which had been due before those orders could possibly have impeded any expected receipts of revenue from your excellency's country. Still less can the intimations and instructions which lieutenant-colonel Scott actually gave to your aumils, and to the company's military officers, be supposed to produce the effect which your excellency has been pleased to ascribe to them. But if any doubts existed on this subject, they would be entirely removed by your excellency's acknowledgment, that you were actually in possession of the resources necessary for the payment of the kist of June, at the moment when you asserted, that the measures adopted by colonel Scott had deprived you of the means, of fulfilling your pecuniary engagements; your excellency's refusal, therefore, to continue your subsidiary payments_was a direct violation of treaty, and, I am concerned to add, was aggravated by the disrespectful offer of discharging the dis puted kist, under the plea of relieving the supposed exigencies of the British government, under conditions which required the British government to sanction your excellency's violation of treaty, and to compromise its dignity by a public retraction of the measures, which a due regard for the rights and interests of the company had compelled the British government to adopt.

Having since, however, had the satisfaction to learn that your excellency had returned to a due sense of your engagements, and had actually commenced payment of the kist for June, I deem it unnecessary to enter into any further discussion of the question, or to communicate to your excellency the sentiments which your excellency's conduct upon that occasion excited in my mind, and the decisive measures which my duty would have compelled me to adopt, for the immediate and effectual support of the rights and interests committed to my charge, against the injurious effects of so direct a violation on your excellency's part, of the engagements subsisting between your excellency and the honourable company.

I cannot, however, refrain from expressing the regret with which I observed the disposition, in this instance, so unequivocally manifested by your excellency to evade the company's just and equitable demands, and to avail your self of a crisis occasioned by your unwarrantable opposition to the rights of

I cannot comprehend the causes of your excellency's perseverance in this system of conduct, in opposition to every principle of reason, unless it were possible to suppose, that your excellency has been persuaded to believe, that I shall ultimately be induced to abandon the maintenance of the company's right, whenever I shall have lost all hope of your excellency's concurrence in the arrangements which I have proposed for their security. If such be the impres sion upon your excellency's mind, it be comes my duty to repeat, in the most decided and unqualified terms, that my conviction of the justice and equity of the demands, which I have made upon your excellency, remains unaltered; and that no consideration whatever, excepting your excellency's concurrence in the more wise and beneficial arrangements of the first of the two propositions submitted to you, can induce me to relinquish the important objects of the pending negotiation.

Your excellency deceives yourself, if, from the temporary suspension of the measures which I had authorized the resident to adopt, your excellency infers the probability of my relinquishing the demand of territorial security, or of my hesitating to adopt whatever measures may appear to be necessary for the security of the rights and interests of the honourable company. My motive for this temporary delay was a consideration of regard for your excellency; I was averse to pursue measures of extremity while any hope remained, that your excellency might be induced to consider the proposed arrangement in a manner more consistent with justice, and with the relations subsisting between your excellency and the honourable company. I accordingly directed lieutenant-colonel Scott to inform your excellency, as I had

beca

been prevented, by the urgency of public business, from proceeding, in person, to the upper provinces as soon as I intended, I had determined to dispatch my brother, the honourable Henry Wellesley, to your excellency, for the express purpose of confirming all the sentiments and resolutions which had been already communicated to your excellency by colonel Scott, and of conveying to your excellency, in the most decided manner, the conviction of my invariable determination to adhere to the declarations so repeatedly made to your excellency upon the subject of the affairs of Oude. As your excellency, therefore, had no reason to entertain, from my brother's arrival at Lucknow, the most distant expectation, that I could be induced to abandon claims so strongly supported, and so indispensable to the British interests, as those which have been preferred to your excellency, I indulged a hope that your excellency would have afforded an acceptable proof of your justice and discernment, by consenting to the proposed arrangement, without waiting for Mr. Wellesley's arrival, but in this expectation I have hitherto been unhappily disappointed; your excellency's conduct has disclosed a spirit of opposition not confined to the particular measure actually in agitation, but affecting the fundamental principle of your excellency's connection with the honourable company. Although your excellency's erroneous interpretation of the nature and objects of that connection may have prevented you from forming a proper estimate of the justice and necessity of the proposed arrangements, yet under the circumstance of my repeated and solemn declarations to your excellency, it might have been expected that your excellency would be convinced of the sincerity of my resolutions, and that you would not expose yourself to the discredit of compelling the British government to assert its rights in your excellency's dominions without your consent or co-operation. Under these circumstances your excellency's conduct can only be ascribed to a fallacious reliance on the groundless expectations, which the ignorance or depravity of your excellency's advisers had excited in your mind. It is my duty to remove those dangerous and illusory impressions, by repeating my most solemn and deliberate resolution never to recede from the de

mands which I have made on grounds so incontestibly just, and of such extreme exigency; and by assuring your excellency that no course of events can be supposed, either in Europe, or in this country, which would render the proposed arrangement in Oude an object of inferior importance, or diminish the solicitude with which it will be pursued by the British government in India, and supported by the British administration in Europe.

I trust, however, that upon mature reflection, your excellency will be induced to wave your opposition to the proposed arrangement; and that I shall have the satisfaction to learn that your excellency has united cordially with colonel Scott, in carrying it into effect before the arrival of Mr. Wellesley, the remaining objects of whose mission will not then be impeded by painful and unnecessary discussion.

In this hope I trust that I shall learn from colonel Scott, in the course of a few days, that your excellency has completed the discharge of the arrears of the aug mented subsidy, that you have concluded the terms of territorial cession, and adopted the requisite measures for the final reform of your military establishment, by reducing the remnant of your refractory, useless, and expensive troops.

I am now on the point of embarking from Calcutta; and I shall hope to learn from colonel Scott, before I have advanced many days on my vovage, that your excellency has at length returned to a course of measures suitable to your character, and conformable to your interests. (Signed) WELLESLEY.

His excellency the most noble the marquis Wellesley, K. P. governor general, &c.

My Lord, -1. I had the honour, on the 27th instant, to receive through the Persian secretary, your lordship's letter to the vizier, dated the 14th instant, and on the 29th presented it to his excellency.

2. The vizier read the letter in my presence; but wishing to deliberate on the contents of it more at leisure, declined engaging in conversation with me on any of the subjects treated of; and upon my urging him to enter seriously and cordially in a discussion of the terms of the territorial cession, reverted to the desire which he had frequently expressed of a temporary absence from Oude; to which I replied, that though I had not the

smallest

smallest authority for hazarding such an opinion, it was not impossible that the previous necessary arrangement for such a measure might form one of the objects of Mr. Wellesley's mission.

3. Yesterday morning early his excellency went out to the Bebypoor, about six miles from the city, with an intention, as I conceived, according to the ceremonial arrangement concerted between us, of being ready to receive your lordship's brother. In the evening I received a letter from his excellency, with a verbal desire by the messenger who brought it, that I would read it alone, without imparting the contents to any person; the substance of it is as follows: that his excellency having determined to retire for some time to Beby poor, had intended to stop at my house in his way out, for the purpose of communicating to me the motives which had induced him to the above determination; that, as I was asleep, his intentions were at that time disappointed, but that he would make the communication whenever I would fix an interview. I returned a verbal message, that I would ride out early this morning, and do myself the honour of waiting upon his excellency.

4. I accordingly waited on the Vizier this morning, when his excellency opened the conference by assuring me, that your lordship's recent letter had so discom. posed his mind that he had resolved to leave his palace, remain at Beby poor unul something final respecting the affairs of Oude should be determined on, and which, whatever it were, h⚫ intreated might be effected as expeditiously as possible.

5. Viewing his excellency's declaration of an intention to remain at Babypoor as an attempt to draw from me an entreaty that he would return to his palace, and not seeing any use in yielding to such a puerile artifice, I contented myself with observing, that I could discover no advantage either to himself or to the business in contemplation, by the resolution which he had taken.

6. On the subject of a speedy arrangement I entered more largely, and remarked, that the accelerating a conclusion of the pon ts so long under discussion, rested solely with himself; that he was in posses-ion of drafts of the stipulations connected with both propositions; and that I was ready at the moment, or at any time which he would appoint, to examine and canvas the several articles. This produced from his excellency an expression of doubt upon the expediency of

measures

8. On the first proposition I observed, that, admitting the wish expressed by his Excellency, of a temporary or permanent retirement from Oude were sincere, it would in either case be more suited to the dignity of his situation, and to his connection with the Briush government, as well as more advantageous to himself and to his family, to adjust the terms of his abdication, or temporary absence, with co diality and cheerfulness, than to attempt the execution of either of those measures by the operation of ill-humour and dissatisfaction.

9. In respect to his determination not to oppose the execution of any arrangements which your lordship might resolve on, I took occasion to shew how fallacious was such a determination, by instancing his excellency's resent refusal to discharge the kist. If upon the very limited measures adopted by me, preparatory to the occupation of the territory proposed to be ceded, his excellency had had recourse to a step which, had he persevered in, must inevitably have called from your lordship's government the most decisive measures, what confidence could he place in his own resolutions. continuaily worked upon and weakened by the advice of interested counsellors, of maintaining a passive line of conduct in the event of your lordship's being ultimately compelled to assert the right of the British government in his excellency's dominions without his consent and co-operation. His excellency had already escaped one imminent danger, and I trusted that the anxiety which he had suffered on that occasion, and the reflections resulting from it, would be a powerful caution against exposing himself a second time to so perilous a situation.

10. His excellency promised to deliberate upon the reasoning which I had employed, and to give me a final answer in a day or two; but having no expectation that his answer will lead to a conclusive arrangement, and as Mr. Wellesley, in a

letter

letter which I found from him on my return from the vizier, expressed his determination to proceed immediately to Lucknow, should I think his presence desirable, I have taken the liberty to offer to him my decided opinion that his presence, under existing circumstances, is highly expedient.

11. From the reflections which suggest themselves to me on the present posture of the negotiation, and from my knowledge of the vizier's disposition, it appears to me, that it will be advisable to commence our united operations by treating his excellency's propositions of a temporary or permanent retirement as sincere, and by entering into a consideration of the arrangement and terms of his absence. I have the honour to be,

with the greatest respect,
my lord,
Your lordship's most obedient,
and most faithful humble

had occasion to applaud your zeal, dili gence, and address. Since the arrival o Mr. Wellesley at Lucknow, your exertion of the same qualities has greatly contributed to the success of the late negotiation.

2. Mr. Wellesley, in an official and separate dispatch of the 11th instant, received this day, has borne the most ample testimony to the extent of the assistance which he has derived from you; and I consider it to be my duty, on this occasion, to express my high sense of your merits, and to return you my public acknowledgments for your eminent services.

3. As a mark of my favourable acceptance of your services, I have this day appointed you to be one of my honorary aides-de-camp; a distinction which I have reserved for such officers as have proved highly meritorious in the field, or in the conduct of negotiations with foreign

states.

It is my intention that you should remain in the residency at Lucknow, which, under the operation of the new treaty, will for some years be a situation of great difficulty and delicacy.

I am, Sir, &c. &c. &c.
(Signed)
WELLESLEY.
On the River, near Benares,
November 14th, 1801.

MINUTES

AT what time did your lordship succeed to the office of governor-general of India ?-I believe about the end of October, 1793.

At that time did not treaties of friendship and alliance subsist between the company and the nabob vizier of Oude?--Yes.

By those treaties were not the company bound to defend the dominions of the nabob against all enemies?-By the exist ing treaties they were.

For this defence was not the nabob bound to pay the company an annual subsidy of fifty lacks of upees?-Yes, at the time that is mentioned, he was.

Was it not clearly understood on all sides, that for this sum the company were to defend him effectually, both against external attacks and internal commotions? -It was so.

On the death of Fvzula Khan, or soon after, was it not judged necessary to make a very considerable augmentation in the British forces in Oude, and to assemble a large army to act in concert with the vizier's in Rohilcund ?-I do not recollect any augmentation of the company's army in Oude on the occasion specified.

This army was assembled early in the year 174?--I do not recollect the date; the records will show it.

Did not sir Robert Abercrombie, who was then commander in chief, leave Calcutta, and go up express to take the command of it? Sir Robert Abercrombie took the command of the army so assembled, but I do not know whether he went from Calcutta express for that purpose.

After the defeat of the Rohillas, and the surrender of Mohammed Khan, was not a very considerable part of Rohilcund at the disposal of the company ?-I know there were certain terms agreed upon at the time, but I do not recollect what the

terms were.

Does your lordship remember that a considerable tract of country was ceded by the Rohillas, and entirely at the disposal of the commander in chief and the nabob vizier ?-I do not recollect any thing of it; but if it was so, it is in the records of the company; if it be meant to ask, whether the company had power to take possession of the country, that they certainly had, from the force they had.

In