A STATE OF THE BRITISH AUTHORITY IN BENGAL UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF MR. HASTINGS.
[PRICE ONE SHILLING AND SIX-PENCE.]
A STATE OF THE BRITISH AUTHORITY IN BENGAL UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF MR. HASTINGS. EXEMPLIFIED IN HIS CONDUCT IN THE CASE OF MAHOMED REZA KHAN. WITH A DEBATE UPON A LETTER FROM MOBARECK UL DOWLAH, NABOB of BENGAL. From authentic Documents.
LONDON: Printed by H. S. WOODFALL: Sold by J. DODSLEY, Pall-Mall, and R. BALDWIN, Paternoster-Row. MDCCLXXX.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE following Appeal is not addressed to the Passions, or to the People. Local expressions, and even a technical manner, that may perplex and revolt a common Reader, have been unavoidable in a composition of this kind. It is a NARRATIVE OF FACTS, presented to the Understandings and the Consciences of those who are most concerned and best qualified to consider them. It exhibits one great Example of that USURPATION of the Company's Servants, of that SPIRIT of DISOBEDIENCE, I had almost said REBELLION, which, while it threatens our Affairs in India with instant Ruin, holds forth a Solecism in Politics that is a Mockery of every Idea of Government and legal authority. Nor does this Case stand single or unconnected; it was engendered by much Mischief that went before, and was pregnant with more that followed; a full Account of which shall be submitted, in due time, to the Wisdom of the Legislature, and the impartial judgment of the Public.
A GLOSSARY OF THE Moorish Terms that occur in the following Pages.
Adawlet,
Court of Civil Justice
Durbar,
Nabob's Court
Nabob,
the King's Governor of a Province
Naib-Subadar,
the Nabob's Deputy and Lieutenant
Nizam,
Country Prince
Nizamut,
Nizam's Government
Phousdarry or Foujedarree,
Court of criminal Justice
Sircar,
Accountant
Zecaide,
November
☞ Wherever the word
Subadah
occurs, read
Subadar.
A STATE OF THE BRITISH AUTHORITY IN BENGAL UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF MR. HASTINGS.
To make the following Papers intelligible to the Public, it may be necessary to introduce them by a short State of the Facts to which they relate.
19th October, 1774.
WHEN Gen. Clavering, Col. Monson, and Mr. Francis, arrived in Bengal, they found the Nabob Mahomed Reza Cawn, who had for many years filled the first offices of the state, in the greatest distress, and living in a small miserable house near Calcutta, a prisoner at large. He had been divested of his employments, and brought down a prisoner to Calcutta, in a manner the most disgraceful to a person of his high rank, soon after Mr. Hastings's accession to the Government in May 1772. Various charges were then brought against him of embezzlement, mal-administration, &c. and particularly of being concerned in monopolies, which contributed to the famine. On these charges he was publicly tried by the President and Council: And notwithstanding the known and avowed disposition of the Court of Directors (as constituted at that time) to accomplish his ruin; and in spite of the influence of the Government in Bengal, he was honourably acquitted, but not reinstated. His accusers, and their abettors, irritated at their defeat, left this great and good man, (for such he is, if ever a native of India deserved that character) overwhelmed with debts, and ruined by his long attendance in Calcutta, to perish in misery and oblivion; that is, to suffer all the penalties, except loss of honour, which could have been inflicted upon him, if his innocence had not been established as clear as the Sun.
In this condition he remained until the Company's orders of the 3d of March, 1775, were received by the Governor General and Council. In their letter of that date they say,
"that they are well pleased in finding him able to exculpate himself from all the charges brought against him, to the satisfaction of their servants."
They say they can have no objection to his total enlargement; and, in the end, they direct, that
"if he can, with propriety, accept of the office of Roy Royan, he should be forthwith appointed thereto."
On the 18th of October, 1775, the Governor General and Council considering the general intent of the preceding orders, and observing that the Court of Directors had fallen into a mistake with respect to the office of Roy Royan, which could not be held by a Mussulman, determined to recommend Mahomed Reza Cawn to that of Naib Subadar, on the same principles which the Company themselves had adopted, and precisely on the plan which they had positively ordered to be pursued, in their letter of the 28th of August, 1771, for the adminisstration of the affairs of the country government. The resolution of the Board was opposed by Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell, but highly approved of by the Court of Directors. In their letter of the 24th of December, 1776, they say,
"That his abilities have been sufficiently manifested; that official experience qualifies him for so high a station, in a more eminent degree than any other native with whom the Company has been connected: That, as no proofs of mal-administration have been established against him, during the strict investigation of his conduct, or since his retirement, they cannot but approve of the Board's recommendation of him to the Nabob, to constitute him his Naib: That they are well pleased at his having received that appointment; and that they authorize the Board to assure him of their favour."
On the 23d of February, 1778, a letter, in the name of the young Nabob, Mobarick ul Dowla, notoriously fabricated at Calcutta, was produced at the Board. In this letter he is made to assert, that he is arrived at years of maturity, and to demand possession of all the offices held by Mahomed Reza Cawn. The 2d of March was appointed, by agreement, for taking it into consideration. On that day it was resolved, by a majority of the members present, that the Nabob's letter should be referred to the Court of Directors for their determination.
On the 5th of March, the preceding resolution was reversed by the casting voice of Mr. Hastings, united with that of Mr. Barwell, who attended; and all the Nabob's requisitions complied with.
On the 4th of May, the Nabob wrote to the Governor to inform him, that he had appointed Sudder ul Hoc Cawn (a poor superannuated dependant of Mr. Hastings) to be his Naib, and Raja Gourdas (the son of Nuncomar) to the office of the Nizamut. He also desired that the salary allotted by the Company to the support of a Minister of the Government, and lately enjoyed by Mahomed Reza Cawn, might be distributed in the following manner:
To his mother-in-law, Munny Begum,
72,000,0
To his mother Baboo Begum,
36,000,0
To Sudder ul Hoc Cawn,
78,000,0
To Gourdoss,
72,000,0
Sicca Rupees,
2,58,000,0
It is to be observed, however, that this sum exceeds the amount of Mahomed Reza Cawn's salary by 18,000 rupees, which the Nabob desires may be given by the Board, in order that his own revenues may suffer no diminution.
On the 11th of May, 1778, all these requests were complied with by the majority. The Company's orders, on the parts of this transaction which had come to their knowledge, were received at Calcutta the 13th of November, 1779. The following extracts from their letter of the 4th of February, 1779, contain an exact copy of them.
Extract of Company's General Letter to Bengal, dated
the 4th February, 1779.
No. I.
PARAGRAPH 8.
We by no means approve your late proceedings on the application of the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah for the removal of the Naib Soubahdah. The requisition of Mobareck ul Dowlah was improper and unfriendly, because he must have known, that the late appointment of Mohamed Reza Kawn to the office of Naib Subahdah [Minister] had been marked with the Company's special approbation, and that the Court of Directors had assured him of their favour, so long as a firm attachment to the Company's interest, and a proper discharge of the duties of his station, would render him worthy of their protection. We therefore repeat our declaration, that to require the dismission of a prime minister thus circumstanced, without producing the smallest proof of his infidelity to the Company, or venturing to charge him with one instance of mal-administration in the discharge of his public duty, was improper and inconsistent with the friendship subsisting between the Nabob of Bengal and the Company.
PARAGRAPH 9.
Admitting the Nabob's complaint, that Mahomet Reza Kawn is not connected with him by relative ties, to be well founded, it by no means follows that he has been deficient in duty or sincere attachment to him, or that his power is oppressive and dishonourable to the Nabob and his family; nor can assertions of this nature, unattended by proof, have any weight with us.
PARAGRAPH 10.
In regard to the Nabob's claim, to take charge of his own affairs merely because he is of age and thinks himself capable of conducting them, we find it declared by one of your members and not contradicted, that he knew with certainty, that the Nabob is in his own person utterly incapable of executing any of those offices which were deemed of essential importance to the welfare of the country; and we are sorry to find that neither this declaration, nor the Protests of two Members of the Council, seem to have been thought worthy of an answer by the majority of the Board.
PARAGRAPH 11.
The Nabob hopes from your favour and justice, to be delivered from the authority of Mahomet Reza Khan. He ventures to declare the Company solely indebted to the warm support of his ancestors for their present greatness and advantages. He claims the management and administration of the Soubahdarrie as his right, and says it will be highly inequitable in the Company to refuse their approbation to his request.
PARAGRAPH 12.
We pass over these extraordinary suggestions of the Nabob without reply; only observing, that in justice to him and ourselves, we must take the best care in our power of the peace and internal good government of the country; and we are not disposed to hazard the effects which might be occasioned by committing the entire management thereof to his inexperience, without enjoining him to accept such assistance, and to employ such ministers about his person, as may be deemed necessary on the part of the India Company.
PARAGRAPH 13.
The 23d of February we find the Nabob's letter and a question thereon was circulated to the different members of the Board for their opinions to be taken at the next meeting of Council, which meeting happened on the 2d March; but one of the members being indisposed, did not attend at that Board.
PARAGRAPH 14.
We have carefully noticed your debates upon the subject. The resolution of Council of that day, that the Nabob's letter should be referred to the Court of Directors, for their decision, and that no resolution should be taken in Bengal on his requisitions without our special orders and instructions, appears to us very proper: we must therefore express our disapprobation on finding the said resolution rescinded, on the frivolous pleas urged by the majority of the Board three days afterwards.
PARAGRAPH 15.
If the absence of a member of Council were sufficient to preclude the discussion of any subject which might have been referred for consideration by a former Board, or to invalidate resolutions taken during such absence, it would be in the power of any member effectually to defeat the ends proposed by the institution of a Council, and to put a total stop to public business. We shall not waste time in refuting claims of privilege advanced on this occasion, because they appear to us unworthy of consideration, and beneath all argument.
PARAGRAPH 16.
The Nabob having intimated that he had repeatedly stated the trouble and uneasiness which he had suffered from the Naibship of the Nizamut being vested in Mahomed Reza Khan, we observe one of the members of your Board desired the Nabob's repeated letters on the subject might be read; but this reasonable request was over-ruled, on a plea of saving the Board's time, which we can by no means admit as a sufficient objection.
PARAGRAPH 17.
The Nabob's letters of the 25th and 30th of August, of the 3d of September and 17th of November, leave us no doubt of the true design of this extraordinary business being to bring forward the Munny Begum, and again to invest her with improper power and influence, notwithstanding our former declarations, that so great a part of the Nabob's allowance had been embezzled or misapplied under her superintendance.
PARAGRAPH 18.
Instead of your declaring that the Nabob's demands were grounded on positive rights, which will not admit of discussion; that the Nizamut is his inheritance; that the dependants of the Nizamut, Adawlet, and Phousdarry appertain to that inheritance; that as he is pleased to demand and assert the positive rights of his office as Nizam of the provinces, there is no ground for denying his request; and that a reference to the Company would be an evasion unbecoming the honour of government, the Nabob might have been reminded that a Naib Subahdar was appointed, and the office continued without interruption or objection during the government of his ancestors, who must have been supposed more capable of governing the provinces than a youth of twenty years of age.
PARAGRAPH 19.
You have requested this unexperienced young man to permit all the present Judges and Officers of the Nizamut and Foujedarry, Adawlets, or courts of criminal justice; and also all the Foujedars or officers appointed to guard the peace of the country to continue in office until he, the Nabob, shall have formed a plan for a new arrangement of those officers; and it is with equal surprize and concern that we observe this request introduced, and the Nabob's ostensible rights so solemnly asserted at this period by our Governor General, because, on a late occasion, to serve a very different purpose, he has not scrupled to declare it as visible as the light of the sun, that the Nabob is a mere pageant, and without even the shadow of authority. No circumstance has happened since that declaration was made to render the Nabob more independent, nor to give him any degree of power or consequence; you must therefore have been well apprized that your late concessions to Mobareck ul Dowlah were unnecessary, and as such unwarrantable.
PARAGRAPH 20.
As we deem it for the welfare of the country that the office of Naib Soubahdar be for the present continued, and that this high office be filled by a person of wisdom, experience, and of approved fidelity to the Company; and as we have no reason to alter the opinion given of Mahomed Reza Khan, in our letter of the 24th December 1776, we positively direct, that you forthwith signify to the Nabob, Mobareck ul Dowlah our pleasure, that Mahomed Reza Khan be immediately restored to the office of Naib Soubahdar; and we further direct that Mahomed Reza Khan be again assured of the continuance of our favor so long as a firm attachment to the interest of the Company, and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall render him worthy of our protection.
London,
4th of February 1779.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Board.
Pub. Dep. Consult.
22 Nov. 1779.
Sir EYRE COOTE, absent.
Mr. BARWELL, retired.
Mr. Francis.
I move that the Company's orders, for the immediate reinstatement of Mahomed Reza Cawn in the offices he held in January 1778, be carried into execution, and that a copy of the last paragraph of the Company's letter of the 4th of February 1779, together with an exact Persian translation thereof, be transmitted to the Nabob Mobarruck ul Dowla, and to Mahomed Reza Cawn, with a requisition on the part of the Governor General and Council to the Nabob, to conform to the injunctions of the Court of Directors expressed in that paragraph. This motion of course supposes that the Governor General shall be requested to signify the resolution of the Board on this subject, in the usual manner, by Letter to the Nabob.
Mr. Wheeler.
I agree to the motion.
Governor General.
I must beg leave to decline an immediate answer to the motion, which I will deliver at our next meeting, which it has been agreed shall be held to-morrow morning.
Mr. Francis.
I must beg that a formal resosolution on the motion may be taken now. It could not be unexpected, and the more so, as I particularly requested Mr. Barwell to stay. I cannot therefore be suspected of want of candor in pressing for the resolution now. I came determined to propose it.
Governor General.
Since Mr. Francis, taking an advantage of the absence of one of the members, has insisted on an immediate decision of the question, I am compelled to give my affirmative or negative to it. I have declared that I am not come prepared to deliver my opinion upon a subject of so much delicacy, and involving so many consequences. I should have been glad to have been allowed some time to consider the nature and tendency of the order, and to have accommodated the execution of it to all the circumstances which ought to be taken into consideration in the determination upon it: the time that I have required is but the short interval between this hour of three in the afternoon, and the hour of ten to-morrow morning; however, as this privilege is now denied me, I shall in this place, and at this time, simply content myself with delivering my negative to the motion in the terms in which it is made.
Mr. Francis.
I could have no idea of availing myself of Mr. Barwell's absence. Every Gentleman at the Board I believe heard me solicit him to stay; much less could I have a view of surprizing the Governor General on a subject on which he might be unprepared. The Company's Letter was received on Saturday the 13th instant, though it has happened that I myself did not see it till Friday last.
Resolved
in the affirmative.
Council,
23 Nov. 1779.
PRESENT,
The GOVERNOR GENERAL,
Mr. BARWELL,
Mr. FRANCIS,
Mr. WHELER.
The Governor General
moves, That the 8th, 9th, 10th, &c. to 20th paragraphs of the separate general letter by the Barker, dated the 4th February, 1778, with Mr. Francis's motion, and the resolution of the Board thereon be again read.—Agreed.
The Governor General
moves, That the Opinions of the Board be taken, whether the above resolution shall be approved.
Mr. Wheler.
I should be glad to ask the Governor General, whether he makes this motion upon the principle of confirming the minutes of the former Council, or on account of the absence of Mr. Barwell at the time when the Question was debated?
The Governor General.
I have put the question in conformity to the constitution and actual existing rule of this Government, that all acts and orders passed at any meeting of the Board shall be approved in the succeeding Council, to give them their sanction; and I avail myself of this right, on account of the advantage which was yesterday taken on account of Mr. Barwell's absence.
Mr. Wheler.
I am very sorry to be under the necessity of observing, that although I have had the honour of sitting at this Board hear two years, it is, to the best of my recollection, the very first instance that the order, necessary to give a sanction to our proceedings, as described by the Governor General, has been complied with, in the sense I believe it is now meant. I see no occasion for the present question, and therefore I am against it.
The Governor General.
It is not necessary that this form should be observed in every instance. It is always supposed, when the Members of the Board tacitly agree to the omission of it, the formular preface of every consultation being sufficient to imply it.
Mr. Wheler.
The minutes of every Board or Public Assembly that I have had the honour to attend, are constantly read at a subsequent meeting of such Board or Assembly, in order that every member may be fully satisfied that what he has said or entered upon the records is faithfully represented or transcribed. But I know not a single instance when the minutes of any Board or Assembly have been read at a subsequent meeting with a view to overset the resolutions of a former meeting; if that was admitted in numerous assemblies, no question could ever be finally decided. The objection, in my opinion, if it is so meant, holds equally strong, and I am convinced will be treated with equal disgust by our superiors, as they have already treated an act not very dissimilar to this.
Mr. Francis.
The resolution taken yesterday was legal and compleat; it wants no confirmation, though it may be reversed. The official form observed in the proceedings of a former Government, and continued under ours, is merely a form; and so little is it ever regarded, that the orders of one Council are constantly executed, if the time permits, before the meeting of the next.
Mr. Wheler has assigned the true and only reason for the observance of such a form: whatever use or convenience there may be in continuing to observe it, it cannot operate against a positive provision of an act of Parliament, made since the form in question was first instituted, and which, of course, supersedes it, if in reality it had ever had the effect and operation which the Governor General now attributes to it.—The law says,
"That in all cases whatsoever, wherein any difference of opinion shall arise upon any question proposed in any consultation, the Governor General and Council shall be bound and concluded by the opinion and decision of the major part of those present."
—The conclusion, by which the Council is bound, is instant and absolute; there is no reference to the confirmation of a subsequent meeting. I am sorry the Governor General should repeat an objection, already, as I think, compleatly answered. I am not to blame if Mr. Barwell, notwithstanding my urgent request to the contrary, left the Board yesterday at an early hour. I should have been much better pleased if he had staid, because I should then have had the labour of one debate only, instead of two. On this subject I need say nothing more, since the Court of Directors themselves have taken it up in a similar instance, and given their opinion decidedly upon it, in the 15th paragraph of the letter now before us.
Mr. Barwell.
Had the resolution simply gone to the execution of the Company's orders, from the sentiments delivered by the Governor General at the last meeting, the present question would not have been agitated. His objection to Mr. Francis's motion strikes me as confined to the mode that motion prescribes for carrying those orders into execution. Mr. Francis's motion, in my opinion, conveys such sentiments as are not authorized by the Company's letter. In the body of the motion I find these words,
"with a requisition of the Governor General and Council to the Nabob, to conform to the injunctions of the Court of Directors."
I know of no injunctions that the Court have laid on the Nabob, and I imagine the use of any offensive terms or improper management on a subject of so delicate a nature, would be highly reprehensible. I therefore vote for rescinding the resolution of the last Council, so far as regards the mode of executing the orders of the Council, but no farther. I agree to the motion, that the order be executed, but am for leaving the manner of doing it to the discretion of the Governor General. From nothing that the Governor General has urged in the course of the debate of yesterday, do I perceive the least disposition in him to decline the instructions which the Court of Directors have been pleased to give relative to a Naib Soubah.
Governor General.
With all the respect and submission, which I owe and feel for the authority of the Court of Directors, I must declare, that I shall not yield, even to that authority, in any instance, in which it shall require my concession of the rights which I hold under an act of Parliament. Those rights are formal obligations, with which I am not permitted to dispense; neither can I optionally relinquish my own claim to a practice which was followed by Mr. Francis himself, when he formed one of the majority of the Council, and which receives the approbation of the Court of Directors themselves. I acknowledge the obligation I owe to Mr. Francis for the trouble he has taken in helping me to one instance in consultations 14th September 1775, in which a resolution passed at the preceding consultations, which was contrary to the sense and general tenor of the measures proposed by the ruling members of the Board, was rescinded by a following motion, formally introduced and made by myself. If this mode is illegal or irregular, it was equally so as at that time; but Mr. Francis then made no objection to it, but, in the opinion delivered upon my motion, simply said, He thought the order should be repeated. I recollect also, that in a similar instance motions were made, either by Mr. Francis or by the other members of the majority in concert with him, for reading and confirming the proceedings held by them during the absence of Mr. Barwell and myself, both in this and in the revenue department. I will not take up the time of the Board in looking out for the instances, but shall desire the secretary to annex them to this minute. The evident intent of these motions was to authenticate all the acts which were considered by the members of the majority as the legal acts of the Board, but were disputed and disavowed by Mr. Barwell and myself; and, by obtaining such a formal approbation of them, to remove the objections which had been made, or which might lie against their validity. Respecting the question now before the Board, I disapprove of the Resolution, as not being warranted by the Orders of the Court of Directors; and I think it would be disingenuous and unjust in this Board to exceed the positive orders of the Company, in annulling a concession made by them to the Nabob, and acknowledged as his due.
Mr. Francis.
The Governor General has very fully proved a proposition which has never been disputed; that a resolution taken at one Board may be reversed at the next. I must have lost my memory and my senses if I had denied it. I do not make profession of such extraordinary candour, as to furnish an opponent with arguments against myself. In pointing out to the Governor General the consultation of the 15th September 1775, I meant to give him an instance in point, which I thought established a conclusion directly the reverse of that which he has drawn from it. The Court of Directors will find, in the proceedings of that day, that I entered a Dissent and Protest against a Resolution taken at the preceding Council, but that I neither disputed its validity, nor proposed to reverse, or even to reconsider it. The proposition for that purpose came from the Governor General himself, and was strictly regular and legal. It would have been in point had he proved that, in the case in question, I insisted that the resolution of the preceding day wanted the confirmation of the next, and that on that ground I had proposed to reconsider it. With respect to the present question, the instance proves nothing. In the other examples quoted by the Governor General, and which I perfectly remember, the fact was this: The legality of the separate meetings held by General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and myself was expressly and formally denied. That reason alone, I presume, induced General Clavering to propose, and Colonel Monson and myself to agree, that the resolutions taken in such separate meetings should be confirmed at the next full meeting of the Board. Whether such confirmation was necessary or not, the example does not support the Governor General's argument. The question now is, Whether acts done at a meeting of the Board confessedly regular and legal, require any subsequent confirmation; not, Whether such meeting was or was not in itself legal. But, setting aside this sort of argument; precedents prove nothing against a positive right, especially where that right itself is not in issue. We may go on for any length of time, by negligence or agreement, in following forms which nobody regards. The question is not fairly in issue, until they are formally insisted upon and denied, and some important use attempted to be made of them. If the motion I made yesterday did not correspond with the Governor General's idea of the sense of the Company's orders, I should have held myself indebted to him for any amendment he might have thought fit to propose; and assuredly I should have given it the most respectful attention. The profound silence he observed made it impossible for me to judge whether his objection went to the whole of the motion, or to any part of it, or merely to the form proposed of carrying the Company's orders into execution.
Governor General.
Whatever doubts were entertained of the legality of the acts done by a part of the Board, after my declaration of the dissolution of the actual meeting, these doubts were not entertained by Mr. Francis, who declared the acts to be legal; therefore, with respect to him, the subsequent motion and order, to read and approve their proceedings, could not be construed as intended to give them that legality which they wanted, though they might be covertly intended so, by the application of an ancient constitutional form to that effect. But I will here close my part of the argument, since I perceive that we dispute only on words, Mr. Francis admitting that a resolution taken at one Board may be reversed at the next. I offer to his option that motion which I have already made, or the motion which I now make, That the former resolution be reversed. And I hereby declare my opinion for reversing the former resolution. Mr. Barwell has already done it in terms. I confess that in this proposal I am irregular, but I had rather incur that imputation than suffer the time of the Board to be any longer wasted by a fruitless and a verbal dispute.
In this place I shall beg leave to contrast my own conduct with Mr. Francis's; that, since I have been a member of this or any other government, I have never, in one single instance, if I may trust to my own memory, and the fullest conviction of what I assert, descended to a practice which I should have held unworthy of my own principles, of which I have had too frequent occasion to complain in Mr. Francis, by taking the advantage of an occasional and accidental majority to carry any measure contrary to the sense of the ruling members. Even in the first instance, which I have quoted, I introduced a question, for the sake of giving consistency to the orders of the Board, although it was productive, and so intended, of the repeal of a resolution of the Board, which had received my concurrence at the former meeting of it.
Mr. Francis.
I object to both the motions, though for different reasons. I object to reversing the resolution of the last Board, because I deem it a most unwarrantable exercise of a power, the existence of which I am obliged to admit. No specific reason is yet assigned for it. To the latter part of the Governor General's last minute I shall only say, that I hope I shall not always suffer in a comparison between his principles of action and mine. If he has had
too frequent
occasion to complain of my taking advantage of accidental majorities, the word
frequent
must refer to more instances than two. It will rest with him to produce more instances, if there are any. I myself know of none, in which he has lost any question by Mr. Barwell's absence, but that of the one before us, and the former one of the 2d of March 1778, on the same subject. The resolution which the Governor General proposed to have reconsidered on the 14th of Sept. 1775, interrupted a series of measures formed on a different principle. I think he did right in proposing to reconsider it. This is a single act, which has no connection with any thing else.
Resolved,
That the resolution of yesterday be reversed.
The Governor General
moves,
"That the pleasure of the Court of Directors, signified in the 20th Paragraph of the general letter of the 4th February last, and the assurance therein directed to be given to Mahomed Reza Cawn, be communicated to the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah in the words of the general letter."
Mr. Francis.
I have no objection to the motion as far as it goes; but, if the communication of the Company's intentions be not accompanied by a formal requisition from this government, it is not impossible that they may be defeated. I therefore move the following addition to the motion,
"That the Governor General be requested to signify to the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah, in the usual form, the requisition of the Governor General and Council, for his immediate compliance with the pleasure of the Court of Directors."
Mr. Wheeler.
I agree to the motion, and likewise to the amendment.
Mr. Barwell.
I agree to the motion. I cannot be a judge of the terms that Mr. Francis would have used in the letter proposed to be written by the Governor General to the Nabob from the general terms in which his amendment is expressed. The Governor General can have no objection to submit the terms, in which he makes the communication of the Company's sentiments to the Nabob and Mahomed Reza Cawn, to the Board before the letters shall be sent. If those are at all defective, such additions may be proposed to them, as, in the judgment of any of the members, may appear necessary. I think Mr. Francis is premature in following the Governor General's motion with another. It seems to speak some preknowledge of the difficulties to which our government is subjected, and that no small degree of coercion must necessarily support the recommendations of the Company. I give my vote simply for the Governor General's motion, reserving my opinion for any amendments that may be offered to the letters proposed to be written, when such are offered in precise terms, as essential to answer the intentions of the Company, and consistent with those intentions.
Mr. Francis.
The motion is confined to a bare communication of the Company's orders; how it may operate I do not know; but, as this government is the medium through which all the Company's orders are carried into execution, it seems to me unusual at least, to leave them, in this single instance, to execute themselves. As for the rest, I have no distrust of the Nabob, and hope he will comply with them.
Governor General.
I agree to the question. I object to the amendment. My reasons have been assigned in the preceding minutes; I will not therefore repeat them.
Resolved,
In the terms of the Governor General's motion.
Copy of a Letter proposed by the Governor General to be written to the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowla.
"A Letter having been received from the Honourable Court of Directors by the ship lately arrived from Europe, in which they have thought proper to signify their pleasure, that Mahomed Reza Khan be immediately restored to the office of Naib Subah, and to direct that he be again assured of the continuance of their favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest of the Company, and a proper Discharge of the Duties of his station shall render him worthy of their protection;"
it becomes my duty therefore, in compliance with their orders, to communicate the same to your Highness.
The same to Mahomed Reza Khan, mutatis mutandis.
24 November, 1779.
Mr. Francis.
I do not disapprove of the Letter to the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowla, as far as it goes, except that the whole of the last paragraph of the Company's Letter of the 4th of February should be recited in it. But I think that this recital should be followed by a formal requisition on the part of the Governor General and Council, demanding his compliance with the Company's pleasure. I have no personal distrust of the Nabob, but he is too young and inexperienced to judge for himself; nor am I sure that very dangerous advice may not be given him by some persons immediately interested in the arrangement of Mahomed Reza Cawn's offices and salary. The communication of the Company's pleasure, in its present form, appears to me irregular, and I believe it to be wholly unprecedented. The authority of the Court of Directors over the government of these provinces (which in effect is that of the nation over a dependent dominion) does not act directly and immediately on the things or persons subject to it in India, but always through the medium of their local representatives. The omission of the use of this medium, in a single and in so remarkable an instance, may possibly suggest to the Nabob or his advisers, that there is a reluctance in the Governor General and Council to execute the Company's orders, and furnish them with some formal pretence for not complying with them, which otherwise would not be attempted.
For these reasons I deem the proposed letter essentially defective and incomplete, and am therefore against it.
Translation of a Letter from the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah, inclosed in a Letter from the Resident at the Durbar, dated the 10th, and received the 12th of December, 1779.
I have been favoured with your friendly letter under date the 21st of Zecaide.
You write,
"that a letter has been lately received from the Court of Directors, expressing their pleasure that the Nabob Mahomed Reza Khan be restored to the office of Naib Subah."
My Patron! When the aforesaid Nabob was first appointed to the Naib Subahship, it was entirely on this account, that by reason of my tender age I could not transact my own affairs in person, but required the assistance of a Naib. When I became of age there was no further occasion for a Naib, and I accordingly wrote you on the subject, and informed you that I would take on myself the management of my own affairs, and had no further use for a Naib; and as this was perfectly reasonable, you, in council, gave your sanction thereto, and favoured me with a letter, authorizing me to take the administration on myself, and to dismiss the said Nabob, which was accordingly done; and from that time to the present, the affairs of the Nizamut, Foujedaree, and Adaulet dependant on the Nizamut have been conducted on that plan by my authority. The letter lately received from the Court of Directors, signifying their pleasure that the said Nabob be restored to the Naib Subahship, fills me with the greatest astonishment, nor can I penetrate the motive of it. Perhaps the circumstance of my having arrived at years of maturity has not yet reached the ears of the Court of Directors in Europe; and notwithstanding the number of children and dependents which I have, they still reckon me an infant; otherwise would they have determined to place my family under the authority of another, and written you for that purpose? In a word, it was necessary that I should inform you of my situation, which I formerly did; and it depended on you to transmit such information to the Court of Directors.
It is notorious that the meanest of the people will not admit of the authority of a stranger in their families, how can it then be expected of me? In a word, I administer the affairs of the Nizamut, which are in fact the affairs of my own family, by my own authority, and shall do so; and I can never, on any account, agree to the appointment of the said Nabob to the Naib Subahship, which would bring the greatest dishonour, disgrace, and contempt on me. I will never, of my own consent, admit the said Nabob to any authority in the affairs of the Nizamut, Foujedaree, and Adawlet, dependant on the Nizamut; and from motives of justice I expect, that regarding the rights which my late father is allowed to have had on the Company, you will never consent that any compulsion be put in practice against me on account of this business, and that you will use every means for the preservation of my credit, honour, and dignity.
Council,
15th December 1779.
Read the letters from Mobareck ul Dowlah and Mahomed Reza Khan.
Mr. Francis.
I must request the attention of the Board to a short recapitulation of the principal steps taken, and declarations made by the Nabob and by this government, in relation to the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan, and to the succeeding distribution of the several offices held by him.
In a letter received from the Nabob on the 17th of November 1777, he desires,
"That Munny Begum may be allowed to take on herself the administration of the affairs of the Nizamut, without the interference of any other person whatever;"
and adds that,
"by this the Governor will give him compleat satiffaction."
In his next letter, he desires
"that Mahomed Reza Khan may be removed,"
and expresses his hopes that,
"as he himself is now come to years of maturity, and by the blessing of God is not so devoid of understanding as to be incapable of conducting his own affairs, the Governor will give him the management of the affairs of the Nizamut, and of his own household, together with the administration of the Adawlet and Phouzdarry."
As the Court of Directors themselves have fully discussed the claims and pretensions stated in this letter, I shall not attempt to add any thing to their observations thereupon.
On the 7th of March 1773, a letter from the Governor informs the Nabob, that
"it had been agreed, that his Excellency being now arrived at years of maturity, the control of his own household, and of the Courts dependent on the Nizamut and Phouzdarry, should be placed in his hands, and Mahomed Reza Khan was directed at the same time to resign his authority to the Nabob."
In a letter received from the Nabob, on the 4th of May 1778, he says,
"he has made choice of Sudder ul Hoc Khan to fill the station of Naib of his Adawlet and Phouzdarry, and of Raja Gourdoss for the office of the Nizamut; and desires that Mahomed Reza Khan's salary may be divided between those two persons and the two Begums."
On the requests contained in the letter, and immediately complied with, I have nothing to add to the remarks stated in my minutes of the 7th of May 1778, except that there could not be a grosser contradiction than first to remove Mahomed Reza Khan, on pretence of the Nabob's executing the several offices himself, and immediately afterwards to appoint other persons to execute those offices, and at the same time to give a considerable portion of the salary annexed to them to the two Begums.
Sudder ul Hoc Khan, in a letter received 1st September 1778, says,
"His Highness himself is not deficient in regard for me, but certain bad men have gained an ascendancy over his temper, by whose instigation he acts."
After complaining of the slights he receives from the Nabob, he adds,
"Thus they cause the Nabob to treat me sometimes with indignity, at other times with kindness, just as they think proper to advise him; their view is, that by compelling me to displeasure at such unworthy treatment, they may force me either to relinquish my station, or to join with them and act by their advice, and appoint creatures of their recommendation to the different offices, from which they might draw profit to themselves."
In a subsequent letter to the Governor, Sudder ul Hoc Khan says,
"The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the advice of their counsellors caused the Nabob to sign a receipt, in consequence of which they received, at two different times, near 50,000 rupees in the name of the officers of the Adawlet, Phouzdarry, &c. from the Company's Sircar; and having drawn up an account current in the manner they wished, they got the Nabob to sign it, and then sent it to me."
In the same letter he asserts, that these people have the Nabob intirely in their power.
On the 1st of September 1778, the Governor informs the Nabob, that it is highly expedient that Sudder ul Hoc Khan should have full control in all matters relative to his office, and the sole appointment and dismission of the Sudder and Mofussil officers, and that his seal and signature should be authentic to all papers having relation to the business entrusted to him; I therefore intimate to you that he should appoint and dismiss all the officers under him, and that your Excellency should not interfere in any one.
The Nabob, in a letter to the Governor received 3d September 1778, says,
"Agreeably to your pleasure I have relinquished all concern with the affairs of the Phouzdarry and Adawlet, leaving the intire management of them in Sudder ul Hoc Khan's hands."
Sudder ul Hoc Khan, in a letter received 30th September, says,
"Yatibar Ally Cawn, Munny Begum's chief Eunuch, from the amount of the salaries of the officers of the Adawlet and Phouzdarry, which before my arrival he had received for two months from the Sircar, made disbursements according to his own pleasure. He had before caused the sum of 7400 rupees, on account of the price of mine and my Paishere's Kellaats, to be carried to account, and now continually sends a man to demand from me four thousand three hundred and odd rupees, as the balance of the price of Kellaats, and constantly presses me to take it from the amount of the salaries of the officers of the Adawlet and Phouzdarry, and send it to him; and I shall be under the necessity of complying. I mention this for your information."
The Governor General's letter to the Nabob, dated the 10th of October 1778, contains a representation so pointed, and so very just, of the fatal effects which had attended the Nabob's interfering in the administration of justice, that I shall insert it intire, but without any comment; in fact it speaks too plainly to require one.
"At your Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul Hoc Khan to take on him the administration of the affairs of the Adawlet and Phouzdarry, and hoped by that means not only to have given satisfaction to your Excellency, but that, through his abilities and experience, these affairs would have been conducted in such a manner as to have secured the peace of the country, and the happiness of the people; and it is with the greatest concern I learn, that this measure is so far from being attended with the expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Phouzdarry and Adawlet are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and murders are perpetrated throughout the country.
This is evidently owing to the want of a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend them. I therefore addressed your Excellency on the importance and delicacy of the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging full power in the hands of the person chosen to administer them. In reply to which, your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with mine; notwithstanding which, your dependents and people, actuated by selfish and avaritious views, have, by their interference, so impeded the business, as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion, from which nothing can retrieve it but an unlimited power lodged in the hands of the superintendant. I therefore request that your Excellency will give the strictest injunctions to all your dependents not to interfere in any manner with any matter relative to the affairs of the Adawlet and Phouzdarry; and that you will yourself relinquish all interference therein, and leave them intirely to the management of Sudder ul Hoc Khan. This is absolutely necessary to restore the country to a state of tranquillity: and if your Excellency has any plan to propose for the management of the affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to me, and every attention shall be paid to give your Excellency satisfaction. In the mean time, I have given directions to Sudder ul Hoc Khan to take the sole management of them into his own hands, and to apply assiduously to the restoration of tranquillity and good order in the country: and I must request that your Excellency will confirm them by similar orders to him, otherwise a measure which I adopted at your Excellency's request, and with a view to your satisfaction and the benefit of the country, will be attended with quite contrary effects, and bring discredit on me."
From the preceding correspondence, I think it appears beyond dispute, that the Nabob himself has hitherto been a mere cypher through the whole transaction, or rather an instrument, in the hands of Munny Begum and others, employed by them, and for their purposes only, to accomplish the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan: That these people have made a most dangerous and iniquitous use of the Nabob's name and authority, while they had both at their disposal: And that the Governor General himself was convinced that the interference of the Nabob, or of those who acted for him in the affairs of the Nizamut, had been attended with the most ruinous consequences, which he accordingly endeavoured to obviate, by directing him not to concern himself in any shape in the conduct of the business intrusted to the Naib Subadar.
With respect to the Nabob, I shall only observe, that his letters involve him in a very disgraceful dilemma. If I could believe it possible that, freely, and of his own mere motion, he could recommend,
"
That Munny Begum should take on herself the management of the affairs of the Nizamut, without the interference of any other person;
that he should in one letter desire to conduct the affairs of the Nizamut himself, and in the next, that a Naib should be appointed to conduct them for him, I should give little credit to the assertion with which these requests are accompanied, viz.
"
that he is not devoid of understanding.
"
He may arrive at years of maturity; but if, at the age of twenty-one, he does not perceive the folly and absurdity of such propositions, and such contradictions, I should despair of his ever arriving at years of discretion. On the other hand, if these letters are written for him, which I am thoroughly satisfied is the case; if he has no will of his own, and if the rights and authorities demanded in his name are in reality to devolve to Munny Begum, to her chief eunuch, and to the other persons of whose misconduct the late Naib Subadar made so many complaints to the Governor, what opinion are we to entertain of his Excellency's understanding and veracity; or on what ground can we commit the management of such important affairs to a young man so dependant on Munny Begum, and evidently so incapable of judging or acting for himself?
I now proceed to the last orders from the Court of Directors: they consider the whole subject in the same light that I do: they acknowledge no right of inheritance in the Nabob: they understand every ostensible accession to his power as a real one to that of Munny Begum: they deem it for the welfare of the country that the office of Naib Subadar should be continued; and they positively direct us forthwith to signify to the Nabob their pleasure, that Mahomed Reza Khan be immediately restored to it.
But notwithstanding they had a thorough knowledge of the facts, and were perfectly acquainted with all the characters, they certainly were not aware of the possibility of such a case as now exists, or they would have provided against it. They did not foresee that their positive orders would not be inforced by this government, or that such orders would be disobeyed. When they read the Nabob's late letters, the false and frivolous pretences on which he ventures to counteract and defeat an arrangement which the Company have deemed necessary for the welfare of the country will astonish them no less than our acquiescence in such pretences.
First, He says,
"that he had formerly written to the Governor that he had no farther occasion for a Naib, and would himself conduct his own affairs:"
And he asserts, that since the dismission of Mahomed Reza Khan to the present time, the business had been conducted under his own immediate direction. Is it possible he should forget, that in consequence of Sudder ul Hoc Khan's appointment, the Governor had expressly required him not to interfere, and that the Nabob had thereupon relinquished all concern with the affairs of the Fouzdarry and Adawlet, and left the entire management of them in the hands of the Naib. In his next letter he talks of the rights of his deceased father, as well as his own, as if the office of Nazim were hereditary. He talks of his claims on the Company, as if he held by some other title than their friendship and protection; or, as if either he or his father had any right in the Subadary beyond what they derived from the voluntary acts of the Company, or of their representatives. He says, he never will admit Mahomed Reza Khan to possess any degree of authority in his family; and that as Sudder ul Hoc Khan is dead, he shall take on himself the management of the business. In his last letter he observes, that Mahomed Reza Khan was at first appointed on account of his, the Nabob's, tender age, which required the assistance of a Naib; forgetting not only that a Naib Subadar was appointed, and the office executed without objection during the government of his predecessors, but that he himself had submitted, about a year ago, to the appointment of Sudder ul Hoc Khan; and that the latter continued to execute his several offices till his death, with powers totally and avowedly independent of the Nabob: he forgets, or perhaps he does not know, that the treaty of March, 1770, by which alone his rights, whatever they may be, were created, provides for the appointment of a Naib of the provinces, to be invested with the management of affairs; and that this Naib was appointed at the instance of the Governor and Gentlemen of the Council. In the same letter the Nabob declares, that he administers the affairs of the Nizamut
by his own authority, and
shall do so;
and that he never can, on any account, agree to the appointment of Mahomed Reza Khan to the Naib Soubaship.
The Governor General's letter of the 10th of October, 1778, will shew the Company not only in what manner this important business is likely to be conducted, and what opinion the Governor General himself entertains of the Nabob's capacity, but that neither were his supposed rights and the maturity of his age attended to at that time, nor his personal inclinations consulted. Notwithstanding all his claims to the Phouzdarry and Adawlet, the Governor's pleasure divested him of both, and left him without an option. These, however, are not the first and immediate objects of consideration. A new and unexpected question is now before us. The Company's orders are disobeyed on pretended principles, which suppose the existence of an authority in these provinces independent of the authority of Great Britain over them. That of the Court of Directors is the only medium by which the subjection of Bengal to Great Britain is held and secured. In opposition to it the Nabob declares, that
he acts by his own authority, and shall continue to do so.
I do not know what name the law will give to disobedience of the Company's lawful orders by this Board; or whether such disobedience, directly avowed by ourselves, would not be less criminal, and in its consequences less dangerous, than under the form which it now assumes: but every man must see which way the present example leads, and what use may be made of it. If some vigorous measure be not immediately taken by the Company to disarm the Nabob of all means of resistance, or at least to deter him from attempting it again, their dominion over Bengal is not secure. I am sorry this inexperienced young man should have been so unhappily advised. He does not know on what dangerous ground he treads. He forgets himself too grossly when he disobeys the Company's positive orders, and in the same breath tells the Governor General,
"You are the master and my patron, and I can take no measure without first communicating it to you."
The Company will consider whether this avowed distinction between them and their local representative be not something more than disrespectful; or whether their injunctions would have been slighted if they had been accompanied by the usual and proper requisition on the part of the Governor General and Council, which I repeatedly recommended without success. Other and more alarming reflections will naturally succeed. The ostensible shadow of the Nabob's authority may in time find a substance to support it. If the spirit of party and faction, which prevails through every department of government, and through every other rank of life, should reach to the Seapoys, it would be a painful, but not a difficult, task, to count the few remaining steps which lead inevitably from that state of things to final dissolution. At whatever distance that danger may appear to be, yet, if the course we are in points directly to it, I trust that the wisdom of the Company will not deem it unworthy of their instant consideration. The same measures by which a great and imminent mischief might have been prevented will not be sufficient to correct or retrieve it.
I now move that it may be resolved, That the preceding letter from the Nabob is highly dissatisfactory to the Board; and that the Governor General be requested to signify the same to him, and to demand in our name his immediate compliance with the orders of the Company.
Mr. Wheler.
I agree to the motion.
Mr. Barwell.
If any advantage was stated to derive to the Company by controuling the will of the Nabob, it might be a question with me how far the occasion would vindicate the compulsion proposed; but when no national benefit can accrue, nor is stated, I cannot give my assent to a very exceptionable measure.
Governor General.
I shall take another occasion to declare my sentiments at large on the subject of this motion. For the present I shall content myself with declaring, that I have gone to the utmost lengths prescribed to me by the Company's orders, and by my sense of my duty, and that I will not go beyond them.
The motion resolved in the negative.
Mr. Francis.
Since it is resolved that the Board will not insist on the Nabob's compliance with the Company's orders, nothing is left for me but to move, as I now do, that the salary allotted by the Company out of their revenue for the support of the office of Naib Souba, amounting to three lack of sicca rupees per annum, or so much of it as was divided between Munny Begum, Baboo Begum, Raja Gourdass, and Sudder ul Hoc Cawn may cease, and be made a saving in the Company's treasury from the day when Sudder ul Hoc Khan died.
It is the Company's property, and if it be not employed in the manner they direct, it should not at least be applied to any other purpose.
Mr. Wheler.
I agree to the motion.
Mr. Barwell.
I must desire that the fund from which this payment is made to the ministers of the Nabob be stated by the Accomptant General before I give my opinion on the motion.
Governor General.
I object to the question in the terms of it, but consent to wait for the information required by Mr. Barwell.
Minute of Council
the 20th December, 1779.
Considered the motion made by Mr. Francis at the last consultation, viz.
"That the salary allotted by the Company out of their revenues, for the support of the office of Naib Soubah, amounting to three lacks of sicca rupees per annum, or so much of it as was divided between Munny Begum, Baboo Begum, Raja Gourdass, and Sudder ul Hoc Khan may cease, and be made a saving in the Company's treasury from the day when Sudder ul Hoc Khan died."
Mr. Barwell.
By the letter received by Mr. Croftes, the charge of the Nizamut allowances appears to be defrayed by the Company. There was, I find, a certain fund, under the name of the Sinking Fund, established upon the orders of the Company, limiting the personal charges of the Nabob to the sum of sixteen lacks, and reserving sicca rupees 15,81,860 per annum; and to this fund was charged certain demands against the Mogul government, which have since been totally liquidated, as will appear more particularly by a state of the fund which I have just now received from Mr. Croftes. If it was incumbent on the Nabob to discharge, out of the allowances made to him by our government, the different claims which appear to be stated in this account, I do not see any reason why the Company should continue burthened with certain expences, which arise solely on the score of his government, while those means which he has of providing for the whole from his established allowances remain unapplied. By the present method it appears to me that the savings stated in the Sinking Fund are made totally at the expence of the Company, because the charges of the Nizamut, or country government dependant on the Soubah, instead of being disbursed from the sum allotted for the Soubah's government, are disbursed from the Company's means, and the claim on the score of the allowances fixed for the charges of the Soubah's government suffered to accumulate to the exorbitant sum of rupees, 90,04,188,7,4, as a debt due from the Company. This being the case, there appears to me an absolute necessity to correct an error, which has led Mr. Francis into the idea that the disbursements which are made by the Company are made by them out of their revenues, for the support of the office of Naib Soubah, amounting to three lacks of rupees per annum. While the Company hold this fund of 15,81,860 rupees per annum, of the sum of 31,81,860, which by treaty they expressly stipulate to pay for the support of the Soubah's government, it is not just that they should be charged with any expence to be disbursed on that account. I therefore MOVE,
"That all expences that have been incurred, or shall in future be incurred, on account of the Nizamut, or country government department, or the Soubah, be set off against the claims of the Soubah, for such part of the stipend or salary allotted for the support of his government as has been retained by government for this and other express purposes directed by the Company."
—I understand the motion made by Mr. Francis to have for its object the compelling the Nabob to accept of Mahomed Reza Khan for his minister, or to reserve the sum which is allotted as the due of Mahomed Reza Khan, to be disposed of by the orders of the Company. This motion being made on the presumption that the Nizamut officers are the officers of the Company, and in the pay of the Company, can only be supported upon that principle. I am therefore against the motion.
Mr. Francis's motion carried in the negative.
Mr. Francis.
If I understand the preceding minute, the savings from which the Sinking Fund therein mentioned was constituted, viz. 15,81,860 sicca rupees per annum (accruing since the time when the pension of the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah, as settled by a treaty highly disapproved of by the Company, was reduced to 16 lacks by their positive orders) do not belong to the Company, and that something will be gained by charging that fund with the amount of the salary allotted by the Company, out of their own revenues, for the support of the Naib Subadar. It is indifferent to me, and I believe perfectly immaterial to the Company, in what way the account is stated. The charge, if disbursed, comes out of the Company's treasury; it is immediately paid out of the collections of the division of Moorshedebad, as the Company will see by referring to our Letter to Mr. Martin, of the 11th of May, 1778. Am I to understand that Mr. Barwell means to make the Company debtor to the Nabob Mobareck ul Dowlah for the amount of the above savings? if he does, I wish it to be declared so in plain terms: they would by this time amount, as I believe, to 112 lacks of sicca rupees: If he does not, I cannot possibly discover the meaning or application of his motion. As for myself, I deny the fact, and all consequences pretended to be derived from it. On the remainder of Mr. Barwell's minute there is but little to be said, supposing it true that a
real
effective country government now existed, and that the affairs of the Nizamut did of right fall under the immediate administration of Mobareck ul Dowlah (all which is so manifestly contrary to the fact, that it will not bear an argument) still it would not follow that my last motion ought to be rejected. The sum which I propose to be reserved is not divided among the officers of the Nizamut: Mr. Barwell surely did not consider in what manner it is actually distributed; neither do I admit that my last motion had for its object
the compelling
the Nabob to accept of Mahomed Reza Khan for his minister.
It could not possibly have that effect; the point was already decided by a preceding resolution; and if, as I conclude, the sole object of the Nabob be to keep the amount of Mahomed Reza Khan's salary, and to distribute it among his family and dependents, our taking the money from him will not tend to compel him to reinstate Mahomed Reza Khan, by which he would equally lose it. If that were the only alternative proposed to him, he would certainly prefer the measure which freed him from the check of Mahomed Reza Khan's authority, and left every thing in his own hands.
I have said the mode of stating the account proposed by Mr. Barwell is a matter of indifference in itself; but as it implies a conclusion in which I do not concur, I am against the motion.
FINIS.