rules of justice and impartiality, and, actuated by motives of avidity, was inimical towards men without cause; that he broke such engagements and treaties as had been made between the Company and other chiefs; that he extended the hand of oppression over the properties of men, tore up the roots of security and prosperity from the land, and rendered the ryots and subjects destitute by force and extortion As this accusation, in fact, is destitute of uprightness and void of truth, therefore, with a view to show the truth in its true colors, I have written upon this sheet with truth and sincerity, to serve as an evidence, and to represent real facts, to serve also as information and communication, that Mr. Hastings, from the commencement of his administration until his departure for England, whether during the lifetime of the deceased Nabob, of blessed memory, Vizier ul Moolk, Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, my father, or during my government, did not at any time transact contrary to justice any matter which took place from the great friendship between me and the Company, nor in any business depart from the path of truth and uprightness, but cultivated friendship with integrity and sincerity, and in every respect engaged himself in the duties of friendship with me, my ministers and confidants. I am at all times, and in every way, pleased with and thankful for his friendly manners and qualities; and my ministers and confidants, who have always, every one of them, been satisfied with his conduct, are forever grateful for his friendship and thankful for his virtues. As these matters are real facts, and according to truth, I have written these lines as an evidence, and transmit this paper to England, through the government of Calcut

ta, for the information of the gentlemen of power and rank in England."

Observe, my Lords, the candor of the Commons. We produce this evidence, which accuses us, as Mr. Hastings does, of uttering everything that is false; we choose to bring our shame before the world, and to admit that this man, on whose behalf and on the behalf of whose country we have accused Mr. Hastings, has declared that this accusation (namely, this impeachment) is destitute of uprightness and without truth. But, my Lords, this is not only a direct contradiction to all he has ever said, to all that has been proved to you by us, but a direct contradiction to all the representations of Mr. Hastings himself. Your Lordships will hence see what credit is to be given to these papers.

تم

Your Lordships shall now hear what Hyder Beg Khân says that Hyder Beg Khân who stands recorded in your minutes as the worst of mankind; who is represented as writing letters without the Nabob's consent, and in defiance of him; the man of whom Mr. Hastings says, that the Nabob is nothing but a tool in his hands, and that the Nabob is and ever must be a tool of somebody or other. Now, as we have heard the tool speak, let us hear how the workman employed to work with this tool speaks.

Extract from Hyder Beg Khân's Letter to the Governor and Council.

"It is at this time learnt by the Nabob Vizier, and us, his ministers, that the gentlemen of power in Eng

land are displeased with Mr. Hastings, on the suspicion that during his administration in this country, from

motives of avidity, he committed oppressions contrary to the rules of justice, took the properties of men by deceit and force, injured the ryots and subjects, and rendered the country destitute and ruined. As the true and upright disposition of Mr. Hastings is in every respect free of this suspicion, we therefore with truth and sincerity declare by these lines, written according to fact, that Mr. Hastings, from the first of his appointment to the government of this country until his departure for Europe, during his authority in the management of the affairs of the country, whether in the lifetime of the Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, deceased, or whether during the present reign, did not, in any matters which took place from the great friendship between this government and the Company, act in any wise upon motives of avidity, and, not having, in any respect, other than justice and propriety in intention, did not swerve from their rules. He kept his Excellency the Vizier always pleased and satisfied" (you will remember, my Lords, the last expressions of his pleasure and satisfaction) "by his friendship and attention in every matter. He at all times showed favor and kindness towards us, the ministers of this government; and under his protection having enjoyed perfect happiness and comfort, we are from our hearts satisfied with and grateful for his benevolence and goodness."

Here, my Lords, you have the character which Hyder Beg Khân gives of Mr. Hastings, of the man who he knew had loaded him, as he had done, with every kind of indignity, reproach, and outrage with which a man can be loaded. Your Lordships will see that this testimony repeats, almost word for

word, the testimony of the Vizier Nabob, — which shows who the real writer is.

My Lords, it is said that there is no word in the Persian language to express gratitude. With these signal instances of gratitude before us, I think we may venture to put one into their dictionary. Mr. Hastings has said he has had the pleasure to find from the people of India that gratitude which he has not met with from his own countrymen, the House of Commons. Certainly, if he has done us services, we have been ungrateful indeed; if he has committed enormous crimes, we are just. Of the miserable, dependent situation to which these people are reduced, that they are not ashamed to come forward and deny everything they have given under their own hand, all these things show the portentous nature of this government, they show the portentous. nature of that phalanx with which the House of Commons is at present at war, the power of that captain-general of every species of Indian iniquity, which, under him, is embodied, arrayed, and paid, from Leadenhall Street to the furthermost part of India.

We have but one observation more to offer upon this collection of razinamas, upon these miserable testimonials given by these wretched people in contradiction to all their own previous representations, -directly in contradiction to those of Mr. Hastings himself, directly in contradiction to those of Lord Cornwallis, directly in contradiction to truth itself. It is this. Here is Mr. Hastings with his agents canvassing the country, with all that minuteness with which a county is canvassed at an election; and yet in this whole book of razinamas not one

fact adduced by us is attempted to be disproved, not one fact upon which Mr. Hastings's defence can be founded is attempted to be proved. There is nothing but bare vile panegyrics, directly belied by the state of facts, directly belied by the persons themselves, directly belied by Mr. Hastings at your bar, and by all the whole course of the correspondence of the country.

We here leave to your Lordships' judgment the consideration of the elevated rank of the persons aggrieved and degraded to the lowest state of dependence and actual distress, the consideration of the condition of the country gentlemen, who were obliged to hide their heads, wherever they could, from the plunderers and robbers established under his authority in every part of the country, and that of the miserable common people, who have been obliged to sell their children through want of food to feed them, the consideration, I say, of the manner in which this country, in the highest, in the middle, and in the lowest classes of its inhabitants, nay, in physical works of God, was desolated and destroyed by this man.

Having now done with the province of Oude, we will proceed to the province of Bengal, and consider what was the kind of government which he exercised there, and in what manner it affected the people that were subjected to it.

Bengal, like every part of India subject to the British empire, contains (as I have already had occasion to mention) three distinct classes of people, forming three distinct social systems. The first is the Mahometans, which, about seven hundred years