the temporary brigade which Mr. Hastings proposed to take off, but kept on; which he considers not only as a great distress to his finances, but a dreadful scourge and calamity to his country; there was a whole pension list upon it, with such enormous pensions as 18,000l. a year to Sir Eyre Coote, and other pensions that Mr. Hastings proposed to take off, but did not. That in proportion as the Nabob's distress increased, Mr. Hastings's demands increased too; he was not satisfied with taking from him for the Company, but he took from him for himself; he demanded six hundred thousand pounds as a loan, when he knew he had neither money nor credit. The consequence of these acts of violence was, that these people, besieged by the English troops, and deprived of every resource, even of the funds of charity, by which the protectors of the family, male and female, might have relieved them, but which the cruel rapacity of Mr. Hastings had either entirely taken away, or greatly diminished, were reduced to the last extremity of distress. After the length of time which has elapsed since we first brought these matters, with their proofs, I shall beg leave, before you go to judgment, to refresh your memory with a recital of a part of that evidence; in order that your Lordships Lordships may again fully and distinctly comprehend the nature and extent of the oppression, cruelty, and injustice committed by Mr. Hastings, and by which you may estimate the punishment you will inflict upon him. Letter from Captain Leonard Jaques to "Sir,-The women belonging to the Khourd "Mahl complain of their being in want of every 66 necessary of life, and are at last drove to that desperation, that they at night get on the top "of the Zenana, make a great disturbance, and "last night not only abused the centinels posted "in the gardens, but threw dirt at them; they "threatened to throw themselves from the "walls of the Zenana, 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 direction to give me concerning it. "I also beg leave to acquaint you, I sent for "Lataffit Ali Khan the cojah who has the charge "of them, who informs me, their complaint is "well grounded, that they have sold every "thing they had, even to the clothes from their "backs, and now have no means of existing; "enclosed, I transmit you a letter from Mona"tall on the subject.” Letter Letter from Captain Jaques to Richard "Sir, I beg leave to address you again "concerning the women in the Khourd Mahl; "their behaviour last night was so furious that "there seemed the greatest probability of their "proceeding to the utmost extremities, and "that they would either throw themselves from "the walls, or force the doors of the Zenana. "I have made every inquiry concerning the cause of their complaints, and find from La"taffit Ali Khan, that they are in a starving 66 66 condition, having sold all their clothes and necessaries, and now have not wherewithal "to support nature; and as my instructions are quite silent upon this head, should be glad "to know how to proceed in case they were to "force the doors of the Zenana; as I suspect "it will happen, should no subsistence be very quickly sent to them." Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, "Last night, about eight o'clock, the women "in the Khourd Mahl Zenana, under the charge "of Lataffit Ali Khan, assembled on the tops " of . "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. The melancholy cries of famine are more easily 66 imagined than described; and from their re"presentations, I fear that the Nabob's agents "for that business are very inattentive. I there"fore 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 to these poor "unhappy women." Letter from Mr. Bristow to Major Gilpin ; I com "Sir, I have received your letters of the 66 12th, 19th, 27th, and 30th ultimo. "municated the contents of that of the 30th to "the minister, who promised me to issue orders "for the payment of a sum of money to relieve "the distress of the Khourd Mahl. I shall also "forward a bill for 10,000 rupees to you in "the course of three or four days; and if in "the mean time you may find means to supply "to the amount of that sum, I will become personally responsible to you for the repay"ment." Letter Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq. at the Court of Lucknow; Fyzabad, 15th November 1782. "Sir, The repeated cries of the women in "the Khourd Mahl Zenana for subsistence, "have been truly melancholy. They beg most "piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious servitude, or be re"lieved from their misery by immediate death. "In consequence of their unhappy situation, "I have this day taken the liberty of drawing on you in favour of Ramnarain at ten days "sight, for twenty son Kerah rupees, ten thou"sand of which I have paid to Cojah Lataffit “Ali Khan, under whose charge that Zenana is.' These, my Lords, are the state of the distresses in the year 1782; and your Lordships will see that they continued almost, with only occasional reliefs, during the period of that whole year. Now we enter into the year 1783, to shew you that it continued during the whole time; and then I shall make a very few remarks upon it. I will now read to your Lordships a part of Mr. Holt's evidence, by which it is proved that Mr. Hastings was duly advertized of all these miserable |
