Chapter 5

RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN, ETC., BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.

I. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, who now holds of the Vizier the territory of Rampoor, Shahabad, and certain other districts dependent thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is the second son of a prince renowned in the history of Hindostan under the name of Ali Mohammed Khan, some time sovereign of all that part of Rohilcund which is particularly distinguished by the appellation of the Kutteehr.

II. That, after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fyzoola Khan, together with his elder brother, was then a prisoner of war at a place called Herat, "the Rohilla chiefs took possession of the ancient estates" of the captive princes; and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was from necessity compelled to waive his hereditary rights for the inconsiderable districts of Rampoor and Shahabad, then estimated to produce from six to eight lacs of annual revenue.

III. That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by the united armies of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Company, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, "with some of his people, was present at the decisive battle of St. George," where Hafiz Rhamet, the great leader of the Rohillas, and many others of their principal chiefs were slain; but, escaping from the slaughter, Fyzoola Khan "made his retreat good towards the mountains, with all his treasure." He there collected the scattered remains of his countrymen; and as he was the eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khan, as, too, the most powerful obstacle to his pretensions was now removed by the death of Hafiz, he seems at length to have been generally acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's authority.

IV. That, "regarding the sacred _sincerity_ and friendship of the English, whose _goodness_ and celebrity is everywhere known, _who dispossess no one_," the Nabob Fyzoola Khan made early overtures for peace to Colonel Alexander Champion, commander-in-chief of the Company's forces in Bengal: that he did propose to the said Colonel Alexander Champion, in three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of May, to put himself under the protection either of the Company, or of the Vizier, through the mediation and with the guaranty of the Company; and that he did offer, "whatever was conferred upon him, to pay as much without damage or deficiency as any other person would agree to do": stating, at the same time, his condition and pretensions hereinbefore recited as facts "evident as the sun"; and appealing, in a forcible and awful manner, to the generosity and magnanimity of this nation, "by whose means he hoped in God that he should receive justice"; and as "the person who designed the war was no more," as "in that he was himself guiltless," and as "he had never acted in such a manner as for the Vizier to have taken hatred to his heart against him, that he might be reinstated in his ancient possessions, the country of Ins father."

V. That on the last of the three dates above mentioned, that is to say, on the 27th of May, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did also send to the commander-in-chief a _vakeel_, or ambassador, who was authorized on the part of him, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, his master, to make a specific offer of three propositions; and that by one of the said propositions "an annual increase of near 400,000_l._ would have accrued to the revenues of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above 300,000_l._ to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommodation perfectly consistent with their engagements to the Vizier," and strictly consonant to the demands of justice.

VI. That, so great was the confidence of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan in the just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, as to "lull him into an inactivity" of the most essential detriment to his interests: since, "in the hopes which he entertained from the interposition of our government," he declined the invitation of the Mogul to join the arms of his Majesty and the Mahrattas, "refused any connection with the Seiks," and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution of crossing the Ganges, as he had originally intended, while the river was yet fordable,--a movement that would have enabled him certainly to baffle all pursuit, and probably "to keep the Vizier in a state of disquietude for the remainder of his life."

VII. That the commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid, "thought nothing could be more honorable to this nation than the support of so exalted a character; and whilst it could be done on terms so advantageous, supposed it very unlikely that the vakeel's proposition should be received with indifference"; that he did accordingly refer it to the administration through Warren Hastings, Esquire, then Governor of Fort William and President of Bengal; and he did at the same time inclose to the said Warren Hastings a letter from the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to the said Hastings,--which letter does not appear, but must be supposed to have been of the same tenor with those before cited to the commander-in-chief,--of which also copies were sent to the said Hastings by the commander-in-chief; and he, the commander-in-chief aforesaid, after urging to the said Hastings sundry good and cogent arguments of policy and prudence in favor of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, did conclude by "wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some measure that might strike all the powers of the East with admiration of our justice, in contrast to the conduct of the Vizier."

VIII. That, in answer to such laudable wish of the said commander-in-chief, the President, Warren Hastings, preferring his own prohibited plans of extended dominion to the mild, equitable, and wise policy inculcated in the standing orders of his superiors, and now enforced by the recommendation of the commander-in-chief, did instruct and "desire" him, the said commander-in-chief, "instead of soliciting the Vizier to relinquish his conquest to Fyzoola Khan, to discourage it as much as was in his power"; although the said Hastings did not once express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's innocence as to the origin of the war, or of his hereditary right to the territories which he claimed, but to the said pleas of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, as well as to the arguments both of policy and justice advanced by the commander-in-chief, he, the said Hastings, did solely oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expediency, summing up his decided rejection of the proposals made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khan in the following remarkable words. "With respect to Fyzoola Khan, _he appears not to merit our consideration. The petty sovereign of a country estimated at six or eight lacs ought not for a moment to prove an impediment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency of our conduct_."

IX. That, in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary position, the said Warren Hastings did avow it to be a public principle of his government, that no right, however manifest, and no innocence, however unimpeached, could entitle the weak to our protection against others, or save them from our own active endeavors for their oppression, and even extirpation, should they interfere with our notions of political expediency; and that such a principle is highly derogatory to the justice and honor of the English name, and fundamentally injurious to our interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate tendency to excite distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred against us among all the subordinate potentates of Hindostan.

X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the President, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did persist to obstruct, as far as in him lay, every advance towards an accommodation between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan; and particularly on the 16th of September, only eight days after the said Hastings, in, conjunction with the other members of the Select Committee of Bengal, had publicly testified his _satisfaction_ in the prospect of _an accommodation_, and had _hoped_ that "his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed to conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his government _by acceding to lenient terms_," he, the said Hastings, did nevertheless write, and without the consent or knowledge of his colleagues did privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other _contradictory hopes_, namely, that the commander-in-chief _had resolved on prosecuting the war to a final issue_,--"because" (as the said Hastings explains himself) "it appears very plainly that Fyzoola Khan and his adherents _lay at your mercy_, because I apprehend much inconveniency from delays, and because _I am morally certain that no good will he gained by negotiating_": thereby artfully suggesting his wishes of what might be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they were "in a very strong situation," and "combating for all."

XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further endeavor to inflame the commander-in-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and evasive"; and knowing the distrust which the Nabob Fyzoola Khan entertained of the Vizier, the said Hastings did "expressly desire it should be left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by _his own agents_ and _in his own manner_,"--though he, the said Hastings, "by no means wished the Vizier to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since it would be more effectual, more decisive, and more _consistent with his dignity, indeed with his honor, which he has already pledged_, to abide by his first offers, to dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit only an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal, from his adversary": thereby affecting to hold up, in opposition to and in exclusion of the substantial claims of justice, certain ideal obligations of dignity and honor,--that is to say, the gratification of pride, and the observance of an arrogant determination once declared.

XII. That, although the said answer did not reach the commander-in-chief until peace was actually concluded, and although the dangerous consequences to be apprehended from the said answer were thereby prevented, yet, by the sentiments contained in the said answer, Warren Hastings, Esquire, did strongly evince his ultimate adherence to all the former violent and unjust principles of his conduct towards the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, which principles were disgraceful to the character and injurious to the interests of this nation; and that the said Warren Hastings did thereby, in a particular manner, exclude himself from any share of credit for "the honorable period put to the Rohilla war, which has in some degree done away the reproach so wantonly brought on the English name."