I have received but just sufficient to support my absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of fifteen lac [150,000_l._ sterling], and for this reason many of the old chieftains with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court, were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory, there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And the said Nabob did therefore pray that the assignments for the new brigade, the corps of horse, and the other detached bodies of the Company's troops might not be required from him: alleging, "that the former was not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs; and that the detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely their own masters." VI.

That it appears that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to the maintenance, without his consent, _even of the old brigade_,--the Court of Directors having, in their letter of the 15th December, 1775, approved of keeping the same in his service, "_provided it was done with the free consent of the Subah, and by no means without it_." And the _new brigade_ and temporary corps were raised on the express condition, that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "_for so long a time as he should require the corps for his service_." And the Court of Directors express to the Governor-General and Council their sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "But if you intend to exert your influence first to induce the Vizier to acquiesce in your proposal, and afterwards _to compel him to keep the troops in his pay during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent conduct would reflect great dishonor on the Company_." VII.

That, in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to discharge the demands made on him, were confirmed by the testimony of the English Resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to be "without hesitation _totally_ inadmissible," and did falsely and maliciously insinuate, "that the _tone_ in which the demands of the Nabob were asserted, and the season in which they were made, did give cause for _the most alarming suspicions_." And the said Warren Hastings did, in a letter to the Nabob aforesaid, written in haughty and insolent language, and without taking any notice of the distresses of the said Nabob, alleged and verified as before recited, "require and insist upon your [the Nabob's] granting _tuncaws_ [assignments] for the full amount of their [the Company's] demands upon you for the current year, and on your reserving funds sufficient to answer them, _even should the deficiencies of your revenues compel you to leave your own troops unprovided for, or to disband a part of them to enable you to effect it_." VIII.

That, in a letter written at the same time to the Resident, Purling, and intended for his directions in enforcing on the Nabob the unjust demands aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings hath asserted, in direct contradiction to the treaties subsisting between the said Nabob and the Company, "that he [the Nabob] stands engaged to our government to maintain the English armies which at his own request have been formed for the protection of his dominions, and _that it is our part, and not his, to judge and determine in what manner and at what time these shall be reduced and withdrawn_." And in a Minute of Consultation, when the aforesaid measure was proposed by the said Hastings to the Supreme Council, he did affirm and maintain that the troops aforesaid "had now no _separate_ or distinct existence from ours, and may be properly said to consist of our _whole_ military establishment, with the exception only of our European infantry; and that they could not be withdrawn without imposing on the Company _the additional burden of them_, or disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and three regiments of horse." IX.

That in the Minute of Consultation aforesaid, he, the said Warren Hastings, hath further, in justification of the violent and arbitrary proceedings aforesaid, asserted, "that the arrangement of measures between the British government and their allies, the native powers of India, must, in case of disagreement about the necessity thereof, _be decided by the strongest_"; and hath thereby advanced a dangerous and most indecently expressed position, subversive of the rights of allies, and tending to breed war and confusion, instead of cordiality and cooeperation amongst them, and to destroy all confidence of the princes of India in the faith and justice of the English nation.