1783. Book V. the facts which were asserted in the complaints of the Vizir, or represented the actions with which he was charged, as actions to the performance of which he was by the tenor of his instructions compelled, actions absolutely necessary to accomplish the ends which the English government had in view, actions attended with beneficial effects, and performed with all the delicacy possible towards the Vizir. The complaints he represented as flowing solely from the minister, to whose interests all reform was adverse, who had opposed it, in every instance, with all the power of eastern subtlety, with all the power of a despotic influence tyrannically exercised over the helpless Vizir, and with all the effect which could be given to this power by a hold upon the ear of the Governor-General. On hearing this defence, the Council-General, with the exception of Mr. Hastings, the accuser, unanimously declared, that no misconduct on the part of Mr. Bristow had been proved; and by their decision pronounced a heavy condemnation of their chief. Nothing seems better supported than, by the evidence, the opinion which the minute of Mr. Macpherson expressed, "That Mr. Bristow has fully refuted the accusations advanced against him; and that, if they had in some degree been established, they would lie more against the Board than against Mr. Bristow, who continually advised them of his endeavours to carry his instructions into effect." Governor-Ge removing the Oude. The Governor-General meditated an important change, in the relations between neral's plan for the Nabob of Oude, and the English government. He moved that in conformity residency from with the proposal of the Vizir, and his minister, the English residency should be withdrawn, and the joint security of the Nabob and the minister taken for the discharge of the obligations which the Company held upon the government of Oude. In the instructions, to which reference has so frequently been made, of Hastings to Bristow, "The Nabob," it was said, "has repeatedly and bitterly complained of the indignity which he suffers in his authority, by the usurpation of the Company's residents; and has repeatedly demanded, that whenever the Company's balance shall be completely discharged, he may be freed from this vexation, that he may be permitted to pay the subsidy in ready money; and that the assignments which have been granted to satisfy that demand may be restored him." The quarter from which this proposition proceeded, Mr. Hastings at the same time declared, was no secret to him. It proceeded, he said, from Hyder Beg Khan. He added, "It may not, however, be amiss to talk with the minister on this subject; to let him know, that it is well understood to be a demand for substituting his authority in the place of the Company's, and to invest him with the sovereignty of the Vizir's dominions:" Words, which are 1783. pregnant with meaning; first declaring, that the authority, exercised by the CHAP. VIII. Company, embraced the sovereignty of the Vizir's dominions, though, for the sake of criminating Mr. Bristow, he could erect every interference in that sovereignty into an act of guilt; and secondly declaring, that to withdraw the English residency from Oude, was to deliver over the Vizir and his sovereignty into the hands of Hyder Beg, whose character he painted in the blackest colours. Yet, at the very moment, when he was proposing to offer up this sacrifice of the Vizir and his sovereignty to the cupidity and tyranny of Hyder Beg Khan, he was not restrained from the glaring hypocrisy of expressing a deep concern for the indignity which he pretended the Vizir had sustained, by the part which the English resident had acted, in endeavouring to reform his government, and check the malversations of the minister by whom he was oppressed. 66 At the very time, however, of penning his instructions, Mr. Hastings stated that he had an inclination to the present measure. "I confess," says he, " that I did myself give encouragement to this proposition; knowing at the same time the quarter from which it came, I mean from Hyder Beg Khan; but willing to exonerate this government from the trouble and responsibility, and the Company from the disgrace, of whatever might attend the administration of the Nabob's government. I thought, too, that it presented a sure prospect of the regular payment of the current demands, by the penalty, which would attend the failure, in the resumption of the former system of assignments, and in the personal claims which it would lay on the minister. But his misconduct has since manifested itself in so many particular instances-besides the universal disorder of the country; and this is so alarming in its effects to our government, that I shall hesitate, until I have the surest and most satisfactory grounds, to recommend an acquiescence in such a measure." What change there was in the grounds, except for the worse, in the few months between the time when this was written, and the date of his motion, does not appear. Another point is also remarkable. In the conversation which the Governor-General recommended to the resident to hold with the minister on this subject, he desired him to ask, provided the sovereignty of the Vizir's dominions according to the terms of his proposition were transfered to him, "Whether, in the event of his involving our government in a new scene of hostilities, by those which his mal-administration may produce, whether internally, or by invasion in that country, he shall think himself in justice exempt from the personal vengeance which we may be disposed to exact from him." In the first letter of complaint, which was received from the Vizir against Mr. 1783. Book V. Bristow, the proposition for the removal of the residency, and the appointment of Hyder Beg Khan to the entire management of the country, was renewed; and made Mr. Stables, in his Minute in Council on the 19th of May, 1783, declare, that this was the "great object which the minister, and" (the cypher in his hands) "his master, had in view, in preferring their complaints against the resident." Mr. Stables added, "In justice and candour to the Nawab Vizir and his minister, I think the Board ought explicitly to declare, that they cannot, on any account, comply with the Vizir's request, to grant him discretional powers over his country, while such heavy debts remain due to the Company." In the debate, too, in Council, of the 31st of July, after the proposition was formally moved by the Governor-General, it met with the opposition of all the other Members of the Board. The tone of the Governor-General, however, after the opposition had lasted for a little time, grew so high, as to intimidate his colleagues; threatening them with the inconveniences of a divided administration, and the loss of his authority in the difficulties which attended the government of Oude. They were, therefore, induced to offer on the 31st of December to acquiesce in his proposal, provided he would take the whole responsibility of the consequences upon himself. This, however, was a load which the GovernorGeneral declined. It was afterwards explained, that responsibility with his fortune, or a pecuniary responsibility, was not understood. Responsibility, thus limited, which, in fact, was no responsibility at all, leaving nothing to be affected but his reputation, which it was impossible to exempt, he had no objection to undergo. On the 31st of December, it was determined, that the residency should be withdrawn; on receiving the security of creditable bankers for the balance which the Nabob owed to the Company, and for the accruing demands of the current year. The practice of Mr. Hast Many grounds of suspicion are laid in this transaction. From one remarkable ings, to suborn fact, they derive the greatest corroboration. There is great reason to believe, letters, of any that the letters which were written in the name of the Nabob, complaining of purport which he happened Bristow, were in fact suborned by the Governor-General, written in consequence of instructions, that is, commands, secretly conveyed. to require. When Mr. Bristow was removed, just before the first journey of the GovernorGeneral towards Oude, the removal was in like manner preceded by violent complaints from the Nabob. These complaints were suborned. Mr. Hastings himself, when proposing the return of Mr. Bristow in 1782, informs the Nabob's Vakeel, that "His Highness," meaning the Nabob, "had been well pleased with Mr. Bristow, and that he knew what the Nabob had written formerly was at the instigation of Mr. Middleton." * The instigation of Mr. Middleton was the CHAP. VIII. instigation of Mr. Hastings. Besides, it is in evidence, that this was not a singular case. It was the ordinary mode of procedure, established between Mr. Hastings and the Nabob. There was, it appears, a regular concert, that the Nabob should never write a public letter respecting the residents or their proceedings, till he had first learned privately what Mr. Hastings wished that he should express, and that he then wrote accordingly. This appeared most fully, after the departure of Mr. Hastings, when the Nabob proposed to carry on the same practice with his successor. In a letter, received on the 21st of April, 1785, "I desire," says the Vizir, “nothing but your satisfaction: And hope, that such orders as relate to the friendship between the Company and me, and as may be your pleasure, may be written in your private letters to me through Major Palmer, in your letters to the Major, that he may in obedience to your orders properly explain them to me, and whatever may be settled he may first, in secret, inform you of it, and afterwards I may write to you, having learnt your pleasure-in this way, the secrets will be known to your mind alone, and the advice upon all the concerns will be given in a proper manner." The same thing is still more clearly expressed by the minister Hyder Beg Khan, on the same occasion. "I hope that such orders and commands as relate to the friendship between his Highness's and the Company's governments, and to your will, may be sent through Major Palmer in your own private letters, or in your letters to the Major, who is appointed from you at the presence of his Highness, that, in obedience to your orders, he may properly explain your commands, and whatever affair may be settled, he may first secretly inform you of it, and afterward his Highness may, conformably thereto, write an answer, and I also may represent it. By this system, your pleasure will always be fully made known to his Highness, and his Highness and me will execute whatever may be your orders, without deviating a hair's breadth." When it was the intention of Mr. Hastings that Mr. Bristow, who had been withdrawn upon complaints, which, without any dislike to Mr. Bristow, the Nabob through Middleton had been instructed to prefer, that obedient sovereign was instructed to make an application of a very different description. "The Governor," said the Nabob's Vakeel in the Arzee already quoted, "directed me to forward to the presence, that it was his wish, * Extract of an Arzee, written (27th August, 1782) from Rajah Gobind Ram to the Vizir, by the Governor-General's directions. Minutes of Evidence, ut supra, p. 795 1783. 1783. Book V. that your Highness would write a letter to him; and, as from yourself, request. of him that Mr. Bristow may be appointed to Lucknow." In his answer to the Vakeel the Nabob curiously says, "As to the wishes of Mr. Hastings, that I should write for him to send Mr. John Bristow, it would have been proper, and necessary, for you, privately to have understood what were Mr. Hastings' real intentions: Whether the choice of sending Mr. John Bristow was his own desire: Or, whether it was in compliance with Mr. Macpherson's-that I might then have written conformably thereto.-Writings are now sent to you for both cases. Having privately understood the wishes of Mr. Hastings, deliver whichever of the writings he shall order you."*-After all this, and after the threats of Mr. Hastings against all letters from the Nabob which he might dislike, the meaning of the letters complaining of Bristow, cannot be misunderstood. It was a shrewd surmise of the Nabob, respecting Macpherson: who had become recently a Member of the Supreme Council, and whose support Mr. Hastings might require. The accusations, which the Governor-General afterwards aimed at Mr. Macpherson for supporting Bristow, fall in, at least, with the conjecture. The Governor- to Oude. The cause which prompted so violent a desire for his recall is involved in comparative mystery. We can trace a kind of analogy. As the preceding removal of Mr. Bristow was immediately followed by the first visit of the Governor-General to the Nabob; so the present removal was immediately followed by another. This, undoubtedly, proves nothing against Mr. Hastings: But if there be any other grounds for suspicion, this tends to confirm them. If these visits were intended for any unjustifiable transactions between the Governor and Nabob, the removal of a witness, whose compliance could not be depended upon, was just the proceeding which in such circumstances every man would have adopted. Before the removal of the residency was finally settled, the Governor-General peats his visit had represented, that a great demand existed for his presence in Oude, to aid in settling the disorders of the country, and in making such arrangements as would enable the Vizir to fulfil his engagements. His journey was opposed by the other Members of the Board. Upon it, however, for some reason or another, the Governor-General had set his heart. A letter was procured from Major Palmer, representing the state of the country as alarming, and urgently requiring the immediate presence of Mr. Hastings; with other letters from the Vizir, and his minister, earnestly requesting to see the Governor-General at Lucknow. The consent of a majority of the Council was at last obtained; and Mr. Hastings was * Minutes of Evidence, ut supra, p. 798, 799, 796. |