most noble the governor-general, the two above-mentioned propositions, I must entreat that your excellency will not consider them as submitted for the purpose of your preparing excuses for declining both; but that you may be pleased to signify to me which of the two has your excellency's preference; and as delay cannot weaken the causes, the motives, or the principles, upon which these propositions are founded, but must inevitably create serious embarrassments, I am satisfied that your excellency's wisdom and penetration will see the propriety and necessity of signifying to me, both speedily and cordially, your assent to one of the propositions. 5. The superior advantages of the first proposition, as embracing the complete reform of those evils and abuses which pervade every part of your excellency's dominions, and the continuance and progressive aggravation of which menace their ruin and desolation, are fully demonstrated in his lordship's several letters. 6. It is my most earnest hope that his lordship's reflections on this subject will make such an impression on your excellency's mind, as to induce your excellency to adopt the principle of that plan, which in its operation would be sure and effectual to the ends in view. In which case, I shall be ready to discuss with your excellency any modifications which may suggest themselves to your excellency's wisdom, in respect to the inferior articles of the proposed treaty. 7. In the event of your excellency being unhappily persuaded to reject the first proposition, it will be only necessary to put into the form of a treaty the second proposition, in conformity to the substance of a paper now before you, and which I will do as soon as your excellency shall furnish me with the accounts required by my memorial presented to your excellency on the last day of Shurval (16th March). A true copy: (Signed) W.SCOTT, To his excellency the most noble the marquis Wellesley, K. P. governorgeneral, &c. &c. Fort William. My Lord,-Par. 1. Since I did my self the honour of addressing your lordship on the 29th of April, I have had several conferences with the vizier on the subject of the negotiation on foot, and it is with satisfaction I acquaint your lordship that after I had nearly relinquished the hope of obtaining his excellency's acquiescence in either of the propositions a prospect is at length opened his excellency's discussing with me the arrangements of a territorial cession. 2. In a conversation with his excellency on the ed instant, he assured me that he had perused and reflected upon all the arguments and reasoning contained in your lordship's letter, with every degree of deliberation of which his mind was capable; and that with the most earnest desire to accede to your lordship's wishes, and to be governed by your lordship's advice, it was impossible for him, whatever might be the consequence of his refusal, and which he was sensible would be unfavourable, to consent to propositions which must bring obloquy on his character, and the effects of which would be transmitted to his posterity. 3. With a mind apparently so determined and prepared to meet consequen. ces, further reasoning and remonstrances might seem to be fruitless; still, however, as his excellency might have overlooked some circumstances of an imediate as well as a remote tendency, I thought it advisable to state to him that I had yet some observations in reserve, the tenor of which might convince his judgment, that he would consult his own reputation and happiness, as well as the solid interests of his family, more by the immediate adoption of one of the plans, especially the first, than by a tenacious adherence to sentiments of mistaken pride. 4. His excellency professed a readiness to listen to any arguments I had to urge; but as the observations which it was in my contemplation to offer were of some delicacy, I was fearful lest it should happen, that in a conversation they might not be delivered with full force, or in language sufficiently cautious, and therefore informed his excellency that they would be committed to writing in the course of the day, and that I should wait upon him with them the next morning. 5. Having on the 2d instant presented the paper of observations, with a preface, assuring his excellency that they were the dictates of my own personal friendship and regard, I entreated he would peruse them in my presence, in order that I might afford any explanations which might be required. His excellency, desirous of reflecting on them at leisure, declined the proposition, but assured me that it should occasion the delay of only one day, as he would breakfast with me the following morning. Copies of the paper above-mentioned, in English and Persian, are herewith inclosed for your lordship's information. 6. In the afternoon his excellency sent for my moonshee, and by his hands returned to me the paper, with request that I would arrange the subject matter of it under distinct heads, in which form he would reply to each article separately. I immediately informed his excellency, through the same channel, that the papers contained facts and arguments arranged in as connected a manner as possible; that I had submitted it to him with a view of aiding his judgment on the questions before bim, without wishing for an answer, and that if there was any part of it of doubtful meaning, or the tendency of which he did not understand, the moonshee, who had written and carried back the paper, would furnish expla nations. 7. His excellency then engaged the moonshee in a long conversation, which though it professed submission to whatever measures your lordship might determine to carry into effect, ended with a declaration that he could not of his own accord consent to either of the propositions. 8. At the close of the evening a note from Mulavy Suddun required the attendance of the moonshee this morning, when his excellency, after rejecting in the most unqualified terms, the first proposition, delivered a reluctant consent to the territorial cession on certain conditional stipulations, which, with my concurrence, he would submit to me for consideration; his excellency at the same time declared that those stipulations were not of a tendency to make a compliance with them impracticable, but were chiefly calculated to render the arrangement final and conclusive. 9. It is probable that the stipulations will contend for a diminution of the sum charged on account of the additional troops, and for a higher valuation of the countries to be ceded than their present jumma admits of; it is also probable that they may be directed to the exercise of his own exclusive authority in the territories which remain to his excellency; nor is it impossible, notwithstanding his excellency's assurances, that they may, designedly, be of a nature so inadmissible as to preclude any negotiation upon them. 10. I have pressed for the immediate delivery of the stipulations, and on the receipt of them shall be enabled to judge whether his excellency is sincerely disposed to carry through the arrangements, or whether the stipulations are conceived in a spirit of dissimulation and artifice to render his acceptance of the alternative necessary. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) W.SCOTT, Resident at Lucknow. A true copy. N. B. EDMONSTONE. Secretary to Government. Lucknow, 4th May, 1801. (Signed) Copy. Presented to the vizier on the 3d May, 1801. Earnestly solicitous that your excellency should consider the important subject now before you in every possible view in which it can be placed, and as some observations of an immediate, as well as of remote tendency, may have escaped your excellency's discernment, I shall in the sincerity of my heart, and out of pure friendship, submit to your excellency's cool and candid reflection a few points which have suggested themselves to my mind; they will chiefly be addressed to your excellency's feelings, as a warm and grateful friend to the company, and as the father of an illustrious family, whose future happiness and affluence may be ultimately affected by your excellency's determi nation upon the present question. It is not unknown to your excellency that the disposal of these countries, many years ago, devolved on the company by right of conquest, and that the generosity of the company's government restored them to your father, although he had opposed them in arms in aid of the case of a man who had treacherously imbrued his hands in the blood of many of their respectable and unsuspicious servants. The armies of the company, subsequently, defended the dominions which they had bestowed upon your father against the Mahrattas and Rohillahs, and ultimately added to those dominions several possessions, whether considered in in respect to their produce or as a line of defence. At the demise of your illustrious father the same power conveyed and confirmed these dominions to his legal successor; your excellency's own succession was marked with still stronger efforts of their power and demonstrations of their justice. In a sudden and critical juncture, vizier Ally, with the sanction and concurrence of many respectable persons, was exalted to the musnud; but no sooner was his title ascertained to be defective, than the company voluntarily hazarded a contest, and their reputation for political consistency, in support of the rights of your excellency. I have not introduced this recital of facts with a view of erecting on them claims to your excellency's gratitude, but to draw this forcible and undeniable conclusion from them, namely, that that power which has in so many instan'ces disposed of the government of a country, must not only be warmly interested in the prosperity and happiness of its inhabitants, but that it is a moral duty and obligation upon them to exert their utmost efforts to promote and secure those objects. Have not your excellency's subjects, suffering under the severest oppressions, a right to arraign the justice of that power which, having delivered them over to the hands of a sovereign, remains a careless spectator of the aggravated misery of their condition; and will not the whole world concur in reproaching the British government, and in ascribing to their supineness, the ruin of one of the fairest portions of Hindostan ? When it is further considered that the interests of the company are so intimately blended with the welfare and security of Oude, that the ruin of this last country must inevitably menace the company's possessions, all the principles of prudence, of right, and of moral obligation, combine to constitute the necessity imposed upon his excellency the most noble the governor-general of averting that fatal period; nor ought it to surprise your excellency that his lordship, convinced by experience of the impossibility of the evils and abuses prevailing in Oude being surmounted by any exertion of your excellency's power, should propose the complete introduction of the British authority as the only possible means of preserving the united interests of your excellency and the company in Oude. It is evident that your excellency's resources, even if they were to suffer no diminution, cannot bear the present burthen of the company's additional force, and of the continued charge of so useless and expensive a part of your own military establishments as the horsemen. Whatever reluctance your excellency may feel in dismissing these people, and whatever may be your motives for obstructing that measure, the execution of it is indispensable. If your excellency continues punctual in discharging the subsidy to the company, will there not be a deficiency to answer other just demands? and will there not arise from that deficiency tumults and disorders in the military branch of your establishments, and disaffection and disgust in the civil branches? This deficiency can only be provided against by reducing every part of the military establishment that is not absolutely requisite. Should your excellency apprehend any odium from the exercise of this just right, or any mischievous consequences from the execution of it, the immediate adoption of the plan proposed will transfer the act from yourself to the company. They will undertake it without the fear of reproach, and with a determination to provide for such of the officers as from character and conduct shall be entitled to a maintenance; but, at all events, the completion of the reductions must be pursued. The substitution of the company's troops in the room of your own must inevitably occasion some embarrassments in collecting the revenues under the existing system of force. Although the assistance of the company's troops is ever readily afforded for maintaining and enforcing the authority of government, yet they cannot be at the exclusive disposal of the aumils, nor participaters in their acts of oppression. Whilst I know that such is not your excellency's wish, and that your commands are in direct opposi tion to such an use of the company's troops, yet your excellency must be satisfied, that whilst that system of force is suffered to have existence, the aumils will plead the want of military assistance as an excuse for a failure in their revenues. I shall now address myself to yous excellency's feelings, as the father of an illustrious house. I have already stated to your excellency, that all the principles of prudence, of right, and of moral obligation, demand that that the company should interpose their direct and active authority for remedying the evils and abuses existing in Oude. If, on your excellency's accession to the musnud, they did not assume that interference, it was in the strong hope that your excellency's wisdom, prudence, and exertions, would have been successfully applied to reduce to order this distracted country. These hopes being disappointed, can any reasonable expectation be formed of their being realized under another successor? and can it be conceived that the company's forbearance will be continued under such unpromising circumstances, or rather under a certainty of an aggravation of evils which must ultimately terminate in the ruin of the company's interests in Oude? Will it not then be a part of wisdom and paternal care in your excellency, whilst seated on the musnud, to concur and assist in framing an arrangement, which shall secure to your family and posterity the most solid and lasting advantages? The co-operation of your excellency's wisdom and experience would improve and perfect the proposed plan; the sacrifice which your excellency would make to your feelings, the respect and consideration due to the exalted situation which you fill, would have their fullest influence on the stipulations of the plan; the company will, upon all occasions, act with scrupulous justice and extensive liberality; but what successor could claim or expect in his own person those benefits which your excellency's adoption of the plan would transmit to him? Having offered my friendly opinions on the first plan, I shall now, in the same spirit of friendship, proceed to the second. The right of the company, under the circumstances of an acknowledged apprehension of the failure of resources, and a certainty of the approach of that event, to demand security for the funds necessary for defraying the expence of their defensive engagements with your excellency, is demonstrated in his lordship's letter by incontrovertible arguments, deduced from the principles of the soundest reason and justice. A cession of territory adequate to the funds is the only security which can be satisfactory; and whilst this act would furnish the security required, it would relieve your excellency from all future demands, and all anxiety would be effectually removed, I shall now offer to your excellency's reflection one more observation :-if your excellency's perseverance in refusing both propositions should compel his excellency the most noble the governorgeneral to resort to decisive steps for the purpose of averting those evils which must inevitably flow from such a determination in your excellency, I entreat your excellency to consider whether it will not be consistent with his lordship's wisdom, energy, and comprehensive justice, to reject all measures for the improvement of the revenues of this country, and promoting the happiness and security of its inhabitants, which may be partial in their extent and confined in their effects, and to adopt that plan which combines most advantages to every party interested in the prosperity of Oude, and which in its operation would be sure, general, and effectual. (Signed) WILLIAM SCOTT, Resident at Lucknow. (Copy.) To his excellency the most noble the marquis Wellesley, K. P. governorgeneral, &c. &c. &c. My Lord,-Par. 1. I do myself the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's letter of the 28th of April. 2. In the letter which I did myself the honour of addressing to your lordship, on the 4th instant, I reported the state of the negotiation to that day; and though the vizier, in a visit he made to me yesterday, declined, on the plea of indisposition, to engage in a discussion of the terms and arrangements of the territorial cession, yet I have every confidence that the consent given by his excellency to the measure will preclude the necessity of resorting to those extremities for securing the company's rights, authorized by your lordship, in the event of his excellency's refusal of both propositions. 3. The just preference given by your lordship to the proposition for transfer of the administration of the civil and military governments of Oude to the exclusive management of the company, the solicitude expressed by your lordship for the attainment of the object, and, if I may be allowed to add, my own anxiety for the accomplishment of it, as well from a sense of duty to your lordship as from the strongest conviction in my mind of its superior advantages, formed a combination of the most powerful motives to actuate So fully sensible have I always been of the superior advantages which would result to every party interested in the welfare of Oude, from the adoption of the proposition for transferring the administration of the civil and military governments of this country to the exclusive management of the company, and so clearly do I foresee, and deeply lament, the effects of a continuance of the vizier's administration in the part of the country which will remain to him, whether relative to the mass of inhabitants, or to individuals dependent on his country, that I trust your lordship will give credit to the assurance which I have taken the liberty to offer, that my endeavours to obtain the vizier's acquiescence to the first proposition were unceasing, and not abated until the impossibility of procuring it was decidedly manifest. Every duty which I owe to your lordship and the public, every feeling of sensibility for others, and of anxiety to be assistant in the execution of so great a work, impelled me to labour the accomplishment of it by the exertion of all my faculties. 3. If the success has not been equal to the earnestness which actuated by endeavours, I have still some consolation in reflecting that the wisdom and energy of your lordship, whilst they secure the company's interest in Oude, will rescue a large portion of the inhabitants of this country from the grievous oppressions under which they labour. 4. In discussing the detail of the terrirorial cession, occasions may occur for pressing the vizier's acceptance of the first proposition, by dwelling on its advantages, and by demonstrating that it would relieve him from some embarrasments which the conditions of the territorial cession may produce. These occasions shall always be embraced, and pursued to the utmost extent of which they may be capable, although I can scarcely entertain a hope of effecting any change in a resolution apparently so fixed and determined. 5. My design, in thus addressing your lordship unofficially, is to offer to your lordship's consideration some points, connected with the territorial cession, which have suggested themselves to my mind in contemplating the arrangement. 6. The countries to be received on the western side of the Ganges are completely bounded and separated from the remaining parts of the vizier's dominions by that river, and it would be advisable that the limits of the countries to be ceded on the eastern side should be ascertained, if possible, by some natural boundaries. In this view it was my intention to have taken what is called, in Rennel's map, the river of Gawrah for this boundary. This would include a small tract of country to the southward which does not properly belong to Rohilcund, but would exclude a large tract to the northward; and though probably in the actual land revenue no loss would be sustained, yet the town of Pelibeat being a great mart for trade from the hills, I am unwilling to relinquish that source of commerce, which may probably be improved to a considerable and beneficial extent; I shall endeavour, however, to comprehend the whole of the country lying to the westward of the above-mentioned river, without relinquishing any to the eastward, as it will secure the navigation of it to its junction with the Ganges opposite Kinnoge. 7. Some alterations will doubtlessly be necessary in the commercial treaty; but as it may require long and deep consideration to arrange every part of a subject so intricate, it appears to me that the only stipulation immediately necessary will be for the free and undisturbed navigation of the river Ganges, where it forms the mutual boundaries of the two states; that is, that each party shall engage to prevent their zemindars, situated as above, from obstructing the passage of boats |