"ture being the commencement of the season "for the cultivation. The Aumils, by being "thus early placed in their offices, have the "opportunity of advancing Tuckovy, "raging the Ryots, and making their agree"ments in their several districts, in letting "under farms, or disposing of the lands in such

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a manner as they may judge most expedient. "If, though similar to the late minister's con"duct, a delay of two or three months should "occur in the settlement of the lands, the peo"ple throughout the country would be dis"heartened, and inevitably a very heavy ba. "lance accrue on the revenue. I have troubled "the honourable Board with this detail, in the "first place, to shew the propriety of Elija "Khan's conduct; and in the next, the essen"tial service that will be rendered to the Vizier, "by continuing Colonel Parker's detachment

during the whole rains in Corah, if required " by the Vizier.”

My Lords, you have now had a view of the state of Oude, previous to the first period of our connexion with it. Your Lordships have seen, and understand that part of the middle period, with which we do not mean to trouble you again. You will now be pleased to attend to a letter from Fyzoola Khan, to the Governour General,

VOL. XVI.

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General, received the 13th of February 1778: "This country of Cuttah, which formerly de"pended on the Rohilla States, and which I "consider as now appertaining to the Company,

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was very populous and flourishing, but since "the commencement of the Nabob Vizier's

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government, the farmers appointed by his "ministers have desolated the country. Its "situation is at present very ruinous; thou"sands of villages, formerly populous, are now

utterly deserted, and no trace left of them. "I have already written to Roy Buckstowr Sing, "a full account of the tyranny and oppression "exercised by the farmers, to be communicated "to you; the constant revenue of a country "depends on the care of its rulers, to preserve "it in a flourishing state. I have been induced "to make the representation by my attachment "to the interest of the Company, for otherwise "it is no concern of mine. Should these op

pressions continue one or two years longer, " and the rulers take no measures to put a stop "to them, the whole country will be a desert."

My Lords, upon these statements, I have only to make this remark, that you have seen the first state of this country; and that the period when it had fallen into the state last described was about two years after Mr. Hastings

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had obtained the majority in the Council, and began to govern this country by his lieutenants. We know that the country was put by him under military collectors; you see the consequences. The person who makes this representation to Mr. Hastings, of the state of the country, of its distress and calamity, and of the desolation of a thousand of the villages formerly flourishing in it, is no less a person than a prince of a neighbouring country, a person of whom you have often heard, and to whom the cause of humanity is much indebted, namely, Fyzoola Khan. A prince, whose country the English Resident, travelling through, declares to be cultivated like a garden. That this was the state of the Rohilla country, is owing to its having very fortunately been one of those that escaped the dominion of Mr. Hastings.

We will now read to your Lordships a letter from Sir Eyre Coote to the Board at Calcutta, dated the 11th of September 1779:-" Honour"able Sir and Sirs,-The day before yesterday "I encamped near Allahabad, where the Vizier "did me the honour of a visit; and yesterday

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morning, in my way hither, I returned it, and "was received by his Excellency with every "mark of respect and distinction. This morn "ing he called here, and we had some general "eonversation,

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"conversation, which principally turned upon "the subject of his attachment to the English, "and his readiness to shew the sincerity of it,

upon all occasions. It is to be wished we "had employed the influence which such fa"vourable sentiments must have given us more "to the benefit of the country and ourselves; "but I fear the distresses which evidently ap

pear on the face of the one, and the failure "of the revenues to the other, are not be

wholly ascribed to the Vizier's mismanage"ment." This is the testimony of Mr. Hastings's own pensioner Sir Eyre Coote, respecting the known state of the country during the time of this horrible usurpation, which Sir Eyre Coote mentions under the soft name of our influence: But there could be but one voice upon the subject, and that your Lordships shall now hear from Mr. Hastings himself. We refer your Lordships to the Minute of the Governour General's consultation, Fort William, 21st May 1781-He is here giving his reasons for going into the upper provinces.

"The province of Oude having fallen into a "state of great disorder and confusion, its re"sources being in an extraordinary degree "diminished, and the Nabob Azoph ul Dowlah

having earnestly intreated the presence of the "Governour

"Governour General, and declared, that unless "some effectual measures are taken for his re"lief, he must be under the necessity of leaving "his country, and coming down to Calcutta, to " present his situation to this government. The "Governour General therefore proposes, with "the concurrence of Mr. Wheler, to visit the "province of Oude, as speedily as the affairs of "the Presidency will admit, in hopes that from "a minute and personal observation of the cir"cumstances of that country, the system of "management which has been adopted, and the "characters and conduct of the persons employed, "he may possibly be able to concert and estä❝blish some plan by which the province of Oude

may in time be restored to its former state of "affluence, good order, and prosperity."

Your Lordships have now the whole chain of the evidence complete, with regard to the state of the country up to the period of Mr. Hastings's journey into the country. You see, that Mr. Hastings himself admits it to have been formerly in a most flourishing, orderly, and prosperous state. Its condition in 1781, he describes to you in words, than which no enemy of his can use stronger, in order to paint the state in which it then was. In this state he found it when he went up in the year 1781, and he left it with regard

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