LXXVI. That the said Warren Hastings having made a malicious, loose, and
ill-supported charge, backed by certain unsatisfactory affidavits, as a
ground for his seizing on the jaghires and the treasures of the Vizier's
mother, solemnly guarantied to them, the Court of Directors did, in
their letter of the 14th of February, 1783, express themselves as
follows concerning that measure,--"which the Governor-General, [he, the
said Warren Hastings,] in his letter to your board, the 23d of January,
1782, has declared _he strenuously encouraged and supported_: we hope
and trust, for the honor of the British nation, that the measure
appeared fully justified in the eyes of all Hindostan. The
Governor-General has informed us that it can be well attested that the
Begums [the mother and grandmother of the Nabob aforesaid] _principally_
excited and supported the late commotions, and that they carried their
inveteracy to the English nation so far _as to aim at our utter
extirpation_." And the Court of Directors did farther declare as
follows: "That it nowhere appears from the papers at present in our
possession, that they [the mother and grandmother of the Nabob of Oude]
excited any commotions previous to the imprisonment of Rajah Cheyt Sing,
and only armed themselves in consequence of that transaction; and, as it
is probable, that such a conduct proceeded from motives of
self-defence, under an apprehension that they themselves might likewise
be laid under unwarrantable contributions.
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