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SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT, Sass. II.

Debates in the prefent Seffion of Parlia ment, continued from p. 232.

Friday, Feb. 17.

MR. Jenkinson, previous to the introduction of his "Bill for preventing all Intercourfe between the United States of America and our Weft India Colonies, except in British-built Ships," took occafion to explain the nature of the bill which the year before laft had been brought in for that purpofe. It was now, he faid, a very proper enquiry what fuccefs had attended that measure. This led him to a minute comparison be tween the prefent and paft ftate of our trade with America; and it appeared, by clear and incontrovertible deduction, that it was now more profitable than ever. He fhewed, at the fame time, to what an aftonishing degree it had increafed the fhipping of this country, and pointed out the advantages refulting from that circumftance to our navy. He illuftrated the connection which still fubfifted between the two countries as operating powerfully in favour of a reciprocal commercial intercourse. This connection, he faid, was waxing stronger and stronger every day. The manners of our trading people were more congenial to thofe of the Americans than thofe of any other country; they were allo emerging from difficulties. He defired particularly the attention of the Houfe to this circumitance, as he confidered the American trade, by a variety of unforeseen, but fortunate circumftances, to be in fome degree monopolized by this country. It may be asked, under these circumstances, why not make the bill perpetual? A variety of caufes ftood in the way. A petition, he understood, was to be prefented against it from Jamaica. A commercial treaty with America was in negociation, in which fome conceffions would undoubtedly militate with the provifions of the bill. He therefore moved, that the "Bill for regulating the Trade of this Country with the United States of America," be continued another year. Agreed to.

Mr. Burke role to bring forward his charges against Mr. Haftings, the late governor general of India. He prefaced his addrefs to the Houfe by defiring the clerk to read the 44th refolution of the Secret Committee, dated May, 1782, in which the committee, in the strongest terms, exprefs their disapprobation of

commencing hoftilities against the native princes without juft provocation; and enforce it as the duty of the Court of

Directors forthwith to recall fuch member or members of their principal prefidencies as appear to have been chiefly concerned in acting upon a contrary fyftem. This refolution being read at large, as the ground on which he was to proceed, he declared, that it was far from his wish to call forth accufations when the task was not exclufively his own; and, on the prefent occafion, the profecution fhould have been the profecution of the Houfe, and the exertion, the exertion of the learned gentleman [Mr. Dundas,] who ought not to have fuffered him [Mr. B.] to be called upon by Mr. Haftings to produce a fpecific charge againft him. This early advance, Mr. B. faid, looked either like innocence or magnanimity; but it should be remem bered, that the perfon now accused was a veteran to cenfure. For 12 years he had borne it under all its aggravations; every returning fhip to India had carried returning charges, which his fubfequent conduct in every year had fhewed to have been powerlefs. From the prefent call, however, he would not now recede. He would hazard all the odium and all the labour; and would even wish it to be remembered, that, if the accufed was found innocent, he, the accufer, might be thought culpable.

Having faid this, he drew the attention of the Houfe to the rife, progress, and termination, of that fyftem which had been the object of his conftant reprobation, the conquefts of the company in Bengal; conquests that had been pro ductive of the moft enormous abuses. By thefe the Company and the public were exceedingly alarmed; and Lord Clive was fent out, in 1765, with full powers for reducing them. He executed his commiffion to the fatisfaction of all parties. Mr. Haftings, who in 1769 had been fent as fecond in command to Fort St. George, and who had recommended himself to his fuperiors by a feries of actions that had been deemed meritorious, was nominated to the governmeat of Bengal foon after the great famine, which, by depopulating the country, had almoft laid it waste. This dreadful fcourge occafioned murmurs from one end of India to the other, and produced the well-known regulating act

of

Summary of Proceedings in the prefent. Seffion of Parliament. 315

of 1773 (fee vol. LIII. p. 346.) This famous act, which gave a new govern ment to India, Mr. Haftings was appointed to carry into execution. And from this period the Company's affairs were under the direction of the British parliament. Here he entered into a detail of the proceedings of the two com-mittees appointed to inveftigate the concerns of the Company; one under Gen. Smith, the other under the prefidency of the learned gentleman [Mr. Dundas], who ought to have undertaken the prefent profecution. From these enquiries it came out, that Warren Haftings was culpable in every refpect in which criminality was practicable; that to the natives he had been proud, rapacious, and cruel; to his employers, refractory, treacherous, and infolent; to his countrymen in India, partial, imperious, and vindictive; and to the princes of the country with whom he had connection, dark, defigning, and perfidious. These, he faid, were the charges that he was called upon by Mr. Haftings to fubstantiate, and which he was forry could not be refuted. The Court of Directors had followed the long investigation of the committees by one equally earneft; but, after all their enquiries, the Court of Proprietors, from caufes unknown, and without adequate information, had thought proper to fupport the fame agent in thofe guilty fcenes, and to order that Warren Haftings fhould not be recalled; but, as there had been no merit fince to ftand in equipoife with the criminality of that period, he could not now imagine that parliament would fhrink from its dignity fo far as to recede from its own fentence. He called upon the Houfe, therefore, to aflift him in the profecution, as he owned much delicacy was required. There were, in his opinion, three ways by which it might be carried into effect.

The first, by ordering his Majefty's Attorney-gen. to file a bill against him in the Court of King's Bench; but, high as he held the dignity of that court, and venerable as he regarded the talents and character of the judge who prefided there, it did not ftrike him as the most eligible mode of afferting the justice of the nation in a caufe of fuch magnitude, involving difobedience to all the laws of a man's country, the extirpation of na. tions, the fale of kingdoms, the oppreffion of millions, and the ejection of princes, by blending it with the petty

caufes that are daily to be decided in that

court.

He was as little for a bill of pains and penalties, as not being fure how far it might be a punishment competent to the crimes charged.

The third, which met his most decided preference, and which he thought equal to the dignity of the occafion, was an impeachment before the House of Lords, in which the Commons of England were to be the accufers.

He then stated the neceffity of bringing forward that large body of evidence on which the charge refted; and he pledged himself fo to arrange it as to make it as intelligible to country gentlemen as to lawyers or to statesmen; and concluded with moving for "a copy of the correfpondence between Warren Haftings, efq. and the Court of Directors on the fubject of prefents and monies privately received."

Alderman Le Mefurier thought the charge and the requifition both too general. He was, he faid, but a young member; but he thought a few of thole numerous and enormous crimes, which included delinquency of every kind in have been fpecifically charged by the which criminality was practicable, fhould Right Hon. Gentleman, and that the charge and the evidence should have gone hand in hand. To charge crimes in the grofs, and call for evidence without fpecification, was, in his opinion, a new method of prosecution unknown to the laws of this country; and he thought it not a little fingular, that the Hon. gentleman, who had come forward with fo much zeal in this profecution, should have disapproved of a trial by jury, the taking away of which by the India Bill he had fo often reprobated. He denied that the Court of Proprietors had decided without information on the merits of Mr. Haftings; and afferted, that they had every paper before them which the Court of Directors had thought neceffary to determine their own judgement.

Mr. Dundas, in reply, faid, if those heavy charges the Houfe had just heard brought forward by the Honourable Gentleman were true, he must confider himself criminal in a very high de gree; he was, however, much better pleafed to meet the accufation, fo tar as related to himself, face to face, than infidioufly, in anonymous pamphlets, induftriously circulated at home and abroad.

As

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Summary of Proceedings in the present Seffion of Parliament.

As to the charge of inconfiftency, fo much infifted on by the Hon. Gentleman, he made no hesitation to declare thus openly, that he had at no period of his life ever faid or infinuated, that it was his intention to bring forward any charge against Mr. Hastings, for the purpose of crimination. In the concern which he had in the investigation of the affairs of India (which he confidered as a moft for tunate circumstance in the events of his life) he had, it was true, been chairman of the committee which framed the refolutions on which so much stress had been laid; but he took no pre-eminence in the bufinefs, and it was by chance that ever he happened to determine on the conduct of Mr. Haflings. To the pre fidency of Bombay, he, with the committee, had attributed the faults. And he begged leave to fet the Rt. Hon. Gent, right, by ftating, that the affairs of Bengal were not committed to the confideration of that committee at which he prefided, but that the investigation of the Mahratta war, and the war of the Carnatic, the breach of the treaty of Poorundah, the burdenfome eftablishments which he had formed and continued for the fake of patronage, and which conftituted a higher degree of guilt in the parties concerned, but was fo partitioned between the adminiftration in India, the Court of Directors, and the minifters at hoine, that he never once had entertained the moft diftant idea of bringing thefe taanfactions into a criminal court of judicature. How then could he be charged with inconfiftency or what charge could le against him for not being foremost in the prefent proceeding? He did not deny that he had moved the refolution for the recall of Mr. Haftings; but at that very time, when the Hon. Gent. rofe, and, in his ftrong and forcible language charged Mr. Haftings with crimes of an enormous nature, he replied, that the object of his motion was not to have Mr. Haftings tried as a delinquent, though it was neceffary, on grounds of expediency, to have him recalled. He certainly then thought, as he does now, Mr. Raftings highly blameable in the breach of the treaty of Poorundah, and in the burdenfome eftablishments which he fo long continued to maintain, but not in the degree to which the Hon. Gent has thought fit to aggravate his conduct. It had been affeited, that his [Mr. D's] conduct in the Board of Controul, aud as a member of parliament, had not been confiftent; and the Hon. Gent. had brought the vote

of thanks tranfmitted to Mr. Haftings in evidence against him but he begged gentlemen to recollect that it was not in the power of the Board of Controul to alter the minutes of the Court of Directors; and if it had, at that time [March 1785] he thought Mr. Haftings well entitled to the thanks of the Company. He had destroyed a combination of all the princes of India, which had been formed for our deftruction, and which, had it not been defeated, would moft certainly have had its effect. In 1783 he had complained to an administration, who laid in exclufive pretenfions to purity, of the numbers of writers teizing for patronage, being no less than 250; yet, far from contriving means to leffen the patronage, they fent out 36 additional candidates, all of whom Mr. Haftings faid were gaping for lacks, and defirous to return as foon as poffible to spend them, most of them recommended by perfons of the first influence in GreatBritain. As to the papers moved for, he faid, he had not the least objection to their production.

Mr. For, in reply, afferted in the most folemn manner, that, during the adminiftration of 1783, he never fent out but one writer, and that was when the Earl of Shelburne was at the head of the Treafury. He hoped, therefore, that the fufpicion which the learned gentleman had endeavoured to excite against him on that fubject would be done away. He defied him to contradict it. The learned gentleman, with an air of triumph, has challenged to meet any man face to face on the core of inconfiftency. Without difputing his power of face, he would, he said, reft the question on what the learned gentleman had himself declared. He does not hesitate to confess a change of opinion; but what does that change amount to? Only to a confeffion that he had held two oppofite opinions on the fame fubject. Such is the learned gentleman's confiflency! If the refolutions were not intended to criminate, for what elle were they framed and entered upon the Journals? It was impoffible for words to convey ftronger cenfure; and yet the Board of Controul, in agreeing to the vote of thanks, had in plain terms contradicted the refolutions of the House. He would afk, what had Mr. Haftings done fince, to atone for the infraction of treaties, for the exterminating of nations, for the plunging the Company into a ruinous and expenfive war? The learned gentleman feemed to think Mr. Haftings

culpable

1

Summary of Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. 317

ulpable only on two accounts; the breach of the treaty of Poorundah, and the excess of the Calcutta eftablishment: but did he forget the Rohilla war, the ceffion of Koran and Illyabad, the unjuftifiable treatment of Chitfing? or did he look on the prefent ftate of the treafury of Bengal as a proof of the merit of Mr. Haftings, where the Company's bonds are now at 30 per cent. difcount, and treafury orders, which fhould pafs as cah, are received only at a difcount of 10 or 12 per cent.

With regard to the mode of profecution, it was unneceffary for him to fay much on the prefent occafion, only to fet a gentleman right who had spoken early in the debate [Mr. Le Mefurier], and who had mifunderstood his hon. friend's meaning, by fuppofing he withed to avoid a trial by a jury. He had only preferred a trial by impeachment as the moft folemn, the most effectual, and the moft fuitable to the magnitude of the occafion, that could be devifed. He concluded with obferving, that if his hon. friend fhould fucceed in his endeavours to vindicate the fame, the honour, and the juftice of the British nation, he fhould think him intitled to the thanks and applaufe of his country.

Mr. Pitt faid, he did not intend to have troubled the Houfe with any obfervations of his on the prefent debate, had not the Right Hon. Gent. who fpoke laft deviated from the object of the motion to attack his learned friend [Mr. Dundas] in terms too grofs to pafs without reprehenfion. It was not a little fingular to hear the Right Hon. Gentleman dwell fo long on the merits of confiftency, who, to be confiftent, had united with every man with whom he had differed, and had abandoned every man with whom he had acted; who had been long accuftomed to bestow cenfure and praise on the fame perfon, and to take into his bofom for one purpose the man whom he had reprefented in the moft odious light for another. Such is the confiftency of the Right Hon. Gentleman! The confiftency of his learned friend was of another kind. If at any time he thought fit to alter his opinion, it was from principle. Impelled by the fame motives, he had been invariably found in fupport of the interes of his country. When, in the Committee of Secrecy, his learned friend faw in the conduct of the Governor-general a bias towards maintaining his power by patronage and corrupt means, he thought it high time to pro

3

cure his recall; but when afterwards he difcovered that the intereft of the Com. pany, and the existence of the British go vernment in India, could no otherwife he maintained than by his means, he had readily yielded to the neceffity of the times, and did, what every friend to his country was bound to do, bestow praise for praife-worthy fervices, and concurred in thanking the Governor general for refcuing from ruin the Company's affairs by his own fole influence. As to the conduct of Mr. Haftings, he could fay nothing of his own knowledge. It ap peared to him, as a bye-ftander, that if there was much to blame, there was much to commend; and he was happy to feel in himlelf no prejudice either for or against him. He fhould be ready to criminate, if charges, fuch as had been alledged, were brought home to Mr. Haftings; but, at the fame time, he should be as ready to attend to the pleas of defert.

Mr. Fox perfevered in his charge of inconfiftency against the learned gentle man. His conduct, he infifted, was no otherwife to be accounted for.

Major Scott entered into a long and elaborate juftification of Gov. Haflings. He had been accustomed, he said, to the pledges of the Right Hon. Gentleman, who had at length brought forward his threatened charges; they are numerous, and, were they true, Mr. Hastings would deferve the most excruciating death; but the Right Hon. Gent. had fometimes thought proper to descend from the high and important ftation which he fills in this country, to the humble rank of a common pamphleteer. In that station he had formerly met him upon equal terms; and he appealed to the candid world, whether he had not refuted every charge of every kind that the Rt. Hon. Gent. had brought against Mr. Haftings. Both the charges and the answer have long been before the public; and they, he faid, had pronounced in his favour. Year after year the Right Hon. Gent. had pledged himself, to God, to this Houfe, and to his country, to prove Mr. Haftings a most notorious delinquent ; and at length he is come forth with a general charge of criminality of every kind in which criminality could be prac ticable, without producing one specifie fact to confirm his general accufation. Major Scott charged the Secret Committee with the groffeft partiality; with fuppreffing evidence when in favour of Mr. Haftings, and with countenancing

Salfhood,

318 Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament.

falfhood, when offered against him, Before he had the honour of a feat in that Houfe, he had fitten in the gallery as a bye-stander, and to his aftonishment had Leard the Right Hon. Gent, defcribing. in terms more precife and pofitive than he could have thought the most fertile imagination could have invented, the murders, the robberies, the oppreffions, and cruelties, committed by British fubjects in India. Upon thefe occafions he had wondered in what favage part of the earth the cruelties he was defcribing were permitted. No fuch fcenes had ever paffed on the fertile plains of Bengal. Had the Right Hon. Gentleman, inttead of thofe aggravated charges, come forth as foon as Mi. Haftings arrived, as a manly accufer, and given him an intimation of what fpecific crimes he intended to lay to his charge, it would have been fair, honourable, and parliamentary; but he fhould fubmit it to the candour of the Houfe in what light to view his prefent conduct.

Other gentlemen fpoke on the occafion; and, the following papers being moved for, the Houfe adjourned.

I. That there be laid before this Houfe an account of the time and manner of paying into the Company's treafury a prefent of 100,000l. made by the Nabob of Oude to Warren Haftings, efq. for his prefent ule. &c.

II. Extracts of the particulars of that part of the Company's accounts in Bengal, commonly called the Durbar expences and receipts.

III. A fimilar extract of the Durbar expences in the prefidencies of Madras and Bombay.

IV. An account of the annual revenues and expenditures of the presidency of Bengal, from 1766 to 1785.

V. Copies of all minutes relative to a contract with Mr. Auriol, fecretary to the board and council general, for a fupply of rice to Madras and Bombay.

VI. Copies of all papers relative to the revenue and contracts of opium, fince the year 1782.

VII. Copies of all minutes of correfpondence between the gov. gen. and council, and the refident at the Durbar of the Nabob of Bengal, fince the month of January, 1780; together with the actual employments now held, and thofe formerly held, by Mahomed Reza Khan. VIII. Copies of all minutes relative to a charge made by the Gov. Gen. Warren Haftings, eiq. against John Briftow, efq. late refident at Oude, diftributing large fums of money from the treafury of

Oude, without permiffion of the Nabob, or the permiffion or fanction of the Company's governor of Bengal, and without accounting for the fame.

IX. Copies of all other correfpondence, during the refidency of John Briftow, efq. together with the documents therewith tranfmitted from the province of Oude; and alfo the answers thereto, and all proceedings relative to his conduct during the faid refidency, from the month of Ŏctober 1782.

Monday, February 20.

The order of the day being read,

Mr. Burke refumed the adjourned dehate, by afking leave to fubftitute another motion for papers, in the room of that on which the debate had been fufpended. He hoped it would not be liable to the fame objections when he moved, that there be laid before the Houfe a duplicate, or copy, of the correfpondence between the Gov. Gen. of Bengal, and the refidents Johnfon, Lyt tleton, and Briftow, with fuch papers as related to the royal family of Oude; also fuch papers as had any reference to the affairs of Almas Ali Cawn. He hoped that, by leaving it to the officers to fend duplicates, or copies, the greatest part of the difficulties would be removed..

Mr. Dundas faid, not in the leaft; his oppofition had arifen from what he deemed an effential principle of justice. That when by thofe papers a new ground of accufation was taken, diftinct from the reports of the Secret Committee, it was but fair that the Houfe fhould be informed of the charges which they went to establish in order that, when they were known, the expediency or inexpediency of producing the papers moved for might be fubmitted to their judgement. He believed the general fenfe of the House to be, that no papers should be granted for the purpofe of fubftantiating any other charge that what the face of the report warranted.

Mr. Burke denied that to be the general fenfe of the Houfe. It was diametrically oppofite to the uniform ufage of parliament, where papers were daily called for and produced, on the motion. of any member, without fpecifying the particular purpote for which they were wanted. He could confider, therefore, the oppofition of the learned gentleman in no other light than as a pitiful ftratagem to get rid of the bufinefs in the beginning. He was forry to find the learned gentleman hoftile to the production of papers, in a parliamentary way,

which