in acts of hospitality to the Nabob whom it was to dethrone, and to the English whom it was to extirpate! Beginning in nothing, it continued without raging, and ended as it originated! great equipage, and that it would be considered an unpardonable disrespect to the person visited were they to come unescorted." This, my Lords, is really the truth. The Indian princes neve perform a journey without a splendid retinue. The habits of the East require ostentation and parade. They do not, as the princes of Europe If, my Lords, rebellions of this mysterious nature can happen, it is time to look about us. Who can say that one does not now exist which menaces our safety? Perhaps at the very mo--who, sometimes from one motive and somement I am speaking one ravages our city! Perhaps it may be lying perdue in a neighboring village! Perhaps, like the ostentatious encampment which has given celebrity to Brentford and Ealing, it may have fixed its quarters at Hammersmith or Islington, ready to pour down its violence at the approach of night! But, my Lords, let us endeavor to fix the time when this horrid rebellion occurred. To the first of August, 1781, it is clear there was none. At this date letters were received from Colonel Morgan, the commanding officer of Oude, who is silent on the subject. On the 27th of September, he gives an account of some insurrections at Lucknow, the seat of the court, but of none at Fyzabad, where the Begums resided. Nearly of the same date there is a letter from Major Hannay, then at the Rajah's court, in which the state of his affairs are described, but no suspicion expressed of his being assisted by the Begums. 17 times from another, at times from political views and at times from curiosity, travel, some to France to learn manners, and others to England to learn liberty-choose to be relieved from the pomps of state and the drudgery of equipage. But, my Lords, perhaps, in this instance, the Nabob, wishing to adapt himself to the service on which he was going, did dispense with his usual style. Hearing of a rebellion without an army, he may have thought that it could only, with propriety, be attacked by a prince without a guard! It has also been contended, my Lords, in proof of this rebellion, that one thousand Nudgies were raised at Fyzabad and sent to the assistance of Cheyte Sing. It is deemed a matter of no consequence that the officer second in command to the Rajah [Cheyte Sing], has positively sworn that these troops came from Lucknow, and not from Fyza bad.18 This the prisoner wishes to have considered as only the trifling mistake of the name of one capital for another. But he has found it more difficult to get over the fact which has been attested by the same witness, that the troops were of a different description from those in the service of the Begums, being matchlock, and not swords men. It is, therefore, manifest that the troops were not furnished by the prin cesses, and it seems highly probable that they did come from Lucknow; not that they were sent by the Nabob, but by some of the powerful At this time, therefore, there was certainly no rebellion or disaffection displayed. Nay, we find, on the contrary, the Nabob going to visit his mother, the very princess who is charged with revolting against his authority. But, my Lords, it is alleged that he was attended by two thousand horse, and the inference is drawn by the counsel of the prisoner that he took this military force to quell the insurrection; to confirm which they appealed to Mr. Middleton, who, being asked whether these troops were well appointed, caught in an instant a gleam of martial memo- | jaghiredars who have uniformly avowed an aver ry, and answered in the affirmative. Unfor- sion to the English. tunately, however, for the martial memory of Mr. Middleton, it is stated by Captain Edwards, who was with the Nabob as his aid-de-camp, that there were not more than five or six hundred horse, and these so bad and miserably equipped that they were unable to keep up with him, so that very few were near his person or within the reach of his command. That of these few, the most were mutinous from being ill paid, and were rather disposed to promote than put down any insurrection. But, my Lords, I will concede to the prisoner the full amount of military force for which he anxiously contends. I will allow the whole two thousand cavalry to enter in a gallop into the very city of Fyzabad. For, has not Captain Edwards proved that they were only the usual guard of the Nabob? Has not, more over, Mr. Middleton himself declared, rather indiscreetly, I confess, "that it is the constant custom of the princes of India to travel with a 17 This alludes to Mr. Middleton having declared, on a former occasion, that he had no memory for military affairs It has been more than once mentioned, by some of the witnesses, my Lords, that Sabid Ally, the younger son of the Bow [younger] Begum, was deeply and criminally concerned in these transactions. Why was he, therefore, permitted to escape with impunity? To this question Sir Elijat. Impey gave a very satisfactory answer. when he informed us that the young man was miserably poor, and a bankrupt. Here is a complete solution of the enigma. There never enters into the mind of Mr. Hastings a suspicion of treason where there is no treasure! Sabid Ally found, therefore, protection in his poverty, and safety in his insolvency. My Lords, the political sagacity of Mr. Hastings exhibits the converse of the doctrine which the experience of history has established. Hitherto it has generally been deemed that the possession of property attaches a person to the country which con tains it, and makes him cautious how he hazards any enterprise which might be productive of in 18 That is, they came from the residence of the Nabob, not of the Begums. Proofs of Jovation, or draw upon him the suspicion or dis- | if the princesses wished to strike a blow against pleasure of government; and that, on the con- the English, they might have done it with suc trary, the needy, having no permanent stake, are cess. This man, whose life was thus preserved, always desperate, and easily seduced into com- and who, in the first burst of the natural feelings motions which promise any change; but, my of his heart, poured forth his grateful acknowlLords, the prisoner, inverting this doctrine, has, edgments of the obligation, afterward became the the true spirit of rapacity and speculation instrument of the destruction of his protectress. which belongs to him, never failed to recognize I will produce the letter wherein he thanks her loyalty in want, and to discern treason in wealth! for her interference, and confesses that he owes Allow me now, my Lords, to lay before you his life to her bounty.20 some of those proofs which we have tis Begum's collected of the steady friendship and good dispositions of the Begums, to the English interests. I have in my hands a letter from one of them, which I will read, complaining of the cruel and unjust suspicions that were entertained of her fidelity.19 Your Lordships must perceive the extraordinary energy which the plain and simple language of truth gives to her representations. Her complaints are eloquence; her supplications, persuasion; her remonstrances, conviction. The It has been asked, with an air of some triumph, why Captain Gordon was not called to the bar? Why call him to the bar? Would he not, as he has done in his affidavit, suppress the portion of testimony we require? I trust that he may never be brought to swear in this case till he becomes sensible of his guilt, and feels an ardent, contrite zeal to do justice to his benefactress, and to render her the most ample atonement for the injuries which she has sustained by his ingratitude and wickedness. conduct of Captain Gordon, in this instance, is so astonishingly depraved, that I confess I am in some degree disposed to incredulity. I can scarcely believe it possible that, after having repeatedly acknowledged that he owed his life and liberty to her beneficent hand, he could so far forget these obligations as spontaneously, and of his own free will, to come forward, and expend a part of that breath which she had preserved, in an affidavit by which her ruin was to be effected! My knowledge of the human heart will hardly permit me to think that any rational being could deliberately commit an act of such wanton atroc scandalous deception; that, led on by Mr. Middleton, he made his deposition, ignorant to what purpose it would be applied. Every feeling of humanity recoils at the transaction viewed in any other light. It is incredible, that any intel ligent person could be capable of standing up in the presence of God, and of exclaiming, "To you, my benevolent friend, the breath I now draw, next to Heaven, I owe to you. My existence is an emanation from your bounty. I am indebted to you beyond all possibility of return, and there fore my gratitude shall be your destruction!" I call, moreover, the attention of the court to Chee of Cap. the interference of the Bow [younger] ta Gordon. Begum in behalf of Captain Gordon, by which his life was saved, at a moment when, The following is the letter: "The disturbances of Colonel Haunay and Mr. Gordon were made a pretense for seizing my jaghire. The state of the matter is this: When Colonel Hannay was by Mr. Hastings ordered to march to Benares, during the troubles of Cheyte Sing, the Colonel, who had plundered the whole country, was incapable of proceed ing from the union of thousands of Zemindars, who bad seized this favorable opportunity. They harassed Mr. Gordon near Junivard, and the Zeminity. I must imagine that there has been some dars of that place and Acherpore opposed his march from thence, till he arrived near Saunda. As the Saunda Nutta, from its overflowing, was difficult to Cross without a boat, Mr. Gordon sent to the Fouzdar (Governor) to supply him. He replied, that the boats were all in the river, but would assist him, according to orders, as soon as possible. Mr. Gordon's situation would not admit of his waiting; he forded the Nutta upon his elephant, and was hospitably received and entertained by the Fouzdar for six days. In the mean time, a letter was received by me from Colonel Hannay, desiring me to escort Mr. Gordon to Fyzabad. As my friendship for the English was always sincere, I readily complied, and sent some companies of Nejeebs to escort Mr. Gordon and all his effects to Fyzabad; where, having provided for his entertainment, I effected his junction with Colonel Hannay. The letters of thanks received from both these gentlemen, upon this occasion, are still in my possession, copies of which I gave in charge to Major Gilpin, to be delivered to Mr. Middleton, that he might forward them to the Governor General. To be brief, those who have loaded me with accusations are now clearly convicted of falsehood; but is it not extraordinary that, After presenting the usual compliments of scrvinotwithstanding the justness of my cause, nobody tude, &c., in the customary manner, my address in relieves my misfortunes! My prayers have been presented. "Your gracious letter, in answer to the constantly offered to Heaven for your arrival. Re-petition of your servant from Goondah, exalted me. port has announced it, for which reason I have taken up the pen, and request you will not place implicit confidence in my accusers, but, weighing in the scale of justice their falsehood and my representations, you will exert your influence in putting a period to Lie misfortunes with which I am overwhelmed." If, my Lords, if I am right in my conjecture, that Captain Gordon was thus seduced into the overthrow of his benefactress, I hope he will present himself at your bar, and, by stating the im position which was practiced upon him, vindicate his own character, and that of human nature, from this foul imputation. 20 Mr. Sheridan read the following letter of Colonel Gordon: "Begum Saib, of exalted dignity and generosity, &c., whom God preserve." From the contents I became unspeakably impressed with the honor it conferred. May the Almighty pro tect that royal purity, and bestow happiness, in crease of wealth, and prosperity. The welfare of your servant is entirely owing to your favor and be nevolence, &c., &c." affairs of the English were generally thought to be unfavorable in the extreme. In his defense, however, Mr. Hastings has forgotten entirely these admissions. It certainly appears that the princesses demonstrated the firmness of their attachment to the British; not in the season of prosperity or triumph; not from the impulse of fear, nor the prospect of future protection; but that they, with a magnanimity almost unexam pled, came forward at a moment when the hoard of collected vengeance was about to burst over our heads; when the measure of European guilt in India was completely filled by the oppressions which had just been exercised on the unfortu nate Cheyte Sing; and when offended Heaven seemed, at last, to interfere to change the meek dispositions of the natives, to awaken their resentment, and to inspirit their revenge. The original letters which passed on this oc- In a letter to the council, which is on ecord, be casion between Captain Gordon and the Begum confesses that, from the 22d of August to the were transmitted by her to Mr. Middleton, for 22d of September, he was confined in a situation, the purpose of being shown to the Governor of the utmost hazard; that his safety during this General. These letters Mr. Middleton endeav-period was exceedingly precarious, and that the ored to conceal. His letter-book, into which they were transcribed, is despoiled of those leaves which contained them. When questioned about them, he said that he had deposited Persian copies of the letters in the office at Lucknow, and that he did not bring translations of them with him to Calcutta, because he left the former city the very next day after receiving the originals; but, my Lords, I will boldly assert that this pretext is a black and barefaced perjury. It can be proved that Middleton received the letters at least a month before he departed from Lucknow. He left that city on the 17th of October, and he received them on the 20th of the preceding month. Well aware that by these documents the purity of the Begum's intentions would be made manifest; that, while accused of disaffection, their attachment was fully displayed, he, as their punishment was predetermined, found it necessary to suppress the testimonials of their innocence; but, my Lords, these letters, covered as they were by every artifice which the vilest ingenuity could devise to hide them, have been discovered, and are now bared to view by the aid of that Power to whom all creation must bend-to whom nothing, in the whole system of thought or action, is impossible; who can invigorate the arm of infancy with a giant's nerve; who can bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil; can view the confines of hidden mischief, and drag forth each minister of guilt from amid his deeds of darkness and disaster, reluctant, alas! and unrepenting, to exemplify, at least, if not atone, and to qualify any casual sufferings of innocence by the final doom of its opposite; to prove there are the never failing corrections of God, to make straight the obliquity of man! My Lords, the prisoner, in his defense, has ascribed the benevolent interposition of the Begum in favor of Captain Gordon to her knowledge of the successes of the English. This is an imputation as ungenerous as it is false. The only success which the British troops met with at this time was that of Colonel Blair, on the third of September; but he himself acknowledged, that another victory gained at such a loss would be equal to a defeat. The reports that were circulated throughout the country, so far from being calculated to strike the princesses with awe of the English, were entirely the reverse. These were, that Mr. Hastings had been slain at Benares, and that the English had sustained the most disastrous defeats. But, my Lords, to remove every doubt from your minds, I will recur to what never fails me -the evidence of the prisoner against himself. This alludes to the reports which went abroad after the rising of the people of Benares in favor of their Rajah Cheyte Sing against Mr. Hastings. He was, as stated in the next paragraph, in a situation of extreme hazard for a month after that event. (2.) On the second allegation, my Lords, name ly, that the Begums encouraged and (2) Charge of aided the jaghiredars," I do not thinking the it necessary to say much. It is evi- to resist. dent, from the letters of Mr. Middleton, that ne such aid was required to awaken resentments, which must, indeed, unavoidably have arisen from the nature of an affair in which so many power. ful interests were involved. The jaghires depending were of an immense amount, and as their owners, by the resumption of them, would be at once reduced to poverty and distress, they wanted surely no new instigation to resistance It is ridiculous to attempt to impute to the Be gums, without a shadow of proof, the inspiring of sentiments which must inevitably have been excited in the breast of every jaghiredar by the contemplation of the injury and injustice which were intended to be done him. Reluctant to waste the time of the court, I will dismiss the discussion of this charge by appealing to your Lordships individually to determine, whether, on a proposal being made to confiscate your several estates (and the cases are precisely analogous), the incitements of any two ladies of this kingdom would be at all required to kindle your resentments and to rouse you to opposition? (3) Charge af motions | the result of They were produced by their rapacity and violence, and not by the "perfidious artifices” of these old women. To drain the province of its money, every species of cruelty, or extortion, of rapine, of stealth was employed by the emissa ries of Mr. Hastings. The Nabob perceives the growing discontents among the people, and alarmed at the consequences, endeavored, by the strongest representations, to rid his devoted coun- | abroad, and, with malice and mortal enmity to try of the oppressions of its invaders, and partic- man, withered by the grasp of death every ularly from the vulture grasp of Colonel Han- growth of nature and humanity, all incans of nay; swearing by Mohammed that if" this tyrant delight, and each original, simple principle o were not removed he would quit the province," bare existence ?" the answer would have been, as a residence in it was no longer to be en- not one of these causes! No wars have rav dured. Thus this mild people suffered for a aged these lands and depopulated these villages! while in barren anguish and ineffectual bewail- No desolating foreign foe! No domestic broils! ings. At length, however, in their meek bo- No disputed succession! No religious, supersoms, where injury never before begot resent- serviceable zeal! No poisonous monster! No ment, nor despair aroused to courage, increased affliction of Providence, which, while it scourged oppression had its effect. They determined on us, cut off the sources of resuscitation! No! resistance. They collected round their implaca- This damp of death is the mere effusion of Britble foe [Colonel Hannay], and had nearly sacri- ish amity! We sink under the pressure of then ficed him. So deeply were they impressed with support! We writhe under their perfidious the sense of their wrongs, that they would not gripe! They have embraced us with their proeven accept of life from their oppressors. They tecting arms, and lo! these are the fruits of their threw themselves upon the swords of the sol- alliance! diery, and sought death as the only termination of their sorrows and persecutions. Of a people thus injured and thus feeling, it is an audacious fallacy to attribute their conduct to any external impulse. My Lords, the true cause of it is to be traced to the first-born principles of man. It grows with his growth; it strengthens with his strength. It teaches him to understand; it enables him to feel. For where there is human fate, can there be a penury of human feeling? Where there is injury, will there not be resentment? Is not despair to be followed by courage? The God of battles pervades and penetrates the inmost spirit of man, and, rousing him to shake off the burden that is grievous, and the yoke that is galling, reveals the law written on his heart, and the duties and privileges of his nature. canses and If, my Lords, a stranger had at this time enDesolation tered the province of Oude, ignorant of of Oude; it what had happened since the death of effects. Sujah Dowlah-that prince who with a savage heart had still great lines of character, and who, with all his ferocity in war, had, with a cultivating hand, preserved to his country the wealth which it derived from benignant skies a prolific soil-if, observing the wide and general devastation of fields unclothed and brown; of vegetation burned up and extinguished; of villages depopulated and in ruin; of temples unroofed and perishing; of reservoirs broken down and dry, this stranger should ask, "what has thus laid waste this beautiful and opulent land; what monstrous madness has ravaged with widespread war; what desolating foreign foe; what civil discords; what disputed succession; what religious zeal; what fabled monster has stalked "When Colonel Hannay entered the service of the Nabob, being sent there by Hastings with British troops, he was a man in debt. He was described by one of the witnesses as "involved in his circumstances." At the end of three years, he was understood to have realized a fortune of three hundred thousand pounds sterling! See Minutes of Evidence, p. 390, 391. It is not wonderful that such a man should have awakened the resistance so eloquently described in this and the next paragraph. What then, my Lords, shall we bear to be told that, under such circumstances, the exasperated feelings of a whole people, thus spurred on to clamor and resistance, were excited by the poor and feeble influence of the Begums? After hearing the description given by an eye-witness [Colonel Naylor, successor of Hannay] of the paroxysm of fever and delirium into which despair threw the natives when on the banks of the polluted Ganges, panting for breath, they tore more widely open the lips of their gaping wounds, to accelerate their dissolution; and while their blood was issuing, presented their ghastly eyes to heaven, breathing their last and fervent prayer that the dry earth might not be suffered to drink their blood, but that it might rise up to the throne of God, and rouse the eternal Providence to avenge the wrongs of their countrywill it be said that all this was brought about by the incantations of these Begums in their secluded Zenana; or that they could inspire this enthusiasm and this despair into the breasts of a people who felt no grievance, and had suffered no torture? What motive, then, could have such influence in their bosom? What motive! That which nature, the common parent, plants in the bosom of man; and which, though it may be less active in the Indian than in the Englishman, is still congenial with, and makes a part of his be ing. That feeling which tells him that man was never made to be the property of man; but that, when in the pride and insolence of power, one human creature dares to tyrannize over another, it is a power usurped, and resistance is a duty. That principle which tells him that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty which he owes to himself and to his neighbor, but a duty which he owes to his God, in asserting and maintaining the rank which he gave him in his creation. That principle which neither the rudeness of ig. norance can stifle, nor the enervation of refinement extinguish! That principle which makes it base for a man to suffer when he ought to act; which, tending to preserve to the species the 93 This is the most graphic and powerful descrip tion to be found in the speeches of Mr. Sheridan. It is almost entirely free from those "faults of taste" which were so common in his most labored passuges original designations of Providence, spurns at the arrogant distinctions of man, and indicates the independent quality of his race. never believed the Begums to be guilty. I trust, now, that your Lordships can feel no Mr. Hastings hesitation in acquitting the unfortunate princesses of this allegation. But though the innocence of the Begums may be confessed, it does not necessarily follow, I am ready to allow, that the prisoner must be guilty. There is a possibility that he might have been deluded by others, and incautiously led into a false conclusion. If this be proved, my Lords, I will cheerfully abandon the present charge. But if, on the other hand, it shall appear, as I am confident it will, that in his subsequent conduct there was a mysterious concealment denoting conscious guilt; if all his narrations of the business be found marked with inconsistency and contradiction, there can be, I think, a doubt no longer entertained of his criminality. and false pretexts. It will be easy, my Lords, to prove that such Proved by his concealment was actually practiced. concealment From the month of September, in which the seizure of the treasures took place, till the succeeding January, no intimation whatever was given of it by Mr. Hastings to the council at Calcutta. But, my Lords, look at the mode in which this concealment is attempted to be evaded. The first pretext is, the want of leisure! Contemptible falsehood! He could amuse his fancy at this juncture with the composition of Eastern tales, but to give an account of a rebellion which convulsed an empire, or of his acquiring so large an amount of treasure, he had no time! proceedings. He was here only repeating the experiment which he so successfully performed in the case of Cheyte Sing. Even when disap pointed in those views by the natural meekness and submission of the princesses, he could not relinquish the scheme; and hence, in his letter to the court of Directors January 5th, 1782, ho represents the subsequent disturbances in Oude as the cause of the violent measures he had adopted two months previous to the existence of these disturbances! He there congratulates his masters on the seizure of the treasures which he declares, by the law of Mohammed, were the property of Asoph ul Dowlah. special prov My Lords, the prisoner more than once as sured the House of Commons that the Mr. Hastings inhabitants of Asia believed him to pretense of be a preternatural being, gifted with dence in his good fortune or the peculiar favorite of Heaven; and that Providence never failed to take up and carry, by wise, but hidden means, every project of his to its destined end. Thus, in his blasphemous and vulgar puritanical jar gon, did Mr. Hastings libel the course of Provi dence. Thus, according to him, when his corruptions and briberies were on the eve of expos ure, Providence inspired the heart of Nuncomar to commit a low, base crime, in order to save him from ruin.24 Thus, also, in his attempts on Cheyte Sing, and his plunder of the Begums, Providence stepped forth, and inspired the one with resistance and the other with rebellion, to forward his purposes! Thus, my Lords. did he arrogantly represent himself as a man not only the favorite of Providence, but as one for whose The second pretext is, that all communication sake Providence departed from the eternal course between Calcutta and Fyzabad was cut off. This of its own wise dispensations, to assist his ad is no less untrue. By comparing dates, it will ministration by the elaboration of all that is del be seen that letters, now in our possession, pass-eterious and ill; heaven-born forgeries—inspired ed at this period between Mr. Middleton and the treasons--Providential rebellions! arraigning that prisoner. Even Sir Elijah Impey has unguard- Providence edly declared that the road leading from the one city to the other was as clear from interruption as that between London and any of the neighboring villages. So satisfied am I, indeed, on this point, that I am willing to lay aside every other topic of criminality against the prisoner, and to rest this prosecution alone on the question of the validity of the reasons assigned for the concealment we have alleged. Let those, my Lords, who still retain any doubts on the subject, turn to the prisoner's narrative of his journey to Benares. They will there detect, amid a motley mixture of cant and mystery, of rhapsody and enigma, the most studious concealment. These ac It may, perhaps, be asked, why did Mr. Hastings use all these efforts to vail this counted for. business? Though it is not strictly incumbent on me to give an answer to the question, yet I will say that he had obviously a reason for it. Looking to the natural effect of deep injuries on the human mind, he thought that oppression must beget resistance. The attempt which the Begums might be driven to make in their own defense, though really the effect, he as determined to represent as the cause of his "Whose works are goodness, and whose ways are right." 24 Nuncomar, as stated on a preceding page, was a Hindoo of high rank, who accused Hastings to the Council at Calcutta of having put up offices to sale, and of receiving bribes for allowing offenders to escape punishment. The accusation was malicious, and possibly false; but a majority of the Council, who were unfriendly to Hastings, declared it to be fully sustained. At this moment, Nuncomar was charged, through Hastings' instrumentality, with having forged a bond. For this offense, which, among the natives of India, would hardly be considered criminal, Hastings had him arraigned, not before a Hindoo court, but before the Supreme Court of Bengal, over which Impey presided as Chief Jus tice. Here, to the astonishment of all, Nuncomar was sentenced to die, under the laws of England, and not of his own country. Every one expected that Impey would have respited Nuncomar, and that Hastings would have been satisfied with his conviction, without demanding his blood. The Coun cil interposed for the deliverance of Nuncomar ic the most energetic manner, but Hastings was in flexible. Impey, the instrument of his vengeance, refused all delay, and Nuncomar was hung like felon, to the horror of all India. |