XVIII. That the said Warren Hastings did send to a certain castle,
called Bidzigur, the residence of a person of high rank, called Panna,
the mother of the Rajah of Benares, with whom his wife, a woman
described by the said Hastings "to be of an amiable character," and all
the other women of the Rajah's family, and the survivors of the family
of his father, Bulwant Sing, did then reside, a body of troops to
dispossess them of her said residence, and to seize upon her money and
effects, although she did not stand, even by himself, accused of any
offence whatsoever,--pretending, but not proving, and not attempting to
prove, then nor since, that the treasures therein contained were the
property of the Rajah, and not her own; and did, in order to stimulate
the British soldiery to rapine and outrage, issue to them several
barbarous orders, contrary to the practice of civilized nations,
relative to their property, movable and immovable, attended with
unworthy and unbecoming menaces, highly offensive to the manners of the
East and the particular respect there paid to the female sex,--which
letters and orders, as well as the letters which he had received from
the officers concerned, the said Hastings did unlawfully suppress, until
forced by the disputes between him and the said officers to discover
the same: and the said orders are as follow.
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