The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 09 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 09 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
the event of his having _prevailed_ on the Nabob to intrust him as
aforesaid was, according to his, the said Hastings's, own letter,
written to the said Hyder Beg Khan himself, "an accumulation of
distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and of
disappointment and disgrace to me. Every measure which he had himself
proposed, and to which he had solicited my assistance, has been so
conducted as to give him cause of displeasure; there are no officers
established by which his affairs could be regularly conducted; mean,
incapable, and indigent man have been appointed aumils of the districts,
without authority, and without the means of personal protection; some of
them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead
of punishment, have been permitted to retain their zemindaries with
independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in
rebellion, and to insult the authority of the sircar, without any
attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's debt, instead of being
discharged by the assignments, and extraordinary sources of money
provided for that purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which
it stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was
concluded. _The growth of these evils was early made known to me, and
their effects foreboded in the same order and manner as they have since
come to pass._ In such a state of calamity and disgrace, I can no longer
remain a passive spectator; nor would it be becoming to conceal my
sentiments, or qualify the expression of them. I now plainly tell you,
that you are answerable for every misfortune and defect of the Nabob
Vizier's government." And after giving orders, and expressing some hopes
of better behavior, he adds, "If I am disappointed, you will impose on
me the painful and humiliating necessity of acknowledging to him that I
have been deceived, and of recommending the examination of your conduct
to his justice, both for the redress of his own and the Company's
grievances, and for the injury sustained by both in their mutual
connection. _Do not reply to me_, that what I have written is from the
suggestion of your enemies; nor imagine that I have induced myself to
write in such plain and declaratory terms, without a clear insight into
all the consequences of it, and a fixed determination upon them."
LXX. That the aforesaid being the tenure of the power of the said
minister, and such his character, as given by the said Warren Hastings
himself, who did originally compel the Nabob to receive him, who did
constantly support him against the Nabob, his master, as well as against
the Company's Resident,--the delivering over to such a person his
master, his family, his country, and the care of the British interests
therein, without control or public inspection, was an high crime and
misdemeanor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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