from meriting a milder term) of the £100,000,-the time when it was paid,— the manner in which it was paid, and the persons to whom it was paid, had been all brought into full view; and unalterably stigmatized as the falsest statements by the Governor-general. He had written word to the Directors, that the exigency of his affairs,-the want of cash to pay the army, and other things pressing, had caused him to accept the present of ten lacs of rupees, at the moment when he knew that the Nabob Vizier's affairs were in a state of the extremest indigence. Upon that ground he had vindicated the taking of the £100,000; but it came out afterwards, in the most positive declaration, that he had not the sum in cash, but in bills on Gopal Das, not payable until the expiration of some succeeding months. If that was true, his first ground of justification failed him; for the immediate wants of the army could acquire no relief from bills on Gopal Das, which had still several months to run. In the list of the persons to whom the money had been paid, the name of Mrs. Hastings was inserted. He should have felt (Mr. Sheridan added) great uneasiness at taking the liberty to introduce a lady's name in such a business, if it had not been for her complete exculpation; but the fact stood thus: The entry of Mrs. Hastings's name, and those of the other persons, as the receivers of the sum, was a fallacy; and it was equally a fallacy that the ten lacs were paid by bills on Gopal Das; because that man was at the time detained by Cheit Sing; and let the committee ask themselves if the Governor-general would not have more credit with Gopal Das than this miserable, moneyless, and ruined prince? Great part of the sum given was paid in rupees; and it was clearly a portion of the plunder of the unfortunate princesses, the mother and grandmother of Asoph ul Dowlah. As to the Nabob, his distracted supplications were of no avail; and his treasury was swept, without the least attention to his prayer, that his rapacious pillager would leave him at least as much as might prove sufficient for the ordinary charges of his household.

"Mr. Sheridan next stated the application of the Rajah of Berar, to the Governor-general and Council, for a sum of money to relieve his affairs, by paying his army; the whole amount of which sum was computed at sixteen lacs of rupees. This application was rejected as inconvenient to be complied with; but afterwards the Governor-general took the whole responsibility of the measure upon himself, and lent the Rajah of Berar three lacs.

"Mr. Sheridan now mentioned the complaint* laid before the council board

* There were several charges brought against Mr. Hastings by Nuncomar, and among the rest that of his having committed the young Nabob of Bengal to the guardianship of Munny Begum in consideration of a bribe; but, in order to judge fairly of the truth and weight of the accusations, and to understand the allusions made hereafter by Mr. Sheridan, it is necessary to give a slight sketch of the history of the accuser. The Maharajah Nuncomar was a Hindoo Brahmin, and possessed all the talent and deceit characteristic of the Bengalees. During the government of Lord Clive, he had been a competitor with a Persian Mussulman, of the name of Mohammed Reza Khan, (a man of integrity according to the Indian standard of morality), for an office which at that time, the Company were in the habit of entrusting to a great native

by the Rajah Nuncomar, and the £15,000 taken from Munny Begum, to whom was entrusted the sole collection of the revenues. The Directors had instructed him to appoint a minister (a guardian) to superintend Moharek ul Dowlah, the young Nabob of Bengal, and to manage his affairs. The person* whom he chose for this employment was the step-mother of the Nabob, and widow of the deceased Nabob-Meer Jaffier, an ignorant woman, drawn originally from the lowest class of life, and by Mr. Hastings from the

minister, and which related to the internal administration of Bengal. Lord Clive, knowing the infamous character of Nuncomar, who had been engaged and detected in conspiracies against the English, decided in favour of Mohammed Reza Khan, although in opposition to the urgent solicitation of the Nabob of Bengal, over whom Nuncomar had acquired great influence. On Warren Hastings becoming Governor, Mohammed Reza Khan had been seven years in office, and the infant son of Meer Jaffier was Nabob, under the guardianship of the minister. In consequence of the revenues of Bengal being considered to have decreased through the mismanagement of the minister, which idea was encouraged by Nuncomar to his utmost power, Warren Hastings was ordered by the Directors to remove Mohammed Reza Khan from his office. Soon after his removal, a change was made in the mode of administration; the office held by Mohammed Reza Khan was transferred to the servants of the Company, and the Nabob was no longer allowed to have any visible share in the government, but was to receive in lieu, an annual allowance, and his person was confided to the care of Munny Begum, one of the ladies of his father's harem. Mohammed Reza Khan, after long delay, was tried for his supposed offences, and acquitted, to the great disappointment of Nuncomar, who was prominent in the prosecution. On the new government of India being formed in 1773, and the arrival of the Council in India, a quarrel immediately ensued between Warren Hastings and the majority of the Council, and, being in the minority on all questions, he was looked on as a fallen man, and consequently deserted by all the sycophants who till then had courted his favour. Nuncomar, who had always been the secret enemy of Hastings, seizing this favourable opportunity, came forward personally before the Council, and formally accused him of having put up offices for sale, and of having received bribes for his connivance at the escape of offenders; in particular, of having acquitted Mohammed Reza Khan in consideration of a large sum of money, and having committed the young Nabob to the care of Munny Begum for a like cause. The Council, in spite of the protest of Hastings against their proceedings, decided against the Governor-general, and declared the charge made out. So far was Nuncomar triumphant; but Hastings, thus driven to extremities, and finding that either he or Nuncomar must fall, succeeded in crushing his rival in the following unexpected manner:-The Supreme Court of Bengal, as established by act of Parliament, had a jurisdiction entirely free from the control of the Council, and was presided over by Sir Elijah Impey, the friend of Hastings. The power of this court was now exercised for the destruction of Nuncomar. He was suddenly arrested on a charge of forging a bond six years before (an offence which in India was hardly considered criminal); bail to any amount was refused, although its acceptance was demanded by the Council: he was with all speed tried before Sir Elijah Impey and an English jury, found guilty of the offence, and immediately ordered for execution, which sentence was most unrelentingly carried out in spite of all remonstrance. Hastings thus freed himself of a most dangerous enemy: the position in which he was himself placed may be considered some palliation for his share in the transaction, but the conduct of Sir Elijah Impey can never be justified.

• Munny Begum.

recesses of the Zenana, to instruct her princely pupil in all the arts of future government! This curious appointment would certainly prove more the subject of indignation than surprise to the committee, when they should discover, from unquestionable authority, that it was assigned for the valuable consideration of £15,000 to himself, and the same sum to Mr. Middleton. Mr. Hastings's transaction with Cawn Jewan Khan was the next object of Mr. Sheridan's animadversion. This man was appointed Phousdar of Houghly, with an income of 72,000 sicca rupees a year-of which Mr. Hastings was charged with taking half, besides 4,000 allotted to his black broker; and the accusation was made, as well as that proffered by Nuncomar, in full Council. The Council proposed to inquire into the truth of it, and required Cawn Jewan Khan to answer to the facts upon oath; to which procedure he and Mr. Hastings peremptorily objected; and that Cawn Jewan Khan could not, by virtue of his religion, take an oath, was the weak excuse of Mr. Hastings; but in the words used in the answer of Mr. Hastings to the charge, he might retort the falsity upon him. Cawn Jewan Khan was, as a punishment for his contumacy, deprived of his employment; but on the death of Colonel Monson, which gave Mr. Hastings, by virtue of his casting vote, a majority in the Council, he was reinstated at the motion of the Governor. He left it to the reflection of the committee, whether any circumstantial proof -and the case would admit of nothing further-could more clearly trace the guilt of Mr. Hastings, or establish the certainty of private practices of a corrupt nature between him and the Phousdar? The whole was a studied maze of theft, bribery, and corruption; unparalleled even in the most ignominious annals of East India delinquency. With respect to the unfortunate Rajah Nuncomar, he was first indicted for a conspiracy; but that failing, he was tried on an English penal statute (which, although rendered by a stretch of power most dreadfully forcible in Bengal, did not reach even to Scotland!) he was convicted and hanged for a crime (forgery) which was not capital in his own country! Whatever were the circumstances of this judicial proceeding (which might be the subject of another inquiry), they could not fail of exciting apprehensions and terrors in the natives, which would put a stop to all further informations against the Governor. During this transaction, Mr. Hastings-in direct contradiction to the opinions of General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis-repeatedly asserted, that it was repugnant to the customs, either of the Mussulmen or Hindoos, to take an oath; yet, on a latter occasion, he justified himself in all his proceedings at Benares, by the affidavits of persons of the religion which he mentioned, taken before the upright judge of the Supreme Court of Calcutta! It had been allowed, in the evidence given at the bar, that all India was in consternation at the event; and considered the death of Nuncomar as a punishment for having advanced charges against Mr. Hastings. Who, after such an event, would dare step forward as his accuser? None would venture; and the Governor

* Sir Elijah Impey.

might, in future, pillage the natives as he thought proper, without any fear of being disturbed by their invocations for justice! But this justice, he hoped and trusted, would not be refused in a British Parliament; they owed it to their own dignity, to the support of the resolutions into which they had already entered, to the honour of the country, the prosperity of the government, and the rights of humanity! The present charge (he should beg leave to repeat) was not, perhaps, of that nature which came home most effectually to the feelings of men; it could not excite those sensations of commiseration or abhorrence which a ruined prince, a royal family reduced to want and wretchedness, the desolation of kingdoms, or the sacrilegious invasion of palaces, would certainly inspire! In conclusion, Mr. Sheridan observed, that, although within this rank, but infinitely too fruitful, wilderness of iniquities-within this dismal and unhallowed labyrinth, it was most natural to cast an eye of indignation and concern over the wide and towering forests of enormities, all rising in the dusky magnificence of guilt; and to fix the dreadfully excited attention upon the huge trunks of revenge, rapine, tyranny, and oppression; yet it became not less necessary to trace out the poisonous weeds, the baleful brushwood, and all the little, creeping, deadly plants, which were, in quantity and extent, if possible, more noxious. The whole range of this far-spreading calamity was sown in the hot-bed of corruption; and had risen, by rapid and mature growth, into every species of illegal and atrocious violence! Upon this ground, most solemnly should he conjure the committee to look to the malignant source of every rooted evil; and not to continue satisfied with reprobating effects, whilst the great cause enjoyed the power of escaping from merited crimination, and the infliction of a just punishment. He now moved, 'That the committee, having considered the present article of charge of high crimes and midemeanours against Warren Hastings, Esq., late Governor-general of Bengal, is of opinion, that there is ground for impeaching the said Warren Hastings, Esq., of high crimes and misdemeanours upon the matter of the said article,'"

The motion was carried 165 votes to 54.

SPEECH delivered in Westminster Hall, in support of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq., on the second charge, in respect of his conduct towards the Begums of Oude. Mr. Adam, on April 15th, 1788, had opened the charge, and Mr. Sheridan now summed up the evidence. His address occupied four days, and at the conclusion Mr. Burke declared, "that no species of oratory, no kind of eloquence that had been heard in ancient or modern times; nothing which the acuteness of the bar, the dignity of the senate, or the morality of the pulpit, could furnish, was equal to what they had heard that day in Westminster Hall: that no species of composition existed of which a complete and perfect specimen might not be culled out of this speech; which he was persuaded had left too strong an impression on the minds of that assembly to be easily obliterated."

On the first day, Tuesday, June 3rd, he dilated on the importance of the investigation, and on the policy as well as the justice of vindicating the character of Great Britain in India; but yet disclaimed any desire that Mr. Hastings should be condemned unless his guilt were legally and indisputably established by proof. He commented severely on the disavowal by Mr. Hastings of the admissions and statement he had made in his defence before the House of Commons; and then proceeded with great force to condemn his cruel conduct towards the Begum Princesses, and his total disregard to the prejudices of the natives of India, in violating the sanctity of the female apartments; and after exposing the infamy of the treaty of Chunar, concluded in a strain of bitter irony, in denouncing the conduct of Sir Elijah Impey. The court having adjourned to Friday, June 6th, on that day,

Mr. Sheridan resumed his speech, by expressing his satisfaction that, in the interval of the adjournment, the remaining part of the evidence, &c., had been printed and laid before their lordships; as it was the wish of the managers that every document should be before the court at the time, for the purpose of determining with more accuracy whether they had or had not borne out the charges which they presented.

Recurring then to the affidavits taken by Sir Elijah Impey, at Lucknow, "they formed," he observed, "a material article in the defence of Mr. Hastings; and on the decision of their lordships respecting the weight of the allegations which they contained, a great part of this question would finally depend. With respect to one part of the charge made on the Begumstheir having shown a uniform spirit of hostility to the British government -it had not only failed, but it was absolutely abandoned by the counsel for the prisoner, as not being supported by a tittle of evidence. In deciding on the other parts of this charge-their having committed an overt act of rebellion-their having inflamed the Jaghirdars, † and excited the discontents in Oude their lordships were to consider the situation in which Mr. Hastings stood at the time these charges were made. Having failed in his attempts at Benares, his mind was entirely directed to the treasures of the Begums. He knew that such was the situation into which he had plunged the affairs of the Company, that he could not address his venal masters unless some treasure was found. He had, therefore, stood forward as an accuser where he was also to preside as a judge; and with much caution should that judge be heard, who has apparently a profit on the conviction, and an interest in the condemnation of the party to be tried. He would not from this infer, however, that the charge was groundless; but he would argue, that, until fully proved, it should not meet with implicit credit. It was obvious, also, that the attempt said to have been made by the Begums, to dethrone the Nabob and extirpate the English, was in the highest degree improbable; but he would not infer from thence that it was impossible;

* In support of the charge of conspiracy by the Begums, to dethrone the Nabob and expel the English.

† Or native leaseholders.