Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

IX. That in the letter in which the Resident, Middleton, did mention "what he calls the fray" aforesaid, the said Middleton did again apply for the resumption of the jaghire of Rampoor; and that, the objections against the measure being now removed, (by the separate peace with Sindia,) he desired to know if the board "would give assurances of their support to the Vizier, in case, which" (says the Resident) "I think very probable, his [the Vizier's] own strength should be found unequal to the undertaking."

X. That, although the said Warren Hastings did make the foregoing application a new charge against the Resident, Middleton, yet the said Hastings did only criminate the said Middleton for a proposal tending "at such a crisis to increase the number of our enemies," and did in no degree, either in his articles of charge or in his accompanying minutes, express any disapprobation whatever of the principle; that, in truth, the whole proceedings of the said Resident were the natural result of the treaty of Chunar; that the said proceedings were from time to time communicated to the said Hastings; that, as he nowhere charges any disobedience of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola Khân, it may be justly inferred that the said Hastings did not interfere to check the proceedings of the said Middleton on that subject; and that by such criminal neglect the said Hastings did make the guilt of the said Middleton, whatever it might be, his own.

[blocks in formation]

PART VIII.

PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID.

I. THAT on the charges and for the misdemeanors above specified, together with divers other accusations, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove the aforesaid Middleton from his office of Resident at Oude, and did appoint thereto John Bristow, Esquire, whom he had twice before, without cause, recalled from the same; and that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân to be so irritated, in consequence of the above-recited conduct of the late Resident, Middleton, and of his, the said Hastings's, own criminal neglect, that he, the said Hastings, found it necessary to write to Fyzoola Khân, assuring him "of the favorable disposition of the government toward him, while he shall not have forfeited it by any improper conduct"; but that the said assurances of the Governor-General did not tend, as soon after appeared, to raise much confidence in the Nabob, over whom a public instrument of the same Hastings was still holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, and an exile "among his other faithless brethren across the Ganges."

II. That, on the subject of Fyzoola Khân, the said Hastings, in his instructions to the new Resident, Bristow, did leave him to be guided by his own discretion; but he adds, "Be careful to prevent the Vizier's affairs from being involved with new difficulties, while he has already so many to oppress him" thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive measures, whenever the Vizier should be less oppressed with difficulties.

III. That the Resident, Bristow, after acquainting the Governor-General with his intentions, did under the said instructions renew the aforesaid claim for a sum of money, but with much caution and circumspection, distantly sounding Allif Khân, the vakeel (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khân at the court of the Vizier; that "Allif Khân wrote to his master on the subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the granting of any pecuniary aid.”

IV. That the Resident, Bristow, did then openly depute Major Palmer aforesaid, with the concurrence of the Vizier, and the approbation of the GovernorGeneral, to the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, at Rampoor; and that the said Palmer was to "endeavor to convince the Nabob that all doubts of his attachment to the Vizier are ceased, and whatever claims may be made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and advantage and a plan of establishing his right to the possession of his jaghire." That the sudden ceasing of the said doubts, without any inquiry of the slightest kind, doth warrant a strong presumption of the Resident's conviction that they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as a pretence for some harsh interposition; and that the indecent mockery of establishing, as a matter of favor, for a pecuniary consideration, rights which were never impeached but by the treaty of Chunar, (an instrument recorded by Warren Hastings himself to be founded on falsehood and injustice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and object of all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing with which that treaty was projected and executed.

V. That the said Palmer was instructed by the Resident, Bristow, with the subsequent approbation of the Governor-General, "to obtain from Fyzoola Khân an annual tribute"; to which the Resident adds,-"If you can procure from him, over and above this, a peshcush [or fine] of at least five lacs, it would be rendering an essential service to the Vizier, and add to the confidence his Excellency would hereafter repose in the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân." And that the said Governor-General, Hastings, did give the following extraordinary ground of calculation, as the basis of the said Palmer's negotiation for the annual tribute aforesaid.

"It was certainly understood, at the time the treaty was concluded, (of which this stipulation was a part,) that it applied solely to cavalry: as the Nabob Vizier, possessing the service of our forces, could not possibly require infantry, and least of all such infantry as Fyzoola Khân could furnish; and a single horseman included in the aid which Fyzoola Khân might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the said stipula tion. The number, therefore, of horse implied by it ought at least to be ascertained: we will suppose five thousand, and, allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist only in the proportion of one year in five, reduce the demand to one thousand for the computation of the subsidy, which, at the rate of fifty rupees per man, will amount to fifty thousand per mensem. This may serve for the basis of this article in the negotiation upon it.”

VI. That the said Warren Hastings doth then continue to instruct the said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from Fyzoola Khân. "If Fyzoola Khân

shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and claim the benefit of his original agreement in its literal expression, he possesses a right which we cannot dispute, and it will in that case remain only to fix the precise number of horse which he shall furnish, which ought at least to exceed twenty-five hundred."

VII. That, in the above-recited instruction, the said Warren Hastings doth insinuate (for he doth not directly assert),

[ocr errors]

1st. That we are entitled by treaty to five thousand troops, which he says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry.

2d. That the said Hastings doth then admit that a single horseman, included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khân, would prove a literal compliance.

3d. That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the supposition of our right to the whole five thousand cavalry.

4th. That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the event of an explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the proportion of cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it will be all we can demand that the number should at least exceed twenty-five hundred.

5th. That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the supposed time of their service, assume an arbitrary estimate of one year of war to four of peace; which (however moderate the calculation may appear on the average of the said Hastings's own government) doth involve a principle in a considerable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace inculcated in the standing orders of the Company.

6th. That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »