" And the Resident did, in his answer to the board, dated
31st March, 1783, on this peremptory order, again detail the particulars
aforesaid to the said Warren Hastings, referring him to his former
correspondence, stating the utter impossibility of proceeding further by
force, and mentioning certain other disgraceful and oppressive
circumstances, and in particular, that the Company did not, in
plundering the mother of the reigning prince of her wearing apparel and
beasts of carriage, receive a value in the least equal to the loss she
suffered: the elephants having no buyer but the Nabob, and the clothes,
which had last been delivered to Middleton at a valuation of thirty
thousand pounds, were so damaged by ill keeping in warehouses, that they
could not be sold, even for six months' credit, at much more than about
eight thousand pounds; by which a loss in a single article was incurred
of twenty-two thousand pounds out of the fifty, for the recovery of
which (supposing it had been a just debt) such rigorous means had been
employed, after having actually received upwards of five hundred
thousand pounds in value to the Company, and extorted much more in loss
to the suffering individuals.
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