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Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

"The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 08 (of 12)"

In case my honor is not left to me,
how shall I be equal to the business of the government? Whoever, with
his hands in a supplicating posture, is ready with his life and
property, what necessity can there be for him to be dealt with in this
way?"
XI. That, according to the said Hastings's narrative of this
transaction, he, the said Hastings, on account of the apparent
despondency in which these letters were written, "thought it _necessary_
to give him _some_ encouragement," and therefore wrote him a note of a
few lines, carelessly and haughtily expressed, and little calculated to
relieve him from his uneasiness, promising to send to him a person to
explain particulars, and desiring him "to set his mind at rest, and not
to conceive any terror or apprehension." To which an answer of great
humility and dejection was received.
XII. That the report of the Rajah's arrest did cause a great alarm in
the city, in the suburbs of which the Rajah's palace is situated, and in
the adjacent country. The people were filled with dismay and anger at
the outrage and indignity offered to a prince under whose government
they enjoyed much ease and happiness.


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