3cond Letter to the ;onouraMe Edxnur 3 By Joseph Price University of Califorr Southern Regional Library Facility UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES SECOND LETTER To the Right Honourable EDMUND BURKE, On the Subject of the Evidence referred to in the Second Report of the SELECT COMMIT- TEE of the Houfe of Commons, appointed to enquire into the State of Juftice in the Provinces of Bengal, hahar, and Orrefla. With a compleat refutation of every Paragraph of the Letter of Mr. Philip Francis, to the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Company, copied from No. 7, of the Appen- dix to the faid Report, Printed for the Author, and fold by the Bookfelkrs of London and Weilminfler. JVJDCCLXXXII. ( 3 ) 4V3 ^ M SECOND LETTER b CO To EDMUNDBURKE, Eh. S I R, SINCE the publication of my letter to you, on the fubjeft of the execution of Rajah Nundcomar, I have been aiked in what part of the former report of the - committee, it appeared in evidence that it was by many perfons at Bengal, believed that the Rajah loft his life ? on political principles, for that it was not to be found in page 59 of the former report as referred to in my quota- tion from the latter. This information fet me to examine the firft report, j and I find that the only parts in it where this circum- ^S ftance is mentioned is in page 57 and page 58, as printed by J. Evans, No. 32, Paternofter-Row. |jr*w This re -examination of the fact, and of the authority, has opened a new {cene of inveiligation, the developing of which 354621 ( 4 ) which, will fhew very plainly on what flight grounds, and for what particular purpofe the insinuations have been taken up, and brought forward in the laft report. I have been told and otherways informed, that my eager- nefs to vindicate the Governor General of Bengal, toge- ther with the warmth of my temper, had hurried me into fome perfonalities which had obfcured my agreement, and weakened it very much. This remark having its foundation in fnith has hurt me a good deal, not on account of the men themfelves, but that a good caufe mould be hurt by an injudicious advo- cate. But as I Kav yet abundant materials unapplied, I once more take the liberty to addrefs you on the fubjeft ; by keeping to fa&s and argument and leaving men to their own feelings, I hope to reclaim all the moderate to my fide of the queilion. The prefent report refers to the laft for the evidence, which the committee defires may be applied to, in juf- tification of their new do&rine of policy. To that let u go, and fairly ftate the grounds they have gone upon, to the application of which I have fo ftrongly objected. The caufes of the tryal, condemnation, and execution of the Rajah Nundcomar, being part of the duty of the committee, it appears that feven different gentlemen were called before them to be examined on that head : the two firft were members of the committee, MefTrs. Roufe and Farrer. Mr. Mills and Mr. Price, two very old Free Merchants, who had refided many years in Bengal. Mr. Baber, a company's fervant, and one of the provincial * -venue Chiefs, Major James Rennell, the company'* furveyor ( s ) furveyor general, and Capt. Cowe, a military officer in the company's army. The firft five give their evidence clear and diftin6t, all agreeing in the fame points, that the Rajah's fuffering fo ignominious a death furprifed the people much, as it was contrary to their ideas of juftice, that a man of his rank and high caft of religion ihould fuffer capitally for what they deemed a venal offence. Not one fingle word is faid about political influence, by any one of the firft fix gentlemen, nor does it appear that Capt. Cowe had fuch an idea in his head, untill it had been introduced there by the Novel, and fingular queftion put to him by fome one member of the committee. The fair way is to give his evidence at length, and to reafon on the fingularity of it afterwards. I have taken it from J. Evans's publication, page 57 and 58, it is as follows : " Capt. Cowe being again examined by your committee, " was aiked whether he was at Calcutta at the time of ' the proceedings againft Nundcomar; and at the time ft of his execution, faid he was, during the whole of the *' time, being afked. if any criminal profecution had been " commenced againft him before that indictment for " fofgery ? he faid none that he had heard of. Being " afked, what was the opinion of the natives concern- ' ing that proceeding, whether they thought it political, " or done in the ordinary courfe of juftice. Said, he be- ' Ifeved there was a great diverfity of opinions ; that many thought it was done from political motives. " Others in the ordinary courfe of juftice, according to the ( 6 ) *' the laws of England, being aiked, what was the cha- ** rafter of the Rajah Nundcomar among the natives ? " Said, that he was considered at a man of underftand- ' ing, but much adi&ed to letigation, and in general " thought a defigning artful man; that he never heard t{ any thing farther againft his moral character. Being " afked, whether his profecution did not give general " fatisfa6Hon to the natives, as being the means of bring- *' ing to juflice a criminal, who had been a long time *' protected from it by his power and artifices ? Said, *' he never heard that it had given fatisfa&ion, except " to few, who might have viewed it in a political light. " Being afltcd, whether he had not heard that the offence " for which Nundcomar was tried, was committed feveral " years before the trial ? He faid, he always underftood " it had been committed for many years before the trial. '* Being alked, if he had an opportunity to make any " obfervations concerning the execution of Nundcomar? " Said he had, that he faw the whole, except the imme- *' diate a6t of execution. From, the parapet of the new " fort, not quite half a mile from the place of execution, " there were eight or ten thoufand people aflembled ; who *' at the moment the Rajah was turned off, difperfed fud- " denly crying, Ah-Baup-aree, leaving nobody about the " gallows but the iheriff and his attendance, and a few " European fpe&ators. He explains the term of Ah-Baup- " aree, to be an exclamation of the black people, upon " the appearance of any thing very alarming, and when " they are in great pain : that they did not think he would 4C be put to death till he was actually executed. That " many of them even ran into the river, from the terror *' at feeing a Bramin executed in that ignominious manner. ** That the circumftance of his execution was received " with great horror by all the natives, as well as moft of ( 7 ) " of the Europeans ; who, in general, thought it a hard " cafe. Being afked, if the natives in general were not " fatisfied with the introduction of the rigor of the '* Englifh penal ftatute law, as tending to fecure credit " and fidelity in dealings ? Said, as far as he ever under- *' flood, quite the reverfe. Then being afked, whe- " ther equity and impartiality of the fupreme court in that " bufinefs, did not ftrike forcibly upon the minds of the " natives, and imprefs them with a ftrong idea of the " wifdom and juftice of the Engliih laws, and a defire ' of having them extended for the general benefit ? He *' informed your committee, that it rather imprefied " them with an unfavourable idea of our juftice and " equity ; and that he never heard they, by any means, " wimed to have them extended. Being afked, if the " natives knew for what purpofe the fupreme court had " been eftablifhed ? He faid, he believed at fir ft they did " not properly underftand it, but that by this time, they " are perfectly acquainted with the nature of its inftitution. ' Being afked, if it was not generally given out, that *' this court was inftituted for their protection and their *' defence, againft the abufes of European authority ? He " faid, it was, that he remembered hearing Mr. Le Maiftre, *' one of the judges from the bench, exprefs'd his furprife, '* that fo many people applied for redrefs to the country " courts, when they might depend upon as good juftice '* or better, in the fupreme court of judicature ; and that ** thefe were his very words. Being afked, if the natives '* confidered the proceedings againft Nundcomar, and his " execution, as anfwering the ends of the inftitution of " the court in the protection of the natives ? He faid, " he did not believe they did. Being allked, whether they " did not confider the execution, as having a tendency to " encourage them to prefer complaints a^sinft Europeans in C 8 ) " in authority ? He faid he believed not. Being allied, " whether an addrefs to the judges was not figned by feve- " ral of the natives, commending their conduct in the " office, and particularly dwelling upon the character of " mercy ? He faid, that he has feen an addrefs from the " Armenian merchants, printed, which, he believes was " given to the judges. Bein^ aiked, w aether that addrefs " contradicted the fentiments of the natives, which he " had juft now mentioned ? He faid it did. Then being " aiked, whether he looked upon that addrefs, or the coa_- '* verfation he had heard, as moft truly expreflive of the ' genuine fenfe of the natives ? He faid, he believed the '* converfation he had heard, to be the moft expreffive ; " and that the addrefs does by no means exprefs their '* fenfe. Being afked, if he recollected any inilance .Q " mercy, to which that addrefs alluded ? He faid none, te except the releafe of the felons, and feveral who had * been under fentence of death in the prifon at Calcutta ' for capital offences. Then being asked, if any particular " circumflances of hardfhip had been reprefented to the ** judges ? he faid, he did not know that there had, be- " fore the arrival of the judges. And being aflked, whe- " tlier an opinion had prevailed, that the conftruction or " execution of criminal law had been fevere and immo- " derate ? he faid, he never had heard any fuch opinion.*' Mefirs. Rous, Farrer, Mills, Price and Rennell, had been examined before, Capt. Co we, and Mr. Baber was examined after him, not one of the other gentlemen men- tioned a f v liable of policy, or hinted that fuch an idea had ever been conceived. Capt- Cowe was going on, in the fame line. When he was afoed by fome one of the gentle- men of the committee, * What was the opinion of the ** natives ( 9 ) natives concerning that proceeding, whether they thought it political or done in the ordinary courfe of juftice." I have read the whole report over and over, to find out if it was poflible what could give caufe for fuch a queftion, no fuch had been put to any one of the proceeding five evi- dence, nor to the one which followed, and candour obliges me to conclude, that, it was not the effecT: of defign, but meer matter of accident. The anfwer goes to declare what was very true, that party divifions, in the fettlement had begot different opinions, in the inhabitants, but not the lead inference can be drawn from Capt. Cowe's evidence, that this fuppofed political interpolation, applied to any particular defcription of men, either to the judges, the majority of the civil government, or to the minority. The exclamation Au-Baup-a-ree, and the faying the people run into the river on the Rajah's being turned off, conveyes improper notions to the mind of the reader, and in candour they ought to have been explained why the gentlemen of the committee, who underftand the Hindoo manners and cuftoms did not do it, I will not truft my- felf to fay for fear I mould again touch fore places ; but the fact is as follows : had a calf been knocked on the head they would have done the fame ; the exclamation cannot be rendered into Englifh, the idioms of the languages is fo very different ; but if an Hindoo was to fee a houfe on fire ; to receive a fmart flap on the face ; break a China bafon ; cut his finger; fee two Europeans boxing, or a fparrow mot, he would call out Au-Baup-aree. B When When the Rajah was hanged, it was to them a very extraordinary fight, and it was natural for Hindoos to fuppofe, that it in fome degree denied them. The remedy was at hand, near to the gallows where the Rajah fuffered, runs a branch of the river Ganges, the waters of which river, in the ideas of all the Hindoo nations, cleanfe them from every kind of impurity. Had a common pickpocket fufFered ; had a European fpit by accident on the outer edge of their outer garment ; had they touched any dead animal, or fifty thoufand other the moft trifling caufes would have induced them to go and purify themfelves in the Ganges. At all hours of day and night, at all feaibns of the year thoufands of them are feen, men, women and children mingled together, indifcriminately dabling in the river to purge away the impurities of body, foul, and gar- ment, at the fame inftant, and by the fame means. With fuch an explanation as this I have given, (and I have with me, the unanimous opinions of all the authors, who have written on, and of every man in this kingdom who knows the lead of the manners and cufloms of the Hindoos.) How ridiculous does the above difmal ftory of Capt. Cowes appear ; and how mall we account for five or fix membeis of the committee, giving up fuch cock and bull accounts, to terrify our women and children, it can do no more, for furely no man of the leaft intelligence can fuppofe the people run into the river from terror and difmay, not they truly. Hanging a Bramin was a no- velty to befure, but if five hundred fuch rafcally Bramins as Maha Rajah Nundcomar had fufFered the fame death, not ( II ) not an Hindoo among them would have gone without his dinner on the occafion. They are by no means a fanguinary fet of people, their religion teaches them, not to take away the life of a fly wantonly, nor will they do it, this in many inflances, they carry to what we fhould call a ridiculous extreme. Yet thefe people have laws among them, which would fhock the moft hardened Europeans. They impale alive wretches who have twice been detected in robbing in boats on the river: they fcoure;e to death for theft, and they mutilate, by cutting of the hand, the ears, or the nofe, for houfe-breaking or robberies on the road. Nothing can be fo erroneous, or liable to miflead the judgment fo much as comparing fome few particular laws and cufloms of one country, with a few of tbofe of another. The Hindoos, would no more change their own code, fuch as it is, with Englifhmen, then Englimmen would change with them. Their's fuit beft with their climate, is interwoven with their religion, and they have been porTerTed of it ages before the people of this kingdom knew whether they dwelt on an ifland, or on the continent. But to return to our fubjeft, this {ingle evidence of Capt. Cowe, which grew out of the oddity of the queition, with- out which it never would have entered his head, to have amufedthe committee with fuch an idle tale, of whimfical political interference ; nor do I believe that it was more thought of by any one member of the committee, other- wife when the Bengal judicial bill was introduced into the B 2 Houfe ( I* ) Houfc of Commons, how came it to pafs without any mention having been made, or even a hint flatted that it would be improper to leave in pofleffion of the civil and judicial powers at Calcutta, monilers, who had been guilty of fuch an infamous confpiracy. All the public evidence that has been yet produced was known then : If there is private information it ought not to be held back from the public eye. If it is held back, and 1 either the judges or Governor-general Haftings fufTer in the mind of one fin- gle fellow fubje(St, male or female, from the inferences held up in the report of the committee. 1 r is a mode of punifh- ment, unknown to the laws of the land, and not to be juf- tified on any principles but fuch as are adopted at the in- quifition, and no man can fay whofe turn it mall come to next, to have his honour arraigned. There is anotber com- mittee, who deal more candidly, fa&s are produced and the fuppofed culprit is candidly informed that attempts will openly and fairly be made to fix criminality upon him, but that every afliftance will be given him to defend him- felf, and no advantage taken of popular clamour to preju- dice his caufe ; had I a brother in iuch a fituation, fharp as the fraternal feelings might pierce my foul, I Ihould bow to the ground in reverence to the juftice of my country. J would footh him in his misfortunes as the angel of the Lord did our firfl parent, and comfort him in the fame words as our immortal poet ufes, in a fimilar lituation to that firft child of human mifery : " Go thy ways in peace, " the world is all before thee, whereto feekaplace of reft *' and providence thy guide." The Angularity of th cafe before me, and the uncom- mon hardfhip the fuppofed criminal will fuffer, if any fur- ther ( 13 ) tfier fteps fhall be taken to urge the vengeance of the houfe againft them, not only unheard in their own defence, but even uninformed of the charge, induces me to endeavour to draw the attention of the Houfe of Commons, and the public to this extraordinary attempt of the committee. Between the return of the firft report, on which the le- giflaturc had acted, and the introduction of the fecond, in which the curious infinuations are prelented for the con- federation of the public. Mr. Philip Francis arrives, who, finding that the Diiectors of the Eaft India company treated him as he moft certainly deferved, not only for penning his infolent letter to them at his leaving Bengal, but alfo for his fending it to be publifhed in all the daily papers. Full of fpleen and malice he applies to the com- mittee, fitting at Weftminfter, to countenance his abomi- nable falmoods. Had I been chairman of that committee, inoft certainly I would at leaft have been neuter in that whole bulinefs. It relied with him not to engage the paffions of the awful fenaror, in the paltry politicks of the Eaft India proprietor. When the devil fhews his cloven foot, in vain does he attempt to lead us into vice, with the fyren's fong or angels face. Let the General harangue to all eternity, not one man wiil he convince that he is ac- tuated by virtue or from public good in the prefent bufi~ nefs ; whether you Sir, are fubject to the fame conclurnn J mail leave others to determine, but I hefitate not one moment to declare that to this caufe, and to this caufe alone we owe the reference back, to the former report, for one folitary piece of evidence, (extracted, not given) in juftifi- cation of the opinion implied of there having been more of policy policy then of juftice in the condemnation and execution of Rajah Nundcoraar. I have faid a great deal in my former letter-to you, Sir, on the crooked politicks, and unfounded aflertions of this genuine kni.ht of the poft, and in fome degree I flood pledged to diflect his letter, No. 7, of your Appendix. Indeed I have fuch a fertile field before me of inftances of this gentleman's want of candour and difregard of truth, that I am at a lofs from what part of his literary produc- tions to cull my examples. With your permiffion, and in order to keep in view a former affertion of mine, viz. that he entered and left Ben- gal in the fame gloomy habit of foul, predicting the fud- den and abfolute ruin of that kingdom. I will prefent you with two inftances only from the firfl letter of the majo- rity, to the Court of Directors. *' 37th. Paragraph of a letter from the majority at Ben- gal, to the Court of Directors, dated the 3d of December, * 1774, about fix weeks after the arrival of General Claver- ing, Colonel Monfon, and Mr. Francis, at Calcutta. " On this everlafling theme of Mr. Haflings, we mall " only for the prefent obferve in general, that under any " tolerab'e form of government the effe&s of the famine ' muft long fince have ceafed to be felt in a country where " nature asks nothing of the governing power but not to " ftudy to refifl and defeat her operations. The world " will foon fee that it is oppreffion of the moft violent and " pernicious nature, which has reduced this fertile country " to a fl.ate of depopulation." s I defy ( '5 ) I defy even you, Sir, who I believe to have read every thing that has ever been written on government and politicks, to produce, collected together in fo few words, arguments fo foreign to experience to human reafon and to truth And introduced for no other purpofe, than to lead the mind cfffioma fad, which nobody can deny, to daring aflertions which nobody will believe. The feverity of the famine was felt in the fummer of the year 1770, it fwcpt away a full fourth of the labour- ing people of the provinces of Bengal. The letter from which the above paragraph has been taken, was written in the beginning of December 1774, a little more than four years afterwards. Mr. Haftings's argument led to prove that onecaufe of the collections falling fhort, was the vafl Dumber of the cultivators of the lands, (from the crops of which the revenues arife) having been fwept away by the famine. If it mould pleafe God, in order to punilh us for our manifold fins to vifit this kingdom, with fo dreadful a calamity, as in one fummer, to carry off one quarter part of the working people of this country, and the revenues fall fhort in confequence. Would you, Sir, dare to infult the underflanding, and play upon the feelings of the houfe, by arTuring them, that the prefent evils did not aiife from the famine, but intirely from, the mifmanagement of the former admiftration ? If, as they affirm, the government of Bengal had a tendency to the depopulation of this country, how as it came about, that the famine and government together hath not yet quite extirpated the people and deftroyed the reven- ues. Mr. Haftings had been but a little more then two years in the government of Bengal, 'when the majority arri- ved, fuppofing him to have been the whole time employed, as ( 16 ) as they would have us to believe in deviling the means to finifh what the famine had begun, two years before he came from Madrafs. and laid wafte the whole kingdom. If they eftablilh this fa&, will it not bare hard on fe- veral others of theirs, which may be found on the com- pany's books, from November 1775, to September 1776 ? When the evils returned with redoubled violence, by the power reverting into the hands of the Governor General, by the death of Colonel Monfon. In the fhort fpace of time, which elapfed from the failing V of the lafl mips in April, 1775, (when they refled their caufe on the ftrengrh of the accufations, (how collected, I have fhewn) and fent home, as being quite fufficient to bring about the recall of Mr. Haftings) to the death of Colonel Monfon. Their letters to their honourable maf- ters, the Eaft India company, and to the miniftry, took a different turn. They had by their prefence reftored health, 1 peace and plenty to the country, and liberty to the very few inhabitants they found. " The fteady power which " had been employed to refift and defeat nature's " operations." They had effectually removed, and peo- ple fprung up together with rice in the fields fpontaneoufly. Thefe poor young naked natives they clothed, the hungry were fed, and the golden age had returned fofuddenly, that every body was loft in rapture, and joyous amazement ; and all this had been brought about by their having found in themfelves thofe men, " by whofe future fervices, and by " what future exertion of virtue and ability fuch a ftate " can be recovered. Common men are not equal to the "occafion." Unhappy Bengal, what pity that thefe angelick beings were not of die nature of Swift's ilruldbuggs, but that on one ( '7 ) one of them dying, every thing mould in the inftant fa/J back into its former ruin and defolation. In mort, if you believe your friend Mr. Francis, Caos was come again. I feel very unhappy that I cannot amufe myfelf in his golden regions, his fhort lived elyfium, to converfe a little with his beings, of a feafon which fprung up with his power, and could not be held back from finking again into nothing, on the demife of Colonel Monfon, it requires a pen like your own, Sir, to furnilh a proper epitaph on the occafion. No one circumftance of the conduct of Mr. Haflings in his preceding adminiftration, was left untouched, all was pointedly condemned and execrated, in felect and chofen Words and phrafes, in this mine Mr. Francis toiled incef- fantly, as I mall abundantly mew. Major Scot having trod the ground before, has difpofed of the treaty of Be- narras, Roheilo war, King's tribute, and feveral other fubje&s, but the mine is inexhauftable, and would furnilh endlefs materials to prove that the majority never once ex- pected that their reprefentations would be controverted or their aflertions difputed, but depended entirely on the pre- judices of the nition and the influence of the miniftry, to bring about the recall of the Governor-general The fol- io wing paragraphs have been extracted from one of the firft letters of the majority to the Court of Directors. ** Paragraph 70. The letters received by General Cla- " vering from feveral of the company's military officers C " entrufted *' entrufled with feparate commands, will be found dcferv- " ing of notice. They contain accounts of military ex- " peditions and hoftilities carried on againft a number of " Rajahs and Zemindars, without any authority from the " prefent'government, or any direft communication to us of V the plan of execution of them. Moft of thefe incafures " appear to have been directed by the provincial chiefs of *' Patna and Burdwan fome time after our arrival here. " la fome places, the Rajahs are reduced to obedience, '' and give hoflages. In many others, the villages are " burnt, and the corn cut .down and deftroyed. Enfign " Scott, having received orders from the Chief of Patna, " to feize or expel Rajah Tuttah Shaw, purfues him into " Sujah Dowlah's dominions, and makes three of the " Vizier's fubjects prifoners of war. Captain Crawford, *' by order of the Chief of Burdwan, entered Patcoom " on the 5th of laft Month with fix companies of Sepoys, " took the capital, levelled the town, and cleared the "country, in order to make the poft tenaWe. On the *' Qth, he attacks and drives the natives before him, ^' after which, the whole country fled into the mountains. " He fays, he is endeavouring to fow diflention among " their Chiefs, fo as to induce them to fubmit, or enable " him with eafe to rout them out. ' Paragraph 71. " We do not pretend to determine at " prefent whether meafures of this nature be neceflary or " not ; but we think it very extraordinary, that military " expeditions of fuch importance, and leading to fuch " confequences, fliould be undertaken, not only without "the ( 19 ) " the orders, but without the knowledge of this board. " We are forry to be obliged to conclude this article with " declaring, that, as far as we are able to judge, the " general principle which feems to have animated this * government, as well with refpecl to the natives of the ** provinces as to the neighbouring dates, has had too near a relation to the expreffive words fo often made ufe *' of extirpate, exterminate, rout out, and annihilate, (Signed) J. Clavering. Geo. Monfon. P. Francis. What uncandid mifreprefentations have we here of neceflary political meafures, unavoidable in their nature, except we fit tamely down whilft a race of lavvlefs fa- vage Barbarians lay walte and depopulate our moft fer- tile plains. Though Clavering was violent, and Monfon farcaftic, they were accomplifhed foldiers and, I hope, flrangers to the above deteftable chicanery, though the language and fentiments fuit Francis exaftly. Many parts of the provinces of Bengal and Bahar are bounded by truck woods and hills, rifing one above ano- ther to a moderate height feveral of the valleys be- hind the woods, and between the mountains, are inha- bited by different tribes of unfocial beings, not many de- grees removed from the favage life. Thefe banditti had, under all governments, in all periods of known time, time, infefted and laid wafle the fertile culuvaswu plains of the ab ove-mendoned provinces, now pofiefTed by the Eafl India company Various plans had been formed, and many experiments tried, to reduce thefe people to order, and to cover the farmers in the adjacent plains from their rnifchievous devaftations ; which continually deftroyed the inhabitants, and impeded the collections of the revenue. By degrees, a chain of military pofts had been formed on the confines of our territories, which connected with, and fupported one another. -The officers commanding thefe pofts were in general put un- der the directions of the civil fervants fuperintending the collections in the diftrid on which the poft depended others commanded partizan-corps, ftationed in the hills, and acHed under the immediate orders of the pre- fidency. Many of thefe commands were fo diftant from Calcutta, that it was indifpenfably necefiary for the board to give general inftru&ions, and confide a great deal in the difcretionaj conduct of the different collecting refidents, and commanding officers. The powers of the former were not unfimilar to thofe anciently given to the Lords of the Marches ia England, to repel by force of arms, thefudden incurfions of a fierce, valiant, northern people- and the latter had fuch kind of orders as our modern commanders receive when int.rq.fted by govern- ment with an expedition againft a neighbouring (late. All that was intended, was the preservation of the lives and properties of the company's farmers, or (if you like it better) the king's fubjefts. If this could be ^c reeled by moderate means and fair treaties with the Rajah's, Zemindars, and other Chiefs of the hill- people (as thofe motley tribes of independant free-booters are commonly called) it was fo to be effecled- -if not-- then they were to proceed by force to drive them fur- ther from our boundaries, or, if neceflary, to fubje them entirely to our government. Look round the world fearch into every page of antient and modern hiflory, and inform the public, how anew fovereignty, lately acquired by conqueft-part of a vaft continent and in a fimilar Situation with the provinces of Bengal and Bahar is by other means to be defended and maintained. But there were orders of the Eaft India company's which pofitively forbad a further extention of their dominions on that fide of India : and k was for the purpofe of the majority, that the neceflary and unavoid- able meafures which had been taken in order to form a ftrong barrier for the fafety of thofe dominions, fhou!4 be reprefented in Europe as a breach of thofe orders, and an avaricious ambition in the late adminiftration to obtain new provinces for the company by the force of their arm. With what candour, and on what foun- dation, orders, iflued to obtain the very purpofes inten- ded by the company, have been perverted by the majori- ty, in order to criminate the conduct of the Governor General, lias already been fhewn. Such were the men the late miniftry provided to corre& abufes, and give to the government of this deluded king- dom, candid information of the real flate of the company's affairs C 22 ) affairs in Afia, and I am inuch miftaken if the Loid Ad- vocate, in his late much ftudied harangue, has not let puffey peep a little too plainly out of the bag, by giving the houfe to underftand, what the intentions of the Jaft mini* fters were with refpedfc to India affairs, the fending out of another Ihip load or two of locufts, under the denomina- tion of fupervifors, to devour the remaining wine and oil of that country (unhappy) Bengal. I will hope that we have cfcapedthatgreat evil, and thatno more duplicates of coerfive tneafures, or Bofton Port bills are to be fent as padlocks on the Ganges, but that the time is arrived when not only the nation, but even the Eaft India company are emancipated from their fervile and dependant fituation, on a venal court faction. An honourable Baronet complimented the able advocate n his acquiring fuch extenfive knowledge in Afiatic affairs in fo fhort a time. Had he forgot that the man comes* from the Northward and was bread a lawyer. What has he 'collected but words. I will venture to wager with the honourable Baronet, that if he will but fend him or any other famous man of the profeffion, half a peck of Pagados; they will collect much better words, and more of them in his defence. His lordfhip flrews a few laurels on the grave of that wonderful man Lord Clive, (on whofe vaft abilities I never think but with admiration) but I remember other' orators of the fame profeflion flraining all their powers to blacken the character, and tarniih the luftre of that great .hero's virtues. Is the nation never to allow a little honeft praife to living worthies, Muft no good man ta'fte of fame in : " . in the vale of peace, fhall fuch an incendiary as I have and mall prove Mr. Francis to be, have his works made part of the national records, and in the fame volume, a ftain be thrown on the fpodefs character of Governor-general Haftings. If forgetting the injuiies done by the- dead, and applauding thofe now forging by the living is the high road to intereft in this world, and Heaven in the next. I fear, 1 mail ftay where I am until the curtain drops, and then fink into the oppofite place to Heaven. For I feel no fymptoms of repentance working on my mind, and people advanced in life do not grow lefs obftinate by living longer. Now, Sir, for a fair investigation into the merits Francis' letter to the Court of Directors ; their neglect of which your committee feems fo extremely difpleafed with. I grudge fuch a document the paper it has already wafted, and is about to wafte ; but this man muft be put totally to filence, and the labourers which he keeps about Debret's fhop, difmifled to leek their bread by fome more worthy employment, then alarming the nation with fictitious ac- counts of things which never exifted. Abler workmen have taken the matter up in a much more honourable place, or I fhould never by fuch grubs as thole have been roufed from my compleat contempt for them and their matter. I have, Sir, caufed the whole letter, as it {lands in the Appendix, No. 7, to your report, to be copied in feperate paragraphs, and under each paragragh you will find my remark* r 24 3 remarks and obfervations, this I thought better then being obliged conftantly to refer the reader back to the letter it- ielf. No man knows, Sir, better than you do how necef- fary perfpicuity is to the fully understanding what a writer means. From FIRST COMMITTEE, Second Report, APPENDIX, No. 7. (COP Y.) Mr. Francis's Letter to the Court of Dire&ofs. * Gentlemen, ' Tj^OR your Convenience, as well as to aflift my own ' J? Memory, I have thrown together, in the Paper which I have now the Honour to deliver you, fhort Me- morandums of the principal Points on which I wife and propofe to give you all the Information in ir,y Power. Some Things will require Explanation-^-others may have been omitted, which I may recoiled hereafter. I a:n ready, and fhall be fo at all Times, to anfwer any Quef- tions you may think fit to put to me ; and I hope that, jf any Thing farther fhculd occur to me, which may ef- D capo ( 26 ) cape my Attention, you will allow me to communicate it to you in Writing, whether as a Correction of any of ' the Contents of this Paper, or in Addition to them. I have the Honour to be, Eaft India Houfe, Gentlemen, igth Nov. 1781. Your moft obedient and humble Servant, P. Francis. REMARK. Knowing the defponding fpirit and aptitude at fiction to which Mr. Francis was fo exceffively prone, I cannot blame the Court of Directors for being content to hold no farther cpnverfe or connection with the man. * Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Honourable the Court of Dire&ors'. * Eaft India Houfe, igth November, 1781. Par.i. ' When I had the Honour of addreffing the Court * of Directors from St. Helena, it was not known to me, ' that one of the Subjects on which I propofed to give ' them Information would be brought fo directly and ex- * plicitly into their View, as I find it has been, by Mr. * Haflings's Letter to them of the ad of December, 1780 * as he therein exprefsly tells you,' " That they fhall be " under the Neceffity of making a large Reduction and " poffibly a total Sufpenfion of your Inveftmeat for the en- " fuing Year ; and that he cannot pronounce what their " Ability may be, beyond that Period." I have nothing to * to offer on that Head, but that I am thoroughly con- ' vinced that the Neceffity to which Mr. Haftings alludes will continue to operate, if not increafe, in its Force, * and in all its Eftecls ; and that no Man, who knows any * Thing of the real Sate of India, can, even by Conjec- ture, point out a Period at which fuch Neceffity will * ceafe to be felt. Peace at prefent is not within Sight ; * and, whenever there (hall be a Peace, I can venture to af- ' fure you, that the comparative State of your Expences * and Refources in India, as they will then ftand, will not ' exhibit a Surplus applicable to the Purchafeofan In- veftment. It is my moft ferious Opinion, that you will never again have an Inveftment purchafed with any Sa- ' vings from the Revenues of Bengal. I hear you have lately authorized the Governor and Council to draw upon you ' for Five hundred thoufand Pounds, to be applied ftriclly * to this Object : You know, better than I do, how long < the Company can fupport fuch a Demand upon their * Refources in England. As long as it can be fupported! * you will confult the welfare of Bengal at leaft, in lay- * ing this Burden on the Company. If there be no In- * veftment purchafed in one Year, the landed Revenue of * the Country will, in a little Time, be found to fail nearly ' in the fame Proportion : One is, in effect, the Supply * of the other. Again, as there is properly no Trade in * Bengal, or next to none, but that which is created by the Purchafe of the Company's Inveftment, it follows, that* ' in whatever Proportion fuch Inveftment is diminifiied ? * the Manufactures are fo far forth left without Employ- * ment the Confequence of which muft be, that they will * either fly the Country, or turn to fome other Occupa- P 2 * tion, ( 28 ) < tion, and the Manufactures be proportionably debafed, if * not irrecoverably loft. Reflections of this Nature, I * prefume, muft have occurred to you, when you autho- * rized the Governor and Council to draw upon you for fo large a Sum. Whether it will be in their power to apply ' the Whole of it in the Manner you expect, I very much * doubt :- But as a collateral Refource, applicable to the * fame Object, I fubmit to 1 you to confider, whether the * following Idea might not be adopted with Advantage, ' under fu'ch Corrections and Improvements as your own V* Judgement may fuggeft: That all Europeans, and others, * refident in Bengal, having Money which they wifli to re- * mit to England, fhould be invited to fubfcribe it into the * Treafury of the Board of Trade, to be applied to the < Purchafe of Piece Goods, Raw Silk, &c. on Condition that their Bills on the Company, at a favourable Rate * of Exchange, (fuppofe, for Example, 2s. id. the Current ' Rupee,) (hall be accepted and paid at a given Period after . * the Arrival of the Ships in England, This Expedient, ' I believe, will produce Twenty-five Lacks a Year, at * leaft for a Year or Two j and, as far as it went, the Ex- * traction of Specie from England and from Bengal would * be proportionably and equally fayed. I fubmit this merely * as an Hint to your better Judgment,' REMARK. Mr. Haftings had fome doubts that he fhould not be able to continue the full fupport of four different armies, be- longing to the Company, then actually in the field, and looking, every man of them, to Bengal for fupport and fubfiftancej and at the fame time continue to fend annually home home to the Company an inveftment amounting to eight hundred thoufand or a million of pounds fterling, as he had done for years paft j befides fupplying money and pro- vifions to Bombay and Madrafs. So circumftanced, he thought it his duty to advife the Company at home of his apprehenfions, that they might not load themfelves with the expence of unneceflary tonnage, in order to carry home Bengal goods which it might happen he could not fpare money to provide. - Was not this juftifiable and fair? has fuch a neceflary piece of advice had any bad effects ? and has not his powerful and unwearied invention of find- ing out refources enabled him to go on with the inveft- fnent ? and is it not now known, that there is, at Bengal and on its way home,more than a million and a half of Ben- gal goods, provided to enable the Company to make good the bills which neceffity has obliged the different Preftden- cies to draw on the Company ? In the latter part of this firft paragraph, Mr. Francis modeftly offers a hint to the Court of Directors which he would hope to intrude on the world for his own. Is it poffible that this man was unacquainted with all the differ, ent ways that this his hint has been given to the Company before, fo far back as to the years 1762 and 1763 ? I re- member Mr. Gregory, now the Chairman of the Court of Directors, (whofe honeft name I would not prefume to join with Mr. Francis, were it not in the caufe of truth,) often mentioned his apprehenfions, that fending of fo much money out of the country as was acquired by individuals, and at the fame time their fupply- ing the foreign Companies for bills, which prevented the farther importation of bullion, would in a few years im- pede ( 30 ) pede the neceflary circulation in the provinces, and hurt the revenues, wifhing fome means could be devifed to re- ceive private property for notes on the Company* A few years after, Governor Verelft ftated this matter fully and fairly to the Company, with his fears of the confequences, hinting at the fame remedy. After that, a merchant of ex- tenfive experience ftated in the Free Merchants Letters the fame evil, and propofed the fame remedy. - From this laft Matter Francis (being very fond of the man) ftole the bint as he calls it : but he cannot even fteal fairly. The author of the Free Merchants Letters propofes that the Company (hall receive the current rupee at the exchange of two (hillings, and grant bills on Europe at very long fight; and Mr. Francis well knows that all the European 8 in Bengal would very gladly pay in every fixpence they could get on fuch terms, with a view that they or their friends fliould receive it in Europe, with an intereft of three per cent, even five years after paying of it into the Compa- ny's cafh at Bengal. Had he offered this exchange I fhould have faid nothing: but his cunning (for it is all he has to ferve him in place of wifdom) fuggefted that, though he himfelf had taken money out of the treafury for his wa- ges at two {hillings the current rupee, yet that he never had paid in any at lefs than two (hillings and one penny ; and he thought that, if he gave in his hint on terms lefs ad- vantageous for others than he had taken for himfelf, fome- body would take notice of it.- Thus do the wicked ever dig pits for others, and fall into them themfelves : for I dare him to deny that he ever received money from the Company at more than two (hillings the current rupee, or took bills on them for lefs than two (hillings and one pen- ny, < The ( 3' ) Par. 2. ' The Second Point, on which I meant to offer * you fome Information, was the State of theAdminiftration * of Juftice in Bengal j but, as I find that this Subject has ' been 'already taken up by the Legiflature, and is likely to * be refumed at the Meeting of Parliament, I {hall not en- * ter further into it in this Place. One Fac-t only it is fit ' you fhould be apprized of, becaufe it diredtly concerns ' the Company's Intereft, and may require fome immediate * Orders from you. It is, that whereas, in many Ac"ts and * Declarations of the Governor General and Council, and ' more particularly, in their Declaration made to the Su- preme Court of Judicature on the nth of March 1780, ' it was conftantly avowed and maintained by them, that ' the Zemindars and other Landholders of Bengal were ' exclufively fubje& to the Jurifdidtion of the Governor * General ard Council the Chief Juftice of the Supreme ' Court was neverthelefs appointed, in October, 1780, by * a Majority of the Board, confifting of the Governor Ge- * neral and Sir Eyre Coote, againft Mr. Wheler and me, to * be Superintendant or Judge of the Dewannee Adauluts, and to decide, in the laft Reflbrt, in all Appeals from. thofe Courts jr that the Chief Juftice had accepted the ' Office; and, that on the 24th of Odober, the Governor ' General propofed an Allowance of 5,600 Sicca Rupees a ' Month for the Chief Juftice, which at that Time was * not voted.' REMARK. The fubjet of appointing the Chief-Juftice ts the fu- perintendance of the Sudder Dewanne Adaulut, with a fa- lary adequate to the fatigue of the Duty, was propofed as a conciliatory meafure, and referred home to the Company for for their approbation. The reafons for the turn given to it in the Committee have been explained in this and my former s Letter. - I fhall only fubjoin here, that, though Mr. Haftings has been continued in the government ten years, fo oddly have things fallen out, that no plan of his has had any time given it to prove by experience its utility. At Bengal they are now acting under the fancHon of the A&s of Parliament of laft feffion, little dreaming that all is go- ing to be new-modelled. With fuch unfteadinefs of go- vernment at the feat of empire, how can we expect tran- quillity and eafe at the extremes; which, in point of dif- tance by fea, muft be confidered, with refpet to the Ma- ther Country, as antipodical. Par. 3. * Thefe Subjects being difmifled, I come to the 4 great leading Facts, which conftitute the actual State of ' India, as far as I am acquainted with it ift. The Domi- j ' nions of your Ally, or rather your VaiTal, the Nabob V * of Oude, are utterly, and I believe irrecoverably, ruined. 4 In the Year 1776, the Revenues of that Country, and ' its Dependencies, exceeded Three hundred Lacks of 4 Rupees. In April, 1780, they were fo reduced, that, 4 whereas the Company's Demand on the Vizier for that 4 Year, as rtated by Mr. Charles Purling, amounted to * One hundred and Twenty Lacks, and, as ftated by me, 4 to One hundred and Fifty Lacks, no Aflignments could * be had from the Vizier for more than Ninety Lacks, 4 and he himfelf was reduced to the abfolute Want of a 4 bare Subfiftence for himfelf and his Family. You will 4 find the Particulars recorded in our Confutation of the 4 3d of April 1780. You cannot but be fenfible how far 4 the Fact of itfelf extends, and to what Confequences 4 it ( 33 ) "* It'Ieads. I mention it now for the following Reafon, * out of rirany that are ftill more important. I find, that ' in tic Report of the Committee of Proprietors, dated < the x (}th of December 1780, Credit is taken (under the "* Head of Outftandtng Debts due to the Company) for ' Current Rupees, 25,65,989, due by Afoph ul Dowlah, c Nabob of Oude, with a$ much apparent Confidence and '* Security, as if you ha3 the Money in your Treafury in * Leadenhatl-Street : Now I do afiure you, that this ' Debt, fo far from being difcharged, is by this Time ' immoderately increased ; and that it never can be dif- ' charged out of the Revenues of Oude, which, .when I * left India, were far fliort of bcin? equal to the indif- * penfable Eftablifhmems of that Government, and which *' were ftill declining rapidly every Day. 2d. I have ;ood 4 Reafon to believe, that your Ally, the Rana of Gobub, ' as I find him entitled in the Governor Gene-al's Letter, c is much dilTatisf.cd with the Prefence of your Troop, ' and wich the Effects It 'has produced in his Country: ' That Major Popham was fo apprehenfive of being be- 1 trayed by him to the Marattas, thaffie feldom'or 'never ' ventured to communicate his Plan of Operations to him, ' and more parciculariv in the rnrtance c'f his Enterprize '* on Guawlior: Ar-d that no Part of the Subfidy t tributary prince and fifty others who inhabit the continent of India: but a man, that fhould fet himfelf up for a perfon who underftood the politics of 354621 ( 38 ) of Europe, and at the fame time own that he never heard of the Prince of HeflTe, the Elector of Hanover, Swifs Cantons, Republics of Venice, of Florence, and other fmall States of Italy, would not have much credit given him for his knowledge in the affairs of Europe. Very numerous are the fmall States of Afia, whofe fitu- ation obliges them to watch the motions of the great Poten- tates, and trim over, firft to one, and then to the other, as intereft may incline or neceflity compel. But of this Mr. Francis knows nothing ; nor does he feem to know, that, fince the Englifii have eftablifoed themfelves on that peninfula, a kind of balance of power hath imperceptibly formed itfelf, that will, in all human probability, on a general peace taking place, (which we may expect to hear of fhortly,) be adjufted in fuch a manner as to fecure the tranquillity of that continent for many years to come. 3dly. Whenever Mr. Francis, urging his opinion, de- pends on his own pofitive affertions, he is for ever un- luckly. The detachment under Colonel Pearce did' move on, and arrived fafe on the Coaft. He fhould be more cautious of committing Mr. Wheler, now he is no longer influenced by his pernicious counfel : that Gentleman is emancipated ; and, having had time to think for himfelf, joins the Governor-General in all his plans for a peace ; to obtain which honourably, you know, fir, [nations muft fhew a power to refift by war. If Mr. Haftings did on his own private credit raife three or four lacks of rupees, and with fo fmall a fum purchafe the neutrality of fo powerful a branch of the Maharatta Empire as the Rajah of Berar, and thereby enable Colonel Pearce ( 39 ) Pearce to pafs unmolefted through not only his dominions, but alfo through the dominions of the Soubah of the De- can, and join Sir Eyre Coote en rhe Coaft with fuch a noble reinforcement, what word< are ftrong enough in which to fpeak the praife due to fuch a noble effort of dif- interefted patriotifm ! A Prince nearly connected, by every tie natural and religious, to the firft Maharatta Power a- gainft whom we were in arms, and himfelf able to bring forty thoufand horfe into the field, has been bought off, by Mr. Francis's Account, for thirty or forty thoufand pounds. Cheap doings, thefe : I wifh fome of our Euro- pean politicians could do fuch jobs foreafonably. Par. 4. c 5th. I cannot fpeak particularly of the bonded ' Debt at Fort Saint George - y but I have heard, from good * Authority, that it amounted to the utmoft they could * borrow. One Fact, however, is neceflary to be brought ' into your immediate Obfervation ; that whereas the ' Committee of Proprietors have taken Credit in their * Report for out-ftanding Debts and Property at Fort ' Saint George, convertable into Cafb, to the Amount " of ji>38o,o83: That whole Credit, or by far the ' greateft Part of it, is ideal. Their Expences are efti- * mated by Sir Eyre Coote at above Seven Lacks of Ru- * pees a Month, which, he declares, " mult all come from " Bengal, as there were no Refources in the Carnatic ** from which a flngle Pagoda was to be expected." REMARK. The ftatcment of the Debts, due on bond at the differ- ent fettlements, I fhall admit to be accurate, though brought forward by Mr. Francis j and fhall only obfcrve, that { 40 ) that the aggregate fum docs not amount to what the Ben- gal bonded debt alone amounted to when Mr. Haftings came to the Government of that Country. The annual revenues of Bengal alone amount to more than double the fum ; and, if we add that part of the Re- venue of Oude which muft, and always will, be applied to the payment of our army on the peace efhbliflifnenr, this bugbearof Mr. Francis will difappear infenfibly in a year or two after the prefent troubles fubfide. The Compa- ny's bonds, like our national funds, -rife or -fall in their value on a nearer or more diftant profpefl df a peacfe. I have known them formerly often above Par in the market; nor is it ever but with reluctance that th'e Bondholders at Bengal bring them in for payment ; and the Government may always reduce the intereft to five per cent, which is not equivalent to more than two per cent, in Europe. Par. 5. e 6t1i. In Bengal, lam firft to obferve to you, that 'all tlie Eftablifhmenfs in the Civil Departments have 6 been immoderately increafed fince Sir John Clavering's * Death; but thefe, however great in'themfelves, are not ' to be mentioned in Comparifon with the Excefs to 6 which the Military Charges have been carried in Ihe * fame Period. In the 28th Article of the Inftruftions * which General Clavering, Colonel Monfon, and I, car- * ried but "with us, in the Year 1774, the Company fay, " Our Military Expences at Bengal having increafed to 11 a Degree which is became infupportalle to us ; we, in " an efpedal Manner, enjoin you to make ftrict Enquiry " into the Caufes of fuch Increafe, &c." At that Time, * the Military Charge, which the Company called infup- ' portable^ * portable, as in Truth it was, did not exceed Eighty * Lacks of Current Rupees per Annum ; the EftSmate of * the fame Eftablifhment, for the Year ending in April * laft, amounted to Two hundred and Fourteen Lacks * and an Half; and this Charge, I conclude, has in- * creafed in the current Year ; I am fure it cannot have ' been diminifhed. I am unwilling to fay any thing of * the actual State of the Army, in regard to its effective Strength, compared with the Eftabliihment, its Difci- ' pline, or the Punctuality with which the Native Troops * are paid, becaufe it would be going out of my o\vn ' Department, and partly becaufe I cannot give you * Lights on this Subject, from my own direct Knowledge * of it : Thus far, however, I think it my Duty to fay, * that from my own Obfervation, and from all the Infor- * mation I have been able to collect, I have too much c Reafon to believe, that your Army actually wants a ' ftrict Infpetion into its Difcipline, and a vigorous Command over it; and that this is true in a Degree much beyond what you will be inclined to believe, or ' what I could make good. The Thing in its Nature is 4 not capable of Proof in England ; your Judgement there- ' fore muft be guided and determined by your Opinion of ' the Veracity and Honour of thofe whom you confult,' REMARK. Mr. Francis would certainly have done wifely in faying nothing about the army, even on his own principles, his extreme ignorance on the fubject : but there are other more weighty rcafons, which having flipped his memory, I fha)l take the liberty to recal them to it. F At ( 42 ) At what period did this want of order and difcipline commence ? did it exift when General Clavering arrived in the country ? if fo, how came it to pafs that that Gen- tleman during bis life never faw the Bengal Army? His mi- litary pride would not fuffer him to let Colonel Monfon have the command of it until he himfelf fliould get into the Government. Was it of more confequence to the State and to the Company, that he fliould fpend his time at Calcutta, endeavouring, by means {hocking to think on, to drive Mr. Haftings out of the Government ? When have the Bengal Army refufed to do their duty ? Are not their warlike exploits and military prowefs the theme of e- very man in Europe and in Afia ? Has there been a time when they flunk back from the charge,or rather did not court the occafion to be led up to the nofes of thirty times their numbers, arranged in military array, hcftile to the Englifli banner ? Where were the feelings of the -would-be-patriot General, when he fuffered fuch a Thing as Mr. Francis to caft fuch a reflection on the Bengal Army ? Is this his mode of paying his court to a fet of as brave officers as the world ever faw ? But they have done with Mr. Francis, and I truft will no more be in the way to be infulted by the General's infolence of manners : being fecured from that is all they have to afkj their real contempt for fuch aflbciates will do the reft. H33d 6 * t^laBlSL General Sir Eyre Coote was the immediate fucceflbr appointed by the King and the Company to command the Afiatic Troops in general, and the Bengal Army in parti- cular. Has that gallant Officer made any complaint of the want of fpirit, order, or difcipline, which he found in the Company's Troops ? Has he not, with a mere handful of ( 43 ) of them, cbaftifedthe Cefar of the Eaft, or rather parlia- mentary bugbear, Hyder Ally ? But it is not in the nature of a certain order of men to forgive a political fin. Sir Eyre voted againft Mr. Francis in council, and that is a crime of fuch a dye as no length of time will wafh out. I hope the Bengal officers, now in England, will fignify their thanks to this clerk of the waf-office for his opinion of them. jj Snd'joi:.; , fc|th. In the Report of the Committee of Proprietors^ * I amforry toobferve, among feveral other exceptionable c Articles, that Credit is taken for Outftanding Debts, * due to the Company in Bengal, to the Amount of ' Current Rupees 77,22,548, and that this Sum makes 6 Part of the final Balance of Pounds Sterling, fuppofed '. to be in Favour of the Company, juft as much as the * Money in your Treafury, or the Value of the Goods in * your Warehoufes, in London. I beg Leave to allure ' you, that thefe Debts, or the greateft Part of them, have c flood for Years on the Company's Books, and are be- 4 lieved in Bengal to be defperate. I declare to you I ' never heard of a Debt of any Confequence being re- * covered by the Company in India. If thefe Debts were of a recoverable Nature, it is to be prefumed that a con- c fiderable, or at leaft fome, Part of them, would have been ' recovered at a Time when the Governor-General and c Council were trying every poflible Expedient to borrow ' Mpney at an high Intereft : But the Fact, on the con- e trary, from a Comparifon of the Accounts in my Pof- * feflion, ftands thus : F 7. 25th ( 44 )- * 25th September 1779, Total Debts} due to the Company, 3 3ift October 1780, Ditto, 110,74,218 < Increafe of Debts due to the pany in thofe Thirteen Months j REMARK. Of the outftanding debts, on the defperate fituation of which Mr. Francis exprefies himfelf fo feelingly, it is no lefs curious to obferve his ignorance than to remark his malice. Outftanding debts, he fays himfelf, are very feldom recovered in India, and gives an inftance to prove" that they increafe yearly. Is it poflible that this man can be ignorant, that, in the complicated character in which the Company ftand of Lord Paramount, Farmers Gene- ral, Collectors of the Revenue, Import and Export Mer- chants, and Military Store-keepers General, all which Accounts pafs their mercantile books, and muft be pro- ductive of bad debts : is there any thing new in this ? are they not obliged every year to write out to their fer- vants at their feveral fettle me nts,to write off to profit and lofs fuch and fuch defperate debts ? Had he been the leaft con- verfant in the Company's mercantile affairs, he could not have been ignorant of this fact; and that the fervants abroad never do proceed to ftrike any head off their books without exprefs orders from home. And, fmce they have been fo Deeply concerned in the politics of Afia, many millions have funk that way, and more muft be funk every year; but the obfervation ferved to catch the eye ofigno- and to give alarm, and that was all Mr. Francis meant : ( 45 ) meant : candid difquifition, or honeft explanation he has always bedn a ftf anger to. c 8th. Thus fan without defcending to minuter Ob- * jects, I have confined myfelf to what I believe to be * ftri&ly the Fadfo, in dating to you the general Situation, * of your Affairs : My Opinion on fome of them (hall be ' laid before you, with the fame Freedom and Sincerity. * I find, with Concern, that a Habit begins to prevail ' in this Country, of fending out new Corps of Europeans ' for the Service in India. In my Judgement, and in * that of all the Officers of Experience with whom I have ' converfed in Bengal, you would find it a much lefs ex- c penfive and a much more effectual Method of providing ' for that Branch of your Service, if you fent out Re- f cruits fufficient to complete the European Regiments at ' the feyeral Prefidencies. The dividing thofe Regiments c into Two Battalions each, when the Companies could ' not (hew above Twenty-three Rank and File, was a moft ' ill-advifed Meafure, and produced many bad Effects, * bcfides a very great Increafe of Expence. When I left India, they wanted more than Half their Complement. * Your Army in Bengal, if the Eftablifhment be kept ' complete, is fufficiently numerous ; it does not want * Field Officers, at leaft not many; nor Captains, nor ' Subalterns ; in thefe Ranks, I believe your Army is as * well fupplied as any Service in that Country can re- ' quire : But it does want Two or Three General Of- * iicers, Men of Activity, of Experience, and of efta- ' blifhed Reputations ; if poflible, they fhould be in tha * Frime of Life, and as high in Point of perfonal Rank ( 46 ) as can be found ; under their Infpe&ions, your Efta- blifhments will be kept complete, and your Troops in general acquire as much Difcipline and Vigour as an Indian Army is capable of, or as the Nature of that 6 Service is likely to demand.' u'soi ' REMARK. Here we have him again in the field, confefiedly out of his element. Have the officers trained up in the Com- pany's fervice {hewn any want of ability, when they had, by rifing gradually, come to the command of the army ? Will he be content to abide by the event of every experi- ment which has yet been tried, and contraft General Cla- vering, General Monro, General Stuard, Colonel Lefley, Colonel Edgerton, with Lord Clive, General Joe Smith, General Caillaud, General Sir Robert Fletcher, General Sir Robert Barker, and General Thomas Goddard ? I drop the General of the Committee, for fear of hurting his modefty, not well knowing in which lift he would like beft to be placed. I am neither civilian nor foldier in the Company's fer- vice j but am extremely hurt at obferving the temper with which the Gentlemen, who fall under thofe defcriptions of Company's Servants, bear to be fo grofsly infulted, in the face of the Nation, by fuch a botch, fuch a carbuncle, en the vitals of Truth, as this quondam cleric of an of- fice, whofe foul has been (hrivelled up like a winter's pip- pin, and comprefled, by the dirty employ of flopping fix-, pences, into the magnitude of a minikin pin's head. 6 9*- ( 47 ) * 9th. With refpeft to your Connexions or DifTe- c rences with the Country Powers, I have already told you * in what Eftimation the Englifh. Name and Authority are c univerfally held by thofe Powers. The Re-eflablifliment * of Peace in India, which in Effect is no more than re_ verting to your own original Principles, is now become ' indifpenfably neceflary, not only to your Profperity or to ' your Safety, but I fay to your Exiftence. If the prefent ' Wars are to be continued, you can no more fupport the * Confequences of Succefs than of Defeat : No Victory in * India will ever again pay the Expence of the Army that ' gains it. I need not tell you, what effect another Defeat might produce. TheDifafter which befel Colonel Bailie's ' Detachment, was felt in the moft diftant Parts of our * Provinces : Another Event of the fame Nature would, as ' I apprehend, go near to drive all the Sepoys out of your * Service. Before the late unfortunate Tranfaions on ' the Two Coafts, the Reputation of your Arms had fup- e ported your Credit and Influence throughout India. But * that Reputation has been wantonly hazarded and fevere- ' ly wounded ; and your Credit and Influence have accor- ' dingly funk along with it. Peace then, at all Events, * muft be your Object. On this Point I can give you other Explanations, if they are defired ; if not, I (hall * content myfelf with faying, that the Indian Powers have c loft all Confidence in the Good Faith and Steadinefs of 4 the Government of Bengal.' -rj O 95d efid l\ REMARK. We know, Mr. Francis, that you have, over and over again, told the Company and the Kingdom at large many moft daring and fallacious ftories of the eftimation in which the ( 48 ) the Englifli name is held by the different powers of Afia, and I wonder that, as you muft have taken your account from fome interefted Agent, it has not happened in one fmgle inftance that the man's own intereft fhould operate fo as to inftruft you in a little truth. The dilafter which befel the little gallant body of meit under the command of that excellent Officer, Colonel Bailie, was brought about by the (what (hall I fay) great Generalfhip of one of thofe kind of Officers of which you want to add a few more to the Company's troops - The defeat of the Bombay army happened whilft another of thofe heroes commanded it - but perhaps more immediately by that abfurd policy which put the Ci- vilian's coat fo improperly on the military ihoulders of Ge- neral Clavering, and funk poor Carnac from an excellent Officer into a field Committee-man. When you fay that the country powers have loft all confidence in the good faith of the Government of Bengal, you fhould in juftice have told us, that fuch want of confidence was never known before you and your colleagues arrived at Bengal, and that we removed it as foon as it was known that you had left it. I inftance that you have been fo unlucky as to rifque your whole credit upon the marching of Colonel Pearce's de- tachment through the dominions of the Rajah of Berar, of whofe hoftile intentions towards the Englifli you have told fuch difmal ftories ; through the Soubah of the Decan's do- minions, and the territories of his brother, with half a dozen other independent Rajahs and Zemindars, all of whom furnifhed him and his army on their march with every thing their country produced : which circumftance gives ( 49 ) gives the direct .denial to your gloomy predictions of the inimical difpofition of the country powers to the Englifh And the repeated fucceffes of our arms, under Coote, Carnaq, Goddard, Popham, and feveral others, are fuch examples of the recovery of the credit of our military cha- racter in Afia, that I wonder the news of ic has not in- duced you to go hang yourfelf. This prefervation of you, I fuppofe, we owe to the fcftering care of the General of the Committee; who, rather than not try the experiment of revenging himfejf on thofe whom he deemed his ene- mies, would embark his fmall flock of credit in partnership with fuch an adventurer as Mr. Francis. Par. 9. * You cannot but be thoroughly poflefled of my * Opinion of the Injuftice and Imprudence of all our Pro- * ceedings with refpecl to the Marrattas : On this Subject ' you now have all the Evidence before you, that Argument ' fl<^Reafon, confirmed by the moft ruinous Experience, are * capable of furniihing. In attempting to fupport the Pre- * tenfions of Ragoba, and the Views of the Prefidency of ' Bombay, you found the unanimous Opinion of the Go- ' vernor General and Council, that is, of Men who fcl- * dom agreed in other Points, decidedly againft the Mea- * fure. This was true at leaft in the Year I775> though * a different Syftem has fince prevailed in Bengal. I (hall * fay nothing of the Conduct of Mr. Haftings's Negotia- * tion with Mbodajee Boofla. You fee to what a State * they have reduced us, and in what Concluiion they * have ended. In my Judgment, the Principle, on * which that Scheme was profeffedly founded, flood in c Oppofition to the obvious dictates of found Policy and * common Senfe. After the Death of Madharowin 1772, G the ( 5 ) the Union of that great Body, which conftituted the Maratta Empire, was diflblved. The principal Chiefs fet up for themfelves, and no longer acknowledged any one common Superior; or, if they acknowledged the Su- periority of the Infant Pelhwa, it was purely a Matter of * Form. In this State, they naturally endeavoured to fe- ' cure their refpedtive Independence, by courting the Friendftiip, or at leaft by avoiding the Enmity, of the ' Englifli Power. In what Senfe could it poflibly be our intereft to reftore the Union of an Empire fo diflblvcd, * fuppofing the Attempt practicable, or to veft its united 1 Strength in the Hands of a fingle Perfon ? In the Year * 1778, they were fo divided among themfelves, that no- ' thing but our invading their Country, with the avowed * Defign of overturning their Government, could have ' made them aft together. Such was the Plan of Mr. < Haftings's propofed Alliance with the Rajah of Berar, as * it ftands exhibited in his Inftructions to the late Mr. * Elliot, in July 1778, and in many other recorded Docu- * ments. The fame Plan included another Object, not * lefs unwife in Point of Policy, and ftill more dangerous * in the Execution than the firft : I mean the Project of * uniting with Moodajee Boofla, to invade the Dominions * of Nizam Ally Khan, and to deprive him of a confiderable * Part of his Pofieffions. From this Project, which could * not be long a Secret to the Nizam, the fubfequent Union, * which appears to have been concerted by him, between * Hyder Ally, the Marrattas, Moodajee Booflah, and him- * felf, took its Origin. The Invafion and Ruin of the * Carnatic fprung from the fame Source; and, in Conclu- * fion, the Rajah of Berar, for whofeAdvancementthe Plan "is c is profefledly formed, joins in the Confederacy againft * us, and in Effect (though not yet avowedly when I left * India) becomes one .of the moft dangerous Enemies we c have to contend with. If this Confederacy (hould not * be ftrong enough to maintain itfelf, and to accomplifh ' the Defigns of the Contracting Parties, whatever they * may be, their laft Refource will unqueftionably be, to * call in the French to their Afliftance. I will not tref- * pafs. Gentlemen, any longer on your Patience. If Ob- * jeclions are made to any thing advanced in this Paper, I * believe I can anfwer them. If Explanations are wanted, * I am ready to give them. In entering fo far as I have * done into fuch a Detail, it is not my Purpofe to criminate any Man, nor even to condemn Meafures, merely for the * Sake of condemning them. Your Governments in c India are actually involved in a Labyrinth of Difficulties. * I therefore think it my Duty to trace to you the principal * Steps by which you have been, imperceptibly to your- c felves, mifled into this Labyrinth ; becaufe I believe it to be the fureft, if not the only Method you can take, to c find you Way out of it. P Francis ' :raoQ sdi abuvni pi fioo& 33^ wbnnoafilomirLjjvaqaLojLiii^d^ A to K. H. JY1 A K J\. :>> rbinw f >3[oiT a fin moi i I come now to the laft paragraph of this famous letter, and I do affure you, Right Honourable Sir, that I am very glad of itj for, to labour through fuch a collection of difmal prophecies, unfupported aflertions, and pofuive falfhoods, without one ray of truth on which to reft the mind for a moment on the way, is, as you will know, no eafy talk. The hodgc podge complexion of this take-leave G 2 paragraph ( 5* ) paragraph is To perplexed, from containing the eflence of all the foregoing ones, that I fhall limit my remarks on it to a fmgle obfervation, or at moft two. In this part of his letter, Mr. Francis in fome degree ac- quits Mr. Haftings of being the original caufe of the Ma- haratta war. His reafons are obvious enough ; becaufe, another Committee from your Houfe having the matter be- fore them, it was more his immediate intereft to fpeak truth than otherwife. But what will he fay to his Agent Mac IntoQ), whom he difpatched home the feafon before he came himfelf with frightful accounts of the Maharratta wars, Rohillo wars, and cargoes of other falfehoods againft the Governor General, all which was iflued out of his mint in Piccadilly. If he does not getfomething done to Hop the mouth of that fable, predatory hiftorian, he will moft afluredly turn his black goofe quill againft his mafterj for he is one of thofe Swifs-like penmen, who will undertake any caufe ; and if I had any ufe for pamplet-manufa&ures, I would certainly buy him over with the other half-crown. Mr. Francis declares that he does not wifli to criminate any man j all he means is, that, as the Company's Affairs have been fo twifted and twirled, interwoven and knotted together, in which unlucky fituation he both found them, on his arrival in India, and left them when he came away, he cannot help offering his fervice to the Company and to Parliament, to endeavour to fet them to rights again . W he- ther the experience the Company have already had of his fervices will induce them to truft their Affairs again in his hand, I do not know; or whether you, Sir, and his Majefty's new Minifters, have in contemplation to cram him, ( 53 ) him, with others of his tribe, down the throats of the r ^m- pany, as your predeceflbrs in office did, you can beft tell ; but I know, that, if the prefent Proprietors of ftock, and Directors of the Company, fubmit to fwallow fuch a mi- nifterial potion, I much queftion whether their conftitution is now fufficiently ftrong to get the better of the poifonous effects of it; becaufe I fuppofe no man will expect their great Phyfician, Governor General Haftings, will prefcribe for another feven years together the neceflary antidotes to counteract its pernicious confequences. I fuppofe, Sir, by your exhibiting of Mr. Francis's pro- ductions in the Report of the Committee, that you thought that you had an intelligent, a candid, and an honeft, man, to deal with, and that you thereby was about to do a pub- lic benefit to fociety : I hope the clear and fair account which I have given you, attended by proofs in almoft every Page, of his real conduct and character during his ftay in India and fmce his arrival in England, will have weight enough with you to fufpend your final judgment until he lias fairly and honeftly refuted the afiertions and facts in. this and my former letter. I return with no fmall degree of reluctance to the part you have yourfelf taken in the compilation of the Report. That you had compiled it from the minutes of the Com- mittee was one of the points in my former letter which I did not prefs fo clofely as 1 fhould have done had I ttien had fo good authority for fo doing as I have now. Your Chairman, Sir, has paid you fome handfome compliments on the elegance of the performance, and the information ( 54 ) you helped him to; and you, in your turn, rubbed down your honourable Chairman on his great induftry and abili- ties. This, Sir, with great patriots, is very well ; and hungry coffee-houfe politicians fwallow down the conde- fcending complaifance of the two great men, and approve, in fenators, what, amongft honeft tradefmen, fuch as themfelves, they would call the moft fulfome flattery. I, Sir, have read both your Reports, over and over again, with an eye to the difcovery of truth, however it might be enveloped by eloquence ; and I am bold again to declare, in the face of the whole kingdom, that, when you penned the reflexions and infmuations quoted in my former Letter, from page 49 of your laft Report, you had not truth for your landmark. Captain Cowe is the only one perfon, in feven very intelligent and very honourable witnefles, who fpeaks the leaft word about its being the opinion of fome people that the execution of the Rajah NONDCOMAR was a political meafure ; nor would his faying fo have been admitted as evidence in any other place. The words, Sir, were not his own : they had been put into his mouth by the perfon who examined him ; yet, dreadful to think of, this no Evidence has induced you to throw out the moft fevere and cruel afperfions on the characters of his Majefty's Judges and the Governor-General of Bengal. If aflerting what I feel to be truth fhall be conftrued into Scandalum magna- turn, call me and try me on the merits : I (hall be nothing backward to appear. I am, Right Honourable Sir, With all due Refped, Your moft obedient Servant, Borou s b> Apr, 18, j 7 S 2 . The AUTHOR. POSTSCRIPT. ( 55 ) POSTSCRIPT. What a world is this we live in : I can boaft fome friends, and to thofe friends I muft ferioufly appeal, to know, if they think that I have an enemy in the world, who has been made fo, by any other means than a flrong habit of fpeaking and writing truths, which wound the ear of fome notorious culprit or public peculator ; yet thefe friends write me, in terms rather too harm, for friendfhip, that, by meddling at all in this bufinefs, I have hurt the political interefts of Governor Haftings. I never once thought of the Governor : I honour the private virtues of the man ; and obferving, that fcandal had made its way into the Senate Houfe, where his moral character lay ftretched on the rack, ready to be offered up, to glut the revenge of men, who hate him for his virtues and his abilities, it broke in upon my reft, and I rulhed for- ward, (perhaps with too little ceremony) to ward the blow, or break its violence ; for which, if I am deferted by thofe I efteem. I fay with Pope, Welcome for thee, fair Virtue, all the paft : For thee, fair Virtue, welcome even the laih . nmiu ti .Ifignaa.io en mukbnsoa oJni bamflnoD 3d llfiift Ami s dJ flo 3OT V* l - .iRsqqfi i J H E EN D. ril ' ''*? ir s University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. Ql OC i t or AT r r\cs A -kl/lWT .Wm 3 1158 01025 1196 A 000017708 9