That the agreement to the effect aforesaid was settled in the said secret conferences, before the 10th of September 1773; but the said Warren Hastings, concealing from the court of directors a matter, of which it was his duty to afford them the earliest and fullest information, did, on the 10th of September 1773, write to the directors, and dispatched his letter over land, giving them an account of the publick treaty, but taking not the least notice of his agreement for a mercenary war against the nation of the Rohillas.

"favourable circumstance in the negociations of "its renewal." All these considerations did not prevent the said Warren Hastings from making and carrying into execution the said mercenary agreement for a sum of money, the payment of which the nabob endeavoured to evade on a construction of the verbal treaty; and was so far from being insisted on, as it ought to have been, by the said Warren Hastings, that when, after the completion of the service, the commander in chief was directed to make a demand of the money, the agent of the said Warren Hastings at the same time assured the nabob, "that the demand was nothing more than matter of form, common, and even necessary in all publick transactions; and "that, although the board considered the claim "of the government literally due, it was not the "intention of administration to prescribe to his

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Excellency the mode or even limits of payment." Nor was any part of the money recovered until the establishment of the governour-general and council by act of parliament, and their determination to withdraw the brigade from the nabob's service: the resident at his court, appointed by the said Warren Hastings, having written, that he

That, in order to conceal the true purport of the said clandestine agreement the more effectually, and until he should find means of gaining over the rest of the council to a concurrence in his dis-had experienced much duplicity and deceit in most obedience of orders, he entered a minute in the council books, giving a false account of the transaction; in which minute he represented, that the nabob had indeed proposed the design aforesaid, and that he (the said Warren Hastings) was pleased, that he urged the scheme of this expedition no further, when in reality and truth he had absolutely consented to the said enterprise, and had engaged to assist him in it, (which he afterwards admitted,) and confessed, that he did act in consequence of the same.

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That the said Warren Hastings and his council were sensible of the true nature of the enterprise, in which they had engaged the company's arms, and of the heavy responsibility, to which it would subject himself and the council," the personal "hazard they, the council, run, in undertaking so "uncommon a measure without positive instruc"tions at their own risk, with the eyes of the "whole nation on the affairs of the company, and "the passions and prejudices of almost every man "in England inflamed against the conduct of the company, and the character of its servants;"yet they engaged in the very practice, which had brought such odium on the company, and on the character of its servants, though they further say, that they had continually before their eyes the dread of forfeiting the favour of their employers, and becoming the "objects of popular invectives.' The said Warren Hastings himself says, at the very time when he proposed the measure, “I "must confess, I entertain some doubts as to its expediency at this time, from the circumstances "of the company at home exposed to popular clamour, and all its measures liable to be can"vassed in parliament; their charter drawing to "a close, and His Majesty's ministers unquestionably ready to take advantage of every un

of his transactions with his Excellency; and the said nabob and his successours falling back in other payments in the same or greater proportion, as he advanced in the payment of this debt; the consideration of lucre to the company, the declared motive to this shameful transaction, totally failed, and no money in effect and substance (as far as by any account to be depended on appears) has been obtained.

That the said nabob of Oude did, in consequence of the said agreement, and with the assistance of British troops, which were ordered to march, and subjected to his disposal by the said Warren Hastings and the council, unjustly enter into and invade the country of the Rohillas, and did there make war in a barbarous and inhuman manner" by an abuse of victory;"" by the unnecessary destruction of the country;" "by a "wanton display of violence and oppression, of "inhumanity and cruelty;" and "by the sudden expulsion and casting down of an whole race of

people, to whom the slightest benevolence was "denied." When prayer was made not to dishonour the begum (a princess of great rank, whose husband had been killed in battle) and other women by dragging them about the country, to be loaded with the scoffs of the nabob's rabble, and otherwise still worse used, the nabob refused to listen to the intreaties of a British commander in chief in their favour; and the said women of high rank were exposed not only to the vilest personal indignities, but even to absolute want; and these transactions being by Colonel Champion communicated to the said Warren Hastings, instead of commendations for his intelligence, and orders to redress the said evils, and to prevent the like in future by means which were suggested, and which appear to have been proper and feasible, he re

II. SHAW ALLUM.

letter of the 1st of March 1773, they (the said Warren Hastings and his council) say, "In no

THAT, in a solemn treaty of peace, concluded times consider the surrender above mentioned as the 16th of August 1765 between the East India extorted from the king, and unquestionably an company and the late nabob of Oude, Shuja ul act of violence, which could not alienate or imDowla, and highly approved of, confirmed, and pair his right to those provinces; and that when ratified by the said company, it is agreed, "that they took possession thereof, it was at the request "the king Shaw Allum shall remain in full pos- of the king's naib, or viceroy, who put them under "session of Corah, and such part of the province the council's protection; that on this footing they "of Illiabad as he now possesses, which are were accepted by the said Warren Hastings and "ceded to his majesty as a royal demesne for the his council, and for some time considered by them "support of his dignity and expences."-That, in as a deposit committed to their care by a prince, a separate agreement, concluded at the same time to whom the possession thereof was particularly between the king Shaw Allum and the then sub-guarantied by the East India company.—In their udar of Bengal, under the immediate security and guarantee of the English company, the faith of the company was pledged to the said king for the annual payment of twenty-six lacks of rupees for his support out of the revenues of Bengal; and that the said company did then receive from the said king a grant of the dewanny of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, on the express condition of their being security for the annual payment above mentioned;-that the East India company have held, and continue to hold the dewanny so granted, and for some years have complied with the conditions on which they accepted of the grant thereof; and have at all times acknowledged, that they held the dewanny in virtue of the Mogul's grants.-That the said court of directors, in their letter of the 30th June 1769 to Bengal, declared," that they esteemed themselves "bound by treaty to protect the king's person, "and to secure him the possession of the Corah "and Illahabad districts;" and, supposing an agreement should be made respecting these provinces between the king and Shuja ul Dowla, the directors then said, " that they should be subject "to no further claim or requisition from the king, excepting for the stipulated tribute for Bengal, "which they (the governour and council) were to pay to his agent, or remit to him in such manner as he might direct."

That in the year 1772 the king Shaw Allum, who had hitherto resided at Allahabad, trusting to engagements which he had entered into with the Mahrattas, quitted that place and removed to Delhi; but, having soon quarrelled with those people, and afterwards being taken prisoner, had been treated by them with very great disrespect and cruelty that among other instances of their abuse, and of their immediate power over him, the governour and council of Bengal, in their letter of the 16th of August 1773, inform the court of directors, that he had been compelled, while a prisoner in their hands, to grant sunnuds for the surrender of Corah and Illiabad to them; and it appears from sundry other minutes of their own, that the said governour and council did at all

shape can this compulsatory cession by the king "release us from the obligation we are under to "defend the provinces, which we have so particu "larly guarantied to him." But it appears, that they soon adopted other ideas, and assumed other principles concerning this object. In the instructions, dated the 23d of June 1773, which the council of Fort William gave to the said Warren Hastings, previous to his interview with the nabob Shuja ul Dowla at Benares, they say, that "while "the king continued at Delhi, whither he pro"ceeded in opposition to their most strenuous re"monstrances, they should certainly consider the

engagements between him and the company as "dissolved by his alienation from them and their "interest; that the possession of so remote a country could never be expected to yield any "profit to the company, and the defence of it must require a perpetual aid of their forces;" yet in the same instructions they declare their opi nion, that, "if the king should make overtures to

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renew his former connexion, his right to reclaim "the districts of Corah and Illiabad could not "with propriety be disputed ;" and they authorize the said Warren Hastings to restore them to him on condition, that he should renounce his claim to the annual tribute of twenty-six lacks of repees, herein before mentioned, and to the arrears which might be due ;-thereby acknowledging the justice of a claim, which they determined not to comply with but in return for the surrender of another equally valid ;-that, nevertheless, in the treaty concluded by the said Warren Hastings with Shuja ul Dowla on the 7th of September 1773, it is asserted, that his majesty (meaning the king Shaw Allum)" having abandoned the dis❝tricts of Corah and Illiabad, and given a sunnud "for Corah and Currah to the Mahrattas, had "thereby forfeited his right to the said districts," although it was well known to the said Warren Hastings, and had been so stated by him to the court of directors, that this surrender on the part of the king had been extorted from him by vio

lence, while he was a prisoner in the hands of the Mahrattas, and although it was equally well known to the said Warren Hastings, that there was nothing in the original treaty of 1765, which could restrain the king from changing the place of his residence, consequently that his removal to Delhi could not occasion a forfeiture of his right to the provinces secured to him by that treaty.

That the said Warren Hastings in the report, which he made of his interview and negociations with Shujah ul Dowla, dated the 4th of October 1773, declared," that the administration would have been culpable in the highest degree in retaining possession of Corah and Illiabad for " any other purpose than that of making an advantage by the disposal of them," and therefore he had ceded them to the vizier for fifty lacks of rupees, a measure, for which he had no authority hatever from the king Shaw Allum, and in the execution of which no reserve whatever was made n favour of the rights of that prince, nor any care aken of his interests.

of rupees, stipulated with the said Suja Dowla, was inadequate to the value of the country, the annual revenues of which were stated at twentyfive lacks of rupees, which General Sir Robert Barker, then commander in chief of the company's forces, affirms was certain, and too generally known to admit of a doubt.

That the king Shaw Allum received for some years the annual tribute of twenty-six lacks of rupees above mentioned, and was entitled to continue to receive it by virtue of an engagement deliberately, and for an adequate consideration, entered into with him by the company's servants, and approved of and ratified by the company themselves;-that this engagement was absolute and unconditional, and did neither express, nor suppose, any case, in which the said king should forfeit, or the company should have a right to resume, the tribute;-that, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings and his council, immediately after selling the king's country to Suja Dowla, resolved to withhold, and actually withheld, the payment of the said tribute, of which the king Shaw Allum has never since received any part; that this resolution of the council is not justified even by themselves on principles of right and justice, but by arguments of policy and convenience, by which the best founded claims of right and justice may at all times be set aside and defeated. "They

That the sale of these provinces to Suja Dowla nvolved the East India company in a triple breach of justice, since by the same act they violated a treaty, they sold the property of another, and they benated a deposit committed to their friendship and good faith, and as such accepted by them; that a measure of this nature is not to be defended on motives of policy and convenience, supposing" judged it highly impolitick and unsafe to answer such motives to have existed, without a total loss of publick honour, and shaking all security in the faith of treaties; but that in reality the pretences red by the said Warren Hastings for selling the king's country to Suja Dowla were false and invalid-It could not strengthen our alliance with Sujah ul Dowla; since, paying a price for a purdase, he received no favour, and incurred no cbligation. It did not free the company from all the dangers attending either a remote property or a remote connexion; since, the moment the country in question became part of Suja Dowla's dominions, it was included in the company's former guarantee of those dominions, and in case of invasion the company were obliged to send part of their army to defend it at the requisition of the Said Suja Dowla; and if the remote situation of those provinces made the defence of them difficult and dangerous, much more was it a difficult and dangerous enterprise to engage the company's force in an attack and invasion of the Rohillas, whose country lay at a much greater distance from the company's frontier; which, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings agreed to, and underok at the very time, when under pretence of the difficulty of defending Corah and Illiabad he sold those provinces to Suja Dowla. It did not reeve the company from the expence of defending the country, since the revenues thereof far exceeded the subsidy to be paid by Suja Dowla, and these revenues justly belonged to the company as long as the country continued under their protec-is tion, and would have answered the expence of defending it. Finally, that the sum of fifty lacks

"the draughts of the king until they were satisfied "of his amicable intentions, and those of his new "allies." But neither had they any reason to question the king's amicable intentions, nor was he pledged to answer for those of the Mahrattas; his trusting to the good faith of that people, and relying on their assistance to reinstate him in the possession of his capital, might have been imprudent and impolitick; but these measures, however ruinous to himself, indicated no enmity to the English, nor were they productive of any effects injurious to the English interests. And it is plain, that the said Warren Hastings and his council were perfectly aware, that their motives or pretences for withholding the tribute were too weak to justify their conduct, having principally insisted on the reduced state of their treasury, which, as they said, rendered it impracticable to comply with those payments. The right of a creditor does not depend on the circumstances of the debtor; on the contrary, the plea of inability includes a virtual acknowledgment of the debt, since, if the creditor's right were denied, the plea would be superfluous.

That the East India company, having on their part violated the engagements, and renounced the conditions, on which they received, and have hitherto held and enjoyed, the dewanny of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, from the king Shaw Allum, have thereby forfeited all right and title to the said dewanny arising from the said grant, and that it free and open to the said king to resume such grant; and to transfer it to any other prince or state; that, notwithstanding any distress, or

weakness, to which he may be actually reduced,
his lawful authority, as sovereign of the Mogul
empire, is still acknowledged in India, and that
his grant of the dewanny would sufficiently au-
thorize, and materially assist, any prince or state,
that might attempt to dispossess the East India
company thereof, since it would convey a right,
which could not be disputed, and to which
nothing but force could be opposed. Nor can
these opinions be more strongly expressed than
they have been lately by the said Warren Hast-
ings himself, who, in a minute, recorded the
1st of December 1784, has declared, that, "fallen
"as the house of Timur is, it is yet the relick of
"the most illustrious line of the Eastern world ;-
"that its sovereignty is universally acknowledged,
though the substance of it no longer exists; and
"that the company itself derives its constitutional
"dominion from its ostensible bounty."

That the said Warren Hastings by this declaration has renounced and condemned the principle, on which he avowedly acted towards the Mogul in the year 1773, when he denied, that the sunnuds

or grants of the Mogul, if they were in the hands of another nation, would avail them any thing; and when he declared, "that the sword, which gave us "the dominion of Bengal, must be the instrument "of its preservation; and that if it should ever cease to be ours, the next proprietor would de"rive his right and possession from the same "natural charter." That the said Warren Hastings, to answer any immediate purpose, adopts any principle of policy, however false or dangerous, without any regard to former declarations made, or to principles avowed on other occasions by himself; and particularly, that in his conduct to Shaw Allum he first maintained, that the grants of that prince were of no avail; that we held the dominion of Bengal by the sword, which he has falsely declared the source of right, and the natural charter of dominion; whereas at a later period he has declared, that the sovereignty of the family of Shaw Allum is universally acknowledged; and that the company itself derives its constitutional dominion from their ostensible bounty.

III. BENARES.

PART I.

Rights and Titles of the Rajah of Benares.

I.

whatever it might suffer, did in a peculiar manne require, that the governour-general and council of Calcutta should conduct themselves with regard t its rulers and inhabitants, when it became depend ent on the company, on the most distinguished principles of good faith, equity, moderation, and mildness.

II.

That the rajah Bulwant Sing, late prince a zemindar of the province aforesaid, was a greal lord of the Mogul empire, dependent on the same, through the vizier of the empire, the late Sujah ul Dowla, nabob of Oude; and the said Bulwant Sing, in the commencement of the English power, did attach himself to the cause of the English com pany; and the court of directors of the sand company did acknowledge, in their letter of the 26th of May 1768, that "Bulwant Sing's joining

THAT the territory of Benares is a fruitful, and has been, not long since, an orderly, well-cultivated, and improved province; of great extent; and its capital city, as Warren Hastings, Esquire, has informed the court of directors, in his letter of the 21st of November 1781," is highly revered by the "natives of the Hindu persuasion; so that many, "who have acquired independent fortunes, retire "to close their days in a place so eminently dis"tinguished for its sanctity:" and he further acquaints the directors, "that it may rather be con"sidered as the seat of the Hindu religion, than "as the capital of a province. But as its in"habitants are not composed of Hindûs only, us at the time he did was of signal service, and "the former wealth, which flowed into it from the "the stipulation in his favour was what he was offerings of pilgrims, as well as from the trans- justly entitled to;"-and they did commend "actions of exchange, for which its central situa- "the care, that had been taken (by the then pre "tion is adapted, has attracted numbers of Ma-"sidency) of those, that had shewn their attach "homedans, who still continue to reside in it with "ment to them (the company) during the war;" "their families." And these circumstances of the and they did finally express their hope and expec city of Benares, which not only attracted the at- tation in the words following: "the moderation and tention of all the different descriptions of men, who" attention paid to those, who have espoused inhabit Indostan, but interested them warmly in" interests in this war, will restore our

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reputation