"
XXIX. And the said Hastings, in the said Minute of Consultation, having
enumerated the frauds, embezzlements, and oppressions which would ensue
from the Rajah's being in the dependent state aforesaid, and having
obviated all apprehensions from giving to him the implied symbols of
dominion, did assert, "that, without such appearance, he would expect
from every change of government additional demands to be made upon him,
and would of course descend to all the arts of intrigue and concealment
practised by other dependent Rajahs, which would keep him indigent and
weak, and eventually prove hurtful to the Company; but that, by proper
encouragement and protection, he might prove a profitable dependant, an
useful barrier, and even a powerful ally to the Company; but that he
would be neither, if the conditions of his connection with the Company
were left open to future variations."
XXX. That, if the fact had been true that the Rajah of Benares was
merely an eminent landholder or any other subject, the wicked and
dangerous doctrine aforesaid, namely, that he owed a personal allegiance
and an implicit and unreserved obedience to the sovereign authority, at
the forfeiture of his zemindary, and even of his life and property, at
the discretion of those who held or fully represented the sovereign
authority, doth leave security neither for life nor property to any
persons residing under the Company's protection; and that no such
powers, nor any powers of that nature, had been delegated to the said
Warren Hastings by any provisions of the act of Parliament appointing a
Governor-General and Council at Fort William in Bengal.
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