"women in the Khord Mohul Zenanah for sub"sistence have been truly melancholy.

LX.

They beg most piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious ser“vitude, or to be relieved from their misery by im"mediate death,

LXI.

"In consequence of their unhappy situation, I "have this day taken the liberty of drawing on 66 you in favour of Ramnarain, at ten days sight, "for twenty Son Kerah rupees, ten thousand of " which I have paid to Cojah Latafut Ally Cawn, "under whose charge that Zenanah is."

LXII.

That, notwithstanding all the promises and reiterated engagements of the minister Hyder Beg Khân, the ladies of the palace aforesaid fell again into extreme distress; and the Resident did again complain to the said minister, who was considered to be, and really and substantially was, the minister of the Governour-General Warren Hastings aforesaid, and not of the Nabob (the said Nabob being, according to the said Hastings's own account, a cipher in his [the said minister's] hands)" that

the

the funds allowed for their subsistence were not applied to their support. But notwithstanding all these repeated complaints and remonstrances, and the constant promise of amendment on the part of his, the said Hastings's, minister, the supply was not more plentiful or more regular than before.

LXIII.

Major Gil

18 Nov.

pin's Letter,

1782.

That the said Resident Bristow, finding by experience the inefficacy of the courses, which had been pursued with regard to the mother and grandmother of the reigning Prince of Oude, and having received a report from Major Gilpin informing him, that all, which could be done by force, had been done; and that the only hope, which remained for realizing the remainder of the money, unjustly exacted as aforesaid, lay in more lenient methods; Mr. Brishe, the said Resident, did, of his own authority, ter, 2d Dec. order the removal of the guard from the palaces, the troops being long and much wanted for the defence of the frontier, and other material services; and did release the said ministers of the said women of rank, who had been confined and put in irons, and variously distressed and persecuted, as afore recited, for near twelve months.

LXIV.

That the manner, in which the said inhuman acts of rapacity and violence were felt both by the

tow's Let

1782.

women of high rank concerned, and by all the people, strongly appears in the joy expressed on their release, which took place on the 5th of December 1782; and is stated in two letters of that date from Major Gilpin to the Resident, in the words following:

LXV.

"I have to acknowledge the receipt of your "letter of the 2d instant, and in consequence immediately enlarged the prisoners Behar Ally "Khân and Jewar Ally Khân from their confinement; a circumstance, that gave the Begums, " and the city of Fyzabad in general, the greatest "satisfaction.

66

LXVI.

"In tears of joy Behar and Jewar Ally Khân expressed their sincere acknowledgments to the "Governour-General, his Excellency the Nabob

re

Vizier, and to you, Sir, for restoring them to "that invaluable blessing, liberty, for which they "would ever retain the most grateful remem→ brance; and at their request I transmit you the "enclosed letters.

LXVII.

"I wish you had been present at the enlargement of the prisoners. The quivering lips, with

"the

"the tears of joy stealing down the poor men's

cheeks, was a scene truly affecting.

LXVIII.

"If the prayers of these poor men will avail, you will, at the LAST TRUMP! be translated to "the happiest regions in heaven."

LXIX.

tow's Let

1782.

And the Resident Bristow, knowing how acceptable the said proceeding would be to all the people of Oude, and the neighbouring independent countries, did generously and politically (though not Mr. Bristruly) in his letter to the princess mother attribute ter, 12 Dec. the said relief given to herself, and the release of her ministers, to the humanity of the said Warren Hastings, agreeably to whose orders he pretended to act; asserting, that he the said Hastings was "the spring from whence she was restored to her "dignity and consequence.' And the account of the proceedings aforesaid was regularly transmitted to the said Warren Hastings on the 30th of December 1782, with the reasons and motives thereto, and a copy of the report of the officer concerning the inutility of further force, attended with sundry documents concerning the famishing, and other treatment, of the women and children of the late sovereign; but the same appear to have made no proper impression on the mind of the said

E 4

Warren

Warren Hastings: for no answer whatsoever was given to the said letter until the 3d of March 1783, when the said Hastings, writing in his own character and that of the Council, did entirely pass by all the circumstances before recited, but did give directions for the renewal of measures of the like nature and tendency with those, which (for several of the last months at least of the said proceeding) had been employed with so little advantage to the interest, and with so much injury to the reputation, of the Company, his masters, in whose name he acted; expressing himself in the said letter of the 3d of March 1783, as follows: "We desire you will inform us what means have "been taken for recovering the balance [the pre"tended balance of the extorted money] due from "the Begums [princesses] at Fyzabad; and, if ne

cessary, you must recommend it to the Vizier to enforce the most effectual means for that purpose. And the Resident did, in his answer to the Board, dated 31st March 1783, on this peremptory order, again detail the particulars aforesaid to the said Warren Hastings referring him to his former correspondence, stating the utter impossibility of proceeding further by force, and mentioning certain other disgraceful and oppressive circumstances; and in particular, that the Company did not, in plundering the mother of the reigning prince of her wearing apparel and beasts of carriage, receive a value in

the