Ift. That the Rohellas are a nation.

It is a fact of notoriety, and has been proved by examinations which were taken at the Board of Fort William, in December, 1774, and infeited in the Reports before this honourable Houfe, that the Rohellas are not a nation, but a body of foreign adventurers, who made themselves mafters of the country, to which they have fince given their name; and even the laft government of it was an ufurpation on the firft ufurpation.

IId. That I entered into an engagement for their extirpation.

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Much declamation has been used upon this word, until its original ferfe has been loft in the colourings which have been given to it; yet I avow the word, and the defign attributed to it. It was the profeffed intention of the Nabob Shuja Dowla, and of courfe mine, as connected with it, to extirpate the Rohellas, that is, to expel or remove them from the country which they occupied, without fuf"fering the fmalleft veftige of their power to remain in it. In this fenfe "I did moft certainly agree to affift the "Vizier, and fo did the late Prefident "and Council, nor can I conceive how "the war could have been undertaken "with any other object." Thefe words I borrow from my minute in council, dated the 11th January 1775. I will add what immediately follows in the fame minure, as a reply both to this and the preceding article. "The majority know,

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as well as myfelf, that the Rohellas are not the people of the country, but a "military tribe, who conquered it, and quartered themfelves upon the "people, without following any profeffion but that of arms, or mixing in any "relation with the native inhabitants. "I have already defcribed the nature of "this tribe in the ninth paragraph of my "obfervations on the firft letter of the "majority; and the fame account of them has been given by Colonel Leflie "and Major Hannay, and, if I mistake 66 not, by Colonel Champion himself, in

their examination taken before the "Board on the 19th and 28th of De"cember. Major Hannay's words are "remarkable; I beg lave to quote "them: I have learned from many people, that it is only within fifty years that the Rohellas are become mafters of the country to the north of the Ganges; that they were originally Afghans, came into Hindoftan, under a Sirdar, named Daood Cawn, and that they conquered

that country from the Hindoos, and that * fince that time they have followed no other profeffion than that of arms, and the ancient Hindoos have cultivated the country. The Robellas are Mutfulmen, of the fect of Omer, and the cultiva 'tors of the country are Hindoos. I fuppofe the proportion to be about nine Hindoos to one Muffulman.'

It will appear, from the preceding explantion, that the extirpation confifted in nothing more than in removing from their offices the Rohellas who had the official management of the country, and from the country the foldiers who had opposed us in the conqueft of it. Nor was the procefs a fanguinary or hard one, as they had only to pafs the Ganges to their countrymen on the other fide of it." In a word, we conquered the country from the conquerers of it, and fubftituted another rule in the place of theirs, upon the fame principles of right and ufage (the right of the war being pre-fuppofed) as a British Commander in Europe would expel the foldiers of a conquered town, and garrifon it with his own, which, by the fame mode of fpeech, and, with equal propriety, might be called an extirpation.

IIId. That the Company had never received, nor pretended to receive or apprchend, any injury whatever from the Rohellas.

The Company were joined on equal terms with the Vizier in the injury which he had received from the Rohellas.

That injury was the repeated breach of faith, and refufal given, in two fucceffive years, to pay the fum ftipulated for their defence, and for the expulfion of the Marattas from their country. The Vizier was our ally.

Our Government was applied to for its confent to the first defign of defending the Rohellas against the Marattas, and the engagements which followed were nego tiated by our Commander in Chief, General Sir Robert Barker.

Thefe confifted in two feparate inftruments; one a treaty of mutual alliance between the Nabob Shuja Dewlah and the Rohella chiefs; and the other an ob ligation executed by them, to pay him, in confideration of it, forty lacks of rupees. Both were executed in the prefence of Sir Robert Barker, and figned by him as a witness to it, which, in every infance of the kind that has ever passed in the Compas ny's aynals, is equivalent to a guaranter.

The

The obligation is in the Records of the Secretary's Office in Calcutta, and the tranflation is entered in more than one place in the Fifth Report of the Committee of Secrecy.

IVth. That the Nabob Sujah Dowla never complained of an aggreffion or act of hollity, nor pretended a diftinct caufe of quarrel, other than the nonpayment of a fum of money in difpute between him and that people.

There are other jutt caufes of com. plaint against the Rohellas; they had treas cheroutly intrigued with the Marattas, with the defign of uniting with them against the Nabob Shuja Dowla during the fubfiftence of their engagement with him, and at the very time that he was in arms for their defence. Indeed a part of them had actually joined the Marattas, and the reft were on their march for that pu pofe, and were prevented only by the timely arrival of Sir Robert Barker in their country, in the beginning of the year 1773, with a brigade of the Company's troops in conjunction with the Na

boby's.

This appears from various parts of the correfpondence of Sir Robert Barker, and others, in the Appendix of the fifth Report of the Secret Committee; and in Sir Robert's letter of the 6th of April, he fays of them, "It is well known that neither promifes nor oaths have been "able to bind this treacherous fect of peo"ple to their engagements."

Vth. That the East India Company were not parties to the engagement, or guarrantees thereof; nor bound by any obligation whatever to enforce the execu

of it.

That the Company were parties to the engagement, has been proved in the reply to the 3d article. That they were bound to fupport the Nabob Vizier in afferting his right, or to affert their own, is a queftion not neceffary to the charge: it is fufficient that the right has been proved. Vith. That I did not make enquiry, nor give notice, nor offer mediation &c. Sir Robert Barker and the Vizier had been engaged in continual negociations with them for the recovery of the money in the years 1772 and 1773, and they had conftantly evaded the payment.

The fact was notorious, and there could not be any obligation to give them notice, that they might be the better enabled to defeat the enterprize.

VIIth. But that I did ftimulate the Nabob of Oude to the enterprize.

explained when I proceed to the narration of the whole tranfaction. I fhall here but obferve, that I thought the ground of war juftiy eftablifhed, that the Nabob Shuja Dowla had repeatedly urged our confent to it, and that I made ufe of the earneftnefs with which he purfued this favourite point, to engage his agreement to a fyftem of useful alliance with him; which I obtained, and date from it the fubfequent power and profperity of the Company in Bengal.

Xlth. That I proposed the acquifition of 40 lacks of rupees for the Company, and a relief to the diftreffes of the Company, as objects of the enterprize.

This I acknowledge; and whatever fentiments may have suggested such a motive as a criminal charge, I shall never regret the fervices and facrifices which I have made to my employers, and to my country, whatever returns I may have received at the inftant, or may receive from either.

XIIIth. That I fuppreffed the information and agreement originally made with the Nabob Shuja Dowla, in the letter which I wrote to the Court of Directors from Benaris, advifing them of the treaty concluded with the faid Nabob on other fübjects.

The letter which I difpatched to the Court of Directors from Benaris, was written to inform them of what had been done, and of that but as much as it was effential for them to know. It was not neceffary to inform them of what was not done, nor to commit the fecret of a defign which had been dropped, but might yet take place, which related to a great political event, to a letter which was to pass through the centre of Indostan, and afterwards through many nations of Afia and Europe, with at leaft an equal chance of its being intercepted.

In effect I fufpe&t that it actually met with that fate, though written and difpatched in duplicate; for in the Report published by order of the Court of Directors, I find this letter inferted, with a notice that it was received by them on the 26th of March, which was the date of the receipt of the fubfequent difpatches of the Board, by the Mercury Packet.

That I may not appear to have been remifs in any part of the procefs of my tranfactions at Benaris, I will beg leave to ftate the following fhort chronological

recital of it.

with

with the Nabob Shuja Dowla, conforma ble to my instructions. On the 10th of the fame month I advised the Court of Directors of it in a letter dispatched in duplicate by land to England. On the 4th of October, I delivered a report of my proceedings in my place, at the Board in Calcurta; and on the 12th of October, a Leiter was written by the board, and difpatched by the Mercury Packet, to the Court of Directors, for the declared purpofe of conveying to them my Report, in which all that had paffed relating to the projected defign against the Rohellas was fully recited fo that the whole tranfaction was begun and concluded, and under went every requifite procefs of official communication, with a journey of 1500 miles, in the courfe of three months and nineteen days.

The following is an extract of fo much of my Report as relates to the prefent fubject:

"The Vizier was at firft very desirous of the affiftance of an English force to 66 put him in poffeffion of the Rohelfa country lying north of his domi"nions, and eaft of the Ganges. This has long been a favourite object of his a withes, and you will recollect that the firft occafion of my late vifit was furnithed by a proposal of this kind He had certainly juft, grounds of refent "ment against the chiefs of this nation, ❝ who had not only failed in their engage "ments to pay him forty lack of rupees "for his protection against the Marattas, "but had actually fupplied them with money when they appeared in arms "againit him. He offered to make the "Company a confideration for this fervice, "of forty lacks of rupees, befides the "ftipulated fum for the expences of our troops, but he afterwards laid afide this "defign, fearing that it would difable him from fulfilling his engagements for "Corah and Illahabad. I enclofe for "your obfervation, No. 10, the original "agreement of the Rohella chiefs, witneffed by General Barker? No. 11, a "tranflation of the fame; No. 12, a tranflation of a letter which I received "from Hafez Rahmut Cawn, in whofe "name the agreement was ratified; and "No. 13, a translation of a narrative de"livered to me by the Vizier, in reply to "it. The measures to be pursued for his ་་ "fecurity on that quarter must therefore be determined by future occurrences. 1 "was pleased that he urged the fcheme of

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"this expedition no further, as it would "have led our troops to a distance from "our borders, which I would with ever to "avoid, although there are powerful ar guments to recommend it." XÏŸth. That I entered a falfe report of the tranfaction in the council books, by reprefenting that the Nabob had propofed the defign, but that I was pleased that he urged the scheme of the expedition no further, when in reality and truth I had confented to it.

There is nothing like a contradiction in the reprefentations which are opposed to each other, to establish the guile of falfhood which is here laid to my charge.

I affirm, and the Records of this Houfe prove inconteftibly, that the Nabob did propofe, did firfi propose the defign of the Rohella war nay that it was the founda tion of my journey to Benaris. It appears in various parts of the fame authorities, that I availed myfelf of his eager folicitude for the attainment of this point, to engage his affent to others of neceffary confequence, and of much greater value to the company; and it is certain that I was pleafed to have obtained them without the neceffity of making this conceffion, when he himself relinquished it. The internal . movements of the mind admit of no determinate evidence to prove them; but that I was in a fituation which was most likely to have affected me in the manner which 1 have described, I have abundant proof.

The dominions of the Nabob Shuja Dowla, our ally, lay open and exposed to that poffeffed by the Rohellas, both confifting of one vast plain, without any natural line of divifion, or of obstruction between them? and both were shut in by the fame common boundary, the Ganges; clofing them in the northern extremity, with im penetrable mountains.

The Marattas had fucceffively attempted to poffefs themselves of this country; and, but for the affiftance of the Nabob's forces united with those of the Company, they would have fucceeded: the Robellas, though thus effectually and seasonably protected by the Nabob Shuja Dowla, had openly negociated with the Maratras, and had fhewn manifeft difpofitions to unite with them against their defender. The fame fcenes might be renewed the next year, and repeatedly, with equal danger to the Nabob Shuja Dowla, whether the Marattas obtained complete poffeffion of the country, or the Rohellas joined

❝tion of artifice and infincerity in our dealings with him."

I now throw myself on the juftice of this honourable Houfe to determine, whether there is any other difference between the two recitals, than that the latter is more detailed and enlarged than the former, which ftates little, more being than unneceffary. Had the engagement in the first inftance flood, it would have conftituted an article in the treaty, which was at that time concluded, and the drait of is ftili on record; but the Nabob himself declining it, it retained no other force on our Government, than that which the fpirit of honour and fair dealing might allow, and the circumstances of affairs admitted. Thefe had received no other alteration than the departure of the Marattas, occationed by a late revolution in their own ftate, which was likely, for a length of time to come, to prevent them from interfering in our operations.

If farther evidence of this conftruction is neceffary, the following extract from the letter of the Nabob Shuja Dowla, which furnished the fubject of debate, of which the preceeding minute formed a part, will put it beyond the poffibility of

doubt.

will not."

When I wrote the minutes from which the preceding extracts are taken. I little fufpected that the time would cone when they were to be put to the rack of verbal eriticifin before the Houfe of Commons of Great Britain.

I look back with pain on the many pages which have been filled with this part of my defence, in a difcuffion which I myfelf cannot but confider as unworthy to take up fo much of the attention of this honourable Houfe, did not the occafion

of it implicate the plaufii'ne of every other charge inftiruted agape mo, an. cat the colour of eproach upon the m important tranfactions of the Bath G vernment in India, during the coaft thirteen years, from the imontud ne, jak i of character in him who direết:dztam.

A charge of falfhood in terms, of de liberate falihood, imprints such a fente infamy on an inge.uous mind, as the fu'left refutation of it can ty efface; fince it tarots the fource f every honourable pi cipe, and tol is its devoted object into a nis hits of fociety, even to his deareft connections.

I hope, therefore, I fhail n he deeme ed to depart from the great refpe&t whic I owe and truly profefs for this augud af fembly, if on this occafion I abandon for an inftant the degraded condition of a mas arraigned, and affume my claim to the rights of refpe&t which my rack in once, primarily and repeatedly affigned to me by this honourable Houfe itself, authore izes me to affert.

If, after a patient and ful! examination of all the charges exhibited against me, I fhall appear to merit that puciament which he juftice of my country exacts for high offenders, let me receive it ;I will submit with what refignation I can to my doom, how much foever my owa confcioulness of better defert may reve against it. Let me not, however, be pai ifhed before conviction, by the adm fina of hard epithets, and difgraceful invective, against me. I am warranted by the doctrine of my religion, to proteft against fuch a treatment; for this teaches me, that even a bluffed Spirit of Heaven comendog with the Devil" durft not bring a rang accufation against him," but if the refait fhall prove, that in a long, difficut, and perilous fervice, I have conducted mvfeif with integrity, and with a zcalf rthe interefts of my employers, and my couc try, manifefted by an invariable tran of fuccefsful measures; that I was inftrumental in preferving one great and va luable branch of the Britifn empire com mitted to my charge, from threatened annihilation; and left it in a state more p.ofperous than I received it; what atontment will this honourable Houfe in ts juftice ordain for the injury which I fuftain by having been branded on its re cords, and under the fanction of its au thority, with the vile and abhored chas racter of a Verres, an oppreffor, a de frauder, a traitor, and even a liar?

XVIth.