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the known disorders in his government, he, the said Hastings, did attribute solely to his own bad conduct and evil character; admitting also in a letter written to Edward Wheler, Esq. and trans

of Oude; or to dispossess the rajah of his territo-" his own subjects;" and whose distresses, and ries; or to seize upon his forts, and to plunder them of the treasure therein contained, to the amount of four or five hundred thousand pounds, did reject the offer of two hundred thousand pounds, tendered by the said rajah for his redemp-mitted to the court of directors, "that many cirtion from the injuries, which he had discovered that the said Hastings had clandestinely meditated" against him, although the sum aforesaid would have been a considerable and seasonable acquisition at that time; the said Hastings being determined, at a critical period, to risk the existence of the British empire, rather than fail in the gratification of his revenge against the said rajah.

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XVII.

That the first of his three instituted projects, namely, the depriving the rajah of his territories, was by himself considered as a measure likely to be productive of much odium to the British government; he having declared, whatever opinions he might entertain of its justice, " that it would "have an appearance of severity; and might "furnish grounds unfavourable to the credit of our government, and to his own reputation, from the "natural influence which every act of rigour, ex"ercised in the persons of men in elevated situa"tions, is apt to impress on those, who are too re"mote from the scene of action to judge, by any " evidence of the facts themselves, of their motives or propriety." And the second attempt, the sum of money, which he aimed at by attacking the fortresses of the rajah, and plundering them of the treasure supposed to be there secured, besides the obvious uncertainty of acquiring what was thus sought, would be liable to the same imputations with the former. And with regard to the third project, namely, the sale of the company's sovereignty to the nabob of Oude, and his having actually received proposals for the same, it was an high offence to the company, as presuming, without their authority or consent, to put up to sale their sovereign rights; and particularly to put them up to sale to that very person, against whom the independence of the said province had been declared by the governour-general and council to be necessary, as a barrier for the security of the other provinces, in case of a future rupture with him. It was See Hastings's an heinous injury to the said rajah to

letter. attempt to change his relation without his consent, especially on account of the person, to whom he was to be made over for money, by reason of the known enmity subsisting between his family and that of the nabob, who was to be the purchaser; and it was a grievous outrage on the innocent inhabitants of the zemindary of Benares, to propose putting them under a person long before described by himself to the court of directors, to want the qualities of the head and heart requisite for his station;" and a letter from the British resident at Oude, transmitted to the said court, represents him "to have wholly lost, by his oppressions, the confidence and affections of

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"cumstances did favour suspicion of his (the said nabob's) fidelity to the English interest, the na"bob being surrounded by men base in their characters, and improvident in their understandings, "his favourites, and his companions of his looser "hours. These had every cause to dread the "effect of my influence on theirs; and both these, "and the relations of the family, whose views of consequence and power were intercepted by our "participation in the administration of his affairs, "entertained a mortal hatred to our nation, and ' openly avowed it." And the said Hastings was well aware, that in case the nabob, by him described in the manner aforesaid, on making such purchase, should continue to observe the terms of his father's original covenants and engagements with the rajah, and should pay the company the only tribute, which he could lawfully exact from the said rajah, it was impossible that he could, for the mere naked and unprofitable rights of a sovereignty paramount, afford to offer so great a sum as the rajah did offer to the said Hastings for his redemption from oppression. Such an acquisition to the nabob (while he kept his faith) could not possibly be of any advantage whatever to him; and that therefore, if a great sum was to be paid by the nabob of Oude, it must be for the purpose of oppression, and violation of publick faith, to be perpetrated in the person of the said nabob, to an extent, and in a manner, which the said Hastings was then apprehensive he could not justify to the court of directors, as his own personal act.

PART III.

Expulsion of the Rajah of Benares.

I.

THAT the said Warren Hastings, being resolved on the ruin of the rajah aforesaid, as a preliminary step thereto, did, against the express orders of the court of directors, remove Francis Fowke, Esquire, the company's resident at the city of Benares, without any complaint, or pretence of complaint, whatsoever, but merely on his own declaration, that he must have, as a resident at Benares, a person of his own special and personal nomination and confidence, and not a man of the company's nomination; and in the place of the said Francis Fowke, thus illegally divested of his office, did appoint thereto another servant of the company of his own choice.

II.

lessly and maliciously represent as an indication of a design upon his life; and the said rajah came into the pinnace, in which the said Hastings was carried, and in a lowly and suppliant manner, alone, and without any guard or attendance whatsoever, entreated his favour; and being received with great sternness and arrogance, he did put his turban in the lap of the said Hastings, thereby signifying, that he abandoned his life and fortune to his disposal, and then departed; the said Hastings not apprehending, nor having any reason to apprehend, any violence whatsoever to his person. IV.

That the said Hastings, in the utmost security and freedom from apprehension, did pursue his journey, and did arrrive at the city of Benares on the 14th of August 1781, some hours before the rajah, who soon after his arrival intended to pay him a visit of honour and respect at his quarters, but was by the said Hastings rudely and insolently forbid, until he should receive his permission. And the said Hastings, although he had previously determined on the ruin of the said rajah, in order to afford some colour of regularity and justice to his proceedings, did on the day after his arrival, that is, on the 15th day of August 1781, send to the rajah a charge in writing, which, though informal and irregular, may be reduced to four articles, two general, and two more particular; the first of the general being, "that he (the rajah) had,

That soon after he had removed the company's resident, he prepared for a journey to the Upper Provinces, and particularly to Benares, in order to execute the wicked and perfidious designs by him before meditated and contrived; and although he did communicate his purpose privately to such persons as he thought fit to intrust therewith, he did not enter any thing on the consultations to that purpose, or record the principles, real or pretended, on which he had resolved to act, nor did he state any guilt in the rajah, which he intended to punish, or charge him, the said rajah, with entertaining any hostile intentions, the effects of which were to be prevented by any strong measure; but, on the contrary, he did industriously conceal his real designs from the court of directors, and did fallaciously enter on the consultations a minute, declaratory to purposes wholly different therefrom, and which supposed nothing more than an amicable adjustment, founded on the treaties between the company and the rajah, investing himself by his said minute with " full power and authority to "form such arrangements with the rajah of Benares for the better government and manage"ment of his zemindary, and to perform such "acts for the improvement of the interest, which "the company possesses in it, as he shall think fit, and consonant to the mutual engagements "subsisting between the company and the rajah;" and for this and other purposes he did invest himself with the whole power of the council, giving to himself an authority, as if his acts had been the acts of the council itself; which, though a power of a dangerous, unwarrantable, and illegal extent, yet does plainly imply the following limits, namely, that the acts done should be arranged with the rajah, that is, with his consent; and, secondly, that they should be consonant to the actual engagements between the parties; and nothing appears in the minute conferring the said power, which did express or imply any authority for depriving the rajah of his government, or selling the sovereignty thereof to his hereditary enemy, or for the plunder of his fort-treasures.

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III.

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by the means of his secret agents, endeavoured "to excite disorders in the government, on which "he depended;" the second," that he had suffer"ed the daily perpetration of robberies and mur"ders, even in the streets of Benares, to the great " and publick scandal of the English name."

ས.

That it appears, that the said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high offence, contrary to the fundamental principles of justice, in the said mode of charging misdemeanours without any specification of person, or place, or time, or act, or any offer of specification of proofs, by which the party charged may be enabled to refute the same, in order to unjustly load his reputation, and to prejudice him with regard to the articles more clearly specified.

VI.

That the said Warren Hastings, having formed the plans aforesaid for the ruin of the rajah, did set out on a journey to the city of Benares, with a great train, but with a very small force, not much That the two specified articles relate to certain exceeding six companies of regular black soldiers, delays; the first, with regard to the payment of to perpetrate some of the unjust and violent acts the sums of money unjustly extorted as aforesaid; by him meditated and resolved on; and the said and the second, the non-compliance with a requiHastings was met, according to the usage of dis-sition of cavalry; which non-compliance the said tinguished persons in that country, by the rajah Hastings (even if the said charges had been founded) of Benares with a very great attendance, both in did falsely, and in contradiction to all law, affirm boats and on shore, which attendance he did ap- and maintain (in his accusation against the rajah, parently intend as a mark of honour and observ- and addressing himself to him)" to amount to a ance to the place and person of the said Hastings,"direct charge of disaffection and infidelity to the but which the said Hastings did afterwards ground- government, on which you depend." And fur

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to the claim made by the rajah to a fair and impartial trial and enquiry into the matter of accusation brought against him by the said Hastings, at a time and place, which furnished all proper materials, and the presence of all necessary wit

ther proceeded as follows: "I therefore judged it proper to state them (the said charges) thus fully "to you in writing, and to require your answer; " and this I expect immediately." That the said Hastings, stating his pretended facts to amount to a charge of the nature (as he would have it under-nesses; but the said Hastings, instead of institutstood) of high treason, and therefore calling for an immediate answer, did wilfully act against the rules of natural justice, which requires, that a convenient time should be given to answer, proportioned to the greatness of the offence alleged, and the heavy penalties which attend it; and when he did arrogate to himself a right both to charge and to judge in his own person, he ought to have allowed the rajah full opportunity for conferring with his ministers, his doctors of law, and his accountants, on the facts charged, and on the criminality inferred in the said accusation of disloyalty and disaffection," or offences of that quality.

VII.

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ing the said enquiry, and granting trial, did receive an humble request for justice from a great prince, as a fresh offence, and as a personal insult to himself; and did conceive a violent passion of anger, and a strong resentment thereat, declaring, that he did consider the said answer as not only unsatisfactory in substance, but offensive in style. "This answer you will perceive to be not only "unsatisfactory in substance, but offensive in style; and less a vindication of himself, than a "recrimination on me. It expresses no concern for the causes of complaint contained in my letter, or desire to atone for them, nor the smallest "intention to pursue a different line of conduct. "An answer couched nearly in terms of defiance "to requisitions of so serious a nature I could not "but consider as a strong indication of that spirit "of independency, which the rajah has for some 66 years past assumed, and of which indeed I had early observed other manifest symptoms, both "before and from the instant of my arrival."Which representation is altogether, and in all parts thereof, groundless and injurious; as the substance of the answer is a justification proper to be pleaded, and the style, if in any thing exceptionable, it is in its extreme humility, resulting rather from an unmanly and abject spirit, than from any thing of an offensive liberty; but being received as disrespectful by the said Hastings, it abundantly indicates the tyrannical arrogance of the said Hastings, and the depression into which the natives are sunk under the British government.

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IX.

That the said rajah did, under the pressure of the disadvantages aforesaid, deliver in, upon the very evening of the day of the charge, a full, complete, and specifick answer to the two articles therein specified; and did allege, and offer proof, that the whole of the extraordinary demands of the said Hastings had been actually long before paid and discharged; and did state a proper defence with regard to the cavalry, even supposing him bound (when he was not bound) to furnish any. And the said rajah did make a direct denial of the truth of the two general articles, and did explain himself on the same in as satisfactory a manner, and as fully as their nature could permit; offering to enter into immediate trial of the points in issue between him and the said Hastings, in the remarkable words following: "My enemies, with a view "to my ruin, have made false representations to 66 you. Now that, happily for me, you have your"self arrived at this place, you will be able to That the said Warren Hastings, pretending to "ascertain all the circumstances; first, relative to have been much alarmed at the offensive language "the horse; secondly, to my people going to Cal- of the said rajah's defence, and at certain appear"cutta; and thirdly, the dates of the receipts of ances of independency, which he had observed, not "the particular sums above mentioned. You will only on former occasions, but since his arrival at "then know whether I have amused you with a Benares, (where he had been but little more than "false representation, or made a just report to one day,) and which appearances he never has speyou." And in the said answer the said rajah cified in any one instance, did assert, that he concomplained, but in the most modest terms, of an ceived himself indispensably obliged to adopt some injury to him of the most dangerous and criminal decisive plan; and without any further enquiry or nature in transactions of such moment, namely, his consultation (which appears) with any person, did not receiving any answer to his letters and peti- at ten o'clock of the very night, on which he retions; and concluded in the following words: "Iceived the before-mentioned full and satisfactory, "have never swerved in the smallest degree from my duty to you. It remains with you to de"cide on all these matters. I am in every case your slave. What is just I have represented to you. May your prosperity increase!"

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VIII.

That the said Warren Hastings was bound by the essential principles of natural justice, to attend

as well as submissive, answer, send an order to the British resident (then being a publick minister representing the British government at the court of the said rajah, and as such bound by the law of nations to respect the prince, at whose court he was resident, and not to attempt any thing against his person or state; and who ought not therefore to have been chosen by the said Hastings, and compelled to serve in that business) that he should on the next morning arrest the said prince in his

palace, and keep him in his custody until further orders; which said order being conceived in the most peremptory terms, the rajah was put under arrest, with a guard of about thirty orderly sepoys, with their swords drawn; and the particulars thereof were reported to him as follows:

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"Honourable Sir,

"I this morning, in obedience to your orders of "last night, proceeded with a few of my orderlies, accompanied by Lieutenant Stalker, to She"walla Ghaut, the present residence of Rajah Cheit Sing, and acquainted him it was your pleasure "he should consider himself in arrest; that he "should order his people to behave in a quiet and orderly manner, for that any attempt to rescue "him would be attended with his own destruc"tion. The rajah submitted quietly to the ar"rest, and assured me, that whatever were your "orders, he was ready implicitly to obey; he hoped that you would allow him a subsistence; "but as for his zemindary, his forts, and his "treasure, he was ready to lay them at your "feet, and his life if required. He expressed "himself much hurt at the ignominy, which he "affirmed must be the consequence of his con"finement; and entreated me to return to you "with the foregoing submission, hoping, that you "would make allowances for his youth and inexperience, and in consideration of his father's name release him from his confinement, as soon "as he should prove the sincerity of his offers, "and himself deserving of your compassion and "forgiveness."

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X.

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That according to the said Hastings's narrative of this transaction, he, the said Hastings, on account of the apparent despondency, in which these letters were written, 66 thought it necessary to give "him some encouragement;" and therefore wrote him a note of a few lines, carelessly and haughtily expressed, and little calculated to relieve him from his uneasiness, promising to send to him a person to explain particulars; and desiring him "to set "his mind at rest, and not to conceive any terrour or apprehension." To which an answer of great humility and dejection was received.

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XII.

That the report of the rajah's arrest did cause a great alarm in the city, in the suburbs of which the rajah's palace is situated, and in the adjacent country. The people were filled with dismay and anger, at the outrage and indignity offered to a prince, under whose government they enjoyed much ease and happiness. Under these circumstances the rajah desired leave to perform his ablutions; which was refused, unless he sent for water, and performed that ceremony on the spot. This he did. And soon after some of the people, who now began to surround the palace in considerable numbers, attempting to force their way into the palace, a British officer, commanding the guard upon the rajah, struck one of them with his sword. The people grew more and more irritated; but a message being sent from the rajah to appease them, they continued, on this interposition, for a while That a further order was given, that every ser- quiet. Then the rajah retired to a sort of stone vant of the rajah should be disarmed, and a certain pavilion, or bastion, to perform his devotions, the number only left to attend him under a strict guard of sepoys attending him in this act of reliwatch. In a quarter of an hour after this conver-gion. In the mean time, a person of the meanest sation, two companies of grenadier sepoys were station, called a chubdar, at best answering to our sent to the rajah's palace by the said Hastings; common beadle or tipstaff, was sent with a mesand the rajah, being dismayed by this unexpected sage (of what nature does not appear) from Mr. and unprovoked treatment, wrote two short letters Hastings, or the resident, to the prince under aror petitions to the said Hastings, under the greatest rest; and this base person, without regard to the apparent dejection at the outrage and dishonour rank of the prisoner, or to his then occupation, he had suffered in the eyes of his subjects, (all addressed him in a rude boisterous manner," pasimprisonment of persons of rank being held in that" sionately and insultingly," (as the said rajah has country as a mark of indelible infamy; and he also, in all probability, considering his imprisonment as a prelude to the taking away his life,) and in the first of the said petitions he did express himself in this manner: "whatever may be your pleasure, "do it with your own hands; I am your slave. "What occasion can there be for a guard?" And in the other, my honour was bestowed upon me by your highness. It depends on you alone "to take away, or not to take away, the country "out of my hands. In case my honour is not left "to me, how shall I be equal to the business of "the government? Whoever, with his hands in a "supplicating posture, is ready with his life and

without contradiction asserted,)" and reviling him
"with a loud voice, gave both him and his people the
"vilest abuse ;" and the manner and matter being
observable and audible to the multitude, divided
only by an open stone lattice from the scene with-
in, a firing commenced from without the palace;
on which the rajah again interposed, and did what
in him lay to suppress the tumult, until an English
officer striking him with a sword, and wounding
him on the hand, the people no longer kept any
measures, but broke through the enclosure of the
palace. The insolent tipstaff was first cut down,
and the multitude falling upon sepoys
English officers, the whole, or nearly the whole,

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were cut to pieces; the soldiers having been or- | dered to that service without any charges for their pieces. And in this tumult the rajah, being justly fearful of falling into the hands of the said Hast'ings, did make his escape over the walls of his palace by means of a rope, formed of his turban tied together, into a boat upon the river, and from thence into a place of security; abandoning many of his family to the discretion of the said Hastings, who did cause the said palace to be occupied by a company of soldiers after the flight of the rajah.

XIII.

That the rajah, as soon as he had arrived at a place of refuge, did, on the very day of his flight, send a suppliant letter to the said Hastings, filled with expressions of concern (affirmed by the said Hastings to be slight expressions) for what had happened, and professions (said by the said Hastings to be indefinite and unapplied) of fidelity: but the said Warren Hastings, though bound by his duty to hear the said rajah, and to prevent extremities, if possible, being filled with insolence and malice, did not think it " becoming of him to "make any reply to it; and that he thought he "ordered the bearer of the letter to be told, that "it required none."

XIV.

That, this letter of submission having been received, the said rajah, not discouraged or provoked from using every attempt towards peace and reconciliation, did again apply, on the very morning following, to Richard Johnson, Esquire, for his interposition, but to no purpose; and did likewise, with as little effect, send a message to Cantû Babû, native steward, and confidential agent of the said Hastings, which was afterwards reduced into writing, "to exculpate himself from any concern in "what had passed, and to profess his obedience "to his will (Hastings's) in whatever way he should "dictate." But the said Hastings, for several false and contradictory reasons by him assigned, did not take any advantage of the said opening, attributing the same to artifice, in order to gain time; but instead of accepting the said submissions, he did resolve upon flight from the city of Benares, and did suddenly fly therefrom in great confusion.

XV.

That the said Hastings did persevere in his resolutions not to listen to any submission, or offer of accommodation whatsoever, though several were afterwards made through almost every person, who might be supposed to have influence with him, but did cause the rajah's troops to be attacked and fallen upon, though they only acted on the defensive, (as the rajah has without contradiction asserted,) and thereby, and by his preceding refusal of propositions of the same nature, and by other his perfidious, unjust, and tyrannical acts by him

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perpetrated and done, and by his total improvidence in not taking any one rational security whatsoever against the inevitable consequences of those acts, did make himself guilty of all the mutual slaughter and devastation, which ensued, as well as, in his opinion, of the imminent danger of the total subversion of the British power in India, by the risk of his own person, which he asserts, that it did run; as also, " that it ought not "to be thought, that he attributed too much consequence to his personal safety, when he sup"posed the fate of the British empire in India "connected with it; and that, mean as its sub"stance may be, its accidental qualities were "equivalent to those, which, like the characters "of a talisman in the Arabian mythology, formed "the essence of the state itself, representation, "title, and the estimate of the publick opinion. "That had he fallen, such a stroke would be "universally considered as decisive of the national "fate. Every state round it would have started "into arms against it; and every subject of its own dominion would, according to their several "abilities, have become its enemy." And that he knew, and has declared, that, though the said stroke was not struck, great convulsions did actually ensue from his proceedings. "That "half the province of Oude was in a state of as "complete rebellion as that of Benares;" and that invasions, tumults, and insurrections were occasioned thereby in various other parts.

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XVI.

That the said Warren Hastings, after he had collected his forces from all parts, did, with little difficulty or bloodshed, subsequent to that time, on the part of his troops, and in a few days, entirely reduce the said province of Benares; and did, after the said short and little-resisted hostility, in cold blood, issue an order for burning a certain town, in which he accused the people at large of having killed," upon what provocation he knows not," certain wounded sepoys, who were prisoners; which order, being generally given, when it was his duty to have made some enquiry concerning the particular offenders, but which he did never make, or cause to be made, was cruel, inhuman, and tended to the destruction of the revenues of the company; and that this, and other acts of devastation, did cause the loss of two months of the collections,

XVII.

That the said Warren Hastings did not only refuse the submissions of the said rajah, which were frequently repeated through various persons after he had left Benares, and even after the defeat of certain of the company's forces, but did proscribe and except him from the pardons, which he issued, after he had satisfied his vengeance on the province of Benares.

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