Warren Hastings to Alexander Elliot, commenting on India politics, 12 January 1777

My Dear Elliot,

         This letter will comprise one connected subject and to render this intelligible, I shall take it up from a very early period.

        After the famous defeat of the Mahrattas at Ponniput, Sudaba, the second officer in command, and the first cousin of Ragonaut Row or Ragoba, the late Peshwa and competitor of the ministers of Poona, was missing, and supposed to have been slain. About three years after, a man disfigured with wounds made his appearance, under the name of Sudaba, with a small force; was attacked and defeated, made prisoner, and exposed as an impostor by the ruling Peshwa. From that time he continued a prisoner, till the month of April last, when he escaped from his confinement, collected a considerable army, and even made himself master of all the country called Concan, which lies between the hills and the sea. On the 27th of October he ventured on an engagement with the forces of the actual government, was totally routed, put to sea in a small vessel, and sailed to the island of Bombay, where he demanded protection. Unfortunately for him, the governor and second in command were both absent at Salsette, and Dr. Draper, who had charge of the f ort, sending two persons of inferior rank to receive him, the devoted fugitive construed this into an insult, and in a fit of ill-timed pride instantly departed, threw himself into the hands of a Mahratta chief named Ragoojee Angria, who delivered him up a prisoner to the ministers of Poona. Ragonaut Row, more fortunate, escaped to Bombay, where he was received, and probably continues there. It is said that Mr. Hornby, on the first news of Sudaba's confinement, sent a deputation to Ragoojee Angria to demand him, with a declaration of war in case of a refusal. Such, at least, is the representation of this affair which we have received from Poona, where both this measure and the asylum granted to Ragoba are treated as acts of hostility against the Mahratta state and direct infringements of the treaty. We too have taken up the charges as such, and sent peremptory orders to the Presidency of Bombay to dismiss Ragonaut Row. In the meantime Colonel Upton continues, notwithstanding our repeated orders for his recall, at Poona, whether by his free consent or by constraint is uncertain. The style both of his letters and those of the Peshwa seems to confirm the common report of his being detained by force. This is not the only suspicious circumstance. All the letters from Poona, both before and since the ratification of the treaty, are filled with reproaches for the hostile acts which preceded it, and even strong indications that the authors of them did not regard the treaty as binding but on the persons only who signed it. Their last letters, which were written immediately after the overthrow of Sudaba, contain a demand in behalf of the King of Tanjore, whose name never before appeared in any papers of their correspondence or the negotiation with Colonel Upton. These are, at best, but doubtful symptoms; and, added to the indisposition which the Presidency of Bombay have all along shown to the late treaty, portend but a short duration to the peace concluded by it.

        By the overthrow of Sudaba, the intestine troubles which have so long disturbed the Mahratta state appear to have been so far appeased as to leave them at full leisure to prosecute remote undertakings. The same letters that brought us the news of this event also informed us that the ministers had set on foot an expedition against Hyder Ally. By other channels we learn that Nizam Ally Cawn and Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, have been invited and have agreed to join their forces on this occasion.

        So sudden a revival and reunion of the powers of this great empire, and so sudden an application of them immediately on the close of a long civil war, indicate a degree of vigour in its constitution which cannot f ail to alarm the friends of the Company, if the subsequent appearances shall warrant this conclusion. I think they will not, but persuade myself that the present conjuncture is no less favourable than any of the past (always excepting the ill-fated treaty with Ragoba) for advancing the interests of the Company, and extending their influence and connexions. I will tell you why.

        In the first place, a confederacy formed between the Peshwa, the Subadar of Deccan, who has plundered the Mahrattas of a great part of the Poona state, and the Chief of Berar, its nominal vassal, all possessing mutual claims on each other, and swayed by opposite interests, cannot hold long together. In the second, the government of Poona is weak in itself, by want of constitutional authority in those who possess the rule of it, and by want of unanimity among themselves. Nana Maraba Furneess, one of their principal members, has openly separated himself from the rest. Their chief, Succaram Babboo, is old and infirm; and both he and Nana Furneess, who are the only parties to the treaty lately concluded with us in the name of the Mahratta state, lately demanded and received passports from the government to retire to Benares, with the avowed design of passing the remainder of their lives there in devotion. This design, though probably suggested only by the personal dangers to which they were exposed by the rapid successes of Sudaba, must diminish the confidence and respect which are the natural attendants of a fixed and regular authority. And thirdly, the government of Berar possesses in it the seeds of civil discord, which are at this time ready to spring up on the first occasion that can favour their growth. This is a subject that requires me to be more explicit than I have been on others, and this too I must take up ab ovo.

        Ragoojee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, the same person who invaded Bengal, and subjected it to the Chout in the time of the Nabob Alliverdy Cawn, dying, left four sons, Jannoojee, Shabajee, Moodajee, and Bimbajee. Jannoojee succeeded him. He, having no child, adopted the son of Moodajee, who was called by the name of his grandfather, Ragoojee. On the death of Jannoojee, Shabajee, the second brother, succeeded to the government, but held it in the name of his nephew, the legal heir. This was the cause of continual dissensions between the two brothers--Shabajee holding the government in right of primogeniture, Moodajee claiming it on the behalf of his own Bon, though the legal affinity between them was changed by his elder brother's adoption. In the late dissensions between Ragonaut Row and the ministers of Poona, Shabajee took part with the former, and Moodajee with the latter; but their own affairs calling them home before those were decided, they came to an open rupture. Shabajee was slain, and his brother assumed the government in his stead.

        Here I must go back to relate another transaction more immediately connected with the subject of this letter. Shabajee, a little before his return to Berar, sent a Vackeel, named Beneram Pundit, to Calcutta, with a letter containing professions of friendship and a desire to be on terms of alliance with this government. I thought this an occasion not to be slighted, and returned such an answer as was most proper to encourage the wishes of Shabajee without expressing too interested a solicitude to meet them; and I sent the Vackeel back big with the project of uniting the province of Berar to this government on terms similar to those which had been formed with Sujah Dowla by the treaty concluded at Benares, and which I may venture to say were such as afforded the Company every advantage that could be derived from such an alliance without derogating from the dignity or credit of our ally.

        While Beneram was on his return, the revolution took place which I have mentioned above; and as he was known to be the confidential servant of Shabajee, some time elapsed before he ventured to return to his new master. Being at length, however, invited to come, he went and was well received. Moodajee read the letters, and answered them as addressed to himself ; and after some time, thought proper to send him back in his former character, with handsome professions, but general, and with no declared object or instructions. A very friendly, and in some sort confidential, correspondence, however, has continued between us ever since. From Beneram Pundit, I learn that the same feuds which formerly divided the two brothers while Shabajee was living, are now likely to break out between Moodajee and his son, who is now about nineteen years of age, and begins to look upon his father as the usurper. of his rights. In these sentiments he has been confirmed by a man who has been the successive minister of the three brothers, named Dewaugur Pundit, who finds himself of too little consequence with his present master, and naturally concludes that he, shall acquire a greater ascendant on the mind of his young pupil, if he should succeed in obtaining his advancement to the possession of the government. By the intrigues of this man, Nizam Ally has been induced to invite Moodajee Boosla to his court, for the purpose of concerting measures for their common interests, or to send his Dewan if he should be prevented from attending himself. To the last proposition Moodajee has consented, as he mentions in a letter I have lately received from him; and I understand that it is proposed that Ragojee shall accompany him, with the secret design of gaining the support of Nizam Ally in the prosecution of the projects against Moodajee. Whatever may be the issue of these measures, a proper attention to the circumstances as they arise might put it easily in the power of this government were it duly authorized, to convert them to the advantage of the Company without any sacrifice of their faith or hazard of their interests.

        We have a battalion of sepoys already stationed in the districts bordering on Berar, and another added to it would be sufficient to answer any purpose for which they might be wanted.

        It is impossible to foresee the circumstances on which our interposition may be demanded, or on which it could be honourably given, and therefore impossible to anticipate the mode of it.

        You are already well acquainted, however, with the general system which I wish to be empowered to establish in India, namely, to extend the influence of the British nation to every part of India not too remote from their possessions, without enlarging the circle of their defence or involving them in hazardous or indefinite engagements, and to accept of the allegiance of such of our neighbours as shall sue to be enlisted among the friends and allies of the Kina of Great Britain. The late Naboob Sujah Dowla, who wanted neither pride nor understanding, would have thou it an honour to be called the Vizier of the King of England, and offered at one time to coin siccas in His Majesty's name. Nor was this a mere visionary project; the credit of such a connexion with the sovereign of a power which has for a long time past made so considerable a figure in Hindostan would of itself be a great advantage. But I am afraid that his chief inducement arose from a great defect in our political constitution, of which he had severely felt the bad effects; I mean the rapid succession of persons entrusted (under whatever name or character) with the rule and administration of the British affairs in this part of our Indian possessions; the consequent want of consistency in their measures, and even in their attachments and engagements; and the caprices to which he was often exposed on the same account. Had he possessed the spirit of foresight, he would have had severe cause for these reflections in the miserable state of penury and servitude to which his son has been since reduced, ineffectually to our interests, as every excess of power beyond its proper bounds will ever defeat its own purposes. Nor indeed has the son much cause to complain of an injury which he has scarce sense or sensibility to discover; although it must be redressed whenever that state has a more worthy ruler, and the sovereignty restored with all its rights unimpaired to the lawful proprietor. But I wander from my subject. My intention in this digression is to show the advantages which would be derived both by Government and its allies from a direct engagement with them, made with the sanction of the King's name, which would secure it from wanton and licentious violation and render the objects of it more certain and durable.

        On this footing I would replace the subaship of Oude. On this footing I would establish an alliance with Berar. These countries are of more importance to us than any others from their contiguity to ours, and therefore it is of consequence to settle their connexion with us before that of any other. But the same system might be rendered more extensive by time, and the observance of a steady principle of conduct, and an invariable attachment to formal engagements.

        I will not here enumerate all the advantages which may be derived from this plan to you especially, to whom I have long ago explained personally my views and sentiments upon this subject. Indeed, except a short and rather obscure intimation of it in one of my letters to Lord North, I have communicated it to no person but Colonel MacLeane and yourself; and that is my principal reason among others for having written to you rather than any one else upon the various points contained in this letter. To enable me to carry it into execution, I must be released from the restrictions which I at present lie under; I must have discretionary powers, and a fixed channel of correspondence.

        I shall follow the subject no further, but leave it here to your discretion to make such use of it as you shall judge most likely to prove effectual to its execution, or to suppress it. I am aware that I tread on dangerous ground, exposed to the ill-will of the Company, if they look to the renewal of their Charter, and to all the popular and rooted prejudices which are entertained against the expensive projects of military enterprise, and the injustice of disturbing the peace of our quiet neighbours; for this construction will be given to it. To answer these and the other objections to this plan would require much time and argument; but though this might be necessary to the support of a proposition calculated fox the public eye, it will not be wanted on this occasion, as I hope it will be only seen by those who are to adopt it, and to whom its obvious consequences will need little explanation. I trust it to you in confidence, and desire that you will impart it with the same caution, that I may not suffer by the attempts to raise the power of my country, and to extend the influence of the King's name among nations to which it is yet unknown, if the means which I have recommended should be judged inadequate to such laudable ends, or impolitic with respect to other circumstances. Of their justice and moral propriety I have no doubt. I am ever, my dear Elliot, your most affectionate friend.

10th February 1777.

My Dear Elliot,

         The accompanying letter was written and intended for the last dispatch. It contains the particular application of a system with which you are already well acquainted. Whatever my own conviction may be of its expediency, I am tied down from acting directly, nor can I employ even influence with the rod of authority hanging over my head.

        Nor is this my only difficulty. I cannot communicate a subject of this nature through any official channel. If I write to the Secret Committee, they are too many to be entrusted with it. They may not all be disposed to receive a proposition from me with candour; and bodies of men, however small, are always indifferent to the business which is brought regularly before them. I cannot write to the Chairman, because, in the first place, I know not who he is; and in the second, because the gentlemen who hold the first stations in the Direction at this time, are, as I understand, my professed enemies, and would be therefore more likely to draw conclusions from what I wrote to my disadvantage than to adopt my recommendations. Neither can I approach the King's minister on such an occasion without some preparatory caution, in which his leisure, his inclinations, and the ability of the times should be consulted.

        It is impossible for me to foresee what may be the dispositions in England when this letter shall arrive. It is equally impossible to reconcile the different orders which the Court of Directors last year gave us for our conduct towards the powers of India. They desire us upon no account to enter into any wars, however advantageous to the Company, and they at the same time direct us to co-operate with the Presidency of Bombay in keeping possession of the lands which Ragobah ceded to them by treaty. The first is an absolute prohibition to interfere in the politics of India. The last is a positive order to interfere, and to engage in a war with the first power in India.

        Being thus at a loss to judge of the views of the Court of Directors, I am still more so to judge of those of the King, to the knowledge of which I have no access. I must therefore leave it to you to consider well the disposition of the times, and of the ministers. If you have reason to believe that such a system as I have recommended will be approved, I trust to you to make use of such means as you shall judge most likely to promote it. If, on the contrary, men's minds are adverse to the extension of our influence, you had best say nothing about it, as it can serve no good purpose, and may be turned to my disadvantage.

        These dispatches I shall entrust to Captain Toone. You know his worth, and my affection for him. I have earnestly recommended his return if he can recover his constitution; and if your interest can promote his views you will oblige me by serving him. I am ever, my dear Elliot, your most affectionate friend.

        PS.-Sudaba, who is mentioned in the accompanying letter, has been put to death, having been beaten with clubs till he expired. This, you know, is not murder, but simple manslaughter by the doctrine of Abbi Haneefa; but seems to have been done by these Hindoos to avoid the shedding of sacred blood; an argument in favour of Sudaba's cause.

        For a fuller explanation of the design, which is contained in my letters of the 12th ultimo, I have drawn it up with as much accuracy as my time would allow in a methodical form in the enclosed sheets, which I trust to your discretion to make such use of as you think proper. It is yet incomplete, as I could only venture to propose what I saw a moral certainty of accomplishing. In the natural operation of such an influence once established many important objects will start up which it is impossible to foresee, and many which, though within the reach of conjecture, would appear visionary if formally detailed. I have no fear of its failing to produce the good effects which I have described, nor even much greater. The only danger which I should apprehend would be from the attempt to make the most of it that could be made. The rapacity of individuals, and the emulation of those in actual power to surpass their predecessors, will ever prove the greatest evils of our political system. Our alliance with the Nabob of Oude is a striking illustration of this. It was in the beginning an unprofitable charge to the Company. It was placed on a footing of mutual advantage to both. It is now become an oppressive burthen on that province, which must soon fall with increased weight on the Company. The late Vizier paid to the Company a tribute of 25,20,000 rupees, and cheerfully paid it. It was optional, because he was at liberty to dismiss the brigade when the exigency of his affairs no longer required it; and he could safely dispense with it. The present Nabob has yielded up a revenue of twenty-three lacs in the cession of Benares; he pays, or rather ought to pay, 31,20,000 rupees a year for the subsidy; and we have added to his expenses an extravagant military establishment which, at its estimated amount, is an annual charge of above forty lacs. So that we are in fact the distributors of a crore of rupees drawn from his treasury, which is already exhausted, and that part of his army which still remains under his own direction is rendered a useless and even dangerous encumbrance, because he cannot pay it. Our brigade, therefore, must continue a fixture to that province, which would be a prey to the meanest invader the instant that it was deprived of its support.

        Many of the propositions in this scheme require explanation. This you can give, but I have no time, and I have already made it too long. Nudjif Cawn's pension is due in justice to him, as he quitted us unwillingly, and followed the King at the express solicitation of the commander-in-chief of our army. He has ever proved faithful to us, and possesses such resources in his military talents, and in the credit of them, that while he lives he will be our best shield against the only enemy which we have to dread in that quarter, the Mahrattas. He has no money, and can therefore pay no subsidy, and whenever he dies, we must look to other means of defence on that frontier of our possessions and those of our ally.

        If peace is to be our object, I cannot devise a more likely way to ensure it than to command all the means of war, and this is the only use I would wish even to make of the plan which I have proposed, if it is adopted while I remain here. This, I suppose, will not be long, I wish it not, unless I possess power and confidence, and shall be better pleased to be recalled at once than to remain with a doubtful authority till the short time is passed which has been allotted me by Parliament, and then go out of course. I would not accept of an empire on such terms. If I must give the place to General Clavering, he will revenge the injustice done me by it, if I could seek such a revenge; and if a new member is added in the room of Colonel Monson, I shall expect the renewal of the same violences which I have already experienced, for I cannot hope that the choice will fall on a friend of mine. Besides, it is not in nature for five men to share the same power, and not to divide into factions, when one man can always make a majority.

From: A. Berriedale Keith, ed. Speeches and Documents on Indian Policy, 1750-1921. Vol. I. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1922, 82-95.