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Mr. BURKE's SPEECH, ON THE MOTION MADE FOR PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE DIRECTIONS FOR CHARGING THE NABOB OF ARCOT'S PRIVATE DEBTS TO EUROPEANS, ON THE REVENUES OF THE CARNATIC. FEBRUARY 28th, 1785. WITH AN APPENDIX, containing ſeveral Documents.

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JULIANI Epiſt. 17.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY, PALL-MALL. M.DCC.LXXXV.

ADVERTISEMENT.

[v]

THAT the leaſt informed reader of this Speech may be enabled to enter fully into the ſpirit of the tranſaction on occaſion of which it was delivered, it may be proper to acquaint him, that among the princes dependent on this nation in the ſouthern part of India, the moſt conſiderable at preſent is commonly known by the title of the Nabob of Arcot.

This Prince owed the eſtabliſhment of his government, againſt the claims of his elder brother, as well as thoſe of other competitors, to the arms and influence of the Britiſh Eaſt India Company. Being thus eſtabliſhed in a conſiderable part of the dominions he now poſſeſſes, he began, about the year 1765, to form, at the inſtigation (as he aſſerts) of the ſervants of the Eaſt India Company, a variety of deſigns for the further extenſion of his territories. Some years after, he carried his views to certain objects of interior arrangement, of a very pernicious nature. None of theſe deſigns could be compaſſed without the aid of the Company's arms; nor could thoſe arms be employed conſiſtently with an obedience to the Company's orders. He was therefore adviſed to form a more ſecret, but an equally powerful intereſt among the ſervants of that Company, and among others both at home and abroad. By engaging them in his intereſts, the uſe of the Company's power might be obtained without their oſtenſible authority; the power might even be employed in defiance of the authority, if [vi] the caſe ſhould require, as in truth it often did require, a proceeding of that degree of boldneſs.

The Company had put him into poſſeſſion of ſeveral great cities, and magnificent caſtles. The good order of his affairs, his ſenſe of perſonal dignity, his ideas of oriental ſplendour, and the habits of an Aſiatick life (to which, being a native of India, and a Mahometan, he had from his infancy been enured) would naturally have led him to fix the ſeat of his government within his own dominions. Inſtead of this, he totally ſequeſtered himſelf from his country; and, abandoning all appearance of ſtate, he took up his reſidence in an ordinary houſe, which he purchaſed in the ſuburbs of the Company's factory at Madras. In that place he has lived, without removing one day from thence, for ſeveral years paſt. He has there continued a conſtant cabal with the Company's ſervants, from the higheſt to the loweſt; creating, out of the ruins of the country, brilliant fortunes for thoſe who will, and entirely deſtroying thoſe who will not, be ſubſervient to his purpoſes.

An opinion prevailed, ſtrongly confirmed by ſeveral paſſages in his own letters, as well as by a combination of circumſtances forming a body of evidence which cannot be reſiſted, that very great ſums have been by him diſtributed, through a long courſe of years, to ſome of the Company's ſervants. Beſides theſe preſumed payments in ready money (of which, from the nature of the thing, the direct proof is very difficult) debts have at ſeveral periods been acknowledged to thoſe gentlemen, to an immenſe amount; that is, to ſome millions of ſterling money. There is ſtrong reaſon to ſuſpect, that the body of theſe debts is wholly fictitious, and was never created by money bona fide lent. But even on a ſuppoſition that this vaſt ſum was really advanced, it was impoſſible that the very reality of ſuch an aſtoniſhing tranſaction ſhould not cauſe ſome degree of alarm, and incite to ſome ſort of enquiry.

[vii]It was not at all ſeemly, at a moment when the Company itſelf was ſo diſtreſſed, as to require a ſuſpenſion, by Act of Parliament, of the payment of bills drawn on them from India—and alſo a direct tax upon every houſe in England, in order to facilitate the vent of their goods, and to avoid inſtant inſolvency—at that very moment that their ſervants ſhould appear in ſo flouriſhing a condition, as, beſides ten million of other demands on their maſters, to be entitled to claim a debt of three or four millions more from the territorial revenue of one of their dependent princes.

The oſtenſible pecuniary tranſactions of the Nabob of Arcot, with very private perſons, are ſo enormous, that they evidently ſet aſide every pretence of policy, which might induce a prudent government in ſome inſtances to wink at ordinary looſe practice in ill managed departments. No caution could be too great in handling this matter; no ſcrutiny too exact. It was evidently the intereſt, and as evidently at leaſt in the power, of the creditors, by admitting ſecret participation in this dark and undefined concern, to ſpread corruption to the greateſt and the moſt alarming extent.

Theſe facts relative to the debts were ſo notorious, the opinion of their being a principal ſource of the diſorders of the Britiſh government in India was ſo undiſputed and univerſal, that there was no party, no deſcription of men in parliament, who did not think themſelves bound, if not in honour and conſcience, at leaſt in common decency, to inſtitute a vigorous enquiry into the very bottom of the buſineſs, before they admitted any part of that vaſt and ſuſpicious charge to be laid upon an exhauſted country. Every plan concurred in directing ſuch an enquiry; in order that whatever was diſcovered to be corrupt, fraudulent, or oppreſſive, ſhould lead to a due animadverſion on the offenders; and if any thing fair and equitable in its origin ſhould be found (nobody ſuſpected that much, comparatively ſpeaking, would be ſo found) it might be provided for; [viii] in due ſubordination, however, to the eaſe of the ſubject, and the ſervice of the ſtate.

Theſe were the alledged grounds for an enquiry, ſettled in all the bills brought into parliament relative to India, and there were I think no leſs than four of them. By the bill, commonly called Mr. Pitt's bill, the enquiry was ſpecially, and by expreſs words, committed to the Court of Directors, without any reſerve for the interference of any other perſon or perſons whatſoever. It was ordered that they ſhould make the enquiry into the origin and juſtice of theſe debts, as far as the materials in their poſſeſſion enabled them to proceed; and where they found thoſe materials deficient, they ſhould order the Preſidency of Fort St. George [Madras] to complete the enquiry.

The Court of Directors applied themſelves to the execution of the truſt repoſed in them. They firſt examined into the amount of the debt, which they computed, at compound intereſt, to be £ 2,945,600 ſterling. Whether their mode of computation, either of the original ſums, or the amount on compound intereſt, was exact; that is, whether they took the intereſt too high, or the ſeveral capitals too low, is not material. On whatever principle any of the calculations were made up, none of them found the debt to differ from the recital of the act, which aſſerted, that the ſums claimed were "very large." The laſt head of theſe debts the Directors compute at £. 2,465,680 ſterling. Of the exiſtence of this debt the Directors heard nothing until 1776, and they ſay, that, although they had repeatedly written to the Nabob of Arcot, and to their ſervants, reſpecting the debt, yet they had never been able to trace the origin thereof, or to obtain any ſatisfactory information on the ſubject.’

The Court of Directors, after ſtating the circumſtances under which the debts appeared to them to have been contracted, add as follows, ‘For theſe reaſons [ix] we ſhould have thought it our duty to enquire very minutely into thoſe debts, even if the Act of Parliament had been ſilent on the ſubject, before we concurred in any meaſure for their payment. But with the poſitive injunctions of the Act before us, to examine into their nature and origin, we are indiſpenſably bound to direct ſuch an enquiry to be inſtituted.’ They then order the Preſident and Council of Madras to enter into a full examination, &c. &c.

The Directors having drawn up their order to the Preſidency on theſe principles, communicated the draught of the general letter in which thoſe orders were contained, to the Board of his Majeſty's Miniſters, and other ſervants, lately conſtituted by Mr. Pitt's Eaſt India Act. Theſe Miniſters who had juſt carried through Parliament the Bill ordering a ſpecific enquiry, immediately drew up another letter, on a principle directly oppoſite to that, which was preſcribed by the Act of Parliament, and followed by the Directors. In theſe ſecond orders, all idea of an enquiry into the juſtice and origin of the pretended debts, particularly of the laſt, the greateſt, and the moſt obnoxious to ſuſpicion, is abandoned. They are all admitted and eſtabliſhed without any inveſtigation whatſoever; except ſome private conference with the agents of the claimants is to paſs for an inveſtigation; and a fund for their diſcharge is aſſigned and ſet apart out of the revenues of the Carnatic.—To this arrangement in favour of their ſervants, ſervants ſuſpected of corruption, and convicted of diſobedience, the Directors of the Eaſt India Company were ordered to ſet their hands, aſſerting it to ariſe from their own conviction and opinion, in flat contradiction to their recorded ſentiments, their ſtrong remonſtrance, and their declared ſenſe of their duty, as well under their general truſt and their oath as Directors, as under the expreſs injunctions of an Act of Parliament.

[x]The principles upon which this ſummary proceeding was adopted by the Miniſterial Board, are ſtated by themſelves in a number in the Appendix to this Speech.

By another ſection of the ſame Act, the ſame Court of Directors were ordered to take into conſideration and to decide on the indeterminate rights of the Rajah of Tanjore and the Nabob of Arcot; and in this, as in the former caſe, no power of appeal, reviſion, or alteration was reſerved to any other. It was a juriſdiction, in a cauſe between party and party, given to the Court of Directors ſpecifically. It was known, that the territories of the former of theſe princes had been twice invaded and pillaged, and the prince depoſed and impriſoned, by the Company's ſervants, influenced by the intrigues of the latter, and for the purpoſe of paying his pretended debts. The Company had, in the year 1775, ordered a reſtoration of the Rajah to his government, under certain conditions. The Rajah complained that his territories had not been completely reſtored to him; and that no part of his goods, money, revenues, or records, unjuſtly taken and with-held from him, were ever returned. The Nabob, on the other hand, never ceaſed to claim the country itſelf, and carried on a continued train of negociation, that it ſhould again be given up to him, in violation of the Company's public faith.

The Directors, in obedience to this part of the Act, ordered an enquiry, and came to a determination to reſtore certain of his territories to the Rajah. The Miniſters proceeding as in the former caſe, without hearing any party, reſcinded the deciſion of the Directors, refuſed the reſtitution of the territory, and without regard to the condition of the country of Tanjore, which had been within a few years four times plundered (twice by the Nabob of Arcot, and twice by enemies brought upon it ſolely by the politics of the ſame Nabob, the declared enemy of that people) [xi] and without diſcounting a ſhilling for their ſufferings, they accumulate an arrear of about 400,000 pounds of pretended tribute to this enemy; and then they order the Directors to put their hands to a new adjudication, directly contrary to a judgment, in a judicial character and truſt, ſolemnly given by them, and entered on their records.

Theſe proceedings naturally called for ſome enquiry. On the 28th of February, 1785, Mr. Fox made the following motion in the Houſe of Commons, after moving that the clauſes of the Act ſhould be read— ‘That the proper officer do lay before this Houſe copies and extracts of all letters and orders of the Court of Directors of the United Eaſt India Company, in purſuance of the injunctions contained in the 37th and 38th clauſes of the ſaid Act; and the queſtion being put, it paſſed in the negative by a very great majority.’

The laſt ſpeech in the debate was the following; which is given to the public, not as being more worthy of its attention than others (ſome of which were of conſummate ability) but as entering more into the detail of the ſubject.

SPEECH, &c.

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THE times we live in, Mr. Speaker, have been diſtinguiſhed by extraordinary events. Habituated, however, as we are, to uncommon combinations of men and of affairs, I believe nobody recollects any thing more ſurpriſing than the ſpectacle of this day. The right honourable gentleman*, whoſe conduct is now in queſtion, formerly ſtood forth in this houſe, the proſecutor of the worthy baronet who ſpoke after him. He charged him with ſeveral grievous acts of malverſation in office; with abuſes of a public truſt of a great and heinous nature. In leſs than two years we ſee the ſituation of the parties reverſed; and a ſingular revolution puts the worthy baronet in a fair way of returning the proſecution in a recriminatory bill of Pains and Penalties, grounded on a breach of public truſt, relative to the government of the very ſame part of India. If he ſhould undertake a bill of that kind, he will find no difficulty in conducting it with a degree of ſkill and vigour fully equal to all that have been exerted againſt him.

But the change of relation between theſe two gentlemen is not ſo ſtriking as the total difference [2] of their deportment under the ſame unhappy circumſtances. Whatever the merits of the worthy baronet's defence might have been, he did not ſhrink from the charge. He met it with manlineſs of ſpirit, and decency of behaviour. What would have been thought of him, if he had held the preſent language of his old accuſer? When articles were exhibited againſt him by that right honourable gentleman, he did not think proper to tell the Houſe that we ought to inſtitute no enquiry, to inſpect no paper, to examine no witneſs. He did not tell us (what at that time he might have told us with ſome ſhew of reaſon) that our concerns in India were matters of delicacy; that to divulge any thing relative to them would be miſchievous to the ſtate. He did not tell us, that thoſe who would enquire into his proceedings were diſpoſed to diſmember the empire. He had not the preſumption to ſay, that for his part, having obtained in his Indian preſidency, the ultimate object of his ambition, his honour was concerned in executing with integrity the truſt which had been legally committed to his charge. That others, not having been ſo fortunate, could not be ſo diſintereſted; and therefore their accuſations could ſpring from no other ſource than faction, and envy to his fortune.

Had he been frontleſs enough to hold ſuch vain vapouring language in the face of a grave, a detailed, a ſpecified matter of accuſation, whilſt he violently reſiſted every thing which could bring the merits of his cauſe to the teſt; had he been wild enough to anticipate the abſurdities of this day; that is, had he inferred, as his late accuſer has thought proper to do, that he could not have been guilty of malverſation in office, for this ſole and curious reaſon, that he had been in office; had he argued the impoſſibility of his abuſing his power on this [3] ſole principle, that he had power to abuſe, he would have left but one impreſſion on the mind of every man who heard him, and who believed him in his ſenſes—that in the utmoſt extent he was guilty of the charge.

But, Sir, leaving theſe two gentlemen to alternate, as criminal and accuſer, upon what principles they think expedient; it is for us to conſider, Whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Treaſurer of the Navy, acting as a Board of Control, are juſtified by law or policy, in ſuſpending the legal arrangements made by the Court of Directors, in order to transfer the public revenues to the private emolument of certain ſervants of the Eaſt India Company, without the enquiry into the origin and juſtice of their claims, preſcribed by an act of Parliament?

It is not contended, that the act of parliament did not expreſsly ordain an enquiry. It is not aſſerted that this enquiry was not, with equal preciſion of terms, ſpecially committed under particular regulations to the Court of Directors. I conceive, therefore, the Board of Control had no right whatſoever to intermeddle in that buſineſs. There is nothing certain in the principles of juriſprudence, if this be not undeniably true, that when a ſpecial authority is given to any perſons by name, to do ſome particular act, that no others, by virtue of general powers, can obtain a legal title to intrude themſelves into that truſt, and to exerciſe thoſe ſpecial functions in their place. I therefore conſider the intermeddling of miniſters in this affair as a downright uſurpation. But if the ſtrained conſtruction, by which they have forced themſelves into a ſuſpicious office (which every man, delicate with regard to character, would rather have ſought conſtructions to avoid) were perfectly ſound and perfectly legal, of this I am certain, that they cannot be [4] juſtified in declining the enquiry which had been preſcribed to the Court of Directors. If the Board of Control did lawfully poſſeſs the right of executing the ſpecial truſt given to that court, they muſt take it as they found it, ſubject to the very ſame regulations which bound the Court of Directors. It will be allowed that the Court of Directors had no authority to diſpense with either the ſubſtance, or the mode of enquiry preſcribed by the act of parliament. If they had not, where, in the act, did the Board of Control acquire that capacity? Indeed, it was impoſſible they ſhould acquire it.—What muſt we think of the fabric and texture of an act of parliament which ſhould find it neceſſary to preſcribe a ſtrict inquiſition; that ſhould deſcend into minute regulations for the conduct of that inquiſition; that ſhould commit this truſt to a particular deſcription of men, and in the very ſame breath ſhould enable another body, at their own pleaſure, to ſuperfede all the proviſions the legiſlature had made, and to defeat the whole purpoſe, end, and object of the law? This cannot be ſuppoſed even of an act of parliament conceived by the Miniſters themſelves, and brought forth during the delirium of the laſt ſeſſion.

My honourable friend has told you in the ſpeech which introduced his motion, that fortunately this queſtion is not a great deal involved in the labyrinths of Indian detail. Certainly not. But if it were, I beg leave to aſſure you, that there is nothing in the Indian detail which is more difficult than in the detail of any other buſineſs. I admit, becauſe I have ſome experience of the fact, that for the interior regulation of India, a minute knowledge of India is requiſite. But on any ſpecific matter of delinquency in its government, you are as capable of judging, as if the ſame thing were done at your door. Fraud, injuſtice, oppreſſion, peculation, engendered in India, are crimes of the ſame blood, [5] family, and caſt, with thoſe that are born and bred in England. To go no farther than the caſe before us; you are juſt as competent to judge whether the ſum of four millions ſterling ought, or ought not, to be paſſed from the public treaſury into a private pocket, without any title except the claim of the parties, when the iſſue of fact is laid in Madras, as when it is laid in Weſtminſter. Terms of art, indeed, are different in different places; but they are generally underſtood in none. The technical ſtyle of an Indian treaſury, is not one jot more remote than the jargon of our own exchequer, from the train of our ordinary ideas, or the idiom of our common language. The difference therefore in the two caſes, is not in the comparative difficulty or facility of the two ſubjects, but in our attention to the one, and our total neglect of the other. Had this attention and neglect been regulated by the value of the ſeveral objects, there would be nothing to complain of. But the reverſe of that ſuppoſition is true. The ſcene of the Indian abuſe is diſtant indeed; but we muſt not infer, that the value of our intereſt in it is decreaſed in proportion as it recedes from our view. In our politics, as in our common conduct, we ſhall be worſe than infants, if we do not put our ſenſes under the tuition of our judgment, and effectually cure ourſelves of that optical illuſion, which makes a briar at our noſe of greater magnitude, than an oak at five hundred yards diſtance.

I think I can trace all the calamities of this country to the ſingle ſource of our not having had ſteadily before our eyes a general, comprehenſive, well-connected, and well-proportioned view of the whole of our dominions, and a juſt ſenſe of their true bearings and relations. After all its reductions, the Britiſh empire is ſtill vaſt and various. After all the reductions of the Houſe of Commons, (ſtripped as we are of our brighteſt ornaments, and [6] of our moſt important privileges) enough are yet left to furniſh us, if we pleaſe, with means of ſhewing to the world, that we deſerve the ſuperintendance of as large an empire as this kingdom ever held, and the continuance of as ample privileges as the Houſe of Commons, in the plenitude of its power, had been habituated to aſſert. But if we make ourſelves too little for the ſphere of our duty; if, on the contrary, we do not ſtretch and expand our minds to the compaſs of their object, be well aſſured, that every thing about us will dwindle by degrees, until at length our concerns are ſhrunk to the dimenſions of our minds. It is not a predilection to mean, ſordid, home-bred cares, that will avert the conſequences of a falſe eſtimation of our intereſt, or prevent the ſhameful dilapidation into which a great empire muſt fall, by mean reparations upon mighty ruins.

I confeſs I feel a degree of diſguſt, almoſt leading to deſpair, at the manner in which we are acting in the great exigencies of our country. There is now a bill in this houſe, appointing a rigid inquiſition into the minuteſt detail of our offices at home. The collection of ſixteen millions annually; a collection on which the public greatneſs, ſafety, and credit have their reliance; the whole order of criminal juriſprudence, which holds together ſociety itſelf, have at no time obliged us to call forth ſuch powers; no, nor any thing like them. There is not a principle of the law and conſtitution of this country that is not ſubverted to favour the execution of that project *. And for what is all this apparatus of buſtle and terror? Is it becauſe any thing ſubſtantial is expected from it? No. The ſtir and buſtle itſelf is the end propoſed. The eye-ſervants of a ſhort-ſighted maſter will employ [7] themſelves, not on what is moſt eſſential to his affairs, but on what is neareſt to his ken. Great difficulties have given a juſt value to oeconomy; and our miniſter of the day muſt be an oeconomiſt, whatever it may coſt us. But where is he to exert his talents? At home to be ſure; for where elſe can he obtain a profitable credit for their exertion? It is nothing to him, whether the object on which he works under our eye be promiſing or not. If he does not obtain any public benefit, he may make regulations without end. Thoſe are ſure to pay in preſent expectation, whilſt the effect is at a diſtance, and may be the concern of other times, and other men. On theſe principles he chooſes to ſuppoſe (for he does not pretend more than to ſuppoſe) a naked poſſibility, that he ſhall draw ſome reſource out of crumbs dropped from the trenchers of penury; that ſomething ſhall be laid in ſtore from the ſhort allowance of revenue officers, overloaded with duty, and famiſhed for want of bread; by a reduction from officers who are at this very hour ready to batter the treaſury with what breaks through ſtone walls, for an increaſe of their appointments. From the marrowleſs bones of theſe ſkeleton eſtabliſhments, by the uſe of every ſort of cutting, and of every ſort of fretting tool, he flatters himſelf that he may chip and raſp an empirical alimentary powder, to diet into ſome ſimilitude of health and ſubſtance the languiſhing chimeras of fraudulent reformation.

Whilſt he is thus employed according to his policy and to his taſte, he has not leiſure to enquire into thoſe abuſes in India that are drawing off money by millions from the treaſures of this country, which are exhauſting the vital juices from members of the ſtate, where the public inanition is far more ſorely felt than in the local exchequer of England. Not content with winking at theſe [8] abuſes, whilſt he attempts to ſqueeze the laborious ill-paid drudges of Engliſh revenue, he laviſhes in one act of corrupt prodigality, upon thoſe who never ſerved the public in any honeſt occupation at all, an annual income equal to two thirds of the whole collection of the revenues of this kingdom.

Actuated by the ſame principle of choice, he has now on the anvil another ſcheme, full of difficulty and deſperate hazard, which totally alters the commercial relation of two kingdoms; and what end ſoever it ſhall have, may bequeath a legacy of heart-burning and diſcontent to one of the countries, perhaps to both, to be perpetuated to the lateſt poſterity. This project is alſo undertaken on the hope of profit. It is provided, that out of ſome (I know not what) remains of the Iriſh hereditary revenue, a fund at ſome time, and of ſome ſort, ſhould be applied to the protection of the Iriſh trade. Here we are commanded again to taſk our faith, and to perſuade ourſelves, that out of the ſurplus of deficiency, out of the ſavings of habitual and ſyſtematic prodigality, the miniſter of wonders will provide ſupport for this nation, ſinking under the mountainous load of two hundred and thirty millions of debt. But whilſt we look with pain at his deſperate and laborious trifling; whilſt we are apprehenſive that he will break his back in ſtooping to pick up chaff and ſtraws, he recovers himſelf at an elaſtic bound, and with a broad-caſt ſwing of his arm, he ſquanders over his Indian field a ſum far greater than the clear produce of the whole hereditary revenue of the kingdom of Ireland *

[9]Strange as this ſcheme of conduct in miniſtry is, and inconſiſtent with all juſt policy, it is ſtill true to itſelf, and faithful to its own perverted order. Thoſe who are bountiful to crimes, will be rigid to merit, and penurious to ſervice. Their penury is even held out as a blind and cover to their prodigality. The oeconomy of injuſtice is, to furniſh reſources for the fund of corruption. Then they pay off their protection to great crimes and great criminals, by being nexorable to the paltry frailties of little men; and theſe modern flagellants are ſure, with a rigid fidelity, to whip their own enormities on the vicarious back of every ſmall offender.

It is to draw your attention to oeconomy of quite another order; it is to animadvert on offences of a far different deſcription, that my honourable friend has brought before you the motion of this day. It is to perpetuate the abuſes which are ſubverting the fabric of your empire, that the motion is oppoſed. It is therefore with reaſon (and if he has power to carry himſelf through, I commend his prudence) that the right honourable gentleman makes his ſtand at the very outſet; and boldly refuſes all parliamentary information. Let him admit but one ſtep towards enquiry, and he is undone. You muſt be ignorant, or he cannot be ſafe. But before his curtain is let down, and the ſhades of eternal night ſhall veil our eaſtern dominions from our view, permit me, Sir, to avail myſelf of the means which were furniſhed in anxious and inquiſitive times, to demonſtrate out of this ſingle act of the preſent Miniſter, what advantages you are to derive from permitting the greateſt concern of this nation to be ſeparated from the cognizance, and exempted [10] even out of the competence, of parliament. The greateſt body of your revenue, your moſt numerous armies, your moſt important commerce, the richeſt ſources of your public credit, (contrary to every idea of the known ſettled policy of England) are on the point of being converted into a myſtery of ſtate. You are going to have one half of the globe hid even from the common liberal curioſity of an Engliſh gentleman. Here a grand revolution commences. Mark the period, and mark the circumſtances. In moſt of the capital changes that are recorded in the principles and ſyſtem of any government, a public benefit of ſome kind or other has been pretended. The revolution commenced in ſomething plauſible; in ſomething which carried the appearance at leaſt of puniſhment of delinquency, or correction of abuſe. But here, in the very moment of the converſion of a department of Britiſh government into an Indian myſtery, and in the very act in which the change commences, a corrupt, private intereſt is ſet up in direct oppoſition to the neceſſities of the nation. A diverſion is made of millions of the public money from the public treaſury to a private purſe. It is not into ſecret negociations for war, peace, or alliance, that the Houſe of Commons is forbidden to enquire. It is a matter of account; it is a pecuniary tranſaction; it is the demand of a ſuſpected ſteward upon ruined tenants and an embarraſſed maſter, that the Commons of Great Britain are commanded not to inſpect. The whole tenor of the right honourable gentleman's argument is conſonant to the nature of his policy. The ſyſtem of concealment is foſtered by a ſyſtem of falſehood. Falſe facts, falſe colours, falſe names of perſons and things, are its whole ſupport.

Sir, I mean to follow the right honourable gentleman [11] over that field of deception, clearing what he has purpoſely obſcured, and fairly ſtating what it was neceſſary for him to miſrepreſent. For this purpoſe, it is neceſſary you ſhould know with ſome degree of diſtinctneſs, a little of the locality, the nature, the circumſtances, the magnitude of the pretended debts on which this marvellous donation is founded, as well as of the perſons from whom and by whom it is claimed.

Madras, with its dependencies, is the ſecond (but with a long interval, the ſecond) member of the Britiſh empire in the Eaſt. The trade of that city, and of the adjacent territory, was, not very long ago, among the moſt flouriſhing in Aſia. But ſince the eſtabliſhment of the Britiſh power, it has waſted away under an uniform gradual decline; inſomuch that in the year 1779 not one merchant of eminence was to be found in the whole country*. During this period of decay, about ſix hundred thouſand ſterling pounds a year have been drawn off by Engliſh gentlemen on their private account, by the way of China alone . If we add four hundred thouſand, as probably remitted through other channels, and in other mediums, that is, in jewels, gold, and ſilver directly brought to Europe, and in bills upon the Britiſh and foreign companies, you will ſcarcely think the matter over-rated. If we ſix the commencement of this extraction of money from the Carnatic at a period no earlier than the year 1760, and cloſe it in the year 1780, it probably will not amount to a great deal leſs than twenty millions of money.

During the deep ſilent flow of this ſteady ſtream of wealth, which ſet from India into Europe, it [12] generally paſſed on with no adequate obſervation; but happening at ſome periods to meet rifts of rocks that checked its courſe, it grew more noiſy, and attracted more notice. The pecuniary diſcuſſions cauſed by an accumulation of part of the fortunes of their ſervants in a debt from the Nabob of Arcot, was the firſt thing which very particularly called for, and long engaged, the attention of the Court of Directors. This debt amounted to eight hundred and eighty thouſand pounds ſterling, and was claimed, for the greater part, by Engliſh gentlemen, reſiding at Madras. This grand capital, ſettled at length by order, at ten per cent. afforded an annuity of eighty-eight thouſand pounds *.

Whilſt the Directors were digeſting their aſtoniſhment at this information, a memorial was preſented to them from three gentlemen, informing them that their friends had lent likewiſe, to merchants of Canton in China, a ſum of not more than one million ſterling. In this memorial they called upon the Company for their aſſiſtance and interpoſition with the Chineſe government for the recovery of the debt. This ſum lent to Chineſe merchants, was at 24 per cent. which would yield, if paid, an annuity of two hundred and forty thouſand pounds .

Perplexed as the Directors were with theſe demands, you may conceive, Sir, that they did not find themſelves very much diſembarraſſed, by being made acquainted that they muſt again exert their influence for a new reſerve of the happy parſimony of their ſervants, collected into a ſecond debt from [13] the Nabob of Arcot, amounting to two millions four hundred thouſand pounds, ſettled at an intereſt of 12 per cent. This is known by the name of the Conſolidation of 1777, as the former of the Nabob's debts was by the title of the Conſolidation of 1767. To this was added, in a ſeparate parcel, a little reſerve called the Cavalry Debt, of one hundred and ſixty thouſand pounds, at the ſame intereſt. The whole of theſe four capitals, amounting to four millions four hundred and forty thouſand pounds, produced at their ſeveral rates, annuities amounting to ſix hundred and twenty-three thouſand pounds a year; a good deal more than one third of the clear land-tax of England, at four ſhillings in the pound; a good deal more than double the whole annual dividend of the Eaſt India Company, the nominal maſters to the proprietors in theſe funds. Of this intereſt, three hundred and eighty-three thouſand two hundred pound a year ſtood chargeable on the public revenues of the Carnatic.

Sir, at this moment, it will not be neceſſary to conſider the various operations which the capital and intereſt of this debt have ſucceſſively undergone. I ſhall ſpeak to theſe operations when I come particularly to anſwer the right honourable gentleman on each of the heads, as he has thought proper to divide them. But this was the exact view in which theſe debts firſt appeared to the Court of Directors, and to the world. It varied afterwards. But it never appeared in any other than a moſt queſtionable ſhape. When this gigantic phantom of debt firſt appeared before a young miniſter, it naturally would have juſtified ſome degree of doubt and apprehenſion. Such a prodigy would have filled any common man with ſuperſtitious fears. He would exorciſe that ſhapeleſs, nameleſs form, and by every thing ſacred would have adjured it to tell by what means [14] a ſmall number of ſlight individuals, of no conſequence or ſituation, poſſeſſed of no lucrative offices, without the command of armies, or the known adminiſtration of revenues, without profeſſion of any kind, without any ſort of trade ſufficient to employ a pedlar, could have, in a few years (as to ſome even in a few months) have amaſſed treaſures equal to the revenues of a reſpectable kingdom? Was it not enough to put theſe gentlemen, in the noviciate of their adminiſtration, on their guard, and to call upon them for a ſtrict enquiry (if not to juſtify them in a reprobation of thoſe demands without any enquiry at all) that when all England, Scotland, and Ireland, had for years been witneſs to the immenſe ſums laid out by the ſervants of the Company in ſtocks of all denominations, in the purchaſe of lands, in the buying and building of houſes, in the ſecuring quiet ſeats in parliament, or in the tumultuous riot of conteſted elections, in wandering throughout the whole range of thoſe variegated modes of inventive prodigality; which ſometimes have excited our wonder, ſometimes rouſed our indignation; that after all India was four millions ſtill in debt to them? India in debt to them! For what? Every debt for which an equivalent of ſome kind or other is not given, is on the face of it a fraud. What is the equivalent they have given? What equivalent had they to give? What are the articles of commerce, or the branches of manufacture which thoſe gentlemen have carried hence to enrich India? What are the ſciences they beamed out to enlighten it? What are the arts they introduced to chear and to adorn it? What are the religious, what the moral inſtitutions they have taught among that people as a guide to life, or as a conſolation when life is to be no more, that there is an eternal debt, a debt "ſtill paying, ſtill to owe," which muſt [15] be bound on the preſent generation in India, and entailed on their mortgaged poſterity for ever? A debt of millions, in favour of a ſet of men, whoſe names, with few exceptions, are either buried in the obſcurity of their origin and talents, or dragged into light by the enormity of their crimes?

In my opinion the courage of the miniſter was the moſt wonderful part of the tranſaction, eſpecially as he muſt have read, or rather the right honourable gentleman ſays, he has read for him, whole volumes upon the ſubject. The volumes, by the way, are not by one tenth part ſo numerous as the right honourable, gentleman has thought proper to pretend, in order to frighten you from enquiry; but in theſe volumes, ſuch as they are, the miniſter muſt have found a full authority for a ſuſpicion (at the very leaſt) of every thing relative to the great fortunes made at Madras. What is that authority? Why no other than the ſtanding authority for all the claims which the Miniſtry has thought fit to provide for—the grand debtor— the Nabob of Arcot himſelf. Hear that Prince, in the letter written to the Court of Directors, at the preciſe period, whilſt the main body of theſe debts were contracting. In his Letter he ſtates himſelf to be, what undoubtedly he is, a moſt competent witneſs to this point. After ſpeaking of the war with Hyder Ali in 1768 and 1769, and of other meaſures which he cenſures (whether right or wrong it ſignifies nothing) and into which he ſays he had been led by the Company's ſervants; he proceeds in this manner— If all theſe things were againſt the real intereſts of the Company, they are ten thouſand times more againſt mine, and againſt the proſperity of my country, and the happineſs of my people; for your intereſts and mine are the ſame. What were they owing to then? to the private views of a few individuals, who have [16] enriched themſelves at the expence of your influence, and of my country; for your ſervants HAVE NO TRADE IN THIS COUNTRY; neither do you pay them high wages, yet in a few years they return to England, with many lacks of pagodas. How can you or I account for ſuch immenſe fortunes, acquired in ſo ſhort a time, without any viſible means of getting them?’

When he aſked this queſtion, which involves its anſwer, it is extraordinary that curioſity did not prompt the Chancellor of the Exchequer to that enquiry which might come in vain recommended to him by his own act of parliament. Does not the Nabob of Arcot tell us in ſo many words, that there was no fair way of making the enormous ſums ſent by the Company's ſervants to England? and do you imagine that there was or could be more honeſty and good faith in the demands, for what remained behind in India? Of what nature were the tranſactions with himſelf? If you follow the train of his information you muſt ſee, that if theſe great ſums were at all lent, it was not property, but ſpoil that was lent; if not lent, the tranſaction was not a contract, but a fraud. Either way, if light enough could not be furniſhed to authoriſe a full condemnation of theſe demands, they ought to have been left to the parties who beſt knew and underſtood each others proceedings. It was not neceſſary that the authority of government ſhould interpoſe in favour of claims, whoſe very foundation was a defiance of that authority, and whoſe object and end was its entire ſubverſion.

It may be ſaid that this letter was written by the Nabob of Arcot in a moody humour, under the influence of ſome chagrin. Certainly it was; but it is in ſuch humours that truth comes out. And when he tells you from his own knowledge, what every one muſt preſume, from the extreme [17] probability of the thing, whether he told it or not, one ſuch teſtimony is worth a thouſand that contradict that probability, when the parties have a better underſtanding with each other, and when they have a point to carry, that may unite them in a common deceit.

If this body of private claims of debt, real or deviſed, were a queſtion, as it is falſely pretended, between the Nabob of Arcot as debtor, and Paul Benfield and his aſſociates as creditors, I am ſure I ſhould give myſelf but little trouble about it. If the hoards of oppreſſion were the fund for ſatisfying the claims of bribery and peculation, who would wiſh to interfere between ſuch litigants? If the demands were confined to what might be drawn from the treaſures which the Company's records uniformly aſſert that the Nabob is in poſſeſſion of; or if he had mines of gold or ſilver, or diamonds (as we know that he has none) theſe gentlemen might break open his hoards, or dig in his mines, without any diſturbance from me. But the gentlemen on the other ſide of the Houſe know as well as I do, and they dare not contradict me, that the Nabob of Arcot and his creditors are not adverſaries, but colluſive parties, and that the whole tranſaction is under a falſe colour and falſe names. The litigation is not, nor ever has been, between their rapacity and his hoarded riches. No; it is between him and them combining and confederating on one ſide, and the public revenues, and the miſerable inhabitants of a ruined country, on the other. Theſe are the real plaintiffs and the real defendants in the ſuit. Refuſing a ſhilling from his hoards for the ſatisfaction of any demand, the Nabob of Arcot is always ready, nay, he earneſtly, and with eagerneſs and paſſion, contends for delivering up to theſe pretended creditors his territory and his ſubjects. It is therefore not from treaſuries [18] and mines, but from the food of your unpaid armies, from the blood withheld from the veins, and whipt out of the backs of the moſt miſerable of men, that we are to pamper extortion, uſury, and peculation, under the falſe names of debtors and creditors of ſtate.

The great patron of theſe creditors (to whoſe honour they ought to erect ſtatues) the right honourable Gentleman *, in ſtating the merits which recommended them to his favour, has ranked them under three grand diviſions. The firſt, the creditors of 1767; then the creditors of the Cavalry Loan; and laſtly, the creditors of the Loan in 1777. Let us examine them, one by one, as they paſs in review before us.

The firſt of theſe loans, that of 1767, he inſiſts, has an indiſputable claim upon the public juſtice. The creditors, he affirms, lent their money publicly; they advanced it with the expreſs knowledge and approbation of the Company; and it was contracted at the moderate intereſt of ten per cent. In this loan the demand is, according to him, not only juſt, but meritorious in a very high degree; and one would be inclined to believe he thought ſo, becauſe he has put it laſt in the proviſion he has made for theſe claims.

I readily admit this debt to ſtand the faireſt of the whole; for whatever may be my ſuſpicious concerning a part of it, I can convict it of nothing worſe than the moſt enormous uſury. But I can convict upon the ſpot the Right honourable Gentleman, of the moſt daring miſrepreſentation in every one fact, without any exception, that he has alledged in defence of this loan, and of his own conduct with regard to it. I will ſhew you that this debt was never contracted with the knowledge [19] of the Company; that it had not their approbation; that they received the firſt intelligence of it with the utmoſt poſſible ſurprize, indignation, and alarm.

So far from being previouſly apprized of the tranſaction from its origin, that it was two years before the Court of Directors obtained any official intelligence of it. ‘The dealings of the ſervants with the Nabob were concealed from the firſt, until they were found out, (ſays Mr. Sayer, the Company's council) by the report of the country.’ The Preſidency, however, at laſt thought proper to ſend an official account. On this the Directors tell them, ‘to your great reproach it has been concealed from us. We cannot but ſuſpect this debt to have had its weight in your propoſed aggrandizement of Mahomed Ali [the Nabob of Arcot]; but whether it has or has not, certain it is, you are guilty of an high breach of duty in concealing it from us.’

Theſe expreſſions, concerning the ground of the tranſaction, its effect, and its clandeſtine nature, are in the letters, bearing date March 17, 1769. After receiving a more full account on the 23d March 1770, they ſtate, that ‘Meſſrs. John Pybus, John Call, and James Bourchier, as truſtees for themſelves and others of the Nabob's private creditors, had proved a deed of aſſignment upon the Nabob and his ſon of FIFTEEN diſtricts of the Nabob's country, the revenues of which yielded, in time of peace, eight lacks of pagodas [£.320,000, ſterling] annually; and likewiſe an aſſignment of the yearly tribute paid the Nabob from the Rajah of Tanjore, amounting to four lacks of rupees [£.40,000].’ The territorial revenue, at that time poſſeſſed by theſe gentlemen, without the knowledge or conſent of their maſters, amounted [20] to three hundred and ſixty thouſand pound ſterling annually. They were making rapid ſtrides to the entire poſſeſſion of the country, when the Directors, whom the right honourable gentleman ſtates as having authoriſed theſe proceedings, were kept in ſuch profound ignorance of this royal acquiſition of territorial revenue by their ſervants, that in the ſame letter they ſay, ‘this aſſignment was obtained by three of the members of your Board, in January 1767, yet we do not find the leaſt trace of it upon your Conſultations, until Auguſt 1768, nor do any of your letters to us afford any information relative to ſuch tranſactions, till the 1ſt of November 1768. By your laſt letters of the 8th of May 1769, you bring the whole proceedings to light in one view.’

As to the previous knowledge of the Company, and its ſanction to the debts, you ſee that this aſſertion of that knowledge is utterly unfounded. But did the Directors approve of it, and ratify the tranſaction when it was known? The very reverſe. On the ſame 3d of March, the Directors declare, ‘upon an impartial examination of the whole conduct of our late Governor and Council of Fort George (Madras) and on the fulleſt conſideration, that the ſaid Governor and Council have, in notorious violation of the truſt repoſed in them, manifeſtly preſerred the intereſt of private individuals to that of the Company, in permitting the aſſignment of the revenues of certain valuable diſtricts, to a very large amount, from the Nabob to individuals’ —and then highly aggravating their crimes, they add ‘we order and direct that you do examine, in the moſt impartial manner, all the above-mentioned tranſactions; and that you puniſh by ſuſpenſion, degradation, diſmiſſion, or otherwiſe, as to you ſhall ſeem meet, all and every ſuch ſervant or ſervants of the Company, [21] who may by you be found guilty of any of the above offences.’ ‘We had (ſay the Directors) the mortification to find that the ſervants of the Company, who had been raiſed, ſupported, and owed their preſent opulence to the advantages gained in ſuch ſervice, have in this inſtance moſt unfaithfully betrayed their truſt, abandoned the Company's intereſt, and proſtituted its influence to accompliſh the purpoſes of individuals, whilſt the intereſt of the Company is almoſt wholly neglected, and payment to us rendered extremely precarious.’ Here then is the rock of approbation of the Court of Directors, on which the right honourable gentleman ſays this debt was founded. Any Member, Mr. Speaker, who ſhould come into the Houſe, on my reading this ſentence of condemnation of the Court of Directors againſt their unfaithful ſervants, might well imagine that he had heard an harſh, ſevere, unqualified invective againſt the preſent miniſterial Board of Control. So exactly do the proceedings of the patrons of this abuſe tally with thoſe of the actors in it, that the expreſſions uſed in the condemnation of the one, may ſerve for the reprobation of the other, without the change of a word.

To read you all the expreſſions of wrath and indignation fulminated in this diſpatch againſt the meritorious creditors of the right honourable gentleman, who according to him have been ſo fully approved by the Company, would be to read the whole.

The right honourable gentleman, with an addreſs peculiar to himſelf, every now and then ſlides in the Preſidency of Madras, as ſynonymous to the Company. That the Preſidency did approve the debt, is certain. But the right honourable gentleman, as prudent in ſuppreſſing, as ſkilful in bringing forward his matter, has not choſen to tell you [22] that the Preſidency were the very perſons guilty of contracting this loan; creditors themſelves, and agents, and truſtees for all the other creditors. For this the Court of Directors accuſe them of breach of truſt; and for this the right honourable gentleman conſiders them as perfectly good authority for thoſe claims. It is pleaſant to hear a gentleman of the law quote the approbation of creditors as an authority for their own debt.

How they came to contract the debt to themſelves, how they came to act as agents for thoſe whom they ought to have controlled, is for your enquiry. The policy of this debt was announced to the Court of Directors, by the very perſons concerned in creating it. ‘Till very lately, (ſay the Preſidency) the Nabob placed his dependence on the Company. Now he has been taught by ill-adviſers, that an intereſt out of doors may ſtand him in good ſtead. He has been made to believe that his private creditors have power and intereſt to over-rule the Court of Directors *.’ The Nabob was not miſinformed. The private creditors inſtantly qualified a vaſt number of votes; and having made themſelves maſters of the Court of Proprietors, as well as extending a powerful cabal in other places as important, they ſo completely overturned the authority of the Court of Directors at home and abroad, that this poor baffled government was ſoon obliged to lower its tone. It was glad to be admitted into a partnerſhip with its own ſervants. [23] The Court of Directors eſtabliſhing the debt which they had reprobated as a breach of truſt, and which was planned for the ſubverſion of their authority, ſettled its payments on a par with thoſe of the public; and even ſo, were not able to obtain peace or even equality in their demands. All the conſequences lay in a regular and irreſiſtible train. By employing their influence for the recovery of this debt, their orders, iſſued in the ſame breath, againſt creating new debts, only animated the ſtrong deſires of their ſervants to this prohibited prolific ſport, and it ſoon produced a ſwarm of ſons and daughters, not in the leaſt degenerated from the virtue of their parents.

From that moment, the authority of the Court of Directors expired in the Carnatic, and every where elſe. ‘Every man, ſays the Preſidency, who oppoſes the government and its meaſures, finds an immediate countenance from the Nabob, even our diſcarded officers, however unworthy, are received into the Nabob's ſervice *.’ It was indeed a matter of no wonderful ſagacity to determine whether the Court of Directors, with their miſerable ſalaries to their ſervants, of four or five hundred pound a year, or the diſtributor of millions, was moſt likely to be obeyed. It was an invention beyond the imagination of all the ſpeculatiſts of our ſpeculating age, to ſee a government quietly ſettled in one and the ſame town, compoſed of two diſtinct members; one to pay ſcantily for obedience, and the other to bribe high for rebellion and revolt.

[24]The next thing which recommends this particular debt to the right honourable gentleman, is, it ſeems, the moderate intereſt of ten per cent. It would be loſt labour to obſerve on this aſſertion. The Nabob, in a long apologetic letter * for the tranſaction between him and the body of the creditors, ſtates the fact, as I ſhall ſtate it to you. In the accumulation of this debt, the firſt intereſt paid was from thirty, to thirty-ſix per cent. it was then brought down to twenty-five per cent. at length it was reduced to twenty; and there it found its reſt. During the whole proceſs, as often as any of theſe monſtrous intereſts fell into an arrear (into which they were continually falling) the arrear, formed into a new capital, was added to the old, and the ſame intereſt of twenty per cent. accrued upon both. The Company, having got ſome ſcent of the enormous uſury which prevailed at Madras, thought it neceſſary to interfere, and to order all intereſts to be lowered to ten per cent. This order, which contained no exception, though it by no means pointed particularly to this claſs of debts, came like a thunder-clap on the Nabob. He conſidered his political credit as ruined; but to find a remedy to this unexpected evil, he again added to the old principal twenty per cent. intereſt accruing for the laſt year. Thus a new fund was formed; and it was on that accumulation of various principals, and intereſts heaped upon intereſts, [25] not on the ſum originally lent, as the right honourable Gentleman would make you believe, that ten per cent. was ſettled on the whole.

When you conſider the enormity of the intereſt at which theſe debts were contracted, and the ſeveral intereſts added to the principal, I believe you will not think me ſo ſceptical, if I ſhould doubt, whether for this debt of £. 880,000, the Nabob ever ſaw £. 100,000 in real money. The right honourable gentleman ſuſpecting, with all his abſolute dominion over fact, that he never will be able to defend even this venerable patriarchal job, though ſanctified by its numerous iſſue, and hoary with preſcriptive years, has recourſe to recrimination, the laſt reſource of guilt. He ſays that this loan of 1767 was provided for in Mr. Fox's India bill; and judging of others by his own nature and principles, he more than inſinuates, that this proviſion was made, not from any ſenſe of merit in the claim, but from partiality to General Smith, a proprietor, and an agent for that debt. If partiality could have had any weight againſt juſtice and policy, with the then miniſters and their friends, General Smith had titles to it. But the right honourable gentleman knows as well as I do, that General Smith was very far from looking on himſelf as partially treated in the arrangements of that time; indeed what man dared to hope for private partiality in that ſacred plan for relief to nations?

It is not neceſſary that the right honourable gentleman ſhould ſarcaſtically call that time to our recollection. Well do I remember every circumſtance of that memorable period. God forbid I ſhould forget it. O illuſtrious diſgrace! O victorious defeat! May your memorial be freſh and new to the lateſt generations! May the day of that generous conflict be ſtamped in characters never to be cancelled or worn out from the records of time! [26] Let no man hear of us, who ſhall not hear that in a ſtruggle againſt the intrigues of courts, and the perfidious levity of the multitude, we fell in the cauſe of honour, in the cauſe of our country, in the cauſe of human nature itſelf! But if Fortune ſhould be as powerful over Fame, as ſhe has been prevalent over Virtue, at leaſt our conſcience is beyond her juriſdiction. My poor ſhare in the ſupport of that great meaſure, no man ſhall raviſh from me. It ſhall be ſafely lodged in the ſanctuary of my heart; never, never to be torn from thence, but with thoſe holds that grapple it to life.

I ſay, I well remember that bill, and every one of its honeſt and its wiſe proviſions. It is not true that this debt was ever protected or inforced, or any revenue whatſoever ſet apart for it. It was left in that bill juſt where it ſtood; to be paid or not to be paid out of the Nabob's private treaſures, according to his own diſcretion. The Company had actually given it their ſanction; though always relying for its validity on the ſole ſecurity of the faith of him * who without their knowlege or conſent entered into the original obligation. It had no other ſanction; it ought to have had no other. So far was Mr. Fox's bill from providing funds for it, as this miniſtry have wickedly done for this, and for ten times worſe tranſactions, out of the public eſtate, that an expreſs clauſe immediately preceded, poſitively forbidding any Britiſh ſubject from receiving aſſignments upon any part of the territorial revenue, on any pretence whatſoever .

You recollect, Mr. Speaker, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer ſtrongly profeſſed to retain every part of Mr. Fox's bill, which was [27] intended to prevent abuſe; but in his India bill, which (let me do juſtice) is as able and ſkilful a performance for its own purpoſes, as ever iſſued from the wit of man, premeditating this iniquity—hoc ipſum ut ſtrueret Trojamque aperiret Achivis, expunged this eſſential clauſe, broke down the fence which was raiſed to cover the public property againſt the rapacity of his partizans, and thus levelling every obſtruction, he made a firm, broad, highway for ſin and death, for uſury and oppreſſion, to renew their ravages throughout the devoted revenues of the Carnatic.

The tenor, the policy, and the conſequences of this debt of 1767, are, in the eyes of Miniſtry, ſo excellent, that its merits are irreſiſtible; and it takes the lead to give credit and countenance to all the reſt. Along with this choſen body of heavy-armed infantry, and to ſupport it, in the line, the right honourable gentleman has ſtationed his corps of black cavalry. If there be any advantage between this debt and that of 1769, according to him the cavalry debt has it. It is not a ſubject of defence; it is a theme of panegyric. Liſten to the right honourable gentleman, and you will find it was contracted to ſave the country; to prevent mutiny in armies; to introduce oeconomy in revenues; and for all theſe honourable purpoſes, it originated at the expreſs deſire, and by the repreſentative authority of the Company itſelf.

Firſt, let me ſay a word to the authority. This debt was contracted not by the authority of the Company, not by its repreſentatives (as the right honourable Gentleman has the unparalleled confidence to aſſert) but in the ever-memorable period of 1777, by the uſurped power of thoſe who rebelliouſly, in conjunction with the Nabob of Arcot, had overturned the lawful government of Madras. For that rebellion, this Houſe unanimouſly [28] directed a public proſecution. The delinquents, after they had ſubverted Government, in order to make to themſelves a party to ſupport them in their power, are univerſally known to have dealt jobs about to the right and to the left, and to any who were willing to receive them. This uſurpation, which the right honourable Gentleman well knows, was brought about by and for the great maſs of theſe pretended debts, is the authority which is ſet up by him to repreſent the Company; to repreſent that Company which from the firſt moment of their hearing of this corrupt and fraudulent tranſaction, to this hour, have uniformly diſowned and diſavowed it.

So much for the authority. As to the facts, partly true, and partly colourable, as they ſtand recorded, they are in ſubſtance theſe.—The Nabob of Arcot, as ſoon as he had thrown off the ſuperiority of this country by means of theſe creditors, kept up a great army which he never paid. Of courſe, his ſoldiers were generally in a ſtate of mutiny *. The uſurping council ſay that they laboured hard with their maſter the Nabob, to perſuade him to reduce theſe mutinous and uſeleſs troops. He conſented; but as uſual, pleaded inability to pay them their arrears. Here was a difficulty. The Nabob had no money; the Company had no money; every public ſupply was empty. But there was one reſource which no ſeaſon has ever yet dried up in that climate. The ſoucars were at hand; that is, private Engliſh money-jobbers offered their aſſiſtance. Meſſieurs Taylor, Majendie and Call, propoſed to advance the ſmall ſum of £. 160,000 to pay off the Nabob's black cavalry, provided the Company's authority was given for their loan. This was the great point of policy always aimed [29] at, and purſued through a hundred devices, by the ſervants at Madras. The Preſidency, who themſelves had no authority for the functions they preſumed to exerciſe, very readily gave the ſanction of the Company, to thoſe ſervants who knew that the Company, whoſe ſanction was demanded, had poſitively prohibited all ſuch tranſactions.

However, ſo far as the reality of the dealing goes, all is hitherto fair and plauſible; and here the right honourable Gentleman concludes, with commendable prudence, his account of the buſineſs. But here it is I ſhall beg leave to commence my ſupplement: for the gentleman's diſcreet modeſty has led him to cut the thread of the ſtory ſomewhat abruptly. One of the moſt eſſential parties is quite forgotten. Why ſhould the epiſode of the poor Nabob be omitted? When that prince chuſes it, no body can tell his ſtory better. Excuſe me, if I apply again to my book, and give it you from the firſt hand; from the Nabob himſelf.

‘Mr. Stratton became acquainted with this, and got Mr. Taylor and others to lend me four lacks of pagodas towards diſcharging the arrears of pay of my troops. Upon this, I wrote a letter of thanks to Mr. Stratton; and upon the faith of this money being paid immediately, I ordered many of my troops to be diſcharged by a certain day, and leſſened the number of my ſervants. Mr. Taylor, &c. ſome time after acquainted me, that they had no ready money, but they would grant teeps payable in four months. This aſtoniſhed me; for I did not know what might happen, when the ſepoys were diſmiſſed from my ſervice. I begged of Mr. Taylor and the others to pay this ſum to the officers of my regiments at the time they mentioned; and deſired the officers, at the ſame time, to pacify and perſuade the men belonging to them, [30] that their pay would be given to them at the end of four months; and that till thoſe arrears were diſcharged, their pay ſhould be continued to them. Two years are nearly expired ſince that time, but Mr. Taylor has not yet entirely diſcharged the arrears of thoſe troops, and I am obliged to continue their pay from that time till this. I hoped to have been able, by this expedient, to have leſſened the number of my troops, and diſcharge the arrears due to them, conſidering the trifle of intereſt to Mr. Taylor, and the others, as no great matter; but inſtead of this, I am oppreſſed with the burthen of pay due to thoſe troops; and the intereſt, which is going on to Mr. Taylor from the day the teeps were granted to him. What I have read to you is an extract of a Letter from the Nabob of the Carnatic to Governor Rumbold, dated the 22d, and received the 24th of March 1779 *.

Suppoſe his highneſs not to be well broken in to things of this kind, it muſt indeed ſurpriſe ſo known and eſtabliſhed a bond-vender, as the Nabob of Arcot, one who keeps himſelf the largeſt bond warehouſe in the world, to find that he was now to receive in kind; not to take money for his obligations, but to give his bond in exchange for the bond of Meſſieurs Taylor, Majendie and Call, and to pay beſides, a good ſmart intereſt, legally 12 per cent. [in reality perhaps twenty, or twenty-four per cent.] for this exchange of paper. But his troops were not to be ſo paid, or ſo diſbanded. They wanted bread, and could not live by cutting and ſhuffling of bonds. The Nabob ſtill kept the troops in ſervice, and was obliged to continue, as you have ſeen, the whole expence, to exonerate himſelf from which he became indebted to the ſoucars.

Had it ſtood here, the tranſaction would have [31] been of the moſt audacious ſtrain of fraud and uſury, perhaps ever before diſcovered, whatever might have been practiſed and concealed. But the ſame authority (I mean the Nabob's) brings before you ſomething if poſſible more ſtriking. He ſtates, that for this their paper, he immediately handed over to theſe gentlemen, ſomething very different from paper; that is, the receipt of a territorial revenue, of which it ſeems they continued as long in poſſeſſion as the Nabob himſelf continued in poſſeſſion of any thing. Their payments therefore not being to commence before the end of four months, and not being compleated in two years, it muſt be preſumed (unleſs they prove the contrary) that their payments to the Nabob were made out of the revenues they had received from his aſſignment. Thus they condeſcend to accumulate a debt of £. 160,000, with an intereſt of 12 per cent. in compenſation for a lingering payment to the Nabob, of £.160,000 of his own money.

Still we have not the whole: about two years after the aſſignment of thoſe territorial revenues to theſe gentlemen, the Nabob receives a remonſtrance from his chief manager, in a principal province, of which this is the tenor— ‘The entire revenue of thoſe diſtricts is by your highneſs' order ſet apart to diſcharge the tuncaws [aſſignments] granted to the Europeans. The gomaſtahs [agents] of Mr. Taylor, to Mr. De Fries, are there in order to collect theſe tuncaws; and as they receive all the revenue that is collected, your highneſs's troops have ſeven or eight months pay due, which they cannot receive, and are thereby reduced to the greateſt diſtreſs. In ſuch times, it is highly neceſſary to provide for the ſuſtenance of the troops that may be ready to exert themſelves in the ſervice of your highneſs.’

Here, Sir, you ſee how theſe cauſes and effects [32] act upon one another. One body of troops mutinies for want of pay; a debt is contracted to pay them; and they ſtill remain unpaid. A territory deſtined to pay other troops, is aſſigned for this debt; and theſe other troops fall into the ſame ſtate of indigence and mutiny with the firſt. Bond is paid by bond; arrear is turned into new arrear; uſury engenders new uſury; mutiny ſuſpended in one quarter, ſtarts up in another; until all the revenues, and all the eſtabliſhments are entangled into one inextricable knot of confuſion, from which they are only diſengaged by being entirely deſtroyed. In that ſtate of confuſion, in a very few months after the date of the memorial I have juſt read to you, things were found, when the Nabob's troops, famiſhed to feed Engliſh ſoucars, inſtead of defending the country, joined the invaders, and deſerted in entire bodies to Hyder Ali *.

The manner in which this tranſaction was carried on, ſhews that good examples are not eaſily forgot, eſpecially by thoſe who are bred in a great ſchool. One of thoſe ſplendid examples, give me leave to mention at a ſomewhat more early period, becauſe one fraud furniſhes light to the diſcovery of another, and ſo on, until the whole ſecret of myſterious iniquity burſts upon you in a blaze of detection. The paper I ſhall read you, is not on record. If you pleaſe, you may take it on my word. It is a letter written from one of undoubted information in Madras, to Sir John Clavering, deſcribing the practice that prevailed there, whilſt the Company's allies were under ſale, during the time of Governor Winch's adminiſtration.

‘One mode (ſays Covering's correſpondent) of amaſſing money at the Nabob's [33] coſt is curious. He is generally in arrears to the Company. Here the Governor, being caſh-keeper, is generally on good terms with the banker, who manages matters thus: The Governor preſſes the Nabob for the balance due from him; the Nabob flies to his banker for relief; the banker engages to pay the money, and grants his notes accordingly, which he puts in the caſh-book as ready money; the Nabob pays him an intereſt for it at two and three per cent. per menſem, till the tunkaws he grants on the particular diſtricts for it are paid. Matters in the mean time are ſo managed, that there is no call for this money for the Company's ſervice, till the tuncaws become due. By this means not a caſh is advanced by the banker, though he receives a heavy intereſt from the Nabob, which is divided as lawful ſpoil.’

Here, Mr. Speaker, you have the whole art and myſtery, the true free-maſon ſecret of the profeſſion of ſoucaring; by which a few innocent, inexperienced young Engliſhmen, ſuch as Mr. Paul Benfield, for inſtance, without property upon which any one would lend to themſelves a ſingle ſhilling, are enabled at once to take provinces in mortgage, to make princes their debtors, and to become creditors for millions.

But it ſeems the right honourable Gentleman's favourite ſoucar cavalry, have proved the payment before the Mayor's court at Madras! Have they ſo? Why then defraud our anxiety and their characters of that proof? Is it not enough that the charges which I have laid before you, have ſtood on record againſt theſe poor injured gentlemen for eight years? Is it not enough that they are in print by the orders of the Eaſt India Company for five years? After theſe gentlemen have borne all the odium of this publication, and all the indignation [34] of the Directors, with ſuch unexampled equanimity, now that they are at length ſtimulated into feeling, are you to deny them their juſt relief? But will the right honourable Gentleman be pleaſed to tell us, how they came not to give this ſatisfaction to the Court of Directors, their lawful maſters, during all the eight years of this litigated claim? Were they not bound, by every tie that can bind man, to give them this ſatisfaction? This day, for the firſt time, we hear of the proofs. But when were theſe proofs offered? In what cauſe? Who were the parties? Who inſpected? Who conteſted this belated account? Let us ſee ſomething to oppoſe to the body of record which appears againſt them. The Mayor's court! the Mayor's court! Pleaſant! Does not the honourable Gentleman know, that the firſt corps of creditors (the creditors of 1767) ſtated it as a ſort of hardſhip to them, that they could not have juſtice at Madras, from the impoſſibility of their ſupporting their claims in the Mayor's court. Why? becauſe, ſay they, the members of that court were themſelves creditors, and therefore could not ſit as judges *. Are we ripe to ſay that no creditor under ſimilar circumſtances was member of the Court, when the payment which is the ground of this cavalry debt was put in proof ? Nay, are we not in a manner [35] compelled to conclude that the Court was ſo conſtituted, when we know there is ſcarcely a man in Madras, who has not ſome participation in theſe tranſactions? It is a ſhame to hear ſuch proofs mentioned, inſtead of the honeſt vigorous ſcrutiny which the circumſtances of ſuch an affair ſo indiſpenſably calls for.

But his Majeſty's miniſters, indulgent enough to other ſcrutinies, have not been ſatisfied with authorizing the payment of this demand without ſuch enquiry as the Act has preſcribed; but they have added the arrear of twelve per cent. intereſt, from the year 1777 to the year 1784, to make a new capital, raiſing thereby 160 to £. 294,000. Then they charge a new twelve per cent. on the whole from that period, for a tranſaction, in which it will be a miracle if a ſingle penny will be ever found really advanced from the private ſtock of the pretended creditors.

In this manner, and at ſuch an intereſt, the Miniſters have thought proper to diſpoſe of £. 294,000 of the public revenues, for what is called the cavalry loan. After diſpatching this, the right honourable gentleman leads to battle his laſt grand diviſion, the conſolidated debt of 1777. But having exhauſted all his panegyric on the two firſt, he has nothing at all to ſay in favour of the laſt. On the contrary, he admits that it was contracted in defiance of the Company's orders, without even the pretended ſanction of any pretended repreſentatives. Nobody, indeed, has yet been found hardy enough to ſtand forth avowedly in its defence. But it is little to the credit of the age, that what has not plauſibility enough to find an advocate, has influence enough to obtain a protector. Could any man expect to find that protector any where? But what muſt every man think, when he finds that protector in the Chairman [36] of the Committee of Secrecy *, who had publiſhed to the Houſe, and to the world, the facts that condemn theſe debts—the orders that forbid the incurring of them—the dreadful conſequences which attended them. Even in his official letter, when he tramples on his parliamentary Report, yet his general language is the ſame. Read the preface to this part of the miniſterial arrangement, and you would imagine that this debt was to be cruſhed, with all the weight of indignation which could fall from a vigilant guardian of the public treaſury, upon thoſe who attempted to rob it. What muſt be felt by every man who has feeling, when, after ſuch a thundering preamble of condemnation, this debt is ordered to be paid without any ſort of enquiry into its authenticity? without a ſingle ſtep taken to ſettle even the amount of the demand? without an attempt ſo much as to aſcertain the real perſons claiming a ſum, which riſes in the accounts from one million three hundred thouſand pound ſterling to two million four hundred thouſand pound principal money ? without an attempt made to aſcertain the proprietors, of whom no liſt has ever yet been laid before the Court of Directors; of proprietors who are known to be in a colluſive ſhuffle, by which they never appear to be the ſame in any two lifts, handed about for their own particular purpoſes?

My honourable Friend who made you the motion, has ſufficiently expoſed the nature of this debt. He has ſtated to you that its own agents in the year 1781, in the arrangement they propoſed to make at Calcutta, were ſatisfied to have twenty-five per cent. at once ſtruck off from the capital of a [37] great part of this debt; and prayed to have a proviſion made for this reduced principal, without any intereſt at all. This was an arrangement of their own, an arrangement made by thoſe who beſt knew the true conſtitution of their own debt; who knew how little favour it merited *, and how little hopes they had to find any perſons in authority abandoned enough to ſupport it as it ſtood.

But what corrupt men, in the fond imaginations of a ſanguine avarice, had not the confidence to propoſe, they have found a Chancellor of the Exchequer in England hardy enough to undertake for them. He has cheered their drooping ſpirits. He has thanked the peculators for not deſpairing of their commonwealth. He has told them they were too modeſt. He has replaced the twenty-five per cent. which, in order to lighten themſelves, they had abandoned in their conſcious terror. Inſtead of cutting off the intereſt, as they had themſelves conſented to do, with the fourth of the capital, he has added the whole growth of four years uſury of twelve per cent. to the firſt over-grown principal; and has again grafted on this meliorated ſtock a perpetual annuity of ſix per cent. to take place from the year 1781. Let no man hereafter talk [38] of the decaying energies of nature. All the acts and monuments in the records of peculation; the conſolidated corruption of ages; the patterns of exemplary plunder in the heroic times of Roman iniquity, never equalled the gigantic corruption of this ſingle act. Never did Nero, in all the inſolent prodigality of deſpotiſm, deal out to his praetorian guards a donation fit to be named with the largeſs ſhowered down by the bounty of our Chancellor of the Exchequer on the faithful band of his Indian Sepoys.

The right honourable gentleman * lets you freely and voluntarily into the whole tranſaction. So perfectly has his conduct confounded his underſtanding, that he fairly tells you, that through the courſe of the whole buſineſs he has never conferred with any but the agents of the pretended creditors. After this, do you want more to eſtabliſh a ſecret underſtanding with the parties? to fix, beyond a doubt, their colluſion and participation in a common fraud?

If this were not enough, he has furniſhed you with other preſumptions that are not to be ſhaken. It is one of the known indications of guilt to ſtagger and prevaricate in a ſtory; and to vary in the motives that are aſſigned to conduct. Try theſe Miniſters by this rule. In their official diſpatch, they tell the Preſidency of Madras, that they have eſtabliſhed the debt for two reaſons; firſt, becauſe the Nabob (the party indebted) does not diſpute it; ſecondly, becauſe it is miſchievous to keep it longer afloat; and that the payment of the European creditors will promote circulation in the country. Theſe two motives (for the plaineſt reaſons in the world) the right honourable gentleman has this day thought fit totally to abandon. In the firſt place, he rejects the authority of the Nabob of Arcot. [39] It would indeed be pleaſant to ſee him adhere to this exploded teſtimony. He next, upon grounds equally ſolid, abandons the benefits of that circulation, which was to be produced by drawing out all the juices of the body. Laying aſide, or forgetting theſe pretences of his diſpatch, he has juſt now aſſumed a principle totally different, but to the full as extraordinary. He proceeds upon a ſuppoſition, that many of the claims may be fictitious. He then finds, that in a caſe where many valid and many fraudulent claims are blended together, the beſt courſe for their diſcrimination is indiſcriminately to eſtabliſh them all. He truſts (I ſuppoſe) as there may not be a fund ſufficient for every deſcription of creditors, that the beſt warranted claimants will exert themſelves in bringing to light thoſe debts which will not bear an enquiry. What he will not do himſelf, he is perſuaded will be done by others; and for this purpoſe he leaves to any perſon a general power of excepting to the debt. This total change of language, and prevarication in principle, is enough, if it ſtood alone, to fix the preſumption of unfair dealing. His diſpatch aſſigns motives of policy, concord, trade, and circulation. His ſpeech proclaims diſcord and litigations; and propoſes, as the ultimate end, detection.

But he may ſhift his reaſons, and wind, and turn as he will, confuſion waits him at all his doubles. Who will undertake this detection? Will the Nabob? But the right honourable gentleman has himſelf this moment told us, that no prince of the country can by any motive be prevailed upon to diſcover any fraud that is practiſed upon him by the Company's ſervants. He ſays what, (with the exception of the complaint againſt the cavalry loan) all the world knows to [40] be true; and without that Prince's concurrence, what evidence can be had of the fraud of any the ſmalleſt of theſe demands? The Miniſters never authorized any perſon to enter into his exchequer, and to ſearch his records. Why then this ſhameful and inſulting mockery of a pretended conteſt? Already conteſts for a preference have ariſen among theſe rival bond creditors. Has not the Company itſelf ſtruggled for a preference for years, without any attempt at detection of the nature of thoſe debts with which they contended? Well is the Nabob of Arcot attended to in the only ſpecific complaint he has ever made. He complained of unfair dealing in the cavalry loan. It is fixed upon him with intereſt on intereſt; and this loan is excepted from all power of litigation.

This day, and not before, the right honourable gentleman thinks that the general eſtabliſhment of all claims is the ſureſt way of laying open the fraud of ſome of them. In India, this is a reach of deep policy. But what would be thought of this mode of acting on a demand upon the Treaſury in England? Inſtead of all this cunning, is there not one plain way open, that is, to put the burthen of the proof on thoſe who make the demand? Ought not Miniſtry to have ſaid to the creditors, ‘The perſon who admits your debt ſtands excepted to as evidence; he ſtands charged as a colluſive party, to hand over the public revenues to you for ſiniſter purpoſes? You ſay, you have a demand of ſome millions on the Indian treaſury; prove that you have acted by lawful authority; prove at leaſt that your money has been bonâ fide advanced; entitle yourſelf to my protection, by the fairneſs and fulneſs of the communications you make.’ Did an honeſt creditor ever refuſe that reaſonable and honeſt teſt?

[41]There is little doubt, that ſeveral individuals have been ſeduced by the purveyors to the Nabob of Arcot to put their money (perhaps the whole of honeſt and laborious earnings) into their hands, and that at ſuch high intereſt, as, being condemned at law, leaves them at the mercy of the great managers whom they truſted. Theſe ſeduced creditors are probably perſons of no power or intereſt, either in England or India, and may be juſt objects of compaſſion. By taking, in this arrangement no meaſures for diſcrimination and diſcovery; the fraudulent and the fair are in the firſt inſtance confounded in one maſs. The ſubſequent ſelection and diſtribution is left to the Nabob. With him the agents and inſtruments of his corruption, whom he ſees to be omnipotent in England, and who may ſerve him in future, as they have done in times paſt, will have precedence, if not an excluſive preference. Theſe leading intereſts domineer, and have always domineered, over the whole. By this arrangement the perſons ſeduced are made dependent on their ſeducers; honeſty (comparative honeſty at leaſt) muſt become of the party of fraud, and muſt quit its proper character, and its juſt claims, to entitle itſelf to the alms of bribery and peculation.

But be theſe Engliſh creditors what they may, the creditors, moſt certainly not fraudulent, are the natives, who are numerous and wretched indeed: by exhauſting the whole revenues of the Carnatic, nothing is left for them. They lent bonaâ fide; in all probability they were even forced to lend, or to give goods and ſervice for the Nabob's obligations. They had no truſts to carry to his market. They had no faith of alliances to ſell. They had no nations to betray to robbery and ruin. They had no lawful government ſeditiouſly to overturn; nor had they a [42] Governor, to whom it is owing that you exiſt in India, to deliver over to captivity, and to death, in a ſhameful priſon*.

Theſe were the merits of the principal part of the debt of 1777, and the univerſally conceived cauſes of its growth; and thus the unhappy natives are deprived of every hope of payment for their real debts, to make proviſion for the arrears of unſatisfied bribery and treaſon. You ſee in this inſtance, that the preſumption of guilt is not only no exception to the demands on the public treaſury; but with theſe miniſters it is a neceſſary condition to their ſupport. But that you may not think this preference ſolely owing to their known contempt of the natives, who ought with every generous mind to claim their firſt charities; you will find the ſame rule religiouſly obſerved with Europeans too. Attend, Sir, to this deciſive caſe.—Since the beginning of the war, beſides arrears of every kind, a bond debt has been contracted at Madras, uncertain in its amount, but repreſented from four hundred thouſand pound to a million ſterling. It ſtands only at the low intereſt of eight per cent. Of the legal authority on which this debt was contracted, of its purpoſes for the very being of the ſtate, of its publicity and fairneſs, no doubt has been entertained for a moment. For this debt, no ſort of proviſion whatever has been made. It is rejected as an outcaſt, whilſt the whole undiſſipated attention of the Miniſter has been employed for the diſcharge of claims entitled to his favour by the merits we have ſeen.

I have endeavoured to find out, if poſſible, the amount of the whole of thoſe demands, in order to ſee how much, ſuppoſing the country in a condition to furniſh the fund, may remain to ſatisfy [43] the public debt and the neceſſary eſtabliſhments. But I have been foiled in my attempt. About one-fourth, that is about £. 220,000 of the loan of 1767, remains unpaid. How much intereſt is in arrear, I could never diſcover; ſeven or eight years at leaſt, which would make the whole of that debt about £. 396,000. This ſtock, which the Miniſters in their inſtructions to the Governor of Madras ſtate as the leaſt exceptionable, they have thought proper to diſtinguiſh by a marked ſeverity, leaving it the only one, on which the intereſt is not added to the principal, to beget a new intereſt.

The cavalry loan, by the operation of the ſame authority, is made up to £.294,000, and this £. 294,000, made up of principal and intereſt, is crowned with a new intereſt of twelve per cent.

What the grand loan, the bribery loan of 1777, may be, is amongſt the deepeſt myſteries of ſtate. It is probably the firſt debt ever aſſuming the title of conſolidation, that did not expreſs what the amount of the ſum conſolidated was. It is little leſs than a contradiction in terms. In the debt of the year 1767, the ſum was ſtated in the act of conſolidation, and made to amount to £. 880,000 capital. When this conſolidation of 1777 was firſt announced at the Durbar, it was repreſented authentically at £. 2,400,000. In that, or rather in an higher ſtate, Sir Thomas Rumbold found and condemned it *. It afterwards fell into ſuch a terror, as to ſweat away a million of its weight at once; [44] and it ſunk to £. 1,400,000 *. However, it never was without a reſource for recruiting it to its old plumpneſs. There was a ſort of floating debt of about 4 or £. 500,000 more, ready to be added, as occaſion ſhould require.

In ſhort, when you preſſed this ſenſitive plant, it always contracted its dimenſions. When the rude hand of enquiry was withdrawn, it expanded in all the luxuriant vigour of its original vegetation. In the treaty of 1781, the whole of the Nabob's debt to private Europeans is by Mr. Sullivan, agent to the Nabob and the creditors, ſtated at £ 2,800,000, which (if the cavalry loan, and the remains of the debt of 1767, be ſubtracted) leaves it nearly at the amount originally declared at the Durbar, in 1777. But then there is a private inſtruction to Mr. Sullivan, which it ſeems will reduce it again to the lower ſtandard of £. 1,400,000. Failing in all my attempts, by a direct account, to [45] aſcertain the extent of the capital claimed (where in all probability no capital was ever advanced) I endeavoured, if poſſible, to diſcover it by the intereſt which was to be paid. For that purpoſe, I looked to the ſeveral agreements for aſſigning the territories of the Carnatic to ſecure the principal and intereſt of this debt. In one of them * I found in a ſort of Poſtſcript, by way of an additional remark, (not in the body of the obligation) the debt repreſented at £. 1,400,000. But when I computed the ſums to be paid for intereſt by inſtalments in another paper, I found they produced the intereſt of two millions, at twelve per cent. and the aſſignment ſuppoſed, that if theſe inſtalments might exceed, they might alſo fall ſhort of the real proviſion for that intereſt .

Another inſtalment bond was afterwards granted. In that bond the intereſt exactly tallies with a capital of £. 1,400,000 . But purſuing this capital through the correſpondence, I loſt ſight of it again, and it was aſſerted that this inſtalment bond was conſiderably ſhort of the intereſt that ought to be computed to the time mentioned §. Here are, therefore, two ſtatements of equal authority, differing at leaſt a million from each other; and as neither perſons claiming, nor any ſpecial ſum as belonging to each particular claimant, is aſcertained in the inſtruments of conſolidation, or in the inſtalment bonds, a large ſcope was left to throw in any ſums for any perſons, as their merits in advancing the intereſt of that loan might require; a power was alſo left for reduction, in caſe a harder hand, or more ſcanty funds, might be found to require it. Stronger grounds for a preſumption of fraud never appeared in any [46] tranſaction. But the miniſters, faithful to the plan of the intereſted perſons, whom alone they thought fit to confer with on this occaſion, have ordered the payment of the whole maſs of theſe unknown unliquidated ſums, without an attempt to aſcertain them. On this conduct, Sir, I leave you to make your own reflexions.

It is impoſſible (at leaſt I have found it impoſſible) to fix on the real amount of the pretended debts with which your miniſters have thought proper to load the Carnatic. They are obſcure; they ſhun enquiry; they are enormous. That is all you know of them.

That you may judge what chance any honourable and uſeful end of government has for a proviſion that comes in for the leavings of theſe gluttonous demands, I muſt take it on myſelf to bring before you the real condition of that abuſed, inſulted, racked, and ruined country; though in truth my mind revolts from it; though you will hear it with horror; and I confeſs, I tremble when I think on theſe awful and confounding diſpenſations of Providence. I ſhall firſt trouble you with a few words as to the cauſe.

The great fortunes made in India in the beginnings of conqueſt, naturally excited an emulation in all the parts, and through the whole ſucceſſion of the Company's ſervice. But in the Company it gave riſe to other ſentiments. They did not find the new channels of acquiſition flow with equal riches to them. On the contrary, the high flood-tide of private emolument was generally in the loweſt ebb of their affairs. They began alſo to fear, that the fortune of war might take away what the fortune of war had given. Wars were accordingly diſcouraged by repeated injunctions and menaces; and that the ſervants might not be bribed into them by the native princes, they were ſtrictly forbidden [47] to take any money whatſoever from their hands. But vehement paſſion is ingenious in reſources. The Company's ſervants were not only ſtimulated, but better inſtructed by the prohibition. They ſoon fell upon a contrivance which anſwered their purpoſes far better than the methods which were forbidden; though in this alſo they violated an ancient, but they thought, an abrogated order. They reverſed their proceedings. Inſtead of receiving preſents, they made loans. Inſtead of carrying on wars in their own name, they contrived an authority, at once irreſiſtible and irreſponſible, in whoſe name they might ravage at pleaſure; and being thus freed from all reſtraint, they indulged themſelves in the moſt extravagant ſpeculations of plunder. The cabal of creditors who have been the object of the late bountiful grant from his Majeſty's miniſters, in order to poſſeſs themſelves, under the name of creditors and aſſignees, of every country in India, as faſt as it ſhould be conquered, inſpired into the mind of the Nabob of Arcot (then a dependant on the Company of the humbleſt order) a ſcheme of the moſt wild and deſperate ambition that I believe ever was admitted into the thoughts of a man ſo ſituated *. Firſt, they perſuaded him to conſider himſelf as a principal member in the political ſyſtem of Europe. In the next place, they held out to him, and he readily imbibed the idea of the general empire of Indoſtan. As a preliminary to this undertaking, they prevailed on him to propoſe a tripartite diviſion of that vaſt country. One [48] part to the Company; another to the Marattas; and the third to himſelf. To himſelf he reſerved all the ſouthern part of the great peninſula, comprehended under the general name of the Decan.

On this ſcheme of their ſervants, the Company was to appear in the Carnatic in no other light than as a contractor for the proviſion of armies, and the hire of mercenaries for his uſe, and under his direction. This diſpoſition was to be ſecured by the Nabob's putting himſelf under the guarantee of France; and by the means of that rival nation, preventing the Engliſh for ever from aſſuming an equality, much leſs a ſuperiority in the Carnatic. In purſuance of this treaſonable project (treaſonable on the part of the Engliſh) they extinguiſhed the Company as a ſovereign power in that part of India; they withdrew the Company's garriſons out of all the forts and ſtrong holds of the Carnatic; they declined to receive the ambaſſadors from foreign courts, and remitted them to the Nabob of Arcot; they fell upon, and totally deſtroyed the oldeſt ally of the company, the king of Tanjore, and plundered the country to the amount of near five millions ſterling; one after another, in the Nabob's name, but with Engliſh force, they brought into a miſerable ſervitude all the princes, and great independent nobility of a vaſt country *. In proportion to theſe treaſons and violences, which [49] ruined the people, the fund of the Nabob's debt grew and flouriſhed.

Among the victims to this magnificent plan of univerſal plunder, worthy of the heroic avarice of the projectors, you have all heard (and he has made himſelf to be well remembered) of an Indian chief called Hyder Ali Khan. This man poſſeſſed the weſtern, as the Company under the name of the Nabob of Arcot does the eaſtern diviſion of the Carnatic. It was among the leading meaſures in the deſign of this cabal (according to their own emphatic language) to extirpate this Hyder Ali *. They declared the Nabob of Arcot to be his ſovereign, and himſelf to be a rebel, and publicly inveſted their inſtrument with the ſovereignty of the kingdom of Myſore. But their victim was not of the paſſive kind. They were ſoon obliged to conclude a treaty of peace and cloſe alliance with this rebel, at the gates of Madras. Both before and ſince that treaty, every principle of policy pointed out this power as a natural alliance; and on his part, it was courted by every ſort of amicable office. But the cabinet council of Engliſh creditors would not ſuffer their Nabob of Arcot to ſign the treaty, nor even to give to a prince, at leaſt his equal, the ordinary titles of reſpect and courteſy . From that time forward, a continued plot was carried on within the divan, black and white, of the Nabob of Arcot, for the deſtruction of Hyder Ali. As to the outward members of the double, or rather treble government of Madras, which had ſigned the treaty, they were always prevented by ſome over-ruling [50] influence (which they do not deſcribe, but which cannot be miſunderſtood) from performing what juſtice and intereſt combined ſo evidently to enforce *.

When at length Hyder Ali found that he had to do with men who either would ſign no convention, or whom no treaty, and no ſignature could bind, and who were the determined enemies of human intercourſe itſelf, he decreed to make the country poſſeſſed by theſe incorrigible and predeſtinated criminals a memorable example to mankind. He reſolved, in the gloomy receſſes of a mind capacious of ſuch things, to leave the whole Carnatic an everlaſting monument of vengeance; and to put perpetual deſolation as a barrier between him and thoſe againſt whom the faith which holds the moral elements of the world together was no protection. He became at length ſo confident of his force, ſo collected in his might, that he made no ſecret whatſoever of his dreadful reſolution. Having terminated his diſputes with every enemy, and every rival, who buried their mutual animoſities in their common deteſtation againſt the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot, he drew from every quarter, whatever a ſavage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the arts of deſtruction; and compounding all the materials of fury, havoc, and deſolation, into one black cloud, he hung for a while on the declivities of the mountains. Whilſt the authors of all theſe evils were idly and ſtupidly gazing on this menacing meteor, which blackened all their horizon, it ſuddenly burſt, and poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the Carnatic.—Then enſued a ſcene of woe, the like of which no eye had ſeen, no heart conceived, and which no tongue can adequately tell. All the [51] horrors of war before known or heard of, were mercy to that new havoc. A ſtorm of univerſal fire blaſted every field, conſumed every houſe, deſtroyed every temple. The miſerable inhabitants flying from their flaming villages, in part were ſlaughtered; others, without regard to ſex, to age, to the reſpect of rank, or ſacredneſs of function; fathers torn from children, huſbands from wives, enveloped in a whirlwind of cavalry, and amidſt the goading ſpears of drivers, and the trampling of purſuing horſes, were ſwept into captivity, in an unknown and hoſtile land. Thoſe who were able to evade this tempeſt, fled to the walled cities. But eſcaping from fire, ſword, and exile, they fell into the jaws of famine.

The alms of the ſettlement, in this dreadful exigency, were certainly liberal; and all was done by charity that private charity could do: but it was a people in beggary; it was a nation which ſtretched out its hands for food. For months together theſe creatures of ſufferance, whoſe very exceſs and luxury in their moſt plenteous days, had fallen ſhort of the allowance of our auſtereſt faſts, ſilent, patient, reſigned, without ſedition or diſturbance, almoſt without complaint, periſhed by an hundred a day in the ſtreets of Madras; every day ſeventy at leaſt laid their bodies in the ſtreets, or on the glacis of Tanjore, and expired of famine in the granary of India. I was going to awake your juſtice towards this unhappy part of our fellow citizens, by bringing before you ſome of the circumſtances of this plague of hunger. Of all the calamities which beſet and waylay the life of man, this comes the neareſt to our heart, and is that wherein the proudeſt of us all feels himſelf to be nothing more than he is: but I find myſelf unable to manage it with decorum; theſe details are of a ſpecies of horror ſo nauſeous [52] and diſguſting; they are ſo degrading to the ſufferers and to the hearers; they are ſo humiliating to human nature itſelf, that, on better thoughts, I find it more adviſeable to throw a pall over this hideous object, and to leave it to your general conceptions.

* For eighteen months, without intermiſſion, this deſtruction raged from the gates of Madras to the gates of Tanjore; and ſo compleatly did theſe maſters in their art, Hyder Ali, and his more ferocious ſon, abſolve themſelves of their impious vow, that when the Britiſh armies traverſed, as they did the Carnatic for hundreds of miles in all directions, through the whole line of their march they did not ſee one man, not one woman, not one child, not one four-footed beaſt of any deſcription whatever. One dead uniform ſilence reigned over the whole region. With the inconſiderable exceptions of the narrow vicinage of ſome few forts, I wiſh to be underſtood as ſpeaking literally. I mean to produce to you more than three witneſſes, above all exception, who will ſupport this aſſertion in its full extent. That hurricane of war paſſed through every part of the central provinces of the Carnatic. Six or ſeven diſtricts to the north and to the ſouth (and theſe not wholly untouched) eſcaped the general ravage.

The Carnatic is a country not much inferior in extent to England. Figure to yourſelf, Mr. Speaker, the land in whoſe repreſentative chair you ſit; figure to yourſelf the form and faſhion of your ſweet and cheerful country from Thames to Trent, north and ſouth, and from the Iriſh to the German ſea eaſt and weſt, emptied and embowelled (May God avert the omen of our crimes!) by ſo accompliſhed a deſolation. Extend your imagination [53] a little further, and then ſuppoſe your miniſters taking a ſurvey of this ſcene of waſte and deſolation; what would be your thoughts if you ſhould be informed, that they were computing how much had been the amount of the exciſes, how much the cuſtoms, how much the land and malt tax, in order that they ſhould charge (take it in the moſt favourable light) for public ſervice, upon the relicks of the ſatiated vengeance of relentleſs enemies, the whole of what England had yielded in the moſt exuberant ſeaſons of peace and abundance? What would you call it? To call it tyranny, ſublimed into madneſs, would be too faint an image; yet this very madneſs is the principle upon which the miniſters at your right hand have proceeded in their eſtimate of the revenues of the Carnatic, when they were providing, not ſupply for the eſtabliſhments of its protection, but rewards for the authors of its ruin.

Every day you are fatigued and diſguſted with this cant, ‘the Carnatic is a country that will ſoon recover, and become inſtantly as proſperous as ever.’ They think they are talking to innocents, who will believe that by ſowing of dragons teeth, men may come up ready grown and ready armed. They who will give themſelves the trouble of conſidering (for it requires no great reach of thought, no very profound knowledge) the manner in which mankind are increaſed, and countries cultivated, will regard all this raving as it ought to be regarded. In order that the people, after a long period of vexation and plunder, may be in a condition to maintain government, government muſt begin by maintaining them. Here the road to oeconomy lies not through receipt, but through expence; and in that country nature has given no ſhort cut to your object. Men muſt propagate, like other animals, by [54] the mouth. Never did oppreſſion light the nuptial torch; never did extortion and uſury ſpread out the genial bed. Does any of you think that England, ſo waſted, would, under ſuch a nurſing attendance, ſo rapidly and cheaply recover? But he is meanly acquainted with either England or India, who does not know that England would a thouſand times ſooner reſume population, fertility, and what ought to be the ultimate ſecretion from both, revenue, than ſuch a country as the Carnatic.

The Carnatic is not by the bounty of nature a fertile ſoil. The general ſize of its cattle is proof enough that it is much otherwiſe. It is ſome days ſince I moved, that a curious and intereſting map, kept in the India Houſe, ſhould be laid before you*. The India Houſe is not yet in readineſs to ſend it; I have therefore brought down my own copy, and there it lies for the uſe of any gentleman who may think ſuch a matter worthy of his attention. It is indeed a noble map, and of noble things; but it is deciſive againſt the golden dreams and ſanguine ſpeculations of avarice run mad. In addition to what you know muſt be the caſe in every part of the world (the neceſſity of a previous proviſion of habitation, ſeed, ſtock, capital) that map will ſhew you, that the uſe of the influences of Heaven itſelf, are in that country a work of art. The Carnatic is refreſhed by few or no living brooks or running ſtreams, and it has rain only at a ſeaſon; but its product of rice exacts the uſe of water ſubject to perpetual command. This is the national bank of the Carnatic, on which it muſt have a perpetual credit, or it periſhes irretrievably. For that reaſon, in the happier times of India, a number almoſt incredible of reſervoirs have been made in choſen places throughout the whole country; they are formed, for the greater [55] part, of mounds of earth and ſtones, with ſluices of ſolid maſonry; the whole conſtructed with admirable ſkill and labour, and maintained at a mighty charge. In the territory contained in that map alone, I have been at the trouble of reckoning the reſervoirs, and they amount to upwards of eleven hundred, from the extent of two or three acres to five miles in circuit. From theſe reſervoirs currents are occaſionally drawn over the fields, and theſe watercourſes again call for a conſiderable expence to keep them properly ſcoured and duly levelled. Taking the diſtrict in that map as a meaſure, there cannot be in the Carnatic and Tanjore fewer than ten thouſand of theſe reſervoirs of the larger and middling dimenſions, to ſay nothing of thoſe for domeſtic ſervices, and the uſe of religious purification. Theſe are not the enterprizes of your power, nor in a ſtyle of magnificence ſuited to the taſte of your miniſter. Theſe are the monuments of real kings, who were the fathers of their people; teſtators to a poſterity which they embraced as their own. Theſe are the grand ſepulchres built by ambition; but by the ambition of an unſatiable benevolence, which, not contented with reigning in the diſpenſation of happineſs during the contracted term of human life, had ſtrained, with all the reachings and graſpings of a vivacious mind, to extend the dominion of their bounty beyond the limits of nature, and to perpetuate themſelves through generations of generations, the guardians, the protectors, the nouriſhers of mankind.

Long before the late invaſion, the perſons who are objects of the grant of public money now before you, had ſo diverted the ſupply of the pious funds of culture and population, that everywhere the reſervoirs were fallen into a miſerable decay *. But after thoſe domeſtic enemies had provoked [56] the entry of a cruel foreign foe into the country, he did not leave it until his revenge had compleated the deſtruction begun by their avarice. Few, very few indeed, of theſe magazines of water that are not either totally deſtroyed, or cut through with ſuch gaps, as to require a ſerious attention and much coſt to re-eſtabliſh them, as the means of preſent ſubſiſtence to the people, and of future revenue to the ſtate.

What, Sir, would a virtuous and enlightened miniſtry do on the view of the ruins of ſuch works before them? on the view of ſuch a chaſm of deſolation as that which yawned in the midſt of thoſe countries to the north and ſouth, which ſtill bore ſome veſtiges of cultivation? They would have reduced all their moſt neceſſary eſtabliſhments; they would have ſuſpended the juſteſt payments; they would have employed every ſhilling derived from the producing to reanimate the powers of the unproductive parts. While they were performing this fundamental duty, whilſt they were celebrating theſe myſteries of juſtice and humanity, they would have told the corps of fictitious creditors, whoſe crimes were their claims, that they muſt keep an awful diſtance; that they muſt ſilence their inauſpicious tongues; that they muſt hold off their profane unhallowed paws from this holy work; they would have proclaimed with a voice that ſhould make itſelf heard, that on every country the firſt creditor is the plow; that this original, indefeaſible claim ſuperſedes every other demand.

This is what a wiſe and virtuous miniſtry would have done and ſaid. This, therefore, is what our miniſter could never think of ſaying or doing. A miniſtry of another kind would have firſt improved the country, and have thus laid a ſolid [57] foundation for future opulence and future force. But on this grand point of the reſtoration of the country, there is not one ſyllable to be found in the correſpondence of our miniſters, from the firſt to the laſt: they felt nothing for a land deſolated by fire, ſword, and famine; their ſympathies took another direction; they were touched with pity for bribery, ſo long tormented with a fruitleſs itching of its palms; their bowels yearned for uſury, that had long miſſed the harveſt of its returning months *; they felt for peculation which had been for ſo many years raking in the duſt of an empty treaſury; they were melted into compaſſion for rapine and oppreſſion, licking their dry, parched, unbloody jaws. Theſe were the objects of their ſolicitude. Theſe were the neceſſities for which they were ſtudious to provide.

To ſtate the country and its revenues in their real condition, and to provide for thoſe fictitious claims, conſiſtently with the ſupport of an army and a civil eſtabliſhment, would have been impoſſible; therefore the miniſters are ſilent on that head, and reſt themſelves on the authority of lord Macartney, who in a letter to the Court of Directors, written in the year 1781, ſpeculating on what might be the reſult of a wiſe management of the countries aſſigned by the Nabob of Arcot, rates the revenues as in time of peace, at twelve hundred thouſand pound a year, as he does thoſe of the king of Tanjore (which had not been aſſigned) at four hundred and fifty. On this lord Macartney grounds his calculations, and on this they chooſe to ground theirs. It was on this calculation that the miniſtry, in direct oppoſition to the remonſtrances of the Court of Directors, have compelled that miſerable, enſlaved body, to put their hands [58] to an order for appropriating the enormous ſum of £. 480,000 annually, as a fund for paying to their rebellious ſervants a debt contracted in defiance of their cleareſt and moſt poſitive injunctions.

The authority and information of Lord Macartney is held high on this occaſion, though it is totally rejected in every other particular of this buſineſs. I believe I have the honour of being almoſt as old an acquaintance as any Lord Macartney has. A conſtant and unbroken friendſhip has ſubſiſted between us from a very early period; and, I truſt, he thinks, that as I reſpect his character, and in general admire his conduct, I am one of thoſe who feel no common intereſt in his reputation. Yet I do not heſitate wholly to diſallow the calculation of 1781, without any apprehenſion, that I ſhall appear to diſtruſt his veracity or his judgment. This peace eſtimate of revenue was not grounded on the ſtate of the Carnatic as it then, or as it had recently ſtood. It was a ſtatement of former and better times. There is no doubt, that a period did exiſt, when the large portion of the Carnatic held by the Nabob of Arcot might be fairly reputed to produce a revenue to that, or to a greater amount. But the whole had ſo melted away by the ſlow and ſilent hoſtility of oppreſſion and miſmanagement, that the revenues, ſinking with the proſperity of the country, had fallen to about £. 800,000 a year, even before an enemy's horſe had imprinted his hoof on the ſoil of the Carnatic. From that view, and independently of the deciſive effects of the war which enſued, Sir Eyre Coote conceived that years muſt paſs before the country could be reſtored to its former proſperity and production. It was that ſtate of revenue, (namely, the actual ſtate before the war) which the Directors have oppoſed to Lord Macartney's ſpeculation. They refuſe to take the revenues for more than [59] £. 800,000. In this they are juſtified by Lord Macartney himſelf, who, in a ſubſequent letter, informs the Court, that his ſketch is a matter of ſpeculation; it ſuppoſes the country reſtored to its antient proſperity, and the revenue to be in a courſe of effective and honeſt collection. If therefore the miniſters have gone wrong, they were not deceived by Lord Macartney: they were deceived by no man. The eſtimate of the Directors is nearly the very eſtimate furniſhed by the right honourable gentleman himſelf, and publiſhed to the world in one of the printed Reports of his own Committee*; but as ſoon as he obtained his power, he choſe to abandon his account. No part of his official conduct can be defended on the ground of his parliamentary information.

In this claſhing of accounts and eſtimates, ought not the miniſtry, if they wiſhed to preſerve even appearances, to have waited for information of the actual reſult of theſe ſpeculations, before they laid a charge, and ſuch a charge, not conditionally and eventually, but poſitively and authoritatively, upon a country which they all knew, and which one of them had regiſtered on the records of this Houſe, to be waſted beyond all example, by every oppreſſion of an abuſive government, and every ravage of a deſolating war. But that you may diſcern in what manner they uſe the correſpondence of office, and that thereby you may enter into the true ſpirit of the miniſterial Board of Control, I deſire you, Mr. Speaker, to remark, that through their whole controverſy with the Court of Directors, they do not ſo much as hint at their ever having ſeen any other paper from lord Macartney, or any other [60] eſtimate of revenue, than this of 1781. To this they hold. Here they take poſt; here they entrench themſelves.

When I firſt read this curious controverſy between the miniſterial Board and the Court of Directors, common candour obliged me to attribute their tenacious adherence to the eſtimate of 1781, to a total ignorance of what had appeared upon the records. But the right honourable gentleman has choſen to come forward with an uncalled-for declaration; he boaſtingly tells you, that he has ſeen, read, digeſted, compared every thing; and that if he has ſinned, he has ſinned with his eyes broad open. Since then the miniſters will obſtinately ſhut the gates of mercy on themſelves, let them add to their crimes what aggravations they pleaſe. They have then (ſince it muſt be ſo) wilfully and corruptly ſuppreſſed the information which they ought to have produced; and for the ſupport of peculation, have made themſelves guilty of ſpoliation and ſuppreſſion of evidence*. The paper I hold in my hand, which totally overturns (for the preſent at leaſt) the eſtimate of 1781, they have no more taken notice of in their controverſy with the Court of Directors than if it had no exiſtence. It is the Report made by a Committee appointed at Madras, to manage the whole of the ſix countries aſſigned to the Company by the Nabob of Arcot. This Committee was wiſely inſtituted by Lord Macartney, to remove from himſelf the ſuſpicion of all improper management in ſo invidious a truſt; and it ſeems to have been well choſen. This Committee has made a comparative eſtimate of the only ſix diſtricts which were in a condition to be let to farm. In one ſet of columns they ſtate the groſs and net produce of the diſtricts as let [61] by the Nabob. To that ſtatement they oppoſe the terms on which the ſame diſtricts were rented for five years, under their authority. Under the Nabob, the groſs farm was ſo high as £. 570,000 ſterling. What was the clear produce? Why, no more than about £. 250,000; and this was the whole profit to the Nabob's treaſury, under his own management, of all the diſtricts which were in a condition to be let to farm on the 27th of May 1782. Lord Macartney's leaſes ſtipulated a groſs produce of no more than about £. 530,000: But then the eſtimated net amount was nearly double the Nabob's. It however did not then exceed £. 480,000; and lord Macartney's commiſſioners take credit for an annual revenue amounting to this clear ſum. Here is no ſpeculation; here is no inaccurate account clandeſtinely obtained from thoſe who might wiſh, and were enabled to deceive. It is the authorized recorded ſtate of a real recent tranſaction. Here is not twelve hundred thouſand pound, not eight hundred. The whole revenue of the Carnatic yielded no more in May 1782 than four hundred and eighty thouſand pounds; nearly the very preciſe ſum which your miniſter, who is ſo careful of the public ſecurity, has carried from all deſcriptions of eſtabliſhment to form a fund for the private emolument of his creatures.

In this eſtimate, we ſee, as I have juſt obſerved, the Nabob's farms rated ſo high as £. 570,000. Hitherto all is well; but follow on to the effective net revenue: there the illuſion vaniſhes; and you will not find nearly ſo much as half the produce. It is with reaſon therefore lord Macartney invariably throughout the whole correſpondence, qualifies all his views and expectations of revenue, and all his plans for its application, with this indiſpenſable condition, that the management is not in the hands of the Nabob of Arcot. Should [62] that fatal meaſure take place, he has over and over again told you, that he has no proſpect of realizing any thing whatſoever for any public purpoſe. With theſe weighty declarations, confirmed by ſuch a ſtate of indiſputable fact before them; what has been done by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his accomplices? Shall I be believed? They have delivered over thoſe very territories, on the keeping of which in the hands of the Committee, the defence of our dominions, and what was more dear to them, poſſibly, their own job depended; they have delivered back again without condition, without arrangement, without ſtipulation of any ſort for the natives of any rank, the whole of thoſe vaſt countries, to many of which he had no juſt claim, into the ruinous miſmanagement of the Nabob of Arcot. To crown all, according to their miſerable practice whenever they do any thing tranſcendently abſurd, they preface this their abdication of their truſt, by a ſolemn declaration that they were not obliged to it by any principle of policy, or any demand of juſtice whatſoever.

I have ſtated to you the eſtimated produce of the territories of the Carnatic, in a condition to be farmed in 1782, according to the different managements into which they might fall; and this eſtimate the miniſters have thought proper to ſuppreſs. Since that, two other accounts have been received. The firſt informs us, that there has been a recovery of what is called arrear, as well as of an improvement of the revenue of one of the ſix provinces which were let in 1782 *. It was brought about by making a new war. After ſome ſharp actions, by the reſolution and ſkill of Colonel Fullarton, ſeveral of the petty princes of the moſt ſoutherly of the unwaſted provinces were compelled to pay very heavy rents and [63] tributes, who for a long time before had not paid any acknowledgment. After this reduction, by the care of Mr. Irwin, one of the Committee, that province was divided into twelve farms. This operation raiſed the income of that particular province; the others remain as they were firſt farmed. So that inſtead of producing only their original rent of £. 480,000, they netted in about two years and a quarter £. 1,320,000 ſterling, which would be about £. 660,000 a year, if the recovered arrear was not included. What deduction is to be made on account of that arrear I cannot determine, but certainly what would reduce the annual income conſiderably below the rate I have allowed.

The ſecond account received, is the letting of the waſted provinces of the Carnatic. This I underſtand is at a growing rent, which may or may not realiſe what it promiſes; but if it ſhould anſwer, it will raiſe the whole, at ſome future time, to £. 1,200,000.

You muſt here remark, Mr. Speaker, that this revenue is the produce of all the Nabob's dominions. During the aſſignment, the Nabob paid nothing, becauſe the Company had all. Suppoſing the whole of the lately aſſigned territory to yield up to the moſt ſanguine expectations of the right honourable gentleman; and ſuppoſe £. 1,200,000 to be annually realized (of which we actually know of no more than the realizing of ſix hundred thouſand) out of this you muſt deduct the ſubſidy and rent which the Nabob paid before the aſſignment, namely, £. 340,000 a year. This reduces back the revenue applicable to the new diſtribution made by his Majeſty's Miniſters, to about £. 800,000. Of that ſum five-eighths are by them ſurrendered to the debts. The remaining three are the only fund left for all the purpoſes ſo magnificently diſplayed in the letter of the Board of Control; that is for [64] a new-caſt peace eſtabliſhment; a new fund for ordnance and fortifications; and a large allowance for what they call "the ſplendour of the Durbar."

You have heard the account of theſe territories as they ſtood in 1782. You have ſeen the actual receipt ſince the aſſignment in 1781, of which I reckon about two years and a quarter productive. I have ſtated to you the expectation from the waſted part. For realizing all this, you may value yourſelves on the vigour and diligence of a Governor and Committee that have done ſo much. If theſe hopes from the Committee are rational—remember that the Committee is no more. Your Miniſters, who have formed their fund for theſe debts on the preſumed effect of the Committee's management, have put a complete end to that Committee. Their acts are reſcinded; their leaſes are broken; their renters are diſperſed. Your Miniſters knew when they ſigned the death-warrant of the Carnatic, that the Nabob would not only turn all theſe unfortunate farmers of revenue out of employment, but that he has denounced his ſevereſt vengeance againſt them, for acting under Britiſh authority. With a knowledge of this diſpoſition, a Britiſh Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Treaſurer of the Navy, incited by no public advantage, impelled by no public neceſſity, in a ſtrain of the moſt wanton perfidy which has ever ſtained the annals of mankind, have delivered over to plunder, impriſonment, exile, and death itſelf, according to the mercy of ſuch execrable tyrants as Amir al Omra and Paul Benfield, the unhappy and deluded ſouls, who, untaught by uniform example, were ſtill weak enough to put their truſt in Engliſh faith *. They have gone farther; they have thought proper to mock [65] and outrage their miſery by ordering them protection and compenſation. From what power is this protection to be derived? and from what fund is this compenſation to ariſe? The revenues are delivered over to their oppreſſor; the territorial juriſdiction, from whence that revenue is to ariſe, and under which they live, is ſurrendered to the ſame iron hands: and that they ſhall be deprived of all refuge, and all hope, the Miniſter has made a ſolemn, voluntary declaration, that he never will interfere with the Nabob's internal government*.

The laſt thing conſidered by the Board of Control among the debts of the Carnatic, was that ariſing to the Eaſt India Company, which after the proviſion for the cavalry, and the conſolidation of 1777, was to divide the reſidue of the fund of £. 480,000 a year with the lenders of 1767. This debt the worthy Chairman, who ſits oppoſite to me, contends to be three millions ſterling. Lord Macartney's account of 1781, ſtates it to be at that period £. 1,200,000. The firſt account of the Court of Directors makes it £. 900,000. This, like the private debt, being without any ſolid exiſtence, is incapable of any diſtinct limits. Whatever its amount or its validity may be, one thing is clear; it is of the nature and quality of a public debt. In that light nothing is provided for it, but an eventual ſurplus to be divided with one claſs of the private demands, after ſatisfying the two firſt claſſes. Never was a more ſhameful poſtponing a public demand, which by the reaſon of the thing, and the uniform practice of all nations, ſuperſedes every private claim.

Thoſe who gave this preference to private claims, conſider the Company's as a lawful demand; [66] elſe, why did they pretend to provide for it? On their own principles they are condemned.

But I, Sir, who profeſs to ſpeak to your underſtanding and to your conſcience, and to bruſh away from this buſineſs all falſe colours, all falſe appellations, as well as falſe facts, do poſitively deny that the Carnatic owes a ſhilling to the Company; whatever the Company may be indebted to that undone country. It owes nothing to the Company, for this plain and ſimple reaſon—The territory charged with the debt is their own. To ſay that their revenues fall ſhort, and owe them money, is to ſay they are in debt to themſelves, which is only talking nonſenſe. The fact is, that by the invaſion of an enemy, and the ruin of the country, the Company, either in its own name or in the names of the Nabob of Arcot and Rajah of Tanjore, has loſt for ſeveral years what it might have looked to receive from its own eſtate. If men were allowed to credit themſelves, upon ſuch principles any one might ſoon grow rich by this mode of accounting. A flood comes down upon a man's eſtate in the Bedford Level of a thouſand pounds a year, and drowns his rents for ten years. The Chancellor would put that man into the hands of a truſtee, who would gravely make up his books, and for this loſs credit himſelf in his account for a debt due to him of £. 10,000. It is, however, on this principle the Company makes up its demands on the Carnatic. In peace they go the full length, and indeed more than the full length, of what the people can bear for current eſtabliſhments; then they are abſurd enough to conſolidate all the calamities of war into debts; to metamorphoſe the devaſtations of the country into demands upon its future production. What is this but to avow a reſolution utterly to deſtroy their own country, and to force the people to pay for [67] their ſufferings, to a government which has proved unable to protect either the ſhare of the huſhandman or their own? In every leaſe of a farm, the invaſion of an enemy, inſtead of forming a demand for arrear, is a releaſe of rent; nor for that releaſe is it at all neceſſary to ſhow, that the invaſion has left nothing to the occupier of the ſoil; though in the preſent caſe it would be too eaſy to prove that melancholy fact*. I therefore applauded my right honourable friend, who, when he canvaſſed the Company's accounts, as a preliminary to a bill that ought not to ſtand on falſehood of any kind, fixed his diſcerning eye, and his deciding hand, on theſe debts of the Company, from the Nabob of Arcot and Rajah of Tanjore, and at one ſtroke expunged them all, as utterly irrecoverable; he might have added as utterly unfounded.

On theſe grounds I do not blame the arrangement this day in queſtion, as a preference given to the debt of individuals over the Company's debt. In my eye it is no more than the preference of a fiction over a chimera; but I blame the preference given to thoſe fictitious private debts, over the ſtanding defence and the ſtanding government. It is there the public is robbed. It is robbed in its army; it is robbed in its civil adminiſtration; it is robbed in its credit; it is robbed in its inveſtment which forms the commercial connection between that country and Europe. There is the robbery.

But my principal objection lies a good deal deeper. That debt to the Company is the pretext under which all the other debts lurk and cover themſelves. That debt forms the foul putrid mucus, in which are engendered the whole brood of creeping aſcarides, [68] all the endleſs involutions, the eternal knot, added to a knot of thoſe inexpugnable tape-worms which devour the nutriment, and eat up the bowels of India*. It is neceſſary, Sir, you ſhould recollect two things: Firſt, that the Nabob's debt to the Company carries no intereſt. In the next place you will obſerve, that whenever the Company has occaſion to borrow, ſhe has always commanded whatever ſhe thought fit at eight per cent. Carrying in your mind theſe two facts, attend to the proceſs with regard to the public and the private debt, and with what little appearance of decency they play into each other's hands a game of utter perdition to the unhappy natives of India. The Nabob falls into an arrear to the Company. The Preſidency preſſes for payment. The Nabob's anſwer is, I have no money. Good. But there are ſoucars who will ſupply you on the mortgage of your territories. Then ſteps forward ſome Paul Benfield, and from his grateful compaſſion to the Nabob, and his filial regard to the Company, he unlocks the treaſures of his virtuous induſtry; and for a conſideration of twenty-four or thirty-ſix per cent. on a mortgage of the territorial revenue, becomes ſecurity to the Company for the Nabob's arrear.

All this intermediate uſury thus becomes ſanctified by the ultimate view to the Company's payment. In this caſe, would not a plain man aſk this plain queſtion of the Company; If you know that the Nabob muſt annually mortgage his territories to your ſervants, to pay his annual arrear to you, why is not the aſſignment or mortgage made directly to the Company itſelf? By this ſimple obvious operation, the Company would [69] be relieved and the debt paid, without the charge of a ſhilling intereſt to that prince. But if that courſe ſhould be thought too indulgent, why do they not take that aſſignment with ſuch intereſt to themſelves as they pay to others, that is eight per cent.? Or if it were thought more adviſeable (why it ſhould I know not) that he muſt borrow, why do not the Company lend their own credit to the Nabob for their own payment? That credit would not be weakened by the collateral ſecurity of his territorial mortgage. The money might ſtill be had at eight per cent. Inſtead of any of theſe honeſt and obvious methods, the Company has for years kept up a ſhew of diſintereſtedneſs and moderation, by ſuffering a debt to accumulate to them from the country powers without any intereſt at all; and at the ſame time have ſeen before their eyes, on a pretext of borrowing to pay that debt, the revenues of the country charged with an uſury of twenty, twenty-four, thirty-ſix, and even eight-and-forty per cent. with compound intereſt *, for the benefit of their ſervants. All this time they know that by having a debt ſubſiſting without any intereſt, which is to be paid by contracting a debt on the higheſt intereſt, they manifeſtly render it neceſſary to the Nabob of Arcot to give the private demand a preference to the public; and by binding him and their ſervants together in a common cauſe, they enable him to form a party to the utter ruin of their own authority, and their own affairs. Thus their falſe moderation, and their affected purity, by the natural operation of every thing falſe, and every thing affected, becomes pander and bawd to the unbridled debauchery and licentious lewdneſs of uſury and extortion.

In conſequence of this double game, all the territorial [70] revenues have, at one time or other, been covered by thoſe locuſts, the Engliſh ſoucars. Not one ſingle foot of the Carnatic has eſcaped them; a territory as large as England. During theſe operations what a ſcene has that country preſented*! The uſurious European aſſignee ſuperſedes the Nabob's native farmer of the revenue; the farmer flies to the Nabob's preſence to claim his bargain; whilſt his ſervants murmur for wages, and his ſoldiers mutiny for pay. The mortgage to the European aſſignee is then reſumed, and the native farmer replaced; replaced, again to be removed on the new clamour of the European aſſignee . Every man of rank and landed fortune being long ſince extinguiſhed, the remaining miſerable laſt cultivator, who grows to the ſoil, after having his back ſcored by the farmer, has it again flayed by the whip of the aſſignee, and is thus by a ravenous, becauſe a ſhort-lived ſucceſſion of claimants, laſhed from oppreſſor to oppreſſor, whilſt a ſingle drop of blood is left as the means of extorting a ſingle grain of corn. Do not think I paint. Far, [71] very far from it; I do not reach the fact, nor approach to it. Men of reſpectable condition, men equal to your ſubſtantial Engliſh yeomen, are daily tied up and ſcourged to anſwer the multiplied demands of various contending and contradictory titles, all iſſuing from one and the ſame ſource. Tyrannous exaction brings on ſervile concealment; and that again calls forth tyrannous coercion. They move in a circle, mutually producing and produced; till at length nothing of humanity is left in the government, no trace of integrity, ſpirit, or manlineſs in the people, who drag out a precarious and degraded exiſtence under this ſyſtem of outrage upon human nature. Such is the effect of the eſtabliſhment of a debt to the Company, as it has hitherto been managed, and as it ever will remain, until ideas are adopted totally different from thoſe which prevail at this time.

Your worthy miniſters, ſupporting what they are obliged to condemn, have thought fit to renew the Company's old order againſt contracting private debts in future. They begin by rewarding the violation of the antient law; and then they gravely re-enact proviſions, of which they have given bounties for the breach. This inconſiſtency has been well expoſed *. But what will you ſay to their having gone the length of giving poſitive directions for contracting the debt which they poſitively forbid?

I will explain myſelf. They order the Nabob, out of the revenues of the Carnatic, to allot four hundred and eighty thouſand pounds a year, as a fund for the debts before us. For the punctual payment of this annuity, they order him to give ſoucar ſecurity. When a ſoucar, that is a money [72] dealer, becomes ſecurity for any native prince, the courſe is, for the native prince to counterſecure the money dealer, by making over to him in mortgage a portion of his territory, equal to the ſum annually to be paid, with an intereſt of at leaſt twenty-four per cent. The point fit for the Houſe to know is, who are theſe ſoucars, to whom this ſecurity on the revenues in favour of the Nabob's creditors is to be given? The majority of the Houſe, unaccuſtomed to theſe tranſactions, will hear with aſtoniſhment that theſe ſoucars are no other than the creditors themſelves. The Miniſter, not content with authorizing theſe tranſactions in a manner and to an extent unhoped for by the rapacious expectations of uſury itſelf, loads the broken back of the Indian revenues, in favour of his worthy friends the ſoucars, with an additional twenty-four per cent. for being ſecurity to themſelves for their own claims; for condeſcending to take the country in mortgage, to pay to themſelves the fruits of their own extortions.

The intereſt to be paid for this ſecurity, according to the moſt moderate ſtrain of ſoucar demand, comes to one hundred and eighteen thouſand pounds a year, which added to the £.480,000 on which it is to accrue, will make the whole charge on account of theſe debts on the Carnatic revenues amount to £.598,000 a year, as much as even a long peace will enable thoſe revenues to produce. Can any one reflect for a moment on all thoſe claims of debt, which the Miniſter exhauſts himſelf in contrivances to augment with new uſuries, without lifting up his hands and eyes in aſtoniſhment of the impudence, both of the claim and the adjudication? Services of ſome kind or other theſe ſervants of the Company muſt have done, ſo great and eminent, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer cannot think that all they have brought home is half enough. [73] He halloos after them, ‘Gentlemen, you have forgot a large packet behind you, in your hurry; you have not ſufficiently recovered yourſelves; you ought to have, and you ſhall have, intereſt upon intereſt, upon a prohibited debt that is made up of intereſt upon intereſt. Even this is too little. I have thought of another character for you, by which you may add ſomething to your gains; you ſhall be ſecurity to yourſelves; and hence will riſe a new uſury, which ſhall efface the memory of all the uſuries ſuggeſted to you by your own dull inventions.’

I have done with the arrangement relative to the Carnatic. After this it is to little purpoſe to obſerve on what the Miniſters have done to Tanjore. Your Miniſters have not obſerved even form and ceremony in their outrageous and inſulting robbery of that country, whoſe only crime has been, its early and conſtant adherence to the power of this, and the ſuffering of an uniform pillage in conſequence of it. The debt of the Company from the Rajah of Tanjore, is juſt of the ſame ſtuff with that of the Nabob of Arcot.

The ſubſidy from Tanjore, on the arrear of which this pretended debt (if any there be) has accrued to the Company, is not, like that paid by the Nabob of Arcot, a compenſation for vaſt countries obtained, augmented, and preſerved for him; not the price of pillaged treaſuries, ranſacked houſes, and plundered territories.—It is a large grant, from a ſmall kingdom not obtained by our arms; robbed, not protected by our power; a grant for which no equivalent was ever given, or pretended to be given. The right honourable Gentleman, however, bears witneſs in his Reports to the punctuality of the payments of this grant of bounty, or, if you pleaſe, of fear. It amounts to one hundred and ſixty thouſand [74] pound ſterling net annual ſubſidy. He bears witneſs to a further grant of a town and port, with an annexed diſtrict of thirty thouſand pound a year, ſurrendered to the Company ſince the firſt donation. He has not borne witneſs, but the fact is, (he will not deny it) that in the midſt of war, and during the ruin and deſolation of a conſiderable part of his territories, this prince made many very large payments. Notwithſtanding theſe merits and ſervices, the firſt regulation of miniſtry is to force from him a territory of an extent which they have not yet thought proper to aſcertain, for a military peace eſtabliſhment, the particulars of which they have not yet been pleaſed to ſettle.

The next part of their arrangement is with regard to war. As confeſſedly this prince had no ſhare in ſtirring up any of the former wars, ſo all future wars are completely out of his power; for he has no troops whatever, and is under a ſtipulation not ſo much as to correſpond with any foreign ſtate, except through the Company. Yet, in caſe the Company's ſervants ſhould be again involved in war, or ſhould think proper again to provoke any enemy, as in times paſt they have wantonly provoked all India, he is to be ſubjected to a new penalty. To what penalty?—Why, to no leſs than the confiſcation of all his revenues. But this is to end with the war, and they are to be faithfully returned?—Oh! no; nothing like it. The country is to remain under confiſcation until all the debt which the Company ſhall think fit to incur in ſuch war ſhall be diſcharged; that is to ſay, for ever. His ſole comfort is to find his old enemy, the Nabob of Arcot, placed in the very ſame condition.

The revenues of that miſerable country were, before the invaſion of Hyder, reduced to a groſs annual receipt of three hundred and ſixty thouſand [75] pound *. From this receipt the ſubſidy I have juſt ſtated is taken. This again, by payments in advance, by extorting depoſits of additional ſums to a vaſt amount for the benefit of their ſoucars, and by an endleſs variety of other extortions, public and private, is loaded with a debt, the amount of which I never could aſcertain, but which is large undoubtedly, generating an uſury the moſt completely ruinous that probably was ever heard of; that is, forty-eight per cent, payable monthly, with compound intereſt .

Such is the ſtate to which the Company's ſervants have reduced that country. Now come the reformers, reſtorers, and comforters of India. What have they done? In addition to all theſe tyrannous exactions with all theſe ruinous debts in their train, looking to one ſide of an agreement whilſt they wilfully ſhut their eyes to the other, they withdraw from Tanjore all the benefits of the treaty of 1762, and they ſubject that nation to a perpetual tribute of forty thouſand a year to the Nabob of Arcot; a tribute never due, or pretended to be due to him, even when he appeared to be ſomething; a tribute, as things now ſtand, not to a real potentate, but to a ſhadow, a dream, an incubus of oppreſſion. After the Company has accepted in ſubſidy, in grant of territory, in remiſſion of rent, as a compenſation for their own protection, at leaſt two hundred thouſand pound a year, without diſcounting a ſhilling for that receipt, the Miniſters condemn this haraſſed nation to be tributary to a perſon who is himſelf, by their own arrangement, deprived of the right of war or peace; deprived of the power of the ſword; forbid to keep up a ſingle regiment of ſoldiers; and is therefore wholly diſabled from all [76] protection of the country which is the object of the pretended tribute. Tribute hangs on the ſword. It is an incident inſeparable from real ſovereign power. In the preſent caſe to ſuppoſe its exiſtence, is as abſurd as it is cruel and oppreſſive. And here, Mr. Speaker, you have a clear exemplification of the uſe of thoſe falſe names, and falſe colours, which the Gentlemen who have lately taken poſſeſſion of India chooſe to lay on for the purpoſe of diſguiſing their plan of oppreſſion. The Nabob of Arcot, and Rajah of Tanjore, have, in truth and ſubſtance, no more than a merely civil authority, held in the moſt entire dependence on the Company. The Nabob, without military, without federal capacity, is extinguiſhed as a potentate; but then he is carefully kept alive as an independent and ſovereign power, for the purpoſe of rapine and extortion; for the purpoſe of perpetuating the old intrigues, animoſities, uſuries, and corruptions.

It was not enough that this mockery of tribute, was to be continued without the correſpondent protection, or any of the ſtipulated equivalents, but ten years of arrear, to the amount of £. 400,000 ſterling, is added to all the debts to the Company, and to individuals, in order to create a new debt, to be paid (if at all poſſible to be paid in whole or in part) only by new uſuries; and all this for the Nabob of Arcot, or rather for Mr. Benfield, and the corps of the Nabob's creditors, and their ſoucars. Thus theſe miſerable Indian princes are continued in their ſeats, for no other purpoſe than to render them in the firſt inſtance objects of every ſpecies of extortion; and in the ſecond, to force them to become, for the ſake of a momentary ſhadow of reduced authority, a ſort of ſubordinate tyrants, the ruin and calamity, not the fathers and cheriſhers, of their people.

[77]But take this tribute only as a mere charge (without title, cauſe, or equivalent) on this people; what one ſtep has been taken to furniſh grounds for a juſt calculation and eſtimate of the proportion of the burthen and the ability? None; not an attempt at it. They do not adapt the burthen to the ſtrength; but they eſtimate the ſtrength of the bearers by the burthen they impoſe. Then what care is taken to leave a fund ſufficient to the future reproduction of the revenues that are to bear all theſe loads? Every one, but tolerably converſant in Indian affairs, muſt know that the exiſtence of this little kingdom depends on its control over the river Cavery. The benefits of Heaven to any community, ought never to be connected with political arrangements, or made to depend on the perſonal conduct of princes; in which the miſtake, or error, or neglect, or diſtreſs, or paſſion of a moment on either ſide, may bring famine on millions, and ruin an innocent nation perhaps for ages. The means of the ſubſiſtence of mankind ſhould be as immutable as the laws of Nature, let power and dominion take what courſe they may.—Obſerve what has been done with regard to this important concern. The uſe of this river is indeed at length given to the Rajah, and a power provided for its enjoyment at his own charge; but the means of furniſhing that charge (and a mighty one it is) are wholly cut off. This uſe of the water, which ought to have no more connexion than clouds and rains, and ſunſhine, with the politics of the Rajah, the Nabob, or the Company, is expreſsly contrived as a means of enforcing demands and arrears of tribute. This horrid and unnatural inſtrument of extortion had been a diſtinguiſhing feature in the enormities of the Carnatic politics that loudly called for reformation. But the food of a whole [78] people is by the reformers of India conditioned on payments from its prince, at a moment that he is overpowered with a ſwarm of their demands, without regard to the ability of either prince or people. In fine, by opening an avenue to the irruption of the Nabob of Arcot's creditors and ſoucars, whom every man who did not fall in love with oppreſſion and corruption on an experience of the calamities they produced, would have raiſed wall before wall, and mound before mound, to keep from a poſſibility of entrance, a more deſtructive enemy than Hyder Ali is introduced into that kingdom. By this part of their arrangement, in which they eſtabliſh a debt to the Nabob of Arcot, in effect and ſubſtance, they deliver over Tanjore, bound hand and foot, to Paul Benfield, the old betrayer, inſulter, oppreſſor, and ſcourge of a country, which has for years been an object of an unremitted, but unhappily an unequal ſtruggle, between the bounties of Providence to renovate, and the wickedneſs of mankind to deſtroy.

The right honourable gentleman * talks of his fairneſs in determining the territorial diſpute between the Nabob of Arcot and the prince of that country, when he ſuperſeded the determination of the Directors, in whom the law had veſted the deciſion of that controverſy. He is in this juſt as feeble as he is in every other part. But it is not neceſſary to ſay a word in refutation of any part of his argument. The mode of the proceeding ſufficiently ſpeaks the ſpirit of it. It is enough to fix his character as a judge, that he never heard the Directors in defence of their adjudication, nor either of the parties in ſupport of their reſpective claims. It is ſufficient for me, that he takes from the Rajah of Tanjore, by this pretended adjudication, or [79] rather from his unhappy ſubjects, £. 40,000 a year of his and their revenue, and leaves upon his and their ſhoulders all the charges that can be made on the part of the Nabob, on the part of his creditors, and on the part of the Company, without ſo much as hearing him as to right or to ability. But what principally induces me to leave the affair of the territorial diſpute between the Nabob and the Rajah to another day, is this, that both the parties being ſtripped of their all, it little ſignifies under which of their names the unhappy undone people are delivered over to the mercileſs ſoucars, the allies of that right honourable gentleman, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In them ends the account of this long diſpute of the Nabob of Arcot, and the Rajah of Tanjore.

The right honourable gentleman is of opinion, that his judgment in this caſe can be cenſured by none but thoſe who ſeem to act as if they were paid agents to one of the parties. What does he think of his Court of Directors? If they are paid by either of the parties, by which of them does he think they are paid? He knows that their deciſion has been directly contrary to his. Shall I believe that it does not enter into his heart to conceive, that any perſon can ſteadily and actively intereſt himſelf in the protection of the injured and oppreſſed, without being well paid for his ſervice? I have taken notice of this ſort of diſcourſe ſome days ago, ſo far as it may be ſuppoſed to relate to me. I then contented myſelf, as I ſhall now do, with giving it a cold, though a very direct contradiction. Thus much I do from reſpect to truth. If I did more, it might be ſuppoſed, by my anxiety to clear myſelf, that I had imbibed the ideas, which, for obvious reaſons, the right honourable gentleman wiſhes to have received [80] concerning all attempts to plead the cauſe of the natives of India, as if it were a diſreputable employment. If he had not forgot, in his preſent occupation, every principle which ought to have guided him, and I hope did guide him, in his late profeſſion, he would have known, that he who takes a fee for pleading the cauſe of diſtreſs againſt power, and manfully performs the duty he has aſſumed, receives an honourable recompence for a virtuous ſervice. But if the right honourable gentleman will have no regard to fact in his inſinuations, or to reaſon in his opinions, I wiſh him at leaſt to conſider, that if taking an earneſt part with regard to the oppreſſions exerciſed in India, and with regard to this moſt oppreſſive caſe of Tanjore in particular, can ground a preſumption of intereſted motives, he is himſelf the moſt mercenary man I know. His conduct indeed is ſuch that he is on all occaſions the ſtanding teſtimony againſt himſelf. He it was that firſt called to that caſe the attention of the Houſe: The Reports of his own Committee are ample and affecting upon that ſubject *; and as many of us as have eſcaped his maſſacre, muſt remember the very pathetic picture he made of the ſufferings of the Tanjore country, on the day when he moved the unwieldy code of his Indian reſolutions. Has he not ſtated over and over again in his Reports, the ill treatment of the Rajah of Tanjore, (a branch of the royal houſe of the Marattas, every injury to whom the Marattas felt as offered to themſelves) as a main cauſe of the alienation of that people from the Britiſh power? And does he now think, that to betray his principles, to contradict his declarations, and to become himſelf an active inſtrument [81] in thoſe oppreſſions which he had ſo tragically lamented, is the way to clear himſelf of having been actuated by a pecuniary intereſt, at the time when he choſe to appear full of tenderneſs to that ruined nation?

The right honourable gentleman is fond of parading on the motives of others, and on his own. As to himſelf, he deſpiſes the imputations of thoſe who ſuppoſe that any thing corrupt could influence him in this his unexampled liberality of the public treaſure. I do not know that I am obliged to ſpeak to the motives of miniſtry, in the arrangements they have made of the pretended debts of Arcot and Tanjore. If I prove fraud and colluſion with regard to public money on thoſe right honourable gentlemen, I am not obliged to aſſign their motives; becauſe no good motives can be pleaded in favour of their conduct. Upon that caſe I ſtand; we are at iſſue; and I deſire to go to trial. This, I am ſure, is not looſe railing, or mean inſinuation, according to their low and degenerate faſhion, when they make attacks on the meaſures of their adverſaries. It is a regular and juridical courſe; and, unleſs I chooſe it, nothing can compel me to go further.

But ſince theſe unhappy gentlemen have dared to hold a lofty tone about their motives, and affect to deſpiſe ſuſpicion, inſtead of being careful not to give cauſe for it, I ſhall beg leave to lay before you ſome general obſervations on what I conceive was their duty in ſo delicate a buſineſs.

If I were worthy to ſuggeſt any line of prudence to that right honourable gentleman, I would tell him, that the way to avoid ſuſpicion in the ſettlement of pecuniary tranſactions, in which great frauds have been very ſtrongly preſumed, is, to attend to theſe few plain principles:—Firſt, To [82] hear all parties equally, and not the managers for the ſuſpected claimants only.—Not to proceed in the dark; but to act with as much publicity as poſſible.—Not to precipitate deciſion.—To be religious in following the rules preſcribed in the commiſſion under which we act. And, laſtly, and above all, not to be fond of ſtraining conſtructions, to force a juriſdiction, and to draw to ourſelves the management of a truſt in its nature invidious and obnoxious to ſuſpicion, where the plaineſt letter of the law does not compel it. If theſe few plain rules are obſerved, no corruption ought to be ſuſpected; if any of them are violated, ſuſpicion will attach in proportion. If all of them are violated, a corrupt motive of ſome kind or other will not only be ſuſpected, but muſt be violently preſumed.

The perſons in whoſe favour all theſe rules have been violated, and the conduct of miniſters towards them, will naturally call for your conſideration, and will ſerve to lead you through a ſeries and combination of facts and characters, if I do not miſtake, into the very inmoſt receſſes of this myſterious buſineſs. You will then, be in poſſeſſion of all the materials on which the principles of ſound juriſprudence will found, or will reject the preſumption of corrupt motives; or if ſuch motives are indicated, will point out to you of what particular nature the corruption is.

Our wonderful miniſter, as you all know, formed a new plan, a plan inſigne recens alio indictum ore, a plan for ſupporting the freedom of our conſtitution by court intrigues, and for removing its corruptions by Indian delinquency. To carry that bold paradoxical deſign into execution, ſufficient funds and apt inſtruments became neceſſary. You are perfectly ſenſible that a Parliamentary Reform occupies his thoughts day and night, as an eſſential [83] member in this extraordinary project. In his anxious reſearches upon this ſubjeſt, natural inſtinct, as well as ſound policy, would direct his eyes, and ſettle his choice on Paul Benfield. Paul Benfield is the grand parliamentary reformer, the reformer to whom the whole choir of reformers bow, and to whom even the right honourable gentleman himſelf muſt yield the palm: For what region in the empire, what city, what borough, what county, what tribunal, in this kingdom, is not full of his labours? Others have been only ſpeculators; he is the grand practical reformer; and whilſt the Chancellor of the Exchequer pledges in vain the man and the miniſter, to increaſe the provincial members, Mr. Benfield has auſpiciouſly and practically begun it. Leaving far behind him even Lord Camelford's generous deſign of beſtowing Old Sarum on the Bank of England, Mr. Benfield has thrown in the borough of Cricklade to reinforce the county repreſentation. Not content with this, in order toſtation a ſteady phalanx for all future reforms, this public-ſpirited uſurer, amidſt his charitable toils for the relief of India, did not forget the poor rotten conſtitution of his native country. For her, he did not diſdain to ſtoop to the trade of a wholeſale upholſterer for this houſe, to furniſh it, not with the faded tapeſtry figures of antiquated merit, ſuch as decorate, and may reproach ſome other houſes, but with real, ſolid, living patterns of true modern virtue. Paul Benfield made (reckoning himſelf) no fewer than eight members in the laſt parliament. What copious ſtreams of pure blood muſt he not have transfuſed into the veins of the preſent!

But what is even more ſtriking than the real ſervices of this new-imported patriot, is his modeſty. As ſoon as he had conferred this benefit on the conſtitution, he withdrew himſelf from our applauſe. [84] He conceived that the duties of a member of parliament (which with the elect faithful, the true believers, the Iſlam of parliamentary reform, are of little or no merit, perhaps not much better than ſpecious ſins) might be as well attended to in India as in England, and the means of reformation to Parliament itſelf, be far better provided. Mr. Benfield was therefore no ſooner elected than he ſet off for Madras, and defrauded the longing eyes of parliament. We have never enjoyed in this Houſe the luxury of beholding that minion of the human race, and contemplating that viſage, which has ſo long reflected the happineſs of nations.

It was therefore not poſſible for the miniſter to conſult perſonally with this great man. What then was he to do? Through a ſagacity that never failed him in theſe purſuits, he found out in Mr. Benfield's repreſentative, his exact reſemblance. A ſpecific attraction by which he gravitates towards all ſuch characters, ſoon brought our miniſter into a cloſe connection with Mr. Benfield's agent and attorney; that is, with the grand contractor (whom I name to honour) Mr. Richard Atkinſon; a name that will be well remembered as long as the Records of this Houſe, as long as the Records of the Britiſh Treaſury, as long as the monumental debt of England, ſhall endure.

This gentleman, Sir, acts as attorney for Mr. Paul Benfield. Every one who hears me, is well acquainted with the ſacred friendſhip, and the ſteady mutual attachment that ſubſiſts between him and the preſent miniſter. As many members as choſe to attend in the firſt ſeſſion of this parliament, can beſt tell their own feelings at the ſcenes which were then acted. How much that honourable gentleman was conſulted in the original frame and fabric of the bill, commonly called [85] Mr. Pitt's India Bill, is matter only of conjecture; though by no means difficult to divine. But the public was an indignant witneſs of the oſtentation with which that meaſure was made his own, and the authority with which he brought up clauſe after clauſe, to ſtuff and fatten the rankneſs of that corrupt act. As faſt as the clauſes were brought up to the table, they were accepted. No heſitation; no diſcuſſion. They were received by the new miniſter, not with approbation, but with implicit ſubmiſſion. The reformation may be eſtimated, by ſeeing who was the reformer. Paul Benfield's aſſociate and agent was held up to the world as legiſlator of Indoſtan. But it was neceſſary to authenticate the coalition between the men of intrigue in India and the miniſter of intrigue in England, by a ſtudied diſplay of the power of this their connecting link. Every truſt, every honour, every diſtinction, was to be heaped upon him. He was at once made a director of the India Company; made an alderman of London; and to be made, if miniſtry could prevail (and I am ſorry to ſay how near, how very near they were prevailing) repreſentative of the capital of this kingdom. But to ſecure his ſervices againſt all riſque, he was brought in for a miniſterial borough. On his part, he was not wanting in zeal for the common cauſe. His advertiſements ſhew his motives, and the merits upon which he ſtood. For your miniſter, this worn-out veteran ſubmitted to enter into the duſty field of the London conteſt; and you all remember, that in the ſame virtuous cauſe, he ſubmitted to keep a ſort of public office or counting-houſe, where the whole buſineſs of the laſt general election was managed. It was openly managed by the direct agent and attorney of Benfield. It was managed upon Indian principles, and for an Indian intereſt. This was the golden cup of abominations; [86] this the chalice of the fornications of rapine, uſury, and oppreſſion, which was held out by the gorgeous eaſtern harlot; which ſo many of the people, ſo many of the nobles of this land, had drained to the very dregs. Do you think that no reckoning was to follow this lewd debauch? that no payment was to be demanded for this riot of public drunkenneſs and national proſtitution? Here! you have it here before you. The principal of the grand election manager muſt be indemnified; accordingly the claims of Benfield and his crew muſt be put above all enquiry.

For ſeveral years, Benfield appeared as the chief proprietor, as well as the chief agent, director, and controller, of this ſyſtem of debt. The worthy chairman of the Company has ſtated the claims of this ſingle gentleman on the Nabob of Arcot, as amounting to five hundred thouſand pound *. Poſſibly at the time of the chairman's ſtate, they might have been as high. Eight hundred thouſand had been mentioned ſometime before; and according to the practice of ſhifting the names of creditors in theſe tranſactions, and reducing or raiſing the debt itſelf at pleaſure, I think it not impoſſible, that at one period, the name of Benfield might have ſtood before thoſe frightful figures. But my beſt information goes to fix his ſhare no higher than four hundred thouſand pounds. By the ſcheme of the preſent miniſtry for adding to the principal twelve per cent. from the year 1777 to the year 1781, four hundred thouſand pounds, that ſmalleſt of the ſums ever mentioned for Mr. Benfield, will form a capital of £. 592,000, at ſix per cent. Thus, beſides the arrears of three years, amounting to £. 106,500 (which, as faſt as received, may be legally lent out at 12 per cent.) Benfield has received by [87] the miniſterial grant before you, an annuity of £. 35,520 a year, charged on the public revenues.

Our mirror of Miniſters of finance, did not think this enough for the ſervices of ſuch a friend as Benfield. He found that Lord Macartney, in order to frighten the Court of Directors from the project, of obliging the Nabob to give ſoucar ſecurity for his debt, aſſured them, that if they ſhould take that ſtep, Benfield * would infallibly be the ſoucar; and would thereby become the entire maſter of the Carnatic. What Lord Macartney thought ſufficient to deter the very agents and partakers with Benfield in his iniquities, was the inducement to the two right honourable gentlemen to order this very ſoucar ſecurity to be given, and to recal Benfield to the city of Madras, from the ſort of decent exile, into which he had been relegated by Lord Macartney. You muſt therefore conſider Benfield as ſoucar ſecurity for £. 480,000 a year, which at twenty-four per cent. (ſuppoſing him contented with that profit) will, with the intereſt of his old debt, produce an annual income of £. 149,520 a year.

Here is a ſpecimen of the new and pure ariſtocracy created by the right honourable gentleman, as the ſupport of the crown and conſtitution, againſt the old, corrupt, refractory, natural intereſts of this kingdom; and this is the grand counterpoiſe againſt all odious coalitions of theſe intereſts. A ſingle Benfield outweighs them all; a criminal, who long ſince ought to have fattened the region kites with his offal, is, by his majeſty's miniſters, enthroned in the government of a great kingdom, and enfeoffed with an eſtate, which in the compariſon effaces the ſplendor of all the nobility of Europe. To bring a little more diſtinctly into [88] view the true ſecret of this dark tranſaction, I beg you particularly to advert to the circumſtances which I am going to place before you.

The general corps of creditors, as well as Mr. Benfield himſelf, not looking well into futurity, nor preſaging the miniſter of this day, thought it not expedient for their common intereſt, that ſuch a name as his ſhould ſtand at the head of their liſt. It was therefore agreed amongſt them, that Mr. Benfield ſhould diſappear by making over his debt to Meſſrs. Taylor, Majendie, and Call, and ſhould in return be ſecured by their bond.

The debt thus exonerated of ſo great a weight of its odium, and otherwiſe reduced from its alarming bulk, the agents thought they might venture to print a liſt of the creditors. This was done for the firſt time in the year 1783, during the duke of Portland's adminiſtration. In this liſt the name of Benfield was not to be ſeen. To this ſtrong negative teſtimony was added the further teſtimony of the Nabob of Arcot. That Prince* (or rather Mr. Benfield for him) writes to the Court of Directors a letter full of complaints and accuſations againſt Lord Macartney, conveyed in ſuch terms as were natural for one of Mr. Benfield's habits and education to employ. Amongſt the reſt, he is made to complain of his Lordſhip's endeavouring to prevent an intercourſe of politeneſs and ſentiment between him and Mr. Benfield; and to aggravate the affront, he expreſsly declares Mr. Benfield's viſits to be only on account of reſpect [89] and of gratitude, as no pecuniary tranſactions ſubſiſted between them.

Such, for a conſiderable ſpace of time, was the outward form of the loan of 1777, in which Mr. Benfield had no ſort of concern. At length intelligence arrived at Madras, that this debt, which had always been renounced by the Court of Directors, was rather like to become the ſubject of ſomething more like a criminal enquiry, than of any patronage or ſanction from Parliament. Every ſhip brought accounts, one ſtronger than the other, of the prevalence of the determined enemies of the Indian ſyſtem. The public revenues became an object deſperate to the hopes of Mr. Benfield; he therefore reſolved to fall upon his aſſociates, and, in violation of that faith which ſubſiſts among thoſe who have abandoned all other, commences a ſuit in the Mayor's Court againſt Taylor, Majendie, and Call, for the bond given to him, when he agreed to diſappear for his own benefit as well as that of the common concern. The aſſignees of his debt, who little expected the ſpringing of this mine, even from ſuch an engineer as Mr. Benfield, after recovering their firſt alarm, thought it beſt to take ground on the real ſtate of the tranſaction. They divulged the whole myſtery, and were prepared to plead, that they had never received from Mr. Benfield any other conſideration for the bond, than a transfer, in truſt for himſelf, of his demand on the Nabob of Arcot. An univerſal indignation aroſe againſt the perſidy of Mr. Benfield's proceeding: The event of the ſuit was looked upon as ſo certain, that Benfield was compelled to retreat as precipitately as he had advanced boldly; he gave up his bond, and was reinſtated in his original demand, to wait the fortune of other claimants. At that time, and at Madras, this hope was dull indeed; but at home another ſcene was preparing.

[90]It was long before any public account of this diſcovery at Madras had arrived in England, that the preſent miniſter, and his Board of Control, thought fit to determine on the debt of 1777. The recorded proceedings at this time knew nothing of any debt to Benfield. There was his own teſtimony; there was the teſtimony of the liſt; there was the teſtimony of the Nabob of Arcot againſt it. Yet ſuch was the miniſter's feeling of the true ſecret of this tranſaction, that they thought proper, in the teeth of all theſe teſtimonies, to give him licence to return to Madras. Here the miniſters were under ſome embarraſſment. Confounded between their reſolution of rewarding the good ſervices of Benfield's friends and aſſociates in England, and the ſhame of ſending that notorious incendiary to the court of the Nabob of Arcot, to renew his intrigues againſt the Britiſh government, at the time they authorize his return they forbid him, under the ſevereſt penalties, from any converſation with the Nabob or his Miniſters; that is, they forbid his communication with the very perſon on account of his dealings with whom they permit his return to that city. To overtop this contradiction, there is not a word reſtraining him from the freeſt intercourſe with the Nabob's ſecond ſon,the real author of all that is done in the Nabob's name; who, in conjunction with this very Benfield, has acquired an abſolute dominion over that unhappy man, is able to perſuade him to put his ſignature to whatever paper they pleaſe, and often without any communication of the contents. This management was detailed to them at full length by Lord Macartney, and they cannot pretend ignorance of it *.

I believe, after this expoſure of facts, no man [91] can entertain a doubt of the colluſion of miniſters with the corrupt intereſt of the delinquents in India. Whenever thoſe in authority provide for the intereſt of any perſon, on the real but concealed ſtate of his affairs, without regard to his avowed, public, and oftenſible pretences, it muſt be preſumed that they are in confederacy with him, becauſe they act for him on the ſame fraudulent principles on which he acts for himſelf. It is plain, that the Miniſters were fully appriſed of Benfield's real ſituation, which he had uſed means to conceal whilſt concealment anſwered his purpoſes. They were, or the perſon on whom they relied was, of the cabinet council of Benfield, in the very depth of all his myſteries. An honeſt magiſtrate compels men to abide by one ſtory. An equitable judge would not hear of the claim of a man who had himſelf thought proper to renounce it. With ſuch a judge his ſhuffling and prevarication would have damned his claims; ſuch a judge never would have known, but in order to animadvert upon proceedings of that character.

I have thus laid before you, Mr. Speaker, I think with ſufficient clearneſs, the connection of the miniſters with Mr. Atkinſon at the general election; I have laid open to you the connection of Atkinſon with Benfield; I have ſhewn Benfield's employment of his wealth, in creating a parliamentary intereſt, to procure a miniſterial protection; I have ſet before your eyes his large concern in the debt, his practices to hide that concern from the public eye, and the liberal protection which he has received from the miniſter. If this chain of circumſtances do not lead you neceſſarily to conclude that the miniſter has paid to the avarice of Benfield the ſervices done by Benfield's connections to his ambition, I do not know any thing ſhort of the confeſſion of the party that can perſuade [90] [...] [91] [...] [92] you of his guilt. Clandeſtine and colluſive practice can only be traced by combination and compariſon of circumſtances. To reject ſuch combination and compariſon is to reject the only means of detecting fraud; it is indeed to give it a patent and free licence to cheat with impunity.

I confine myſelf to the connection of miniſters, mediately or immediately, with only two perſons concerned in this debt. How many others, who ſupport their power and greatneſs within and without doors, are concerned originally, or by transfers of theſe debts, muſt be left to general opinion. I refer to the Reports of the Select Committee for the proceedings of ſome of the agents in theſe affairs, and their attempts, at leaſt, to furniſh miniſters with the means of buying general courts, and even whole parliaments, in the groſs *.

I know that the miniſters will think it little leſs than acquittal, that they are not charged with having taken to themſelves ſome part of the money of which they have made ſo liberal a donation to their partizans, though the charge may be indiſputably fixed upon the corruption of their politics. For my part, I follow their crimes to that point to which legal preſumptions and natural indications lead me, without conſidering what ſpecies of evil motive tends moſt to aggravate or to extenuate the guilt of their conduct. But if I am to ſpeak my private ſentiments, I think that in a thouſand caſes for one it would be far leſs miſchievous to the public, and full as little diſhonourable to themſelves, to be polluted with direct bribery, than thus to become a ſtanding auxiliary to the oppreſſion, uſury, and peculation of multitudes, in order to obtain a corrupt ſupport to their power. It is by bribing, not ſo often by being bribed, that wicked politicians [93] bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the purſuits of many. It finds a multitude of checks, and many oppoſers, in every walk of life. But the objects of ambition are for the few; and every perſon who aims at indirect profit, and therefore wants other protection than innocence and law, inſtead of its rival, becomes its inſtrument. There is a natural allegiance and fealty due to this domineering paramount evil, from all the vaſſal vices, which acknowledge its ſuperiority, and readily militate under its banners; and it is under that diſcipline alone that avarice is able to ſpread to any conſiderable extent, or to render itſelf a general public miſchief. It is therefore no apology for miniſters, that they have not been bought by the Eaſt India delinquents, but that they have only formed an alliance with them for ſcreening each other from juſtice, according to the exigence of their ſeveral neceſſities. That they have done ſo is evident; and the junction of the power of office in England, with the abuſe of authority in the Eaſt, has not only prevented even the appearance of redreſs to the grievances of India, but I wiſh it may not be found to have dulled, if not extinguiſhed, the honour, the candour, the generoſity, the good-nature, which uſed formerly to characteriſe the people of England. I confeſs, I wiſh that ſome more feeling than I have yet obſerved for the ſufferings of our fellow-creatures and fellow-ſubjects in that oppreſſed part of the world, had manifeſted itſelf in any one quarter of the kingdom, or in any one large deſcription of men.

That theſe oppreſſions exiſt, is a fact no more denied, than it is reſented as it ought to be. Much evil has been done in India under the Britiſh authority. What has been done to redreſs it? We are no longer ſurprized at any thing. We are above the unlearned and vulgar paſſion of admiration. [94] But it will aſtoniſh poſterity, when they read our opinions in our actions, that after years of enquiry we have found out that the ſole grievance of India conſiſted in this, That the ſervants of the Company there had not profited enough of their opportunities, nor drained it ſufficiently of its treaſures; when they ſhall hear that the very firſt and only important act of a commiſſion ſpecially named by act of parliament, is to charge upon an undone country, in favour of a handful of men in the humbleſt ranks of the public ſervice, the enormous ſum of perhaps four millions of ſterling money.

It is difficult for the moſt wiſe and upright government to correct the abuſes of remote delegated power, productive of unmeaſured wealth, and protected by the boldneſs and ſtrength of the ſame ill-got riches. Theſe abuſes, full of their own wild native vigour, will grow and flouriſh under mere neglect. But where the ſupreme authority, not content with winking at the rapacity of its inferior inſtruments, is ſo ſhameleſs and corrupt as openly to give bounties and premiums for diſobedience to its laws; when it will not truſt to the activity of avarice in the purſuit of its own gains; when it ſecures public robbery by all the careful jealouſy and attention with which it ought to protect property from ſuch violence; the commonwealth then is become totally perverted from its purpoſes; neither God nor man will long endure it; nor will it long endure itſelf. In that caſe, there is an unnatural infection, a peſtilential taint fermenting in the conſtitution of ſociety, which fever and convulſions of ſome kind or other muſt throw off; or in which the vital powers, worſted in an unequal ſtruggle, are puſhed back upon themſelves, and by a reverſal of their whole functions, feſter to gangrene, to death; and inſtead of what was but juſt now the delight [95] and boaſt of the creation, there will be caſt out in the face of the ſun, a bloated, putrid, noiſome carcaſs, full of ſtench and poiſon, an offence, a horror, a leſſon to the world.

In my opinion, we ought not to wait for the fruitleſs inſtruction of calamity to enquire into the abuſes which bring upon us ruin in the worſt of its forms, in the loſs of our fame and virtue. But the right honourable gentleman * ſays, in anſwer to all the powerful arguments of my honourable friend— ‘that this enquiry is of a delicate nature, and that the ſtate will ſuffer detriment by the expoſure of this tranſaction.’ But it is expoſed; it is perfectly known in every member, in every particle, and in every way, except that which may lead to a remedy. He knows that the papers of correſpondence are printed, and that they are in every hand.

He and delicacy are a rare and a ſingular coalition. He thinks that to divulge our Indian politics, may be highly dangerous. He! the mover! the chairman! the reporter of the Committee of Secrecy! He that brought forth in the utmoſt detail, in ſeveral vaſt printed folios, the moſt recondite parts of the politics, the military, the revenues of the Britiſh empire in India. With ſix great chopping baſtards , each as luſty as an infant Hercules, this delicate creature bluſhes at the ſight of his new bridegroom, aſſumes a virgin delicacy; or, to uſe a more fit, as well as a more poetic compariſon, the perſon ſo ſqueamiſh, ſo timid, ſo trembling leſt the winds of heaven ſhould viſit too roughly, is expanded to broad ſunſhine, expoſed like the ſow of imperial augury, lying in the mud with all the prodigies of her fertility about her, as evidence of her delicate amours — Triginta capitum [96] foetus enixa jacebat, alba ſolo recubans albi circum ubera nati.

Whilſt diſcovery of the miſgovernment of others led to his own power, it was wiſe to enquire: it was ſafe to publiſh; there was then no delicacy; there was then no danger. But when his object is obtained, and in his imitation he has outdone the crimes that he had reprobated in volumes of Reports, and in ſheets of bills of pains and penalties; then concealment becomes prudence; and it concerns the ſafety of the ſtate, that we ſhould not know, in a mode of parliamentary cognizance, what all the world knows but too well, that is, in what manner he chooſes to diſpoſe of the public revenues to the creatures of his politics.

The debate has been long, and as much ſo on my part, at leaſt, as on the part of thoſe who have ſpoken before me. But long as it is, the more material half of the ſubject has hardly been touched on; that is, the corrupt and deſtructive ſyſtem to which this debt has been rendered ſubſervient, and which ſeems to be purſued with at leaſt as much vigour and regularity as ever. If I conſidered your eaſe or my own, rather than the weight and importance of this queſtion, I ought to make ſome apology to you, perhaps ſome apology to myſelf, for having detained your attention ſo long. I know on what ground I tread. This ſubject, at one time taken up with ſo much fervour and zeal, is no longer a favourite in this Houſe. The Houſe itſelf has undergone a great and ſignal revolution. To ſome the ſubject is ſtrange and uncouth; to ſeveral harſh and diſtaſteful; to the reliques of the laſt parliament it is a matter of fear and apprehenſion. It is natural for thoſe who have ſeen their friends ſink in the tornado which raged during the late ſhift of the monſoon, and have hardly eſcaped on the planks of the general wreck, it [97] is but too natural for them, as ſoon as they make the rocks and quickſands of their former diſaſters, to put about their new-built barks, and, as much as poſſible, to keep aloof from this perilous lee ſhore.

But let us do what we pleaſe to put India from our thoughts, we can do nothing to ſeparate it from our public intereſt and our national reputation. Our attempts to baniſh this importunate duty, will only make it return upon us again and again, and every time in a ſhape more unpleaſant than the former. A government has been fabricated for that great province; the right honourable Gentleman ſays, that therefore you ought not to examine into its conduct. Heavens! what an argument is this! We are not to examine into the conduct of the Direction, becauſe it is an old government: we are not to examine into this Board of Control, becauſe it is a new one. Then we are only to examine into the conduct of thoſe who have no conduct to account for. Unfortunately the baſis of this new government has been laid on old condemned delinquents, and its ſuperſtructure is raiſed out of proſecutors turned into protectors. The event has been ſuch as might be expected. But if it had been otherwiſe conſtituted; had it been conſtituted even as I wiſhed, and as the mover of this queſtion had planned, the better part of the propoſed eſtabliſhment was in the publicity of its proceedings; in its perpetual reſponſibility to parliament. Without this check, what is our government at home, even awed, as every European government is, by an audience formed of the other States of Europe, by the applauſe or condemnation of the diſcerning and critical company before which it acts? But if the ſcene on the other ſide of the globe, which tempts, invites, almoſt compels to tyrannny and rapine, be not inſpected with [98] the eye of a ſevere and unremitting vigilance, ſhame and deſtruction muſt enſue. For one, the worſt event of this day, though it may deject, ſhall not break or ſubdue me. The call upon us is authoritative. Let who will ſhrink back, I ſhall be found at my poſt. Baffled, diſcountenanced, ſubdued, diſcredited, as the cauſe of juſtice and humanity is, it will be only the dearer to me. Whoever therefore ſhall at any time bring before you any thing towards the relief of our diſtreſſed fellow-citizens in India, and towards a ſubverſion of the preſent moſt corrupt and oppreſſive ſyſtem for its government, in me ſhall find, a weak I am afraid, but a ſteady, earneſt, and faithful aſſiſtant.

FINIS.

[1]APPENDIX.

Appendix A No 1. CLAUSES OF MR. PITT'S BILL, Referred to from p. 6.
Appointing Commiſſioners to enquire into the fees, gratuities, perquiſites, and emoluments, which are, or have been lately, received in the ſeveral public offices therein mentioned; to examine into any abuſes which may exiſt in the ſame, &c.

AND be it further enacted, that it ſhall and may be lawful to and for the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, and they are hereby impowered, authorized, and required, to examine upon oath (which oath they, or any two of them, are hereby authorized to adminiſter) the ſeveral perſons, of all deſcriptions, belonging to any of the offices or departments before mentioned, and all other perſons whom the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, ſhall think fit to examine, touching the buſineſs of each office or department, and the fees, gratuities, perquiſites, and emoluments taken therein, and touching all other matters and things [2] neceſſary for the execution of the powers veſted in the ſaid commiſſioners by this act; all which perſons are hereby required and directed punctually to attend the ſaid commiſſioners, at ſuch time and place as they, or any two of them, ſhall appoint, and alſo to obſerve and execute ſuch orders and directions as the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, ſhall make or give for the purpoſes before mentioned.

And be it enacted by the authority aforeſaid, that the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, ſhall be, and are hereby impowered to examine into any corrupt and fraudulent practices, or other miſconduct, committed by any perſon or perſons concerned in the management of any of the offices or departments hereinbefore mentioned: and, for the better execution of this preſent act, the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, are hereby authorized to meet and ſit, from time to time, in ſuch place or places as they ſhall find moſt convenient, with or without adjournment, and to ſend their precept or precepts, under their hands and ſeals, for any perſon or perſons whatſoever, and for ſuch books, papers, writings, or records, as they ſhall judge neceſſary for their information, relating to any of the offices or departments hereinbefore mentioned; and all bailiffs, conſtables, ſheriffs, and other his Majeſty's officers, are hereby required to obey and execute ſuch orders and precepts aforeſaid, as ſhall be ſent to them or any of them by the ſaid commiſſioners, or any two of them, touching the premiſes.

Appendix B APPENDIX, No 2. Referred to from p. 11.
NABOB OF ARCOT'S DEBTS.

[3]

MR. GEORGE SMITH being aſked, Whether the debts of the Nabob of Arcot have increaſed ſince he knew Madras? he ſaid, Yes, they have. He diſtinguiſhes his debts into two ſorts; thoſe contracted before the year 1766, and thoſe contracted from that year to the year in which he left Madras.—Being aſked, What he thinks is the original amount of the old debts? he ſaid, Between twenty-three and twenty-four lacks of pagodas, as well as he can recollect.—Being aſked, What was the amount of that debt when he left Madras? he ſaid, Between 4 and 5 lacks of pagodas, as he underſtood.—Being aſked, What was the amount of the new debt when he left Madras? he ſaid, In November 1777 that debt amounted, according to the Nabob's own account, and publiſhed at Chipauk, his place of reſidence, to ſixty lacks of pagodas, independent of the old debt, on which debt of 60 lacks of pagodas, the Nabob did agree to pay an intereſt of twelve per cent per annum.—Being aſked, Whether this debt was approved of by the Court of Directors? he ſaid, He does not know it was.— Being aſked, Whether the old debt was recognized by the Court of Directors? he ſaid, Yes, it has been; and the Court of Directors have ſent out repeated orders to the Preſident and Council of Madras, to enforce its recovery and payment.— Being aſked, If the intereſt upon the new debt is punctually paid? he ſaid, It was not during his reſidence at Madras, from 1777 to 1779, in which period he thinks no more than five per cent. intereſt was paid, in different dividends of two and one per cent.—Being aſked, What is the uſual courſe [4] taken by the Nabob, concerning the arrears of intereſt? he ſaid, Not having ever lent him monies himſelf, he cannot fully anſwer as to the mode of ſettling the intereſt with him.

Being aſked, Whether he has reaſon to believe the 60 lacks of pagodas was all principal money really and truly advanced to the Nabob of Arcot, or a fictitious capital, made up of obligations given by him, where no money or goods were received, or which was increaſed by the uniting into it a greater intereſt than the 12 per cent. expreſſed to be due on the capital? he ſaid, He has no reaſon to believe that the ſum of 60 lacks of pagodas was lent in money or goods to the Nabob, becauſe that ſum he thinks is of more value than all the money, goods, and chattels in the ſettlement; but he does not know in what mode or manner this debt of the Nabob's was incurred or accumulated.—Being aſked, Whether it was not a general and well-grounded opinion at Madras, that a great part of this ſum was accumulated by obligations, and were for ſervices performed or to be performed for the Nabob? he ſaid, He has heard that a part of this debt was given for the purpoſes mentioned in the above queſtion, but he does not know that it was ſo.—Being aſked, Whether it was the general opinion of the ſettlement? he ſaid, He cannot ſay that it was the general opinion, but it was the opinion of a conſiderable part of the ſettlement.— Being aſked, Whether it was the declared opinion of thoſe that were concerned in the debt, or thoſe that were not? he ſaid, It was the opinion of both parties, at leaſt ſuch of them as he converſed with.—Being aſked, Whether he has reaſon to believe that the intereſt really paid by the Nabob, upon obligations given, or money lent, did not frequently exceed 12 per cent.? He ſaid, Prior to the firſt of Auguſt 1774, he had had reaſon to believe, [5] that a higher intereſt than 12 per cent. was paid by the Nabob on monies lent to him; but from and after that period, when the laſt act of parliament took place in India, he does not know that more than 12 per cent. had been paid by the Nabob, or received from him.—Being aſked, Whether it is not his opinion, that the Nabob has paid more than 12 per cent. for money due ſince the 1ſt of Auguſt 1774? he ſaid, He has heard that he has, but he does not know it.—Being aſked, Whether he has been told ſo by any conſiderable and weighty authority, that was like to know? he ſaid, He has been ſo informed by perſons who he believes had a very good opportunity of knowing it.— Being aſked, Whether he was ever told ſo by the Nabob of Arcot himſelf? he ſaid, He does not recollect that the Nabob of Arcot directly told him ſo, but from what he ſaid, he did infer that he paid a higher intereſt than 12 per cent.

Mr. Smith being aſked, Whether, in the courſe of trade, he ever ſold any thing to the Nabob of Arcot? he ſaid, In the year 1775 he did ſell to the Nabob of Arcot pearls to the amount of 32,500 pagodas, for which the Nabob gave him an order or tankah on the country of Tanjore, payable in ſix months, without intereſt.—Being aſked, Whether, at the time he aſked the Nabob his price for the pearls, the Nabob beat down that price, as dealers commonly do? he ſaid, No; ſo far from it, he offered him more than he aſked by 1,000 pagodas, and which he rejected.—Being aſked, Whether, in ſettling a tranſaction of diſcount with the Nabob's agent, he was not offered a greater diſcount than £. 12 per cent.; he ſaid, In diſcounting a ſoucar's bill for 1,80,000 pagodas, the Nabob's agent did offer him a diſcount of £. 24 per cent. per annum, ſaying, that it was the uſual rate of diſcount paid by the Nabob; but which he would not accept of, [6] thinking himſelf confined by the act of parliament limiting the intereſt of monies to £. 12 per cent. and accordingly he diſcounted the bill at £. 12 per cent. per annum only.—Being aſked, Whether he does not think thoſe offers were made him, becauſe the Nabob thought he was a perſon of ſome conſequence in the ſettlement? he ſaid, Being only a private merchant, he apprehends that the offer was made to him more from its being a general practice, than from any opinion of his importance.

Appendix C APPENDIX, No 3. Referred to from p. 26.
A BILL for the better government of the territorial poſſeſſions and dependencies in India.
[One of Mr. Fox's India Bills.]

AND be it further enacted by the authority aforeſaid, that the Nabob of Arcot, the Rajah of Tanjore, or any other protected native prince in India, ſhall not aſſign, mortgage, or pledge any territory or land whatſoever, or the produce or revenue thereof, to any Britiſh ſubject whatſoever; neither ſhall it be lawful to or for any Britiſh ſubject whatſoever, to take or receive any ſuch aſſignment, mortgage, or pledge; and the ſame are hereby declared to be null and void; and all payments or deliveries of produce or revenue, under any ſuch aſſignment, ſhall and may be recovered back by ſuch native prince paying or delivering the ſame, from the perſon or perſons receiving the ſame, or his or their repreſentatives.

Appendix D APPENDIX, No 4. Referred to from p. 52 and p. 60.
(COPY.) 27th May 1782.
LETTER from the Committee of Aſſigned Revenue, to the Preſident and Select Committee, dated 27th May 1782; with Comparative Statement, and Minute thereon.
To the Right honourable Lord Macartney, K. B. Preſident, and Governor, &c. Select Committee of Fort St. George.

[7]
My Lord, and Gentlemen,

ALTHOUGH we have, in obedience to your commands of the 5th January, regularly laid before you our proceedings at large, and have occaſionally addreſſed you upon ſuch points as required your reſolutions or orders for our guidance, we ſtill think it neceſſary to collect and digeſt, in a ſummary report, thoſe tranſactions in the management of the aſſigned revenue, which have principally engaged our attention, and which, upon the proceeding, are too much intermixed with ordinary occurrences to be readily traced and underſtood.

Such a report may be formed with the greater propriety at this time, when your Lordſhip, &c. have been pleaſed to conclude your arrangements for the rent of ſeveral of the Nabob's diſtricts. Our aim in it is briefly to explain the ſtate of the Carnatic at the period of the Nabob's aſſignment; the particular cauſes which exiſted, to the prejudice of that aſſignment, after it was made; and the [8] meaſures which your Lordſhip, &c. have, upon our recommendation, adopted for removing thoſe cauſes, and introducing a more regular and beneficial ſyſtem of management in the country.

Hyder Ally having entered the Carnatic with his whole force, about the middle of July 1780, and employed fire and ſword in its deſtruction for near eighteen months before the Nabob's aſſignment took place, it will not be difficult to conceive the ſtate of the country at that period. In thoſe provinces which were fully expoſed to the ravages of horſe, ſcarce a veſtige remained either of population or agriculture: ſuch of the miſerable inhabitants as eſcaped the fury of the ſword were either carried into the Myſore country, or left to ſtruggle under the horrors of famine. The Arcot and Trichinopoly diſtricts began early to feel the effects of this deſolating war. Tinnevelly, Madura, and Ramnadaporum, though little infeſted with Hyder's troops, became a prey to the incurſions of the Polygars, who ſtript them of the greateſt part of their revenues; Ongole, Nellore, and Palnaud, the only remaining diſtricts, had ſuffered but in a ſmall degree.

The misfortunes of war, however, were not the only evils which the Carnatic experienced. The Nabob's Aumildars, and other ſervants, appear to have taken advantage of the general confuſion to enrich themſelves. A very ſmall part of the revenue was accounted for; and ſo high were the ordinary expences of every diſtrict, that double the apparent produce of the whole country would not have ſatisfied them.

In this ſtate, which we believe is no way exaggerated, the Company took charge of the aſſigned countries. Their proſpect of relief from the heavy burthens of the war, was indeed but little advanced by the Nabob's conceſſion; and the revenues of [9] the Carnatic ſeemed in danger of being irrecoverably loſt, unleſs a ſpeedy and entire change of ſyſtem could be adopted.

On our minutes of the 21ſt January, we treated the ſubject of the aſſignment at ſome length, and pointed out the miſchiefs which, in addition to the effects of the war, had ariſen from what we conceived to be wrong and oppreſſive management.— We uſed the freedom to ſuggeſt an entire alteration in the mode of realizing the revenues. We propoſed a conſiderable and immediate reduction of expences, and a total change of the principal Aumildars who had been employed under the Nabob.

Our ideas had the good fortune to receive your approbation; but the removal of the Nabob's ſervants being thought improper at that particular period of the collections, we employed our attention chiefly in preſerving what revenue was left the country, and acquiring ſuch materials as might lead to a more perfect knowledge of its former and preſent ſtate.

Theſe purſuits, as we apprehended, met with great obſtructions from the conduct of the Nabob's ſervants. The orders they received were evaded under various pretexts; no attention was paid to the ſtrong and repeated applications made to them for the accounts of their management; and their attachment to the Company's intereſt appeared, in every inſtance, ſo feeble, that we ſaw no proſpect whatever of ſucceſs, but in the appointment of renters under the Company's ſole authority.

Upon this principle we judged it expedient to recommend, that ſuch of the Nabob's diſtricts as were in a ſtate to be farmed out, might be immediately let by a public advertiſement, iſſued in the Company's name, and circulated through every province of the Carnatic; and with the view of encouraging [10] bidders, we propoſed, that the countries might be advertiſed for the whole period of the Nabob's aſſignment, and the ſecurity of the Company's protection promiſed, in the fulleſt manner, to ſuch perſons as might become renters.

This plan had the deſired effect; and the attempts which were ſecretly made to counteract it, afforded an unequivocal proof of its neceſſity: But the advantages reſulting from it were more pleaſingly evinced, by the number of propoſals that were delivered, and by the terms which were in general offered for the diſtricts intended to be farmed out.

Having ſo far attained the purpoſes of the aſſignment, our attention was next turned to the heavy expences entailed upon the different provinces; and here, we confeſs, our aſtoniſhment was raiſed to the higheſt pitch. In the Trichinopoly country, the ſtanding diſburſements appeared, by the Nabob's own accounts, to be one lack of rupees more than the receipts. In other diſtricts, the charges were not in ſo high a proportion, but ſtill rated on a moſt extravagant ſcale; and we ſaw, by every account that was brought before us, the abſolute neceſſity of retrenching conſiderably in all the articles of expence.

Our own reaſon, aided by ſuch enquiries as we were able to make, ſuggeſted the alterations we have recommended to your Lordſhip, &c. under this head. You will obſerve, that we have not acted ſparingly; but we choſe rather, in caſes of doubt, to incur the hazard of retrenching too much, than too little; becauſe it would be eaſier, after any ſtated allowance for expences, to add what might be neceſſary, than to diminiſh. We hope, however, there will be no material increaſe in the articles as they now ſtand.

[11]One conſiderable charge upon the Nabob's country was for extraordinary ſibbendies, ſepoys, and horſemen, who appeared to us to be a very unneceſſary incumbrance on the revenue. Your Lordſhip, &c. have determined to receive ſuch of theſe people as will enliſt into the Company's ſervice, and diſcharge the reſt. This meaſure will not only relieve the country of a heavy burthen, but tend greatly to fix in the Company that kind of authority, which is requiſite for the due collection of the revenues.

In conſequence of your determination reſpecting the Nabob's ſepoys, &c. every charge under that head has been ſtruck out of our account of expences. If the whole number of theſe people be enliſted by the Company, there will probably be no more than ſufficient to complete their ordinary military eſtabliſhment. But ſhould the preſent reduction of the Nabob's artillery render it expedient, after the war, to make any addition to the Company's eſtabliſhment, for the purpoſes of the aſſigned countries; the expence of ſuch addition, whatever it be, muſt be deducted from the preſent account of ſavings.

In conſidering the charges of the ſeveral diſtricts, in order to eſtabliſh better regulations, we were careful to diſcriminate thoſe incurred for troops kept, or ſuppoſed to be kept up for the defence of the country, from thoſe of the ſibbendy, ſervants, &c. for the cultivation of the lands, and the collection of the revenues, as well as to pay attention to ſuch of the eſtabliſhed cuſtoms of the country, ancient privileges of the inhabitants, and public charities, as were neceſſarily allowed, and appeared proper to be continued; but which, under the Nabob's government, were not only rated much higher, but had been blended under one [12] confuſed and almoſt unintelligible title of, Expences of the diſtricts; ſo joined, perhaps, to afford pleas and means of ſecreting and appropriating great part of the revenues to other purpoſes than fairly appeared; and certainly betraying the utmoſt neglect and miſmanagement, as giving latitude for every ſpecies of fraud and oppreſſion. Such a ſyſtem has, in the few latter years of the Nabob's neceſſities, brought all his countries into that ſituation, from which nothing but the moſt rigid oeconomy, ſtrict obſervance of the conduct of managers, and the moſt conciliating attention to the rights of the inhabitants, can poſſibly recover them.

It now only remains for us to lay before your Lordſhip, &c. the incloſed ſtatement of the ſums at which the diſtricts lately advertiſed have been let, compared with the accounts of their produce delivered by the Nabob, and entered on our proceedings of the 21ſt January. Likewiſe a comparative view of their former and preſent expences.

The Nabob's accounts of the produce of theſe diſtricts ſtate, as we have ſome reaſon to think, the ſums which former renters engaged to pay to him (and which were ſeldom, if ever, made good) and not the ſums actually produced by the diſtricts; yet we have the ſatisfaction to obſerve, that the preſent aggregate rents, upon an average, are equal to thoſe accounts. Your Lordſhip, &c. cannot indeed expect, that, in the midſt of the danger, invaſion, and diſtreſs, which aſſail the Carnatic on every ſide, the renters now appointed will be able at preſent to fulfil the terms of their leaſes; but we truſt, from the meaſures we have taken, that very little, if any, of the actual collections will be loſt, even during the war; and that, on the return of peace and tranquillity, the renters will have it in [13] their power fully to perform their reſpective agreements.

We much regret that the ſituation of the Arcot province will not admit of the ſame ſettlement which has been made for the other diſtricts; but the enemy being in poſſeſſion of the capital, together with ſeveral other ſtrong holds, and having entirely deſolated the country, there is little room to hope for more from it than a bare ſubſiſtence to the few garriſons we have left there.

We ſhall not fail to give our attention towards obtaining every information reſpecting this province, that the preſent times will permit; and to take the firſt opportunity to propoſe ſuch arrangements for the management as we may think eligible.

We have the honour to be Your moſt obedient humble ſervants, (Signed)
  • Cha' Oakeley,
  • Eyles Irwin,
  • Hall Plumer,
  • David Haliburton,
  • Geo. Moubray.
A true Copy. J. Hudleſton, Secy.
[14]COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of the Revenues and Expences of the Nellore, Ongole, Patnaud, Tilchinopoly, Madura, and Tennevelly Countries, while in the Hands of the Nabob, with thoſe of the ſame Countries on the Terms of the Leaſes lately granted for Four Years, to commence with the beginning of the Phazely 1192, or the 12th July 1782. Abſtracted from the Accounts received from the Nabob, and from the Rents ſtipulated for, and Expences allowed by the preſent Leaſes.
 Groſs Revenue.Expences.Net Revenue.
Annual Groſs Rent by the Nabob's Account, average of the Four Years immediately preceding the preſent War.Annual Rent by the preſent Leaſes, at an average of Four Years.Annual Expences by the Nabob's Accounts.Annual Expences allowed by the preſent Leaſes at an Eſtimate.Reduction in the annual Expences.Net Revenue by the Nabob's Accounts.Net Revenue by the preſent Leaſes.Increaſe of Net Revenue.
Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.Star Pagodas.
Nellore and Sevapully3,22,8303,61,9001,98,79433,0001,65,7941,24,0363,28,9002,04,864
Ongole1,10,967 (a)55,00088,254 88,25422,71355,00032.287
Pa [...]nand51,35553,50025,7215,69820,02325,63447,80222,168
Trichinopoly2,89 993 (b)2,73,2142,82,14819,1432,63 0057,8452,54,0712,46,226
Madura1,02,75660,29063,71012,03751,67339,04648,2539,207
Tennevelly5,65,5375,79,7131,64,09870,36893,7304,01,4395,09,3451,07,906
Total14,43,43813,83,6178,22,7251,40,2466,82,4796,20,71312,43,3716,22,658

N. B. In this ſtatement, Madras Pagodas are calculated at 10 per Cent Batta, Chuckrums at 2-3ds of a Porto Novo Pagoda, which are reckoned at (a) 115 per 100 Star Pagodas, and Rupees at 350 per 100 Star Pagodas. To avoid fractions, the neareſt integral numbers have been taken.

In this ſtatement the Ongole country, though it is included under the head of groſs revenue, has been let for a certain ſum, excluſive of charges.

If the expences ſpecified in the Nabob's vaſſool accounts for this diſtrict are added, the preſent groſs revenue even would appear to exceed the Nabob's— and as the country is only let for one year, there may hereafter be an increaſe of its revenue.

(b) The Trichinopoly countries let for the above ſum, excluſive of the expences of Sibbendy and Saderwared, amounting by the Nabob's accounts to rupees 1,30,00 per annum, which are to be defrayed by the renter.—And the jaghires of Amur ul Omrah, and the Begum, are not included in the preſent leaſe.

Signed
  • Cha. Oakley,
  • Eyles Irwin,
  • Hall Plumer,
  • David Haliburton,
  • Geo. Moubray.

Appendix E APPENDIX, No 5. Referred to from p. 64.
CASE of certain Perſons renting the aſſigned Lands under the Authority of the Eaſt India Company.
Extract of a Letter from the Preſident and Council of Fort St. George, 25th May 1783.

[15]

"ONE of them [the renters] Ram Chunder Raus, was indeed one of thoſe unfortunate Rajahs, whoſe country, by being near to the territories of the Nabob, forfeited its title to independence; and became the prey of ambition and cupidity. This man, though not able to reſiſt the Company's arms, employed in ſuch a deed at the Nabob's inſtigagation, had induſtry and ability. He acquired, by a ſeries of ſervices, even the confidence of the Nabob; who ſuffered him to rent a part of the country of which he had deprived him of the property. This man had afforded no motive for his rejection by the Nabob, but that of being ready to engage with the Company; a motive moſt powerful indeed, but not to be avowed."

[This is the perſon whom the Engliſh inſtruments of the Nabob of Arcot have had the audacity to charge with a corrupt tranſaction with Lord Macartney; and, in ſupport of that charge, to produce a forged letter from his Lordſhip's ſteward. The charge and letter, the reader may ſee in this Appendix, under the proper head. It is aſſerted, by the unfortunate prince above mentioned, that the Company firſt ſettled on the Coaſt of Coromandel [16] under the protection of one of his anceſtors. If this be true (and it is far from unlikely) the world muſt judge of the return the deſcendant has met with. The caſe of another of the victims, given up by the Miniſtry, though not altogether ſo ſtriking as the former, is worthy of attention. It is that of the renter of the province of Nellore.]

"IT is, with a wantonneſs of falſhood, and indifference to detection, aſſerted to you, in proof of the validity of the Nabob's objections, that this man's failures had already forced us to remove him; though in fact he has continued invariably in office; though our greateſt ſupplies have been received from him; and that, in the diſappointment of your remittances [the remittances from Bengal] and of other reſources, the ſpecie ſent us from Nellore alone has ſometimes enabled us to carry on the public buſineſs; and that the preſent expedition againſt the French muſt, without this aſſiſtance from the aſſignment, have been laid aſide, or delayed until it might have become too late."

[This man is by the Miniſtry given over to the mercy of perſons capable of making charges on him, "with a wantonneſs of falſhood, and indifference to detection." What is likely to happen to him and the reſt of the victims, may appear by the following.]

LETTER to the Governor General and Council, March 13th 1782.

THE ſpeedy termination to which the people were taught to look, of the Company's interference in the revenues, and the vengeance denounced againſt thoſe who, contrary to the mandate of the Durbar, ſhould be connected with them, as reported [17] by Mr. Sulivan, may, as much as the former exactions and oppreſſions of the Nabob in the revenue, as reported by the commander in chief, have deterred ſome of the fitteſt men from offering to be concerned in it.

The timid diſpoſition of the Hindoo natives of this country was not likely to be inſenſible to the ſpecimen of that vengeance given by his excellency the Amur, who, upon the mere rumour that a Bramin, of the name of Appagee Row, had given propoſals to the Company for the renterſhip of Vellore, had the temerity to ſend for him, and to put him in confinement.

"A man thus ſeized by the Nabob's ſeapoys within the walls of Madras, gave a general alarm; and government found it neceſſary to promiſe the protection of the Company, in order to calm the apprehenſions of the people.

Appendix F APPENDIX, No 6. Referred to from p. 65.
EXTRACT of a Letter from the Council and Select Committee at Fort St. George, to the Governor General and Council, dated 25th May 1783.

IN the proſecution of our duty, we beſeech you to conſider as an act of ſtrict and neceſſary juſtice, previous to reiteration of your orders for the ſurrender of the aſſignment, how far it would be likely to affect third perſons, who do not appear to have committed any breach of their engagements. You command us to compel our aumils to deliver over their reſpective charges as ſhall be appointed by the Nabob, or to retain [18] their truſt under his ſole authority, if he ſhall chuſe to confirm them. Theſe aumils are really renters, they were appointed in the room of the Nabob's aumils, and contrary to his wiſhes; they have already been rejected by him, and are therefore not likely to be confirmed by him. They applied to this government, in conſequence of public advertiſements in our name, as poſſeſſing in this inſtance the joint authority of the Nabob and the Company, and have entered into mutual and ſtrict covenants with us, and we with them, relative to the certain diſtricts not actually in the poſſeſſion of the enemy; by which covenants, as they are bound to the punctual payment of their rents, and due management of the country, ſo we, and our conſtituents, and the public faith, are in like manner bound to maintain them in the enjoyment of their leaſes, during the continuance of the term; that term was for five years, agreeably to the words of the aſſignment, which declare that the time of renting ſhall be for three or five years, as the governor ſhall ſettle with the renters, —Their leaſes cannot be legally torn from them. Nothing but their previous breach of a part could juſtify our breach of the whole; ſuch a ſtretch and abuſe of power would indeed not only favour of the aſſumption of ſovereignty, but of arbitrary and oppreſſive deſpotiſm. In the preſent conteſt, whether the Nabob be guilty, or we be guilty, the renters are not guilty. Which ever of the contending parties has broken the condition of the aſſignment, the renters have not broken the condition of their leaſes. Theſe men, in conducting the buſineſs of the aſſignment, have acted in oppoſition to the deſigns of the Nabob, in deſpite of the menaces denounced againſt all who ſhould dare to oppoſe the mandates of the Durbar juſtice. Gratitude and humanity require that proviſion [19] ſhould be made by you, before you ſet the Nabob's miniſters looſe on the country, for the protection of the victims devoted to their vengeance.

Mr. Benfield, to ſecure the permanency of his power, and the perfection of his ſchemes, thought it neceſſary to render the Nabob an abſolute ſtranger to the ſtate of his affairs. He aſſured his highneſs, that full juſtice was not done to the ſtrength of his ſentiments, and the keenneſs of his attacks, in the tranſlations that were made by the Company's ſervants from the original Perſian of his letters. He therefore propoſed to him, that they ſhould for the future be tranſmitted in Engliſh.—Of the Engliſh language or writing his highneſs, or the ameer, cannot read one word, tho' the latter can converſe in it with ſufficient fluency. The Perſian language, as the language of the Mahommedan conquerors, and of the court of Delhi, as an appendage or ſignal of authority, was at all times particularly affected by the Nabob:—it is the language of all acts of ſtate, and all public tranſctions, among the muſſulman chiefs of Indoſtan. The Nabob thought to have gained no inconſiderable point, in procuring the correſpondence from our predeceſſors to the Rajah of Tanjore to be changed from the Marattah language, which that Hindoo prince underſtands, to the Perſian, which he diſclaims underſtanding. To force the Rajah to the Nabob's language, was gratifying the latter with a new ſpecies of ſubſerviency. He had formerly contended with conſiderable anxiety, and it was thought no inconſiderable coſt, for particular forms of addreſs to be uſed towards him in that language. But all of a ſudden, in favour of Mr. Benfield, he quits his former affections, his habits, his knowledge, his curioſity, the increaſing miſtruſt of age, to throw himſelf upon the generous candour, the faithful interpretation, the [20] grateful return and eloquent organ of Mr. Benfield! —Mr. Benfield relates and reads what he pleaſes to his excellency the Ameer-ul-Omrah—his excellency communicates with the Nabob his father, in the language the latter underſtands. Through two channels ſo pure, the truth muſt arrive at the Nabob in perfect refinement; through this double truſt, his highneſs receives whatever impreſſion it may be convenient to make on him: he abandons his ſignature to whatever paper they tell him contains, in the Engliſh language, the ſentiments with which they had inſpired him. He thus is ſurrounded on every ſide. He is totally at their mercy, to believe what is not true, and to ſubscribe to what he does not mean. There is no ſyſtem ſo new, ſo foreign to his intentions, that they may not purſue in his name, without poſſibility of detection: for they are cautious of who approach him, and have thought prudent to decline, for him, the viſits of the governor, even upon the uſual ſolemn and acceptable occaſion of delivering to his highneſs the Company's letters. Such is the complete aſcendency gained by Mr. Benfield. It may be partly explained by the facts obſerved already ſome years ago by Mr. Benfield himſelf, in regard to the Nabob, of the infirmities natural to his advanced age, joined to the decays of his conſtitution. To this aſcendency, in proportion as it grew, muſt chiefly be aſcribed, if not the origin, at leaſt the continuance and increaſe, of the Nabob's diſunion with this preſidency; a diſunion which creates the importance, and ſubſerves the reſentments of Mr. Benfield; and an aſcedency, which, if you effect the ſurrender of the aſſignment, will entirely leave the exerciſe of power, and accumulation of fortune, at his boundleſs diſcretion; to him, and to the Ameer-ul-Omrah, and to Syed Aſſam Cawn, the aſſignment would in fact be ſurrendered. HE WILL (IF ANY) BE THE SOUCAR SECURITY; and ſecurity in this country is counterſecured by poſſeſſion. You would not [21] chuſe to take the aſſignment from the Company, to give it to individuals. Of the impropriety of its returning to the Nabob, Mr. Benfield would now again argue from his former obſervations, that under his highneſs's management, his country declined, his people emigrated, his revenues decreaſed, and his country was rapidly approaching to a ſtate of political inſolvency. Of Syed Aſſam Cawn, we judge only from the obſervations this letter already contains. But of the other two perſons [Ameer-ul-Omrah and Mr. Benfield] we undertake to declare, not as parties in a cauſe, or even as voluntary witneſſes, but as executive officers, reporting to you in the diſcharge of our duty, and under the impreſſion of the ſacred obligation which binds us to truth, as well as to juſtice, that, from every obſervation of their principles and diſpoſitions, and every information of their character and conduct, they have proſecuted projects to the injury and danger of the Company and individuals; that it would be improper to truſt, and dangerous to employ them, in any public or important ſituation; that the tranquillity of the Carnatic requires a reſtraint to the power of the Ameer; and that the Company, whoſe ſervice and protection Mr. Benfield has repeatedly and recently forfeited, would be more ſecure againſt danger and confuſion, if he were removed from their ſeveral preſidencies *.

Appendix G APPENDIX, No 7. Referred to from p. 69, and p. 75.
EXTRACTS from the Evidence of Mr. Petrie, late Reſident for the Company at Tanjore, given to the Select Committee, relative to the Revenues and State of the Country, &c. &c.

[22]

Appendix G.1 9th May 1782.

WILLIAM PETRIE, Eſq attending according to order, was aſked, In what ſtation he was in the Company's ſervice? he ſaid, He went to India in the year 1765, a writer upon the Madras eſtabliſhment; he was employed, during the former war with Hyder Ali, in the capacity of paymaſter and commiſſary to part of the army, and was afterwards paymaſter and commiſſary to the army in the firſt ſiege of Tanjore, and the ſubſequent campaigns; then ſecretary to the ſecret department from 1772 to 1775; he came to England in 1775, and returned again to Madras the beginning of 1778; he was reſident at the durbar of the Rajah of Tanjore from that time to the month of May; and from that time to January 1780 was chief of Nagore and Carrecal, the firſt of which was received from the Rajah of Tanjore, and the ſecond was taken from the French.—Being aſked, Who ſent him to Tanjore? he ſaid, Sir Thomas Rumbold, and the Secret Committee.—Being then aſked, upon what errand? he ſaid, He went firſt up with a letter from the Company to the Rajah of Tanjore; he was directed to give the Rajah the ſtrongeſt aſſurances that he ſhould be kept in poſſeſſion of his country, and every privilege to which he had been reſtored; he was likewiſe directed to negociate with the Rajah of Tanjore for the ceſſion of the ſea-ports and diſtrict of Nagore, in [23] lieu of the town and diſtrict of Devicotta, which he had promiſed to Lord Pigot: theſe were the principal, and to the beſt of his recollection at preſent the only objects in view, when he was firſt ſent up to Tanjore. In the courſe of his ſtay at Tanjore other matters of buſineſs occurred between the Company and the Rajah, which came under his management as reſident at that durbar. —Being aſked, Whether the Rajah did deliver up to him the town and the annexed diſtricts of Nagore voluntarily, or whether he was forced to it? he ſaid, When he made the firſt propoſition to the Rajah, agreeable to the directions he had received from the Secret Committee at Madras, in the moſt free, open, and liberal manner, the Rajah told him the ſea-port of Nagore was entirely at the ſervice of his benefactors the Company, and that he was happy in having that opportunity of teſtifying his gratitude to them; theſe may be ſuppoſed to be words of courſe, but from every experience which he had of the Rajah's mind and conduct, whilſt he was at Tanjore, he has reaſon to believe that his declarations of gratitude to the Company were perfectly ſincere; he ſpeaks of the town of Nagore at preſent, and a certain diſtrict, not of the diſtricts to the amount of which they afterwards received. The Rajah aſked him, To what amount he expected a jaghire to the Company: And the witneſs further ſaid, That he acknowledged to the Committee that he was not inſtructed upon that head; that he wrote for orders to Madras, and was directed to aſk the Rajah for a jaghire to a certain amount; that this gave riſe to a long negociation, the Rajah repreſenting to him his inability to make ſuch a gift to the Company as the Secret Committee at Madras ſeemed to expect; while he (the witneſs) on the other hand, was directed to make as good a bargain as he could for [24] the Company. From the view that he then took of the Rajah's finances, from the ſituation of his country, and from the load of debt which preſſed hard upon him, he believes he at different times, in his correſpondence with the government, repreſented the neceſſity of their being moderate in their demands, and it was at laſt agreed to accept of the town of Nagore, valued at a certain annual revenue, and a jaghire annexed to the town, the whole amounting to 2,50,000 rupees.—Being aſked, Whether it did turn out ſo valuable? he ſaid, He had not a doubt but it would turn out more, as it was let for more than that to farmers at Madras, if they had managed the diſtricts properly, but they were ſtrangers to the manners and cuſtoms of the people; when they came down they oppreſſed the inhabitants, and threw the whole diſtrict into confuſion; the inhabitants, many of them, left the country, and deſerted the cultivation of their lands, of courſe the farmers were diſappointed of their collections, and they have ſince failed, and the Company have loſt a conſiderable part of what the farmers were to pay for the jaghire.—Being aſked, Who theſe farmers were? he ſaid, One of them was the renter of the St. Thomé diſtrict, near Madras, and the other, and the moſt reſponſible, was a Madras dubaſh.—Being aſked, Who he was dubaſh to? He ſaid, To Mr. Caſſmajor.

Being aſked, Whether the leaſe was made upon higher terms than the diſtrict was rated to him by the Rajah? he ſaid, It was.—Being then aſked, What reaſon was aſſigned why the diſtrict was not kept under the former management by amildars, or let to perſons in the Tanjore country acquainted with the diſtrict? he ſaid, No reaſons were aſſigned: he was directed from Madras to advertiſe them to be let to perſons of the country; but before he received any propoſal, he received accounts [25] that they were let at Madras in conſequence of public advertiſements which had been made there: he believes, indeed, there were very few men in thoſe diſtricts reſponſible enough to have been entruſted with the management of thoſe lands. —Being aſked, Whether, at the time he was authorized to negociate for Nagore in the place of Devicotta, Devicotta was given up to the Rajah? he ſaid, No.—Being aſked, Whether the Rajah of Tanjore did not frequently deſire that the diſtricts of Arné and Hanymantygoodé ſhould be reſtored to him, agreeable to treaty, and the Company's orders to Lord Pigot? he ſaid, Many a time; and he tranſmitted his repreſentations regularly to Madras. — Being then aſked, Whether thoſe places were reſtored to him? he ſaid, Not while he was in India.

Being aſked, Whether he was not authorized and required by the Preſidency at Madras to demand a large ſum of money over and above the four lacks of pagodas that were to be annually paid by a grant of the Rajah, made in the time of Lord Pigot? he ſaid, He was; to the amount, he believes, of four lacks of pagodas, commonly known by the name of depoſit-money.—Being aſked, Whether the Rajah did not frequently plead his inability to pay that money? he ſaid, He did every time he mentioned it, and complained loudly of the demand. — Being aſked, Whether he thinks thoſe complaints were well founded? he ſays, He thinks the Rajah of Tanjore was not only not in a ſtate of ability to pay the depoſit-money, but that the annual payment of four lacks of pagodas was more than his revenues could afford. —Being aſked, Whether he was not frequently obliged to borrow money, in order to pay the inſtalments of the annual payments, and ſuch parts as he paid of the depoſit? he ſaid, Yes, [26] he was.—Being aſked, Where he borrowed the money? he ſaid, He believes principally from ſoucars or native bankers, and ſome at Madras, as he told him.—Being aſked, Whether he told him that his credit was very good, and that he borrowed upon moderate intereſt? he ſaid, That he told him he found great difficulties in raiſing money, and was obliged to borrow at a moſt exorbitant intereſt, even ſome of it at 48 per cent. and he believes not a great deal under it: he deſired him (the witneſs) to ſpeak to one of the ſoucars or bankers at Tanjore, to accommodate him with a loan of money; that man ſhewed him an account between him and the Rajah, from which it appeared that he charged 48 per cent. beſides compound intereſt.—Being aſked, Whether the ſums due were large? he ſaid, Yes, they were conſiderable; though he does not recollect the amount.—Being aſked, Whether the banker lent the money? he ſaid, He would not, unleſs the witneſs could procure him payment of his old arrears.

Being aſked, What notice did the government of Madras take of the King of Tanjore's repreſentations of the ſtate of his affairs, and his inability to pay? he ſaid, He does not recollect that, in their correſpondence with him, there was any reaſoning upon the ſubject; and in his correſpondence with Sir Thomas Rumbold, upon the amount of the jaghire, he ſeemed very deſirous of adopting the demand of government to the Rajah's circumſtances; but whilſt he ſtaid at Tanjore, the Rajah was not exonerated from any part of his burthens.—Being aſked, Whether they ever deſired the Rajah to make up a ſtatement of his accounts, diſburſements, debts, and payments, to the Company, in order to aſcertain whether the country was able to pay the increaſing demands upon it? he ſaid, Through him he is certain they [27] never did.—Being then aſked, If he ever heard whether they did through any one elſe? he ſaid, He never did.

Being aſked, Whether the Rajah is not bound to furniſh the cultivators of land with ſeed for their crops, according to the cuſtom of the country? he ſaid, The king of Tanjore, as proprietor of the land, always makes advances of money for ſeed for the cultivation of the land.—Being then aſked, If money beyond his power of furniſhing ſhould be extorted from him, might it not prevent, in the firſt inſtance, the means of cultivating the country? he ſaid, It certainly does, he knows it for a fact; and he knows that when he left the country there were ſeveral diſtricts which were uncultivated from that cauſe.—Being aſked, Whether it is not neceſſary to be at a conſiderable expence in order to keep up the mounds and water-courſes? He ſaid, A very conſiderable one annually. — Being aſked, What would be the conſequence if money ſhould fail for that? he ſaid, In the firſt inſtance the country would be partially ſupplied with water, ſome diſtricts would be overflowed, and others would be parched.—Being aſked, Whether there is not a conſiderable dam, called the Anicut, on the keeping up of which the proſperity of the country greatly depends, and which requires a great expence? he ſaid, Yes, there is; the whole of the Tanjore country is admirably well ſupplied with water, nor can he conceive any method could be fallen upon more happily adapted to the cultivation and proſperity of the country; but, as the Anicut is the ſource of that proſperity, any injury done to that muſt eſſentially affect all the other works in the country; it is a moſt ſtupendous piece of maſonry, but from the very great floods frequently requiring repairs, which if neglected not only the expence of repairing muſt be greatly [28] increaſed, but a general injury done to the whole country.—Being aſked, Whether that dam has been kept in as good preſervation ſince the prevalence of the Engliſh government as before? he ſaid, From his own knowledge he cannot tell, but from every thing he has read or heard of the former proſperity and opulence of the kings of Tanjore, he ſhould ſuppoſe not.—Being aſked, Whether he does not know of ſeveral attempts that have been made to prevent the repair, and even to damage the work? he ſaid, The Rajah himſelf frequently complained of that to him, and he has likewiſe heard it from others at Tanjore.—Being aſked, Who it was that attempted thoſe acts of violence? he ſaid, He was told it was the inhabitants of the Nabob's country adjoining to the Anicut.—Being aſked, Whether they were not ſet on or inſtigated by the Nabob? he anſwered, The Rajah ſaid ſo.—And being aſked, What ſteps the Preſident and Council took to puniſh the authors, and prevent thoſe violences? he ſaid, To the beſt of his recollection, the Governor told him he would make enquiries into it, but he does not know that any enquiries were made: That Sir Thomas Rumbold, the Governor, informed him that he had laid his repreſentations with reſpect to the Anicut before the Nabob, who denied that his people had given any interruption to the repairs of that work.

Appendix G.2 10th May.

Being aſked, What he thinks the real clear receipt of the revenues of Tanjore were worth when he left it? he ſaid, He cannot ſay what was the net amount, as he does not know the expence of the Rajah's collection, but while he was at Tanjore he underſtood from the Rajah himſelf, and from his miniſters, that the groſs collection did not exceed 9 lacks of pagodas [29] (£. 360,000).—Being aſked, Whether he thinks the country could pay the 8 lacks of pagodas which had been demanded to be paid in the courſe of one year? he ſaid, Clearly not.—Being aſked, Whether there was not an attempt made to remove the Rajah's miniſter, upon ſome delay in payment of the depoſit? he ſaid, The Governor of Madras wrote to that effect, which he repreſented to the Rajah.—Being aſked, Who was mentioned to ſucceed to the Miniſter that then was, in caſe he ſhould be removed? he ſaid, When Sir Hector Munro came afterwards to Tanjore, the old Daubiere was mentioned, and recommended to the Rajah as ſucceſſor to his then Dewan.—Being aſked, Of what age was the Daubiere at that time? he ſaid, Of a very great age, upwards of fourſcore. —Being aſked, Whether a perſon called Kanonga Saba Pilla was not likewiſe named? he ſaid, Yes, he was, he was recommended by Sir Thomas Rumbold; and one recommendation as well as I can recollect, went through me.—Being aſked, What was the reaſon of his being recommended? he ſaid, He undertook to pay off the Rajah's debts, and to give ſecurity for the regular payment of the Rajah's inſtalments to the Company.—Being aſked, Whether he offered to give any ſecurity for preſerving the country from oppreſſion, and for ſupporting the dignity of the Rajah and his people? he ſaid, He does not know that he did, or that it was aſked of him.—Being aſked, Whether he was a perſon agreeable to the Rajah? he ſaid, He was not.— Being aſked, Whether he was not a perſon who had fled out of the country to avoid the reſentment of the Rajah? he ſaid, He was.—Being aſked, Whether he was not charged by the Rajah with mal-practices, and breach of truſt relative to his effects? he ſaid, He was; but he told the Governor that he would account for his conduct, and explain every [30] thing to the ſatisfaction of the Rajah.—Being aſked, Whether the Rajah did not conſider this man as in the intereſt of his enemies, and particularly of the Nabob of Arcot and Mr. Benfield? he ſaid, He does not recollect that he did mention that to him; he remembers to have heard him complain of a tranſaction between Kanonga Saba Pilla and Mr. Benfield; but he told him he had been guilty of a variety of mal-practices in his adminiſtration, that he had oppreſſed the people, and defrauded him.— Being aſked, In what branch of buſineſs the Rajah had formerly employed him? he ſaid, He was at one time, he believes, renter of the whole country, was ſuppoſed to have great influence with the Rajah, and was in fact Dewan ſome time.—Being aſked, Whether the nomination of that man was not particularly odious to the Rajah? he ſaid, He found the Rajah's mind ſo exceedingly averſe to that man, that he believes he would almoſt as ſoon have ſubmitted to his being depoſed, as to ſubmit to the nomination of that man to be his prime miniſter.

Appendix G.3 13 May.

MR. PETRIE being aſked, Whether he was informed by the Rajah, or by others, at Tanjore or Madras, that Mr. Benfield, whilſt he managed the revenues at Tanjore, during the uſurpation of the Nabob, did not treat the inhabitants with great rigour? he ſaid, He did hear from the Rajah, that Mr. Benfield did treat the inhabitants with rigour during the time he had any thing to do with the adminiſtration of the revenues of Tanjore.—Being aſked, If he recollects in what particulars? he ſaid, The Rajah particularly complained, that grain had been delivered out to the inhabitants, for the purpoſes of cultivation, at a higher price than the market price of grain in the country; he cannot [31] ſay the actual difference of price, but it ſtruck him at the time as ſomething very conſiderable.— Being aſked, Whether that money was all recovered from the inhabitants? he ſaid, The Rajah of Tanjore told him, that the money was all recovered from the inhabitants.—Being aſked, Whether he did not hear that the Nabob exacted from the country of Tanjore, whilſt he was in poſſeſſion of it? he ſaid, From the accounts which he received at Tanjore, of the revenues for a number of years paſt, it appeared, that the Nabob collected from the country, while he was in poſſeſſion, rather more than 16 lacks of pagodas annually; whereas, when he was at Tanjore, it did not yield more than 9 lacks.—Being aſked, From whence that difference aroſe? he ſaid, when Tanjore was conquered for the Nabob, he has been told that many thouſand of the native inhabitants fled from the country, ſome into the ſouthern provinces, ſome into the country of Myſore, and others into the dominions of the Marattas; he underſtood from the ſame authority, that while the Nabob was in poſſeſſion of the country, many inhabitants from the Carnatic, allured by the ſuperior fertility and opulence of Tanjore, and encouraged by the Nabob, took up their reſidence there, which enabled the Nabob to cultivate the whole country; and, upon the reſtoration of the Rajah, he has heard that the Carnatic inhabitants were carried back to their own country, which left a conſiderable blank in the population, which was not re-placed while he was there, principally owing to an opinion which prevailed through the country, that the Rajah's government was not to be permanent, but that another revolution was faſt approaching. During the Nabob's government the price of grain was conſiderably higher (owing to a very unuſual ſcarcity in the Carnatic) than when he was in Tanjore. [32] —Being aſked, Whether he was ever in the Marawar country? he ſaid, Yes; he was commiſſary to the army in that expedition.—Being aſked, Whether that country was much waſted by the war? he ſaid, Plunder was not permitted to the army, nor did the country ſuffer from its operations, except in cauſing many thouſands of the inhabitants who had been employed in the cultivation of the country to leave it.—Being aſked, Whether he knows what is done with the palace and inhabitants of Ramnaut? he ſaid, The town was taken by ſtorm, but not plundered by the troops; it was immediately delivered up to the Nabob's eldeſt ſon.—Being aſked, Whether great riches were not ſuppoſed to be in that palace and temple? he ſaid, It was univerſally believed ſo.—Being aſked, What account was given of them? he ſaid, He cannot tell; every thing remained in the poſſeſſion of the Nabob.—Being aſked, What became of the children and women of the family of the prince of that country? he ſaid, The Rajah was a minor; the government was in the hands of the Ranny, his mother; from general report he has heard they were carried to Trichinopoly, and placed in confinement there.—Being aſked, Whether he perceived any difference in the face of the Carnatic when he firſt knew it, and when he laſt knew it? he ſaid, He thinks he did, particularly in its population.—Being aſked, Whether it was better or worſe? he ſaid, It was not ſo populous.—Being aſked, What is the condition of the Nabob's eldeſt ſon? he ſaid, He was in the Black Town of Madras, when he left the country.—Being aſked, Whether he was entertained there in a manner ſuitable to his birth and expectations? he ſaid, No; he lived there without any of thoſe exterior marks of ſplendor which princes of his rank in India are particularly fond of.—Being aſked, Whether [33] he has not heard that his appointments were poor and mean? he ſaid, He has heard that they were not equal to his [...]ank and expectations.—Being aſked, Whether he had any ſhare in the government? he ſaid, He believes none; for ſome years paſt the Nabob has delegated moſt of the powers of government to his ſecond ſon—Being aſked, Whether the Rajah did not complain to him of the behaviour of Mr. Benfield to himſelf perſonally; and what were the particulars? he ſaid, He did ſo, and related to him the following particulars: About fifteen days after Lord Pigot's confinement, Mr. Benfield came to Tanjore, and delivered the Rajah two letters from the then Governor, Mr. Stratton, one public, and the other private; he demanded an immediate account of the preſents which had been made to Lord Pigot, payment of the tunkahs, which he (Mr. Benfield) had received from the Nabob upon the country; and that the Rajah ſhould only write ſuch letters to the Madras government as Mr. Benfield ſhould approve, and give to him: the Rajah anſwered, that he did not acknowledge the validity of any demands made by the Nabob upon the country; that thoſe tunkahs related to accounts which he (the Rajah) had no concern with; that he never had given Lord Pigot any preſents, but Lord Pigot had given him many; and that, as to his correſpondence with the Madras government, he would not trouble Mr. Benfield, becauſe he would write his letters himſelf— That the Rajah told the witneſs, that by reaſon of this anſwer he was much threatened, in conſequence of which he deſired Colonel Harper, who then commanded at Tanjore, to be preſent at his next interview with Mr. Benfield; when Mr. Benfield denied many parts of the preceding converſation, and threw the blame upon his interpreter Comroo. When Mr. Benfield found (as the Rajah informed [34] him) that he could not carry theſe points, which had brought him to Tanjore, he prepared to ſet off for Madras; that the Rajah ſent him a letter which he had drawn out, in anſwer to one which Mr. Benfield had brought him; that Mr. Benfield diſapproved of the anſwer, and returned it by Comroo to the Durbar, who did not deliver it into the Rajah's hands, but threw it upon the ground, and expreſſed himſelf improperly to him.

Being aſked, Whether it was at the King of Tanjore's deſire, that ſuch perſons as Mr. Benfield and Comroo had been brought into his preſence?— he ſaid, The Rajah told him, that when Lord Pigot came to Tanjore, to reſtore him to his dominions, Comroo, without being ſent for, or deſired to come to the palace, had found means to get acceſs to his perſon; he made an offer of introducing Mr. Benfield to the Rajah, which he declined.—Being aſked, Whether the military officer commanding there protected the Rajah from the intruſion of ſuch people? he ſaid, The Rajah did not tell him that he called upon the military officer to prevent theſe intruſions; but that he deſired Colonel Harper to be preſent as a witneſs to what might paſs between him and Mr. Benfield.—Being aſked, If it is uſual for perſons of the conditions and occupations of Mr. Benfield and Comroo to intrude themſelves into the preſence of the Princes of the country, and to treat them with ſuch freedom? he ſaid, Certainly it is not; leſs there than in any other country.—Being aſked, Whether the King of Tanjore has no Miniſters to whom application might be made to tranſact ſuch buſineſs as Mr. Benfield and Comroo had to do in the country? he ſaid, Undoubtedly; his miniſter is the perſon whoſe province it is to tranſact that buſineſs.— Being aſked, Before the invaſion of the Britiſh troops into Tanjore, what would have been the [35] conſequence, if Mr. Benfield had intruded himſelf into the Rajah's preſence, and behaved in that manner? he ſaid, He could not ſay what would have been the conſequence; but the attempt would have been madneſs, and could not have happened.— Being aſked, Whether the Rajah had not particular exceptions to Comroo, and thought he had betrayed him in very eſſential points? he ſaid, Yes, he had.— Being aſked, Whether the Rajah has not been appriſed that the Company have made ſtipulations, that their Servants ſhould not interfere in the concerns of his government? he ſaid, He ſignified it to the Rajah, that it was the Company's poſitive orders, and that any of their Servants ſo interfering would incur their higheſt diſpleaſure.

Appendix H APPENDIX, No 8. Referred to from p. 75, &c.
Commiſſioners amended clauſes for the Fort St. George diſpatch, relative to the indeterminate rights and pretenſions of the Nabob of Arcot, and Rajah of Tanjore.

IN our letter of the 28th January laſt, we ſtated the reaſonableneſs of our expectation that certain contributions towards the expences of the war, ſhould be made by the Rajah of Tanjore. Since writing that letter, we have received one from the Rajah, of the 15th of October laſt, which contains at length his repreſentations of his inability to make ſuch further payment. We think it unneceſſary here to diſcuſs whether theſe repreſentations are or are not exaggerated, becauſe, from the explanations we have given of our wiſhes [36] for a new arrangement in future, both with the Nabob of Arcot, and the Rajah of Tanjore, and the directions we have given you to carry that arrangement into execution, we think it impolitic to inſiſt upon any demands upon the Rajah for the expences of the late war, beyond the ſum of four lacks of pagodas annually; ſuch a demand might tend to interrupt the harmony which ſhould prevail between the Company and the Rajah, and impede the great objects of the general ſyſtem we have already ſo fully explained to you.

But although it is not our opinion that any further claim ſhould be made on the Rajah, for his ſhare of the extraordinary expences of the late war, it is by no means our intention in any manner to affect the juſt claim which the Nabob has on the Rajah for the arrears due to him on account of peſhcuſh, for the regular payment of which we became guarantee by the treaty of 1762; but we have already expreſſed to you our hopes that the Nabob may be induced to allow theſe arrears and the growing payments, when due, to be received by the Company, and carried in diſcharge of his debt to us. You are at the ſame time to uſe every means to convince him, that when this debt ſhall be diſcharged, it is our intention, as we are bound by the above treaty, to exert ourſelves to the utmoſt of our power to inſure the conſtant and regular payment of it into his own hands.

We obſerve, by the plan ſent to us by our governor of Fort St. George, on the 30th October 1781, that an arrangement is there propoſed, for the receipt of thoſe arrears from the Rajah, in three years.

We are unable to decide how far this propoſal may be conſiſtent with the preſent ſtate of the Rajah's reſources; but we direct you to uſe all proper means to bring theſe arrears to account as [37] ſoon as poſſible, conſiſtently with a due attention to this conſideration.

Appendix H.1 CLAUSES H.

You will obſerve, that by the 38th ſection of the late act of parliament, it is enacted, That for ſettling upon a permanent foundation the preſent indeterminate rights of the Nabob of Arcot and the Rajah of Tanjore, with reſpect to each other, we ſhould take into our immediate conſideration the ſaid indeterminate rights and pretenſions, and take and purſue ſuch meaſures as in our judgment and diſcretion ſhall be beſt calculated to aſcertain and ſettle the ſame according to the principles, and the terms and ſtipulations contained in the treaty of 1762, between the ſaid Nabob and the ſaid Rajah.

On a retroſpect of the proceedings tranſmitted to us from your preſidency, on the ſubject of the diſputes which have heretofore ariſen between the Nabob and the Rajah, we find the following points remain unadjuſted, viz.

1ſt. Whether the Jaghire of Arnee ſhall be enjoyed by the Nabob, or delivered up either to the Rajah, or the deſcendants, Tremaul Row, the late Jaghiredar.

2d. Whether the fort and diſtrict of Hanamantagoody, which is admitted by both parties to be within the Marawar, ought to be poſſeſſed by the Nabob, or to be delivered up by him to the Rajah.

3d. To whom the government ſhare of the crop of the Tanjore country, of the year. 1775-6, properly belongs.

Laſtly. Whether the Rajah has a right, by uſage and cuſtom, or ought, from the neceſſity of [38] the caſe, to be permitted to repair ſuch part of the Annacut, or dam and banks of the Cavery, as lie within the diſtrict of Trichinopoly, and to take earth and ſand in the Trichinopoly territory, for the repairs of the dam and banks within either or both of thoſe diſtricts.

In order to obtain a complete knowledge of the facts and circumſtances relative to the ſeveral points in diſpute, and how far they are connected with the treaty of 1762, we have with great circumſpection examined into all the materials before us on theſe ſubjects, and will proceed to ſtate to you the reſult of our enquiries and deliberations.

The objects of the treaty of 1762 appear to be reſtricted to the arrears of tribute to be paid to the Nabob for his paſt claims, and to the quantum of the Rajah's future tribute or peſhcuſh; the cancelling of a certain bond given by the Rajah's father to the father of the Nabob; the confirmation to the Rajah of the diſtricts of Coveladdy and Elangaud, and the reſtoration of Tremaul Row to his jaghire of Arnee, in condeſcenſion to the Rajah's requeſt, upon certain ſtipulations, viz. That the fort of Arnee and Doby Gudy ſhould be retained by the Nabob; that Tremaul Row ſhould not erect any fortreſs, walled pagodas, or other ſtrong hold, nor any wall round his dwelling-houſe, exceeding eight feet high, or two feet thick; and ſhould in all things behave himſelf with due obedience to the government; and that he ſhould pay yearly, in the month of July, unto the Nabob or his ſucceſſors, the ſum of ten thouſand rupees, the Rajah thereby becoming the ſecurity for Tremaul Row, that he ſhould in all things demean and behave himſelf accordingly, and pay yearly the ſtipulated ſum.

Upon a review of this treaty, the only point [39] now in diſpute, which appears to us to be ſo immediately connected with it as to bring it within the ſtrict line of our duty to aſcertain and ſettle, according to the terms and ſtipulations of the treaty, is that reſpecting Arnee. For although the other points enumerated may in ſome reſpects have a relation to that treaty, yet as they are foreign to the purpoſes expreſſed in it, and could not be in the contemplation of the contracting parties at the time of making it, thoſe diſputes cannot in our comprehenſion fall within the line of deſcription of rights and pretenſions to be now aſcertained and ſettled by us, according to any of the terms and ſtipulations of it.

In reſpect to the jaghire of Arnee, we do not find that our records afford us any ſatisfactory information by what title the Rajah claims it, or what degree of relationſhip or connection has ſubſiſted between the Rajah and the Kelledar of Arnee, ſave only that by the treaty of 1762 the former became the ſurety for Tremaul Row's performance of his engagements ſpecified therein, as the conditions for his reſtoration to that jaghire; on the death of Tremaul Row we perceive that he was ſucceeded by his widow, and after her death, by his grandſon Seneevaſorow, both of whom were admitted to the jaghire by the Nabob.

From your minutes of conſulation of the 31ſt October 1770, and the Nabob's letter to the preſident, of the 21ſt March, 1771, and the two letters from Rajah Beerbur, Atchener Punt (who, we preſume, was then the Nabob's manager at Arcot) of the 16th and 18th March, referred to in the Nabob's letter, and tranſmitted therewith, to the preſident, we obſerve that, previous to the treaty of 1762, Mr. Pigot concurred in the expediency of the Nabob's taking poſſeſſion of this jaghire, on account of the troubleſome and refractory [40] behaviour of the Arnee Braminees, by their affording protection to all diſturbers; who, by reaſon of the little diſtance between Arnee and Arcot, fled to the former, and were there protected, and not given up, though demanded.

That though the jaghire was reſtored in 1762, it was done under ſuch conditions and reſtrictions as were thought beſt calculated to preſerve the peace and good order of the place, and due obedience to government.

That nevertheleſs the Braminees (quarrelling among themſelves) did afterwards, in expreſs violation of the treaty, enliſt and aſſemble many thouſand ſepoys, and other troops; that they erected gaddies and other ſmall forts, provided themſelves with wall pieces, ſmall guns, and other warlike ſtores, and raiſed troubles and diſturbances in the neighbourhood of the city of Arcot, and the forts of Arnee, and Shaw Gaddy; and that finally they impriſoned the hircarrahs of the Nabob, ſent with his letters and inſtructions, in purſuance of the advice of your board, to require certain of the Braminees to repair to the Nabob of Chepauk, and though peremptorily required to repair thither, paid no regard to thoſe, or to any other orders from the Circar.

By the 13th article contained in the inſtructions given by the Nabob to Mr. Dupré, as the baſis for negotiating the treaty made with the Rajah in 1771, the Nabob required that the Arnee diſtrict ſhould be delivered up to the Circar, becauſe the Braminees had broken the conditions which they were to have obſerved. In the anſwers given by the Rajah to theſe propoſitions, he ſays, ‘I am to give up to the Circar the jaghire diſtrict of Arnee;’ and on the 7th of November 1771, the Rajah, by letter to Seneewaſorow, who appears by your conſultations and country correſpondence to have been [41] the grandſon of Tremaul Row, and to have been put in poſſeſſion of the jaghire at your recommendation (on the death of his grandmother) writes, acquainting him, that he had given the Arnee country then in his (Seneewaſarow's) poſſeſſion, to the Nabob, to whoſe aumildars Seneewaſarow was to deliver up the poſſeſſion of the country. And in your letter to us of the 28th February 1772, you certified the diſtrict of Arnee to be one of the countries acquired by this treaty, and to be of the eſtimated value of two lacks of rupees per annum.

In our orders, dated the 12th April 1775, we declared our determination to replace the Rajah upon the throne of his anceſtors, upon certain terms and conditions, to be agreed upon for the mutual benefit of himſelf and the Company, without infringing the rights of the Nabob. We declared, that our faith ſtood pledged by the treaty of 1762 to obtain payment of the Rajah's tribute to the Nabob; and that for the enſuring ſuch payment, the fort of Tanjore ſhould be garriſoned by our troops. We directed that you ſhould pay no regard to the article of the treaty of 1771, which reſpected the alienation of part of the Rajah's dominions; and we declared, that if the Nabob had not a juſt title to thoſe territories before the concluſion of the treaty, we denied that he obtained any right thereby, except ſuch temporary ſovereignty, for ſecuring the payment of his expences, as is therein mentioned.

Theſe inſtructions appear to have been executed in the month of April 1776; and by your letter of the 14th May following you certified to us, that the Rajah had been put into the poſſeſſion of the whole country his father held in 1762, when the treaty was concluded with the Nabob; but we do not find that you came to any reſolution either antecedent [42] or ſubſequent to this advice, either for queſtioning or impeaching the right of the Nabob to the ſovereignty of Arnee, or expreſſive of any doubt of his title to it. Nevertheleſs we find, that although the Board paſſed no ſuch reſolution, yet your preſident, in his letter to the Nabob, of the 30th July, and 24th Auguſt, called upon his highneſs to give up the poſſeſſion of Arnee to the Rajah; and the Rajah himſelf, in ſeveral letters to us, particularly in thoſe of 21ſt October 1776, and the 7th of June 1777, expreſſed his expectation of our orders for delivering up that fort and diſtrict to him; and ſo recently as the 15th of October 1783, he reminds us of his former application, and ſtates, that the country of Arnee being guaranteed to him by the Company, it of courſe is his right; but that it has not been given up to him, and he therefore earneſtly entreats our orders for putting him into the poſſeſſion of it. We alſo obſerve, by your letter of the 14th of October 1779, that the Rajah had not then accounted for the Nabob's peſhcuſh ſince his reſtoration, but had aſſigned as a reaſon for his withdrawing it, that the Nabob had retained from him the diſtrict of Arnee, with a certain other diſtrict (Hanamantagoody) which is made the ſubject of another part of our preſent diſpatches.

We have thus ſtated to you the reſult of our enquiry into the grounds of the diſpute relative to Arnee; and as the reſearch has offered no evidence in ſupport of the Rajah's claim, nor even any lights whereby we can diſcover in what degree of relationſhip, by conſanginuity, caſt, or other circumſtances, the Rajah now ſtands, or formerly ſtood, with the Killidar of Arnee, or the nature of his connection with, or command over that diſtrict, or the authority he exerciſed or aſſumed previous to the treaty of 1771, we ſhould think ourſelves [43] highly reprehenſible in complying with the Rajah's requeſt; and the more ſo, as it is expreſsly ſtated, in the treaty of 1762, that this fort and diſtrict were then in the poſſeſſion of the Nabob, as well as the perſon of the Jaghiredar, on account of his diſobedience, and were reſtored to him by the Nabob, in condeſcenſion to the Rajah's requeſt, upon ſuch terms and ſtipulations as could not, in our judgment, have been impoſed by the one, or ſubmitted to by the other, if the ſovereignty of the one, or the dependency of the other, had been at that time a matter of doubt.

Although theſe materials have not furniſhed us with evidence in ſupport of the Rajah's claim, they are far from ſatisfactory, to evince the juſtice of, or the political neceſſity for, the Nabob's continuing to withhold the jaghire from the deſcendants of Tremaul Row; his hereditary right to that jaghire ſeems to us to have been fully recognized by the ſtipulations of the treaty of 1762, and ſo little doubted, that on his death, his widow was admitted by the Nabob to hold it, on account, as may be preſumed, of the non-age of his grandſon and heir, Seneewaſarow, who appears to have been confirmed in the jaghire, on her death, by the Nabob, as the lineal heir and ſucceſſor to his grandfather.

With reſpect to Seneewaſarow, it does not appear, by any of the proceedings in our poſſeſſion, that he was concerned in the miſconduct of the Braminees complained of by the Nabob in the year 1770, which rendered it neceſſary for his highneſs to take the jaghire into his own hands, or that he was privy to, or could have prevented thoſe diſturbances.

We therefore direct, that if the heir of Tremaul Row is not at preſent in poſſeſſion of the jaghire, and has not, by any violation of the treaty, or act of diſobedience, incurred a forfeiture thereof, he be [44] forthwith reſtored to the poſſeſſion of it, according to the terms and ſtipulations of the treaty of 1762. But if any powerful motive of regard to the peace and tranquillity of the Carnatic ſhall in your judgment render it expedient to ſuſpend the execution of theſe orders, in that caſe you are with all convenient ſpeed to tranſmit to us your proceedings thereupon, with the full ſtate of the facts, and of the reaſons which have actuated your conduct.

We have before given it as our opinion that the ſtipulations of the treaty of 1762 do not apply to the points remaining to be decided. But the late act of parliament having, from the nature of our connection with the two powers in the Carnatic, pointed out the expediency, and even neceſſity, of ſettling the ſeveral matters in diſpute between them, by a ſpeedy and permanent arrangement, we now proceed to give you our inſtructions upon the ſeveral other heads of diſputes before enumerated.

With reſpect to the fort and diſtrict of Hanamantagoody we obſerve that on the reſtoration of the Rajah in 1776, you informed us in your letter of the 14th of May— ‘That the Rajah had been put into poſſeſſion of the whole of the country his father held in 1762 when the treaty was concluded with the Nabob;’ and on the 25th of June you came to the reſolution of putting the Rajah into poſeſſion of Hanamantagoody, on the ground of its appearing on reference to the Nabob's inſtructions to Mr. Dupré in June, 1762, to his reply, and to the Rajah's repreſentations of 25th March, 1771, that Hanamantagoody was actually in the hands of the late Rajah at the time of making the treaty of 1762. We have referred as well to thoſe papers as to all the other proceedings on this ſubject, and muſt confeſs they fall very ſhort of demonſtrating to us the truth of that fact. And we find, by the Secret Conſultations of Fort William of the 7th [45] of Auguſt, 1776, that the ſame doubt was entertained by our Governor General and Council.

But whether, in point of fact, the late Rajah was or was not in poſſeſſion of Hanamantagoody in 1762, it is notorious that the Nabob had always claimed the dominion of the countries of which this fort and diſtrict are a part.

We obſerve, that the Nabob is now in the actual poſſeſſion of this fort and diſtrict; and we are not warranted, by any document we have ſeen, to concur with the wiſhes of the Rajah to diſpoſſeſs him.

With regard to the government ſhare of the crop of 17756, we obſerve by the Dobeer's memorandum, recited in your conſultations of the 13th of May, 1776, that it was the eſtabliſhed cuſtom of the Tanjore country, to gather in the harveſt, and complete the collections, within the month of March; but that, for the cauſes therein particularly ſtated, the harveſt (and of courſe the collection of the government ſhare of the crop) was delayed till the month of March was over. We alſo obſerve, that the Rajah was not reſtored to his kingdom until the 11th of April, 1776; and from hence we infer, that if the harveſt and collection had been finiſhed at the uſual time, the Nabob (being then ſovereign of the country) would have received the full benefit of that year's crop.

Although the harveſt and collection were delayed beyond the uſual time, yet we find by the proceedings of your government, and particularly by Mr. Mackay's minute of the 29th of May, 1776, and alſo by the Dobeer's account, that the greateſt part of the grain was cut down whilſt the Nabob remained in the government of the country.

It is difficult, from the contradictory allegations [46] on the ſubject, to aſcertain what was the preciſe amount of the collections made after the Nabob ceaſed to have the poſſeſſion of the country. But whatever it was, it appears from General Stuart's letter of the 2d of April, 1777, that it had been aſſerted with good authority, that the far greater part of the government ſhare of the crop was plundered by individuals, and never came to account in the Rajah's treaſury.

Under all the circumſtances of this caſe, we muſt be of opinion, that the government ſhare of the crop of 1776 belonged to the Nabob, as the then reigning ſovereign of the kingdom of Tanjore, he being, de facto, in the full and abſolute poſſeſſion of the government thereof, and conſequently that the aſſignments made by him of the government ſhare of the crop were valid.

Nevertheleſs, we would by no means be underſtood by this opinion to ſuggeſt, that any further demands ought to be made upon the Rajah, in reſpect of ſuch parts of the government ſhare of the crop as were collected by his people.

For, on the contrary, after ſo great a length of time as hath elapſed, we ſhould think it highly unjuſt that the Rajah ſhould be now compelled, either to pay the ſuppoſed balances, whatever they may be, or be called upon to render a ſpecific account of the collection made by his people.

The Rajah has already, in his letter to Governor Stratton, of the 21ſt of April, 1777, given his aſſurance, that the produce of the preceding year, accounted for to him, was little more than one lack of pagodas; and as you have acquainted us, by your letter of the 14th of October, 1779, that the Rajah has actually paid into our treaſury one lack of pagodas, by way of depoſit, on account of the Nabob's claims to the crop, till our ſentiments ſhould be known, we direct you to ſurceaſe any further demands from the Rajah on that account.

[47]We learn by the proceedings, and particularly by the Nabob's letter to Lord Pigot, of the 6th of July, 1776, that the Nabob, previous to the reſtoration of the Rajah, actually made aſſignments, or granted tuncaws of the whole of his ſhare of the crop to his creditors and troops; and that your government (entertaining the ſame opinion as we do upon the queſtion of right to that ſhare) by letter to the Rajah of the 20th Auguſt, 1776, recommended to him ‘to reſtore to Mr. Benfield (one of the principal aſſignees or tuncaw-holders of the Nabob) the grain of the laſt year, which was in poſſeſſion of his people, and ſaid to be forcibly taken from them; and further, to give Mr. Benfield all reaſonable aſſiſtance in recovering ſuch debts as ſhould appear to have been juſtly due to him from the inhabitants; and acquainted the Rajah, that it had been judged by a majority of the council, that it was the Company's intention to let the Nabob have the produce of the crop of 1776, but that you had no intention that the Rajah ſhould be accountable for more than the government ſhare, whatever that might be; and that you did not mean to do more than recommend to him to ſee juſtice done, leaving the manner and time to himſelf.’ Subſequent repreſentations appear to have been made to the Rajah by your government on the ſame ſubject, in favour of the Nabob's mortgages.

In anſwer to theſe applications, the Rajah, in his letter to Mr. Stratton, of the 12th January, 1777, acquainted you, ‘that he had given orders reſpecting the grain which Mr. Benfield had heaped up in his country; and with regard to the money due to him by the farmers, that he had deſired Mr. Benfield to bring accounts of it, that he might limit a time for the payment [48] of it, proportionably to their ability, and that the neceſſary orders for ſtopping this money out of the inhabitants ſhare of the crop, had been ſent to the ryots and aumildars; that Mr. Benfield's gomaſtah was then preſent there, and overſaw his affairs; and that in every thing that was juſt he (the Rajah) willingly obeyed our Governor and Council.’

Our opinion being, that the Rajah ought to be anſwerable for no more than the amount of what he admits was collected by his people for the government ſhare of the crop; and the proceedings before us not ſufficiently explaining whether, in the ſum which the Rajah, by his before-mentioned letter of the 21ſt April, 1777, admits to have collected, are included thoſe parts of the government ſhare of the crop which were taken by his people from Mr. Benfield, or from any other of the aſſignees, or tuncaw-holders; and uninformed as we alſo are, what compenſation the Rajah has or has not made to Mr. Benfield, or any other of the parties from whom the grain was taken by the Rajah's people; or whether, by means of the Rajah's refuſal ſo to do, or from any other circumſtances, any of the perſons diſpoſſeſſed of their grain, may have had recourſe to the Nabob for ſatisfaction; we are, for theſe reaſons, incompetent to form a proper judgment what diſpoſition ought in juſtice to be made of the one lack of pagodas depoſited by the Rajah. But as our ſentiments and intentions are ſo fully expreſſed upon the whole ſubject, we preſume you, who are upon the ſpot, can have no doubt or difficulty in making ſuch an application of the depoſit as will be conſiſtent with thoſe principles of juſtice whereon our ſentiments are founded. But ſhould any ſuch difficulty ſuggeſt itſelf, you will ſuſpend any application of the depoſit, until you have fully explained [49] the ſame to us, and have received our further orders.

With reſpect to the repairs of Annacut and banks of the Cavery, we have upon various occaſions fully expreſſed to you our ſentiments, and in particular, in our general letter of the 4th July 1777, we referred you to the inveſtigation and correſpondence on that ſubject of the year 1764, and to the report made by Mr. James Bourchier, on his perſonal ſurvey of the waters, and to ſeveral letters of the year 1765, and 1767; we alſo, by our ſaid general letter, acquainted you, that it appeared to us perfectly reaſonable that the Rajah ſhould be permitted to repair thoſe banks, and the Annacut, in the ſame manner as had been practiſed in times paſt; and we directed you to eſtabliſh ſuch regulations, by reference to former uſage, for keeping the ſaid banks in repair, as would be effectual, and remove all cauſe of complaint in future.

Notwithſtanding ſuch our inſtructions, the Rajah, in his letter to us of the 15th October 1783, complains of the deſtruction of the Annacut; and as the cultivation of the Tanjore country appears, by all the ſurveys and reports of our engineers employed on that ſervice, to depend altogether on a ſupply of water by the Cavery, which can only be ſecured by keeping the Annacut and banks in repair, we think it neceſſary to repeat to you our orders of the 4th July 1777, on the ſubject of thoſe repairs.

And further, as it appears, by the ſurvey and report of Mr. Pringle, that thoſe repairs are attended with a much heavier expence when done with materials taken from the Tanjore diſtrict, than with thoſe of Trichinopoly, and that the laſt-mentioned materials are far preferable to the other, it is our order, That if any occurrences ſhould make it neceſſary or expedient, you apply to the [50] Nabob in our name, to deſire that his highneſs will permit proper ſpots of ground to be ſet out, and bounded by proper marks on the Trichinopoly ſide, where the Rajah and his people may at all times take ſand and earth ſufficient for theſe repairs; and that his highneſs will grant his leaſe of ſuch ſpots of land for a certain term of years to the Company, at a reaſonable annual rent, to the intent that through you the cultivation of the Tanjore country may be ſecured, without infringing or impairing the rights of the Nabob.

If any attempts have been, or ſhall be hereafter made to divert the water from the Cavery into the Coleroon, by contracting the current of the Upper or Lower Cavery, by planting long graſs, as mentioned in Mr. Pringle's report, or by any other means, we have no doubt his highneſs, on a proper repreſentation to him in our name, will prevent his people from taking any meaſures detrimental to the Tanjore country, in the proſperity of which his highneſs, as well as the Company, is materially intereſted.

Should you ſucceed in reconciling the Nabob to this meaſure, we think it but juſt, that the propoſed leaſe ſhall remain no longer in force than whilſt the Rajah ſhall be punctual in the payment of the annual peſhcuſh to the Nabob, as well as the rent to be reſerved for the ſpots of ground. And in order effectually to remove all future occaſions of jealouſy and complaint between the parties, that the Rajah on the one hand may be ſatisfied that all neceſſary works for the cultivation of his country will be made and kept in repair; and that the Nabob on the other hand may be ſatisfied that no encroachment on his rights can be made, nor any works detrimental to the fertility of his country erected; we think it proper that it ſhould be recommended to the parties, as a part [51] of the adjuſtment of this very important point, that ſkilful engineers, appointed by the Company, be employed at the Rajah's expence to conduct all the neceſſary works, with the ſtricteſt attention to the reſpective rights and intereſts of both parties. This will remove every probability of injury or diſpute; but ſhould either party unexpectedly conceive themſelves to be injured, immediate redreſs might be obtained by application to the government of Madras, under whoſe appointment the engineer will act, without any diſcuſſion between the parties, which might diſturb that harmony which it is ſo much the wiſh of the Company to eſtabliſh and preſerve, as eſſential to the proſperity and peace of the Carnatic.

Having now, in obedience to the directions of the act of parliament, upon the fulleſt conſideration of the indeterminate rights and pretenſions of the Nabob and Rajah, pointed out ſuch meaſures and arrangements as in our judgment and diſcretion will be beſt calculated to aſcertain and ſettle the ſame, we hope, that upon a candid conſideration of the whole ſyſtem, although each of the parties may feel diſappointed in our deciſion on particular points, they will be convinced that we have been guided in our inveſtigation by principles of ſtrict juſtice and impartiality, and that the moſt anxious attention has been paid to the ſubſtantial intereſts of both parties, and ſuch a general and comprehenſive plan of arrangements propoſed, as will moſt effectually prevent all future diſſatisfaction.

Approved by the Board.
  • HENRY DUNDAS,
  • WALSINGHAM,
  • W. W. GRENVILLE,
  • MULGRAVE.

Appendix I APPENDIX, No 9. Referred to from p. 78, &c.

[52]

Appendix I.1 EXTRACT of a Letter from the Court of Directors, to the Preſident and Council of Fort St. George, as amended and approved by the Board of Control:

WE have taken into our conſideration the ſeveral advices and papers received from India, relative to the aſſignment of the revenues of the Carnatic, from the concluſion of the Bengal treaty to the date of your letter in October, 1783, together with the repreſentations of the Nabob of the Carnatic upon that ſubject; and although we might contend, that the agreement ſhould ſubſiſt till we are fully reimburſed his highneſs's proportion of the expences of the war, yet from a principle of moderation and perſonal attachment to our old ally, his highneſs the Nabob of the Carnatic, for whoſe dignity and happineſs we are ever ſolicitous, and to cement more ſtrongly, if poſſible, that mutual harmony and confidence which our connection makes ſo eſſentially neceſſary for our reciprocal ſafety and welfare, and for removing from his mind every idea of ſecret deſign on our part to leſſen his authority over the internal government of the Carnatic, and the collection and adminiſtration of its revenues, we have reſolved that the aſſignment ſhall be ſurrendered; and we do accordingly direct our preſident, in whoſe name the [53] aſſignment was taken, without delay, to ſurrender the ſame to his highneſs. But while we have adopted this reſolution, we repoſe entire confidence in his highneſs, that, actuated by the ſame motives of liberality, and feelings of old friendſhip and alliance, he will chearfully and inſtantly accede to ſuch arrangements as are neceſſary to be adopted for our common ſafety, and for preſerving the reſpect, rights, and intereſts we enjoy in the Carnatic. The following are the heads and principles of ſuch an arrangement as we are deciſively of opinion muſt be adopted for theſe purpoſes, viz.

That for making a proviſion for diſcharging the Nabob's juſt debts to the Company and individuals (for the payment of which his highneſs hath ſo frequently expreſſed the greateſt ſolicitude) the Nabob ſhall give ſoucar ſecurity for the punctual payment, by inſtalments, into the Company's treaſury, of twelve lacks of pagodas per annum (as voluntarily propoſed by his highneſs) until thoſe debts, with intereſt, ſhall be diſcharged; and ſhall alſo conſent that the equitable proviſion lately made by the Britiſh legiſlature for the liquidation of thoſe debts, and ſuch reſolutions and determinations as we ſhall hereafter make, under the authority of that proviſion for the liquidation and adjuſtment of the ſaid debts, bonâ fide incurred, ſhall be carried into full force and effect.

Should any difficulty ariſe between his highneſs and our government of Fort St. George, in reſpect to the reſponſibility of the ſoucar ſecurity, or the times and terms of the inſtalments, it is our pleaſure that you pay obedience to the orders and reſolutions of our Governor General and Council of Bengal in reſpect thereto, not doubting but the Nabob will in ſuch caſe conſent to abide by the determination of our ſaid ſupreme government.

[54]Although, from the great confidence we repoſe in the honour and integrity of the Nabob, and from an earneſt deſire not to ſubject him to any embarraſſment on this occaſion, we have not propoſed any ſpecific aſſignment of territory or revenue for ſecuring the payments aforeſaid, we nevertheleſs think it our duty, as well to the private creditors, whoſe intereſts in this reſpect have been ſo ſolemnly intruſted to us by the late act of parliament, as from regard to the debt due to the Company, to inſiſt on a declaration that in the event of the failure of the ſecurity propoſed, or in default of payment at the ſtipulated periods, we reſerve to ourſelves full right to demand of the Nabob ſuch additional ſecurity, by aſſignment on his country, as ſhall be effectual for anſwering the purpoſes of the agreement.

After having conciliated the mind of the Nabob to this meaſure, and adjuſted the particulars, you are to carry the ſame into execution by a formal deed between his highneſs and the Company, according to the tenor of theſe inſtructions.

As the adminiſtration of the Britiſh intereſts and connections in India has in ſome reſpects aſſumed a new ſhape by the late act of Parliament, and a general peace in India has been happily accompliſhed, the preſent appears to us to be the proper period, and which cannot without great imprudence be omitted, to ſettle and arrange, by a juſt and equitable treaty, a plan for the future defence and protection of the Carnatic, both in time of peace and war, on a ſolid and laſting foundation.

For the accompliſhment of this great and neceſſary object, we direct you, in the name of the Company, to uſe your utmoſt endeavours to impreſs the expediency of, and the good effects to be derived from this meaſure, ſo ſtrongly upon the [55] minds of the Nabob and the Rajah of Tanjore, as to prevail upon them, jointly or ſeparately, to enter into one or more treaty or treaties with the Company, grounded on this principle of equity, That áll the contracting parties ſhall be bound to contribute jointly to the ſupport of the military force and garriſons, as well in peace as in war.

That the military peace eſtabliſhment ſhall be forthwith ſettled and adjuſted by the Company, in purſuance of the authority and directions given to them by the late act of parliament.

As the payments of the troops and garriſons, occaſional expences in the repairs and improvements of fortifications, and other ſervices incidental to a military eſtabliſhment, muſt of neceſſity be punctual and accurate, no latitude of perſonal aſſurance or reciprocal confidence of either of the parties on the other, be accepted or required; but the Nabob and Rajah muſt of neceſſity ſpecify particular diſtricts and revenues for ſecuring the due and regular payment of their contributions into the treaſury of the Company, with whom the charge of the defence of the coaſt, and of courſe the power of the ſword, muſt be excluſively intruſted, with power for the Company, in caſe of failure or default of ſuch payments, at the ſtipulated times and ſeaſons, to enter upon and poſſeſs ſuch diſtricts, and to let the ſame to renters, to be confirmed by the Nabob and the Rajah reſpectively; but truſting that in the execution of this part of the arrangement no undue obſtruction will be given by either of thoſe powers, we direct that this part of the treaty be coupled with a moſt poſitive aſſurance, on our part, of our determination to ſupport the dignity and authority of the Nabob and Rajah, in the excluſive adminiſtration of the civil government and revenues of their reſpective countries; and further, [56] that in caſe of any hoſtility committed againſt the territories of either of the contracting parties, on the coaſt of Coromandel, the whole revenues of their reſpective territories ſhall be conſidered as one common ſtock, to be appropriated in the common cauſe of their defence—That the Company on their part ſhall engage to refrain, during the war, from the application of any part of their revenues to any commercial purpoſes whatſoever, but apply the whole, ſave only the ordinary charges of their civil government, to the purpoſes of the war—That the Nabob and the Rajah ſhall in like manner engage on their parts to refrain, during the war, from the application of any part of their revenues, ſave only what ſhall be actually neceſſary for the ſupport of themſelves, and the civil government of their reſpective countries, to any other purpoſes than that of defraying the expences of ſuch military operations as the Company may find it neceſſary to carry on for the common ſafety of their intereſts on the coaſt of Coromandel.

And to obviate any difficulties or miſunderſtanding which might ariſe from leaving indeterminate the ſum neceſſary to be appropriated for the civil eſtabliſhment of each of the reſpective powers, that the ſum be now aſcertained which is indiſpenſably neceſſary to be applied to thoſe purpoſes, and which is to be held ſacred under every emergency, and ſet apart, previous to the application of the reſt of the revenues, as hereby ſtipulated, for the purpoſes of mutual or common defence againſt any enemy, for clearing the incumbrance which may have become neceſſarily incurred in addition to the expenditure of thoſe revenues which muſt be always deemed part of the war eſtabliſhment. This vve think abſolutely neceſſary, as nothing can tend ſo much to the preſervation of peace, and to prevent the renewal of hoſtilities, as the [57] early putting the finances of the ſeveral powers upon a clear footing; and the ſhewing to all other powers, that the Company, the Nabob, and the Rajah, are firmly united in one common cauſe, and combined in one ſyſtem of permanent and vigorous defence, for the preſervation of their reſpective territories, and the general tranquillity.

That the whole aggregate revenue of the contracting, ſhall, during the war, be under the application of the Company, and ſhall continue as long after the war as ſhall be neceſſary, to diſcharge the burthens contracted by it; but it muſt be declared that this proviſion ſhall in no reſpect extend to deprive either the Nabob or the Rajah of the ſubſtantial authority neceſſary to the collection of the revenues of their reſpective countries. But it is meant, that they ſhould faithfully perform the conditions of this arrangement; and if a diviſion of any part of the revenues, to any other than the ſtipulated purpoſes, ſhall take place, the Company ſhall be entitled to take upon themſelves the collection of the revenue.

The Company are to engage, during the time they ſhall adminiſter the revenues, to produce to the other contracting parties regular accounts of the application thereof, to the purpoſes ſtipulated by the treaty, and faithfully apply them in ſupport of the war.

And laſtly, as the defence of the Carnatic is thus to reſt with the Company, the Nabob ſhall be ſatisfied of the propriety of avoiding all unneceſſary expence, and will therefore agree not to maintain a greater number of troops than ſhall be neceſſary for the ſupport of his dignity, and the ſplendour of the Durbar, which number ſhall be ſpecified in the treaty; and if any military aid is requiſite for the ſecurity and collection of his revenues, other than the fixed eſtabliſhment employed to enforce [58] the ordinary collections, and preſerve the police of the country, the Company muſt be bound to furniſh him with ſuch aid: the Rajah of Tanjore muſt likewiſe become bound by ſimilar engagements, and be entitled to ſimilar aid.

As, in virtue of the powers veſted in Lord Macartney by the agreement of December 1781, ſundry leaſes, of various periods, have been granted to renters, we direct that you apply to the Nabob, in our name, for his conſent, that they may permitted to hold their leaſes to the end of the ſtipulated term *; and we have great reliance on the liberality and ſpirit of accommodation manifeſted by the Nabob on ſo many occaſions, that he will be diſpoſed to acquieſce in a propoſition ſo juſt and reaſonable; but if, contrary to our expectations, his Highneſs ſhould be impreſſed with any particular averſion to comply with this propoſition, we do not deſire you to inſiſt upon it as an eſſential part of the arrangement to take place between us; but in that event you muſt take eſpecial care to give ſuch indemnification to the renters for any loſs they may ſuſtain, as you judge to be reaſonable.

It equally concerns the honour of our government, that ſuch natives as may have been put in any degree of authority over the collections, in conſequence of the deed of aſſignment, and who have proved faithful to their truſt, ſhall not ſuffer inconvenience on account of their fidelity.

Having thus given our ſentiments at large, as well for the ſurrender of the aſſignment, as with regard to thoſe arrangements which we think neceſſary to adopt in conſequence thereof, we cannot diſmiſs this ſubject without expreſſing our higheſt [59] approbation of the ability, moderation, and command of temper, with which our Preſident at Madras has conducted himſelf in the management of a very delicate and embarraſſing ſituation. His conduct, and that of the Select Committee of Fort St. George, in the execution of the truſt delegated to Lord Macartney, by the Nabob Mahomed Ally, has been vigorous and effectual, for the purpoſe of realizing as great a revenue, at a criſis of neceſſity, as the nature of the caſe admitted; and the imputation of corruption, ſuggeſted in ſome of the proceedings, appears to be totally groundleſs and unwarranted.

While we find ſo much to applaud, it is with regret we are induced to advert to any thing which may appear worthy of blame, as the ſtep of iſſuing the Torana Chits in Lord Macartney's own name can only be juſtified upon the ground of abſolute neceſſity *; and as his Lordſhip had every reaſon to believe that the demand, when made, would be irkſome and diſagreeable to the feelings of Mahomed Ally, every precaution ought to have been uſed, and more time allowed, for proving that neceſſity, by previous acts of addreſs, civility, and conciliation, applied for the purpoſes of obtaining his authority to ſuch a meaſure. It appears to us, that more of this might have been uſed; and therefore we cannot conſider the omiſſion of it as blameleſs, [60] conſiſtent with our wiſhes of ſanctifying no act contrary to the ſpirit of the agreement, or derogatory to the authority of the Nabob of the Carnatic, in the exerciſe of any of his juſt rights, in the government of the people under his authority.

We likewiſe obſerve, the Nabob has complained that no official communication was made to him of the peace, for near a month after the ceſſation of arms took place. This, and every other mark of diſreſpect to the Nabob, will ever appear highly reprehenſible in our eyes; and we direct that you do, upon all occaſions, pay the higheſt attention to him and his family.

Lord Macartney, in his minute of the 9th of September laſt, has been fully under our conſideration: we ſhall ever applaud the prudence and foreſight of our ſervants, which induces them to collect, and communicate to us, every opinion, or even ground of ſuſpicion, they may entertain, relative to any of the powers in India, with whoſe conduct our intereſt, and the ſafety of our ſettlements, is eſſentially connected. At the ſame time we earneſtly recommend, that thoſe opinions and ſpeculations be communicated to us with prudence, diſcretion, and all poſſible ſecrecy; and the terms in which they are conveyed be expreſſed in a manner as little offenſive as poſſible to the powers whom they may concern, and into whoſe hands they may fall. *

[61]We next proceed to give you our ſentiments reſpecting the private debts of the Nabob; and we cannot but acknowledge, that the origin and juſtice, both of the loan of 1767, and the loan of 1777, commonly called the cavalry loan, appear to us clear and indiſputable, agreeable to the true ſenſe and ſpirit of the late act of parliament.

In ſpeaking of the loan of 1767, we are to be underſtood as ſpeaking of the debt as conſtituted by the original bonds of that year, bearing intereſt at £.10 per cent.; and therefore, if any of the Nabob's creditors, under a pretence that their debts made part of the conſolidated debt of 1767, although ſecured by bonds of a ſubſequent date, carrying an intereſt exceeding £. 10 per cent. ſhall claim the benefit of the following orders, we direct that you pay no regard to ſuch claims, without our further eſpecial inſtructions for that purpoſe.

With reſpect to the conſolidated debt of 1777, it certainly ſtands upon a leſs favourable footing. So early as the 27th of March, 1769, it was ordered by our then Preſident and Council of Fort St. George, that for the preventing all perſons living under the Company's protection from having any dealings with any of the country powers, or their miniſters, without the knowledge or conſent of the Board, an advertiſement ſhould be publiſhed, by fixing it up at the ſea-gate, and ſending round a copy to the Company's ſervants and inhabitants, and to the different ſubordinates, and our garriſons, and giving it out in general orders; ſtating therein, that the Preſident and Council did conſider the irreverſible order of the Court of Directors of the year 1714 (whereby their people were prohibited from having any dealings with the country governments in money matters) to be in full force and vigour; and thereby expreſsly forbidding [62] all ſervants of the Company, and other Europeans under their juriſdiction, to make loans, or have any money tranſactions with any of the princes or ſtates in India, without ſpecial licence and permiſſion of the Preſident and Council for the time being, except only in the particular caſes there mentioned; and declaring, that any wilful deviation therefrom ſhould be deemed a breach of orders, and treated as ſuch. And on the 4th of March, 1778, it was reſolved by our Preſident and Council of Fort St. George, that the conſolidated debt of 1777 was not, on any reſpect whatever, conducted under the auſpices or protection of that government; and on the circumſtance of the conſolidation of the ſaid debt being made known to us, we did, on the 23d of December, 1778, write to you in the following terms: ‘Your account of the Nabob's private debts is very alarming; but from whatever cauſe or cauſes thoſe debts have been contracted or increaſed, we hereby repeat our orders, that the ſanction of the Company be on no account given to any kind of ſecurity for the payment or liquidation of any part thereof (except by the expreſs authority of the Court of Directors) on any account or pretence whatever.’

The loan of 1777 therefore has no ſanction or authority from us; and in conſidering the ſituation and circumſtances of this loan, we cannot omit to obſerve, that the creditors could not be ignorant how greatly the affairs of the Nabob were at that time deranged, and that his debt to the Company was then very conſiderable; the payment of which the parties took the moſt effectual means to poſtpone, by procuring an aſſignment of ſuch ſpecific revenues, for the diſcharge of their own debts, as alone could have enabled the Nabob to have diſcharged that of the Company.

[63]Under all theſe circumſtances, we ſhould be warranted to refuſe our aid or protection in the recovery of this loan; but when we conſider the inexpediency of keeping the ſubject of the Nabob's debts longer afloat than is abſolutely neceſſary; when we conſider how much the final concluſion of this buſineſs will tend to promote tranquillity, credit, and circulation of property in the Carnatic; and when we conſider that the debtor concurs with the creditor in eſtabliſhing the juſtice of thoſe debts conſolidated in 1777 into groſs ſums, for which bonds were given, liable to be transferred to perſons different from the original creditors, and having no ſhare or knowledge of the tranſactions in which the debts originated, and of courſe how little ground there is to expect any ſubſtantial good to reſult from an unlimited inveſtigation into them, we have reſolved ſo far to recognize the juſtice of thoſe debts, as to extend to them that protection which, upon more forcible grounds, we have ſeen cauſe to allow to the other two claſſes of debts. But, although we ſo far adopt the general preſumption in their favour, as to admit them to a participation in the manner hereafter directed, we do not mean to debar you from receiving any complaints againſt thoſe debts of 1777, at the inſtance either of the Nabob himſelf, or of other creditors injured by their being ſo admitted, or by any other perſons having a proper intereſt, or ſtating reaſonable grounds of objection; and if any complaints are offered, we order that the grounds of all ſuch be attentively examined by you, and be tranſmitted to us, together with the evidence adduced in ſupport of them, for our final deciſion; and as we have before directed, that the ſum of twelve lacks of pagodas, to be received annually from the Nabob, ſhould be paid into our [64] treaſury, it is our order that the ſame be diſtributed according to the following arrangement.

That the debt be made up in the following manner, viz.

The debt conſolidated in 1767 to be made up to the end of the year 1784, with the current intereſt at ten per cent.

The cavalry loan to be made up to the ſame period, with the current intereſt at 12 per cent.

The debt conſolidated in 1777 to be made up to the ſame period, with the current intereſt at 12 per cent. to November 1781, and from thence with the current intereſt at 6 per cent.

The 12 lacks annually to be received, are then to be applied,

1. To the growing intereſt on the cavalry loan, at 12 per cent.

2. To the growing intereſt on the debt of 1777, at 6 per cent.

The remainder to be equally divided; one half to be applied to the extinction of the Company's debt, the other half to be applied to the payment of growing intereſt, at £.10 per cent. and towards the diſcharge of the principal of the debt of 1767.

This arrangement to continue till the principal of the debt 1767 is diſcharged.

The application of the 12 lacks is then to be,

1. To the intereſt of the debt 1777, as above. The remainder to be then equally divided; one half towards the diſcharge of the current intereſt and principal of the cavalry loan, and the other half towards the diſcharge of the Company's debt.

When the cavalry loan ſhall be thus diſcharged, there ſhall then be paid, towards the diſcharge of the Company's debt, ſeven lacks.

To the growing intereſt and capital of the 1777 loan, 5 lacks.

[65]When the Company's debt ſhall be diſcharged, the whole is then to be applied in diſcharge of the debt 1777.

If the Nabob ſhall be prevailed upon to apply the arrears and growing payments of the Tanjore peiſhcuſh in further diſcharge of his debts, over and above the 12 lacks of pagodas, we direct that the whole of that payment, when made, ſhall be applied towards the reduction of the Company's debt.

We have laid down theſe general rules of diſtribution, as appearing to us founded on juſtice, and the relative circumſtances of the different debts; and therefore we give our authority and protection to them only, on the ſuppoſition that they who aſk our protection acquieſce in the condition upon which it is given; and therefore we expreſsly order, that if any creditor of the Nabob, a ſervant of the Company, or being under our protection, ſhall refuſe to expreſs his acquieſcence in theſe arrangements, he ſhall not only be excluded from receiving any ſhare of the fund under your diſtribution, but ſhall be prohibited from taking any ſeparate meaſures to recover his debt from the Nabob, it being one great inducement to our adopting this arrangement, that the Nabob ſhall be relieved from all further diſquietude by the importunities of his individual creditors, and he left at liberty to purſue thoſe meaſures for the proſperity of his country, which the embarraſsments of his ſituation have hitherto deprived him of the means of exerting. And we further direct, that if any creditor ſhall be found refractory, or diſpoſed to diſturb the arrangement we have ſuggeſted, he ſhall be diſmiſſed the ſervice, and ſent home to England.

The directions we have given only apply to [66] the three claſſes of debts which have come under our obſervation. It has been ſurmiſed, that the Nabob has of late contracted further debts; if any of theſe are due to Britiſh ſubjects, we forbid any countenance or protection whatever to be given to them, until the debt is fully inveſtigated, the nature of it reported home, and our ſpecial inſtructions upon it received.

We cannot conclude this ſubject, without adverting in the ſtrongeſt terms to the prohibitions which have from time to time iſſued under the authority of different Courts of Directors againſt any of our ſervants, or of thoſe under our protection, having any money tranſactions with any of the country powers, without the knowledge and previous conſent of our reſpective governments abroad; we are happy to find that the Nabob, ſenſible of the great embarraſſments both to his own and the Company's affairs, which the enormous amount of their private claims have occaſioned, is willing to engage not to incur any new debts with individuals, and we think little difficulty will be found in perſuading his highneſs into a poſitive ſtipulation for that purpoſe; and though the legiſlature has thus humanely interfered in behalf of ſuch individuals as might otherwiſe have been reduced to great diſtreſs by the paſt tranſactions, we hereby, in the moſt pointed and poſitive terms, repeat our prohibition upon this ſubject; and direct, that no perſon, being a ſervant of the Company, or being under our protection, ſhall, on any pretence whatever, be concerned in any loan or other money tranſaction with any of the country powers, unleſs with the knowledge and expreſs permiſſion of our reſpective governments. And if any of our ſervants, or others being under our protection, ſhall be diſcovered in any reſpect counteracting theſe orders, we ſtrictly enjoin you to take the firſt opportunity [67] of ſending them home to England, to be puniſhed as guilty of diſobedience of orders, and no protection or aſſiſtance of the Company ſhall be given for the recovery of any loans connected with ſuch tranſactions. Your particular attention to this ſubject is ſtrictly enjoined; and any connivance on your parts, to a breach of your orders upon it, will incur our higheſt diſpleaſure.

In order to put an end to thoſe intrigues, which have been ſo ſucceſsfully carried on at the Nabob's durbar, we repeat our prohibition in the ſtrongeſt terms reſpecting any intercourſe between Britiſh ſubjects and the Nabob and his family, as we are convinced that ſuch an intercourſe has been carried on greatly to the detriment and expence of the Nabob, and merely to the advantage of individuals. We therefore direct, that all perſons who ſhall offend againſt the letter or ſpirit of this neceſſary order, whether in the Company's ſervice, or under their protection, be forthwith ſent to England.

Approved by the Board.
  • HENRY DUNDAS,
  • WALSINGHAM,
  • W. W. GRENVILLE,
  • MULGRAVE.

Appendix I.2 EXTRACT from the Repreſentation of the Court of Directors of the Eaſt India Company.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

IT is with extreme concern that we expreſs a difference of opinion with your right honourable Board, in this early exerciſe of your controuling power; but in ſo novel an inſtitution, it can ſcarce be thought extraordinary, if the exact boundaries of our reſpective functions and duties ſhould not at once, on either ſide, be preciſely and familiarly [68] underſtood, and therefore confide in your juſtice and candour for believing that we have no wiſh to evade or fruſtrate the ſalutary purpoſes of your inſtitution, as we on our part are thoroughly ſatisfied that you have no wiſh to encroach on the legal powers of the Eaſt India Company: we ſhall proceed to ſtate our objections to ſuch of the amendments as appear to us to be either inſufficient, inexpedient, or unwarranted.

Appendix I.2.1 6th. Concerning the private Debts of the Nabob of Arcot, and the Application of the Fund of 12 Lacks of Pagodas per Annum.

Under this head you are pleaſed, in lieu of our paragraphs, to ſubſtantiate at once the juſtice of all thoſe demands which the act requires us to inveſtigate, ſubject only to a right reſerved to the Nabob, or any other party concerned, to queſtion the juſtice of any debt falling within the laſt; of the three claſſes; we ſubmit, that at leaſt the opportunity of queſtioning, within the limited time, the juſtice of any of the debts, ought to have been fully preſerved; and ſuppoſing the firſt and ſecond claſſes to ſtand free from imputation (as we incline to believe they do) no injury can reſult to individuals from ſuch diſcuſſion: and we further ſubmit to your conſideration, how far the expreſs direction of the act to examine the nature and origin of the debts has been, by the amended paragraphs, complied with; and whether at leaſt the rate of intereſt, according to which the debts ariſing from ſoucar aſſignment of the land revenues to the ſervants of the Company, acting in the capacity of native bankers, have been accumulated, ought not to be enquired into, as well as the reaſonableneſs of the deduction of 25 per cent. which the [69] Bengal government directed to be made from a great part of the debts on certain conditions. But to your appropriation of the fund, our duty requires that we ſhould ſtate our ſtrongeſt diſſent. Our right to be paid the arrears of thoſe expences, by which, almoſt to our own ruin, we have preſerved the country, and all the property connected with it, from falling a prey to a foreign conqueror, ſurely ſtands paramount to all claims for former debts upon the revenues of a country ſo preſerved, even if the legiſlature had not expreſsly limited the aſſiſtance to be given the private creditors to be ſuch as ſhould be conſiſtent with our own rights. The Nabob had, long before paſſing the act, by treaty with our Bengal government, agreed to pay us 7 lacks of pagodas, as part of the 12 lacks, in liquidation of thoſe arrears, of which 7 lacks the arrangement you have been pleaſed to lay down would take away from us more than the half, and give it to private creditors, of whoſe demands there are only about a ſixth part which do not ſtand in a predicament that you declare would not entitle them to any aid or protection from us in the recovery thereof, were it not upon grounds of expediency, as will more particularly appear by the annexed eſtimate. Until our debt ſhall be diſcharged, we can by no means conſent to give up any part of the 7 lacks to the private creditors; and we humbly apprehend, that in this declaration we do not exceed the limits of the authority and rights veſted in us.

Appendix I.3 The Right honourable the Commiſſioners for the Affairs of India.
The REPRESENTATION of the Court of Directors of the Eaſt India Company.

[70]
My Lords, and Gentlemen,

THE court having duly attended to your reaſonings and deciſions, on the ſubjects of Arnee and Hanamantagoody, beg leave to obſerve, with due deference to your judgment, that the directions we had given in theſe paragraphs, which did not obtain your approbation, ſtill appear to us to have been conſiſtent with juſtice, and agreeable to the late act of parliament, which pointed out to us, as we apprehended, the treaty of 1762 as our guide.

Signed by order of the ſaid court. Thos Morton, Secy.

Appendix I.4 EXTRACT of Letter from the Commiſſioners for the Affairs of India, to the Court of Directors, dated 3d November 1784, in Anſwer to their Remonſtrance.

Appendix I.4.1 Sixth Article.

WE think it proper, conſidering the particular nature of the ſubject, to ſtate to you the following remarks on that part of your repreſentation which relates to the plan for the diſcharge of the Nabob's debts.

1ſt. You compute the revenue which the Carnatic may be expected to produce only at twenty [71] lacks of pagodas. If we concurred with you in this opinion, we ſhould certainly feel our hopes of advantage to all the parties from this arrangement conſiderably diminiſhed. But we truſt, that we are not too ſanguine on this head, when we place the greateſt reliance on the eſtimate tranſmitted to you by your Preſident of Fort St. George, having there the beſt means of information upon the fact, and ſtating it with a particular view to the ſubject matter of theſe paragraphs. Some allowance, we are ſenſible, muſt be made for the difference of collection in the Nabob's hands, but we truſt not ſuch as to reduce the receipt nearly to what you ſuppoſe.

2dly. In making up the amount of the private debts, you take in compound intereſt at the different rates ſpecified in our paragraph. This it was not our intention to allow; and leſt any miſconception ſhould ariſe on the ſpot, we have added an expreſs direction, that the debts be made up with ſimple intereſt only, from the time of their reſpective conſolidation. Clauſe F f.

3dly. We have alſo the ſtrongeſt grounds to believe, that the debts will be, in other reſpects, conſiderably leſs than they are now computed by you; and conſequently, the Company's annual proportion of the twelve lacks will be larger than it appears on your eſtimate. But even on your own ſtatement of it, if we add to the £.150,000 or 3,75,000 pagodas (which you take as the annual proportion to be received by the Company for five years, to the end of 1789) the annual amount of the Tanjore peſhcuſh for the ſame period, and the arrears on the peſhcuſh (propoſed by Lord Macartney to be received in three years); the whole will make a ſum not falling very ſhort of pagodas 35,00,000, the amount of pagodas 7,00,000 per annum for the ſame period. And [72] [...] [73] [...] [70] [...] [71] [...] [72] if we carry our calculations farther, it will appear that, both by the plan propoſed by the Nabob, and adopted in your paragraphs, and by that which we tranſmitted to you, the debt from the Nabob, if taken at £ 3,000,000, will be diſcharged nearly at the ſame period, viz. in the courſe of the eleventh year. We cannot therefore be of opinion that there is the ſmalleſt ground for objecting to this arrangement, as injurious to the intereſts of the Company, even if the meaſure were to be conſidered on the mere ground of expediency, and with a view only to the wiſdom of re-eſtabliſhing credit and circulation in a commercial ſettlement, without any conſideration of thoſe motives of attention to the feelings and honour of the Nabob, of humanity to individuals, and of juſtice to perſons in your ſervice, and living under your protection, which have actuated the legiſlature, and which afford not only juſtifiable, but commendable grounds for your conduct.

Impreſſed with this conviction, we have not made any alteration in the general outlines of the arrangement which we had before tranſmitted to you. But, as the amount of the Nabob's revenue is matter of uncertain conjecture, and as it does not appear juſt to us, that any deficiency ſhould fall wholly on any one claſs of theſe debts, we have added a direction to your government of Fort St George, that if, notwithſtanding the proviſions contained in our former paragraphs, any deficiency ſhould ariſe, the payments of what ſhall be received ſhall be made in the ſame proportion which would have obtained in the diviſion of the whole twelve lacks, had they been paid.

Appendix J APPENDIX, No 10. Referred to from p. 88.

[73]

[THE following Extracts are ſubjoined, to ſhew the matter and the ſtyle of repreſentation employed by thoſe who have obtained that aſcendency over the Nabob of Arcot, which is deſcribed in the above Letter, and is ſo totally deſtructive of the authority and credit of the lawful Britiſh government at Madras. The charges made by theſe perſons have been ſolemnly denied by Lord Macartney; and, to judge from the character of the parties accuſed and accuſing, they are probably void of all foundation. But as the Letters are in the name and under the ſignature of a perſon of great rank and conſequence among the natives; as they contain matter of the moſt ſerious nature; as they charge the moſt enormous crimes, and corruptions of the groſſeſt kind, on a Britiſh Governor; and as they refer to the Nabob's miniſter in Great Britain for proof and further elucidation of the matters complained of, common decency, and common policy, demanded an enquiry into their truth or falſhood. The writing is obviouſly the product of ſome Engliſh pen. If, on enquiry, theſe charges ſhould be made good (a thing very unlikely) the party accuſed would become a juſt object of animadverſion. If they ſhould be found (as in all probability they would be found) falſe and calumnious, and ſupported by forgery, then the cenſure would fall on the accuſer; at the ſame time the neceſſity would be manifeſt for proper meaſures towards the ſecurity of government againſt ſuch infamous accuſations. It is as neceſſary to protect the honeſt fame of virtuous governors, as it is to puniſh the corrupt and tyrannical. But neither the Court of Directors nor the Board of Controul have made any enquiry into the truth or falſhood of [74] theſe charges. They have covered over the accuſers and accuſed with abundance of compliments. They have inſinuated ſome oblique cenſures; and they have recommended perfect harmony between the chargers of corruption and peculation, and the perſons charged with theſe crimes.]

Appendix J.1 13th October, 1782. EXTRACT of a Tranſlation of a Letter from the Nabob of Arcot to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the Eaſt India Company.

"FATALLY for me, and for the public intereſt, the Company's favour and my unbounded confidence have been laviſhed on a man totally unfit for the exalted ſtation in which he has been placed, and unworthy of the truſts that have been repoſed in him. When I ſpeak of one who has ſo deeply ſtabbed my honour, my wounds bleed afreſh, and I muſt be allowed that freedom of expreſſion which the galling reflexion of my injuries and my misfortunes naturally draw from me. Shall your ſervants, unchecked, unreſtrained, and unpuniſhed, gratify their private views and ambition, at the expence of my honour, my peace, and my happineſs, and to the ruin of my country, as well as of all your affairs? No ſooner had Lord Macartney obtained the favourite object of his ambition, than he betrayed the greateſt inſolence towards me, the moſt glaring neglect of the common civilities and attentions paid me by all former Governors, in the worſt of times, and even by the moſt inveterate of my enemies. He inſulted my ſervants, endeavoured to defame my character by unjuſtly cenſuring my adminiſtration, and extended his boundleſs uſurpation to the whole government of my dominions, in all the branches of judicature and police; and, in violation of the expreſs articles of the agreements, [75] proceeded to ſend renters into the countries, unapproved of by me, men of bad character, and unequal to my management or reſponſibility. Though he is chargeable with the greateſt acts of cruelty, even to the ſhedding the blood and cutting off the noſes and ears of my ſubjects, by thoſe exerciſing his authority in the countries, and that even the duties of religion and public worſhip have been interrupted or prevented; and though he carries on all his buſineſs by the arbitrary exertion of military force; yet does he not collect from the countries one fourth of the revenue that ſhould be produced. The ſtatement he pretends to hold forth of expected revenue, is totally fallacious, and can never be realized under the management of his Lordſhip, in the appointment of renters, totally diſqualified, rapacious, and irreſponſible, who are actually embezzling and diſſipating the public revenues, that ſhould aſſiſt in the ſupport of the war. Totally occupied by his private views, and governed by his paſſions, he has neglected or ſacrificed all the eſſential objects of public good, and by want of co-operation with Sir Eyre Coote, and refuſal to furniſh the army with the neceſſary ſupplies, has rendered the glorious and repeated victories of the gallant General ineffectual to the expulſion of our cruel enemy. To cover his inſufficiency, and veil the diſcredit attendant on his failure in every meaſure, he throws out the moſt illiberal expreſſions, and inſtitutes unjuſt accuſations againſt me; and, in aggravation of all the diſtreſſes impoſed upon me, he has abetted the meaneſt calumniators, to bring forward falſe charges againſt me, and my ſon Ameer-ul-Omrah, in order to create embarraſſment, and for the diſtreſs of my mind. My papers and writings ſent to you, muſt teſtify to the whole world the malevolence of his deſigns, and the means that have been uſed to forward them. He has violently ſeized and opened all letters addreſſed to me and my ſervants, [76] on my public and private affairs. My vackeel, that attended him, according to ancient cuſtom, has been ignominiouſly diſmiſſed from his preſence, and not ſuffered to approach the government-houſe. He has in the meaneſt manner, and as he thought in ſecret, been tampering and intriguing with my family and relations, for the worſt of purpoſes. And if I expreſs the agonies of my mind under theſe moſt pointed injuries and oppreſſions, and complain of the violence and injuſtice of Lord Macartney, I am inſulted by his affected conſtruction, that my communications are dictated by the inſinuations of others. At the ſame time that his conſcious apprehenſions for his miſconduct, have produced the moſt abject applications to me, to ſmother my feelings, and entreaties to write in his Lordſhip's favour to England, and to ſubmit all my affairs to his direction. When his ſubmiſſions have failed to mould me to his will, he has endeavoured to effect his purpoſes by menaces of his ſecret influence with thoſe in power in England, which he pretends to aſſert, ſhall be effectual to confirm his uſurpation, and to deprive me and my family, in ſucceſſion, of my rights of ſovereignty and government for ever. To ſuch a length have his paſſions and violences carried him, that all my family, my dependants, and even my friends and viſitors, are perſecuted with the ſtrongeſt marks of his diſpleaſure. Every ſhadow of authority in my perſon is taken from me, and reſpect to my name diſcouraged throughout the whole country. When an officer of high rank in his majeſty's ſervice was ſome time ſince introduced to me by Lord Macartney, his Lordſhip took occaſion to ſhew a perſonal deriſion and contempt of me. Mr. Richard Sulivan, who has attended my Durbar under the commiſſion of the Governor General and Council of Bengal, has experienced his reſentment; and Mr. Benfield, with whom I have no buſineſs, and who, as he has been accuſtomed to do [77] for many years, has continued to pay me his viſits of reſpect, has felt the weight of his lordſhip's diſpleaſure, and has had every unmerited inſinuation thrown out againſt him, to prejudice him, and deter him from paying me his compliments as uſual.

"Thus, Gentlemen, have you delivered me over to a ſtranger; to a man unacquainted with government and buſineſs, and too opinionated to learn; to a man whoſe ignorance and prejudices operate to the neglect of every good meaſure, or the liberal co-operation with any that wiſh well to the public intereſts; to a man who, to purſue his own paſſions, plans, and deſigns, will certainly ruin all mine, as well as the Company's affairs. His miſmanagement and obſtinacy have cauſed the loſs of many lacks of my revenues, diſſipated and embezzled, and every public conſideration ſacrificed to his vanity and private views. I beg to offer an inſtance in proof of my aſſertions, and to juſtify the hope I have, that you will cauſe to be made good to me all the loſſes I have ſuſtained, by the mal-adminiſtration and bad practices of your ſervants, according to all the account of receipts of former years, and which I made known to Lord Macartney, amongſt other papers of information, in the beginning of his management in the collections. The diſtrict of Ongole produced annually, upon a medium of many years, ninety thouſand pagodas; but Lord Macartney, upon receiving a ſum of money from Ramchundry, * let it out to him, in April laſt, for the inadequate rent of 50,000 pagodas per annum, diminiſhing, in this diſtrict alone, near half the accuſtomed revenues. After this manner hath he exerciſed his powers over the countries, to ſuit his own purpoſes and deſigns; and this ſecret mode has he taken to reduce the collection."

Appendix J.2 1ſt November 1782. COPY of a Letter from the Nabob of Arcot to the Court of Directors, &c. —Received 7th April 1783.

[78]

THE diſtreſſes which I have ſet forth in my former letters, are now increaſed to ſuch an alarming pitch, by the imprudent meaſures of your Governor, and by the arbitrary and impolitic conduct purſued with the merchants and importers of grain, that the very exiſtence of the fort of Madras ſeems at ſtake, and that of the inhabitants of the ſettlement appears to have been totally overlooked; many thouſands have died, and continue hourly to periſh of famine, though the capacity of one of your youngeſt ſervants, with diligence and attention, by doing juſtice, and giving reaſonable encouragement to the merchants, and by drawing the ſupplies of grain which the northern countries would have afforded, might have ſecured us againſt all thoſe dreadful calamities. I had with much difficulty procured and purchaſed a ſmall quantity of rice, for the uſe of myſelf, my family, and attendants, and with a view of ſending off the greateſt part of the latter to the northern countries, with a little ſubſiſtence in their hands. But what muſt your ſurprize be, when you learn, that even this rice was ſeized by Lord Macartney with a military force! and thus am I unable to provide for the few people I have about me, who are driven to ſuch extremity and miſery, that it gives me pain to behold them. I have deſired permiſſion to get a little rice from the northern countries for the ſubſiſtence of my people, without its being liable to ſeizure by your ſepoys: this even has been refuſed me by Lord Macartney. What muſt your feelings be, on ſuch wanton cruelty exerciſed towards [79] me, when you conſider that of thouſands of villages belonging to me, a ſingle one would have ſufficed for my ſubſiſtence!

Appendix J.3 22d March, 1783. TRANSLATION of a Letter from the Nabob of Arcot to the Chairman and Directors of the Eaſt India Company.—Received from Mr. James M'Pherſon, 1ſt January, 1784.

"I AM willing to attribute this continued uſurpation to the fear of detection in Lord Macartney: he dreads the awful day when the ſcene of his enormities will be laid open, at my reſtoration to my country, and when the tongues of my oppreſſed ſubjects will be unlooſed, and proclaim aloud the cruel tyrannies they have ſuſtained. Theſe ſentiments of his Lordſhip's deſigns are corroborated by his ſending, on the 10th inſtant, two Gentlemen to me and my ſon Ameer-ul-Omrah; and theſe Gentlemen from Lord Macartney eſpecially ſet forth to me, and to my ſon, that all dependance on the power of the ſuperior government of Bengal, to enforce the intentions of the Company to reſtore my country, was vain and groundleſs; that the Company confided in his Lordſhip's judgment and diſcretion, and upon his repreſentations, and that if I, and my ſon Ameer-ul-Omrah, would enter into friendſhip with Lord Macartney, and ſign a paper, declaring all my charges and complaints againſt him to be falſe, that his Lordſhip might be induced to write to England, that all his allegations againſt me and my ſon were not well founded; and, notwithſtanding his declarations to with-hold my country, yet, on theſe conſiderations, it might be ſtill reſtored to me.

"What muſt be your feelings for your ancient and faithful friend, on his receiving ſuch inſults to [80] his honour and underſtanding from your principal ſervant, armed with your authority? From theſe manoeuvres, amongſt thouſands I have experienced, the truth muſt evidently appear to you, that I have not been loaded with thoſe injuries and oppreſſions from motives of public ſervice, but to anſwer the private views and intereſts of his Lordſhip, and his ſecret agents: ſome papers to this point are incloſed; others, almoſt without number, muſt be ſubmitted to your juſtice, when time and circumſtances will enable me fully to inveſtigate thoſe tranſactions. This opportunity will not permit the full repreſentation of my load of injuries and diſtreſſes: I beg leave to refer you to my miniſter, Mr. Macpherſon, for the papers, according to the incloſed liſt, which accompanied my laſt diſpatches by the Rodney, which I fear have failed; and my correſpondence with Lord Macartney, ſubſequent to that period, ſuch as I have been able to prepare for this opportunity, are incloſed.

"Notwithſtanding all the violent acts and declarations of Lord Macartney, yet a conſciouſneſs of his own miſconduct was the ſole incentive to the menaces and overtures he has held out, in various ſhapes. He has been inſultingly laviſh in his expreſſions of high reſpect for my perſon; has had the inſolence to ſay, that all his meaſures flowed from his affectionate regard alone; has preſumed to ſay, that all his enmity and oppreſſion were levelled at my ſon, Ameer-ul-Omrah, to whom he before acknowledged every aid and aſſiſtance: and, his Lordſhip being without any juſt cauſe or foundation for complaint againſt us, or a veil to cover his own violences, he has now had recourſe to the meanneſs, and has dared to intimate of my ſon, in order to intimidate me, and to ſtrengthen his own wicked purpoſes, to be in league with our enemies the French. You muſt [81] doubtleſs be aſtoniſhed, no leſs at the aſſurance, than at the abſurdity of ſuch a wicked ſuggeſtion."

(In the Nabob's own hand.)

"P. S. In my own hand-writing I acquainted Mr. Haſtings, as I now do my ancient friends the Company, with the inſult offered to my honour and underſtanding, in the extraordinary propoſitions ſent to me by Lord Macartney, through two Gentlemen, on the 10th inſtant, ſo artfully veiled with menaces, hopes, and promiſes. But how can Lord Macartney add to his enormities, after his wicked and calumniating inſinuations, ſo evidently directed againſt me and my family, through my faithful, my dutiful, and beloved ſon, Ameer-ul-Omrah, who, you well know, has been ever born and bred amongſt the Engliſh, whom I have ſtudiouſly brought up in the warmeſt ſentiments of affection and attachment to them; ſentiments, that in his maturity have been his higheſt ambition to improve, inſomuch that he knows no happineſs, but in the faithful ſupport of our alliance and connexion with the Engliſh nation?"

Appendix J.4 12th Auguſt, and Poſtſcript of the 16th Auguſt, 1783. TRANSLATION of a Letter to the Chairman and Directors of the Eaſt India Company.—Received from Mr. James M'Pherſon, 14th January, 1784.

"YOUR aſtoniſhment and indignation will be equally raiſed with mine, when you hear that your Preſident has dared, contrary to your intention, to continue to uſurp the privileges and hereditary powers of the Nabob of the Carnatic, your old and unſhaken friend, and the declared ally of the King of Great Britain.

[82]"I will not take up your time by enumerating the particular acts of Lord Macartney's violence, cruelty, and injuſtice; they indeed occur too frequently, and fall upon me, and my devoted ſubjects and country, too thick, to be regularly related. I refer you to my Miniſter, Mr. James M'Pherſon, for a more circumſtantial account of the oppreſſions and enormities, by which he has brought both mine and the Company's affairs to the brink of deſtruction. I truſt that ſuch flagrant violations of all juſtice, honour, and the faith of treaties, will receive the ſevereſt marks of your diſpleaſure, and that Lord Macartney's conduct, in making uſe of your name and authority as a ſanction for the continuance of his uſurpation, will be diſclaimed with the utmoſt indignation, and followed by the ſevereſt puniſhment. I conceive that his Lordſhip's arbitrary retention of my country and government can only originate in his inſatiable cravings, in his implacable malevolence againſt me, and through fear of detection, which muſt follow the ſurrender of the Carnatic into my hands, of thoſe nefarious proceedings, which are now ſuppreſſed by the arm of violence and power.

"I did not fail to repreſent to the ſupreme government of Bengal, the deplorable ſituation to which I was reduced, and the unmerited perſecutions I have unremittingly ſuſtained from Lord Macartney; and I earneſtly implored them to ſtretch forth a ſaving arm, and interpoſe that controuling power which was veſted in them, to check rapacity and preſumption, and preſerve the honour and faith of the Company from violation. The Governor General and Council not only felt the cruelty and injuſtice I had ſuffered, but were greatly alarmed for the fatal conſequences that might reſult from the diſtruſt of the country powers in the profeſſions of the Engliſh, when they ſaw the [83] Nabob of the Carnatic, the friend of the Company, and the ally of Great Britain, thus ſtripped of his rights, his dominions, and his dignity, by the moſt fraudulent means, and under the maſk of friendſhip. The Bengal government had already heard both the Mharattas and the Nizam urge as an objection to an alliance with the Engliſh, the faithleſs behaviour of Lord Macartney to a prince whoſe life had been devoted, and whoſe treaſures had been exhauſted, in their ſervice and ſupport; and they did not heſitate to give poſitive orders to Lord Macartney for the reſtitution of my government and authority, on ſuch terms as were not only ſtrictly honourable, but equally advantageous to my friends the Company; for they juſtly thought that my honour and dignity, and ſovereign rights, were the firſt objects of my wiſhes and ambition: But how can I paint my aſtoniſhment at Lord Macartney's preſumption, in continuing his uſurpation, after their poſitive and reiterated mandates! and as if, nettled by their interference, which he diſdained, in redoubling the fury of his violence, and ſacrificing the public and myſelf, to his malice and ungovernable paſſions!

"I am, Gentlemen, at a loſs to conceive where his uſurpation will ſtop, and have an end; has he not ſolemnly declared that the aſſignment was only made for the ſupport of war? and if neither your inſtructions, nor the orders of his ſuperiors at Bengal, were to be conſidered as effectual, has not the treaty of peace virtually determined the period of his tyrannical adminiſtration? but ſo far from ſurrendering the Carnatic into my hands, he has, ſince that event, affixed advertiſements to the walls and gates of the Black Town, for letting to the beſt bidder the various diſtricts, for the term of three years; and has continued the Committee of Revenue, which you poſitively ordered to be aboliſhed, to [84] whom he has allowed enormous ſalaries, from 6000 to 4000 pagodas per annum, which each member has received from the time of his appointment, though his Lordſhip well knows that moſt of them are by your orders diſqualified, by being my principal creditors.

"If thoſe acts of violence and outrage had been productive of public advantage, I conceive his Lordſhip might have held them forward, in extenuation of his conduct; but whilſt he cloaks his juſtification under the veil of your ſecret records, it is impoſſible to refute his aſſertions, or to expoſe to you their fallacy; and when he is no longer able to ſupport his conduct by argument, he refers to thoſe records, where, I underſtand, he has exerciſed all his ſophiſtry and malicious inſinuations, to render me and my family obnoxious in the eyes of the Company, and the Britiſh nation; and when the glorious victories of Sir Eyre Coote have been rendered abortive by a conſtant deficiency of ſupplies; and when, ſince the departure of that excellent General to Bengal, whoſe loſs I muſt ever regret, a dreadful famine, at the cloſe of laſt year, occaſioned by his Lordſhip's neglect to lay up a ſufficient ſtock of grain at a proper ſeaſon, and from his prohibitory orders to private merchants; and when no exertion has been made, nor advantage gained over the enemy; when Hyder's death and Tippoo's return to his own dominions operated in no degree for the benefit of our affairs; in ſhort, when all has been a continued ſeries of diſappointment and diſgrace under Lord Macartney's management (and in him alone has the management been veſted) I want words to convey thoſe ideas of his inſufficiency, ignorance, and obſtinacy, which I am convinced you would entertain, had you been ſpectators of his ruinous and deſtructive conduct.

[85]"But againſt me and my ſon, Ameer-ul-Omrah, has his Lordſhip's vengeance chiefly been exerted; even the Company's own ſubordinate Zemindars have found better treatment, probably becauſe they were more rich; thoſe of Nizanagoram have been permitted, contrary to your pointed orders, to hold their rich zemindaries at the old diſproportionate rate of little more than a ſixth part of the real revenue; and my zemindar of Tanjore, though he ſhould have regarded himſelf equally concerned with us in the event of the war, and from whoſe fertile country many valuable harveſts have been gathered in, which have ſold at a vaſt price, has, I underſtand, only contributed laſt year, towards the public exigencies, the very inconſiderable ſum of one lack of pagodas, and a few thouſand pagodas-worth of grain.

"I am much concerned to acquaint you, that ever ſince the peace a dreadful famine has ſwept away many thouſands of the followers, and ſepoys families of the army, from Lord Macartney's neglect to ſend down grain to the camp, though the roads are crowded with veſſels: but his Lordſhip has been too intent upon his own diſgraceful ſchemes, to attend to the wants of the army. The negociation with Tippoo, which he has ſet on foot through the mediation of Monſieur Buſſy, has employed all his thoughts, and to the attainment of that object he will ſacrifice the deareſt intereſts of the Company to gratify his malevolence againſt me, and for his own private advantages. The endeavour to treat with Tippoo, through the means of the French, muſt ſtrike you, Gentlemen, as highly improper and impolitic; but it muſt raiſe your utmoſt indignation to hear, that by intercepted letters from Buſſy to Tippoo, as well as from their reſpective vakeels, and from various accounts from Cudalore, we have every reaſon to conclude [86] that his Lordſhip's ſecretary, Mr. Staunton, when at Cudalore, as his agent to ſettle the ceſſation of arms with the French, was informed of all their operations and projects, and conſequently that Lord Macartney has ſecretly connived at Monſieur Buſſy's recommendation to Tippoo to return into the Carnatic, as the means of procuring the moſt advantageous terms, and furniſhing Lord Macartney with the plea of neceſſity for concluding a peace after his own manner: and what further confirms the truth of this fact is, that repeated reports, as well as the alarms of the inhabitants to the weſtward, leave us no reaſon to doubt that Tippoo is approaching towards us. His Lordſhip has iſſued public orders, that the garriſon ſtore of rice, for which we are indebted to the exertions of the Bengal government, ſhould be immediately diſpoſed of, and has ſtrictly forbid all private grain to be ſold; by which act he effectually prohibits all private importation of grain, and may eventually cauſe as horrid a famine as that which we experienced at the cloſe of laſt year, from the ſame ſhort-ſighted policy and deſtructive prohibitions of Lord Macartney.

But as he has the fabrication of the records in his own hands, he truſts to thoſe partial repreſentations of his character and conduct, becauſe the ſignatures of thoſe members of government whom he ſeldom conſults, are affixed, as a public ſanction; but you may form a juſt idea of their correctneſs and propriety, when you are informed that his Lordſhip, upon my noticing the heavy diſburſements made for ſecret ſervice money, ordered the ſums to be ſtruck off, and the accounts to be eraſed from the caſh-book of the Company; and I think I cannot give you a better proof of his management of my country and revenues, than by calling your attention to his conduct in the Ongole province, and [87] by referring you to his Lordſhip's adminiſtration of your own jaghire, from whence he has brought to the public account the ſum of twelve hundred pagodas for the laſt year's revenue, yet blazons forth his vaſt merits and exertions, and expects to receive the thanks of his Committee and Council.—I will beg leave to refer you to my miniſter, James Macpherſon, Eſq for a more particular account of my ſufferings and miſeries, to whom I have tranſmitted copies of all papers that paſſed with his Lordſhip.

"I cannot conclude without calling your attention to the ſituation of my different creditors, whoſe claims are the claims of juſtice, and whoſe demands I am bound by honour, and every moral obligation, to diſcharge; it is not, therefore, without great concern, I have heard inſinuations tending to queſtion the legality of their right to the payment of thoſe juſt debts; they proceeded from advances made by them openly and honourably for the ſupport of my own and the public affairs. But I hope the tongue of calumny will never drown the voice of truth and juſtice; and while that is heard, the wiſdom of the Engliſh nation cannot fail to accede to an effectual remedy for their diſtreſſes, by any arrangement in which their claims may be duly conſidered, and equitably provided for; and for this purpoſe my miniſter, Mr. Macpherſon, will readily ſubſcribe, in my name, to any agreement you may think proper to adopt, founded on the ſame principles with either of the engagements I entered into with the ſupreme government of Bengal, for our mutual intereſt and advantage.—I always pray for your happineſs and proſperity."

Appendix J.5 6th September, and Poſtſcript of 7th September, 1783. TRANSLATION of a Letter from the Nabob of Arcot to the Chairman and Directors of the Eaſt India Company.—Received from Mr. James M'Pherſon, 14th January 1784.

[88]

"I REFER you, Gentlemen, to my incloſed duplicate, as well as to my miniſter Mr. M'Pherſon, for the particulars of my ſufferings. There is no word or action of mine that is not perverted; and though it was my intention to have ſent my ſon, Ameer-ul-Omrah, who is well verſed in my affairs, to Bengal, to impreſs thoſe Gentlemen with a full ſenſe of my ſituation, yet I find myſelf obliged to lay it aſide, from the inſinuations of the calumniating tongue of Lord Macartney, that takes every licence to traduce every action of my life, and that of my ſon. I am informed that Lord Macartney, at this late moment, intends to write a letter; I am ignorant of the ſubject; but fully perceive, that by delaying to ſend it till the very eve of the diſpatch, he means to deprive me of all poſſibility of communicating my reply, and forwarding it for the information of my friends in England. Conſcious of the weak ground on which he ſtands, he is obliged to have recourſe to theſe artifices to miſlead the judgment, and ſupport for a time his unjuſtifiable meaſures by deceit and impoſition. I wiſh only to meet and combat his charges and allegations fairly and openly; and I have repeatedly and urgently demanded to be furniſhed with copies of thoſe parts of his fabricated records relative to myſelf; but as he well knows I ſhould refute his ſophiſtry, I cannot be ſurpriſed at his refuſal, though I lament that it prevents you, Gentlemen, from a clear inveſtigation of his conduct towards me.

[89]"Incloſed you have a tranſlate of an arzee from the Killidar of Vellore: I have thouſands of the ſame kind; but this juſt now received will ſerve to give you ſome idea of the miſeries brought upon this my devoted country, and the wretched inhabitants that remain in it, by the oppreſſive hand of Lord Macartney's management; nor will the embezzlements of collections thus obtained, when brought before you in proof, appear leſs extraordinary, which ſhall certainly be done in due time."

Appendix J.6 TRANSLATION of an Arzee, in the Perſian Language, from Uzzeem ul Doen Cawn, the Killidar of Vellore, to the Nabob, dated 1ſt September 1783. Incloſed in the Nabob's Letter to the Court of Directors, September 1783.

"I HAVE repeatedly repreſented to your highneſs the violences and oppreſſions exerciſed by the preſent Amildar [Collector of Revenue] of Lord Macartney's appointment, over the few remaining inhabitants of the diſtrict of Vellore, Ambore, Saulguda, &c.

"The outrages and violences now committed are of that aſtoniſhing nature as were never known or heard of during the adminiſtration of the Circar. Hyder Naik, the crueleſt of tyrants, uſed every kind of oppreſſion in the Circar countries; but even his meaſures were not like thoſe now purſued. Such of the inhabitants as had eſcaped the ſword and pillage of Hyder Naik, by taking refuge in the woods, and within the walls of Vellore, &c. on the arrival of Lord Macartney's Amildar to Vellore, and in conſequence of his cowle of protection and ſupport, they moſt chearfully returned to the villages, ſet about the cultivation of the lands, and with great pains rebuilt their cottages.—But [90] now the Amildar has impriſoned the wives and children of the inhabitants, ſeized the few jewels that were on the bodies of the women, and then, before the faces of their huſbands, flogged them, in order to make them produce other jewels and effects, which he ſaid they had buried ſomewhere under ground, and to make the inhabitants bring him money, notwithſtanding there was yet no cultivation in the country.—Terrified with the flagellations, ſome of them produced their jewels and wearing apparel of their women, to the amount of ten or fifteen pagodas, which they had hidden; others, who declared they had none, the Amildar flogged their women ſeverely, tied cords around their breaſts, and tore the ſucking children from their teats, and expoſed them to the ſcorching heat of the ſun. Thoſe children died, as did the wife of Ramſoamy, an inhabitant of Bringpoor. Even this could not ſtir up compaſſion in the breaſt of the Amildar. Some of the children, that were ſomewhat large, he expoſed to ſale. In ſhort, the violences of the Amildar are ſo aſtoniſhing, that the people, on ſeeing the preſent ſituation, remember the loſs of Hyder with regret. With whomſoever the Amildar finds a ſingle meaſure of natehinee or rice, he takes it away from him, and appropriates it to the expences of the Sibindy that he keeps up. No revenues are collected from the countries, but from the effects of the poor wretched inhabitants. Thoſe ryotts [yeomen] who intended to return to their habitations, and hearing of thoſe violences, have fled for refuge, with their wives and children, into Hyder's country. Every day is uſhered in and cloſed with theſe violences and diſturbances. I have no power to do any thing; and who will hear what I have to ſay? My buſineſs is to inform your highneſs, who are my maſter. The people bring their complaints to [91] me, and I tell them I will write to your highneſs *."

Appendix J.7 TRANSLATION of a Tellinga Letter from Veira Permaul, Head Dubaſh to Lord Macartney, in his own hand writing, to Rajah Ramchundah, the Renter of Ongole; dated 25th of the Hindoo month Mauſay, in the year Plavanamal, correſponding to 5th March 1782.

I PRESENT my reſpects to you, and am very well here, wiſhing to hear frequently of your welfare.

Your Peaſher Vancatroyloo has brought the Viſſeel Bakees, and delivered them to me, as alſo what you ſent him for me to deliver to my maſter, which I have done. My maſter at firſt refuſed to take it, becauſe he is unacquainted with your diſpoſition, or what kind of a perſon you are. But after I made [92] encomiums on your goodneſs and greatneſs of mind, and took my oath to the ſame, and that it would not become public, but be held as precious as our lives, my maſter accepted it. You may remain ſatisfied, that I will get the Ongole buſineſs ſettled in your name, I will cauſe the jamaubundee to be ſettled agreeable to your deſire. It was formerly the Nabob's intention to give this buſineſs to you, as the Governor knows full well, but did not at that time agree to it, which you muſt be well acquainted with.

Your Peaſher Vancatroyloo is a very careful good man—he is well experienced in buſineſs— he has bound me by an oath to keep all this buſineſs ſecret, and that his own, yours, and my lives are reſponſible for it. I write this letter to you with the greateſt reluctance, and I ſignified the ſame to your Peaſher, and declared that I would not write to you by any means; to this the Peaſher urged, that if I did not write to his maſter, how could he know to whom he (the Peaſher) delivered the money, and what muſt his maſter think of it? therefore I write you this letter, and ſend it by my ſervant Ramanah, accompanied by the Peaſher's ſervant, and it will come ſafe to your hands: after peruſal you will ſend it back to me immediately—until I receive it I don't like to eat my victuals, or take any ſleep. Your Peaſher took his oath, and urged me to write this for your ſatisfaction, and has engaged to me that I ſhall have this letter returned to me in the ſpace of twelve days.

The preſent Governor is not like the former Governors—he is a very great man in Europe— and all the great men of Europe are much obliged to him for his condeſcenſion in accepting the government of this place. It is his cuſtom when he makes friendſhip with any one to continue it always, and [93] if he is at enmity with any one, he never will deſiſt till he has worked his deſtruction; he is now exceedingly diſpleaſed with the Nabob, and you will underſtand by and by that the Nabob's buſineſs cannot be carried on, he (the Nabob) will have no power to do any thing in his own affairs; you have therefore no room to fear him. You may remain with a contented mind— I deſired the Governor to write you a letter for your ſatisfaction; the Governor ſaid he would do ſo when the buſineſs was ſettled. This letter you muſt peruſe as ſoon as poſſible, and ſend it back with all ſpeed by the bearer Ramadoo, accompanied by three or four of your people, to the end that no accident may happen on the road. Theſe people muſt be ordered to march in the night only, and to arrive here with the greateſt diſpatch. You ſent ten mangoes for my maſter, and two for me, which all I have delivered to my maſter, thinking that ten was not ſufficient to preſent him with. I write this for your information, and ſalute you with ten thouſand reſpects.

I Muttu Kiſtnah, of Madras Patnam, Dubaſh, declare, That I perfectly underſtand the Gentoo language; and do moſt ſolemnly affirm, that the foregoing is a true tranſlation of the annexed paper writing from the Gentoo language.

(Signed) Muttu Kiſtnah.
FINIS.
Notes
*
Right honourable Henry Dundas.
Sir Thomas Rumbold, late governor of Madras.
*
Appendix, No 1.
*
The whole of the net Iriſh hereditary revenue is, on a medium of the laſt ſeven years, about £ 330,000 yearly. The revenues of all denominations fall ſhort more than £ 150,000 yearly of the charges. On the preſent produce, if Mr. Pitt's ſcheme was to take place, he might gain from ſeven to ten thouſand pounds a year.
*
Mr. Smith's examination before the Select Committee, Appendix No 2.
Appendix No 2.
*
Fourth Report, Mr. Dundas's Committee, p. 4.
A witneſs examined before the Committee of Secrecy ſays, that eighteen per Cent. was the uſual intereſt; but he had heard that more had been given. The above is the account which Mr. B. received.
*
Mr. Dundas.
*
For the threats of the creditors, and total ſubverſion of the authority of the Company in favour of the Nabob's power, and the encreaſe thereby of his evil diſpoſitions, and the great derangement of all public concerns, ſee Select Committee Fort St. George's letters, 21ſt November 1769, and January 31ſt, 1770; September 11, 1772. And Governor Bourchier's letters to the Nabob of Arcot, 21ſt November 1769, and December 9th, 1769.
*
‘He [the Nabob] is in a great degree the cauſe of our preſent inability; by diverting the revenues of the Carnatic through private channels.‘Even this Peſhcuſh [the Tanjore tribute] circumſtanced as he and we are, he has aſſigned over to others, who now ſet themſelves in oppoſition to the Company. Conſultations, October 11, 1769, on the 12th communicated to the Nabob.
*
Nabob's Letter to Governor Palk. Papers publiſhed by the Directors in 1775; papers printed by the ſame authority, 1781.
See Papers printed by order of a General Court in 1780, p. 222, and p. 224, as alſo Nabob's letter to Governor Duprè, 19th July 1771, ‘I have taken up loans by which I have ſuffered a loſs of upwards of a crore of pagodas [four million ſterling] by intereſt on an heavy intereſt. —Letter 15th "January, 1772, ‘Notwithſtanding I have taken much trouble, and have made many payments to my creditors, yet the load of my debt, which became ſo great, by intereſt and compound intereſt, is not cleared.’
*
The Nabob of Arcot.
Appendix No 3.
*
See Mr. Dundas's 1ſt, 2d, and 3d Reports.
*
See further Conſultations, 3d February 1778.
*
Mr. Dundas's 1ſt Report, p. 26, 29, and Appendix No 2, 10, 18, for the mutinous ſtate and deſertion of the Nabob's troops for want of pay. See alſo Report 4, of the ſame Committee.
*
Memorial from the Creditors to the Governor and Council, 22d January, 1770.
In the year 1778, Mr. James Call, one of the proprietors of this ſpecific debt, was actually Mayor. Appendix to 2d Report of Mr. Dundas's Committee, No 65.—The only proof which appeared on the enquiry inſtituted in the general court of 1781, was an affidavit of the lenders themſelves, depoſing (what no body ever denied) that they had engaged and agreed to pay—not that they had paid the ſum of £. 160,000. This was two years after the tranſaction; and the affidavit is made before George Proctor, Mayor, an attorney, for certain of the old creditors. Proceedings of the Preſident and Council of Fort Saint George, 22d February 1779.
*
Right honourable Henry Dundas.
Appendix to the 4th Report of Mr. Dundas's Committee, No 15.
*
"No ſenſe of the common danger, in caſe of a war, can prevail on him [the Nabob of Arcot] to furniſh the Company with what is abſolutely neceſſary to aſſemble an army, though it is beyond a doubt, that money to a large amount is now hoarded up in his coffers at Chepauk; and tunkaws are granted to individuals upon ſome of his moſt valuable countries, for payment of part of thoſe debts which he has contracted, and which certainly will not bear inſpection, as neither the debtor or creditors have ever had the confidence to ſubmit the accounts to our examination, though they expreſſed a wiſh to conſolidate the debts under the auſpices of this government, agreeably to a plan they had formed." Madras Conſultations, 20th July 1778. Mr. Dundas's Appendix to 2d Report, 143. See alſo laſt Appendix to ditto Report, No 376 B.
*
Mr. Dundas.
*
Lord Pigot.
*
In Sir Thomas Rumbold's letter to the Court of Directors, March 15th, 17 [...]8, he repreſents it as higher, in the following manner:— ‘How ſhall I paint to you my aſtoniſhment on my arrival here, when I was informed, that independent of this four lacks of pagodas [the cavalry loan]; independent of the Nabob's debt to his old creditors, and the money due to the Company; he had contracted a debt to the enormous amount of ſixty-three lacks of pagodas [£. 2,520,000].—I mention this circumſtance to you with horror; for the creditors being in general ſervants of the Company, renders my taſk, on the part of the Company, difficult and invidious.‘I have freed the ſanction of this government from ſo corrupt a tranſaction. It is, in my mind, the moſt venal of all proceedings, to give the Company's protection to debts that cannot bear the light; and though it appears exceedingly alarming, that a country, on which you are to depend for reſources, ſhould be ſo involved, as to be nearly three years revenue in debt; in a country too, where one year's revenue can never be called ſecure, by men who know any thing of the politics of this part of India.’‘I think it proper to mention to you, that although the Nabob reports his private debt to amount to upwards of ſixty lacks, yet I underſtand that it is not quite ſo much.’ —Afterwards Sir Thomas Rumbold recommended this debt to the favourable attention of the Company, but without any ſufficient reaſon for his change of diſpoſition. However he went no further.
*
Nabob's propoſals, November 25th, 1778; and memorial of the creditors, March 1ſt, 1779.
*
Nabob's propoſals to his new conſolidated creditors, November 25th, 1778.
Paper ſigned by the Nabob, 6th January 1780.
Kiſtbundi to July 31, 1780.
§
Governor's letter to the Nabob, 25th 1779.
*
Report of the Select Committee, Madras Conſultations, January 7, 1771. See alſo papers publiſhed by the order of the Court of Directors in 1776; and Lord Macartney's correſpondence with Mr. Haſtings and the Nabob of Arcot. See alſo Mr. Dundas's Appendix, No 376 B. Nabob's propoſitions thro' Mr. Sulivan and Aſſam Khân, Art. 6. and indeed the whole.
*
‘The principal object of the expedition is to get money from Tanjore to pay the Nabob's debt: if a ſurlpus, to be applied in diſcharge of the Nabob's debts to his private creditors.’ Conſultations, March 20, 1771; and for further lights, Conſultations, 12th June, 1771. ‘We are alarmed, leſt this debt to individuals ſhould have been the real motive for the aggrandizement of Mahomed Ali [the Nabob of Arcot] and that we are plunged into a war to put him into poſſeſſion of the Myſore revenues for the diſcharge of the debt. Letter from the Directors, March 17, 1769.
*
Letter from the Nabob, May 1ſt, 1768; and ditto, 24th April 1770, 1ſt October; ditto, 16th September 1772, 16th March 1773.
Letter from the Preſidency at Madras to the Court of Directors, 27th June 1769.
*
Mr. Dundas's Committee, Report I. Appendix No. 29.
*
Appendix No 4, Report of the Committee of aſſigned Revenue.
*
Mr. Barnard's Map of the Jaghire.
*
See Report IV. Mr. Dundas's Committee, p. 46.
*
Intereſt is rated in India by the mouth.
*
Mr. Dundas's Committee, Rep. I. p. 9; and ditto, Rep. IV. 69. where the revenue of 1777 ſtated only at 22 lacks —30 lacks ſtated as the revenue, ſuppoſing the Carnatic to be properly managed.’
*
See Appendix No 4, Statement in the Report of the Committee of aſſigned Revenue.
*
The Province of Tinnevelly.
*
Appendix No 5; and for the peculiar hardſhip of one of the caſes, No
*
See Extract of their Letter in the Appendix, No 6 A.
*
‘It is certain that the incurſion of a few of Hyder's horſe into the Jaghire, in 1767, coſt the Company upwards of Pagodas 27,000, in allowances for damages. Conſultations, February 11th, 1771.
*
Proceedings at Madras, 11th February 1769, and throughout the correſpondence on this ſubject; particularly Conſultations October 4th, 1769, and the Creditors Memorial, 20th January 1770.
*
Appendix, E.
*
For ſome part of theſe uſurious tranſactions, ſee Conſultation 28th January 1781; and for the Nabob's excuſing his oppreſſions on account of theſe debts, Conſultation 26th November 1770. ‘Still I undertook, firſt, the payment of the money belonging to the Company, who are my kind friends, and by borrowing, and mortgaging my jewels, &c. by taking from every one of my ſervants in proportion to their circumſtances, by freſh ſeverities alſo on my country, notwithſtanding its diſtreſſed ſtate, as you know.’ —The Board's remark is as follows; after controverting ſome of the facts, they ſay, ‘that his countries are oppreſſed is moſt certain, but not from real neceſſity; his debts indeed have afforded him a conſtant pretense for uſing ſeverities and cruel oppreſſions.’
See Conſultation 28th January 1781, where it is aſſerted, and not denied, that the Nabob's farmers of revenue, ſeldom continue for three months together. From this the ſtate of the country may be eaſily judged of.
*
In Mr. Fox's Speech.
The amended Letter, Appendix No 6 B.
*
Mr. Petrie's evidence before the Select Committee, App.
Appendix, No. 8
*
Mr. Dundas.
*
See Report IV. Committee of Secrecy, p. 73, and 74; and Appendix in ſundry places.
*
Mr. Smith's Proteſt.
Madras correſpondence on this ſubject.
*
Appendix, No 5 A.
Right honourable William Pitt.
*
Appendix No 8.
Dated 13th October. For further illuſtration of the ſtyle in which theſe letters are written, and the principles on which they proceed, ſee letters from the Nabob to the Court of Directors, dated Auguſt 16th, and September 7th, 1783, delivered by Mr. James Macpherſon, Miniſter to the Nabob, January 14th, 1784.
*
Appendix, F.
*
Second Report of Select (General Smith's) Committee.
*
Mr. Dundas.
Six Reports of the Committee of Secrecy.
*
[After the above ſolemn declaration from ſo weighty an authority, the principal object of that awful and deliberate warning, inſtead of "being removed from the ſeveral Preſidencies," is licenſed to return to one of the principal of thoſe Preſidencies, and the grand theatre of the operations on account of which the Preſidency recommends his total removal. The reaſon given is for the accommodation of that very debt which has been the chief inſtrument of his dangerous practices, and the main cauſe of all the confuſions in the Company's government.]
*
For the ground of this "great reliance," ſee the papers in this Appendix, beginning p. 15; as alſo the Nabob's letters to the Court of Directors, in this Appendix.
*
For the full proof of this neceſſity, Lord Macartney's whole correſpondence on the ſubject may be referred to. Without the act here condemned, not one of the acts commended in the preceding paragraph could be performed. By referring to the Nabob's letters in this Appendix it will be ſeen what ſort of taſk a Governor has on his hands, who is to uſe, according to the direction of this letter, ‘acts of addreſs, civility, and conciliation, and to pay, upon all occaſions, the higheſt attention to perſons, who at the very time are falſely, and in the groſſeſt terms, accuſing him of peculation, corruption, treaſon, and every ſpecies of malverſation in office. The recommendation, under menaces of ſuch behaviour, and under ſuch circumſtances, conveys a leſſon the tendency of which cannot be miſunderſtood.
*
The delicacy here recommended in the expreſſions concerning conduct, ‘with which the ſafety of our ſettlements is eſſentially connected, is a leſſon of the ſame nature with the former.’ Dangerous deſigns, if truly ſuch, ought to be expreſſed according to their nature and qualities; and as for the ſecrecy recommended concerning the deſigns here alluded to, nothing can be more abſurd, as they appear very fully and directly in the papers publiſhed by the authority of the Court of Directors in 1775, and may be eaſily diſcerned from the propoſitions for the Bengal treaty, publiſhed in the Reports of the Committee of Secrecy, and in the Reports of the Select Committee. The keeping of ſuch ſecrets too long has been one cauſe of the Carnatic war, and of the ruin of our affairs in India.
*
See Tellinga Letter at the end of this correſpondence.
*
[The above recited practices, or practices ſimilar to them, have prevailed in almoſt every part of the miſerable countries on the coaſt of Coromandel, for near twenty years paſt. That they prevailed as ſtrongly and generally as they could prevail, under the adminiſtration of the Nabob, there can be no queſtion, notwithſtanding the aſſertion in the begining of the above petition—nor will it ever be otherwiſe, whilſt affairs are conducted upon the principles which influence the preſent ſyſtem. Whether the particulars here aſſerted are true or falſe, neither the Court of Directors nor their miniſtry have thought proper to enquire. If they are true, in order to bring them to affect Lord Macartney, it ought to be proved that the complaint was made to him; and that he had refuſed redreſs. Inſtead of this fair courſe, the complaint is carried to the Court of Directors.—The following is one of the documents tranſmitted by the Nabob, in proof of his charge of corruption againſt Lord Macartney. If genuine, it is concluſive, at leaſt againſt Lord Macartney's principal agent and manager. If it be a forgery (as in all likelihood it is) it is concluſive againſt the Nabob and his evil counſellors; and fully demonſtrates, if any thing further were neceſſary to demonſtrate, the neceſſity of the clauſe in Mr. Fox's bill prohibiting the reſidence of the native Princes in the Company's principal ſettlements; which clauſe was, for obvious reaſons, not admitted into Mr. Pitt's. It ſhews too the abſolute neceſſity of a ſevere and exemplary puniſhment on certain of his Engliſh evil counſellors and creditors, by whom ſuch practices are carried on.]
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TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 4070 Mr Burke s speech on the motion made for papers relative to the directions for charging the Nabob of Arcot s private debts to Europeans on the revenues of the Carnatic February 28th 1785 With an. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5F29-D