resentment of the British Government by a dis-, regard of their proposal, and the destruction of their. ally.

That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer an application to obtain honourable terms for the Ranna, and safety for his person and family, till he had been deprived of his principal fort, in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture of which his wife, to avoid the dishonour consequent upon falling into the hands of her enemies, had destroyed herself by an explosion of gunpowder.

1

That, however, it does not appear that any offer of mediation was ever actually made, or any influence exerted, either for the safety of the Ranna's person and family, or in mitigation of the rigorous intentions supposed by Lieutenant Ander29 Feb- son to have been entertained against him by Madajee Scindia after his surrender.

ruary 1784.

Dated Be. nares 4th of

1781.

That the said Hastings, in the instructions given November by him to Mr. David Anderson for his conduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with the Mahrattas, expressed his determination to desert the Ranna of Gohud, in the following words: you "will of course be attentive to any engagements subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace and alliance with the "Mahrattas; I except from this the Ranna of "Gohud."

22

4

"Gohud."" Leave him to settle his own affairs "with the Mahrattas."

That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for grounds to justify the execution of this part of his instructions, to which, however, he was at all events obliged to conform.

That even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas, whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest to accuse, and their determined object to destroy, the said Ranna, no satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he had entered into with the Company.

That moreover, if all the charges, which have been pretended against the Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of his conduct, had been well founded, and proved to be true, the subject-matter of those accusations, and the proofs, by which they were to be supported, were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the treaty he entered into with Madajee Seindia; and therefore, whatever suspicions may have been entertained, or whatever degree of criminality may have been proved against the said Ranna, previous to the said treaty, from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty, he was fully and justly entitled to the security stipu: lated for him by the Company, and had a right to demand

P 2

demand and receive the protection of the British Government.

That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to the said Warren Hastings, in his letter of the 24th of June 1781, and were enforced by this additional argument, "that in point of

66

policy, I believe, it ought not to be our wish "that the Mahrattas should ever recover the for "tress of Gualior; it forms an important barrier "to our own possessions. In the hands of the "Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; and "notwithstanding the present prospect of a per"manent peace betwixt us and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always "remain some strong barrier to separate us, on "this side of India, from that warlike and power"ful nation.

That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honour, and injuring the credit, of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed," that the most sacred "observance of treaties, justice, and good faith,

were necessary to the existence of the national "interests in that country."-And though the said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by

"the

"the punishment of persons in the possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation "of ambition, avarice, or vengeance, stronger than "the restrictions of integrity and honour, to the ❝ violation of this just and wise maxim."

That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in sacrificing the allies of this country" to the provocations

of ambition, avarice, or vengeance," in violation of the national faith and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was thereby guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.

THAT the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with few exceptions, vested in certain natives, called Zemindars, or Landholders, under whom other natives, called Talookdars and Ryots, hold certain subordinate rights of property, or occupancy, in the said lands that the said natives are Hindoos, and that their rights and privileges are grounded

upon the possession of regular grants, a long series of family succession, and fair purchase:-that it appears that Bengal has been under the dominion of the Mogul, and subject to a Mahommedan Government, for above two hundred years:—that, while the Mogul Government was in its vigour, the property of Zemindars was held sacred; and that either by voluntary grant from the said Mogul, or by composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet, and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quitrent, to the Mogul government:-that this revenue, or quitrent, was called the Aussil Jumma, or original ground-rent, of the provinces, and was not increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573 to 1740, when the regular and effective Mogul Government ended:-that, from that time to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in the Government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was considerably reduced and impoverished, when the EastIndia Company received from the present Mogul emperour, Shâ Alum, a grant of the Dewanny, or collection of the Revenues:-that about the year 1770 the provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished: that Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, that he had always heard the loss of inhabitants

"reckoned