XIV. RANNA OF GOHUD.

THAT on the 2nd of December, 1779, the governor-general and council of Fort William, at the special recommendation and instance of Warren Hastings, Esquire, then governorgeneral, and contrary to the declared opinion and protest of three of the members of the council, (viz.) Philip Francis and Edward Wheler, Esquires, who were present; and of Sir Eyre Coote, who was absent, (by whose absence the casting voice of the said Warren Hastings, Esquire, prevailed,) did conclude a treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance, offensive and defensive, with a Hindoo prince, called the Ranna of Gohud, for the express purpose of using the forces of the said Ranna in opposition to the Mahrattas.

That, among other articles, it was stipulated with the said Ranna by the said Warren Hastings, "that whenever peace should be concluded between the Company and the Mahratta state, the Maha Rajah should be included as a party in the treaty, which should be made for that purpose; and his present possessions, together with the Fort of Gualior, which of old belonged to the family of the Maha Rajah, if it should be then in his possession, and such countries as he should have acquired in the course of war, and which it should then be stipulated to leave in his hands, should be guaranteed to him by such treaty."

That in the late war against the Mahrattas the said Ranna of Gohud did actually join the British army, under the command of Colonel Muir, with two battalions of infantry and 1200 cavalry, and did then serve in person against the Mahrattas, thereby affording material assistance, and rendering essential service to the Company.

That in conformity to the above-mentioned treaty, in the fourth article of the treaty of peace, concluded on the 13th of October, 1781, between Colonel Muir on the part of the English Company, and Madajee Scindia the Mahratta general, the said Ranna of Gohud was expressly included.

That, notwithstanding the said express provision and agreement, Madajee Scindia proceeded to attack the forts, and lay waste the territories, of the said Ranna, and did undertake and prosecute a war against him for the space of two

years; in the course of which the Ranna and his family were reduced to extreme distress, and in the end he was deprived of his forts, and the whole not only of his acquired possessions, but of his original dominions, so specially guaranteed to him by the British government in both the above-mentioned treaties.

That the said Warren Hastings was duly and regularly informed of the progress of the war against the Ranna, and of every event thereof; notwithstanding which, he not only neglected in any manner to interfere therein in favour of the said Ranna, or to use any endeavours to prevent the infraction of the treaty, but gave considerable countenance and encouragement to Madajee Scindia in his violation of it, both by the residence of the British minister in the Mahratta camp, and by the approbation shown by the said Warren Hastings to the promises made by his agent of observing the strictest neutrality, notwithstanding he was in justice bound, and stood pledged by the most solemn and sacred engagements, to protect and preserve the said Ranna from those enemies, whose resentment he had provoked only by his adherence to the interests of the British nation.

That in the only attempt made to sound the disposition of Madajee Scindia, relative to a pacification between him and the Ranna of Gohud, on the 14th of May, 1783, Mr. Anderson, in obedience to the orders he had received, did clearly and explicitly declare to Bhow Bucksey, the minister of Madajee Scindia, the sentiments of the said Warren Hastings in the words following:-"that it was so far from your (the said Hastings's) meaning to intercede in his (the said Ranna's) favour, that I only desired him to sound Scindia's sentiments, and in case he was desirous of peace, to mention what I had said; but if he seemed to prefer carrying on the war, I begged, that he would not mention a syllable of what had passed, but let the matter drop entirely.'

That it afterwards appeared, in a minute of the said Hastings in council at Fort William, on the 22nd of September, 1783, that he promised, at the instance of a member of the council, to write to Lieutenant James Anderson in favour of the Ranna of Gohud, and lay his letter before the board.

That nevertheless the said Hastings, professing not to recollect his said promise, did neglect to write a formal letter

to Lieutenant Anderson in favour of the said Ranna of Gohud, and that the private letter, the extract of which the said Hastings did lay before the board on the 21st of October, 1783, so far from directing any effectual interference in favour of the said Ranna, or commanding his agent, the said James Anderson, to interpose the mediation of the British government to procure "honourable terms 99 for the said Ranna, or even safety to his person and family," contains the bitterest invectives against him, and is expressive of the satisfaction, which the said Hastings acknowledges himself to have enjoyed in the distresses of the said Ranna, the ally of the Company.

That the measures therein recommended appear rather to have been designed to satisfy Madajee Scindia, and to justify the conduct of the British government in not having taken a more active and a more hostile part against the said Ranna, than an intercession on his behalf.

That though no consideration of good faith, or observance of treaties, could induce the said Hastings to incur the hazard of any hostile exertion of the British force for the defence or the relief of the allies of the Company, yet in the said private letter he directed, that, in case his mediation should be accepted, it should be made a specific condition, that, if the said Ranna should take advantage of Scindia's absence to renew his hostilities, we ought in that case, on requisition, to invade the dominions of the Ranna.

That no beneficial effects could have been procured to the said Ranna by an offer of mediation delayed till Scindia no longer wanted "our assistance to crush so fallen an enemy ;” at the same time that no reason was given to Scindia to apprehend the danger of drawing upon himself the resentment of the British government by a disregard of their proposal, and the destruction of their ally.

That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer an application to obtain honourable terms for the Ranna, and safety for his person and family, till he had been deprived of his principal fort, in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture of which his wife, to avoid the dishonour consequent upon falling into the bands of her enemies, had destroyed herself by an explosion of gunpowder. That, however, it does not appear, that any offer of media

tion was ever actually made, or any influence exerted, either for the safety of the Ranna's person and family, or in mitigation of the rigorous intentions supposed by Lieutenant Anderson' to have been entertained against him by Madajee Scindia after his surrender.

1 29 February,

1784.

Dated Benares,

That the said Hastings, in the instructions given by him to Mr. David Anderson for his 4th of Noveinconduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with ber, 1781. the Mahrattas, expressed his determination to desert the Ranna of Gohud, in the following words: "You will of course be attentive to any engagements subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace and alliance with the Mahrattas; I except from this the Ranna of Gohud."-"Leave him to settle his own affairs with the Mahrattas."

That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for grounds to justify the execution of this part of his instructions, to which, however, he was at all events obliged to conform.

That even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas, whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest to accuse, and their determined object to destroy, the said Ranna, no satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he had entered into with the Company.

That moreover, if all the charges, which have been pretended against the Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of his conduct, had been well founded, and proved to be true, the subject-matter of those accusations, and the proofs, by which they were to be supported, were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the treaty he entered into with Madajee Scindia; and therefore, whatever suspicions may have been entertained, or whatever degree of criminality may have been proved against the said Ranna, previous to the said treaty, from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty, he was fully and justly entitled to the security stipulated for him by the Company, and had a right to demand and receive the protection of the British government.

That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to

the said Warren Hastings, in his letter of the 24th of June, 1781, and were enforced by this additional argument, “that in point of policy, I believe, it ought not to be our wish, that the Mahrattas should ever recover the fortress of Gualior; it forms an important barrier to our own possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient, that there should always remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from that warlike and powerful nation." That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forefeiting the honour, and injuring the credit, of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith, were necessary to the existence of the national interests in that country."And though the said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition, avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and honour, to the violation of this just and wise maxim."

That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in sacrificing the allies of this country "to the provocations of ambition, avarice, or vengeance," in violation of the national faith and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was thereby guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour.

XV. REVENUES.

PART I.

THAT the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with few exceptions, vested in certain natives, called zemindars, or landholders, under whom other