Sudder ul Hoe Khan. In a letter received the 30th of September, (that is about 27 days after the date of Mr. Hastings's order,) you will see how this pretended order was managed. Sudder ul Hoe Khan thus writes in a letter received the 30th of September:-" Yattibar Ali Khan "(Munny Begum's chief eunuch) from the "amount of salaries of the officers of the Au"dawlet and Fouzdarry, which before my arri"val he had received for two months from the

Sircar, made disbursements according to his "own pleasure; he had before caused the sum "of 7,400 rupees, on account of the price of "mine and my Paishcars kelants to be carried "to account, and now continually sends a man "to demand from me 4,300 and odd rupees, as "a balance of the price of kelants, and con"stantly presses me to take it from the amount "of the salaries of the officers of the Audawlet "and Fouzdarry and send it to him, and I shall "be under the necessity of complying; I men❝tion this for your information.”

My Lords, you see again how Mr. Hastings's pretended orders were obeyed; they were orders addressed to the Nabob whom he knew to be nothing, and who could neither controul or take the least share in the execution of them; but he leaves the thing loose as to Munny Begum

and her eunuchs, who he knew could alone carry them into effect. Your Lordships see that the first use made of the restored authority of the Nabob, was, under various pretences, to leave the salaries of the officers of government unprovided for; to rob the public treasury, and to give the Company's money to the eunuchs who were acting in the manner I have stated to you.

Information of these proceedings reaches Calcutta ;-a regular complaint from a person in the highest situation in the government is made, and the Governour General is obliged again to take up the matter; and I shall now read to your Lordships, a letter of the 10th of October 1778, which contains a representation so pointed and so very just, of the fatal effects which his interference in the administration of justice had produced, as not to stand in need of any comment from me. It speaks too plainly to require any.

The Governour General's letter to the Nabob: -"At your Excellency's request, I sent Sudder "ul Hoe Khan, to take on him the administra"tion of the affairs of the Audawlet and Fouz

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darry, and hoped by that means not only to "have given satisfaction to your Excellency, "but that through his abilities and experience,

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"Fouzdarry, and that you will yourself relinquish all interference therein, and leave them "entirely to the management of Sudder ul Hoe "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."

My Lords, I think I have read enough to you for our present purpose; referring your Lordships for fuller information to your Minutes, page 1086, which I beg you to read with the greatest attention.

I must again beg your Lordships to remark, that though Mr. Hastings has the impudence still to pretend, that he wishes for the restoration of order and justice in the country, yet instead of writing to Munny Begum upon the business, whom he knew to be the very object complained of, and whose eunuchs are expressly mentioned in the complaint, he writes to the Nabob, whom he knew to be a pageant in his own court and government, and whose name was not even mentioned in this last complaint. Not one word is said, even in this letter to the Nabob, of Munny Begum or of her eunuchs. My Lords, when

you

you consider his tacit support of the authors of the grievance, and his ostensible application for redress to the man, who, he knew, never authorized and could not redress the grievance; you must conclude that he meant to keep the country in the same state for his own corrupt purposes. In this state the country in fact continued; Munny Begum and her eunuchs continued to administer and squander the Company's money, as well as the Nabob's; robberies and murders continued to prevail throughout the country. No appearance was left of order, law, or justice, from one end of Bengal to the other.

The account of this state of things was received by the Court of Directors, with horrour and indignation; on the 27th of May 1779, they write, as you will find in page 1063 of your printed Minutes, a letter to their government at Calcutta, condemning their proceedings and the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan; and they order that Munny Begum shall be displaced, and Mahomed Reza Khan restored again to the seat of justice.

Mr. Francis, upon the arrival of these reiterated orders, moved in Council for an obedience to them. Mr. Hastings, notwithstanding he had before his eyes all the horrible conse quences that attended his new arrangement, still resists that proposition. By his casting