recover the fortress of Gualior; it forms an important barrier to our own possessions. In the hands of the ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from that warlike and. powerful nation."

That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honour and injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith, were necessary to the existence of the national interests in that country." And though the said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition, avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and honour, to the violation of this just and wise maxim."

That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in sacrificing the allies of this country" to the provocations of ambition, avarice, or vengeance," in violation of the national faith and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was thereby guilty of an high crime and misde

meanor.

XV. REVENUES.

PART I.

THAT the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with few exceptions, vested in certain natives, called zemindars, or landholders, under whom other natives, called talookdars and ryots, hold certain subordinate rights of property, or occupancy, in the said lands: that the said natives are Hindoos, and that their rights and privileges are grounded upon the possession of regular grants, a long series of family succession, and fair purchase: that it appears that Bengal has been under the dominion of the mogul, and subject to a Mahommedan government, for above two hundred years. That while the mogul government was in its vigour, the property of zemindars was held sacred; and that either by voluntary grant from the said mogul, or by composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet, and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quit-rent, to the mogul government: that this revenue, or quit-rent, was called the aussil jumma, or original ground rent of the provinces, and was not increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573, to 1740, when the regular and effective mogul government ended: that, from that time to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in the government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was considerably reduced and impoverished, when the East India company received from the present mogul emperor, Shâ Alum, a grant of the dewanny, or collection of the revenues: that, about the year 1770, the provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished: that Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, "that he had always heard the loss of inhabitants reckoned at a third, and in many places near one half, of the whole; and that he knew not by what means such a loss could be recruited

in four or five years, and believed it impossible." That, nevertheless, the revenue was violently kept up to its former standard, that is, in the two years immediately preceding the appointment of the said Warren Hastings to the government of Fort William; in consequence of which the remaining two thirds of the inhabitants were obliged to pay for the lands now left without cultivation; and that, from the year 1770 to the year 1775, the country had languished and the evil continued enhancing every day that the said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the secret committee of the court of directors, dated 1st September, 1772, declared, "that the lands had suffered unheard-of depopulation by the famine and mortality of 1769; that the collections, violently kept up to their former standard, had added to the distress of the country, and threatened a general decay of the revenue, unless immediate remedies were applied to prevent it." That the said Warren Hastings has declared, "that, by intrusting the collections to the hereditary zemindars, the people would be treated with more tenderness, the rents more improved, and cultivation more likely to be encouraged; that they have a perpetual interest in the country; that their inheritance cannot be removed; that they are the proprietors; that the lands are their estates, and their inheritance; that from a long continuance of the lands in their families, it is to be concluded they have rivetted an authority in the district, acquired an ascendancy over the minds of the ryots, and ingratiated their affections. That, from continuing the lands under the management of those who have a natural and perpetual interest in their prosperity, solid advantages might be expected to accrue: that the zemindar would be less liable to failure or deficiencies than the farmer, from the perpetual interest which the former hath in the country, and because his inheritance cannot be removed; and it would be improbable that he should risk the loss of it by eloping from his district, which is too frequently practised by a farmer, when he is hard pressed for the payment of his balances, and as frequently predetermined when he receives his farm:" that notwithstanding all the preceding declarations made by the said Warren Hastings of the loss of one third of the inhabitants, and general decline of the country, he did, immediately after his appointment to the government, in the year [ 54 ]

VOL. VI.

1772, make an arbitrary settlement of the revenues for five years, at a higher rate than had ever been received before, and with a progressive and accumulating increase on each of the four last years of the said settlement.

That notwithstanding the right of property and inheritance, repeatedly acknowledged by the said Warreu Hastings to be in the zemindars, and other native landholders; and notwithstanding he had declared " that the security of private property is the greatest encouragement to industry, on which the wealth of every state depends;" the said Warren Hastings, nevertheless, in direct violation of those acknowledged rights and principles, did universally let the lands of Bengal, in furm for five years; thereby destroying all the rights of private property of the zemindars; thereby delivering the management of their estates to farmers, and transferring by a most arbitrary and unjust act of power the whole landed property of Bengal from the owners to strangers: that to accomplish this iniquitous purpose, he, the said Warren Hastings, did put the lands of Bengal up to a pretended public auction, and invited all persons to make proposals for farming the same, thereby encouraging strangers to bid against the proprietors; in consequence of which not only the said proprietors were ousted of the possession and management of their estates, but a great part of the lands fell into the hands of the banyans, or principal black servants of British subjects, connected with and protected by the government: and that the said Reve- Warren Hastings himself has since declared, that, by this way, the lands too generally fell into the hands of desperate or knavish adventurers: that, before the measure herein before described was carried into execution, the said Warren Hastings did establish certain fundamental regulations in council, to be observed in execu Reve- ting the same: that, among these regulations, it was speboard, cially and strictly ordered, that no farm should exceed the annual amount of one lack of rupees; and " that no peshcar, banyan, or other servant, of whatever denomination, of the collector, or relation or dependant of any such servant, should be allowed to farm lands, nor directly or indirectly to hold a concern in any farm, nor to be security for any farmer:" that in direct violation of these his own regulations, and in breach of the public trust reposed in him, and sufficiently declared by the manifest duty of his station, if it had not been expressed

nue

consult.

28th Jan

1775.

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14th

May,

1772.

to the

of di

tors,

25th

March,

1775.

and enforced by any positive institution, he, the said Warren Hastings, did permit and suffer his own banyan, or principal black steward, named Canto Baboo, to hold farms in different Pergunnas, or districts, or to be security for farms, to the amount of thirteen lacks of rupees [130.000l. or upwards] per annum; and that, after enjoying the whole of those farms for two years, he was permitted by the said Warren Hastings to relinquish two of them: that on the subject of the farms held by Canto Baboo, the said Warren Hastings made the following declaration: "Many of his farms were taken with- Adout my knowledge, and almost all against my advice. I dress had no right to use compulsion, or authority; nor could court I with justice exclude him, because he was my servant, recfrom a liberty allowed to all other persons in the country. The farms, which he quitted, he quitted by my advice, because I thought that he might engage himself beyond his abilities, and be involved in disputes which I did not choose to have come before me as judge of them." That the said declaration contains sundry false and contradictory assertions: that, if almost all the said farms were taken against his advice, it cannot be true that many of them were taken without his knowledge: that, whether Canto Baboo had been his servant or not, the said Warren Hastings was bound by his own regulations to prevent his holding any farms to a greater amount than one lack of rupees per annum; and that the said Canto Baboo, being the servant of the governor general, was excluded by the said regulations from holding any farms whatever that if (as the directors observe) it was thought dangerous to permit the banyan of a collector to be concerned in farms, the same or stronger objections would always lie against the governor's banyan being so concerned that the said Warren Hastings had a right, and was bound by his duty to prevent his servant from holding the same: that, in advising the said Canto Baboo to relinquish some of the said farms, for which he was actually engaged, he has acknowledged an influence over his servant, and has used that influence for a purpose inconsistent with his duty to the India company, namely, to deprive them of the security of the said Canto Baboo's engagement for farms, which on trial he had found not beneficial, or not likely to continue beneficial to himself; and that if it was improper that he, the said Warren Hastings, should be the judge of any disputes, in which his