And it appears that the said alarm was far from
groundless; for Major Palmer, one of the secret and confidential agents
of the said Hastings, hath sworn, on the 4th of December, 1781, at the
desire of the said Warren Hastings, before Sir Elijah Impey, to the
following effect, that is to say: "That the said Warren Hastings had
told him, the said Palmer, that he, the said Hastings, had rejected the
offer of two hundred thousand pounds made by the Rajah of Benares for
the public service, and that he was resolved _to convert the faults
committed by the Rajah into a public benefit_, and would exact the sum
of five hundred thousand pounds, as a punishment for his breach of
engagements with the government of Bengal, and acts of misconduct in his
zemindary; and if the Rajah should absolutely refuse the demand, that he
would deprive him of his zemindary, or transfer the sovereignty thereof
to the Nabob of Oude."
XIV. And Mr. Anderson, in his declaration from Sindia's camp, of the 4th
of January, 1782, did also, at the desire of Mr.
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