in the House of Commons, that the Rohillas were not among the native possessors of the soil in India, but only an invading tribe of foreign lineage and of recent conquest. With just indignation, Mr. Wilberforce exclaimed, "Why, what are we but the Rohillas of Bengal?”* But Hastings himself took better ground. Besides the pecuniary advantages, on which no question could exist, he had political arguments to urge in vindication of his treaty. It was of paramount importance to us to form a close alliance with Oude; and, on forming an alliance with that State, we had a full right to espouse its quarrels ; nor could its frontier be made compact and defensible without the expulsion of the Rohillas, who, after all, even in their own districts, formed but a small minority of the entire population, and whose cause was in no degree supported by their Hindoo subjects. Statements. of this kind, certainly specious, and even in some part true, but as certainly, I think, inadequate for vindication, had much weight at a later period with many able and upright men-as for example with Lord Grenville. But they did not even for a moment mislead the Prime Minister at the time of the transaction. "As soon"-thus, in 1786, spoke Lord North in the House of Commons-__ 66 as soon as I was apprised of the facts of "the Rohilla war, I thought the conduct of Mr. Hastings highly censurable; and I sent to the Court of Directors, urging them to combine with me for his recall." †

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It was at the close of the Rohilla war, in October, 1774, that there anchored in the Ganges the ship which brought from England the expected Members of the Council and the Judges of the Supreme Court. Of the three new Councillors, Francis was by far the youngest ; but his more shining and ardent spirit gave him a great ascendancy over Clavering's and Monson's. He came― there is little risk in affirming-determined to find fault; ready, whatever might befal, to cavil and oppose. The

*Speech in the House of Commons, June 2. 1786.

† Parl. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 45. In the same debate (p. 54.) Mr. W. W. Grenville "was ready to avow his opinion that he thought "the war was perfectly just as well as politic." For the true state of Rohilcund in 1774, see a note by Professor Wilson upon Mill. (Hist. vol. iii. p. 575.)

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DIFFERENCES WITH HASTINGS.

253

very first despatch which he and his two colleagues addressed to the Directors, is filled with complaints that sufficient respect had not been paid them; that no guard of honour had met them on the beach; that the batteries of Fort William, in their salute, instead of twenty-one guns as they expected, had fired only seventeen. The same punctilious and resentful temper attended them in their deliberations. Of the five who met in Council, the old servants of the Company, Hastings and Barwell, stood together; on the other side were arrayed, as though in military order, the General, the Colonel, and the late War-Office Clerk. Thus they formed a majority upon every question that arose; thus, from the very first they wrested the whole power of the Government and all substantial patronage from the hands of Hastings.

So eager were these gentlemen to taste the sweets of power, that Hastings found some difficulty in prevailing upon them to pause even for a single day. With scarce time to read the Minutes, with none at all to inquire or reflect, they began to act. They ordered the English brigade to march back from Rohilcund, whatever might be then the condition of that province. They recalled, with every token of disgrace, Mr. Middleton, the confidential friend of Hastings, and by him appointed the Resident in Oude. They insisted, that even the most private of Mr. Middleton's letters should be laid before them. On these points Hastings, as he was bound, was not slow in appealing to Lord North. He observes most justly, that the new Councillors, even though they might condemn the whole policy and direction of the Rohilla War, ought rather, if they desired to establish future harmony, and to maintain the credit of the government free from inconsistency, to have afforded to their Governor-General the means of receding, without fixing a mark of reprobation on his past conduct, and without wounding his personal consequence at the Court of Oude. And Hastings adds: "Had they acted on such conciliatory principles, I should, if I know my own heart, have "cheerfully joined in whatever system they might after"wards think fit to adopt; not pretending in such a case "to set my judgment against the will of the majority;

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"but it was not to be expected that I should subscribe "implicitly to a direct censure of myself."

*

In his more familiar letters, the Governor-General thus in strong colours paints the scene: "General "Clavering is, I verily believe, a man of strict honour, but "he brought strong prejudices with him. . . Colonel "Monson is a sensible man, but received his first impressions from Major Grant. As for Francis,

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"I shall say nothing of him." A few months later, when the animosities had darkened, Hastings writes: “The "General rummages the Consultations for disputable "matter with old Fowke. Colonel Monson receives, and "I have been assured, descends even to solicit, accusa"tions. Francis writes."†

Confident in their absolute majority, the three new Councillors pursued their course of rashness, or, as Hastings terms it, frenzy. On the decease of Sujah Dowlah, and the succession of his son Asaph-ul-Dowlah as Nabob Visier, they passed a preposterous vote that the treaties which had been signed with the former should be considered as personal and as having ended with his life. They unsettled for a time the whole administration, both financial and judicial, of Bengal. Still more mischievous was their meddling in the case of Bombay, then first under the recent Act reduced to a subordinate Presidency. They rebuked its Council, and they reversed its policy; and, in utter ignorance of its affairs, took new measures for entangling it in the differences of the several Mahratta chiefs. Meanwhile their power seemed so unquestionable, and their hostility to Hastings so clear, that many of his personal enemies began to brood over projects of revenge as certain of attainment. Two Englishmen of the name of Fowke came forward to charge him with corruption. The Ranee, or Princess, of Burdwan, with her adopted son, sent in a similar complaint. But foremost of all in rancour as in rank was Nuncomar. He put into the hands of Francis a paper

*Letter to Lord North, December 4. 1774.

† Letters to Mr. Palk and to Colonel Maclean of December, 1774, and March 25. 1775. Memoirs of Hastings, by Gleig, vol. i. pp. 477. and 516.

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CHARGE OF NUNCOMAR.

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containing several heavy accusations against Hastings; above all, that he had taken a bribe for dismissing without punishment Mahomed Reza Khan; and this paper was produced by Francis at the Council-Board.

Long and fierce were the discussions that ensued. The Governor-General did not shrink from the investigation of his conduct, but he insisted, and surely with perfect right, that the Members of the Council should form themselves into a Committee for that purpose, and after receiving whatever evidence they pleased, transmit it for adjudication either to the Supreme Court of Justice at Calcutta, or to the Directors at home. On the other hand the majority maintained, that even while sitting as a Council they might proceed to the trial of their chief. They desired in consequence, that Nuncomar should be called in to confront the Governor-General. "Before "the question is put," says Hastings in his Minute, "I declare that I will not suffer Nuncomar to appear "before the Board as my accuser. I know what belongs "to the dignity and character of the first member of this "administration. I will not sit at this Board in the "character of a criminal. Nor do I acknowledge the "members of this Board to be my judges." But the majority still persevering, the Governor-General rose, declared the meeting dissolved, and left the room with Barwell in his train. The remaining members voted that the meeting was not dissolved, named Clavering as chairman, and called in Nuncomar. He came, and according to the custom of all false accusers, spoke much upon his own integrity, and the absence of every motive save a sense of right for the charge which he had made. And he ended by producing a new letter on which to found another charge. This letter purported to come from the Munny Begum, expressing the gratitude she felt to the Governor-General for her appointment, and adding, that as a token of her gratitude she had presented him with two Lacs of Rupees. "This letter," wrote Hastings, "is a gross forgery, and I make no doubt "of proving it."*

In this state of the transactions, Hastings thought

*To Colonel Maclean, March 25. 1775.

himself entitled to allege, that Nuncomar, Mr. Fowke, and some others were guilty of a conspiracy against him. On this ground he began legal proceedings against them. in the Supreme Court. The Judges after a long examination of the case directed Nuncomar and Fowke to give bail, and bound over the Governor-General to prosecute them.

Of a sudden, however, and only a few weeks afterwards, a more serious blow was aimed at Nuncomar by another hand. He was arrested at the suit of a native merchant named Mohun Persaud, and, like any other man accused of felony, was thrown into the common gaol. The charge against him was that he had forged a bond five years before. On that charge, the Supreme Court not then existing, he had been brought to trial before the Mayor's Court of Calcutta, but was released through the authority which at that time Hastings exerted in his favour. The suit had, therefore, been suspended, but not concluded. It was now revived before a higher and more independent tribunal, established expressly with a view to such cases; and it was revived at the very earliest lawful time after the necessary documents had been transferred to the new Court. So opportune was this prosecution for the interests of the GovernorGeneral, and so suspicious the coincidence of time, that Hastings has ever since been suspected and arraigned as the real mover in the business. Yet, besides the presumption on his side to be drawn from the regular conduct of the suit, there is surely some weight in a fact which many writers have passed over-that in the proceedings before the Supreme Court, Hastings solemnly deposed, upon his oath, that he had never directly or indirectly countenanced or forwarded the prosecution for forgery against Nuncomar.

The new Members of the Council showed the utmost resentment at the prosecution, but found themselves

* See the Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey, by his Son, p. 83. ed. 1846. In that work, and in a note upon Mill, by Professor Wilson (vol. iii. p. 644.), the argument as to the regular renewal of the suit at the earliest opportunity will be found more fully and particularly stated.