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Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

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

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That the said Warren Hastings did, by the same usurped authority,
entirely set aside all the agreements made between the late Rajah and
the Company (which were real agreements with the state of Benares, in
the person of the lord or prince thereof, and his heirs); and without
any form of trial, inquisition, or other legal process, for forfeiture
of the privileges of the people to be governed by magistrates of their
own, and according to their natural laws, customs, and usages, did,
contrary to the said agreement, separate the mint and the criminal
justice from the said government, and did vest the mint in the British
Resident, and the criminal justice in a Mahomedan native of his own
appointment; and did enhance the tribute to be paid from the province,
from two hundred and fifty thousand pounds annually, limited by treaty,
or thereabouts, to three hundred and thirty thousand pounds for the
first year, and to four hundred thousand for every year after; and did
compel the administrator aforesaid (father to the Rajah) to agree to the
same; and did, by the same usurped authority, illegally impose, and
cause to be levied, sundry injudicious and oppressive duties on goods
and merchandise, which did greatly impair the trade of the province, and
threaten the utter ruin thereof; and did charge several pensions on the
said revenues, of his own mere authority; and did send and keep up
various bodies of the Company's troops in the said country; and did
perform sundry other acts with regard to the said territory, in total
subversion of the rights of the sovereign and the people, and in
violation of the treaties and agreements aforesaid.


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