Letters of letector, on the
Seventh and Eighth Reports of
the Selcet Committee, and on
the India Pe;?ulating Bill
By
Nathaniel Brassey Halhed .
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
THE
LETTERS
O F
DETECTOR,
ON THE
Seventh and Eighth
REPORTS
O F THE
SELECT COMMITTEE,
AND ON THE
INDIA REGULATING BILL.
'
LONDON:
Printed in the Year 1783.
*tdb^ai
//&<? SEVENTH REPORT of the
SELECT COMMITTEE.
A
N the eve of an Ele&ion for Direc-
O
= 8 a tors to ferve the Eaft-India Com-
pany, and at a moment when the
Proprietary have an urgent neceflity for ex-
ercifing the moft unbiased judgment, in
chufing the future Guardians of their ex-
piring privileges, appears a thundering Re-
r port from the Seled Committee, arraigning
the conduct of the late Chairman and De-
puty, at prefent out by rotation, "and Candi-
dates for re-eledion. Recollecting, as I do,
J with all poflible veneration, the former very
candid and public-fpirited ftri&ures of this
refpe&able body, and fully awake to the
difintereftednefs of their labours, I am ex-
I ceedingly hurt that the obligation of feizing
4 the earlieft opportunity to draw the atten-
| tion of the Houfe* of Commons to matters
L<V of fuch magnitude, mould give envy and
fcandal a plea ^however groundlefs) for fuf-
B peding
petting fomething of perfonality, or private
end, in the competition and publication of
the prefent Report. It will be faid (and I
am forry that I have not now time to refute
the charge) that the crifis chofen for print-
ing this Report is, of itfelf, a convincing ar-
gument of the illiberality of its principles.
That while the blame (if any blame there
be) with refpecl: to the feveral tranfactions
there mentioned, will be found ultimately
to reft in toto with the Secretary to the
Committee of Secrecy at the India-Houfe,
the main efforts of the Report are aimed
againft the character of Mr. Sulivan. That
as it is the very birth-right and unalienable
privilege of a Britifh fubject, to be heard in
his defence, and to be tried by his peers
fo it is the greateft invafion of that privi-
lege, and the moft tyrannous oppreffion of
that birth-right, to infinuate criminality be-
fore conviction ; to prejudice the Jury by
anticipated fentence, and by a premature
trial to preclude the poffibility of exculpa-
tion. It will therefore, I fear, be whifpered,
that it is an attempt to miflead the judgment
of the Proprietors, and to hurt Mr. Sulivan
in his election. And as no man, who lhall
come calmly to the perufal of the Report,
can poffibly hefitate, for a moment, in pro-
nouncing that gentleman's innocence, I am
much
( 3 )
much alarmed, left national fpirit and honcft
indignation (hould fo far get the better of
private engagements, or perfonal diflike,
or prudential caution, in the prefent in-
ftance, as to infure Mr. Sulivan's election,
with a majorjty equal to that by which Mr.
Haftings very lately triumphed over a no lefs
equitable manoeuvre.
Shame to be cajoled by what may be re-
prefented as fo flimfy an artifice, confcious
abhorrence of imbibing prejudices from ex
Parte evidence, and real fympathy for the
common danger of having all our individual
rights and chara<5lers thus wantonly, thus in-
tereftedly, and thus injurioufly torn to pieces,
will operate moft effectually to the counter-
action of that fyftem, which many may ftif-
pecl: the Report to have been calculated to
promote : and as the mind naturally loves fo
fix on per/ons rather than things, it is to be
apprehended, that, if an idea of any unfairnefs
or lurking treachery in the compilation of
this Report, mould once unfortunately make
its way, the eyes of the public will natu-
rally be turned on the acknowledged Com-
piler. This is the circumftance I moft dread,
this is the point which all well-wimers to
the Report fhould labour to obviate. Should
this once obtain, motives and defigns, and
confequences refpecYmg the critical moment
B 2 Of
( 4 )
of promulgation and infidious management
of the charge, will burft forth into convic-
tion. The Chairman of the Select Com-
mittee will then be well underftood to pit
himfelf againft the refpectable Candidate,
who has been eight times Chairman at the
Jndia-Houfe : as another great reporter has
caft his gauntlet at the Governor General of
Bengal. Dii bonil homo bomini quantum
diflatl The Honourable General has, how-
ever, fecured himfelf one advantage in the
prefent Conteft, by being no longer in a ca-
pacity to infult the feelings of the Proprie-
tary, or aggravate their abhorrence of his
Character and Principles, by naufeous decla-
mations.
For myfelf, wifhing moft fincerely well
to the caufe of truth and juftice, I can but
call on the Independent and difinterefted
Proprietors of India- Stock, to interpofe ef-
fectually, for the prefervation of their own
Freedom of Election; and to fupport, againft
the machinations of interefted malice, that
character, for firmnefs and confiftency, which
in two inftances they have lately fo honour-
ably acquired, by defeating all the overtures
of Minifterial Corruption, and all the bluf-
terings of Unconftitutional Authority.
Much as I refpect the general principles
QU which this Uft and fevemh Report from,
the
( 5 )
the Select Committee is founded, I {hall take
the liberty of expreffing my fentiments on
fome of its articles, in which I am fo unfor-
tunate as not entirely to acquiefce.
In the firft place, I beg leave to obferve,
that the late aft for regulating the Judicature
in Bengal, owes its exiftence to the Select
Committee. The fole effective product of
feven voluminous Reports, it was the dar-
ling of their labours, the plea at once and
pledge of their exiftence : and no wonder
that their vanity was gratified in contempla-
tion of its importance, and their paffions in-
terefted in the completion of its objects.
Hence the eagernefs with which they have
traced its progrefs to India, and the folici-
tude with which they watched its fate :
hence too we mull account for their appa-
rently wilful ignorance of its arrival at Cal-
cutta, in their undifcerning fury for its ori-
ginal mifcarriage.
The public will, no doubt, confider the
Select Committee as perfectly juftified, and
even laudably anxious in afcertaining to a
point of indifputable certainty, the difpatch
of this regulating act to India: and in being
fomewhat warm at any delay, either cafual
or defigned. But it will probably conceive
them to have reafon to be fully pacified, or
at lead to abate part of their inveteracy,
oa
( 6 )
on learning that the faid Aft did really pro-
ceed to India by the firft difpatch of that
nature, by which Acts of Parliament were
ufually tranfmitted ; and was in no refpeft
otherways retarded, than by the unavoida-
ble accidents of a fea voyage ; and is known
to have been within a week's diftance from
Bengal upwards of nine months ago.
With nothing more than a previous know-
ledge of this fact, how eafily may every
fyllable of criminatory matter againft Mr.
Sulivan, and Sir William James, as urged in
the Seventh Report, be done away ! Let
but the reader anticipate each fentence of
the Report with recollection of this fingle
circumftance, and I leave the reft, with the
mmoft confidence, to his own confcience.
We will now take a little furvey of the
whole tranfaftion.
In July, 1781, the Bengal Judicature Aft
pafled in Parliament. In Auguft, the Try-
al Sloop was difpatched with packets from
the India Company, to their feveral prefi-
dencies, and copies of this Aft were then fent
on board (Seventh Report, page 5). In De-
cember, 178-1, the Select Committee exa-
mined Mr. Sulivan, then Chairman of the
Court of Directors, refpefting the difpatch
of the Judicature Aft. His evidence was
lull) complete, and (as I'ftill think, with all
deference
( 7 )
deference to the Commitee) fully fatisfactory,
in regard to the tranfmiffion of the Acts by
the Tryal Sloop. But Mr. Sulivan, with
the care of the commerce and finance, the
politics and legiflation, all the internal and
external arrangements of all the Company's
affairs, abroad and at home,on his moulders,
had forgotten to fend by an early opportuni-
ty an order for the retribution of certain in-
dividuals in India, for acts of oppreffion com-
mitted on them by the Supreme Court, to
which he flood pledged, as Chairman of
the Company. It was an overfight, not
poflible to be accounted for but by the hur-
ry of bufinefs. Neither Mr. Sulivan nor
his friends, nor his femoteft connections
could lofe or gain a milling by this retri-
bution. It would neither have committed
his authority, nor affected his interefts. He
acknowledged the omiffion, fubmitted to the
cenfure, and rectified the error by the very
firfl occafion. But on the fubject of tranf-
mitting the Act itfelf, he urged that it had
been Tent by the Tryal Sloop, the very firfl
public conveyance, within a month of its
being in print j that no other means of dif-
patch had offered, and that the packet had
been unfortunately retarded by ftrefs of
weather.
The Tryal floop finally failed in .February,
1782,
( 8 )
1782, and by various letters now in England,
it is well known that (he parted from Gan-
jam (lefs than a week's fail from Bengal) on
the 3d of July laft, carrying with her both the
Act in queftion, and the orders for indemni-
fication of the Patna Magiftrates. Mr. Suli-
van's evidence therefore has been, from firft
to laft, uniform, undefigning, and ftrictly to
the point. He originally depofed, that the
Acts went in the Tryal Sloop, and that it
was fent with theCompany's only public dif-
patch. It has been proved in the firft Report
(page 1 1 ), that a General Letter from the
Court of Directors, is the ufual and official
channel for communicating Acts of Parli-
ament to their fervants abroad ; and it is
now certain, that the faid Judicature Acts ar-
rived in India, in the Tryal Sloop, in July
iaft.
The Select Committee then examined
Mr. Wilkes, Secretary to the Secret Com-
mittee, at the India-Houfe, to difcover whe-
ther any fecret difpatches had been fent from
the India-Houfe, in the interval, between
the firft publication of the Judicature Act,
and its final difpatch in the Tryal Sloop.
From him they learnt that a packet had been
fent away by fea on the 3d of Auguft, the
very day after the Act in queftion was print-
ed, and what feems to have furprifed them
much,
/( <> t
much, that copies of the faid Ad were in-
clofed in that packet.
Here was opened a glorious fcene for ma*
licious conjedture, and perplexing crofs-
queftions. The Chairman had acknow-
ledged nothing but a public conveyance by
the Tryal Sloop the Secretary hinted, in
myfterious term's, a private difpatch.
In whatever confufion this matter might
have been involved, at the time of Mr*
Wilkes's firft examination, it is now known,
that thefe difpatches of the 3d of Auguft,
were fent on board two Men of War, under
fecret failing orders, but deftined for India :
and that in confequence of fome other ne-
ceffities of the State, the faid mips did not
perform their route to India, but returned
to England in Odober, and the Difpatches
from the Company were fent back to the
India-Houfc early in the month of Novem^
ber. Mr. Sulivan, therefore, who gave
his evidence to the Select Committee in
December, and who had never confidered
the Difpatch of the 3d of Auguft but as of
a private nature, and within the ftrideft
conftrudion of a State Secret, might natu-
rally, and with propriety, deem it equivalent
fo no difpatch at all-, and therefore, fo far
from leading the Committee into an error
on that head (page 14), he gave them no
C grounds
( 10 )
grounds for fufpicion of the poflibility of
fuch a circumftance. But the embarraffment
and perplexity of the Secretary, on his in-
quifitorial examination, having given the
Select Committee much room for unfair ani-
madverfion, it was permitted him to trench
fo far upon this Secret, as to acknowledge
the Difpatch of the 3d of Auguft.
To this fingle circumftance may, I think,
be afcribed the very exiftence of the Seventh
Report, and I defy the acuteft of mankind
to difcover the truth of the tranfaction, or
to unravel the confufion of cenfure, as in-
volved in the purpofed obfcurity of that Re-
port, without fome collateral knowledge
or information. And this I mail now en-
deavour to fupply.
Appendix, No. 2, A, of the Seventh Re-
port, contains the original draft of a letter
from the Committee of Secrecy at the
India- Houfe, to Bengal, dated the ift of
Auguft, 1781, and fent on the 3d of the
fame month on board the Men of War, as
above mentioned.
This letter is incontrovertibly proved to
have contained no mention whatever of the
Judicature Act; for the words, <c Att -puffed"
which are now, by implication, underftood
to fignify the Judicature Act, have been
foifted in, fince the letter returned from the
King's
King's fhips, in the place of the real word,
" Appendixes," and the fentence, in its firft
ftate, ran thus, " We now fend another
" Copy of that Report, and of the Appen-
" dixes, for your further information." This
paragraph is clearly in the official language
of communication. But when the word
Appendixes was altered to Act paffed, and
the fentence made to run in this manner,
" We now fend another Copy of that Re-
" port, and of the Aftpaffed, for your further
" information," the fenfe itfelf is muti-
lated, the connexion broken, and the fidion
evident. For who would think of fending
an Act of Parliament by way of information?
And who would ufe the indefinite terms, of
an Aft paffed^s defcriptive of a particular Act
on a particular fubject ? This is not the ftylc
ofbufinefs: and common fenfe would have
combined with official experience in the
Chairman or Deputy to correct the paffage,
had it ever been (hewn or recited to either
of them. But Mr. Wiikes's own evidence
proves that it was done totally without their
previous advice, and that " There were no
'* orders given for t*' (page 9), nor did he
ever Jheiv Mr. Su/ivan the papers ajter thj
alteration was made (page 12).
On the return of that Difpatch, and
about the time of Mr. Sulivan's Examination^
C 2 Mr.
Mr. Wilkes called upon Mr. Sulivan, and
told him the Judicature Act had been fent
in it, (fee his Evidence, yth Report, page
1 1 ) he fays, " I called upon Mr. Sulivan, and
'.' told him the Judicature Ads had bee,n fent:
"- he knew the Packets were come back :
", he directed me to bring the Letter, which
'-' I did, before there was any alteration made
*< c in it. He faid, he obferved there was no
" mention made of the Judicature Act in
.' the Letter. This is the fubfbnce of what
"pa(Ted between us r " Mr. Wilkes made
up., the Packet,' not Mr. Sulivan, Mr.
VV ilkes afTerted that the Judicature Aft had
l?een inclofed in it,- Mr, Sulivan oppofed
to this, the omiffion of all mention of it in
the Letter. Mr. Wilkes perfifted in his
fjrft aflertion, and, without any inftm&ion
from Mr. Sulivan, went home and altered
the Letter, which he never Ihewed to Mr.
$ulivan afterwards.
The Select Committee, in the 6th page of
the Report, have the following paragraph :
" Your Committee having perufed thefe
*' papers (i. e. the draft of letter of the 3d
" of Auguft) mufl remark to the Houfe the
'.* very different manner in which the Com-
*' mittee of Secrecy mentioned the, two <Affs.
V The Judicature Act, which, amongft
.*. oth|r iropqrtant points, gave relief to the,
^ Patna
( '3 )
Patna Magiftrates, is fent for the infor-
" mationof the Council General, without any
" injunction of obedience or attention to it :
<c But in the very next fentence, when the
' Act of the prolongation of the Charter is
" mentioned, then it is faid to be fent, not
" for their information only, but for their
" guidance alfo, and ftri6t attention and
*' obedience is enjoined thereto/'
So palpable an infult on common fenfc
and common juflice, I did not think com-
patible even with Afiatic depravity of foul.
The character of an innocent man is firft of
all deliberately impeached by groundlefs
infinuation; and it is then proved beyond
the poffibility of cavil (pages nand $2), and
afterwards in the very words of the Report
(page 14), that, " not only from his own'*
(Mr. Wilkes's) " confeffion, but from the
c alteration in the Records, it evidently ap-
< pears, that no mention whatfoever had
<c been made in the letter of the 3d of Au-
" guft, 178 1, of the tranfmuTion of the Ju-
" dicature Act."
Can any terms he too grofs for fo infa-
mous a violation of every thing juft, and
manly, and decent? The Reporter firft takes
qp the falfe fide of the queition, and from
thence, by a jefuitical and unfair inference,
a criminatory charge againft the
Chairman
Chairman of the Company, whom he knew
at the time to be unconcerned in the whole
tranfaction j and, in a very few pages after-
wards, thunders againft the embarrafled Se-
cretary as author of that very fallification,
from which he had but the inftant before
taken advantage to deduce a moft calumni-
ous and unwarrantable conclufion.
If thefe be the weapons by which he
means to aflail Mr. Sulivan and Sir Wm.
James, I affaire him they will all rebound back
upon himfelf, without any prejudice to his
antagonifts $ and I would advife him to
adopt the more effectual, and lefs diabolical
inftruments of poifon or aflaflination, to ac-
complifh his purpofe.
After all, the remark is no lefs ridiculous
than bafe; for what is the difference be-
tween tranfmitting one Aft of Parliament
for information,and another for obedience :
They were both to be tranfmitted to the fub-
jects of the fame State, and would become
obligatory without any notice or injunction
whatfoever from the Chairman and his De-
puty -, for in what method could they incul-
cate obedience to thofe who ihould be in-
clined to difobey an Act of Parliament ? and
how could they fuppofe their orders likely
to be more effectual than the laws of their
country ? And even admitting all this heap
of
( '5 )
of abfurdity, it makes nothing againft the
paragraph in queftion ; for the operation of
the Judicature Act extended only to the
Members of the Supreme Court, and to
them moft certainly the authority of the
Chairman and his Deputy did not reach.
So that even in this flate of the fact they
might have fent the Act for their infor-
mation, but could not poffibly give them
orders to obey it. The Honourable General,
I find by this and other inftances of falfe
logic, is not an adept in the Ariftotelian
Science : His doftors have not been of the
clafs of irrefragable*.
Mr. Sulivan the Chairman, or Sir Wm.
James his Deputy, or both, are next crimi-
nated for having (as it is infilled page 15)
" given permiffion to the fictitious paragraph
" of the letter of the 3d of Auguft being
" prefented to your Committee as the real
" paragraph of the letter of the Committee
<' of Secrecy of that date."
Upon this article it is only given in evi-
dence, page 1 4, ' ' that when orders are fent
fc from a Committee of the Houfe of Com-
<e mons, for any papers, or copies of papers,
" that the proper officer waits upon the
" Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the
" Eait-India Company, to receive inftruc-
*' tions, and that the orders fo received from
" a Com-
( 16 )
'* a Committee of this Houfe are read and
11 minuted by the Court of Directors at their
*' next meeting. " To what, therefore, does
this teftimony amount ? To nothing more,
than that the Secretary muft have waited on
the Chairman or Deputy for inftructions :
that his inftructions muft have been, that
he mould furnifh the Select Committee with
the letter in demand, and that he carried
that letter in which he had previoufly in-
ferted his own authorized alterations.
Not a particle of proof here, or even of
implication, to lead to a belief that either the
Chairman or his Deputy faw the letter be-
fore its tranfmiffion to the Select Committee,
much lefs that they authorized the prefen-
tation of the fictitious paragraph. And, in-
deed, Mr. Wilkes exprefsly affirms, (page
12,) that <e be did not Jf jew the Papers., ajter
*' the alterations, to Mr. Sulivan" Here,
then we have another infinuation, equally
well founded with the former, and no lefs
characteriftic of the principles and views of
its inventive parent.
I have pretty well got over the principal
articles of Accufation, and, I hope, fully
refuted them. Of the fmaller animadver-
iions, one is, the omiffion to fend the Judi-
cature Act, by Meffieurs Dunkin and Smart,
who commenced their journey to India, by
land k
( '7 )
land, on the 8th of December, 1781. To
this objection it may be anfwered, that the
Packets fent by land from the Committee of
Secrecy, are always very concife, and moft
commonly in cypher ; that it was totally
unufual to fend an Ad: of Parliament by
any other than a Sea conveyance, and inclofcd
in a General Letter (i ft Report, pages r i and
32); and that there was good reafonto hope,
that the Tryal Sloop might get to India as
early as the land Difpatch. Events have
fully juftified the expectation ; for Meflieufs
Dunkin and Smart , arrived at Bombay on
the 20th of May, and are known to have
been at Madras in the middle of July. The
Tryal Sloop arrived at Ganjam (upwards of
400 miles beyond Madras) on the 2d of July,
and failed for Bengal on the 3d, where (lie
muft have arrived by the 8th at fartheft.
A few words on the flory of the Box,
related in pages 12 and 13 of the Report.
The box itfelf, the marks, &,c. are all plau-
fibly accounted for; the only doubt is about
the feal. It is proved that Mr. Stephens, of
the Admiralty, received and returned a fealed
Packet. Mr. Owen's evidence leads to a
fufpicion, that the Packet, of which he was
called to teftify the contents, was not jealed*
This concerns Mr. Wilkes alone,, and aa
Affidavit from Mr. Owen or Mr. Wilkes,
D
muft here be the only method for coming at
the truth *: and let it turn out as it may,
Mr. Sulivan and Sir William James have
nothing to do with it.
In the firft page of the Report, the " Com-
" mittee beg leave to inform the Houfe, that
*' twenty months being elapied fince the
*' Judicature Adi was pafTed, and no advice
"of its promulgation being arrived, altho*
" evidence had been given of its being
*' fent on the 3d of Auguft, 1781, your
" Committee thought it highly neceflary to
<{ examine into all the circumftances of the
" tranfmiffion of that Act, by the Difpatch
" of the 3d of Auguft."
The reiult of that examination has been
already difcuffed, and the whole jumble of
inconfiftent Charges huddled together in the
Report, upon this original Error in Mr.
Wilkes's evidence, I have above explained
and done away. At prefent, I only mean
to recall the attention of the Public to
the aflertion, that no advice of the promul-
gation of the Act in India has yet arriv-
ed. The Report, indeed, is very careful
that this circumftance mall not be overlook-^
ed; for we fyid it again induftfioufly thrufl
^ Mr. Alices has fince cleared up the matter by
^ circ'mntfantial affidavit,
forward
( >9 )
forward in page ijth and laft, " finally, that
" although it is now upwards of 20 months
<c fince the Ad: was patted, no account of
" its being arrived at Bengal has yet been
" received by the India Company."
Thefe two attempts, to convey a totally
falfe idea in words compatible with meer
truth, are of fo mallow and flimfy a texture,
that I fufpedl the compiler of the Report
to have concealed their infertion from all
his more difcerning or fcrupulous Col-
leagues.
It is indifputably true that there is no in-
telligence of the promulgation of the Judica-
ture Act in India, and equally fo, that the
India Company (in its collecUve capacity),
has received no (official) account of its arri-
val in India. But that theTryal Sloop arrived
at Ganjam on the ad of July, 1782, and
failed from thence on the 3d For Calcutta,
is as well known to every individual con-
nected with the Company, as the exigence
of the Judicature A6t itfelf j and in July
the paffage from Ganjam to Calcutta is as
fafe by water as the Ferry over the Thames
at Weflminfter Bridge. So that a week be-
yond the 2d of July is much more than
ample allowance for its actual promulgation
at Calcutta.
This Seventh Report therefore is founded
D 2 upon
( 20 )
upon the fame minute attention to the
ftate of facts, upon the fame liberality of
fentiment, and patriotic considerations for
public utility, as the Six preceding excel-
lent compositions, on which I have already
had the honour to offer a few remarks. It
is an admirable addition to the original work,
and compleats- the honourable compiler's
digeft of fabricated criminality. In the laft
Seffions the Honourable General was pleafed
to pronounce an elaborate panegyric on the
extraordinary merits of his Honourable
Friend's Six Reports: The illuftrious Author
has lately returned the adulatory incenfe in
an extravagant compliment on the prefent
mafter-piece of the General. As the merits
of both are nearly equal, fo I think are their
chances for the afient and approbation of
the Public.
>ui Bavium non odit> amet tua Carmina,
Mcevi.
DETECTOR.
il, 1783.
On the new BILL, fropofed for the better
REGULATION of the BRITISH Possgs-
SIGNS in INDIA:
LETTER I.
Mr. EDITOR,
THE Secret Committee of the Houfe
of Commons, appointed to inyeftjr
gate the caufes of the war in the Carnatic,
acquired, in the courfe of their labours, fuch
an extenfive knowledge of all the Eaft-Inr
dia Company's concerns, as to be comper
tent for new-modelling every branch of Gpr
vernment, and overturning every principle of
policy in all our Afiatic pofleffions. Their
enquiries with refpedl to this war feemed to
be clofed lad feffions in 44 refolutions, of
which (although faffed by a very thin meejL-
ing of the Houfe of Commons) it is fair to
fay, that they were received with little crer
dit or refpect by the nation at large : tha
they were minutely, though candidly, carir
vaffed, and in great part fatisfa&orily refuted t .
Whatever might be the motive that pro-
duced thefe hafty refolutions, their effecl: has
indeed been very inconfiderable. The war
in the Carnatic ftill rages, and the caufe of
its commencement is fiill as obfcure as the
period of its termination. Political empiri-
cifm has hitherto prefcribed no effectual re-
medy for the diforder, nor has Hyder Ally
fhewn the flighted tendency to pacification
in return for our voluntary effufions of mo-
deration and forbearance. If, however, an
idea of parliamentary interpofition hath al-
ready fo far operated on the Councils of the
Mahrattas, as to caufe delay in the ratifica-
tion of that treaty to which they had pre-
vioufly, by their plenipotentiary, given a full
affent ; if a reliance on the diffractions of
our government and the mutability of our
fyftems hath infpired our enemies with frefh
courage for the profecution of hoftilities
abroad : here, at leaft, our Committees have
effectually anfwered the purpofes of their
appointment. Delinquency has been clear-
ly defined, accurately traced out, and incon-
trovertibly convicted. Bills of pains and pe-
nalties have been urged with unufual feve 1 -
rity : and while afliftance for the vigorous
conduct of the war has been dealt out with
a parfimonious and fufpicious referve, all the
weapons of perfecution have been whetted
againft the devoted objects, to whofe inat-
tention or incapacity the origin of the ca-
lamity feems to have been imputed j juft as
if a furgeon, after performing amputation in
a dangerous fracture, fhould employ him-
felf
felf in cutting and anatomizing the diftem-
pered limb, inftead of applying the bandages,
and fupprefling the haemorrhage. While the
Reports of the Secret Committee appeared
to bear uncommonly hard on certain Mem-
bers of the Madras Government, while Hy-
der's invafion was in them reprefented as
the joint product of ambition and refent-
ment, men looked for the caufes of the
war to the feat of its ravages ; and thought
that the mere deftination of hoftilities fuf-
ficiently difcriminated their motive. But
the Refolutions founded on thofe Reports
quickly opened their eyes, and attributed by a
chain of fanciful, remote,arbitrary deductions,
a portion of the misfortune to the Governor
General of Bengal. Slight, however, as his
(hare in the blame of this' tranfadion muft
neceffarily have been, and vificnary as the
imputation wiU moft certainly appear to all
who (hall take the trouble to perufe the Re-
ports, he was marked out as the firft objeft
of reprehenfion, and the Houfe of Com-
mons was, by fome management, prevailed
upon to vote his recal.
We can all well recollect the different
manceuvres pradlifed at the eaft and weft ends
of the town, for effecting this laudable pur-
pofe ; and we feel an honeft exultation ir\
proclaiming, that the fpirited efforts of an
extraordinary majority in the Court of Pro-
prietors baffled (as both by law and the
principles of their charter they were au-
thorifed to do) all thofe attempts. A fet of
men, deeply and perfonally interefted in the
JDrofperity of Indian affairs, agreed,/* to one,
to entruft the management and prefervation
bf their property to a man, whom a fudden
and unfatisfaclory vote of an inconfiderable
fart of one branch of the legiflature tended
to banilh from their fervice. About 40
members of the Houfe of Commons, carried
the refolution for Mr. Haftings's recal ; up-
wards of 420 proprietors of India ftock,
United for his continuation. Leaving the
doctrine of parliamentary infallibility to thofe
toho have never read reports or refolutions,
> 1 mall not fcruple to affirm, and to put it to
* the confcience of every man of common
Tenfe, that 420 refpectable proprietors of
India flock, are collectively as able judges
Qf the merits and demerits of Mr. Haftings,
sis any forty members who ever fat in the
tioufe. I will go farther, and will aflert it
as my moft unalterable conviction^ that the
humber of Members of Parliament who bal-
iotted in their proprietary capacity for the
feovernqr O^nera^s continuation, far exceed-
fd A^fe v/ho in the Houfe were content
by
by a filent nod to authenticate the resolution
for his removal.
But, though the cloud of laft feffions
pafTcd over innocuous, the florm ftill con-
tinued to gather : and is now burft in the
tremendous thunder of a Bill ! It Mr. ttaft-
ings could heretofore (lem the ftream of
partiality in a vote of the Commons, he fliall
now be overwhelmed by a torrent of the
whole Legiflature. If the Proprietors of
India ftock wifely and confcientiouily con-
tributed to his continuation in their fervice
by a legal and conflitutional exertion, of their
prerogative, that prerogative {hall therefore
be abolished by law. If the India Company
has been preferved at the very inftant of
bankruptcy, and if their foreign porTeffions
have been defended by exertions bordering
on impoffibility : if the whole train of their
affairs have been gradually improved frorh
conrufion and diffipation, to fyftem, to
ceconomy, to profperity, by the man of
their unbiaffed and deliberate choicej felected,
approved, and confirmed to the fame office
by three fucceglve Acls of Parliament at
diftincl; and diftant periods 5 thofe Acts
jfhall now be abrogated in a moment 5 that
man (hall be violently removed by a new
law, and the Company's right of nominating,
continuing, or difplacing, not only this, but
E all
all their other confidential fervants in tlid
whole extent of their fettlements, (hall be for
ever done away ! The only vifible plea or
pretence for this infringement of the char-
ter, this invafion of property, this bare-
faced exertion of defpotifm, is the dif-
miffion of Governor General Haftings. To
remove him, nothing lefs than an Act of
Parliament could fuffice : and permifiion for
bringing in an Act to this purpofe, being
once obtained, every additional encroach-
ment on the Company's rights that could be
any how foifted in, was fo much clear gain
to the Courtly fyftem of arbitrary Patronage*
Every ufeful, every plaufible alteration pro-
pofed by the prefent bill is fully compati-
ble with the Company's actual powers un-
der their Charter 5 and if the collective ex-
perience of a fet of men of biifinefs, who
have feen, as Directors of long ftanding,
the caufes of moft of our calamities in Afia,
and as Proprietors have felt their effects, be
not adequatp to the difcovery of the proper
remedies, furely the occafional perufal of a
number of temporary records in the courfe
of the fittings of a Committee for two Sef-
fions, and with all the interruptions of other
Parliamentary bufinefs, may be pronounced
very incompetent to the arduous undertak-
ing. In the courfe of my little correfpon-
dence,
dence, Mr. Editor, I propofe to examine the
principles of the bill now before me, and to
give an account of the fcope and tendency,
the expediency and utility of its feveral
claufes. I have no doubt but the Com-
pany's cafe (as there treated) will fully ap-
pear to be that of a lunatic, who, though
not fo frantic as to be deprived of all the
benefits and profits of his eftate, is yet con-
iidered as too infane to be entrufted with
the management and controul of it, Much
do I fear that this legiflative courfe of treat-
ment, fo little adapted to the nature and
fymptoms of the malady, will very fpeedily
leave the patient no alternative from a ftrait
waiftcoat !
DETECTOR,
LETTER II.
MR. EDITOR,
IT is a curious but melancholy fpeculatU
on, to trace the flow and infinuating ad-
vances of defpotic power: to obferve how
an almoft imperceptible change in the fpirit
pf public meafures, under an affected fcru-
puloiity of adherence to eftablifhed forms,
may gradually undermine the ftrongeft bul-
warks of public liberty. My prefent ad-
dreis is to the proprietors of India frock j
but my fubject is of confequence to every
chartered body in the kingdom, and to eve-
ry man who can feel what it is to be a Bri-
ton. Within the laft ten years have the
fubftance and marrow of all the Bad-India
Company's corporate rights been gently and
unfufpedledly frittered away, under the ap-
pearance of much candid attention to the
privileges of its charters, and a ftudied com-
pliance with the eftablilhed principles of its
jnftitution. Every real prerogative, every
folid advantage of independence, hath been
melted down by piecemeal, and ablbrbed in
the all-gralping influence of the Crown ; in
^hat influence, wjiich, by a momentary im-
pulfe of exalted patriotifm, the Houfe of
Commons voted to have increafed, to be in-
creai^ng, and that it ough^ ^;o be diminifhed.
4n, that virtuous vote is contained a fure and
perfect antidote againft the pernicious ten-
dency of a bill juft brought into Parliamenr,
^nde* the fpecious title of a better regula-
tion and government of the Britifo po$e]Jions
in India , and ~t?e fiwrity and prefarvQtion
a bill which would diffolve every
tie of public faith, violate every barrier of
perfonal and corporate property, annihilate
the fecurity of every grant from the legif-
lative or executive powers of government,
and eftablifh in Afia a fyftem of unlimited
tyranny.
" A bill for the better regulation and go-
" vernment of the Britifh poffeffions in In-
*' dia." Where are thefe poffeffions -by
whom acquired, and by whom enjoyed ?
Certainly by Britons and fo far they are
Britifo poffeffions. But the poffeffions here
alluded to are the fettlements and territories
belonging to the Britiih Eaft-India Compa-
ny: private, not national property. Though
I much fear, if this term * Britifh pojfefflonf
be admitted to pafs in acts of the legiflature,
as defcriptive of the Company's eftates, it
will (to ufe an elegant legal phrafe), by a
fiction of law, covin, engine or deceitful
conveyance, ultimately transfer to the Crown
a constructive claim to thofe eftates.
Britifh poffeffions !- The words at the
fir ft fight give an idea of poffeffions attach-
ed to and dependent on the Britiflh Crown j
in a legal and parliamentary ftyle they can
imply nothing elfe. Such are at this day.
fome few of the Weft- India Iflands, and
fuch were at one time the Thirteen Colo-
ies of America, now independent, But in
( 3 )
this fenfe it is fair and decent to deny that
we have any Britifh poflefTions in India
and it will perplex the Crown, and the
Crown lawyers, and all the lawyers both of
JLngland and Scot/and, to prove that fuch
pofTeflions exift. I am aware that the pre-
lent bill has but adopted this term from the
late regulating and Judicature Acts j that
the reports of the Committees, both Secret
and Seleft, thus define the Eaft-India Com-
pany's territorial property, and that in ordir
nary difcourfe the phrafe might pafs unex-
amined and unfufpecled. But it is now time
to detecl: the fallacy, and this is the fpot
whereon to make our firft vigorous ftand.
A word is enough to the cunning as well as.
to the wife ; and this word ' Britijh,' if
carelefily admitted as definitive of the In?
dia Company's pofleflions, will foon leave
it no po/effions at all. The fadt is, that fince
the 27th of March, 1668, when King
Charles the Second ceded Bombay to the
Company for ever, and fince i6th of De-
cember, 1673, when the fame King ceded
$t. Helena to the faid Company for ever
alfo, the Crown has had no property what-
ever in India, nothing that can with legal
precifion be ftyled a Britift po/e/fion.. Even
the 2d claufe of the Bill now before me,
the inconfiftency of the term, and
fliews.
( 3' *
fhews the difficulty under which the framer
of it laboured in producing any thing like a
plaufible defcription of the Britijh pvjjeffions.
It is as follows: " And whereas, during
" the time that the faid United Company
" of Merchants of England, trading to the
" Eaft Indies, have been in the poflerTion
" and enjoyment of the faid whole fole and
" exclufive trade to the Eaft Indies, and
" parts aforefaid, the faid United Company,
" affifted by the fleets and armies of the
" King's Majefty, and his Majefty's royal
" PredecefTors, have conquered or other-
" wife acquired the kingdoms or provinces
" of Bengal, Bahar, and OriJJa, and alfo
" certain countries or diftricts fituate on the
<c coaft of Coromandel-, and alfo divers other
" countries and diftricls in thofe parts
" of Afia, commonly called the Eaft In-
" dies." It is therefore granted on all hands
that the Company hatn conquered or other-
wife acquired the kingdom of Bengal, &c.&c.
But it is aledged, * that they were affifted
4 by his Majefty's fleets and armies.' Be
it fo. The Company, trading under the
fanction and encouragement of a Royal
Charter, was clearly in the prote<lion of the
Crown, and entitled to its afliftance. In
every national war, the Company hath
borne its (hare of the public burthen, in
common with every other member of the
ftate
.
ftate, and hath alfo incurred extraordinary
and voluntary expences to an enormous a.-
rnount in defence of its own property. If
his Majefty's fleets and armies have aflifted
the Company in Afia, the very great in-
creafe of revenue to the crown, and of
wealth to the mother country, produced by
the fuccefsful exertions of the Company's
fpirit of enterprize, hath purchafed that af-
fiftance a hundred-fold ; and thofe very
fleets and armies, while in India; are moftly
fupported at the Company's private charge.
If I regularly contribute my (hare of all the
parochial rates and afleflments, the parifh
muft protect me, in common with the other
inhabitants of the ftreet, by a nightly watch.
The Company have done more : they have
advanced their full proportion of the gene-
ral affefTments; they have yielded to the
heavieft duties on their trade ; to the moft
diftrefling conditions in all their negociations
with Government j and have paid the watch-
man alfo. But even were we to clofe with
the argument adopted by the framer of the
bill, it would be no eafy talk for him to de-
monftrate how the affiftance afforded by his
Majefty's fleets and armies, hath fubjeded
the poiTeffions of the Company to the power
of the Crown. Colonel Clive, with the
Company's own troops, gained the battle of
Plaffey, while the Royal fleet befieged Chan-
dernagofe.
( 33 )
vcmagore. That fettlement, as it was con-
quered by his Majcfty's arm?, was given up
by his Majcfty's Minifters at the peace. Ben- ^
gal, Bahar', and Oriffi, are held not in right
-of cwqucjt (for the Company reftored them
to the Nabob from whom they had been
taken), but by a formal deed of ceffion from
the Emperor of Hindoftan. And to whom,
were they ceded ? Not to the Crown or Par-
liament of Great-Britain, but to the Englim.
Eaft- India Company. His Majefty's fleets
and armies were fent to India to protect the
national caiife, againft a national enemy.
What affiftance they might afford to the
Company was on the plea and % to the piir-
pofe of diftreffing the French. That formi-
dable antagonift once removed, the Com-
pany's footing in the Eaft- Indies became
equally folid and extenfive. After all, I
would not be understood as dogmatically af-
fecting to pronounce, that the Crown hath
no right to the rerriforial acquilitions in
Afia -, but I affert that as yet there exifts no ,7
public and authoritative Act declaratory of
this right: and that it is beneath the dignity
of the Crown to obtain that prerogative or
influence by a quibbling fubterfuge, which
it hefitates to juftify on a legal and conftitu-
ttonal foundation. No doubt the firft regu-
lating Act of the 1 3th of the King, which
F difpofed
( 34 )
difpofed of near ioo,oool. fterling pfer
annum, of the Company's property, in fala-
ries to the Supreme Council and Court of
Judicature, without the Company's confent,
was a ftrong fymptom of an intended appro-
priation of the entire property, when occafion
mould ferve. The introduction of the term
Britijh pojjeffions wag another collateral indi-
cation of the fame defign. The term again
occurs in the title of the prefent Bill, and
it is now incumbent on the Company to
provoke it to a legiflative definition. The
merits of the Bill are out of the cjueftion,
until this Preliminary Article (hall have
been amply and fatisfadtorily difcufled.
LETTER III.
Mr. EDITOR,
THE Eaft- India Company have been
long threatened with a parliamentary
decifion on the right of property to the terri-
torial acquifitions in Afia: and, though the
Crown has not yet formally put in its claim,
encroachments on the Company's fyitem of
adion
( 35 )
action have of late been fo frequent and fo
alarming, as fufficiently to demonftrate the
fettled defign of a gradual fuperceflion.
When every executive function, and every
power of controul, fhall have been not only
fufpended, but annihilated, the mere phan-
tom of an obfolete title will no longer be
worth a ftruggle. Lefs than a dozen years
ago, when the chartered privileges of every
corporate body were ftill confidered as more
than cobweb fecurities -when the times,
perhaps, were not ripe for an open avowal
of the projected innovations on public faith
the very hint of an attempt to explain away
the Company's property in their Afiatic ter-
ritories, under the clear and literal conftruc-
tion of their charter, excited univerfal difcon-
tent. " Certain flubborn ideas of law and
right," (as Mr. Burke was pleafed to ftyle
them in a pamphlet, fubfervient to the then
patriotic purpofes.) were apprehended on the
occafion. " Some active perfons of the
Company were given to underftand, that
this hoftile proceeding was only fet up m
terrorem j that Government was far from ar*
intention of fei^ing upon the poffeffions of
the Company. Adminiftration^ they faid,
was fenfible that the idea was, in every
light, full of abfurdity, and that fuch a fei-
not tnpre out of their power, than.
F Z remote.
( 36 )
remote from their <wijhes." " The original
': plan," which (he fays before) " jcems to
" have been, to get the Houfe of Com-
" ",0ns to copjpliment the Crown with a fort
" ot indicia! declaration of a title to the Com*
<c pany's acqaifitions iri India," is now boldly
unmafked: what could aot be carried by a
coup de main, ha,s been obtained by flow ap-
proaches in a regular ftege ; the outworks
liave been all feebly deie.idt'd, or bafely de-
ferted; and the Lord Advocate, on a heap of,
ruins, now erects his battery againft t.be lafi;
l;enable quarter,.
The whole powers of the Company were
centered in General Courts-, and were cx-
ercifed by the colledive body of Proprie-
tors. They elected all their own Direc-
tors annc:?;l.y, and confidered thofe Directors
but as a Committee (by which name they
were, originally ftyled in all the charters
of the firft Engliih Eaft-India Company)
of their own body, felected for the difparch.
of bufinefs. They approved or refcinded the:
appointment and admiffion of all their own,
governors and fervants, and; declared their
own dividends on the profits of their own
trade. The independent performance of
thefe feyeral ads comprifes almoft the
whole authority which a corporate body can
Of thefe, fornier Ats of parlia-
ment.,
( 37 )
raent, and minifterial influence together,
have already diminimed,or defeated the fub-
fiantial effect, and the Bill now propofed
will obliterate the very form. The little
controul which at prefent remains with the
General Courts over the refolutions of the
Directors, and which is the laft relique of
their former refpectability, is effectually to
be abolimed by the 3 ad claufe of this new
Bill. " And be it further enatt.ed and de-
" dared) that the feveral powers and authori-
<c ties by this Act given to, or vefted in, the
if faid Court of Directors, (hall and may from
ct time to time be exerciled, held, and put in
" execution by the Directors of the faid Uni-
" ted Company for the time being, or any
" thirteen of them; w&foallnot be jubjett to
" berefcinded, revoked, altered, varied, ajfeft-
<c ed y or in any refpeff confronted by the Court
ct of Proprietors, or any of the Proprietors of.
<c the faid United Company, "&C. &c. The Di-
rectors therefore, or " any thirteen of them " .
(for thefe bare majorities are exceedingly
convenient for minifterial purpofes) are here-
by effectually fecured from the mortifica-
tion of having their meafures fcrutinifed,
their motives detected, and their acts re-
fcinded, by an unmanageable Court of Pro-
prietors. No future concurrence of 420
refpeclable and influenced votes fliall here-
after
after oppofe and defeat the malicious and
interefted combinations of thirteen ill-ad-
vifed or corrupted individuals. But, indeed,
no future General Court will probably ever
have a fimilar occafion, or a fimilar defire }
for why fhould the Company interfere to
ferve a flave of the Court, or a tool of
faction, whom they can neither promote,
protedb, nor difmifs ? Ely whom, if they are
not betrayed or ruined (and it may poflibly
be his intereft to do both) they will inevn
tably be infulted and defpifed. They will,
indeed, have one confolation* that of feeing
their Directors reduced to their ov/n level
of iniignificance ; notwrthftanding the hu-
miliating terms of this ^zd claufe, which
too manifeftly indicates the forenefs of mi-
nifterial difappointment on the late virtuous,
efforts at the India Houfe. If the General
Courts may no longer revoke, or alter, OF
controul the powers and authorities of the
Court of Directors, the Directors themfelves
fhall be completely manacled and hand-
cuffed in the exercifes of thofe boafled pow-
ers and authorities. Their choice of their
own Governor General, and the members,
pf the Supreme Council, fliall be reduced ta
a mere conge dehre (claufe 27); and they
^all have no power to difmifs any of them,
frqm their fervice> (claufe 31). For, "in
( 39 )
" cafe the Court of Directors of the faid Uni-
'* ted Company, lhall at any time be dif-
*' fatisfied with the conduct of any Gover-
" nor General and Captain General of all
" the Britim fettlements in India, or any of
" the Members of the Council of the fame
" Prcfidencf (meaning, I fuppofe, Cal-
cutta), " and (hall be defirous of his or
" their, or any of their recal or removal, the
" the faid Court of V\K&QK Jhall have full
*' power and authority," to do what ?
not to order and compel them to obey;
not to fufpend or remove them for difobe-
dience j not to exercife any of thofe a&s
which it is yet conftitutional for them to
refolve, and (with the confent of the Pro-
prietary) to enforce but c< to reprefent the
" fame to his Majefty, his heirs and fuc-
" ceflbrs, to the intent his Majefty, his heirs
** or fucceflbrs, may have knowledge there-
<c of, and may, upon due confideration and
*' advice thereon, take fuch meafures con-
*' cerning the fame^ as to his Majefty, his
4< heirs or fucceiTors, in his or their royal
* wifdom, and y^vc.^ jhall Jeem mojljit and
" expedient" A very confolatory compen-
fation for thofe powers and authorities held
by law under the prefent charter, and fanc-
ticned by Parliament for above eight years
to come ! Thus we may obferve, that, if
the
the Corrij&ny, in their general and corporate
icapacity, are laid at the feet of their own
Directors, thefe tyrants of the Company are
with retributive juftice made to crouch un-
der the throne. One privilege indeed the
Directors will lofe by this Act, of which
it is impoflible to fay too much, and which
I think tan hardly be made up to them by
the moft liberal extenfion of the prefent
mode of conferring contracts, lucrative jobs,
and all other minifterial douceurs, whofe
value is already fo well afcertained by the
able calculators of Leadenhall-ftreet : I
mean the chance in which each individual
among them now (lands, of becoming Su-
preme Counsellor, or even Governor Gene-
ral of Bengal. This fyftem of beftowing
the chief offices in India on members of the
Courtof Directors(however liable to be abuf-
ed) is moft certainly the next laudable and
advantageous expedient to that of fuffering
thofe who have ferved a regular gradation
of duty through all the Company's fervice
abroad, to rife by fucceffion and rotation
to ieats at the Council-board. But if the
new act mould take place, local knowledge
or perfonal experience will operate as de-
cifive difqualifications for ferving the Com-
pany 5 and the firft pretenfions of their fer-
vants, in all their moft confidential and ar-
duous
( 4' )
duous employments, will be ignorance and
incapacity. At prefent, by a very fevereand
undeferved ftigma, thofe who have been in
the Company's fervice abroad, are prohibit-
ed from becoming candidates for the Direc-
tion at home, until they mall have been
a year in England ; and by the 3oth claufe
of the new bill, " it mall not be lawful
" for the faid Court of Director's, upon any
" vacancy or vacancies which mall happen
ft in the refpedive offices of Governor
** General and Captain General, or Counfel-
" lor in the Presidency of Fort William in
< c Bengal, or of Governor and Prefident, or
<< Counfellor in the Prefidencies or Settle -
" ments of Madras, Bombay, or Bencoolen,
< to nominate any perfon or perfons to tup-
f< ply any fuch vacancy or provisionally
" appoint any perfon to fucceed thereto
v refpectively, who is or are, or foall be at
** the time of fuch nomination or appoint went ^
" a Director or Directors of the Eaft India
<{ Company, orjhallhave been a Director
* c at any time within the fpace of four years
t( preceding fuch nomination or appoint-
<* ment" I fhall expect foon to fee the
Droite Aubaine take place here with re-
refpecl: to thofe unfortunate and profcribed
wretches, who have wafted the prime of
their lives in the Company's foreign fer-
Q.
( 4* )
vice. Little elfe remains poffible for then*
to fuffer.
DETECTOR.
LETTER IV.
Mr, EDITOR,
IN my laft I ftated fome of the imme-
diate rights and privileges which the exe-
cutive branches of the Company's authori-
ty, the Court of Directors, and General
Court of Proprietors, would respectively lofe
by the new Bill j as a farther ill uft ration of
the fame lubjedt, and a more direct proof of
the dangerous crifis to which all civil liber-
ty is driven by the principles of this Bill, I
fhall here, in a fummary way, dernonftrate
the enormous acceffion of power which
Would from thence accrue to the Crown :
pnder a hope, that thofe whom no other
m.otive can perfuade to behold with the
frnalleil candour the dreadful Situation to
which the Company are reduced by tyran-
pic influence, will at lead (hudder at the
jntrpdudlipn of fo fatal a precedent for qther*
and'
( 43 ;
end more home-felt augmentations of regal
prerogative.
The firft twenty claufes of the enacting
part of the Act, defcribe the powers, civil
and military, to be given to the Governor
General, and Captain General of all India,
whom (as I am aWare that not being ex-
prefsly appointed to reprefent Majefty, he
cannot with propriety be termed Viceroy) I
fhall, for the fake of brevity, and with pro-
per conformity to oriental phrafes and man-
ners, in future, denominate the BASHAW.
In my next letter, I propofe to take a full
furvey of his delegated authority, and in the
mean time, can afTure your readers^ that no
three-tailed minion of the fublime Porte
ever enjoyed a more enlarged, or more def-
potic jurisdiction. This Ba/ha w, (however
nominally atid fpecioufly he may by the 5th
claufe be made t( fubject to fuch orders',
" and inftructions, as he /hall from time to
" time receive from the Court of Directors
" of the faid united Company,) " it mall
<{ and may be lawful to, and for the King's
" Majefty, his heirs and fucceflbrs, by any
'* writing or inftrument under the Royal
" Seal manual to be counteffigned by one
" of his Majefty's principal Secretaries of
** State, or otherwife, at his or their royal
*' will and pkajure> to recal or remove ;"
G 2 *-*as
( 44 )
as alfo '* the Members of the Council
" of Fort William aforefaid, to be at any time
* c hereafter appointed 5- -as alfo all, or any of
" the Governors and Members of the Coun-
" cils of the Prefidencies or fettlements of
" Fort Saint George, Bombay, and Ben-
" coolenj or other Britim fettlements in In-
" dia, for the time being ; and to vacate, and
<c make void all and every, or any appoint-
" ment or appointments, as well abfolute as
*' provifional, of any perfon or perfons to
'* any of the offices or places aforefaid."
(Claufe 25.)
The reigning Bafhaw, and his Council^
being thus removed by the Fiat of Majefty,
it is provided by the ayth claufe, that the
Court of Directors " immediately alter every
" fuch vacancy or recal mall have been no-
" tified to them, or within 14 days after re-
<c quifition (hall be made to them by one
" of his Majefty's principal Secretaries of
" State, (hall proceed to chufe and nominate
" a fit and proper perfon or perfons -to
" fucceed," &c. 6cc. " and in cafe the per-
<c fon or perfons fo chofen jhall not be
tf approved by his Majefty, then within
f( feven days after" (notification thereof)
" the laid Court fliatl proceed to chufe and
" nominate fome other perfon or perfons
" and fo toties guottes," until his Majefty
{hall approve of their choice.
By
( 45 )
By this claufe the right of nomination in-
fidioufly and jefuitically referved to the
Court of Directors, is reduced to a meer
conge d'elire. For if it be allowed that it
is abfolutely neceflary there mould be any
Governor and Council at all, the Crown
may periift for ever in rejecting the per-
fons chofen by the Directors for thofe of-
fices, and the choice muft ultimately fall
on them whom his Majefty mall be pleafed
to recommend, to be chojen. The Crown can
at prefent nominate a judge, or recommend
a Bifhop but once appointed, they remain
quam dm bene fe gefferint. The Bafhaw of
India is to be created on a more manage-
able plan : and while his powers of defpo-
tifm over fifteen or twenty millions of pec*
pie will far exceed all authority known to
the Britim Conftitution, his dependence on
the hand that raifed him, muft be propor-
tionably abjedl and flavifh j his office will
become a meer appendage to minifterial li-
berality, as changeable as the Government
at home, and changing hands regularly
with them : and it will be neceflary for the
Company to have a certain number of pac-
kets alwavs lying ready for the annual, or
more frequent recals and re-appointments
of Whig BaJJjaws and Tory Bo/haws : all
nominated ofcourfe by the Diredlors, and all
approved
( 46 )
approved by his Majefty. It will not
Avail the Directors, if they happen by
chance, or on more folid motives, to wifh for
the continuation of their Balhaw for the time
being, to hefitate, and, by feigned or un-
avoidable delays, procraftinate the nomina-
tion of his fucceffor, in hopes that Majefty
may relent, or circumftances change in his
favour. The 28th claufe debars them of all
hope. " In cafe, and fo often as the faid Court
" of Directors mall refufe or neglect to pro-
*' ceed to any fuch choice and nomination
" within the time afore/aid'' (only fourteen
days), <{ then, and in every fuch cafe, and
fo often as the fame mail happen, it mall
'* be lawful for his Majefty to conftitute
" and appoint-- -fuch perfons or perfons
'* as his Majefty mall think proper." So
that, if thirteen Directors can but be per-
fuaded to perfift for one fortnight in a
refufal to nominate their (or rather the
Crown's) Bafhaw ; or if they mall not have
been able to come fo a decided choice with^
in that period, the Royal fign manual fet-
tles the matter at once : and a man whofe
very name never reached Leadenhall-ftreet,
comes armed with an imperial fir maun to
demand from them unlimited controul over
all their property and all their fervants. If
they
( 47 )
they ihould have forefeen this probable in-i
convenience, and wifh to prevent it, by a
timely nomination of provifional fucceffors
to their moft confidential offices, the new
a<ft has even tbere effectually difappointed
them : for fuch provifional nominations
" it Jiail and may be lawful" (by the 29th
claui-) " for uis Majefty 'without the con-
'- je-'it cf the faid i ourt of Directors, or of
" the faid United Company, to revoke and
" vacate." Indeed, as a very particular
grace, it is lib'rrally permitted the faid Court
of Directors, by the :ame 29th claufe, to
annul (" with the confent of his Majejiy, bi^
" heirs t or fucceffors*' ) thefe their own pro-
viiional nominations : and alfo (ixibicb 1
think can never be granted for any good de-
Jign or purpofc) the faid Court of Directors
may give falaries to fuch perfons as fhall
by them be fo provifionally appointed, be-
fore their becoming entitled to, and taking
upon themfelves the feveral offices, if the
faid Court " exprefsly order and direft any
(( Jnch falary to commence and be paid at an
t{ earlier period^ in which cafe the Jame foal I
" take place ^ as the faid Court flail direct. '
Who fo blind as not to difcern at leafl half
a dozen Minifterial finecures, at the Com-
pany s txpence, lurking beneath the flimfy
Artifice of this paragraph ? A provifional
Ba/haw,
( 48 )
JSaihaw, and his provifional Council, amply
provided with the direftions and orders of
the faid Court for their provifional falaries,
for one, two, three, or any indefinite num-
ber of years, hired meerly to give their
votes at St. Stephen's, or for fome other
fuch laudable fervice, without the fmalleft
intention in themfelves to venture over a
(hip's fide on the Company's account, or
in their Mailers to emancipate them from
domeilic drudgery ! ! !
By the 3 \ ft claufe the Bamaw is render-
ed compleatly and tpfo Jatto independent
of all authority whatfoever, as far as the
Company or the Court of Directors are
any way concerned and his Majefty is
Left at full liberty to reject all applications
from the faid Court of Directors for the re-
moval of the Bafhaw or any of his Council,
in cafe the faid Court ^fhould (on what
plea or motive foever) " be diffatisfied with
" them, and be defirous of his or their
" recal."
The 64th and 67th claufes finally rivet
the Company's fetters, as they give to the
Crown powers of removing and appointing
all the Governors and Qounfellors of all
the different presidencies and fettlements
in India, the fame in every refpect as we
^ave already feen it to be veiled with in,
regard
( 49 )
regard to the Supreme Government of
Bengal.
While all the rights and privileges of the
Eaft-India Company, as a corporate body
united under a Royal Charter, are thus
wantonly facrificed to the prerogative of
the Crown, their very property is no lefs
effectually (though in a mariner fomewhat
Jefs glaring) attacked in the 7th claufe of
the new Act, by the direction of a new
official feal for the public ufe of the Ba-
Jhaw in all his orders, refolutions, procla-
mations, and other ads of government.
The Company carry on all their official
and political correfpondence in India,
through the hands and in the name of
their Governor or Prefident at; each fettle-
ment refpectively : and each Governor or
Prefident has (in conformity to the uni-
verfal and unvaried ufage of the Afiatics)
a feal engraved in Perlian. characters,
with his name, or titles, or functions (as
the cafe is) : and for acts of internal go-
vernment, the infcription on the feal ex-
prefTes both the powers of the Company,
as Dewan of Bengal, Bahar, and OrifTa,
5cc. &c. and the name of the reigning Mo-
gul Emperor, as paramount of Hindoftan.
If it were neceffary to devife a mode by
which the utter annihilation of the Com T
H pany's
( 5 ),
pany's exigence (hould at once be cfeariy
and authoritatively conveyed to the Indian
Princes, and natives of every denomination,
nothing could be fo plaufibly recommend-
ed for the purpofe, as a change of the cuf-
tomary feal. " Whofe image and fuper-
*' Jcription is this?" would they fay to
each other, on obferving the uncouth let-
ters and monftrous figures on the new im-
preffion. " What revolution hath taken
** place in the (lamp which ufed to give
" efficacy to all orders, authenticy to all
c < devices, and validity to all treaties?"'
The anfwer would confign to perpetual
oblivion, the very name of the Company,
and fuperfede it with that of KING
GEORGE. The application of this feal
(which the Bafhaw is exprefsly ordered by
claufe 22d to carry with him, if he mould
think it neceflary to go to any or all of the
Company's other fettle ments in India, and
to ufe the fame in all public Acls) would
moft emphatically declare to all the Aii-
atic world, the full aitumption of all execu-
tive and political powers, in the name and
for the fervice of that Monarch to whom
thofe royal arms appertained.
DETECTOR.
LET.
LETTER V.
MR. EDITOR,
I Cannot help confidering the propofed
bill, for regulating tbe Brilijh poffeffions.
in India, as an inflance of moft deliberate
treachery againft aU the Principles of our
prefent Conftitution. Every paragraph fup-
prefles the exercife of fome pofitive Charter-
ed Right, or wantonly facrifices fome por-
tion of political freedom. I had flattered my-
felf that my two laft letters contained a full
ftatement of the balance in favour of the
Crown, in the new Account Current with
the Company j but, in the ifth claufe,
(page loth) I difcover an, omitted article,
which alone is fufficient to demonftrate
the iniquitous fcope and purport of the
whole corrupt compofition* ct And be it
" further enafted, That it (hall and may be
" lawful for the faid Governor GeneraJ,
V and Captain General of all the Britim fet-
c< dements in India, for the time being, and
'.' he is hereby authorised and empowered,
'.* on behalf o I the faid United Company^ an-d
v. IN THE NAME OF HIS MAJESTY,
2 J< his
.
" his heirs and fucceflbrs, from time to
" time, to negotiate and conclude treaties of
" Amity, Peace, Commerce, or Al iance^
" with any of the Indian Princes or Powers,
" or to declare, make, and levy war againft
" any Indian Prince or Power, who (hall
" commence hoftiltfies," &c. &c. *' againft
" the Britim Nation in India, or againft any
<e of the poffeffions, &c. of the faid Com*
" pany, or againft the Subjects, Pofleliions
" or Dominions or any Indian Prince or
Ct Poiver, whole Subjects, &c. the faid Com-
<c pany fhalt have engaged by any former,
rc or iliall engage by any future Treaty, to
** defend and guaranty.'' But a war car-
ried on, or a peace concluded, or a treaty
even of commerce negotiated ' in bis Majefty's
* name,' will not infpire any Indian Prince
or Power with many favourable ideas of
the Company's refpeclability, or feem cal-
culated for any liberal purpoies, * on behalf.
* of, the jaid Company.' His Majefty would
become the principal and ible Axis of all
political traniadions in India and even/
the unperceived and imperceptible Rana
of Gohud would treat on equal terms with
the Sovereign of the Britifh Empire. The-
Cp/npany, in the mean time, would have
:io greater credit or importance in public
irs^ than maybe acquired by the fplen-
did
[ S3 J '
did employments of forting mulmuls, and
weighing falt-petre.
But it is now time to take a nearer
furvey of that monfter of defpotifm, tpe
Bajhaw of all India ; who, like his Proto-
types of Bagdad or Aleppo, pofTeffing an al-
moft abfolute authority over the lives and
fortunes of millions, is an abjeidl flave to
every paffion or caprice of the power that
created him, and can no more difpute a
mandate under the Jlgn manual, than he can.
break with impunity his Oath of Alle-
giance. By the fifth claufe of the Adi, it
is provided, that u the whole civil and
" military government of the Prefidency
r < of Fort William, in Bengal ; and alfo
" the ordering, management, and govern-
c * men t- of 'all the territorial acquifitions
" and revenues, and the fuperintendence
" and controul, as well internal as exter-
ft na/," (mark that,) '* over the refpedtive
u Governors, Prefidents, and Councils of all
" the other Prefidencies or Settlements efr
" tabliflied by the faid United Company,
" and the Chief Command over all other
<f Commanders, Captains, Officers, and fbl-
<l diers employed, or to be employed, by
st the faid United Company in India, fhaU
Jt be, and the fame are hereby vefted in the
** -^Governor General and Captain General
"of
[ 54 ]
" of all the Briufti fettlernents in India for the
*' time being." This is the grand Patent of
the Bafhaw's officej the fum total of hist
prerogatives, and the general key to all the
claufes of the Bill. At firft fight, it is evi-
dent that a military man only can be com-
petent for- the difcharge of the military part
of the propofed duty, and as fuch, I hold
him almoft neceffarily and officially incapa-
citated for the civil functions of a commer-
cial government* and the minute perplexi-
tiSs of mercantile affairs* He is to be af-
fjired (claufe 6) by four fplendid fantoms,
tinder the title of Counfellors, whom he
may fummons to meet and advife him in
Council from time to timej " and as often
< its he Jhail think fit:" but " if it mall at
l< any time happen that the faid Governor
4t General, and Captain General, fhall pro-
V pofe any order, refolution, or other ad: in
il Council, and the major part of the Mem-
M ber?j or even all the Members of the faid
i Council, (hall differ in opinion from him
k > concerning the fame^ and (hall refufe their
* c bonfent to the paffing thereof . . -. . andjuch
" Members (cannot) be brought to adopt the
*' opinion of the faid Governor General and-
'* Captain General, then, and in every fuch
** cafe- the faid Governor General and Cap-.
^ taJA General," (fiift takii^g an oath of his
( 55 )
belief of the neceflity of the meafure,) ** i$
'" hereby authorized, by bis file authority t to
" command the fame to be carried into exe^
*' cution, notwithftanding the diffent of the
<e Members of the faid Council." (Claufe 13,)
-As a proof of his independence as far as
concerns the Company, and a badge of Da-
very to the Crown, the Bafliaw is to ufe a
feal, " bearing the device, fculpture, and re^
*' prefentation of his Majefty's Royal Arms,
'* within an exergue, or label, furrounding
" the fame, with this infcription, " the Bri-
l ti(h Seal for India. (Claufe 7.)! have
already declared my opinion of the motives
which led to the injunction of this new
Seal for the political government and corref-
pondence, and of the confequeaces to which
it will moft afluredly conduce : I flialj there^
fore only add, in this place, that an impre/'
fion of animals and figures is exceedingly re*-
pugnant to the cuftoms and religious fyftem,
of all the Mahomedan inhabitants of India,
and argues a very great ignorance of, and in-
attention to their prejudices, or an intentional
infult .on their feelings. We have feen, by
the i3thclaufe, an abfolute power given to
the BafhaWi of enforcing any acl: which Jie
(hall think proper, even againft the adyipe
of all his Council. The nth claufe adds
to his authority for carrying all his own pro.-
pofition?
portions into full effed: that of totally an*
nulling and quafhing, 'without caufe or rea-
fin alledged, all thofe of his Council, as
" no Ad:, Refolution, or Order, (hall be
" called or deemed (fuch), or be carried in-
" to execution without the fpecial confent
" of the faid Governor General and Captain
* General." The i6th claufe empowers him
<e to levy, arm, mufter, command, and em-
" ploy the armies, troops, and foldiers, in
" the pay of the faid Company, in India; and
" in cafe of invafion, actual or imminent"
to enforce military law on " all perfons
" ivhomjoeiier, refiding 'within *any of the
t lands, territories, and dominions, of or be-
" longing to, or fubjett to the government of
'* the faid Company in India, to refift and re-
" pel, both at land andfea, all enemies, pi-
" rates, and rebels, and fuch to purfue, in or
" out of the limits thereof." By this ty-
rannous permiflion, the Ba(havv is juftified in
forcibly arming all or any part of the Ryots
of Bengal, and in compelling them to take
a fea voyage againft the principles of their
caft, and at the certain lofs of their lives in a.
pertinacious and conlcientious refufal of all
nourimment on fhip-board, for the purpofe
of repelling an invafion in the Northern C'ir-
cars. I need be at no farther trouble for ob-
jections. He has alfo, by the j7th and i8th
claufes a
( 57 V
daiifes, authority to feize and imprifon all
perfons lufptcted of illicit correfpondence
with Indian or European powers ; and, if the
information be upon oath, may fecure and
take into cuftody even the Commanders of
his Majefty's mips or fquadrons, or any per*-
fons under them, or any Member of the
Supreme Court of Judicature, or any Com-
pany's fervant.
It is alfo provided by the 2 1 ft claufe, *' that
" from and after the commencement of this
* e Act, all and fingular the Governors, and
" Prefidents, and Councils of all the town?,
<c forts, factories, prefidencies, and fettle-
f< ments, which now are, or hereafter may
" be creeled or eflablimed by the faid Corh-
" pany in India, mall be dependent upon
" and fubordinate to the fuperintending and
" controuling power of the faid Governor
" General and Captain General of all the
" Britifli fettlements in India, in all cafes
" what /owe r y civil and military, refpecT:ing
** the government and administration of their
" refpeftive governments and fettle men ts ;"
and ' if, at any time hereafter, any dan-
" gerous commotion mould arife, or fla-
c< grant mifmanagement be committed,"
(claufe 2d,) at any of the fubordinate fettle*
ments, the Bafhaw " may, in perfon, repair
* 4 to fuch prefidency or fettlement, taking
I <* with
.
" with him the feal aforefaid" and on Pro-
clamation being made of his arrival, " all
" the power and authority of the Governor,
<e Prefident, and Council thereof, mall be
*' fufpended, and the whole and fole order-
c< ing, management, and government of
* e the faid fubordinate prefidency or fettle-
" ment mall be vefted in the faid Governor
" General and Captain General, fo long as
" he mall there remain." He may alfo dif-
mifs and fend to Europe the former Preii-
dent and Council, and appoint others provi-
fionally in their places. I muft here re-
mark, that when the I3th of the King firfl
took place in India, and a majority of the
Supreme Council of Bengal came from
England to govern the political concerns of
India, without having pafled through the
feveral gradations of employment in the
Company's fervice, it was judged highly
neceflary for the intereft and well-doing of
the Company, that a Board of Trade mould
be eftablimed of fuch of the Company's
civil fervants as, being fenior in rank, had
naturally acquired moft experience and know-
ledge in the feveral branches of the Com-
pany's commerce -, thefe were to have the
whole and fole management of all the Com-
pany's mercantile tranfactions in Bengal j for
attention to which the Supreme Council
were
( 59 )
were fuppofed inadequate, from the multi-
tude and intricacy of their financical and
political fpeculations, as well as incapacitated
by an utter inexperience in commercial mat-
ters. This Board of Trade (for aught that
appears to the contrary in the new Act) it
is flill propofed to retain, and therefore the
new Bafhaw and his Council would ftill, in
Bengal, be debarred by law as well as by
habit from giving any attention to the rules,
or principles, or practices of the Company's
trade. But by this 2 ad claufe, whenever
the Bafhaw {hall judge it expedient to take
his perfon and his feal to Madras, Bombay,
or Bencoolen, he becomes paramount in
commerce as well as in politics, and con-
trouls the Company's inveftment with as
little ceremony as he contradicts his own
Council.
We have feen above, that, by the I3th
claufe, the Bafhaw (on taking an oath) may
enforce any Act or Refolution of his own,
againft the advice and confent of all his
Council : and, by the nth claufe, that with-
out an oath he may quam every proportion
of his Counfellors by the meer witholding of /
his confent. Itfhould therefore feem, that by
thefe two claufes the power of the Bamaw
was extended to every thing that can be
called reafonable or decent in. any fpecious
I 2 fyftena
( 60 )
fyAem of government, and the oftenfibls
functions of the Counfellors debafed as low
as any man with a fpark of human feeling
about him could fubmit to degrade himlelf
by accepting. But by the 23d claufe, we
may remark a refinement of defpotifm well
worthy ot Afiatic invention: as the Baftiaw is
there inftructed how, without the trouble or
expence of an oath in the one cafe, or the
mortification of putting a negative on the
wimes of his Council in the other, hq
may cxercife his double prerogative at Cal-
cutta in its whole extent, and take his full
fwing of political authority, joined to an
efficient and irrefiftable fway over all the
official departments of Commerce at fome
fubordinate fettlement into the bargain. I
muft therefore once more intrude ( Mr.
liduor) on the patience of your readers, for
'fomewhatofa long quotation, which I offer
as a hint to the new Bafhaw never to refide
jn Calcutta ; and to his Council never to be
^t the fatigue of advifing, or the refponfibi-
lity of executing any meafure of Govern-
ment, but to pocket, as quietly as may be, the
miferable wages of their own insignificance.
*r-(Claufe 23} i< And be it further enacted,
V- that when and fo often as the faid Gover-
< pof General and Captain General mall be
' abfent from the faid Prefidency of Fort
! William,
f f William, either upon his vifitation of any
" of the fubordinate Settlements, or other
" occafion, the ordering, management, and
" government of the faid Presidency (hall
u remain in, and be exercifed by the other
* c Members of the Council remaining at
" Fort William, in Bengal," &c. &c, --,.
" Subjeft never thelefs to fuch orders as they
c Jhall ba<ue previoujly received, or may
( from time to time receive, from the faid
f Governor General and Captain General of
{i Bengal for tbe time being."
DETECTOR.
LETTER VI.
Mr, EpiTQRj
THAT part of the new Bill for the bet^
ter regulation and government of the,
Britijh pojfejjions in India , of which I have
in my laft letters difplayed the dangerous ten-
dency and purport, fully authorifes my firm
fonvidlion that the whole will be unani-r
moufly rejected by the Legiflature with more
ordinary marks of fcorn
( 6' )
tlon. An attempt to veft in the Crown the
fole appointment and difmiffion of all the
Governors, Prefidents, and Councilors em-
ployed in the Company's fervice in India,
and by thele means the entire controul and
difpofai of all that property holden by the
Company in right both of its Charter and of
repeated Acls of Parliament, will certainly
exci<:c very ftrong fenfations in thote who
wifh to preferve the general balance of our
prefent Conftitution. A covert and indirect
invafion of the Company's poillfTions, with-
out the proof or even the pretext of any le-
gal claim, while it betrays a dirty pettifog^
ging meannefs of impofition, that would diC-
grace both the parts and the confcience of a
beggarly attorney, will, without doubt, be
flrongly reprobated by all who forefee the
confequences of innovations on chartered
and parliamentary fecurities. Thofe who
deprecate the increafe of venal and corrupt
influence in our Government, will affuredly
oppofe fo great an addition to Ministerial
importance, as would be acquired by the ar-
bitrary means of gratifying twenty more de-*
pendents with moft lucrative appointments
abroad, and of granting provisional falaries
(claule 29) to five others at home. Men,
%vho with a more extenfive liberality often-*
feel for the caufe of general liberty^
..
and look beyond national prejudices to *
Confideration for the common independence
of mankind, will be interefted by the mod
exalted of human pafTions, fympathy for the
fituation of feveral millions of Afiatics, as well
as fome hundreds of their own countrymen,
expo fed to all the worft effects of avarice,
ignorance, caprice, or brutality, in a dele-
gated tyrant, for whofe acts of legal defpo-
tifm the quickeft poffible termination can-
not be hoped in lefs than fix months, and
who, at the bare peril of an oath, is autho-
rifed to taks upon himfelf the perpetration
of every enormity that human invention
can fuggeft. Thefe being the oftenfible and
incontrovertible principles of the new Bill,
have required neither art nor induftry to
difplay them in their proper colours.
But as I do not fufpect it to have much
chance of attaining to any active powers of
exiftence, I fhould think it an unpardonable
trefpafs on the public, were I, in the prefent
ftage of the bufmefs, to difTect with fo much
minutenefs of attention as I have hitherto
employed, the other objectionable Members
that ftill obtrude themfclves on my notice, I
already difcern ample materials for a dozen
letters were they yet necefTary, on the eight
claufes from the4othto the 47th incliifive :
- On the certain ieeds of future contention
(own
( 64 )
fown in the new powers intended for the'
Supreme Court ; in the "atfive as well as de-
** liberalise voice "given to the Judges equal-
ly with the Supreme Council, for making
and iffuing " fuch rules, ordinances, and
" regulations, as mall be deemed juft and
** reafonable for the good order and civil
" government of the faid kingdoms of Ben-
*' gal, Bahar, and OrifTa, and of the conn-'
** tries or dijlrifts fituale on the coaft of
<c Coromandel, known by the name of the
" Northern Circars" (to which the power or
influence of the Supreme Court of Judica-
ture at Calcutta has never yet had the (hadow
of a claim), " and of all other Countries and
*' Diftridts in India, which now are or here-
" after may be fubjected to the government
tc and controul of his Majejly, or of the faid
" united Company: and a If o for the better
* e ordering, management, and government of
" the territorial acquifitions and revenues^
<f and all other rents,- profits and revenues
** arifing and growing due to the faid Com-
" pany within the fame, or any of them :
** and alfo for the afleffing and levying
" reafonable taxes and impoiitions and
" alfo duties of export, import and tranfit,
" on all goods, wares, and merchandifes."
&c. &c. How far, I fay, thefe very un-
UfasA/ifcalfunffiws bellowed on the Judges
may
f 65 )
may fuit the interefts of the Company, of
contribute to the benefit of the ftate, may
be left as a fubjedt not ripe, nor likely to
ripen, for difcufiion. From thence to the
8oth claufe (except fo much as relates to the
new mode of appointing Governors and
Counfellors to the fubordinate fettlements)
is but a fuperceffton of powers already grant-
ed to the Company by former Adts and Char-
ters, or a recapitulation of orders even now
in force, or affeded refinements on the late
and former Judicature Ads. How the
Framer of the 8 1 ft claufe, which recommends
the eftablimment of falaries in the revenue
department on a liberal plan, " as a fatif-
<f faftion for the due and punftual perform*
" ance of that duty, " will reconcile his pro-
pofition here quoted, to that of the Sgth
claufe, which enacts, that lifts of all the
civil and military offices and employments
{hall be fent home, accompanied with
fchemes of oeconomy, and advices how the
fame may be better regulated, &c. &c. is
not for me to explain. Sure I am, that re-
peated efforts for fC retrenching unnecefTary
'* expences, and for introducing a juft and
tf laudable oeconomy in every branch of the
" civil and military fervice," have already
been exerted as faras reafon, juftice, and the
comparative duties of different ftations,
K- aod
( 66 )
and neceflary gradations of rank arid- 1
precedence will admit. Expenees may
be thrown into different forms, emolu-
ments may be transferred to new channels,
plaufible pretences may introduce flat-
tering innovations, but the real and ulti-
mate charge to the public is already as
low as the public fervice will bear*
If Afts of Parliament (hall continue to con-
fer enormous falaries in pounds flerling to
new Governors and Counsellors, and to
give a licence (not likely to grow obfolete
for want of application) to the Court of
Directors for granting other provifional fa-
laries to provifional Governors, &c. all out
of the Company* s pocket ) the fum total of ex-
penditure will certainly and neceflarily in-
creafe, in fpite of the moft jealous and il-
liberal fcrutiny into all the little perquifites
and eftablifhed emoluments of office in In-
dia. In thefe cafes, what individuals may
lofe will be infinitely beyond all proportion
of what the public can poflibly gain : and
I affirm, with the utmoft confidence, that
more than what can be fubtracfted from fuch
emoluments will and muft (even by the
very reafoning of the Sift claufe) be added
to falaries. I (hall now juft flightly run
over the concluding claufes, thofe fringes of
the bill) and for the prefent take my leave j
not
( 67 )
not without pledging myfelf to go into the
merits of each particular article, fliould the
mongrel foetus ot fervility and defpotifm fail to
fee ftifled in its birth. An Act intended for
the benefit of our Afiatic fellow-creatures,
ihould be the refult of much difpaffionate
reflection, philofophical experience, and dif-
interefted philanthropy. Whils the caufes of
our calamities in India are fo miferably mif-
underftood and fo mamefullymifreprefented,
every new political prefcription adds to the
complication of diforders. What fubftan^
tial wifdom or found policy can be difcern-
ed in vifionary fchemes for the reftoration
of difpofTefTed Rajas and Zemindars, or a ref-
titution of their old feudal authority and ju-
rifdiction (and that too under the fanction of
a Britim Act of Parliament !) ? (claufe 82)
as if the ridiculous canting propofuls for re-
floring " the faid dominions to their antient
<e flate of fplendor and opulence" by fuch
frothy projects, had really been proved, as well
as " reprejented to the High Court of Par II-
" ament. y ' The 83d claufe argues a
profound ignorance of the internal ftate of
the Country Government, with refpect to the
Revenue, or elfe (which is as little admiffible
in an Act of the Legiflature) the words
" Phougdarree Court" are by mijlake infcrt-
ed far the Words " Court of Dewanny A-
K z " daulet,.
** daulet,** and at all events it militates, a
gainft the jurisdiction propofed by the 82<j
claule to be reftored to the Zemindars.'
The 84-th claufe is an echo to the 44 Re-
folutions of the Secret Committee, as far
as they tend to reprobate the purfuit of
*' Schemes of Conqueft and Extent of Do-
'* minion :" viz. thofe very points, on which
the refolutions themfelves failed to imprefs
conviction on any well-informed mind.
Schemes of Conqueft, and a wifli to extend
our Dominion, are ideas perfectly diftinct :
they have indeed both been imputed to
Governor General Haftings, and both in
every inftance have! been repeatedly ', c&n be
4t,prefent,2Ch&fiallbe at any and pue ryjutur'^
period^ folemnly difavowed, and fatisfadtorily
difproved upon full and authentic feftimony.
Let the learned Framer of the Bill ftep for-
ward, and produce his vouchers that Mr.
Haftings hath ever *' wilfully adopted o
<< countenanced a byftem tending to infpir^
^ a reafonable Piltruft of the Moderation,
*' Juftice, and good Faith of the Britiih Na-
H tion'* and I allure him the charge (hall
t>e formally and pointedly refuted. Thefe
^flertions, 1- own, are vague, but none elfe,
can be adapted to his prefent vague futile
and general accufatipns. " When he has
d. his feyeral Criminatory Articles,
pr when the metaphoric Orator on the other
fide of the houfe (who, like an unruly ele-
phant, cannot be trufted in public without
a camel on each fide to keep him in order,)
has reduced his erratic hyperboles to plain
reafon and matter of fatf, then, and then
only, will be the proper time for fpecioufly
bringing forward a Bill to remove the Au-
thor of the Mahratta Peace, and the Saviour
of the Carnatic.
The debts of the Nabob of Arcot, and
thofe of the Raja of Tanjore (including, I
fuppofe, the Aims borrowed to pay his A-
gents and EmbafTadors refidentiary) are re-
quired by the 86th and 87th claufes to be
inveftigated, which furely did not need the
interference and exprefs injunction of an Adt
of Parliament. An order from the Court of
Directors might at leaft be competent to
their examination, tho' perhaps affiftance
might be wanting to enforce their liquida-
tion. I had almoft forgotten the 85th claufe,
which fan&ions the independence of the Raja
of Tanjore by Parliament (no parliamentary
enquiry having taken place on the Jubjeffi),
on the principles recommended to, and
adopted by Lord Pigot.
I (hall now take the privilege of an old
correfpondent to leave off abruptly and with-
out ceremony. While India matters are the
( 7 o )
fubjec"l of difcuffion, and particularly fo long
as one of the moft refpectable characters
in the Britifli Empire Jhall be 'wantonly and
injurioujly attacked, you, Mr Editor, and
the public, may expect occafionally to hear
from
DETECTOR,
May 10, 1783.
OBSERVATIONS
t 7* 1
OBSERVATIONS on the EIGHTH RE-
PORT of fie SELECT COMMITTEE*
AT the conclufion of the Rohilla War in
1774, a Treaty was made between the
late Vizier of Oude, and Fyzoolah Khan,
one of the Rohilla Chiefs whereby the
latter, on certain conditions, was put into the
pofTeffion of Rampore, and fome other dif-
tricts in the Rohilla Country (8 Report, page
1 8) as a Jagheer for the amount of 1475000
Rupees per annum (page 4). In 1778, the
Company (through their Refident at the
Court of the prefent Vizier) became Guaran-
tees to this Treaty (page 9). In Septem-
ber, 1781, the Governor General of Bengal,
in a new Treaty of Alliance between the
Company and the Vizier, aflented to a mo-
dification of this Guarantee : by which the
Vizier was to be permitted, at fome future
period, to refume the ceded lands, on con-
dition of paying the annual ftipulated a-
mount of the Jagheer from his own Trea-
fury, through the hands of our Refident.
But as the Governor General apprehended
fome political inconveniencies both to the
Company and the Vizier from this propofed
Refumption.
t 7i ]
Refumption of the Jagheer lands, he referv-
ed the actual execution of that Article in the
new Treaty to an indefinite term, fubject to
the future interpolation of our Government.
(Page 17.)
This is the outline of *the Cafe* which the
Select Committee have thought it their Duty
to reprefent to the Houfe in their Eighth
Report, and on which they appear to have
implicitly adopted the general and particular
cenfure eXprefTed by the Court of Directors
in their general Letters to Bengal, dated 1 2
July, 1782, and 14 Feb. 1783. (Pages 18,
19, and 20.)
** To procure and maintain the peace of
*' India to quiet the Fears of the neigh-
<* bouring Powers, who, from the Conduct
*'* of our Servants, have had too much reafon
*' to be jealous of our Encroachments to
" adhere ftrictly to Treaties, and never to be
* c the aggrefTors to fecure to the Natives
" under the immediate Government of the
" Country the undifturbed Exercife of their
*' Religion and Cuftoms, and to encourage
" Cultivation, Manufactures, and Com-
" merce are the means by which we hope
*' to' regain the Confidence of the Native
*' Princes, and the Attachment of the Peo-
" pie. By fuch means, and by fuch alone,
11 we may hope to fee our affairs once more
" flourilh
( 73 )
kt flourish, and Permanency again given to
" the Company's Poffeffions in the Eaft-
" Indies."
In the canting philanthropy of this plaufi-
ble paragraph, the Select Committee Teem to
have di (covered a moft fevere and pointed
Arraignment of the Governor General's
Conduct in the Cafe above related. For my
own part, I can only difcern in it fuch a
heterogeneous jumble of internal adminiftra-
tion with external politics, fuch general and
indefinite references to the Whole of Indl-a^
as if it were all comprifed under one univer-
fal fyftem of Government, and actuated by
the fame common plan of policy, that fo
far from containing Cenfure, I doubt if it
can ever be flrained into meaning.
" To procure and maintain the Peace of
*' India, " we ought certainly to be Para-
mount, and muft necerTarily interfere in all
the difputes among the Indian Princes; but
this is diametrically the reverfe of that Con-
duct which our Governments are inftructed
to purfue. " 70 quiet the fears of the Neigh-
ic hour ing Powers," and particularly to ob-
viate the '* Reafons they have to be jealous of
" cur Encroachments" we muft withhold
every degree of influence in the interior
management of the refpective Territories of
thofe Powers i and yet we cannot poffibly
L " fecure
( 74 )
" fecure to the Natives, under the immediate
" Government of the Country y the undi/lurbed
" exercife of their Religion and Cuftoms,"
(whatever we may to thofe under the im-
mediate Government of the Company) with-
out continual and very ftrenuous exertions
of authority over the immediate Govern-
ment of that Country whofe Natives we
would thus fecure. If we encourage Com-
merce, we need be in no pain about the Cul-
tivation and Manujaffiures. They will im-
prove of courfe. But if any other Encou-
ragement be here implied, it can certainly
take place only in thofe Territories over
which the Company exercife an exclufive
Jurildidion. * k The means by which we
" may hope to regain the Confidence oftheNa-
" five Princes" are furely very different from
thofe which we muft purfue to acquire <c the
' < Attachment of the People." For the firft
objedt, we are bound to be cautious in the
extreme, left we afford a pretext for difobe-
dience> or fupportany prefumptuous preten-
fions in the Subjects of any Native Power
towards their Sovereign, either by the per-
fonal protection of a Refident, or the pub-
lic Authority of a Guarantee. If therefore^
under the plea of " fecuring to the Natives"
(fuch, I mean, as are not our own immediate
fubjeds) ** the undifturbed Exercife of their
* c Religion
( 75 )
<c Religion and Cuftoms y " we officioufly ob-
trude our own ideas and principles of rela-
tive and diftributive Juftice, as Rules of
Action for the Country Powers in the Ex-
ercife of their own Dominion over their
own Subjects ; if we are for prefcribing
the meafure of Obedience due from the
Vaflal to his Lord; and, on the pretence of
protecting the people, avowedly exert an
unlimited Controul over the Prince, we
ihall never " regain the Confidence of the
" native Princes," nor (except by the Jus
fortioris) " procure and maintain the Pece
" of India."
Upon the whole, this moral and benevo-
lent Paragraph can but at moil be conftru-
ed to exprefs the Senfe of the Court of Di-
rectors, that it would be good policy in
their Governments abroad to exercife a libe-
ral and lenient Jurifdiction over their own
Territories, and to concern themfelves as
little as poffible with thofe of their neigh-
bours.
" It is exceedingly proper," fay the Court
of Directors, in the Paragraph immediately
preceding that which I have jufl analyfed,
" that your Government mould fee that Fy-
" zoolah Khan fulfills his Engagement with
*' the Vizier, according to the Treaty guaran-
by the Company." Much as this
L 2 '
( 76 )
acute obfervation muft have coft of deep
and painful thinking to the Four and Twenr
ty Directors, it would not have been labour
ill-bedewed to have gone a ftep farther,
by considering how the Government was to
jee this Engagement fulfilled : for the whole
of the queftion feems to me to turn upon
the -Mode of Conduct proper to be adopted
upon this Occafion. For inftance, if Fy-
zoolah Khan were under the acknowledged
Government of the Company, their Orders
muft be deemed fufficient to bring him to a
Senfe of his Duty. If he were a Subject
of the Vizier, by withdrawing our Gua-
rantee,qn proof of his violation of the Treaty,
we quieted the Fears of a Native Prince on
the Extent of our Encroachments^ and left
the Sovereign at liberty to vindicate his own
fights by his own powers. IfFyzoolah
were an independent Prince, fui Juris, we
had no alternative, mould he perfiil in a re-
fufal to perform the Articles of his Agree-
ment, but to join our forces to thofe of the
Vizier, and, reduce him to a neceffity of
Compliance, under the terms of the Guaran-
tee.
As this mofr. efTential part of the enquiry
feems to be involved in a flu died obfcurity,
or at leaft to have been carelefsly overlook-
ed, I ftiall take the liberty to examine it un-
der
( 77 )
der the five following heads; from which,
I doubt not, but we (hall extract fomething
of a decifive and fitisfactory elucidation of
the whole bufinefs.
1. What were the original relative fituation,
views and interefts of the two cqntracT:-
ing parties ?
2. For what purpofe, and to what extent,
did the Company annex their Guaran-
tee to the Engagements between the Vi-
zier of Oude, and the Rohilla Chief ?
3. Was the Treaty, to which the Compa-
ny were Guarantees, actually violated,
or implicitly fulfilled ?
4. How far can the Company, with pro-
priety, interfere in luch cafes, and in
this particular Cafe ?
5. For what caufe, and to what end, did
the Governor General of Bengal enter
into the new Treaty with the Vizier ?
With refpecT: to the firft Article, the ori-
ginal Treaties are fo loofe and indefinite, at
leaft the Tranflation is fo extremely fhort of
precifion, that it is very difficult from thence
to form an accurate idea of the footing on
which the Vizier and the Rohilla Chief
refpedively flood at the moment of their
mutual agreement. The Vizier, in his part
of the Treaty, is made to fay, " A Friend-
" Jhip having been entered into between me
" and Fyzoolah'Khan:" The other party re-
turns
turns the fame form of phrafc, " A Friend*
*' Jhip hav ng taken place between the Na^
** bob Vizier ul Mulk Behader and me."
So far they appear to treat on terms of
equality, reciprocal obligation, and . mutual
independence : and it is only to a negoci-
ation between parties of fuch a defeription
that the term " Treaty" can with proprie-
ty be applied. Col. Champion makes no
ufe of this word in his public letter (p. 4).
He exprefTes himfelf by the terms " agree-
" men?' and " engagement" which leave the
nature of the political connection between
the ftipulators perfectly undefined : They
are however entirely conliftent with the re-
lative ftates offoverezgn &n<\fubjetl t while a
Treaty can only take place where there is
no immediate dependence and acknowledged
fubjeclion. The Counterpart of the Agree-
ment, on the part of Fyzoolah Khan, effec-
tually clears up the doubt, by a full and im-
plicit avowal of his own inferiority, and,
in terms that cannot be mifunderflood, pro-
mifes the allegiance of a fubjecl. " I will
" always, whilft I live, continue \r\fubmi/fi-
f f on. and obedience to the Vizier :" and far-
ther on, " Whatever the Nabob Vizier di-
** retfs, I 'will execute.'* This furely is
not the language of a Treaty ; it is a
plain profeffion of Fealty. And if we
became fureties to Fyzoolah Khan for
the
( 79 )
the due enjoyment of his Jagheer on the
one part, we certainly, on the other, guran-
teed to the Vizier a continuance of fubmiA
fion and obedience from the Rohilla Chief,
and a punctual execution of all his or-
ders. As the mere poiTeffion of a Jag-
heer mod indifputably does not emancipate
the Jagheerdar from the condition of a fub-
ject in other refpects, and ftill lefs confers
the powers and privileges of fovereignty, it
was a great overfight in the Court of Di-
rectors and the Select Committee to adopt
Mr.D. Harwell's inaccurate mode of expref-
fion, in calling Fyzoolah Khan's renters or
ryotts " bis Subjefts" (page 18.) whereas
he and they were in common Subjects to
the Vizier, as is amply proved by Fyzoo-
lah's own ftipulation. When the Jagheer
was firft granted to the Rohilla Chief, it
was exprefsly valued at 1475000 Rs. * but a
better knowledge of the country ariilng from
the keennefs of examination excited by the
Vizier's
* I have examined the Records of the Bengal Go-
vernment for the year 1774, and find that the propofed
Jagheer was augmented from 1200000 to 1475000,
by the ftrong interpofition of Col. Champion, and
granted with much reluctance by the late Vizier; on
Fyzoolah Khan's moft earnetf reprefentation, that
1200000 would be abfolutely inefficient to afford a
mere comfortable fubfiftence to his Relations and im-
mediate Dependents.
Vizier's pecuniary diftrefTes, has fince difco-
vered the produce to have been greatly
(and, it is folemnly urged, fraudulently)
Under-rated. Moft afTuredly the Compa-
ny's guarantee cannot, by any latitude or
partiality of conftruction, be made to extend
beyond the fettled amount of 1475000 Rs.
and if more had been obtained byfalfe pre-
tences^ I fee neither juflice nor plaufibility
in our interference to prevent the Vizier
from refuming the Overplus. It muft be
remembered, that a Jagbeer in India is pre-
cifely the fame as a Fief under the feodal
Syftem, and in the fame manner ufually
held by military tenure : that is, fuch a
portion of land is deemed adequate to the
maintenance of fb many Troops, and the
Land-holder is bound to bring that num j
ber into the field on every requifition of the
Sovereign. When Fyzoolah Khan's Jag-
heer was firft granted, the peculiarity of his
fituation dictated fome peculiar claufes in
the grant. While he was a new fubject to
the Vizier, and while the Rohillas, his
countrymen, might be fuppofed to retain a
ftrong fpirit of revenge for their LofTes, and
had even yet the means of becoming formi-
dable, if united, it was prudence and policy
to obflruct by every cautionary expedient
the very poffibility of their union. There-
fore,
[ 8, ]
fore, while other feodal dependents are
exprefsly held to furnifti a certain quota of
Troops^ it was only flipulated with Fyzoo-
lah Khan, that he mould not entertain a
Jingle man more than 5000 in his fervice.
His allegiance was at that time confidered
as fufpicious ; and the object was not fo
much to render his affiftance ufeful, as his
oppofition fruitlefs. But whatever hopes
of aggrandizement or independence Fyzoo-
lah Khan might have cherifhed in the early
part of his fubmiffion, it is clear, that, after
the death of Sujah Dowla, he was only
anxious to eftablim himfelf againft that
mutability of fortune which is congenial
to all Afiatic governments. We know that
in Turkey, in Perfia, in Hindoftan, and
wherever the principles of the feodal fyftern,
have been blended with defpotie power in
the Sovereign, the only fecurity cf the
throne feems to confift in the fudden eleva-
tions and removals of the feveral afpirers
to rank and dignity in the State. Jagheers
are granted and refumed, great employ *
ments are conferred on ob&tire men, and
the firfl: officers of the State degraded, or
banifhed, or put to death, with a prompts
tude of deciiion, disregard of formalities,
and indifference of perfons, utterly incom-
patible with the liberality and refinement o/
[ 82 ]
?Tiodern European manners. It muft cer~
fainly therefore be more than commonly
grating to the Vizier, to feel the pervad-
ing Influence of Britim interference in the
internal management of his own concerns,
It muft leflen his dignity in the eyes of
every native Prince, and militate againft
all his own notions of the rights and func-
tions of Sovereignty, to be oppofed and
thwarted in executing his own purpofes
ppon his own Subjects by the interpofi-
tion of a foreign guarantee.
This will naturally* lead us to the fecond
head of enquiry as to the purpofe and ex-
tent of the Company's Guarantee in the
prefent cafe. Col. Champion's original let-
ter on the firft outfet of the bufmefs, ex-
prefles the matter in two lines: '* Fyzoolah
" Khan is to have a Jagheer of 1475000
* Rs. in the Rohilla Country, with liberty
f ' to keep 5000 men in arms." ^ Page 4.)
*?. Fyzoolah, in return, was to continue in
" fubmiffion and obedience to the Vizier,
" and execute whatever he dire&ed."
(Page 5.) The Company were not, by this
Guarantee, bound to fecure to Fyzoolah
a revenue of 30 Lacs iriftead of 14, nor to
eftablHh for him an independent Jurif-
didion over the lards which he held on the
common tenure of any other Jagheer, nor to
defeat and render null the conditions of
obedience and fubmiffion in which he
pledged himfelf to the Vizier. We find
that before the conceffion of the Guaran-
tee, jealoufies and miftruft had arifen in
both parties. The Vizier fufpected Fyzoo-
lah Khan of an intention to throw off his
dependence : " It is not impoflible" (fays the
Company's Refident at Lucknow) * l but
he" (Fyzoolah) " might be induced to form
*' connections, and to engage in fchemes,
" incompatible with his .duty and allegiance
<c to the Vizier." (Page 5.) On the other
hand, he obferves, that Fyzoolah Khan,
* c having heard of the acts of injuftice and
" oppreffion which the Vizier is conflantly
tf exercifing upon thofe who are whol-
u ly at his mercy," was apprehenfive that
his country mould be feized, and him-
felf involved in ruin. (Page 6.) How
much foev^r the Vizier might wi(h to
act up to Fyzoolah Khan's apprehensions,
he has hitherto refrained from every thing
that could be conilrued into a deviation from
his engagements : but he has loudlyj and on
plaufible grounds, complained of infractions
of the Conditions on the other part. His
Letter to Mr. Haftings (page 17) ftates that
the cxce-fs of Collections in the Jagheer is
** proved to demonftration" to have been a
M 2 fraud
( 84 )
fraud in the Jirft valuation, inftead of thfc
produce of an increafed cultivation. What
collateral proofs the Vizier might have ob-
tained, we are not informed : but fuch is the
pofitive and authoritative Report of Mr.
Johnfon, ah Envoy deputed jointly from the
Vizier and the Company's Refident to the
Capital of the ceded Lands. " Fyzoolah
" Khan's esccefs vf revenue," fays he, " lays in
l( a fraudulent valuation at the time of tke
" Grant.'' (Page 15.) In the next place,
Mr. Johnfon, in his public capacity, and
in an official letter, pointedly and uncondi-
tionally aflerts, that " at this moment there
<k are not lefs than 20000 Rohilla Soldiers in
" the diftridl of Rampore alone." " Upon
*' this Claufe the Grant runs, and is of courfe
" forfeited.'' (Page 16.) When we recol-
lect that all the late Vizier's policy was ex-
erted, at the time of his firft agreement with
Fyzoolah Khan, to prevent any dangerous
accefs of numbers to his new Subject's
ftandard : that out of the prefent Vizier's
Jealoufy on the fame account, arofe the De-
putation of Mr. D. Barwell, before whom
Fyzoolah Khan was content to caufe near
5000 Troops to be muftered, which Mr.
Barweliy^W to fall rather Jhort of the num-
ber Jpecified in the 'Treaty (p. 7) : and that
Mr. Johnfon now affirms upwards of 20000
to
to be In Rampore only, it muft feerri a little
extraordinary that the Court of Directors
jfhould write (p. 20), " We can no where
" dij cover that Fyzoolah Khan has been guilty
" of a Breach of Treaty" But this is not
all. Fyzoolah Khan was reftricled, it is
true, to 5000 men ; and on " the 2d day of
" November, 1780, the Governor General
" and Council, in their fecret department^
" agreed " that the Governor General be
<f requefted to write to the Nabob Vizier,
" recommending to him to require from
" Fyzoolah Khan the quota of Troops fti-
tc pulated by Treaty to be furnimed by the
" latter for his Service, being five thoufand
" bcrfe." (Page 12.) Fyzoolah Khan re-
turned for anfwer, that the 5000 men al-
lowed him, conlifted, according to his ori-
ginal alignments for their Expences, " of
" 2000 borfe, and 3000 foof." (Page 13.)
That Fyzoolah Khan could not furnifh
Troops which did not exift is very certain :
nor is he blamed for it. But he mould
have offered to raife them, or at leaft to mount
his 3000 Infantry, which would have been
fufficient, ifhewiflied to demonftrate his
" continuance in Jubmijfion and obedience to
<c the Vizier -," and in neglecting to make
fuch offer, he moft indifputably "evaded the
" performance of hh part of fhe Treaty" as
flatcd
( 86 )
ftated by the Governor General in his
minute. (Page 13.) To compromife the
matter, to gratify in fome degree Fyzoolah's
pertinacity without too public a degradation
of the Vizier's authority j to patch- up, in
fhort, this late evafion of the Treaty ere it
fhould amount to an abfolute Breach, was
the object of Mr. Johnfon's miffion. As on
the one hand Fyzoolah's offer ftated 2000
Cavalry, and the original demand had re-
quired 5000 there is an evident conceffion
and wi(h to accommodate the difpute, in
fending peremptorily to ''demand immediate
<c delivery of 3000 Cavalry" only. (Page
14.) To this injunction Fyzoolah Khan
anfwered by '<-aJlat Refujal" (page 16):
the very Fyzoolah who had " fworn on
< the holy Koran, calling God and his Pro-
" phets to witnefs, " that whatever the Na-
st bob Vizier directs, I will execute." (Page. 5.)
Having now, as I think, brought the proof
of a direct violation of the Treaty to irre-
futable demonftration, I would aik how far
the Company can, with propriety, interfere,
as guarantees, to exact a due performance of
the Articles, or to punifti the Infraction ?
" It is exceedingly proper," fay the Court
of Directors, in their General Letter to Ben-
gal (page 1 8), " That, your Government
" fhould fee that Fyzoolah Khan fulfils hi
' engage-'
ft engagement with the Vizier.'* The other
part of the Sentence {hews them ro have
confidered the Rohilla Chief as an indepen*
dent Prince ; and I have above amply proved
the contrary from Fyzoolah's own words.
" But we wifli," fay they, " rather to be
" coniidered as the Guardians of the Ho-
" nour and Profperity of the native Powers
<c of India with whom we are in any degree
" connected, than as the Inftruments of Op-
" preflion : we hope and truft, therefore, '
" that no hoftile fteps have been taken
" againft the Rohilla Chief."
Fyzoolah Khan is no native power, in the
fenie there applied j he is a fubject to the
Vizier, guaranteed by us in the pofTeffion of
lands to a ftipulate,d amount, on certain con-
ditions. If he hath broken thofe conditions,
we farely do not become the injlruments. of
oppreffion, by leaving him to the laws of his
country, or the mercy of his own Sovereign.
The Vizier would have infinitely more rea-
jon to be jea'ous of our encroachments, had we
pretended to take the powers of executive
juftice out of his hands, and to punifh ac-
cording to our fyftem of Government, or at
our own difcretion, his fubjects for a failure
of allegiance to him. This would be crying
out in too loud a ftrain, " You (hall be King^
" but We will be Vice-Roy over you." In
( 88 )
fael, from the inftant that Fyzoolah Khan
forfeited his claim to the Guarantee by a
breach of his engagement, our connections
with him virtually ceafed. He became to all
intents and purpofes amenable to his Sove-
reign the Vizier, and to him alone. Policy,
perhaps, might incline us to ftand between
Fyzoolah Khan, and that wrath which
would ' leave him to join his other faith-
<l lefs Brethren that were fent acrofs the
*' Ganges ;" butjujjice, moderation, and good
faith, have nothing to do with. it.
" To quiet the fears of the Neighbouring
V Powers, who from tbs conduct of our fer-
** <uants have had too much reafon to be
"jealous of our encroachments/' and parti-
cularly to fettle a more mutually advantage-
ous and fatisfaclory alliance between the
Company and the Nabob Vizier of Qude,
was the grand motive which induced the
Governor General to proceed up the coun-,
try. He found the Vizier much diilreiTed
and much difTatisfied : his Government re-
laxed, his Finances greatly difordered, and
his Country in confufion. To augment, if
poffible, the produce of the Revenues, to
give vigour to the Executive Powers, and
tranquillity to the Kingdom, without alarm-
ing the Vizier's jealoufy towards any thing
{hat might feem to trench, upon his inde-
pendence^
( 89 )
pendence, and at the fame time without
prejudicing the interefts of the Company,
or committing their honour, required iupe-
rior talents, the cooleft difcretion, and the
moft rigorous impartiality. Among 'the
political evils to which it was found necefTary
to apply a remedy, the {rate of Lands grant-
ed in Jagheer feems to have been of the firft
importance. A profufion in the original
.donations, fraudulent m if- ftaiements of their
value, and abufes ,in the management of
delegated jurifdi&ion, had left the Vizier
but Tittle unalienated property, and as little
perfonal authority. The fecond article of
the new treaty, in prefcribing a palliative for
thefe diforders, effectually x eftablifhes their
exiftence. This article (not quoted in the
Report) is as follows :
" That as great diftrefs has arifen to the
*'. Vizier's Government from the military
" power and dominion aflumed by the Jag-
" heerdars, he be permitted to refume iuch
C as he may find neceiTary, with a referve
" that all iuch for the amount of whofe Jag-
" beers the Company are Guarantee^ (Lall, in
<c cafe of the refumption of their Lands,
" be paid the amount of their nett collec-
11 tions, through the Refident, in ready mo-
{< ney."
't'hen immediately follows the third Ar-
N tick}
( 90 )
tide, relative to Fyzoolah Khan, on which
the Eighth Report is to ferve as a Com-
ment.
" That as Fyzoolah Khan has by his
c{ breach of Treaty forfeited the protedion
81 of the Engli(h Government, and caufes,
" by his continuance in his prefent inde-
" pendent State, great alarm and detriment
c < to the Nabob, he be permitted, when
" time {hall fuit, to refume his lands, and
*< pay him in Money, through the Refident,
" the Amount Jtipulated by Treaty, after
cc deducting the amount and charges of the
ct Troops he ftands engaged to furnim by
rt Treaty, which amount (hall be pafled to
e< the Account of the Company, during
" the Continuance of the prefent War."
Other Jagheerdars, therefore, againft
whom we hear of no explicit charge what-
ever, are to fuffer a refumption of their
Lands ; and why not . Fyzoolah Khan ?
Many of them, we fee, are guaranteed by the
Company as well as he, and a violation of
the agreement on his part ftands upon re-
cord j a flat refufal to execute what the
Vizier had directed, and a declaration c that
tc be would abide by it." (Page 16.) If the
Refumption of Jagheers in general were
found a meafure connected with the fafety
or welfare of the ftate, I fhould fuppofe
political
political necejjity a full justification for its
admiffion. But though the plea were al-
lowed as far as concerned the other Jagheer-
dars, the Governor General's good fortune,
combined with his prudence, interpofed to
make the cafe of Fyzoolah Khan a fubject
for a diilindl article. It indicates a thorough
forel^ht of the malevolence of his enemies,
that he mould have provided for an attack
on the feparate cafe of Fyzoolah Khan,
which, to every perfon on the fpot, muft
have appeared to be entirely blended with
the general concerns of all the other Jag-
heerdars. But there is a nicety of condudt
in this tranfaclion, a delicacy of difcrimina-
tion between the aftual rights or powers of
the Vizier, and the policy of permitting
their full exertion, that, while it cannot dif-
prove the fact of Fyzoolah's forfeiture, is
content to palliate its enormity j and while
the Governor General might juftly have
reprobated the open violation of the treaty
in the ftrongeft terms, he is fo moderate as,
to fay, in his Remarks on this third Article,
" The conduct of Fyzoolah Khan, in
<c refuting the aid demanded, though not an
" abfolute breach of the treaty^ was eva/lve
<c and uncandid" (Page 17.)
The faft is, that, had Mr. Haftings ad-
mitted to its fulleft extent, the whole cir-
N. 2
( 92 )
curnftance of the manifeft breach of the.
treaty, it would hardly have been warrant-
able in him to fcreen the Rohilla Chief,
as he has done, from the utmoft effects of
the Vizier's offended authority. But he
knew, probably, as well as the Court of Di-
re clors, " Fyzoolab Khans merits with the
" Company^'' \\Q ftill recollected the former
<c mark of bis faithful attachment" in fend-
ing, 4< without hefitation or delay, 500 men
" to co-operate with our forces ;' and be-
ing befides ' of opinion that neither the
" Vizier's nor the Company's interefts
" would be promoted by depriving F}2oo-
" lah Khan of his independency," (page
17,) he fufpended the Vizier's claim, which
he could not in point of equity attempt to
controvert, and " referred the execution of
" the agreement to an indefinite term." No-
thing, indeed, can, in my mind, exculpate
the Governor General for fuch apparent
interference and partial protection to the
difobedient Subject of an independent
Prince, " which mujl be known to all the fur-
" rounding powers" and which may well
^xcite "future combinations againjl us" in
thofe who from this example can but have
t c too much reafon to be- jealous of our en-
** croachments" Nothing, I fay, can excul-
pate Mr. Haftings on this head, but the full-
( 93 )
nefs of his conviction, that it was necefTary
for our Government to interpofe to prevent
any ill effects from the violence of the Vi-
zier's difpleafure, and the chance of danger-
ous commotions in the country.
On the whole, It is as clear as the fun, that
Fyzoolah Khan was a fubjedt of the Vizier :
that he had obtained, by an unfair valuation,
Lands far beyond the amount of his Grant :
that he had, by a direcl breach of the Con-
ditions on which thofe lands were held, for-
feited all claim to the Company's Guaran-
tee : that the Vizier had an inherent indif-
putable title to the refumption of the Jag-
heer : and that the Governor General, en-
tirely from prudential motives, fufpended the
Execution of that Juftice, and the Exertion
of that Prerogative, to which he could but
admit the folidity of the Vizier's preten-
fions.
DETECTOR.
2 ift May, 1783.
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