PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 42

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

| A Chapter or Two on India. Yin.— WARREN HASTINGS.— (Continued.) Burke and his following wished Hastings j impeached on 22 distinct charges; the four principal being the Eahilla war, the execution .of Nuncomar— both of which I dealt with last week, though through Pitt the Rohilla war indictment was thrown aside— tho demand on Oheit Sirgh (the Rajab of Benares), and the treatment <of the Oudh Begums, which I take up to-day. But before I commence let me explain an incomprehensible sentence or two in last week's issue. Somehow or other I misplaced my proof, and the unintelligible part went uncorrectecl. What 1 meant to say was this (it is in the second paragraph ■ dealing with the Rohilla war): Shuja, | the ruler of Oadh, coveted Rohilicunci, and he wanted British troops to help him to get it, and therefore he wanted an alliance with Hastings. Alam. on the M'ghul throne at Delhi, wanted to make an alliance, too, for he was in the clutches of the Mahratlaa; but he was further away, and, besides, inclined to play double. listings therefore inclined to an alliance; with S'liija— not, perhaps, because he wr>s any honoeter, but because he could be more useful, was nearer, and could be the easier watched. As you know, the alliance was made, and tho Rohillaa were crushed. CHEIT SINGH. Shah Shuja at hi 3 death lift his crown to his son, Asaf-ud-dowla ; bat the company stepped in and demanded an increased tribute of somewhere about £100,000 a year j forced him to surrender to tho Queen-mother about two millions his father had stored for public use in time oi need, besides military fiefs or feudal lauds they had no right to; and one way and another deprived him of three-fourths of his lawful property, and at the ss me time by various means doubkd tho company's revenue at his expense. Okj of the territories taken from- his control was that rnled by the Rajab of Benares. It had become the custom In Bengal to hand over feudal districts to certain natives, who were by treaty called upon to pay a fixed sum for their holdings, and this rent could not be increased. Cheit Singh was one of these feudal lords or zamindars. In 1781 Hastings was surrounded by a sea of troubles, and it TW ftfl HjflHcb, &s he CQuld.

do to hold bia own in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, and ho was at his witfb end to find means to carry on tho war. Now . ha could not inoreaso the rental/?, 1 bnt he could do what had been the regular custom in India in times of emergency— ha could call ,on Oheit Singh and other feudal lords for military aid—and, as a vassal of the company, he was- bound by law, custom, andl written agreement to come with meip and money to the company's rescue. Hastings knew he had rich treasures stored up in his ooffers, that ho had an income of half a million a year, and also that, apart from his regular forces, he had some thousands of armed men as a body guard. So the .Governor - general called upon him in 1778 for five lakbs o£ rupees, somewhere about £60,000. Aftec dillydallying it was paid. In 1879 another levy of like amount was made, which he also paid after shuffling evasions. In 1780 be was asked for'-2000 horse equipped for active service. He effered, . 500 and 500 matchlock men, but didn't send them. At the 6ame time he pleaded poverty, and was caught raising troops secretly and corresponding with the company's enemies. Hastings reduced Mb demand to 1000, but even these were not sent, and he then determined to make an example of him by fining ; him 50 lakbs, or over £50,000. • ; . As a bribe, no doubt, Sicgh cent Hasting* a peace offering of two lakhs, which Hastings banded over to the company ; then followed 20 lakhs for the pnblio service, bat Hastings would not abate one jot. In ona way ho daren't, for every penny was abso* lutely necessary to pay troops and war ex-, penses to maintain the company's position/ To enforce payment be went up to Benare* and took the most extreme step of putting him under arreßt. He escaped from tha Palace terrace, however, by a rope of turbans, and got safely away in a boat. Hastings nearly lost his life, and companies o£ sepoys were cut to pieceß. Shortly after Chelfc Singh got together 40,000 men, but he wa» overthrown, his fief forfeited and handed over to his nephew, who had to pay a doubled rental. ,You see that on every hand money, money was the be-all and end-all ; but we must mind that much of the grasping was done on behalE of the company. After Olieit ' Singh's defeat a rich booty was divio6d among the captors, but the hungering company got none of it. We might remember that after this, special levies on feudal lordi were abolished. TIIE DESPOILING OP THE BEGUMS. .Here again we must remember (a) that . the despoiling was done not by Hastings, but by Asaf, over whom, in theory at any rate, the company had no control— it had no right to interfere with Asaf's internal government; (#) that the money went, not to Hastings, but to tho company; (c) that Hastings had not agreed to Asaf being foioad to hand over £2,000,000 and sevtral feudal tenures to tho Queen-motlier, because he contended, she could produce co proof she had a rii<ht to them ; (d) that she had ' assisted Oheit Singh to take the field against the company; (c) that she was working against her son Asaf, who was one of the company's allies; (/) that ths methods adopted to extort the money were not so drswtic as Macaulay makes out, that they were neither more-nor less than what Kasterns were accustomed to, that Hastings had no part in the cruelties, that when he heard what, had been done he ordered the instant' release of those in confinement; and (g) that Hastings -expressly stipulated that the Beguma (Asafa grandmother and mother) Btionlci have liberal pensions. At th^beginniiig of this chat I told you of the hard conditions imposed on Asaf when be ascended the throne. About 1775 he , owed the company about a million and a-rmlf— bow many millions wrung from the natives have I heaped up in these papers ?— principally owing for the loan of tho British and sepoy soldiers that kept him on' tha throne. But he, like Hasting?, had empty treasure chests. So an agreement was come to that Hastings should give A?af a tree ■ hand and get a share. Asaf, however, backed down when he got home, for his mother, the principal Begum, was very strong-minded, and was possibly one too many for him. Hasting', however, w?.s callous—he wanted the money. The B*guraa suffered no indignities and very little discomfort, and years' after, when he was on his trial, they wrote Hastings letters of friendship and commiseration. The eunuchs were ironed and put in confinement on scanty fare until they disgorged,- according to MacauUy, . £1,200,000. Twenty years later one was etiil living, " well, fat, and enormously rich." Burke charges Hastings with the Mah> ratta wars, bnt the two lives of Hastings I have read indicate that the company's officials had pledged themselves to a warlike coarse, that Hastings disapproved of their action, but that he did not think it politic, if possible, to stay their hand. In dealing with these charges I have had to condense so much that I have not done justice to the times in which Haßtingi lived nor to 'the part he played. Bnt I hope I have shown that both Ciive aad his successor, Hastings, did their best for the company, and that as regards lining their own pockets, they were perhaps neither better nor worao than tba generality of Indian officials. The British Government vms to blame In not taking action at the outset to prevent the cruelty and oppression that have left their mark to tha present day, I have far exoeeded the' space 1 intended to give to tfce origin and growth of the Indian Empire, but I felt that the general knowledge > of Indian history in the latter part of tast century is so distorted or glossed over or ' imperfect in Macaulay'a essays and the usual run of histories that a rather fullet* account might not be uninteresting. Olive, the soldier statesman, and Hastings, • ! the statesman and diplomatist, laid the ; foundation, and foresaw that the- company - would have to give way and hand over its P'v-us-sions to the British Government. HaviLg bbown the means.- and mut-hoita they used, »in the next issue I shall try to give a general view from the time of Hastings to tho mutiny.