The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Volume VIII Part 16

I have the honor to be, Honorable Sirs, Your most faithful, most obedient, and most humble servant,

WARREN HASTINGS.

B. No. 4.

_An Account of Sums received on the Account of the Honorable Company of the Governor-General, or paid to their Treasury by his Order, and applied to their Service._

-------------------------------------------------+---------------- 1780. | October. | The following sums were paid into the | Treasury, and bonds granted for the same, in the | name of the Governor-General, in whose possession| the bonds remain, with a declaration upon each | indorsed and signed by him, that he has no claim | on the Company for the amount either of princ.i.p.al| or interest, no part of the latter having been | received: | | One bond, dated the 1st October, | 1780, No. 1539 1,16,000 0 0 | | One bond, dated the 2d October, | 1780, No. 1540 1,16,000 0 0 | | One bond, dated the 23d November, | 1780, No. 1354 1,74,000 0 0 | -------------- | 4,06,000 0 0 November. | Paid into the Treasury, and carried | to the Governor-General's credit in the | 12th page of the Deposits Journal of 1780-81, | mohurs of sorts which had been coined in the | Mint, and produced, as per 358 and 359 | pages of the Company's General Journal of | 1780-81: | Gold mohurs, 12,861 12 11, or | Calcutta siccas 2,05,788 14 9 | Batta, 16 per cent 32,926 3 6 | -------------- | 2,38,715 2 3 1781. | 30 April. | Paid into the Treasury, and credited | in the 637th page of the Company's General | Journal, as money received from the | Governor-General on account of Durbar charges: | Sicca rupees 2,00,000 0 0 | Batta, 16 per cent 32,000 0 0 | 2,32,000 0 0 -------------- | -------------- Carried forward | 8,76,715 2 3

Brought forward | 8,76,715 2 3 August. | Received in cash, and employed in | defraying my public disburs.e.m.e.nts, and credited | in the Governor-General's account of | Durbar charges for April, 1782 | 58,000 0 0

Produce of the sum mentioned in the | Governor-General's letter to the Honorable | Secret Committee, dated 20th January, 1782, | and credited in the Governor-General's account | of Durbar charges for April, 1782 | 10,30,275 1 3 |---------------- Current rupees | 19,64,990 3 6 ( Errors excepted.)

WARREN HASTINGS.

FORT WILLIAM, 22d May, 1782.

B. No. 5.

I, William Larkins, do make oath and say, that the letter and account to which this affidavit is affixed were written by me at the request of the Honorable Warren Hastings, Esquire, on the 22d May, 1782, from rough draughts written by himself in my presence; that the cover of the letter was sealed up by him in my presence, and was then intended to have been transmitted to England by the "Lively," when that vessel was first ordered for dispatch; and that it has remained closed until this day, when it was opened for the express purpose of being accompanied by this affidavit.

So help me G.o.d.

WILLIAM LARKINS.

CALCUTTA, 16th December 1782.

Sworn this 16th day of December, 1782, before me, J. HYDE.

B. No. 6.

To the Honorable the Secret Committee of the Honorable Court of Directors.

FORT WILLIAM, 16 December, 1782.

HONORABLE SIRS,--

The dispatch of the "Lively" having been protracted by various causes from time to time, the accompanying address, which was originally designed and prepared for that dispatch, (no other conveyance since occurring,) has of course been thus long detained. The delay is of no public consequence; but it has produced a situation which with respect to myself I regard as unfortunate, because it exposes me to the meanest imputation from the occasion which the late Parliamentary Inquiries have since furnished, but which were unknown when my letter was written, and written in the necessary consequence of a promise made to that effect in a former letter to your Honorable Committee, dated 20th January last.

However, to preclude the possibility of such reflections from affecting me, I have desired Mr. Larkins, who was privy to the whole transaction, to affix to the letter his affidavit of the date in which it was written. I own I feel most sensibly the mortification of being reduced to the necessity of using such precautions to guard my reputation from dishonor. If I had at any time possessed that degree of confidence from my immediate employers which they never withheld from the meanest of my predecessors, I should have disdained to use these attentions. How I have drawn on me a different treatment I know not; it is sufficient that I have not merited it: and in the course of a service of thirty-two years, and ten of these employed in maintaining the powers and discharging the duties of the first office of the British government in India, that Honorable Court ought to know whether I possess the integrity and honor which are the first requisites of such a station. If I wanted these, they have afforded me but too powerful incentives to suppress the information which I now convey to them through you, and to appropriate to my own use the sums which I have already pa.s.sed to their credit, by the unworthy, and, pardon me if I add, dangerous, reflections which they have pa.s.sed upon me for the first communication of this kind: and your own experience will suggest to you, that there are persons who would profit by such a warning.

Upon the whole of these transactions, which to you, who are accustomed to view business in an official and regular light, may appear unprecedented, if not improper, I have but a few short remarks to suggest to your consideration.

If I appear in any unfavorable light by these transactions, I resign the common and legal security of those who commit crimes or errors. I am ready to answer every particular question that may be put against myself, upon honor or upon oath.

The sources from which these reliefs to the public service have come would never have yielded them to the Company publicly; and the exigencies of your service (exigencies created by the exposition of your affairs, and faction in your councils) required those supplies.

I could have concealed them, had I had a wrong motive, from yours and the public eye forever; and I know that the difficulties to which a spirit of injustice may subject me for my candor and avowal are greater than any possible inconvenience that could have attended the concealment, except the dissatisfaction of my own mind. These difficulties are but a few of those which I have suffered in your service. The applause of my own breast is my surest reward, and was the support of my mind in meeting them: your applause, and that of my country, are my next wish in life.

I have the honor to be, Honorable Sirs, Your most faithful, most obedient, and most humble servant,

WARREN HASTINGS.

B. No. 7.

_Extract of the Company's General Letter to Bengal, dated the 25th January, 1782._

Par. 127. We have received a letter from our Governor-General, dated the 29th of November, 1780, relative to an unusual tender and advance of money made by him to the Council, as entered on your Consultation of the 26th of June, for the purpose of indemnifying the Company from the extraordinary charge which might be incurred by supplying the detachment under the command of Major Camac in the invasion of the Mahratta dominions, which lay beyond the district of Gohud, and thereby drawing the attention of Mahdajee Sindia (to whom the country appertained) from General G.o.ddard, while the General was employed in the reduction of Ba.s.sein, and in securing the conquests made in the Guzerat country; and also respecting the sum of three lacs of rupees advanced by the Governor-General for the use of the army under the command of Chimnajee Boosla without the authority or knowledge of the Council; with the reasons for taking these extraordinary steps under the circ.u.mstances stated in his letter.

128. In regard to the first of these transactions, we readily conceive, that, in the then state of the Council, the Governor-General might be induced to temporary secrecy respecting the members of the board, not only because he might be apprehensive of opposition to the proposed application of the money, but, perhaps, because doubts might have arisen concerning the propriety of appropriating it to the Company's use on any account; but it does _not appear to us_ that there could be any real necessity for delaying to communicate to us immediate information of the channel by which the money came into his possession, with a complete ill.u.s.tration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event.

129. Circ.u.mstanced as affairs were at the moment, it appears that the Governor-General had the measure much at heart, and judged it absolutely necessary. The means proposed of defraying the extra expense were very extraordinary; and the money, as we conceive, must have come into his hands by an unusual channel: and when more complete information comes before us, we shall give our sentiments fully upon the whole transaction.

130. In regard to the application of the Company's money to the army of Chimnajee Boosla by the sole authority of the Governor-General, he knew that it was entirely at his own risk, and he has taken the responsibility upon himself; nothing but the most urgent necessity could warrant the measure; nor can anything short of full proof of such necessity, and of the propriety and utility of the extraordinary step taken on the occasion, ent.i.tle the Governor-General to the approbation of the Court of Directors; and therefore, as in the former instance relative to the sum advanced and paid into our Treasury, we must also for the present _suspend_ our judgment respecting the money sent to the Berar army, without approving it in the least degree, or proceeding to censure our Governor-General for this transaction.

B. No. 8.

_Extract of Bengal Secret Consultations, the 9th January, 1781._

The following letter from the Governor-General having been circulated, and the request therein made complied with, an order on the Treasury pa.s.sed accordingly.

HONORABLE SIR AND SIRS,--

Having had occasion to disburse the sum of three lacs of sicca rupees on account of secret services, which having been advanced from my own private cash, I request that the same may be repaid to me in the following manner:--A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the second loan, bearing date from the 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees; a bond to be granted me upon the terms of the first loan, bearing date from the 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees; a bond to be granted me upon the terms of the first loan, bearing date from the 2d October, for one lac of sicca rupees.

I have the honor to be, &c., &c.,

(Signed) WARREN HASTINGS.

Fort William, 5th January, 1781.

B. No. 9.

_An Account of Bonds granted to the Governor-General, from 1st January, 1779, to 31st May, 1782, with Interest paid or credited thereon._

-------------------+----------+------------------+------------------ When paid into the | Sum. | Date of Bond. | Rate of Interest.

Treasury. | | | -------------------+----------+------------------+------------------ | CRs. | | 23d Nov., 1780 | 1,74,000 | 23d Nov., 1780 | at 8 per cent.

15th Dec. | 69,600 | 15th Dec. | Do.

15th Jan., 1781 | 1,16,000 | 1st Oct., 1780 | Do.

Do. | 1,16,000 | 2d Do. | Do.

Do. | 1,16,000 | 1st Do. | 4 per cent.

17th March | 50,000 | 17th Mar., 1781 | Do.

8th May, 1782 | 20,000 | 15th Sept., 1781 | 8 per cent.

Do. | 15,000 | 8th Dec., 1781 | Do.

|----------| | | 6,76,600 | |