch ftains as 
 thefe, it is time the right honourable gentleman's 
 purpofes fhould be fulfilled, and Mr. Haftings re* 
 H 2 called.
 
 [ 5* ] 
 
 called. Which of thefe charges might not have 
 been, with fafety, deterred, till Mr. Haftrss was 
 upon the fpot to explain his own conduct ? If it 
 be faid that a fcrutiny into that conduct was necef- 
 fary to confirm or recal him, and that the fafety of 
 the Britifh pofiefiions in India materially depended 
 upon the alternative, I anfwer, That the great charges 
 of violation of treaties, of breach of national faith, 
 of oppreflion of the native princes any one of 
 thefe charges, if true, was a a fufHcient ground for 
 his recal, and to enter into the confideration of the 
 Others was fuperfluous j if none of thefe charges were 
 true, the others could only weigh as duft in the fcale 
 againft him. 
 
 But, at leaft, this rigid fcrutiny will prove the 
 temper in which his conduct is investigated. With 
 what feelings will the Houfe receive fo many volumes 
 devoted to crimination ; in which every trifling fault 
 is blazoned in the moft glaring colours, while a veil is 
 .caft over his merits and his fervices, and virtues which 
 have won the refpedt, and fecured him the efteem of 
 mankind, are pafied over in profound filence, and 
 treated with utter neglect. The world have now evi- 
 dence before them to determine, how far that honou- 
 rable gentleman was right, who declared, That though 
 a member of .the Select Committee, he had not attend- 
 ed their meetings, becaufe he had early difcovered fuch 
 fymptoms of prejudice and party-fpirit, that he was 
 .convinced their proceedings muft terminate in in- 
 juilice. 
 
 Ja
 
 t 53 ] 
 
 In what I have faid upon this fubjecT:, it has not 
 been my intention to enter into an inveftigatlon of the 
 charges themfdves, becaufe I feel this is not the 
 proper time, -but to obviate the prejudices which the 
 enemies of Mr. Haftings have been induftrious to 
 excite. The day of trial muft come, when the 
 Houfe muft either exprefs their difapprobation of 
 thefe charges, or fuffer Mr. Haftings to viruiicatehis 
 character. The terms of Oppreflbr and public Rob- 
 ber muft be retracted or proved. The right honou- 
 rable gentleman {lands pledged, in the face of God 
 and his country, to prove Mr. Haftings, The moft 
 notorious delinquent that ever exifted in India. I 
 truft he has too much honour to confider his exalted 
 ftation, as an eminence, from. which, himfelffafe, 
 and beyond reach, he may fhower down upon the 
 heads of others the deftructive weapons of detrac- 
 tion and calumny. He will afford Mr. Haftings an 
 opportunity to meet his charge. But if unfortunate- 
 ly I (hould prove miftaken, the Houfe has too much 
 honour, the Nation has too much juftice, to endure 
 fuch conduct. Yes, the day muft come, when the Go- 
 vernor General {hall meet the right honourable gen- 
 tleman in the face of God and of his country. To 
 that day his friends look forward with eager hope. 
 He himfclf has defired to reft the iflue upon the moft 
 manly and fpirited alternative, Reftore me my Ho- 
 nour, or, Deprive me of my Life. His letter to the 
 Court of Directors contains language to this effect, 
 I am not guilty of the crimes which you have laid 
 to my charge j but if I arr> 3 Away with your cold 
 
 and
 
 [ 54 } 
 
 and pitiful cenfures, I deferve to die. This is the 
 language of a man. In the mean time, let the 
 world determine, Whether it is mofl probable, that 
 they have preferred a falfe accufation, who to offences 
 of fuch magnitude affign fo inadequate a punimment, 
 or that he is innocent of them, who entertains fuch 
 an abhorrence of the accufation, that he difclaims, 
 in cafe he (hall be found guilty, the lenity they would 
 (hew, and challenges the utmoft punimment which 
 human vengeance can inflict. . 
 
 I fear, Sir, 1 have taken up a : great deal too much 
 of your time, upon a fubjecl: which the abilities of 
 the honourable gentleman who made the motion had 
 nearly exhaufted. It is unnecefiary for me to add, 
 after the fentiments I have profeffed, that every part 
 of the motion has my mofl hearty concurrence. The 
 requeft to Mr. Mailings to continue in Bengal until 
 the arrangements neceffary upon the eftablimment 
 of peace fhall have taken place, is no Jefs founded 
 in advantage to ourfelves than in gratitude to him. 
 Three and thirty years of his life have pafled away 
 in the Company's fervice. The experience of fo long 
 a period is an advantage which he muft pofiefs over 
 every competitor. At an early age, his great abili- 
 ties attracted the notice of Lord Clive, who appointed 
 him Refident at the Durbar, a flation, in which, it 
 is generally known, he might have accumulated im- 
 menfe wealth. Yet after fixteen years of fervice he 
 returned to England with a fortune fo moderate, that 
 he wa obliged to go back to India, and went out with 
 
 the
 
 t 55 ] 
 
 the appointment of fecond in Council at Madras : a 
 fufficient proof of his great integrity. The know- 
 ledge of his abilities, and the opinion of his virtue^ 
 induced the Court of Directors to appoint him, 
 while in this ftation, to fucceed to the Government 
 of Bengal. Twelve years have patted iince he has 
 filled this arduous ftation , not in times of tranquil- 
 lity and eafe, but of turbulence and diftraction. He 
 has not, indeed, as the honourable Governor ob- 
 ferved, repofed upon a bed of down; but (the ho- 
 nourable Governor will permit me to add) upon a pil- 
 low induftrioufly planted with thorns. And mall we 
 not fupport him now that times more fortunate arc 
 arrived ? Previous to the commencement of the op- 
 pofition in Bengal, and during the two firft years of 
 his government, he had made material improve- 
 ments in the internal adminiftration of the Provinces 
 entrufted to his care, and had in feveral inftances re- 
 ceived the commendatian of the Court of Directors. 
 Now that peace is returned, and that unanimity pre- 
 r.nls, he will purfue thofe improvements to their ut- 
 moft pitch of advantage. Pofieffing fo many re- 
 quifites which can concur in no other man, to make 
 the neceflfary eftablifhments upon the return of peace, 
 and to fettle the Government upon a permanent bafis, 
 there is every reafon to hope his plans will be founded 
 in wifdorr, and productive of material benefit ; and 
 that he may be enabled to purfue this defirable work, 
 I moft fincerely fecond the honourable gentleman's 
 motion. 
 
 Mr,
 
 Mr. Mare repeated his queftion. 
 
 Sir Henry Fletcher obferyed, that the letter of Mr 
 Haftings to the Court of Directors had been publilhed 
 in all the papers, and undoubtedly it contained charges 
 which required that the Directors (hould enquire into 
 the grounds of their conduct, and fee if they could 
 not juftify it. He had done fa- he had moft care- 
 fully examined the records, and he had fubmitted 
 the refult to the Court of Directors, which was, in his 
 own mind, a complete juftification of their conduct. 
 He certainly was at one time of opinion that peace 
 would not have ben made with the Marattas, for 
 this reafon ; three diftincr. and contradictory negoci- 
 ations were opened General Goddard lent Captain 
 Waiherfton to the Court of Poona ; another nego- 
 elation was opened with the Rajah of Berar ; and 
 
 / the third with Madajee Scindia. But on the death 
 of Hyder Ally, and the concluuon of the war between 
 England and France, he forefaw that the peace with 
 the Marattas would be concluded he faid it at 
 the time and therefore the Marratta peace was 
 not folely to be afcribed to the talents of Mr. Haf- 
 tings, a part of the bufmefs mult be allowed to the 
 
 ^ concatenation of events. 
 
 But to the queftion before the Court In his 
 
 mind it would be wife and temparate to enquire into 
 
 the grounds of merit before they gave praife. To 
 
 praife firft, and to enquire into the propriety of do-r 
 
 I ing
 
 [ 57 3 
 
 jng fo afterwards, was neither dignified in the Court*' 
 nor honourable to the Governor General. Now there 
 were certain points that muil be enquired into 
 points which were not only very queftionable, but 
 ominous. For iuilance, by a refolutton of the Coun- 
 cil of Bengal, it appears on the records, that it was 
 determined to give to Madajee Scindia one half of 
 the city and territory of Broach. The Offer of one 
 half of it was made to him but after the conclu- 
 fion of the treaty with the Marattas, the whole was 
 given up to him in a prefent without any reafon be- 
 ing afilgnd, without any claim being made, with- 
 out a fingle word being faid to juftify or explain the 
 matter* 
 
 Broach produced a revenue, according to the laft 
 valuation at Bombay, fixteen lacks of rupees, which 
 is two hundred thoufand pounds. Thus hath the 
 Governor General paid the enormous price of two 
 hundred thoufand pounds a year for this boafted peace 
 with the Marattas. This was not all; on the very 
 morning that the treaty was ratified, a private treaty 
 was figned between Scindia and the Minifler of the 
 Marattas with fo much fecrefy, that Mr. Anderfon 
 has not been able to come to the knowledge of it; 
 and it was therefore a reaibnable cohclufion, that an 
 engagement, made in fo queftionable a ihape, was 
 hoftile to the Company. In addition to this, the 
 Court of Directors had received a letter from Mr. 
 Hornby, informing them, that fmce the treaty with 
 the Marattas, one of* our fliips, on board gf which 
 I were
 
 [ 53 ] 
 
 were two officers of rank, who were going to an 
 important command, was taken, and the officers 
 were forcibly detained. Did this bear the afpect of 
 a cordial peace ? And would it not be proper to en- 
 quire into thofe particulars, before they come to the 
 refolution of thanks propofed by the honourable 
 Commodore ? Sir Henry replied to feveral other of 
 the matters thrown out j and in particular, he faid, 
 that againft two of the officers chofen and appointed 
 by Mr. Haftings, fuch charges were exhibited, that 
 they were ordered to Calcutta to explain their 
 conduct. 
 
 Mr. Sulivan. 
 
 I CANNOT fuffer what has fallen from the 
 Chairman to pafs without a reply from behind the 
 bar, leaft it mould be fuppofed he has uttered the 
 fentiments of the Court of Directors. I am forry to 
 fee Mr. Haft ings treated fo ungeneroufly. Surely it 
 is a Chairman's dury to act impartially ; but, inftead 
 of that, Sir Henry has not produced one inftance out 
 of a thoufand of Mr. Haftings's great merits. No- 
 thing but laboured invectives and grofs mifreprefen- 
 tations againft the Governor General. For my own 
 part, I revere the memory of thofe immortal heroe?, 
 (turning to the ftatues of Clive and Lawrence) al- 
 though one of them was my inveterate enemy ; but 
 have they done more fervice to the Company than 
 Mr. Haftings ? What was the fituation of the Com- 
 pany's
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 pany's affarrs when Mr. Haflings fucceeded to the 
 government of Bengal in 1772? We were on the eve 
 of a bankruptcy ; and by the year 1775 he had en- 
 creafed your property three millions eight hundred and 
 thirty-nine thoufand pounds. What has he received in 
 return? Not even thanks ! And lately, when by apian 
 entirely his own, he has produced you a revenue of fix 
 hundred thoufand pounds a year, your Directors are 
 filent, and actually blame him for appointing two or 
 three extra men, who are to collect the duties which 
 are paid into your coffers. Of what confequence is 
 'it whether Mr. Haftings employs three, or thirty- 
 three negociators, when he has brought the treaty 
 to a conclufion. I am afhamed to reply to fo fri- 
 volous a remark. The Chairman tells you he 
 doubts the permanency of the peace, becaufe a 
 fecret article has been ilgned by the Marattas 
 and Sindia, on the day the peace was ratified; 
 yet you have intelligence from Mr. Anderfon, of 
 a later date by a month, in which he fpeaks con- 
 fidently of the good faith of Sindia, and the 
 Pclhwa i and that he has made great progrefs in a 
 treaty of alliance with the Peihwa and Sindia, againft 
 Tippoo Saib. I beg the Court will confider from 
 what quarter the Chairman receives his intelligence, 
 and then they will conceive this to be as defective as 
 that which he before received from Bombay. When 
 the Fox packet arrived, which brought accounts that 
 the ratified treaty was received in Sindia's camp, the 
 Chairman brought a letter to us from an officer in Co- 
 lonel Morgan's camp to Mr. Gregory, dated the id 
 I 2 of
 
 [ 60 ] 
 
 of laft April. This mentioned, that a large body of 
 Marattas were preparing to enter the Guzzerat, and 
 to attack Su.rat. At another time, when Mr. Haf- 
 tings wrote, that he was pofitive the peace with the 
 Marattas would be concluded, if it was not fo at 
 that moment, our worthy Chairman damped our hopes 
 by producing a letter from Bombay, faying that all 
 hopes, of peace were at an end ; and that a large body 
 of Marattas were preparing to enter the Concan, 
 I would be glad to know what became of thefe great 
 armies that were to invade the Concan and the Gu.z- 
 zerat? We have never heard a fyliable more about 
 them. I declare I am fully, warranted, from what 
 Jus happened, to. with-hold my belief of any intel- 
 ligence tranfmitted from Bombay, except the Gover- 
 nor and Council will vouch, for the truth of the facts. 
 But every idle tale of armies afiembled, officers ta- 
 Jcen, no profpect of peace, &c. &c. th'at we have 
 hitherto received from private letters, fent from ig- 
 norant natives in different parts of the Malabar coaft, 
 has turned out untrue. No wonder, however, that 
 fuch reports gained credit from thofe, who, by their 
 own letter to Bengal, exprefs a hope that the death 
 of Hyder will make an alteration in the Maratta 
 treaty, if not then ratified at Poona : and no wonder 
 that the Bombay government catches hold of ever,y 
 ground, however flight, by which they expect to 
 be able to, retain their conquefts.. Such conduct is 
 natural ; and no wonder, Mr. Chairman, that thofe 
 gentlemen in this country, who are adverfe to $4r. 
 J-Iaftings, adopt greedily* for fafts, every report that 
 
 tends
 
 t 6' ] 
 
 tends to diminifli the luftre of that great man's cha- 
 rafter. With refpect to Mr. Haftings, I avow, with 
 pleafure, my friendship for him j I think him the 
 bed fervant the Company ever had, and that we owe 
 our falvation to his wonderful and unparallelled ex- 
 ertions : I have not a doubt that he will explain 
 fully and fatisfaftorily his reafons for giving up 
 Broach to Madajee Sindia : and fo far from producing 
 the Company fixteen lacks of rupees annually, I to- 
 tally deny that it has ever produced them fix, or any 
 thing like it ; and I am convinced it was a wife mea- 
 fure to cede it altogether. 
 
 Major Scott. 
 
 Sir HENRY FLETCHER, 
 
 I RISE to offer a few obfervations upon wh-atyoa 
 have been pleafed to ftate to the Court ; but before I 
 proceed, I muft beg leave to clear up a point which 
 the Proprietors may mifconftrue, if it is not now ex- 
 plained. You were pleafed to obferve, Sir, that Mr. 
 Haftings hac} been miftaken in his judgment of two 
 gentlemen whom he had patronized, in oppofition to 
 the orders of the Court of Directors. It might paf- 
 fibly be inferred, that IVIr. Markham was one of thofe 
 \vhofe conduct Mr. Haftings had difapproved of: I 
 hope I may be permitted therefore, in juftice to the 
 character of Mr. Markham, -whom I am proud to call 
 my friend, to declare, that M r - Haftings has inva- 
 tfably mentioned that gentleman in ttrms of the 
 
 greateft
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 greateft regard, and has particularly praifed him for 
 his abilities, the pointed attention he has paid 
 to his orders, and to the duties of his ftation, while 
 refident at Benares. It is true ne has removed Mr. 
 Middlcton , and here, Sir, I think every candid 
 man will allow, that the conduct of Mr. Haftings 
 appears in the faireft point of view. Mr. Middle- 
 ton was the perfon of his own choice in 1773. He 
 continued relident at the court of Sujah Dowlah, 
 till the majority of the Supreme Council removed 
 him. He was again fent up to Oude, at the death 
 of Colonel Monfon, and was lately recalled, becaufe 
 Mr. Haftings thought he had not exerted himielf as 
 he might have done in the fervice of the Company. 
 Surely, Sir, this is as ftrong an inftance as can be 
 given, that Mr. Haftings is not fvvayed by perfonal 
 friendfliip, or any improper motives in his fupport 
 of gentlemen in public ftations. You have faid, 
 .too, that you had long entertained doubts of the 
 Maratta peace being effected, becaufe Mr. Haftings 
 had employed rhree negotiators; one at Poona, Cap- 
 tain Watherfton ; another at Naigpoor, Mr. Chap- 
 man i and a third at the court of Sindia, Mr. An- 
 derfon. It is clear, however, that Mr. Haftings 
 thought three negotiators at leaft one too many, for he 
 recalled Captain Watherfton at the very time that he 
 fent thofe inftructions in a quill to Colonel Muir, 
 which brought about a peace with Sindia. They were 
 difpatched from Chunar, when his own perfon was in 
 danger, and encompaflfed by the troops of Cheyt Sing. 
 It does not appear, Sir, that the deputation of Mr. 
 
 Chapman
 
 [ 63 1 
 
 Chapman to Moodagee Boofla, impeded the nego 
 ciation of Mr. Anderfon ; on the contrary, it was 
 of material fervice. Peace with the Marattas was 
 the object to be attained ; it might poflibly hare 
 been accomplished at Naigpoor, had it failed vvich 
 Madajee Sindia. You have faid too, that latterly, 
 indeed, you did expect peace would r/e concluded 
 with the Marattas, on account of the death of 
 Hyder Ally, and the general peace in Europe. You 
 ndded too, that you had fubmittcd your fentiments 
 to the Directors upon it fome time ago ; but what 
 was. the period when you did fubmit thefe fentiments 
 to the Directors? Was it not after the arrival of the 
 Fox packet ? And did not that packet bring an ac- 
 count that the peace was ratified at Poona the aoth 
 of December, arrived in Sindia's camp the i4th of 
 January, and was to be interchanged the firft for- 
 tunate day ? To be fure, Sir, it was a proof of fu- 
 pcrior fagacity, to foretel that the peace, under fuch 
 circumftances, would take place. If the paragraphs 
 were dated prior to the Fox's arrival, why were they 
 brought forward at all, when, by the intelligence 
 then received, you knew that our affairs were fo ma- 
 terially altered ? I thought this mode of proceeding 
 w?.s peculiar to the Select Committee. There was not 
 the mod diftant idea in India of a peace in Europe, 
 when the treaty was ratified on the aoth of December, 
 nor even when the lad accounts left Bengal ; and as 
 Hyder died on che ;:h, it was barely poflible that 
 intelligence of his dsceafe fhould have reached 
 Poona before the ratification of the treaty. Be that 
 
 however
 
 however as it may, hoftilities with the Marattas 
 had ceafed eighteen months, owing to the feparate 
 treaty with Sindia, and the merit of that treaty 
 folely and exclufively belongs to Mr. Hadings. 
 You have obferved too, that Mr. Haflings ceded 
 |o Sindia a territory producing fixteen lacks of 
 rupees a year, and as a proof, you bring an efti* 
 mate of the revenues of Broach. But though I 
 am not verfed in matters of revenue myfelf, yet 
 v my honourable friend behind me, (Mr. Baber) who 
 perfectly underftands the fubject, will tell you, that 
 it is from actual receipts, and not from efti- 
 mates, tr/at we muft count our gains. If, Sir, 
 you place againft the receipts of the lad year^ 
 the expence of the civil and military eftablimments 
 neceflary for its defence, I imagine you will find 
 that Broach, inftead of fixteen lacks, has not yielded 
 you a nett profit of fixteen thoufand rupees. Do 
 
 /you recollect that the Poona Committee engaged the 
 faith of the Company for the ceffion of Broach to 
 Sindia ? And that although the Supreme Council 
 denied the Company could poffibly be bound by 
 an irregular aft, yet that Sindia, having faved our 
 army, was entitled to particular attention from us. 
 In confiderauon of the engagement entered into by 
 the Poona Committee, and the fervices fince per- 
 formed by Sindia, the Supreme Council have en- 
 tirely ceded Broach to him ; and by fo doing I think 
 they have acted wifely ; for the half of Broach, in 
 our pofTeffion, the other half in the pofleflion of 
 the Marattas, collections of each party being fre- 
 a quently
 
 [ 65 ] 
 
 quently in the fame village, I am clear we could 
 not have kept one-half of the diftrict, without in- 
 volving the Company in a future war. I entirely 
 adopt Mr. Francis's fentiments on this fubject, who 
 has invariably oppofed the acquisition of detached 
 territories on the Malabar coaft, becaufe the revenues 
 never can pay the expence of collecting them, and 
 tend to involve us in conftant difputes with the 
 Marattas. With refpect to the fecret articles, I 
 do not know the intelligence on which your know- 
 ledge of the fact is grounded , but this I know, 
 that Mr. Anderfon writes with the utmoft confidence 
 as to the fincerity of the Marattas ; and I will pay 
 more attention to him than to loofe, imperfect infor- 
 mation from Bombay, which has fo often, and fo 
 fatally deceived us already. You feem to exprefs / 
 your doubts, Mr, Chairman, of the validity of the 
 peace, becaufe two officers, xvho were on their 
 way to Mangalore, were taken in a fmall veffel b;f 
 the Marattas ; but I defire to bring to your recol- 
 lection. Sir, that a fhip, called the Aurora, was 
 wrecked upon the Malabar coaft, fopn after the 
 figning of Colonel Upton's treaty in March 1776, 
 and though one article of that treaty was, that the 
 cargoes of mips fo wrecked mould be reftored -, no fa- 
 tisfaction whatever was received, and the Marattas 
 declared that they could not controul the piratical 
 free-booters who infefted their coafts : a fact we all 
 know. You will find, I dare fay, Sir, that thofe / < 
 officers and their property have been reftored long 
 ago, and ample fatisfaction given for their cap- 
 K lures,
 
 [ 66 J 
 
 tures, fupf ofing they really were taken, for the in- 
 telligence is not pofuive. 
 
 I now come, Sir, to the revolution of Benares, and 
 as the honourable and worthy gentleman, Mr. Moore, 
 has called for your obfervations upon Mr. Haftings's 
 letter, I mufl beg leave to ftate a few facts, which 
 perhaps arc not generally known to the proprietors. 
 The revolution of Benares was, as you well know, 
 Sir, eagerly feized hold of by the Select Committee in 
 the month of April 1782, when a very imperfeft 
 account of the tranfaflion was received in England. 
 In the fecond report the committee fay, " that Cheyt 
 Sing was patronized by us, in confequence of fervices 
 rendered to our nation by his father." I have fearched 
 with all the induftry I am capable of, but have not 
 yet been able to find of what nature thefe fervices 
 were ; but I do find from the following extracts from 
 the records of the Eaft-India Company, that the 
 governor and council had ferloufly determined to 
 \l difpofTds BulwantSing, the father of the late Rajah, 
 of his country. The Governor and Council, in 
 their inftrnftions to Major Monro, dated the 6th of 
 November, 1764, fays, " With refped to Bukvant 
 Sing, the double pare he acted in the beginning of 
 the war, fufficiently warns us, to put no confidence 
 in him ; and, therefore, if he has not already been 
 permitted to join*you, or you have entered into no en- 
 gagements with him, we would have him difpoflefled 
 of his country, and his perfon, if pofiible, fecured." 
 April j, 1765. " This man aded from the firft fo 
 
 wavering
 
 C 6 7 ] 
 
 wavering a part, that we wifhed to have no con- 
 nection with him ; but rather that his peribn (hould 
 be fecured, and Tome other placed in his Zcmindary, 
 who was more to be relied on ; but Major Monro 
 having committed him to a treaty, we confented to 
 abide by it. In this- alfo he failed j and therefore it 
 was our intention to have trufted him no farther, 
 which fentiment is exprefied by the General in his 
 letter from Cofiinbuzar, where he points him out 
 as one by no means to be depended upon. After 
 Bulwant Sing had deferted our army, in violation 
 of the treaty, it was our wifh, that the country had 
 been placed in the hands of fome perfon in whofe 
 fidelity we might have had fome dependence, and 
 whofe troops might have been an addition to our 
 ftrength, in cafe of a renewal of the war ; but as he 
 had been again received on the faith of promifes, 
 though we wilh none had been made till our fenti- 
 ments were known, we fhall abide by them." 
 
 As Bulwant Sin* was fituated between two 
 
 O 
 
 powerful ftates, his indecifive and treacherous con- 
 duel is not to be wondered at j but I mention it, in 
 contradiction to the report of the Select Committee, 
 which dates, that he had performed fervices to our 
 nation, without fpecifying what thofe rvices were. 
 They muit have been confiderable, to have counter- 
 balanced the inftances of infincerity and diffaffedlion 
 which I have mentioned. -The late Lord Clive 
 thought it, however, confident with true policy to 
 proteft Bulwant Sing from the vengeance of his old 
 K 2 matter
 
 [ 68 ]. 
 
 matter Sujah Dowlafr, who was compelled by the 
 treaty of Allahabad, to continue him in the poffef- 
 iion of the Zemindaries of Benares and Ghauzipore. 
 When Bui want Sing died in 1770, our government 
 interfered in the behalf of Cheyt Sing, his father's 
 favourite, though, as Capt. Harper obferved at that 
 time, he was not, according to the Hindoo Laws, 
 the lineal heir, being born by a woman of a low caft, 
 and he was in fact confirmed in pofTeffion of the 
 Zemindary in violation of the right of the prefent 
 pofieflbr, fuppofmg the Zemindary to have been 
 hereditary in the family of Bulwant Sing, a fact 
 which I have never been able to afcertain, though 
 the Select Committee fcruple. not to aflerr, that it 
 had defcended to him from many generations. 
 Cheyt Sing continued in the peaceable poffeffion of 
 the Zemindary from 1770 to 1775, when the fove- 
 reignty of Benares, without any conditions fpccified 
 in his favour, was transferred to the Company; and 
 this again proves another error the Select Committee 
 have fallen into, who fay that it was transferred, fub- 
 ject as heretofore to the entire rule and management 
 of Cheyt Sing. When I fay Cheyt Sing was con- 
 tinued in the peaceable poflefilon of his Zemindary 
 from 1770 to 1775, I beg to obferve, that in that 
 period he was called upon repeatedly for military 
 afiiftance by the Vizier, and that he constantly fur- 
 nimed it independent of his annual rent, in confor- 
 mity to the cuftom of the Mogul empire, as will 
 appear by the following extract of a letter from 
 Cheyt Sing to the Governor General, " The great 
 $ burthen,
 
 burthen of expence I laboured under from the time 
 of the deceafe of the late Rajah, till the expiration 
 of the Nabob Vizier's authority over me, is well 
 known to God and your Excellency." In this letter 
 Cheyt Sing undoubtedly alludes to the military aid 
 he was bound to furnifh the Vizier. From 1775 to 
 1778, Cheyt Sing continued an obedient fubjed to 
 the Company. The Governor General and Council 
 yielded to him the Cutwally and the Mint ; but told 
 him, that if he debafcd the coin, he fhould be fub- 
 jecl: to a fevere fine, and to any other penalty they 
 might think proper to impofe. The Supreme Council 
 aware of the importance of Benares, wrote as fol- 
 lows to the Court of Directors on the yth of Au- 
 guft, 1775: "You will obferve, that the ceflioa 
 of the whole Zemindary of Cheyt Sing, with 
 all the powers and rights annexed to //, is made 
 immediately to the Eaft-India Company." Now, 
 Sir, I would be glad to know what meaning 
 you would affign to the terms powers and rights^ 
 and what they could mean, but the rights of fove- 
 rei^nty, of which the power of calling forth the 
 military in time of need is furely the firft and the 
 mod important The letter I allude to was figned 
 by all the Council, and General Clavering. Colo- 
 nel Monfon and Mr. Francis in a feparate letter fay, 
 that to them is due the credit of obtaining this im- 
 portant cefllon for the Eaft-India Company, entire 
 and complete, and not held as Bengal is, by grant 
 from the Mogul, as Duans. 
 
 I moft
 
 [ 7= 3 
 
 I moft earneftly entreat the attention of the Court 
 to the following circumftances. 
 
 Our army continued on a peace eft abli foment, from 
 1775 to July the oth, 1778, and no military afliftance 
 was demanded from the Rajah. On that day intel- 
 ligence being received of a war with France, it was 
 determined by the Supreme Council to encreafe our 
 army very confiderably, and to form a marine efta- 
 blimment for the defence of the Ganges Upon 
 confidering from what funds thefe additional expences 
 were to be defrayed, Mr Haftings propofcd, " that 
 Cheyt Sing be required in form, to contribute his 
 fhare of the burthen of the prefent war, by confent- 
 ing to the eftablifhment of three regular battalions of 
 Sepoys, to be railed and maintained at his expence." 
 Mr. Francis acquiefced, but thought the demand 
 fhould only be continued during the prefent war- 
 Mr. Wheler agreed, \vifhing to avoid the queftion 
 of right Mr. Harwell agreed, fuppofing an acqui- 
 fition of revenue and military force to have been an- 
 nexed to the grant of the Zemindary. Mr. Haftings 
 then adds, " He deems it a right inherent in every 
 gavernment. to impofe fuch aflcffments as it judges 
 expedient for the common fervice and protection of 
 ill its fubjects." And adds, " we are not precluded 
 from it by any agreement Jubfifting between the Rajah 
 and this government" The Rajah was written to, 
 promifed obedience , but having afterwards eluded 
 his promife, the fubjeft was again brought before 
 the Board on the 28th of September, 1778: 
 
 when
 
 t 7' ] 
 
 when Mr. Haftings obferved, " the evafive conduct 
 of the Rajah was owing to his having been advifed 
 to procraftinate payment, on a fuppofition that a 
 total change would take place in the government of 
 Bengal, which would produce a repeal of the de- 
 mand." On this occafion the point of right was 
 fully difcufied ; Mr. Francis exprefTed his doubts as 
 tothejuftice of the demand, and. he quoted a para- 
 graph of Mr. Fowke's inftructions, who was directed 
 to inform the Rajah when he was inverted with his 
 Kellaut, " that fo long as he adhered to his engage- 
 ments, the Company would never demand any aug- 
 mentation of the annual tribute which might be 
 fixed." Mr. Haftings's obfervation in reply was 
 very remarkable ; he fays " the quotation from Mr. 
 Fowkes* inftructions related only to the fixed and an- 
 mid revenue, but could never be underftood to pre- 
 clude that right, which every government Inherently 
 pqffeffes, to compel all its dependencies to contribute, by 
 extraordinary Jupplies, to the relief of extraordinary 
 emergencies. The Board then determined to enforce 
 the demand ; and the money was paid. The mi- 
 nutes of thefe proceedings were tranfmitted to En- 
 gland ; the fubjecl: was mentioned in the general 
 letter, and the whole were received at the India Houfe ,., 
 in April and May 1779. It is fomething extraordi- 
 nary that a fubject of fuch importance, in which 
 there had been a difference of opinion, mould never 
 have drawn a line from the Directors. What is the 
 conclufion that the? approved of the demand, but 
 not being at that time, in the habit of exprefling 
 
 their
 
 their approbation of any act originating with Mr* 
 Haftings, except that Tingle one of marching a detach- 
 ment acrcjs India, they were filent on the fubject. 
 Had the Directors thought the demand unjuft ; had 
 they faid, we differ from the Governor General's idea 
 of the rights of fovereignty, and we think you have 
 no claim upon Cheyt Sing, except for his annual tri- 
 bute, the revolution of Benares could not have hap- 
 pened. The fact is, as you well know, that Acqui- 
 cfcence at that time was Approbation But what fol- 
 lows is ftill more extraordinary : On the I9th of July, 
 1779, the war ftill continuing, Mr. Haftings pro- 
 pofed " that Cheyt Sing be again called upon to con- 
 tribute his five lacks to the fupport of the increafed 
 eftabi aliment." The motion was unanimoufly agreed 
 to, the Board being then complete by the arrival of 
 Sir Eyre Coote. Cheyt Sing pofitively refufed to pay 
 the money ; and Sir Eyre Coote, by order of the 
 Board, directed two battalions of Sepoys to march 
 to Benares to enforce the payment ; when thefe troops 
 arrived, the cufh was paid, together with twenty 
 thoufand rupees, the extra expence of marching the 
 detachment from l^inapore to Benares. 
 
 Intelligence of this extraordinory event was fent 
 to England on the 14th of January, 1780. It ar- 
 rived in October, and feems to have excited as little 
 furprize here as it did in Bengal ; for not the fmalleft 
 notice was taken of the tranfaction by the Court of 
 Directors , though the Governor General and Coun- 
 cil, in their general letter, exprefs their aftonilhment 
 
 at
 
 [ 73 } 
 
 at the refractory conduct of Cheyt Sing I beg the 
 Proprietors will attend to this circumftance. 
 
 On the 2zd of June, 1780, the war Hill continu- 
 ing, Mr. Ha-ftings again propofcd tc that Cheyt Sing 
 fbould be applied to for five lacks of rupees." It 
 \vas nnanimoufly agreed to. He promifed inftant 
 compliance; and did pay one lack of rupees, but he 
 delayed the payment of the remaining four lacks ; 
 and two lacks and a half of the money, the final 
 balance, was not paid till the i8th of October, after 
 a detachment had been ordered to Benares to enforce 
 the payment. The account of this year's tranfac- 
 tions was fent to England on the 3K)th of November, 
 1780, and received at the India Houfe the i8th of 
 October, 1781. 1 have never heard, Sir, that a tin- 
 gle gentleman behind that bar has entered a protefi 
 againit the proceedings of Mr. Haftings and his 
 Council, to Cheyt Sing. Will you then charge 
 Mr. Mailings with being the fole caufe of the revo- 
 lution at Benares ? If the demand (as moft afluredty 
 is the cafe) was juft, it was right to enforce the pay- 
 ment of it but if there are any gentlemen in the 1 
 Direction who were then of a different opinion, ho\7 
 can they anfwer to the public in not bringing fa 
 important a point into full dilcuffion, when a de- 
 mand (according to the prefent doctrine) was made 
 in direct violation of public faith, and enforced by 
 military execution ? Let me once more intreat the at- 
 tention of the Court to this important fubject, and to 
 a circumftance, which, no doubt, will furprize them. 
 L 1 think
 
 t 74 ] 
 
 I think the Chairman has informed us, that of the 
 fiverefolutions which Mr. Haftings has fo folemnly 
 denied to be founded in truth, the fecond patted 
 the Court feventeen to two. In that refolution the 
 Court of Directors fay, that the Bengal government 
 pledged itfelf that no other demand (hould be made 
 upon Cheyt Sing beyond the payment of his ftipu- 
 lated tribute. Good God ! Sir, are you aware of 
 the conclufion to be draxvn from this confeffion ? To 
 any or all of thefe feventeen gentlemen making fuch 
 a confeflion, who were in the Direction in the years 
 1779, 1780, and 1781, do I attribute the revolution 
 at Benares i and not to Mr. Haftings. He who fo- 
 lemnly aficrting, Sir, on the 9th of July, and the 
 28th of September, 177?, that we were not pre- 
 vented from making the extra demand upon Cheyt 
 Sing by any engagement fubfifting between us ; who 
 acting up to that folemn declaration, perfifted in 
 enforcing it for three years by military execution ; 
 who infilling upon it, that it was a right inherent 
 in every ftate to impofe fuch afleffments on the fub- 
 jects of that ftate as were necefTiry for the genera! 
 defence ; was neither to be bribed nor perfuaded to 
 relinqu ; fh what he deemed a juft exaction He, I fay, 
 Sir, acted from a firm conviction that he was right ; 
 and from 1778 to the prefent hour, his language has 
 been uniform and confident Then what fhall ve 
 fay to you, Sir, and as many of the feventeen gentle- 
 men as were Directors in 1779, 1780, and 1781, who 
 conceiving that Mr. Haftings had fo unwarrantably 
 perfifted in an unjuft and oppreflive demand; in a 
 A, demand
 
 [ 75 j 
 
 demand which brought on a rebellion, and ended in a 
 revolution, yet never once protefted againft fo glaring 
 an afl of injuftice and oppreffion, or ever expreflcd 
 the fmalleft difapprobation of his conduct ? Shall 
 we not fay, Sir, that from the moment Mr. Haftings's 
 conduct was made known to you and thofc gentlemen, 
 who now ailert that the government of Bengal has 
 been guilty of an act of grofs injuftice, by extorting 
 from Chcyt Sing what they could not have demanded 
 without a violation of public faith; the refponfibi- 
 lityof the meafure refted with you ? and that by not 
 condemning his conduct, you caufed the maflacre 
 of our troops you caufed the rebeliion of Cheyt 
 Sing .and you are the authors of the revolution of 
 Benares. If the demand of extra aid, in time of 
 war, had not been made for three fucceilive years, 
 the revolution of Benares would not have happened ; 
 nor would Mr. Haftings have perfifted in it, had 
 fcventeen, or thirteen Directors commanded him to 
 defiir.-, and allured him, that according to their con- 
 ftruction of our engagements, the demand was im- 
 proper. If the bufinefs of Benares is not entered 
 into, I (hall fay no more on the fubject; but I am 
 ready to meet your obfervattons on Mr. Haftings's 
 letter -, and I fhall now only add, that the Direc- 
 tors, if they act withjuftice, will repeal their fecond 
 refolutioni and then the only point to confider will 
 be this Was the fine of fifty lacks of rupees, 
 which Mr. Haftings propofed to levy upon Chryt 
 Sing, too great for his offences. Mr. Mailings him- 
 felf has brought forward his intention of fining Cheyt 
 L 2 Sing,
 
 Sing, who never did or could know of it j and I 
 am ready at any time to meet this <]ueftion. 
 
 You have been pleafed, Mr. Chairman, to treat 
 \vith an air of levity and ridicule Mr. Haftings's 
 mode of negotiation r I have read the proceedings 
 relative to the Maratta peace, from the instructions 
 fent from Chunar to Colonel Muir, to Mr. An- 
 derfon's laft letter j and I defy the greafeft enemy 
 Mr. Haftings has upon earth to read thefe valuable 
 and important papers, without paying that tribute 
 of praife to the Governor General, to which he is 
 entitled, for the vigour, the firmnefs, the fpirit, and 
 the ability difplayed through the 'whole courfe of the 
 pegotiation. 
 
 I do not mean to fatigue the Proprietors by read- 
 ing extracts from the general letter , but having read 
 it myfelf, I can aflfure them that it contains a full 
 ar.d complete explanation and juftification of Mr. 
 Haftings's conduft, as to thofe points which have 
 been fo feverely animadverted upon in the Ninth Re- 
 port pf the Select Committee. 1 '" 
 
 ; 
 
 Sir Henry Fletcher rofe again, after Major Scotr, 
 3 ~.d begged the indulgence of the Court while the 
 
 * See the paragraphs 50, 56, 67, 90, 91, q<, 93 94, 99, 100. 
 }2$, 126, 1:7, 128, 129, of the General Letter received by ;h& 
 -Surprize packet, frojn Bengal. 
 
 Clerk
 
 [ 77 1 
 
 Clerk read certain paragraphs of a letter that he had 
 brought forward for the confideration of the Courc 
 of Directors, and which, if approved by a majority, 
 was to make part of the next general letter to Ben- 
 gal. Thefe paragraphs were accordingly read, and 
 appeared to make a great impreffion upon the Pro- 
 prietors, from the captious, unjuft, and ungenerous 
 reflections they contained on the conduct of the Go- 
 vernor General and Council, relative to the ceffion 
 of Broach. When the Clerk had done reading 
 Mr. Suiivan rcfe in great emotion, and earneftly en- 
 treated the Proprietors to remember, that what had 
 been read was the compofition of the worthy Chair- 
 man, at lead, that he had brought it forward 
 It neither had, nor could have, the fanction of 
 the Court of Directors. That he had never read 
 a letter of Ib pernicious a tendency; and he declared 
 moft iblemnly, that if thofe paragraphs pafled, there 
 would be a third Maratta war In the iirft place, 
 the Chairman enters into a critique upon a tranfac- 
 tion, of which, he confefles, all the materials are not 
 before him. In the next place, he accufes the Su- 
 preme Council of cheating and deceiving thePefhwa'; 
 and laftly, he afks for that information, wHich he 
 ought to have acquired before he attempted to ani- 
 madvert upon the tranfadtion ; and when that infor- 
 mation was received, he (Mr. Suiivan) was convinced, 
 every difficulty would be as effectually cleared up in 
 the mind of the Chairman as it then was in his own* 
 
 Governor
 
 Governor Jobnftone preffed the Chairman very 
 much for an explanation, whether the three lacks 
 relinquiihed by tl:e 4th article of the treaty, and the 
 lands ceded by Guickowar, mentioned in the 5th 
 article, were not included in the account of the fix- 
 teen lacks collected by the eftablifhmsnt of Broach ? 
 To this the Chairman could give no diiiinfl anfwer. 
 But. Mr. Hunter, one of the Directors, who had long 
 been refluent at Bombay, and who has generally pof- 
 iefled the moft accurate advices, explained the matter 
 to the Court, by flating, that fix-tenths of the fix- 
 teen lacks had been ceded by the treaty ; that there 
 remained only fcven lacks with the Company ; that 
 out of theie feven lacks, one half had been promifed 
 to Sindia, and the other half to the Pefhwa, at the 
 convention of Worgaum i that it is true the Pefhwa 
 had relinquiihed the claim to his half by the late 
 treaty ; fo that there remained three lacks ami a half 
 at the difpofal of the India Company. Governor 
 Johnft.one then obferved, that as the Chairman him- 
 klf had acknowledged the civil eftablifnment ac 
 Broach to coft three lacks, and the military three 
 lacks more -, fuppofing, upon the dominion being nar- 
 rowed, our eftabliihment to be brought to the lowed, 
 fi.il! ic muft exceed five lacks; and therefTe all we 
 gave away, even by the Chairman's account, was one 
 lack and a half -and this tofecure the fricndihip of 
 Madajee Sindia, the moft powerful Chief in the 
 Maratta empire ; who, according to Mr. Haftings, 
 had acted in the mod fteady, firm, and friendly manner 
 throughout the whole negotiation. Befides, by this * 
 
 rdinquifh-
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
 relinqtirm merit, we had removed the feeds of future 1 
 difcord ; which were fovvn in a very plentiful foil in- 
 deed, if the Englifli and the Marattas were to col-' 
 left joint tribute in the fame diftrifr., nay in the fame 
 villages. The face of Mr. Haftings is peculiarly 
 hard If he acquires dominion by conqueft, upon 
 "aggreffion, he is- dated to the' world as afting from the 
 luft of inordinate ambition and rapacity ; if he yields 
 the fmaliefl territory in the fpirit of peace and con- 
 ciliation, and with a view of preferving thofe blef- 
 fings, and rendering, them permanent, he is held 
 forth as dealing out kingdoms in profufion, without 
 any regard to the emolument of the Company ^ 
 but the one charge and the other are equally baffled, 
 upon a clofe inveftigation. Governor Johnftone 
 then proceeded to remark, with more warmth than he 
 had fhewn during the preceding part of the debate, 
 that although he had been averfe to calling the Gene- 
 ral Court, thinking the adrions of Mr. Haftings in 
 themfelves greater than any eulogium that could be 
 beftowed on them ; and that the reproach of his ene- 
 mies, and the reproach of public minilters, if they were 
 his enemies, would fall much greater upon both, by 
 taking no notice of the late advices ; yet he now 
 freely confelfed his error He faw why the oppo- 
 nents of Mr. Haftings were averfe to the General 
 Court ; he iaw alfo the propriety of its interf.Tence. 
 When paragraphs, fuch as thofe which have been read, 
 could be framed with fuch a captious, cavilling fpi- 
 rit -, conceived in language fo unworthy the Court of 
 Director, and fo unfic to be fcut to the Governor 
 
 General
 
 I 8P ] 
 
 General of Bengal at any time when he held fud> a 
 commiffion ; and much more after tranfmitting ac- 
 counts of events that muft command the gratitude 
 and admiration of future ages, if it could not ex- 
 tinguifh the malicious fpirit of thofe who endeavoured 
 to vilify his character by the groffeft mifreprefenta- 
 tions, in fcenes with which the public at large arc 
 not intimately acquainted, where the tranfaflions 
 were fo complicated that few could unravel them. 
 That it became more neceffary now to enforce the 
 motion, and even to invite oppofition, which he be- 
 fore deprecated, that the merits of the queftion might 
 be tried by the mofl folemn decifion. 
 
 Sir Henry Fletcher defended the letter, thought 
 the ftyle was decent and proper, and that the Di- 
 rectors had a right to demand an explanation in the 
 terms he had ufed. 
 
 Mr. Watjon. 
 
 Sir HENRY FLETCHER, 
 
 I SHOULD not have intruded upon the patience 
 of the Court, in this ftage of the debate, if I did 
 not think it exceedingly forjthe intereft of the Eaft- 
 India Company, and equally for the honour of the 
 Britifli name, that the propofed vote of approbation 
 and thanks (hould pals unanimoufly. All the weight 
 of argument, upon the fubilantial merits of the 
 quefticn, feems to me to have been on one fide only, 
 2. and
 
 C si ] 
 
 and therefore I will not repeat what was urged fa 
 ably by the honourable Governor who opened the 
 debate, and by my learned friend who feconded the 
 motion, leaft, in the repetition, I mould exhauft the 
 fpirit of their remarks. What has occupied the at- 
 tention of gentlemen for the laft half hour, is a very 
 light feather indeed in the oppofite fcale. Let us 
 advert for a moment, to what the real topic of dif- 
 cufllon is ; I take it to be this : Whether Mr. Haf- 
 tings, fupported by the other members of the Su- 
 preme Council, was the caufe of thofe effectual fup- 
 plies to the Carnatic, which enabled the forces and 
 friends of the Eaft India Company to hold out, till 
 the face of affairs was altered by the Maratta peace; 
 whether he was the author and framer of that peace; 
 and whether that peace be fuch, under all its circum- 
 ftances, as to deferve cenfure or praife. 
 
 By the turn which the debate has taken, the whole 
 fubject matter of this enquiry is narrowed to the laft 
 queftion only. I have not heard it difputed, that 
 for the large fupplies fent to Madras, to the amount, 
 if I miftake not, of about three millions fterling, we 
 are indebted to the fpirited exertions of the Cover* 
 nor General and Council of Bengal. No man has 
 this day raifed a fufpicion, that uncommon ability 
 and exertion have not been uniformly difplayed by 
 the Governor General Council, during the late hof- 
 tilities in India; no man has denied the effectual 
 fupport received from them, under the mod pref- 
 fzng difficulties, towards carrying on the war in the 
 M Carnatic,
 
 Carnatic. Indeed ic fcems undeniable, that their 
 conduct upon the moflr trying occafions, that of the 
 Governor General in particular, has difplayed fuch 
 wifdom, penetration, and magnanimity, as do not 
 ufually fall to the lot of mortals. It has not been 
 contradicted that the fuccefTcs of Hyder's irruption 
 were checked by that great man; or, that in all pro- 
 bability, the completion of thofe exertions will ani- 
 hilate the dangerous power of the French, and of 
 thofe natives whofe enmity to us has been encou- 
 raged by their alliance all over India. I have not 
 heard a doubt ftarted from any quarter, but that the 
 conclufion of this treaty of peace with the Marattas, 
 at fo critical a period, has nearly compleated the 
 triumph of our arms in India, or has at leaft to- 
 tally prevented the triumph of thofe of our enemies. 
 I have not heard it doubted, much lefs have I heard 
 it denied, that the plan of peace was laid by Mr. 
 Haftings, that the definitive conclufion of it was 
 obtained by his perfeverance, and the able negotia- 
 tion of Mr. Anderfon, who was chofen out by him 
 for this great work. I have, indeed, with fome 
 amazement, heard it imputed to Mr. Haftings, that 
 this was not the only plan which fuggefted itfelf to 
 his active mind. I have, with increafe of aftonifh- 
 ment, heard it contended, that therefore fuccels 
 was not to have been expected from his fuperabun- 
 dant endeavours, and accordingly that our thanks 
 for his having accomplifhed that fuccefs, may, with 
 reafon, be delayed. Thus, Sir, we are defired to 
 make the activity of his exertions, not barely an 
 
 apology,
 
 apology, but a reafon for the flownefs of our praife. 
 Yet, admitting the utmoft that is, or can be con- 
 tended j admitting that it was not a wife plan laid 
 by Mr. Haftings for General Goddard to lead his 
 army from Bengal, through the very heart of the 
 Maratta dominions, and fo attended, to treat for 
 peace at Poona, the capital. Granting that this 
 negotiation would not have been fuccefsful, even if 
 the convention of Worgaum had not operated, like 
 a chilling froft to nip it in the bud ; granting like- 
 wife that the Rajah of Berar was an improper per- 
 fon to have been treated with -, that it would have 
 been impolitic and unjuft to place him at the head of 
 the Maratta government ; and that Mr. Haftings 
 was at one moment weak enough to think of pro- 
 pofing this wrong to be done to the prefent Pefhwa, 
 as the condition of obtaining terms of peace in other 
 refpects honourable. All thefe things being allowed, 
 what has been, or what can be made of them as rea- 
 fons for poflponing our vote of commendation for 
 the peace actually obtained, and the other honour- 
 able fervices fpecified in the motion, why, nothing 
 more than this : that two treaties being opened, be- 
 fides that which has been finally concluded, once-af- 
 forded reafon for fufpecting that no peace would 
 foon be ratified. But is it, Sir, perfectly fair to ar- 
 gue from hence, that gratitude mould fleep, now 
 fo glorious a peace is in fact concluded, in point of 
 time fo early, and on terms fo advantageous, be- 
 yond our molt fanguine expectations ? Is it right to 
 fift the active workings of this great man's mind, to 
 M a fcrutinize
 
 C 84 ] 
 
 fcrutinize the trials made by him in different quar- 
 ters, and difcovering (what he had before difcover- 
 ed) that the cbftacles to fome of them were fo 
 many, as to render fuccefs doubtful, therefore, to 
 deny him commendation for ceafing to purfue un- 
 fuccefsful endeavours too far, and for grafping at 
 the aftonifhing idea of compelling Madajee Sindia 
 to be the mediator and guarantee of permanent 
 tranquillity, .by fending the vigour of war into the 
 heart of this powerful chief's dominions, by attack- 
 ing his capital, by calling his whole attention to his 
 own immediate danger, and thereby convincing 
 him, that unlefs by fuing for peace, he could not 
 fave himfelf from ruin, and his name from being 
 obliterated from the roll of Maratta chiefs, except 
 when Mr. Haftings mould be mentioned as the 
 caufe of its being expunged ? Ought the Governor 
 General to be blamed for "this, efpecially when, 
 upon S India's defiring terms of peace for himfelf, 
 by the wifeft exercife of good policy, peace was 
 granted to him upon condition of his becoming the 
 mediator with the Poona Durbar, and with the 
 other powerful chiefs of the Maratta State, for ac- 
 complifhing a general pacification ? Let us firft fee if 
 it be poflible to fix a ftandard in our own minds, by 
 which to meafure fuch great conceptions before we 
 begin to arraign them in the grofs, or to develope 
 their parts, in order to find little faults with fome of 
 them. And refpefting which faults, if they be fuch, 
 when all is faid, the truth turns out, that they are, 
 at the utmoft, fuch (light deviations from perfection 
 
 ~
 
 kfelf, as only ferve to mark that Mr. Haftings is ftill 
 a man ; for to err is the fault of human nature. 
 But the errors of Mr. Haftings, in this bufinefs of 
 the Maratta peace, appear to me excefiively trivial, 
 when compared with thofe wonderful exertions of 
 human intellect, and that fleadinefs to his point, by 
 which it was at length perfected, and the ratification 
 finally exchanged, upon terms that muft perpetuate 
 his abilities and name in all parts of the world whi- 
 ther the annals which inrol the tranfaction may reach, 
 down to the lateft hour of their prefervation. I did V 
 hardly expect to hear the European treaty of peace, 
 the ficknefs or the death of Hyder, or the interven- 
 tion of any other circumftances that might pofiibly 
 concur in forwarding this glorious peace,- made ufe of 
 in argument to di minim from the merit of Mr. Haf- 
 tings -in getting it accomplifhed. As the matter 
 flrikes my mind, one peculiar merit which diftin- 
 guiihes Mr. Haftings as a compleat ftatefman in this 
 bufinefs is, his catching at all favourable circum- 
 ftances as they arofe, and improving them to the 
 great purpofe he had in view. And before I can be / 
 qualified to find fault, I muft have my mind railed 
 to the elevation of his. I know, indeed, that little 
 minds can cenfure, what, from human imperfection, 
 the greateft cannot mend. I refer now to the man- 
 ner of his attaining the object at which we have fo 
 much caufe to rejoice ; and do not refer to any dif- 
 tinct a<ts of Mr. Haftings's admimftration. I am 
 cot his general advocate -, I think he has his errors, 
 and great ones. When I faw the dreadful mifchiefs 
 
 of
 
 C 36 ] 
 
 of fuch a war as was carrying on with the Maratta 
 country, confidering him as the author of that war, 
 no man was more free to cenfure him ; and I muft 
 fee the evidence of his being, or not being fo, in a 
 very different light from that in which it ever has ap- 
 peared to me, and yet does appear to me, before I 
 can retract that cenfure. But let not this prevail 
 with me to refufe him my warmefl gratitude and ap- 
 plaufe for the Maratta peace. No man has denied 
 to me that this peace is peculiarly his cxclufively 
 his in the planning and carried on to its comple- 
 tion under his firm inftrudtions, by his chofen in- 
 ftruments. I blamed, and ftill do blame him, for 
 the war ; but I think him entitled, in a tenfold de- 
 gree, to my warmeft thanks for this peace. 1 will 
 examine a little more particularly whether he is Ib : 
 and the rule I will go by fhall be the only objection 
 which I underftand to be now relied on. Indeed we 
 were told that a fecret article was figned, between 
 Sindia and the Peihwa, on the very day that the 
 definitive treaty of peace was interchanged. But we 
 are not told that it is an article injurious to us ; and 
 it may be fome matter relative to their mutual inte- 
 refts, as contradiftinguimed from the other Maratta 
 powers. This, however, and an account of the cap- 
 ture of two officers by the Marattas, in their way to 
 General Matthews, fince the figning of the articles, 
 (which mn ft have arifen from fome miftake ; but 
 which, if it mould turn out as at prefent related, can 
 hardly be confidered as an infraction of the treaty) 
 were (lightly mentioned^ as reafons for poftponiflg 
 
 the
 
 C 87 1 
 
 the vote now under confideration. But they feem to 
 be given up. And the only objection perfifted in is, 
 that by way of bargain with Sindia, the half of 
 Broach was promifed, upon condition of his fecu- 
 ring the peace , and that on the day of its final ftttle- 
 rhent the whole was, by a fecret article, actually given 
 up to him, and not merely the half ftipulated for. 
 This introduced fome difcuffions about the real value 
 of Broach; eftimates have been read ; actual receipts 
 have been ftated Whether half was not ceded to 
 the Marattas by the treaty itfelf, and whether the 
 Mogul half was not all we had to give afterwards, 
 and confequently all that was given Sindia by the 
 fecret articles, and whether even this was not his be- 
 fore, according to the ftipulation made with him 
 for faving our Bombay army, have been darted as 
 queftions, upon which the affirmative has been pre- 
 fumed, remains uncontradicted. As I underftand 
 the fact, the Mogul (hare of the city of Broach is 
 by the treaty retained to the Company, exempted 
 from every claim of chout. The Maratta coun- 
 try of three lacks near Broach as ceded to us by 
 Colonel Upton's treaty, is relinquifhed to them 
 again and the Guickwar lands are reftored to the 
 two Guickwars and to the Pefhwa, to be apportioned 
 according to the real truth of their refpective origi- 
 nal claims. And I likewife conceive that the Mogul 
 (hare is the douceur given to Scindia for his agency 
 in the peace. But I will not confider the matter 
 upon thefe grounds. I love to meet an objection 
 fairly, and to examine it upon its broadeft preten- 
 
 fioni.
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 fions. Whether therefore fixteen or fix lacks be the 
 real value of the city and territory of Broach whe- 
 the whole or the half of this, the Mogul or the Mar- 
 atta fhare, be which it may, or both be the price 
 paid for the Maratta peace, fhall make no part of 
 my argument. But is this peace, under all the other 
 circumftanees of obtaining it, upon the whole, too 
 dearly purchafed at any price alledged to be gi- 
 ven for it ? This is now the only queftion. I have 
 heard it often faid, that any peace in India is better 
 than any war. The point has been difcuffed upon 
 records, wi:h uncommon ability, between Mr. Hal- 
 tings and a gentleman of whofe integrity I entertain 
 the higheft opinion, whofe minutes do equal honour 
 to his head and heart, and for whom I have the high- 
 eft perfonal refpect. I have alfo very frequently heard 
 the fame thing aflerted in this country. And al- 
 though it is not perhaps a propoficion univerially 
 true, in the moft abfolute fenfe, yet I have never en- 
 tertained a doubt, that any peace likely to be latfing, 
 procured upon any terms, would be better than the 
 Jate actual war which threatened our total extirpa- 
 tion from India, or at any rate endangered our fct- 
 tlements both on the Coromandel and Malabar coafts. 
 What, Sir, have the Governor General and Council ob- 
 tained to relieve us from fuch apprehenfions ? A peace, 
 highly honourable and beneficial ; at the price, if you 
 pleafe, of giving up all the Broach revenues, whatever 
 the amount of them may be. A peace in which al- 
 though BafTein is delivered up to the Pemwa, Salfette, 
 and other places, of greater importance to the Com- 
 pany
 
 [ 8? ] 
 
 pany than Baffcin, are retained in our pofleffion A 
 peace wherein the refpedtive allies of the two par- 
 ties to the treaty are included with them ; except 
 that Hyder Ally, before in alliance with the Pefhwa, 
 ftiould, now at the riikof forfeiting that alliance, be 
 made to relinquish and reftore ta the Company, and 
 their allies, all pofleflions taken by him from either. 
 In Ihort Hyder was by the terms of this peace to be 
 compelled to abltain from his hoftilides And all 
 the Chiefs of the Maratta State are included in the 
 treaty, and bound by it former privileges of trade 
 are reftored on all fides the enemies of one are to be 
 holden enemies of the other Madajee Sindia, who 
 was the mediator, became the guarantee of this treaty, 
 thus accomplimed , and the queftion now is, whether 
 at the price paid to him, alkdged to be a city and ter- 
 ritory of fixteen lacks, the purchafe is too dear 
 My anfwer is, that the annual expences of your ar- 
 my to carry on the war, prodigioufiy exceeded the 
 largeft eftimate that has been named as the confide- 
 ration given for the peace ; and your all was at ftake; 
 every pofleffion you have was in hourly rifk and dan- 
 ger. But before the ink of the treaty was well dry, 
 one of the articles had wrought its effect. It will be 
 recollected that Tippo Saib fucceeded to the com- 
 inand of the Myfore army, upon the death of his 
 father, Hyder Ally, in December laft, the very 
 month in which this treaty (that had been concluded 
 between Madajee Sindia and Mr. Anderfon in May, 
 and ratified by the Governor General and Council 
 in June) was completely ratified by the minifters at 
 N Pooria *
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 Poona ; Tippo was purfuing the footfteps of his 
 father, but was fo fuddenly checked in his career, by 
 the article which exprefsly named Hyder, that in 
 March, within three weeks after the Definitive Trea- 
 ty was finally interchanged with public formalities, 
 he was actually retreating with his army home to 
 Myfore, with all poffible expedition. We under- 
 ftand it to be indubitably certain, that on the igth of 
 March our troops took pofleffion of Arcot, for the 
 Nabob, within an hour after it was evacuated by 
 Tippo Saib. We know by the fame authority, that 
 he no longer holds Arnee in a word that he has 
 left the Carnatic and that the full and final fettle- 
 ment of peace with the Marattas, and moft pecu- 
 liarly and emphatically this article in the alliance 
 with them refpecting Hyder, had an inftantaneous 
 effect upon Tippo Saib, his fon and fuccefibr, equiva- 
 lent to a total overthrow. The Maratta Minifters 
 and Chiefs agreed to compel him to make peace ; 
 and upon his refufal, to join in the requifite meafures 
 for his utter ruin. He inftantly felt the effect of 
 this alliance between them, and as fuddenly re- 
 tired. As to this one article, therefore, we have de- 
 cifive knowledge of the inftantaneous good effect of 
 the treaty. Can we then with the fmalleft propriety 
 fufpend our vote of thanks, with the avowed pur- 
 pofe of waiting to know the effect of the treaty, 
 and no other ? This would be a tacit difapprobation 
 of the whole of this article, as well as the reft; it 
 would weaken the confidence of our friends, raife 
 the fpirits of our enemies, and among other mifchie- 
 
 vous
 
 [ 9' ] 
 
 vous confequences, provoke the former to with -hold 
 their afiiftance, and the latter to renew their attacks. 
 Such a waiting as this for beneficial effects from the 
 peace, and a fufpenfion of our thanks till they all 
 take place, may make a change in this inftance of 
 Tippo may prevent the other good effects entirely, 
 and muft neceffarily retard their progrefs, which it 
 is alike for our intereft and our honour to accelerate. 
 But notwithstanding we have been barely defired to 
 fufpend our vote of praife, the only argument that is 
 relied upon, implies that a vote of cenfure ought to 
 be paffed ; and this is the more manly way of putting 
 the cafe : the purchafe of this peace is more than 
 it is worth \ or, in the mildeft form of confidering 
 the fubject, better terms might have been obtained ; 
 and therefore the large revenues of Broach ought not 
 to have been given up, as the price of ir, to the me 
 diator and guarantee. In difcufiing this matter, one 
 thing ought to be confidered : that in all negotiations 
 of this nature there muft be fome inducement to a 
 compliance on each fide, or they never can terminate 
 in an agreement. In this inftance I have faid before, 
 that, admitting, for the fake of argument, the city 
 and territory of Broach to produce fixteen lacks, 
 though I take the fact to be moft decifively other- 
 wife) and admitting the whole of this to have been 
 referved to the Company by the treaty, (though upon 
 the face of the treaty itfelf I take this not to have 
 been fo either) and that by a fecret article with Sin- 
 dia, voluntarily offered, after the ratification, beyond 
 the bounty ftiptilated for, the whole of this revenue 
 N 2 is
 
 [ 9* ] 
 
 ;s confirmed to him, by as permanent a tenure as the 1 
 Definitive treaty of which he is the guarantee ; all 
 this amounts to but a fmall proportion of the fum 
 annually expended in the war. And therefore allow- 
 ing this to be really the price, 1 mould not thii*k it 
 \vantonly fquandered away, but the termination of 
 the war would, in my opinion, be purchafed at a cheap 
 rate : for it is no lefs than falvation from utter de- 
 ilruction. It bids fair to be as permanent as it is 
 fxtenfiye ; or if it mould not be io, the blame will be 
 molt probably due to ourfelves. |5ut then we have 
 been afked, What will the Pefhwa, the Minifters, and 
 pther Chiefs fay, when they find that by the fecret 
 article with Sindia, their mare of the revenues of 
 Broach is given, over to him ? I can only an Aver, 
 that if by the definitive treaty of peace the Guick- 
 war country is given back to its former owners, and 
 whatever was formerly a part of the Pemwa's terri- 
 tories is reftored to him, this fecret article cannot 
 Operate upon either, but extends only to the Mogul 
 fhare, which the Company were to pofiefs, and therer 
 fore might difpofe of, without participation or claim 
 of any kind; on the other hand, if by the definitive 
 treaty the whole is referved to the Englim, then 
 whether they ufe it themfelves, or give it up to ano- 
 ther as a reward for equivalent fervices, no juft of- 
 fence can be taken by the other parties to the treaty, 
 
 < Upon die whole, Sir, if Mr. Haftings and the 
 Council General deferve our thanks at all, I can fee 
 no objection againit agreeing to the entire refolution 
 
 propofed.
 
 [ 93 1 
 
 firopofed. The latter part, in particular, appears to 
 me the neceffary refult of the former j fmce it would 
 be the height of folly to commend the Governor 
 General for what he has done, and at the fame time 
 to wifh for his recal before he has compleated the 
 work. To requeft his continuance in the govern- 
 ment, and at the fame time to with-hold from him 
 our mod vigorous fupporf, would be ftill a more ex- 
 treme degree of folly, and would favour fo much 
 of diflike to the admirable peace he has obtained, as 
 to take away all confidence which Sindia may have in 
 us, or our nation, to betray total want of public faith, 
 and to endanger the renewal of the Maratta war, 
 accompanied by frefh irruptions from every power 
 of India that heretofore has been inimical to the 
 Englifh, or may be defirous to drive us from our 
 fettlements. 
 
 This is my fincere opinion. I do not know how 
 to argue upon it more at large, after it has been 
 difcuffed with fo much greater ability. I cannot 
 feel the force of what has been urged againft it, 
 and I think that I have confidered the objection dif- 
 paffionately. I will not fatigue the Court by repeat- 
 jng thofe arguments which have been urged in its 
 favour, with infinitely greater abilities than I pof- 
 fefs. My only motive for rifing was to enforce the 
 remark with which I began, and in the propriety 
 pf which I am confirmed by every thing that I have 
 heard, that it is equally for our intereft and x>ur ho- 
 nour to pafs this refblution unanimoufly. It may be 
 
 collected,
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 collected, from what I have already offered, that I 
 am not mifled into this fentiment by any undue pre- 
 dileiflion in favour of Mr. Haftings. 1 am acluated 
 merely as a public man, and purely upon public 
 motives. I am very far from commending all the 
 actions of his life, or approving all the meafures of 
 his government; but I will not, in this hour of re- 
 joicing, undertake the invidious tafk of bringing 
 forward any matter extraneous to the immediate 
 queftion before us, which might be an alloy to the 
 praifes juflly due to the aftoniming fuccefs of his 
 wonderful exertions. To deny him thefe praifes 
 would be to difhonour myfelf. I am not his gene- 
 ral panegyrift ; I have no perfonal attachment to 
 him; and if I feel any prejudice, it is againft him; 
 but were I capable of the moft mortal enmity, and 
 he the objeft of it, I hope that I mould not even 
 then be fo deficient in the firft rudiments of public 
 virtue, as to refufe my vote of commendation and 
 applaufe, to him and his colleagues, for fuch dif- 
 tinguifhed fervices, fo gloriouQy performed. If I 
 were, my cafe would, according to my poor appre- 
 henfion, refemble that of fome captious mortal, re- 
 fufing to thank Heaven for the vivifying po\\er of 
 the fun, after the ftorms of winter, becaufe fpots 
 have been difcovered on its furface. 
 
 . The queftion was now called for from all parts of 
 the court; but Mr. Edward Moore being upon his 
 legs, Governor Johnftone earneftly defired to be 
 heard, to order: He faid he entreated the Proprietors 
 
 to
 
 r 95 3 
 
 to liften with the utmoft attention to what the ho- 
 nourable and worthy gentleman, Mr. Moore, fhould 
 fay. Let them confider the advantages their ene- 
 mies would take of them, were they now to call for 
 the queftion. The prefent meeting which in point 
 of numbers, and of the honourable characters who 
 filled the court, was as refpectable an afTembly as 
 had ever been convened in that or any other place, 
 would be termed a factious, diforderly afifembly. 
 He therefore begged the Proprietors to attend to 
 whatever might fall from the honourable gentleman, 
 or any other Proprietor who was an enemy to the 
 motion. 
 
 General Ogkthcrpe. 
 
 I BEG, Sir Henry Fletcher, to be heard, to or- 
 der : The debate has taken fo extraordinary a turn, 
 that I entreat every gentleman prefent will liften 
 with attention to the worthy Proprietor. The point 
 now is, whether you approve or difapprove of the 
 Maratta peace ; and I am exceedingly anxious to 
 obtain every information I can on that important 
 fubject as a worthy Director has faid, if we ap- 
 prove of the Chairman's proceedings, we ihall have 
 a third Maratta war." 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 Mr. Moore. 
 
 Governor Johnftone having introduced his motion of 
 of thanks to Mr. Haftings, without reading any pa- 
 pers or extracts from the Company's records, or addu- 
 ced any premifes whereon to found conclufions to war- 
 rant his motion, Mr. E. Moore rofe and exprefled his 
 furprife at the Governor's mode of proceeding, and 
 wiihed to have fuch documents produced, as might 
 enable him and the Court to form a judgment on 
 the very extenfive and complicated queftion before 
 them. This caufed Governor Johnftone to fay, he 
 meant, before he fat down, to call for certain ex- 
 tracts and papers to be read fhort, for the informa- 
 tion of the court. Mr. Moore complained of the 
 Governor's retrograde method of proceeding, in firft 
 introducing his motion, telling the Proprietors it 
 could not pofiibly meet with a difTentient voice ; and 
 then calling for a few detatcbed paragraphs in the 
 Company's difpatches, to be read fhort, when, in 
 order to judge of the propriety of the queftion be- 
 fore them, it was necefifary to ranfack the Company's 
 records ten years back. Mr. Moore faid, calling 
 for detatchfd parts, and not the whole of the proceed- 
 ings againft Cheyt Sing, was one part of Mr. Haf- 
 tings's complaint againft the Court of Directors, in 
 his letter of the zoth March, 1783; becaufe, with- 
 out the whole proceedings had been before the Di- 
 rectors, Mr. Haftings tells them it was impoffible 
 they could judge of his conduct in that bufinefs. 
 
 From
 
 C 97 1 
 
 From Mr. Haftings's own doctrine, it fhews how 
 neceffary it is to have the wbok hiftory of Mr. Haf- 
 tings's conduct in the Maratta war before the Court, 
 before they can poflibly be ripe to judge of a mo- 
 tion of thanks to him for concluding the Maratta 
 peace. He obferved, that in the extracts and papers 
 the Governor meant to call for, he took no notice 
 of Mr. Haftings's letter to the Court of Directors of 
 the 2Oth of March, and infifted, that was too ma- 
 terial a paper to efcape the attention of the Court 
 of Proprietors ; for it contained a direct and abfo^ 
 lute charge againft the Court of Directors, a charge, 
 which their honour and the duty they owed -to the 
 Company, called upon them to anfwer ; for it was 
 little (hort of a criminal accufation. Therefore, he 
 preffed the Chairman to know, whether he, the 
 whole Court of Directors, or any one of them, had 
 prepared any anfwer to that letter, or could fay any 
 thing in juftification of their conduct, fo directly 
 criminated by the Governor General's letter. This, 
 but not till repeatedly prefTed, drew from the Chair- 
 man, Sir Henry Fletcher, an account of what he 
 had prepared as an anfwer, and conceived to be a 
 compleat juftification of the Directors, in oppofition 
 to the Governor General's charge. This very ma- 
 terial information, threw fuch light upon the quef- 
 tion, that Mr. Moore infifted, nothing but the moft 
 determined refolution of the Court, blindly to vote 
 for the motion of thanks, without information, 
 could induce the honourable mover (after hearing 
 this juftification of the Chairman read) to hope for 
 O fuccefl
 
 [ 9 8 3 
 
 uccefs in carrying it. The enormous bribe of tw 
 hundred thoufand pounds per annum, given to 
 Sindia, the guarantee of the treaty, for his fervices 
 in bringing it to a conclufion, was enough to damn 
 the peace and the peace-maker : This two hundred 
 thoufand pounds per annum, the only advantageous 
 article of the treaty, ought to have come into the 
 Company's coffers, not into Scindia's. This, and 
 this only, was furHcient, without the unknown fe- 
 cret article, or any other circumftance, to evince the 
 neceffity of poftponing the vote of thanks, till the 
 Court was ripe, from a confideration of the whole 
 of Mr. Haftings's conduct, and various circumftan- 
 ces attending the negociations for the Maratta peace, 
 to judge of the queftion before them. He charged 
 Governor Johnftone, who had mentioned Lord Rod- 
 ney's cafe, with judging from events, and not circum- 
 ftances, infixing that Lord Rodney's difmifiion from 
 the public fervice, at the moment it was determined, 
 might be wife and perfedr.lv well judged ; and that 
 his Lordmip's fortunate conqueft afterwards, was 
 an event, \vhich ought not to weigh a feather, in 
 oppofition to fuch a determination. That in like 
 manner the various cenfures, voted by parliament* 
 the Directors, and Proprietors, upon Mr. Haftings, 
 were warranted, juft, and proper, at the moment; 
 and that the event of the Maratta peace, however 
 fortunate it had been, (though he contended it was 
 a difgrace both to the Company and the nation) 
 could not now wipe away, nor bury in oblivion, the 
 crimes for which, he had been formerly cenfured j 
 
 and
 
 [ 99 1 
 
 and he infifted, the premifes from which the Gover- 
 nor attempted to draw his conclufions, was an ab- 
 furd mode of reafoning, condemned by every day's 
 experience. It was true we had a peace with the 
 Marattas, but it was replete with difgrace, and in- 
 ftead of obtaining the object which induced the 
 managers of it to break the peace fettled by Colo- 
 nel Upton, they had been obliged to relinquifh the 
 advantages of that treaty. Never were the Britifh 
 arms and name fo degraded, fo tarnifhed, as by the 
 breach of Upton's treaty and the terms of the pre- 
 fent; to fay nothing of a lofs of four millions of 
 money, in the profecution of it, which had drained 
 their eaftern treafuries of every rupee. 
 
 He faid, the honourable Governor had laid great 
 ftrefs on the ninth article of the treaty refpefting 
 Hyder Ally; and the thirteenth article refpecting 
 their intercourfe with the European nations, as ad- 
 vantages compenfating every relinquimment on the 
 part of the Company. This language, he faid, 
 was very well calculated to impofe on the unin- 
 formed Proprietors ; but gentlemen who had been 
 in India knew it to be a fad, that the Marattas and 
 Hyder were natural enemies. (the Governor and 
 others affected to laugh at this) He added, it is 
 only a want of acquaintance with the hiftory and 
 interefl of the various Afiatic powers, that occafions 
 this laugh : every gentleman around me, who has 
 been in the eaft, cannot be ignorant, there is an infi- 
 nitely greater natural antipathy bet ween. the Marattas 
 O 2 and
 
 J 
 
 and Hyder, than between the Englim and French,^ 
 and it was the enormities of Mr. Haftings, that 
 drove ih m into an alliance againft us, for their 
 mutual defence and fafety. They were at war 
 againft each other, and joined their arms to feek re- 
 
 / yenge againft us. Nay, to fuch an height were 
 their hoftilicies carried, that Hyder even went fq 
 far as to call on us to join him againft the Ma- 
 rattas, in virtue of our treaty of 1769. The mad- 
 nefs of government refufed; and, in fp doing, broke 
 that treaty, by not going to war with the Marattas ; 
 
 ' and in Bengal, your government, or rather gover- 
 nor, broke a fecond treaty, Colonel Upton's, made 
 under the direction of thofe able and virtqous men, 
 Sir J. Clavering, Monfon, and Francis, by going to 
 war with them. From thefe inconfiftencies and in- 
 firmities in your Councils, and from their cjifregard 
 to national honour and faith, thefe two Indian pow- 
 ers, Hyder and the Marattas, which no cement 
 could ever unite before, were driven to a junction 
 for their mutual protection, as well as to punifh our 
 perfidy j no other conjuncture, no other combina- 
 tion of caufes could poflibly have effected fo unna- 
 tural an union. Hence there can be no great merit, 
 as the honourable mover of this queftion would 
 have us believe, due to Mr. Haftings for this ar- 
 ticle : fo contrary to it, that people in Bengal are 
 aftonifhed the Marattas did not condition with your 
 Governor General for Hyder's extirpation; and fuch 
 appears to be the latent intent of the ninth article of 
 the Maratta treaty. 
 
 With
 
 t o ] 
 
 With regard to the thirteenth article, refpecting 
 intercourfe between the Marattas and European pow- 
 ers : This article, alfo, is not lefs their own inclina- 
 tion and intereft than ours ; and mod likely was a 
 proportion of their own, me ing thereby to plead 
 the fandity of treaty for obviating the importunity 
 of European powers without giving offence. The 
 Marattas abhor the idea of intermixing with Euro- 
 pean nations,. as much as chriftians do living amongft 
 infidels. Their religious tenets, manners, and cuf- 
 toms, forbid ; and their national interefls will ever 
 oppofe it. The Chevalier St. Lubin, who was in- V 
 triguing at the court of Poonah, on the part of the 
 French, for four or five years, never once received 
 the fainteft fhade of encouragement ; although his ~ 
 being there was matter of great fufpicion to your go- 
 vernment in Bengal, and one reafon amongft other 
 very inadmiffible ones, for the origin of the laie 
 iVlaratta war. 
 
 Great errors in oriental management, arife from a 
 want of uniformity in fyftem. By the caufcs of the 
 prefent war with Hyder <.nd the Marattas, it ap- , 
 pears we have had as many fyftems as governments ; 
 and that each government has had a fyftem of its 
 own ; in fo much, that while the government of 
 Madrafs broke a treaty by not going to war with the 
 Marattas ; the government of Bengal broke a treaty 
 fy going to war with them. It will be worth obferv-/ 
 ing, how this treaty with the Marattas is worded, 
 and particularly the preamble or title. It never once 
 pientions the name of Mr. Haftings, and emphatically 
 i confines
 
 v/ r A* 3 
 
 confines the appointment of the Gcvernor General 
 and Council, to the King and Parliament of Great Bri- 
 tain, making them the repref. ntatives of the nation 
 at large, and the tutelary guardian of the Eaft India 
 Company's right only, without other refponfibility 
 
 A towards them. This is virtually denying them any 
 controuling juriia ftion; the whole treaty breaths no- 
 
 ^ thing but contrition and fubmifiion, and more pro- 
 perly to be filled entreaty. The reafon of this ex- 
 traordinary departure from the real conftitution of 
 the Company's government is, that Sindia, the 
 guarantee, and furety for our future good behaviour, 
 was fo enraged at Mr. Haftings's perfidy and in- 
 trigue, that he would not bear to hear his name 
 
 ~ mentioned : this faft is well known in India. No 
 doubt this peace with the Marattas, difgraceful as 
 it is, in point of fubmiffive relinquimment of right 
 and acquifuion, has its advantages ; of fecuring 
 Bengal from their inroads, and a general combination 
 of all oriental powers, and retrenchment of great 
 expences, the continuance of which, threatened to 
 drain the Afiatic fettlements of the laft particle of 
 fpecie. But thefe are not the meritorious gifts of 
 the peace-maker, yet, to my furprife and aftonifh- 
 ment, though the gentleman who fupports this mo- 
 tion, admits Mr. Haftings to be the author of the 
 Maratta war ; great merit and applaufe is attributed 
 to him, as the bafis whereon they build this motion 
 of ihanks and public favour. If fuch, then, arethe 
 advantages, the merits, the defirable bleflings of 
 peace, why go unprovoked to war? Why plunge 
 
 and
 
 and drown all thofe ineftimable blefiings in wild, 
 headftr^ng fchemes of vifionary conqudft ? Why 
 violate the rights of nations, facri rice every pinciple 
 of humanity, and trample on the natural rights of 
 mankind? And why infract the peace of Poorunder, 
 fettled by Colonel Upton in 1776, the terms of 
 which were honourable t / advantageous to the Ccm- 
 pany^ and met the higheft and moft diftinguifhed 
 approbation of the nation ? Was it becaufe that 
 treaty was effcfted by the well-timed interpofition of 
 the virtuous adminiftration of Sir John Clavering, 
 Monfon, and Francis ? I think the laft as probable 
 a reafon as any. If Mr. Haftings's advocates would 
 ingenuoufly acknowledge his errors, in commencing 
 this war, he would then be entitled to every com- 
 mendation due to the merit of his reform ; but in 
 DO other point of view can they afiume^to claim it. 
 Indeed the honourable Governor acknowledges Mr. 
 Raftings was not free from errors ; but fays, Mr. 
 Haftings's merits in making this peace, ought to be 
 a veil and cover for them, and defires they may be 
 forgot. I have minutes in rny hand, by which I 
 fee I have met him in this court ten years ago. I 
 {hall be happy to meet him here ten years hence : 
 thcle minutes remind me of what the honourable 
 Governor wifhes me and this court to forget; 
 namely, that on the 6th December, 1775, Mr. Haf- 
 tings was cenfured by this court, for being the author 
 of an unjufl and unprovoked war againft the Ro- 
 hillas, a people ever confidered as a barrier 
 between us and the Marattas. 
 
 That on the 2d April 1776, Mr. Haftings was 
 
 was
 
 centered for differing his banyan to hold farms, 
 contrary to the regulations of the Committee of 
 Revenue in Bengal, for fuffering Cantoo Baboo 
 to withdraw his fecurity, &c. by which the Com- 
 pany incurred a lofs of 500,000!. 
 
 That on the 8th May, 1776, Mr. Haftings and 
 Mr. Barwell's conduct was fuch, it was refolved 
 by the directors, to remove them from their re- 
 fjpective offices. 
 
 That when this queftion was agitated in the Ge- 
 neral Court of Proprietors, the misfortune was, thar 
 Mr. Haftings and Mr. Barwell being both included 
 in one queftion, it proved the falvation of Mr. 
 Barweli, who, upon his own confeffion, was uni- 
 ve'rfaily condemned ; and, had the queftion been 
 put feparately, Mr. Barwell would certainly have 
 been removed, and his removal would again have 
 put the Government into the hands of Sir John 
 Clavering and Mr. Francis, under whofe conduct 
 the Company's affairs flourifhed, and arrived at 
 that height of profperity and glory, from which, 
 fince Colonel Monfon's demife, they have ever 
 been falling, under Mr. Haftings's government. 
 
 My minute, likewife reminds me, that on Nov. 
 19, 1776, we were afiembled to confider of a letter 
 from Mr. Haftings, wherein he had authorifed, im- 
 powered and directed Mr. Maclean to fignify his re- 
 fignation. This refignation was unanimoufly ap- 
 proved by the Court of Directors; and Mr. Mac- 
 lean faid he would fuffer crucifixion if Mr. Haftings 
 did not refign. Can this Court forget Mr. Raftings'* 
 on that pccafion ? On that very day, I ven- 
 tured
 
 [ 105 ] 
 
 hired to aflcrt, fpeaking of Sir J. Clavering, Mon- 
 fon, and Francis, that they had been the faviours of 
 the country, and of the property of the Company 
 and individuals That they had improved the coun- 
 try ; increafed your collections j augmented your in- 
 vcftments j reduced your expences ; effected treaties 
 (amongft which the Maratta was one) which fup- 
 ported one-third of your military eftablilhment ; 
 and ftill more, paid off all your bond debts, which 
 threated your ruin. Nor can I forget, that the ho- 
 nourable Governor, who generally contrives to laugh 
 at what falls from me, was happy in his laugh on 
 that occanon But, he muft now fuffer me to bring 
 to his fcrious attention, whan happened in 1780, when 
 he was very active in the appointment of Lord Ma- 
 cartney to the government of Madras: an appoint- 
 ment that did him and every man who joined their 
 efforts to his, in obtaining it, great honour , for Lord 
 Macartney's abilities, integrity, good management, 
 and virtue, has endeared him to this Company, and 
 his country, in a way never to be forgotten. Does 
 the honourable Governor and this Court recollect, 
 that in fupport of Lord Macartney's nomination to 
 Madras, the Governor laid, " Never, will 1 again op- 
 pofe the nomination of a Governor to any of our 
 fcttlements who has not been brought up in your 
 ftrvice, for that reafon onlyj for when I confider 
 the abilities, the virtues, the unfkaken integrity, 
 and great fervices of Sir John Clavering, whofe ita- 
 tue ought now to be before us in Gold, I muft ever 
 lament the oppofitiori I gave to his meafures." 
 The honourable Governor, in opening his motion this 
 P day,
 
 day, has told you, " The thanks he wiflies to vote 
 for Mr. Haftings may be confidered as an Implied 
 cenfure upon others ; and has endeavoured to explain 
 that away." I have formerly faid it, in this Court, 
 and mall ever infill, that the honourable Governor ''s 
 eulogium upon General Clavering was, by fair im- 
 plication, a Jevere cenfure upon Mr. Httfttngs's con- 
 duct, who in his letter to the Court of Directors, De- 
 cember 3, 1774, protefts again ft all the acts of the 
 majority of the Council, then compoied of Clave- 
 ring, Monfon, and Francis. Let us compare our 
 prefenf fituation with our former upon the death of 
 Colonel Monfon, when your prefent Governor Ge- 
 neral became all powerful. 
 
 The honourable mover of the queflion before us, 
 gives great merit to Mr. Haftings for the pecuniary 
 fupplies he fent to Madrafs. How were thofe fup- 
 plies raifed ? By flopping all iffues from your Ben- 
 gal treasury, accumulating all your collections m 
 January, February, and March 1783; by every 
 exertion, and draining every refource, Mr. Haftings 
 was able to fend ten lacks of Rupees with Sir Eyre 
 Coore to Madras. Ten lacks was all that could be 
 got in thefe three months ; though it is a fact known 
 in Bengal, that by a judicious management of your 
 revenues there, the month of January only ought 
 /\. to have produced fixty lacks. In March 1783, 
 our fituation in Bengal was nearly as follows Not 
 a Rupee in the treafury The country in ruins 
 The revenues collected in March had fallen fnorc 
 near fixty lacks ; end no profpeet of any more for 
 three or four months to come Your inveftmems 
 
 only
 
 .[ io 7 J 
 
 only provided for payment of a million of money 
 and upwards, borrowed in Bengal, and drawn upon 
 the Company, payable here Your expences in Ben- 
 gal daily increafing Treaties made that difgrace 
 you Your military and civil eftablifliments many 
 months in arrear; the money that ought to have paid 
 them, and purchafed your inveftrnents, having been 
 fquandered away in the unprovoked, unjuft, unnecef- 
 fary Maratta war Your armies ready to mutiny, 
 for want of pay in March < The Company at home 
 not in a capacity to accept the bills drawn for the 
 inveftments ; and befides, owing above one- million 
 to Government for cuftoms they are not able to pay. 
 I intreat you to contraCt this picture with the 
 Dilate of your affairs when they fell under Mr. 
 Haftings's direction in ^776, and then fay, whe- 
 ther Mr. Haftings deferves your thanks. Though 
 you may doubt thefe facts to-day, before this 
 day twelve months you will, I fear, be convinced 
 they are too true. If they are true, where can 
 you look for, and how can you hope for that 
 dividend which will be due in January next? 
 I wiih to protect my property ; and, if my fel- 
 low proprietors have any regard for theirs, they 
 cannot any longer fupport the man \vho has brought 
 this company to the brink of ruin. I obferve 
 the honourable Director oa the right hand of the 
 chair (Mr. Sulivan- fays, the Chairman's anfvvec 
 to the Governor General's letter is no jufliticauon 
 of the directors, and that it would be a dangerous 
 letter to fend to India. And he reminds us of 
 Mr. Haftings's ferviccs to the Company,, in in- 
 2 creafing
 
 creating the fait farms fixty lacks, but forgets Me, 
 Haft ings fuffered his banyan to hold fome of thefe 
 farms for his benefit. I have not much confi- 
 dence in what falls from that gentleman ; for I 
 well remember, that on the eve of our bankruptcy 
 ten years ago, he flood up, in the very place 
 where he now iSj and allured us, all would do 
 well, and nothing was wanting but a little circu- 
 lation ; though, in a fhort time after, the Company 
 were infolvent. A learned gentleman (Mr. Dallas) 
 has juit acknowledged, that Mr. Haftings's friend- 
 fhip induced him to give the honourable Direc- 
 tor's fon a valuable contract, for which he had 
 been blamed. ^No wonder, then, that the honour- 
 able Director is Mr. Haftings's panegyrift ! The 
 fin of ingratitude is a damnable fin ! But, it can- 
 not be imputed to the honourable Director. I re- 
 queft the Court will remember, though they do 
 jiot regard what has fallen from me this day ; 
 for, fure I am, it will be necefiary to remind them 
 of it hereafter, when it will be too late for them 
 to correct the error they are fo very impatient to 
 commit. I will only add, that I lay my hand 
 upon my heart, and allure the Court, the nega- 
 tive I fhall give to this queflion, proceeds from 
 the perfect conviction in my own mind, that there 
 are not the leaft grounds, upon which Mr. Haftings 
 is entitled to our thanks. 
 
 When Mr. Moore fat down, the queftion was 
 
 again called , and, no other gentleman rifmg to 
 
 fpeak, it was put by the Chairman, and carried 
 
 with only a fingle negative, Mr. Edward Moore's. 
 
 THE END.
 
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