Impeachment: British East India company & the Boston Tea Party

From a history buff friend on the impeachment trial & a surprising link between Indian & American history.

"NYT is arguing that Trump’s defense - that you cannot impeach for abuse of power without citing a violation of a law - holds no water because past impeachments in Britain for abuse of power (there have been only two in the US; not enough data) did not involve ‘indictable’ offenses.

The article cites the impeachment of Warren Hastings - British India’s Governor General from 1774-1785 (he was active in India from 1750). Hastings was impeached for mismanagement and personal corruption in 1788.

The ‘crime’? Impoverishment of the Bengal citizenry by raising agricultural taxes from 10 to 50 percent (after the British had plunders the Bengal treasury after the battle of Plassey), abolishing import tariffs for goods entering Bengal (thereby making Bengali goods uncompetitive), violent collection of the 50% tax during the Bengal famine of 1770.
Result: 10 million deaths; reduction of Bengal’s population by a third.

So that’s the standard for impeachment for corruption. Hastings was acquitted, of course.

Since the East India company was in the red as a result of the losses in tax revenue post- Famine (entire districts in Bengal were depopulated), Hastings got the English parliament to pass the Tea Act in 1773 - to ship the massive amount of tea held in the East India Company’s London warehouses directly to America duty-free - to make up for their revenue losses in India. This led to the Boston Tea Party, and the rest, as you know, is history.

In calling for Americans to resist the dumping of tea, “Rusticus” writes:

“Are we in like Manner to be given up to the Disposal of the East India Company, who have now the Assurance, to step forth in Aid of the Minister, to execute his Plan, of enslaving America? Their Conduct in Asia for some Years past, has given simple Proof, how little they regard the Laws of Nations, the Rights, Liberties or Lives of Men. They have levied War, excited Rebellions, dethroned lawful Princes, and sacrificed Millions for the Sake of Gain. The Revenue of Mighty Kingdoms have centered in their Coffers. And these not being sufficient to glut their Avarice, they have, by the most unparalleled Barbarities, Extortions, and Monopolies, stripped the miserable Inhabitants of their Property, and reduced whole Provinces to Indigence and Ruin. Fifteen hundred Thousands (i.e. 1.5 million – ed.), it is said, perished by Famine in one Year, not because the Earth denied its Fruits; but [because] this Company and their Servants engulfed all the Necessaries of Life, and set them so high at a Rate that the poor could not purchase them. Thus having drained the Sources of the immense Wealth . . . they now, it seems, cast their Eyes on America, as a new Theatre, whereon to exercise their Talents.”"