It expresses no concern for the causes of complaint
contained in my letter, or desire to atone for them, nor the smallest
intention to pursue a different line of conduct. An answer couched
nearly _in terms of defiance_ to requisitions of so serious a nature I
could not but consider as _a strong indication of that spirit of
independency_ which the Rajah has for some years past assumed, and of
which indeed I had early observed other manifest symptoms, both before
and from the instant of my arrival." Which representation is altogether
and in all parts thereof groundless and injurious; as the substance of
the answer is a justification proper to be pleaded, and the style, if in
anything exceptionable, it is in its extreme humility, resulting rather
from an unmanly and abject spirit than from anything of an offensive
liberty; but being received as disrespectful by the said Hastings, it
abundantly indicates the tyrannical arrogance of the said Hastings, and
the depression into which the natives are sunk under the British
government.
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