The Impeachment of Warren Hastings

236 Pages·1965·29.354 MB·English

by  Peter James Marshall

THE IMPEACHMENT
OF
WARREN HASTINGS
BY
P. J. MARSHALL
LECTURER IN HISTORY
KING’s COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1965
Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C.4
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
CAPE TOWN SALISBURY NAIROBI IBADAN
KUALA LUMPUR HONG KONG
© Oxford University Press 1965
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
eG 7R- 12
TO THE MEMORY OF
EDWARD HANNAFORD MARSHALL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I SHOULD like to express my gratitude to Professor C. H.
Philips, the Director of the School of Oriental and Afri-
can Studies, for permission to use the Macpherson MSS.
in his possession; to Earl Fitzwilliam and the Trustees of the
Wentworth—-Woodhouse Estate for permission to use the
manuscripts of Edmund Burkedeposited in the Northampton-
shire County Record Office and the Sheffield City Libraries;
and to Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Gosling, Local Director
of Barclays Bank (Goslings’ Branch), for permission to con-
sult certain accounts kept at the bank.
I have had the good fortune both to be taught as an
undergraduate by the Principal of Lady Margaret Hall
and to have had my research supervised by her. The criti-
cism and the encouragement which this book has received
from her in all its stages are among the many reasons which
I have for being deeply grateful to her. Anyone using the
papers of Edmund Burke is placed heavily in the debt of the
Librarian and staff of the Sheffield City Libraries, of Mrs.
Valerie Jobling, and of the scholars at present working on
the new edition of Burke’s correspondence, who are most
generous with their assistance. I am particularly indebted
‘or advice on Burke to Professor Thomas W. Copeland of
the University of Massachusetts and to Dr. John A. Woods
of Leeds University. Professor Copeland has also been kind
enough to read a draft of this book and to make many
valuable suggestions. I should like to thank Mr. J. Steven
Watson for much help in preparing the manuscript for the
ress. I have benefited on many occasions from the advice of
ir. C. C. Davies.

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
TEXTUAL NOTE x
ABBREVIATIONS xi
INTRODUCTION xiii
PART I. THE PROSECUTION
. Burke and Hastings I
Prelude to the Impeachment, 1784-5 22
Il.
The Impeachment before the Commons, 1786-7 39
I1t.
The Impeachment before the Lords 64
Iv.
PART II. THE CHARGES
Benares 88
The Begams of Oudh 109
vi.
Presents 130
vil.
Contracts 163
VII.
CONCLUSION 180
BIBLIOGRAPHY 192
TEXTUAL NOTE
Transliteration: in reproducing Indian words and names I
have tried to follow the principles recommended by Professor
C. H. Philips in The Handbook of Oriental History (1951), pp.
49-50. I am very grateful to Dr. B. N. Pandey of the School
of Oriental and African Studies for his assistance in a task
for which I lack the necessary linguistic knowledge. Familiar
Anglicized versions of words and place names, such as
‘sepoy’ or ‘Benares’, have been retained.
n transcribing contemporary English sources, I have in
general preserved the original spelling and punctuation,
while expanding abbreviations and modernizing the use of
capitals.
Currency: several different types of rupee were in use in
eighteenth-century India. The two most common in Bengal
were the Current Rupee (CR) and the Sicca Rupee (SR).
‘The Current Rupee as an imaginary unit of account was
always reckoned 16 per cent. worse than the Sicca (newly
coined) Rupee of the Mogul regnal year .. .’ (H. Furber,
John Company at Work (Cambridge, Mass., 2nd printing,
1951), p. 349)- .
The usual rate of exchange for the Current Rupee during
this period was 25. A /akh of Current Rupees (CRs. 100,000)
was therefore worth £10,000.
ABBREVIATIONS
Add. MSS. Additional Manuscripts, British Museum.
Bod]. MS. Manuscript in the Bodleian Library.
Bond. E. A. Bond, ed., Speeches of the Managers and Counsel in the
Trial of Warren Hastings, 4 vols. (1859-61).
B.R.C. Bengal Revenue Consultations.
B.S.C. Bengal Secret Consultations.
Burke Corr. The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, i. ed. T. W. Cope-
land; ii. ed. L. S. Sutherland; iii. ed. G. H. Guttridge;
iv. ed. J. A. Woods; v. ed. H. Furber (Cambridge, 1958—
65).
Burke Works. The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Bohn’s
British Classics, 8 vols. (1854-89).
Cal. of Persian The Calendar of Persian Correspondence, 9 vols. (Calcutta,
Corr. 1919-49).
C.Fs. Fournals of the House of Commons.
Evidence. Minutes of the Evidence taken at the Trial of Warren
Hastings, Esq. . . . (1789-94) [paged continuously in
various volume arrangements].
G.G. & C. Governor-General and Council.
Gileig. G. R. Gleig, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable
Warren Hastings, 3 vols. (1841).
AMC. Historical Manuscripts Commission.
H. Misc. Home Miscellaneous Series, India Office Records.
ICE. The India Courier Extraordinary. Proceedings of Parliament
relating to Warren Hastings, Esq. 10 vols. (1786-7).
L.Fs. Fournals of the House of Lords.
Minto Life and The Countess of Minto, ed., The Life and Letters of Sir
Letters. Gilbert Elliot, First Earl of Minto, 3 vols. (1874).
Minutes. ‘Minutes of Proceedings on the trial of Warren Hastings,
...” (Add. MSS. 24222-48].
MS. Eur. European Manuscript in the India Office Library.
Parl. Hist. The Parliamentary History of England, from the earliest
period to the year 1803, ed. W. Cobbett, 36 vols. (1806-20).
P.RH. Papers Relative to Hastings’s Impeachment [copy in 3 vols. in
the India Office Library of papers printed by order of the
House of Commons (1786~-7)].
P.R.O. The Public Record Office.
xii ABBREVIATIONS
Reports. Reports from the Secret and Select Committees of the
House of Commons on India affairs of 1772-3 and 1781-3,
reprinted in Reports from Committees of the House of Commons,
vols. iii-vi (1803-6). [A reference without the date of the
committee indicates the committee of 1781-3.]
R. MS. Manuscript in the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
N.B. The place of publication of all works cited is London, unless other-
wise indicated.