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jects of any European power, in all cases "wherein they may thwart our interest, or "encroach on our authority; and as Mahomed "Reza Khan can no longer be considered by

us as one to whom such a power can be safely "committed; we trust to your local knowledge "the selection of some person well qualified "for the affairs of government, and of whose "attachment to the Company you shall be well "assured; such person you will recommend to "the Nabob to succeed Mahomed Reza as "minister of the government, and guardian of "the Nabob's minority; and we persuade our"selves that the Nabob will pay such regard to your recommendation, as to invest him with "the necessary power and authority.

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"As the advantages which the Company may receive from the appointment of such "minister, will depend on his readiness to pro"mote our views and advance our interest; we

are willing to allow him so liberal a gratifi"cation as may excite his zeal and secure his "attachment to the Company; we therefore

empower you to grant to the person whom you shall think worthy of this trust, an annual "allowance not exceeding three lacks of rupees, (thirty thousand pounds,) which we consider "not only as a munificent reward for any ser"vices he shall render the Company, but suf"ficient

"ficient to enable him to support his station "with suitable rank and dignity; and here "we must add, that in the choice you shall "make of a person to be the active minister of "the Nabob's government, we hope and trust "that you will shew yourselves worthy of the "confidence we have placed in you, by being "actuated therein by no other motives than "those of the publick good and the safety and "interest of the Company."

Here, my Lords, a person was to be named fit to fill the office and supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan, who was Deputy Viceroy of Bengal, at the head of the criminal justice of the country, and in short at the head of the whole ostensible Mahometan government. He was also to supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan as Naib Dewan, from which Reza Khan was to be removed for you will observe the Director's always speak of a man fit to perform all the duties of Mahomed Reza Khan; and amongst these he was to be as the guardian of the Nabob's person, and the representative of his authority and government.

:

Mr. Hastings having received these orders from the Court of Directors did-what? He alleges in his defence, that no positive commands were given him; but a very sufficient description

description was given of the person who ought to succeed Mahomed Reza Khan, in whom the Company had before recognised all the necessary qualities; and they therefore desire him to name a similar person. But, what does Mr. Hastings do in consequence of this authority? He names no man at all. He searches into the seraglio of the Nabob, and names a woman to be the Viceroy of the province, to be the head of the ostensible government, to be the guardian of the Nabob's person, the conservator of his authority, and a proper representative of the remaining majesty of that government. Well, my Lords, he searched the seraglio. When you have to take into consideration the guardianship of a person of great dignity, there are two circumstances to be attended to; one a faithful and affectionte guardianship of his person; and the other a strong interest in his authority and the means of exercising that authority in a proper and competent

manner.

Mr. Hastings, when he was looking for a woman in the seraglio (for he could find women only there,) must have found actually in authority there the Nabob's own mother; certainly a person who by nature was most fit to be his guardian; and there is no manner of doubt of her being sufficiently competent to that duty. Here then was a legitimate wife of the Nabob

Jaffier Ali

Khan

r

Khan, a woman of rank and distinction, fittest to take care of the person and interests, as far as a woman could take care of them, of her own son. In this situation, she had been placed before, during the administration of Mahomed Reza Khan, by the direct orders of the Governour Sir John Cartier. She had, I say, been put in possession of that trust, which it was natural and proper to give to such a woman. But what does Mr. Hastings do? He deposes this woman. He strips her of her authority with which he found her invested under the sanction of the English government. He finds out a woman in the seraglio called Munny Begum, who was bound to the Nabob by no tie whatever of natural affection. He makes this woman the guardian of the young Nabob's person. She had a son who had been placed upon the Musnud after the death of his father Sujah Dowlah, and had been appointed his guardian. This young Nabob died soon afterwards, and was succeeded by Nuzimut Dowlah, another natural son of Sujah Dowlah. This prince being left without a mother, this woman was suffered to retain the guardianship of the Nabob till his death. When Mobarick ul Dowlah, a legitimate son of Sujah Dowlah, succeeded him, Sir John Cartier did what his duty was, he put the Nabob's own mother into the place which she was naturally entitled to hold,

the

the guardianship of her own son, and displaced Munny Begum. The whole of the arrangement, by which Munny Begum was appointed guardian of the two preceding Nabobs, stands in the Company's records, stigmatized as a transaction base, wicked, and corrupt. We will read to your Lordships, an extract from a letter which has the signature of Mr. Sumner, the gentleman who sits here by the side of Mr. Hastings, and from which you will learn what the Company and the Council thought of the original nomination of Munny Begum and of her son. You will find that they considered her as a great agent, and instrument of all the corruption there; and that this whole transaction by which the bastard son of Munny Begum was brought forward to the prejudice of the legitimate son of the Nabob, was considered to be, what it upon the very face of it speaks itself to be, corrupt and scandalous.

Extract of a general letter from the President and Council at Calcutta Bengal, to the Select Committee of the Directors. Paragraph 5."At Fort Saint George we received the first "advices of the demise of Meer Jaffier, and of

Sujah Dowlah's defeat, it was there firmly "imagined that no definitive measures would "be taken either with respect to a peace or