LIII.

That, so early as the 6th March 1782, Captain Leonard Jaques, who commanded the forces on duty for the purpose of distressing the several women in the palaces at Fyzabad, did compla n to the Resident, Richard Johnson, in the following words: “the women belonging to the Khord Mo"hul (or lesser palace) complain of their being in "want of every necessary of life, and are at last "driven to that desperation, that they at night get

on the top of the Zenanah, make a great disturb

ance, and last night not only alarmed the cen"tinels posted in the garden, but threw dirt at "them; they threaten to throw themselves from "the walls of the Zenanah, and also to break out "of it. Humanity obliges me to acquaint you of "this matter, and to request to know if you have

any directions to give me concerning it. I also "beg leave to acquaint you I sent for Letafit Ali "Khân, the Cojah, who has the charge of them, "and who informs me it is well grounded, that

they have sold every thing they had, even to the "clothes from their backs, and now have no means of subsisting."

LIV.

That the distresses of the said women grew so urgent on the night of the said 6th of March, the

day

day when the letter above recited was written, that Captain Leonard Jaques aforesaid did think it necessary to write again, on the day following, to the British Resident, in the following words: "I beg leave to address you again concerning the

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women in the Khord Mohul, [the lesser palace]. "Their behaviour last night was so furious, that "there seemed the greatest probability of their "proceeding to the uttermost extremities, and that "they would either throw themselves from the walls,

or force open the doors of the Zenanah. I have

"made every inquiry concerning the cause of their "complaints, and find from Lattafit Ally Khân, "that they are in a starving condition, having sold "all their clothes and necessaries, and now have

not wherewithal to support nature; and as my "instructions are quite silent on this head, I should "be glad to know how to proceed in case they were to force the doors of the Zenanah, as I suspect it will happen, should no subsistence be very quickly sent to them."

LV.

That in consequence of these representations it appears, that the said Resident, Richard Johnson, did promise, that an application should be made to certain of the servants of the Nabob Vizier to provide for their subsistence.

VOL. XII.

E

LVI. That

LVI.

That Captain Jaques being relieved from the duty of imprisoning the women of Suja ul Dowla, the late sovereign of Oude, an ally of the Company, who dwelt in the said lesser palace, and Major Gilpin being appointed to succeed, the same malicious design of destroying the said women, or the same scandalous neglect of their preservation and subsistence, did still continue; and Major Gilpin found it necessary to apply to the new Resident Bristow, in a letter of the 30th of October 1782, as follows:

« Sir,

LVII.

"Last night about eight o'clock the women in "the Khord Mohul [lesser palace] or Zenanah [women's apartment] under the charge of La"tafut Ally Khân, assembled on the tops of the buildings, crying in a most lamentable manner for food, that for the last four days they had got but a very scanty allowance, and that yesterday they "had got none.

cr

LVIII.

"The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from their repre"sentation, I fear the Nabob's agents for that

" business

"business are very inattentive; I therefore think "it requisite to make you acquainted with the "circumstance, that his Excellency the Nabob

may cause his agents to be more circumspect "in their conduct towards these poor unhappy "women."

LIX.

That, although the Resident Bristow did not then think himself authorized to remove the guard, he did apply to the minister of the Nabob, who did promise some relief to the women of the late Nabob, confined in the lesser palace; but apprehending with reason, that the minister aforesaid might not be more ready or active in making the necessary provision for them than on former occasions, he did render himself personally responsible to Major Gilpin for the repayment of any sum, equal to one thousand pounds sterling, which he might procure for the subsistence of the sufferers. But whatever relief was given (the amount thereof not appearing) the same was soon exhausted; and the number of persons to be maintained in the said lesser palace being eight hundred women, the women of the late sovereign, Sujah ul Dowla, and several of the younger children of the said sovereign prince, besides their attendants, Major Gilpin was obliged, on the fifteenth of November following, again to address the Resident by a representation

of this tenour: "Sir, the repeated cries of the "women in the Khord Mohul Zenanah for subsistence have been truly melancholy.

30

"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, "cipher in his [the said minister's] hands)" that

a

the