1778.

BOOK V. The period, at which the Nabob would come of age, was approaching. In the secret consultations on the 23d of July, 1778, the Governor-General desired that a letter from the Nabob Mubarek ul Dowla might be read. In this letter the Nabob stated that he had now, by the favour of God, arrived at that stage of life, his twentieth year, when the laws of his country assigned to him the management of his own affairs; he complained of the severity with which he had been treated by Mahomed Reza Khan; and prayed that he might be relieved from this state of degrading tutelage, and allowed to assume the administration of his own government and affairs.

On the pretence of maintaining the rights of the Nabob, Mr.

turns the esta

the Directors;

Mr. Wheler and Mr. Francis maintained, that it was not competent for the delegated government of India to subvert a regulation of so much importance, which had been directly confirmed by the Court of Directors; and that the requisition of the Nabob should be transmitted to England for the determination of the superior power. Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell insisted that justice admitted of no delay. It is remarkable, how these contending parties in India could reverse their pleas, as often as their interests required that different aspects of the same circumstances should be held up to view. In 1775, when the party in opposition to the Governor-General meant to alter the regulations which he had formed, they represented it as their object, "to recover the Hastings over- country government from the state of feebleness and insignificance, to which it blished plan of was Mr. Hastings's avowed policy to reduce it." The Governor-General, in displaces Ma- opposition to these pretences, declared, that "all the arts of policy cannot conhomed Reza ceal the power by which these provinces are ruled; nor can all the arts of establishes sophistry avail to transfer the responsibility of them to the Nabob, when it is as Munny Bevisible as the light of the sun, that they originate from our own government; that the Nabob is a mere pageant, without the shadow of authority, and even his most consequential agents receive their appointment from the recommendation of the Company, and the express nomination of their servants." * Notwithstanding these recorded sentiments, the Governor-General could now declare; "The Nabob's demands are grounded on positive rights, which will not admit of discussion. He has an incontestable right to the management of his own household. He has an incontestable right to the Nizamut; it is his by inheritance; the dependants of the Nizamut Adaulut, and of the Fouzdary, have been repeatedly declared by the Company, and by this government, to appertain to the

Khan, and re

gum.

*Minute of the Governor-General on the 7th Dec. 1775, Fifth Report, ut supra, p. 24, and App. No. 6.

1778.

Nizamut. For these reasons I am of opinion, that the requisitions contained in CHAP. III. the Nabob's letter ought to be complied with." In the eagerness of his passions, the Governor-General, by asserting the incontestable right of the Nabob to all the powers of the Nizamut, transferred a great part of the government. Under the Mogul constitution, the government of the provinces consisted of two parts; the Dewanee, or collection of the revenues, and the administration of the principal branches of the civil department of justice; and the Nizamut, or the military branch of the government, with the superintendance of the criminal department of judicature: And of these the Dewanee was subordinate to the Nizamut. In this exalted capacity, it was never meant to recognise the Nabob; and the language exhibits a useful specimen of the sort of arguments, to serve a purpose, which vague and imperfect notions of Indian policy have enabled those who were interested always to employ.f Letters were also brought from

→ Secret consultations, 5th March, 1778. Fifth Report, p. 29, App. No. 6. (N.)

† At the time when Nuncomar accused Mr. Hastings, an indictment for a conspiracy was brought against him, Roy Radachurn, and others. Roy Radachurn was the Vakeel of the Bengal Nabob, and claimed the privilege of an ambassador. To bring him under the power of the Court, it was thought necessary to prove that his master was in no respect a Prince. For this purpose Mr. Hastings made an affidavit, that he and his Council, in 1772, had appointed Munny Begum, and all her subordinates; that they had appointed courts of laws, both civil and criminal, by their own authority, and without consulting the Nabob; that "the civil courts were made solely dependant on the Presidency of Calcutta; and that the said criminal courts were put under the inspection and control of the Company's servants, although ostensibly under the name of the Nazim; and that the revenues were exclusively in the hands of the Company." The inference was, that not a particle of sovereign power belonged to the Nabob. Affidavits to the same purpose were made by Mr. George Vansittart and Mr. Lane. Upon this and other evidence the judges formed their decision, that the Nabob was not a sovereign in any sense, nor his Vakeel an ambassador. The words of some of them are remarkable. The Chief Justice said, that if the Nabob was a Prince, "the exercise of the power must be an usurpation in the India Company;' but this he affirmed was not the case, for the Nabob's treaty with the Company was a surrender, by him, of all power into their hands." After a long argument to show that there was in the Nabob nothing but a "shadow of majesty," he concludes; "I should not have thought that I had done my duty, if I had not given a full and determinate opinion upon this question. I should have been sorry if I had left it doubtful, whether the empty name of a Nabob could be thrust between a delinquent and the laws." The language of Mr. Justice Le Maistre was stronger still. "With regard to this phantom," said he, "this man of straw, Mobareck al Dowla, it is an insult on the understanding of the Court, to have made a question of his sovereignty." "By the treaty which has been read," said Mr. Justice Hyde, "it appears that Mobareck ul Dowla deprives himself of the great ensign of sovereignty-the right to protect his own subjects. He declares that shall be done by the Company." When this opinion was received, Mr. Francis moved at the Board, that as it would preclude them from the use of the Nabob's name in their transactions with foreign states, the Directors might be requested, "if it should be determined

1778.

BOOK V. the Nabob, which the known wish of the Governor-General could not fail to obtain, requesting that his step-mother Munny Begum, of whom he had formerly complained, "should take on herself the management of the Nizamut, without the interference of any person whatsoever.” * Mahomed Reza Khan was accordingly removed; Munny Begum was replaced in her ancient office; subordinate to her, Gourdass was re-instated in that of controller of the household; and a person called Sudder al Hok was appointed to the superintendance of the judicial department. To these several offices, which were all included in the trust of Mahomed Reza Khan, salaries were appropriated,

by them that the Subah's government was annihilated, to instruct the Board in what form the government of the provinces should be administered for the future." Mr. Hastings objected to the motion, as the declaration of the judges told nothing but what, he said, was known, and acted upon before. They had used the Nabob's name, it was true; in deference to the commands of the Directors; "but I do not," said he, "remember any instance, and I hope none will found, of our having been so disingenuous as to disclaim our own power, or to affirm that the Nabob was the real sovereign of these provinces." He next proceeds to condemn the fiction of the Nabob's government. "In effect," he says, "I do not hesitate to say, that I look upon this state of indecision to have been productive of all the embarrassments which we have experienced with the foreign settlements........ It has been productive of great inconveniences; it has prevented us from acting with vigour in our disputes with the Dutch and French....... Instead of regretting, with Mr. Francis, the occasion which deprives us of so useless and hurtful a disguise, I should rather rejoice were it really the case, and consider it as a crisis which freed the constitution of our government from one of its greatest defects. And if the commands of our honourable employers, which are expected by the ships of the season, shall leave us uninstructed on this subject which has been so pointedly referred to them in the letters of the late administration, I now declare that I shall construe the omission, as a tacit and discretional reference of the subject to the judgment and determination of this Board; and will propose that we do stand forth, in the name of the Company, as the actual government of these provinces; and assume the exercise of it, in every instance, without any concealment or participation." Minutes of Evidence on the Trial of Mr. Hastings, p. 1071-1079. When all these facts are known, the vehement zeal which Mr. Hastings, because it now suited his purpose, displayed for the fictitious authority of the Nabob, has a name which every reader will supply.

* Of the mode in which such a letter was procured, nobody who knows the relative situation of the parties can entertain a doubt. The judges of the supreme court, upon a letter of the same Nabob, in July, 1775, unanimously gave the following opinion: "The Nabob's age, his situation is such, that there is no man either in England or India, will believe he would be induced to write such a letter, was it not dictated to him by the agents of those who rule this settlement; or unless he was perfectly convinced it would be agreeable to and coincide with their sentiments. We always have, and always shall consider, a letter of business from that Nabob, the same as a letter from the Governor-General and Council." Minutes of Evidence on the Trial, p. 1079, and Appendix, p. 547. According to this rule, the letter on which Mr. Hastings laid his superstructure was a letter from himself to himself.

amounting to 18,000 rupees beyond what he had received. The incapacity of CHAP. III. Munny Begum, when compared with Mahomed Reza, could admit of no dis- 1778. pute; and the pernicious influence of the eunuchs who governed her delayed not in giving Hastings uneasiness. On the 10th of October of the same year (1778), he was obliged to write to the Nabob, "that the affairs both of the Phouzdary and Adaulut were in the greatest confusion imaginable, and that daily robberies and murders were perpetrated throughout the country;-that his dependants and people, actuated by selfish and avaricious views, had by their interference so impeded the business of justice, as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion."

condemn this

be reversed.

Meanwhile the report of this transaction was received in England; and the The Directors Court of Directors, in their letter of the 4th of February, transmit their senti- proceeding, ments upon it in the following terms: "We by no means approve your late and order it to proceedings on the application of the Nabob Mubarek ul Dowla for the removal of the Naib Subahdar. In regard to the Nabob's desire to take charge of his own affairs, we find it declared by one of your own members, and not contradicted, that the Nabob is, in his own person, utterly incapable of executing any of those offices which were deemed of essential importance to the welfare of the country. The Nabob's letters leave us no doubt of the true design of this extraordinary business being, to bring forward Munny Begum, and again to invest her with improper power and influence, notwithstanding our former declaration, that so great a part of the Nabob's allowance had been embezzled, or misapplied, under her superintendance. You have requested this inexperienced young man, to permit all the present judges and officers of the Nizamut and Phousdary Adauluts, or courts of criminal justice, and also all the Phousdars or officers appointed to guard the peace of the country, to continue in office until he the Nabob shall have formed a plan for a new arrangement of those offices: And it is with equal surprise and concern, that we observe this request introduced, and the Nabob's ostensible rights so solemnly asserted at this period by our Governor-General; because, on a late occasion, to serve a very different purpose, he has not scrupled to declare it as visible as the light of the sun, that the Nabob is a mere pageant, and without even the shadow of authority. No circumstance has happened, since that declaration was made, to render the Nabob more independent, nor to give him any additional degree of power or consequence; you must therefore have been well apprised that your late concessions to Mubarek ul Dowla were unnecessary, and as such unwarrantable. As we deem it for the welfare of the country, that the office of Naib 3 F

VOL. IL

1778.

BOOK V. Subahdar be for the present continued, and that this high office should be filled by a person of wisdom, experience, and approved fidelity to the Company; and as we have no reason to alter our opinion of Mahomed Reza Khan, we positively direct, that you forthwith signify to the Nabob Mubarek al Dowla our pleasure, that Mahomed Reza Khan be immediately restored to the office of Naib Subahdar." *

Relations with

The state of the relations between the Company's government and the Mahthe Mahratta ratta powers had for some time pressed with considerable weight upon the attenState, a source of uneasiness. tion of the Council. The treaty which had been concluded by Colonel Upton, commonly distinguished by the title of the treaty of Poorunder, had left the minds of the governing party at Poonah, and those of the Bombay Presidency, in a state of mutual jealousy and dissatisfaction. The occupation of Salsette, and the other concessions which had been extorted, but above all the countenance and protection still afforded to Ragoba, rankled in the minds of the Poonah ministry; while the Bombay rulers, condemned and frustrated by the Supreme Council, but encouraged by the approbation of the Court of Directors, stood upon the watch for any plausible opportunity of evading or infringing the treaty. Colonel Upton, though he remained at Poonah till the commencement of the year 1777, departed before any of the material stipulations had been carried into effect. Futty Sing, as by the treaty it had been rendered his interest, disavowed his right to alienate in favour of the Company any portion of the Guicawar dominions; and the Poonah Council made use of the favour shown to Ragoba, as a pretext for delaying or evading the concessions they had made.

A new feature was soon added to these disputes, by the arrival of a French ship in one of the Mahratta ports, and the reception given at Poonah to some gentlemen whom she landed, as on a mission from the king of France. This circumstance strongly excited English jealousy and fears. The object at which the French were supposed to aim, was the establishment of a factory at Poonah; and the acquisition of a sea-port on the coast of Malabar. The acquisition of these advantages would enable them, it was apprehended, to sustain a competition with the English in matters of trade, and to annoy them seriously in a period of war. The asseverations of the Mahratta government, that nothing was in view prejudicial to the Company, gave little satisfaction. Colonel Upton,

* Fifth Report, ut supra, p. 24-32, and App. No. 6; also the charges against Mr. Hastings, No. 17, with Mr. Hastings's answer; see also the Evidence both for the Prosecution and Defence in Minutes of Evidence, ut supra.