"and none other, I have been the involuntary "instrument of enforcing. And if any future "Act of Parliament shall positively, or by im"plication, tend to annihilate those very rights,

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or their exertion, as I have exerted them, I "much fear, that the boasted sovereignty of

Benares, which was held up as an acquisition "almost obtruded on the Company against my "consent and opinion, (for I acknowledge, "that even then I foresaw many difficulties "and inconveniences in its future exercise ;) "I fear, I say, that this sovereignty will be "found a burden instead of a benefit, a

heavy clog rather than a precious gem to its "present possessors; I mean, unless the whole "of our territory in that quarter shall be "rounded and made an uniform compact body

by one grand and systematick arrangement; "such an arrangement as shall do away all "the mischiefs, doubts, and inconveniences,

(both to the governours and the governed)

arising from the variety of tenures, rights, "and claims in all cases of landed property "and feudal jurisdiction in India, from the informality, invalidity, and instability of all engagements in so divided and unsettled a "state of society; and from the unavoidable "anarchy and confusion of different laws, re

ligions, and prejudices, moral, civil, and poli

tical, all jumbled together in one unnatural "and discordant mass. Every part of Hin"dostan has been constantly exposed to these "and similar disadvantages ever since the "Mahommedan conquests. The Hindûs, who "never incorporated with their conquerors, were kept in order only by the strong hand of 66 power. The constant necessity of similar "exertions would increase at once their energy "and extent, so that rebellion itself is the parent and promoter of Despotism. Sovereignty in India implies nothing else. For "I know not how we can form an estimate of "its powers, but from its visible effects, and "those are every where the same from Cabool to Assam. The whole history of Asia is

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22

nothing more than precedents to prove the "invariable exercise of arbitrary power. Το "all this I strongly alluded in the minutes I "delivered in Council, when the treaty with "the new Vizier was on foot in 1775; and I "wished to make Cheyt Sing independent, be"cause in India dependence included a thou"sand evils, many of which I enumerated at "that time, and they are entered in the ninth "clause of the first section of this Charge. I "knew the powers with which an Indian "sovereignty is armed, and the dangers, to "which Tributaries are exposed. I knew, that,

"from the history of Asia, and from the very "nature of mankind, the subjects of a despotick

empire are always vigilant for the moment to "rebel, and the sovereign is ever jealous of "rebellious intentions. A zemindar is an Indian

subject, and as such exposed to the common "lot of his fellows. The mean and depraved “state of a mere zemindar is therefore this very dependence above-mentioned on a despotick

government, this very proneness to shake off "his allegiance, and this very exposure to con"tinual danger from his sovereign's jealousy, "which are consequent on the political state of "Hindostanick governments. Bulwant Sing, "if he had been, and Cheyt Sing, as long as he

was, a zemindar, stood exactly in this mean " and depraved state by the constitution of his

country. I did not make it for him, but "would have secured him from it. Those, "who made him a zemindar, entailed upon him "the consequences of so mean and depraved a "tenure. Ally Verdy Khaun and Cossim Ally "fined all their zemindars on the necessities "of war, and on every pretence either of court "necessity or court extravagance."

I beseech your Lordships seriously to look upon the whole nature of the principles upon which the Prisoner defends himself. He appeals to the custom and usage of the Mogul empire;

and

and the constitution of that empire, is, he says,

arbitrary power. know whether any Act of Parliament bound him not to exercise this arbitrary power; and that if any such Act should in future be made, it would be mischievous and ruinous to our empire in India. Thus he has at once repealed all preceding Acts, he has annulled by prospect every future Act you can make; and it is not in the power of the Parliament of Great Britain, without ruining the empire, to hinder his exercising this despotick authority. All Asia is by him disfranchized at a stroke. Its inhabitants have no rights, no laws, no liberties, their state is mean and depraved: they may be fined for any purpose of court extravagance, or prodigality; or as Cheit Sing was fined by him, not only upon every war, but upon every pretence of war.

He says, that he does not

This is the account he gives of his power and of the people subject to the British Government in India. We deny, that the Act of Parliament gave him any such power; we deny, that the India Company gave him any such power; or that they had ever any such power to give. We even deny, that there exists in all the human race a power to make the government of any state dependent upon individual will we disclaim, we reject all such doctrines with disdain

and

and indignation; and we have brought them up to your Lordships to be tried at your Bar.

What must be the condition of the people of India, governed, as they have been, by persons who maintain these principles as maxims of government, and not as occasional deviations caused by the irregular will of man; principles by which the whole system of society is to be controlled; not by law, reason, or justice, but by the will of one man?

Your Lordships will remark, that not only the whole of the laws, rights, and usages, but the very being of the people, are exposed to ruin; for Mr. Hastings says, that the people may be fined, that they may be exiled, that they may be imprisoned, and that even their lives are dependent upon the mere will of their foreign master and that he, the Company's governour, exercised that will under the authority of this country. Remark, my Lords, his application of this doctrine. I would, he says, have kept Cheit Sing from the consequences of this dependence, by making him independent, and not in any manner subjecting him to our government. The moment he came into a state of dependence. upon the British Government, all these evils attached upon him. It is, he adds, disagreeable to me to exert such powers, but I know they must be exerted, and I declare there is no security from

7.