ANNEXATION OF INDIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 50, 3 April 1885, Page 25

ANNEXATION OF INDIA.

By "Blackihob n." (Concluded.) In addition to the revenues of the country, the immense sums which Hastings had acquired by robbing the Great Mogul, and by selling and enslaving tbe Rohillas, were not sufficient to meet the expenses, const quent on the obstacles that stood in the way of the complete Annexation of India. But before we follow Hastings further in his ingenious methods ' ,of raising money, let us view for a moment the greatest — indeed it ( nearly proved a fatal — obstacle to England's progress in the East. I refer to Hyder Ali, a man whose early history in many respects closely resembles that of Mahommed. Hyder Ali was so humbly born, and in his youth he was so neglected as not to have been taught even tbe alphabet. But he was endowed with those qualities that make men masters amongst their fellow-men. As a soldier he distinguished himself in the wars of Southern India. He was thrown upon tbe scene in a time peculiarly favourable to his genius. The sleek haud of tbe European, treachery, and its consequent disorders, were turning order into chaos. In this confusion many old States hid gone to pieces, Hyder Ali once at the head of troops proved himself to be the soldier and statesman who could again restore order out of chaos. From tbe general wreck of shattered States he formed for himself a great, compact and vigorous empire, which he ruled with ability and vigilance, though, it must be admitted, with severity. ,He was indeed an oppressor, though he pretty well protected his people from outside oppression. Thus arose the Mahomtnedan Kingdom of Mysore.

The English officials, habituated to an overbearing manner to* waris native princes, provjkei tha hostility of Hydjr A.li. This monarch showed his sense of tne insult by Beading ninety thousind soUiers to wreak vengeance oa the Company's settlements. This im venae army, with its hundred pieces of cannon, cnmo pouting tnrmgh the dart trW ntain passes that led from the highlands of Mysore >o the plaiuj of the Oaruatic. It was everywhere victorious. Distinguished Bullish Commanders were defeated. Thtir troops wera eitber destroyed, or had taken refuge in flight. 8o rapid were the movements of this conqueror that in three weeks from nee >inmencement of th-i war, the British ..mpiro in Southern India had beea brought to the biiak of ruin. The masterly policy of H istuigs came to the rescue of his helpless country m >.v. H.yd.tsr All's progress was eventually checked and be was donated. But there r -mained the enormous expanses which that policy entailed. The plunder of the Mogul, and (ha price of the Rohillas hid disappeared in big salaries to civil servants, and remittances to London. There was n >thiug left, for war expenses; the fiuancial embarrassment was again extreme. But it could be only for tab moment, for there yet remained pr.nces and people in India, who bad wealth ; and there, yet fl jw at the mast-head of the British Constitution com* manded by Hastings the pirate flag with its motto, "Thou shalt want ere I want." Cheyte Sing, Rajah of Benares, was this time the victim. In truth, this poor ruler had long been bound ; and awaiting the convenient moment for the slaughter. In an unfortunate moment of quarrel with another prince, he claimed the protection of the English j and, as we say, ceded all his rights to tbe Company. As if evil fate would have it, the Lord of Benares was on friendly terms with two Englishmen of the Council, who were opposed to the Governor's general policy. For courting their favour, Hastings used to pu inh Ctieyte Sing in this way : In 1778, on. the break out oE the war with France, he was called upon to piy, in addition to his yeany tribute, the modest little coutributi >n of fifty taousand pounds. Iv the following year another little sum of tbe same di.nensious was enacted. In 1780, tbe demand was modes ly renewed by the representative of the liberty-loving people who are for ever singing the praises of Alagna Charta. These extra contributions to the amount of & hundred thousand" pounds made the reserve fund of Cheyte Si ug" grow " less. H't hesitated before paying the third Cill, and bethought of testing the Gjvernorgeneral's virtue by the strength of a twenty thousand pound tribe. Hastings virtue could not bear the weight of twenty thousand pounds, so it fell into his pocket. He tojk the money and concealed for a time the transaction. His enemies say, " Fear of detection made him give it up to tbe Compauy." What inspired him I don't know, but it is not on record that he ever gave any satisfactory reason for the concealment. He renewed the demand for the fifty thousand, and added another ten thousand pounds as a fine for uelay. The money was paid : so the third transaction was in itself worth eighty thousand pounds. But this was not enough. The cost of the war with Hyder Ali was not yet paid off. A fresh pretext was sought for raising more money. The Hajah was ordered to keep a body of cavalry for the service of the British Government. Of course be objected ; and Hastings bad a cause for the quarrel which he wanted. " I resolved," he said. " to draw from his guilt the means of relief of the Company's distresses, to make him pay largely for his pardon or to exact a severe vengeance for his past delinquency." Hastings' resolve to make the helpless Rajah pay largely for his pardon meant that demand should follow demand for large contributions, till the victim should be driven to remonstrate; then making this remontrauce a crime, that he should confiscate all bis poss ssions. Tbis is exactly wnats the representative of England in India did. Notwithstanding that Cheyte Sing offered two hundred ti.ousand pounds to pacify the British Government, a quarrel was fixed upon him ; be was forced into a war of defence, he was conquered, and hisuuhapu country added to the British possessions. The possession of those dominions did not bring as much money as tbe Governor- general had repeated. The disappointment had irritated him. la his anger be turned his eyes oa the territory that had been ruled by his old friend Sujah Dow lab, of Rohillafame.. Sujah Diwlah was at this time b jyond the reach of Hastings, be was dead. His son, a weak and worthless prince ruled. He too, to tyrannise over his own subjects, had got assistance from Hastings. So high a price was charged for that assistance that tbe Nabob soon begain to complain of the burden. His revenues were falling off ; his servants were unpaid, so he represented to the English tuat he could no longer keep the engagements be had entered into. He paid the Government of Hastings for the service of British troops ; and now he wanted those troops withdrawn ; bat Hastings was not inclined to let go so favourable a hold. If the ruler of O-tde sought a remission of the money he had already owed, the Governorgeneral) on the other hand, had wanted a great deal more ih?n the Nabob owed. So wide a difference seemed incapable of battlement except by the ordinary methods of confiscating the entire province of Oude. Yet the difference was settled, but in a manner which marks an inhuman atrocity never surpassed by any of the brutes that at any time terrorised over maukind. The Nabob's treasury not being able to supply British wants, Hastings compelled him to plunder some one whose wealth would afford the relief he needed. Two widowed ladies, the mother and grandmother of the Nabob were by their husbands left in possession of a large treasure. A solemn compact had been entered into between the son and the mother, guaranteeing the independence of the widow's property from demands by the son or his Government. In consideration of tbis agreement the bog received a grant of money. Tbe British Government of Bengal was a witness of this compact, and guaranteed in all solemnity to uphold it. But tbiugs were not now as woea that treaty was made. The East India Company wanted money and that want altered everything. Before tr-e omnipotent presence of that want, oath bound treaties were as nothing ; tbe rules of humanity and justice melted away ; even <he Divine law of filial piety, that law which the common humanity of the savage holds sacred, could not restrain the devouring grasp of- this Company. And sj, Asapu-ul-Dowlah -was ordered, by Hasting?, to raise his band against his

mother, to strike her helpless, and hand the proceeds of the robbery to the English Government at Bengal. This weak and profligate son agreed to strip his mother and grandmother of their domains and treasures, for the benefit of English civilization. This treatywas drawn up at Chunar. Hastings and the Nabob separated. The latter, freed from the commanding presence of his English master, began to reflect on the awful nature of the engagements he had entered into. The entreaties and prayers of his mother and aged grand-parent seem to have created remorse in his deadened conscience. He 6hrunk back from tbe inhuman crime. Even the English

representative at Lucknow could not find heart to push these extreme measures. Hastings could not bear this dallying and delicacy. He wrote to the English resident a severe letter to the effect that if the Spoliation which had been agreed upon were not instantly carried out, he would himself go to Lucknow and do that from which feebler minds recoiled in dismay. The Nabob yielded, making at the _ same time a declaration .that he yielded to compulsion. The lands were resumed, but the eagerly sought money was not to be had. Hastings would go to the bitter end. A body of English troops forced the gates of the palace of the aged widows. The princesses refused to submit. Then a mode of coercion was used which cannot be thought of without making manhood blush with shame. The late Nabob had, according to the old custom of the East, entrusted his wife and mother to tbe care of two aged men — eunuchs, who on his death were placed at the head of the household. These men were by order of the British Government, arrested, imprisoned, placed in irons, and starved almost to death in order to extort money from the princesses, to carry on the work of English civilisation in India. They were kept two months in this confinement ; their health gave way, they implored permission to take a little Abercise in tbe garden of the prison. This slight mitigation of Ttheir sufferings was refused. But I must give an English Government who controlled their fate its due ; they were allowed the variety of a change. These two old men were delivered over to the tormentors, to sufft-r in horrible dungeons tortures tbat never will be known. We may form some idea of their state from a letter, by a British Resident to an English soldier. It runs thus : " Sir, the Nabob having determine! to inflict corporal punishment upon tbe prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that bis officers when they shall come may have free access to the prisoners and be permitted to do with them as they shall 6ee proper." While these hellish cruelties wore being prepetrated at Lucknow, the princesses were in confinement at Fyzabad. Food was supplied them in such small quautities that their female attendants almost perished of hunger.

Of course Hastings invented a pretext for all these barbarities. The war with tbe Rajah of Benares, which I have already touched upon, produced disturbances at Oude. These disturbances Hastings found it convenient to attribute to tbe Princesses. Evidence of this charge there was none, unless mere hearsay. The accused were allowed no trial ; they were not furnished with the charge against them; they were permitted to make no defence. A corrupt judge named Impey gave his sanction, and the authority of his still more corrupt High Court of ladia, to tbe whole proceeding. Week after week, and month after month this infamous work of degradiug aged ladies, and torturing old men, went on till at length twelve hundred thousand poundshad been wrung outof the Princesses. Hastings now felt satisfied that he had got the last of their treasures, ard that further severity would be useless. He felt kind enough t^ give liberty to the wretched men at Lucknow. " When their irons were knocked off, and the doors of their prison opened, their quiverlips, tbe tears which ran down their cheeks, and the thanksgivings which they poured forth to the common Father of Mussulmans and Christians mt-lted even the stout hearts of the English warriors who stood by." This robbing of the Begums was tbe last great work of Annexation which. Hastings performed. He had annexed largely and unscrupulously. He extended the British Empire. But to tbe honour of our race be it said, there were men in England who detested illgotten gain. Burke and Dundas were at work, striving to arouse the indignatiou of Great Britain and its Parliament against the Indian atrocities. It must be said they were not so successful as even moderate justice (if I may use the expression) could wish

Let me again change the scene to Hastings in England. " The directors (of the Eaßt Indian Company) received him in solemn sitting, and their chairman read him a vote of thanks which they had passed without one dissentient voice." •• I find myself " wrote Hastings about a year after his arrival, " I find myself everywhere and universally treated with evidence, apparent even to my observation, that I possess the good opinion of my country." With a few of the leading events of the great Governor-general's life now befoje our minds, let us glance at him in the evening of his life at his English home. We shall be puzzled at seeing so many opposing qualities exist in one nature. The man who snatched a wife from her husband ; the man who hung Nuncomar oat of revenge, who desolated tbe territory of Cheyte Sing ; who slaughtered the iiohillas ; . who tortured aged men ; who grossly degraded and xoerciles.'-ly robbed aged ladies, and who bid the son raise his hand against his mother ; this man, Wairen Hastiugs, became so poetical in the decline of his life, that every morning be wrote a fresh poem, which, to the great delight oE his family and guests, made its appearance on the breakfast table as regularly as the eggs and the rolls.