On the 6th
of July, 1781, Mr. Hastings announced to the board the arrival of a
messenger and introduced a requisition from the young Nabob Mobarek ul
Dowlah, "that he might be _permitted to dispose of his own stipend,
without being made to depend on the will of another_." In favor of this
requisition Mr. Hastings urged various arguments:--that the Nabob could
no longer be deemed a minor;--that he was twenty-six years of age, and
father of many children;--that his understanding was much improved _of
late_ by an attention to his education;--that these circumstances gave
him a claim to the uncontrolled exercise of domestic authority; and it
might reasonably be supposed that he would pay a greater regard to a
just economy in his own family than had been observed by those who were
aliens to it. For these reasons Mr. Hastings recommended to the board
that Mahomed Reza Khan should be immediately divested of the office of
superintendent of the Nabob's household, _and that the Nabob Mobarek ul
Dowlah should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire receipts and
disbursements of his stipend, and the uncontrolled management and
regulation of his household_.
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