XXXVIII. That the said Resident, in a few days after, that is to say, on
the 1st June, 1782, in a letter to Major Gilpin, in command at Fyzabad,
did order the account, as by himself stated, to be read to the
prisoners, and, without taking any notice of their proposal concerning
the valuation of the effects, or their denial of the offences imputed to
them, to demand a positive answer relative to the payment, and, "upon
receiving from them a negative or unsatisfactory reply, to inform them,
that, all further negotiation being at an end, they must prepare for
their removal to Lucknow, where they would be called upon to answer not
only their recent breach of faith and solemn engagement, but also to
atone for other heavy offences, the punishment of which, as had
frequently been signified to them, it was in their power to have
mitigated by a proper acquittal of themselves in this transaction." By
which insinuations concerning the pretended offences of the said unhappy
persons, and the manner by which they were to atone for the same, and by
their never having been specifically and directly made, it doth appear
that the said crimes and offences were charged for the purpose of
extorting money, and not upon principles or for the ends of justice.
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