The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke
Chapter 62 : The outrages and violences now committed are of that astonis.h.i.+ng nature as were nev

The outrages and violences now committed are of that astonis.h.i.+ng nature as were never known or heard of during the administration of the Circar.

Hyder Naik, the cruellest of tyrants, used every kind of oppression in the Circar countries; but even his measures were not like those now pursued. Such of the inhabitants as had escaped the sword and pillage of Hyder Naik, by taking refuge in the woods, and within the walls of Vellore, &c., on the arrival of Lord Macartney's aumildar to Vellore, and in consequence of his cowle of protection and support, most cheerfully returned to the villages, set about the cultivation of the lands, and with great pains rebuilt their cottages.--But now the aumildar has imprisoned the wives and children of the inhabitants, seized the few jewels that were on the bodies of the women, and then, before the faces of their husbands, flogged them, in order to make them produce other jewels and effects, which he said they had buried somewhere under ground, and to make the inhabitants bring him money, notwithstanding there was yet no cultivation in the country. Terrified with the flagellations, some of them produced their jewels and wearing-apparel of their women, to the amount of ten or fifteen paG.o.das, which they had hidden; others, who declared they had none, the aumildar flogged their women severely, tied cords around their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and tore the sucking children from their teats, and exposed them to the scorching heat of the sun. Those children died, as did the wife of Ramsoamy, an inhabitant of Bringpoor. Even this could not stir up compa.s.sion in the breast of the aumildar. Some of the children that were somewhat large he exposed to sale. In short, the violences of the aumildar are so astonis.h.i.+ng, that the people, on seeing the present situation, remember the loss of Hyder with regret. With whomsoever the aumildar finds a single measure of natchinee or rice, he takes it away from him, and appropriates it to the expenses of the sibindy that he keeps up. No revenues are collected from the countries, but from the effects of the poor, wretched inhabitants. Those ryots [yeomen] who intended to return to their habitations, hearing of those violences, have fled for refuge, with their wives and children, into Hyder's country. Every day is ushered in and closed with these violences and disturbances. I have no power to do anything; and who will hear what I have to say? My business is to inform your Highness, who are my master. The people bring their complaints to me, and I tell them I will write to your Highness.[74]

_Translation of a Tellinga Letter from Veira Permaul, Head Dubash to Lord Macartney, in his own Handwriting, to Rajah Ramchunda, the Renter of Ongole._ Dated 25th of the Hindoo month Mausay, in the year Plavanamal, corresponding to 5th March, 1782.

I present my respects to you, and am very well here, wis.h.i.+ng to hear frequently of your welfare.

Your peasher Vancatroyloo has brought the Visseel Bakees, and delivered them to me, as _also what you sent him for me to deliver to my master, which I have done. My master at first refused to take it, because he is unacquainted with your disposition_, or what kind of a person you are.

But after I made encomiums on your goodness and greatness of mind, and took my oath to the same, and that _it would not become public_, but be held as precious as our lives, _my master accepted it_. You may remain satisfied that I will get the Ongole business settled in your name; I will cause the jamaubundee to be settled agreeable to your desire. It was formerly the Nabob's intention to give this business to you, as the Governor knows full well, but did not at that time agree to it, which you must be well acquainted with.

Your peasher Vancatroyloo is a very careful, good man; he is well experienced in business; _he has bound me by an oath to keep all this business secret, and that his own, yours, and my lives are responsible for it_. I write this letter to you with the greatest reluctance, and I signified the same to your peasher, and declared that I would not write to you by any means. To this the peasher urged, that, _if I did not write to his master, how could he know to whom he (the peasher) delivered the money_, and what must his master think of it? Therefore I write you this letter, and send it by my servant Ramanah, accompanied by the peasher's servant, and it will come safe to your hands. After perusal, you will send it back to me immediately: until I receive it, I don't like to eat my victuals or take any sleep. Your peasher took his oath, and urged me to write this for your satisfaction, and has engaged to me that I shall have this letter returned to me in the s.p.a.ce of twelve days.

The present Governor is not like the former Governors: he is a very great man in Europe; and all the great men of Europe are much obliged, to him for his condescension in accepting the government of this place.

It is his custom, when he makes friends.h.i.+p with any one, to continue it always; and if _he is at enmity with any one, he never will desist till he has worked his destruction. He is now exceedingly displeased with the Nabob, and you will understand by-and-by that the Nabob's business cannot be carried on_; he (the Nabob) will have no power to do anything in his own affairs: _you have, therefore, no room to fear him_; you may remain with a contented mind. I desired the Governor to write you a letter for your satisfaction: the Governor said he would do so, when the business was settled. This letter you must peruse as soon as possible, and send it back with all speed by the bearer, Ramadoo, accompanied by three or four of your people, to the end that no accident may happen on the road. These people must be ordered to march in the night only, and to arrive here with the greatest dispatch. You sent ten mangoes for my master and two for me, all of which I have delivered to my master, thinking that ten was not sufficient to present him with. I write this for your information, and salute you with ten thousand respects.

I, Muttu Kistnah, of Madras Patnam, dubash, declare that I perfectly understand the Gentoo language, and do most solemnly affirm that the foregoing is a true translation of the annexed paper writing from the Gentoo language.

(Signed)

Muttu Kistnah.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] In this statement, the Ongole country, though it is included under the head of gross revenue, has been let for a certain sum, exclusive of charges. If the expenses specified in the Nabob's va.s.sool accounts for this district are added, the present gross revenue even would appear to exceed the Nabob's; and as the country is only let for one year, there may hereafter be an increase of its revenue.

[69] The Trichinopoly countries let for the above sum, exclusive of the expenses of sibbendy and saderwared, amounting, by the Nabob's accounts, to rupees 1,30,00 per annum, which are to be defrayed by the renter. And the jaghires of Amir-ul-Omrah and the Begum are not included in the present lease.

[70] For the ground of this "great reliance," see the papers in this Appendix, No. 5; as also the Nabob's letters to the Court of Directors in this Appendix, No. 10.

[71] For the full proof of this necessity, Lord Macartney's whole correspondence on the subject may be referred to. Without the act here condemned, not one of the acts commended in the preceding paragraph could be performed. By referring to the Nabob's letters in this Appendix it will be seen what sort of task a governor has on his hands, who is to use, according to the direction of this letter, "acts of address, civility, and conciliation," and to pay, upon _all_ occasions, _the highest attention_, to persons who at the very time are falsely, and in the grossest terms, accusing him of peculation, corruption, treason, and every species of malversation in office. The recommendation, under menaces of such behavior, and under such circ.u.mstances, conveys a lesson the tendency of which cannot be misunderstood.

[72] The delicacy here recommended, in the _expressions_ concerning conduct "with which the safety of our settlements is essentially connected," is a lesson of the same nature with the former. Dangerous designs, if truly such, ought to be expressed according to their nature and qualities. And as for the _secrecy_ recommended concerning the designs here alluded to, nothing can be more absurd; as they appear very fully and directly in the papers published by the authority of the Court of Directors in 1775, and may be easily discerned from the propositions for the Bengal treaty, published in the Reports of the Committee of Secrecy, and in the Reports of the Select Committee. The keeping of such secrets too long has been one cause of the Carnatic war, and of the ruin of our affairs in India.

[73] See Tellinga letter, at the end of this correspondence.

[74] The above-recited practices, or practices similar to them, have prevailed in almost every part of the miserable countries on the coast of Coromandel for near twenty years past. That they prevailed as strongly and generally as they could prevail, under the administration of the Nabob, there can be no question, notwithstanding the a.s.sertion in the beginning of the above pet.i.tion; nor will it ever be otherwise, whilst affairs are conducted upon the principles which influence the present system. Whether the particulars here a.s.serted are true or false neither the Court of Directors nor their ministry have thought proper to inquire. If they are true, in order to bring them to affect Lord Macartney, it ought to be proved that the complaint was made _to him, and that he had refused redress_. Instead of this fair course, the complaint is carried to the Court of Directors.--The above is one of the doc.u.ments transmitted by the Nabob, in proof of his charge of corruption against Lord Macartney. If genuine, it is conclusive, at least against Lord Macartney's princ.i.p.al agent and manager. If it be a forgery, (as in all likelihood it is,) it is conclusive against the Nabob and his evil counsellors, and folly demonstrates, if anything further were necessary to demonstrate, the necessity of the clause in Mr. Fox's bill prohibiting the residence of the native princes in the Company's princ.i.p.al settlements,--which clause was, for obvious reasons, not admitted into Mr. Pitt's. It shows, too, the absolute necessity of a severe and exemplary punishment on certain of his English evil counsellors and creditors, by whom such practices are carried on.

SUBSTANCE OF THE SPEECH

IN THE

DEBATE ON THE ARMY ESTIMATES

IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1790

COMPREHENDING

A DISCUSSION OF THE PRESENT SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN FRANCE.

SPEECH.

Mr. Burke's speech on the report of the army estimates has not been correctly stated in some of the public papers. It is of consequence to him not to be misunderstood. The matter which incidentally came into discussion is of the most serious importance. It is thought that the heads and substance of the speech will answer the purpose sufficiently.

If, in making the abstract, through defect of memory in the person who now gives it, any difference at all should be perceived from the speech as it was spoken, it will not, the editor imagines, be found in anything which may amount to a retraction of the opinions he then maintained, or to any softening in the expressions in which they were conveyed.

Mr. Burke spoke a considerable time in answer to various arguments, which had been insisted upon by Mr. Grenville and Mr. Pitt, for keeping an increased peace establishment, and against an improper jealousy of the ministers, in whom a full confidence, subject to responsibility, ought to be placed, on account of their knowledge of the real situation of affairs, the exact state of which it frequently happened that they could not disclose without violating the const.i.tutional and political secrecy necessary to the well-being of their country.

Mr. Burke said in substance, That confidence might become a vice, and jealousy a virtue, according to circ.u.mstances. That confidence, of all public virtues, was the most dangerous, and jealousy in an House of Commons, of all public vices, the most tolerable,--- especially where the number and the charge of standing armies in time of peace was the question.

That in the annual Mutiny Bill the annual army was declared to be for the purpose of preserving the balance of power in Europe. The propriety of its being larger or smaller depended, therefore, upon the true state of that balance. If the increase of peace establishments demanded of Parliament agreed with the manifest appearance of the balance, confidence in ministers as to the particulars would be very proper. If the increase was not at all supported by any such appearance, he thought great jealousy might be, and ought to be, entertained on that subject.

That he did not find, on a review of all Europe, that, politically, we stood in the smallest degree of danger from any one state or kingdom it contained, nor that any other foreign powers than our own allies were likely to obtain a considerable preponderance in the scale.

That France had hitherto been our first object in all considerations concerning the balance of power. The presence or absence of France totally varied every sort of speculation relative to that balance.

That France is at this time, in a political light, to be considered as expunged out of the system of Europe. Whether she could ever appear in it again, as a leading power, was not easy to determine; but at present be considered France as not politically existing; and most a.s.suredly it would take up much time to restore her to her former active existence: _Gallos quoque in bellis floruisse audivimus_ might possibly be the language of the rising generation. He did not mean to deny that it was our duty to keep our eye on that nation, and to regulate our preparation by the symptoms of her recovery.

That it was to her _strength_, not to her _form of government_, which we were to attend; because republics, as well as monarchies, were susceptible of ambition, jealousy, and anger, the usual causes of war.

But if, while France continued in this swoon, we should go on increasing our expenses, we should certainly make ourselves less a match for her when it became our concern to arm.

It was said, that, as she had speedily fallen, she might speedily rise again. He doubted this. That the fall from an height was with an accelerated velocity; but to lift a weight up to that height again was difficult, and opposed by the laws of physical and political gravitation.

In a political view, France was low indeed. She had lost everything, even to her name.

Jacet ingens littore truncus, Avolsumque humeris _caput_, et sine _nomine_ corpus.[75]

He was astonished at it; he was alarmed at it; he trembled at the uncertainty of all human greatness.

Since the House had been prorogued in the summer much work was done in France. The French had shown themselves the ablest architects of ruin that had hitherto existed in the world. In that very short s.p.a.ce of time they had completely pulled down to the ground their monarchy, their church, their n.o.bility, their law, their revenue, their army, their navy, their commerce, their arts, and their manufactures. They had done their business for us as rivals in a way in which twenty Ramillies or Blenheims could never have done it. Were we absolute conquerors, and France to lie prostrate at our feet, we should be ashamed to send a commission to settle their affairs which could impose so hard a law upon the French, and so destructive of all their consequence as a nation, as that they had imposed upon themselves.

France, by the mere circ.u.mstance of its vicinity, had been, and in a degree always must be, an object of our vigilance, either with regard to her actual power or to her influence and example. As to the former he had spoken; as to the latter (her example) he should say a few words: for by this example our friends.h.i.+p and our intercourse with that nation had once been, and might again become, more dangerous to us than their worst hostility.

In the last century, Louis the Fourteenth had established a greater and better disciplined military force than ever had been before seen in Europe, and with it a perfect despotism. Though that despotism was proudly arrayed in manners, gallantry, splendor, magnificence, and even covered over with the imposing robes of science, literature, and arts, it was, in government, nothing better than a painted and gilded tyranny,--in religion, a hard, stern intolerance, the fit companion and auxiliary to the despotic tyranny which prevailed in its government. The same character of despotism insinuated itself into every court of Europe,--the same spirit of disproportioned magnificence,--the same love of standing armies, above the ability of the people. In particular, our then sovereigns, King Charles and King James, fell in love with the government of their neighbor, so flattering to the pride of kings. A similarity of sentiments brought on connections equally dangerous to the interests and liberties of their country. It were well that the infection had gone no farther than the throne. The admiration of a government flouris.h.i.+ng and successful, unchecked in its operations, and seeming, therefore, to compa.s.s its objects more speedily and effectually, gained something upon all ranks of people. The good patriots of that day, however, struggled against it. They sought nothing more anxiously than to break off all communication with France, and to beget a total alienation from its councils and its example,--which, by the animosity prevalent between the abettors of their religious system and the a.s.sertors of ours, was in some degree effected.

This day the evil is totally changed in France: but there is an evil there. The disease is altered; but the vicinity of the two countries remains, and must remain; and the natural mental habits of mankind are such, that the present distemper of France is far more likely to be contagious than the old one: for it is not quite easy to spread a pa.s.sion for servitude among the people; but in all evils of the opposite kind our natural inclinations are flattered. In the case of despotism, there is the _fdum crimen servitutis_: in the last, the _falsa SPECIES libertatis_; and accordingly, as the historian says, _p.r.o.nis auribus accipitur_.

In the last age we were in danger of being entangled by the example of France in the net of a relentless despotism. It is not necessary to say anything upon that example. It exists no longer. Our present danger from the example of a people whose character knows no medium is, with regard to government, a danger from anarchy: a danger of being led, through an admiration of successful fraud and violence, to an imitation of the excesses of an irrational, unprincipled, proscribing, confiscating, plundering, ferocious, b.l.o.o.d.y, and tyrannical democracy. On the side of religion, the danger of their example is no longer from intolerance, but from atheism: a foul, unnatural vice, foe to all the dignity and consolation of mankind; which seems in France, for a long time, to have been embodied into a faction, accredited, and almost avowed.

These are our present dangers from France. But, in his opinion, the very worst part of the example set is in the late a.s.sumption of citizens.h.i.+p by the army, and the whole of the arrangement, or rather disarrangement, of their military.

He was sorry that his right honorable friend (Mr. Fox) had dropped even a word expressive of exultation on that circ.u.mstance, or that he seemed of opinion that the objection from standing armies was at all lessened by it. He attributed this opinion of Mr. Fox entirely to his known zeal for the best of all causes, liberty. That it was with a pain inexpressible he was obliged to have even the shadow of a difference with his friend, whose authority would always be great with him, and with all thinking people,--_Quae maxima semper censetur n.o.bis, et_ ERIT _quae maxima semper_;--his confidence in Mr. Fox was such, and so ample, as to be almost implicit. That he was not ashamed to avow that degree of docility. That, when the choice is well made, it strengthens, instead of oppressing our intellect. That he who calls in the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own. He who profits of a superior understanding raises his powers to a level with the height of the superior understanding he unites with. He had found the benefit of such a junction, and would not lightly depart from it. He wished almost, on all occasions, that his sentiments were understood to be conveyed in Mr.