on account of the additional troops serving in the province of Oude. You have already been furnished with the documents necessary to enable you to prepare a statement of those arrears, and you have received the communication of my orders to require his excellency's immediate discharge of the amount. 54. It is my decided opinion, that a proportion of the expences attending the embassy of captain Malcolm, and Mehedy Ally Khan into Persia, is justly chargeable to his excellency's account. The primary object of both those einbassies was the security of his excellency's dominions, by averting the long-threatened invasion of Zemaun Shah. 55. Mehedy Ally Khan was dispatched to Persia for that purpose by the government of Bombay, 1798, and was actually successful in exciting the govern ment of Persia to aid the prince Mahmood Shah in the recovery of his possessions; and Zemaun Shah, was in consequence, diverted from carrying into effect those designs against his excellency's possessions in Oude, which have recently been disclosed by the papers found in the palace of the late Tippoo Sultaun. 56. Captain Malcolm has been employed in negotiating an arrangement at the court of Persia calculated to prevent any return of the same danger to his excellency's dominions. His excellency cannot justly dispute the obligation to discharge a proportion of the expences incurred for the express purpose of avert ing from his territories the danger of a formidable invasion. 57. You will hereafter be furnished with a statement of those charges; in the mean time I desire that you will communicate to his excellency my intention of making this demand. 58. You will however inform his excellency, that in the event of his acceptance of the first proposition I shall be ready to take into consideration an equitable modification of the just demand of the company upon him, as well as on acccount of the arrears of subsidy for the additional force serving in Oude, as on account of the charges of both embassies to Persia; and that these demands (in the case supposed) may adınit of considerable abatement. I am, Fort William, 28th April, 1801. My Lord,-Par. 1. I have the honour to acquaint your lordship, that, on the goth instant, I presented to the vizier the letter from your lordship to his_excellency, transmitted to me in the Persian translator's dispatch of the 9th instant. 2. In delivering your lordship's letter I merely confined myself to recommending the important subjects discussed in it to his excellency's most serious and dispassionate reflection, and to the expression of my hopes that his excellency would speedily communicate to me his choice of one of the two propositions again offered for his excellency's accept ance. 3. A slight indisposition with which the vizier was affected, and the intervention of the celebration of the Ede, prevented me from requiring another private conference with his excellency until the 26th instant. 4. At that conference his excellency pleaded in excuse, for not having prepared an answer to your lordship's letter, his late and continued indisposition, which had disqualified him from engaging in so arduous an undertaking. Conceiving from this opening of the conversation that his excellency, inattentive to your lordship's remonstrances, was disposed to evade a decisive answer on the two specifie propositions, I referred him to that part of your lordship's letter which represents a detailed reply as unnecessary; and after expatiating on the superior advantages of the first plan, concluded by acquainting his excellency, that it was a duty incumbent on nie, in compliance with your lordship's instructions, to offer to him a second time the two propositions, and to require of his excellency to signify to me his assent to one of them. 5 The language of his excellency's reply, though studiously reserved, was not of a nature to indicate the intention of an open and direct acceptance to either of the propositions; it professed acquiescence to your lordship's pleasure in points where it might be practicable, and regret where his consent could not be voluntarily given. 6. Finding it impossible to extract from his excellency a verbal communication of his sentiments, I determined to address a letter to him which should bo answer be calculated to produce an direct to the point of the two propositions. The translation into Persian of my intended letter was nearly completed, when I received one from his excellency, acquainting me that it was in his contem plation to prepare a reply to your lordship's letter, and desiring that I would send, for his perusal, the two propositions. 7. The object of his intimation and desire being evidently to amuse me, since it was owing to his excellency's own particular request, in order to avoid the multiplication of papers on a subject of such importance, that the propositions were not a second time submitted to him in writing, the receipt of his excellency's letter made no alteration in the substance of mine to him, which was this day delivered, accompanied by copies of the two propositions. Copies of it in English and Persian, together with a copy and translation of his excellency's letter to me, I have the honour to transmit with this dispatch, 8. Should his excellency offer to me a letter for your lordship, either eluding an acceptance of either of the propositions, or absolutely rejecting both, I shall think it my duty to resist the dispatch of it by the most forcible arguments that shall occur to me. Amongst which, I shall submit to his excellency's reflections, whether, if his perseverance in refusing both propositions should compel your lordship to resort to decisive steps for the purpose of averting those evils which must inevitably flow from such a determination in his excellency, it will not be consistent with your lordship's wisdom, energy, and comprehensive justice, to reject all measures for the improvement of the resources of his country, and for promoting the happiness and security of its inhabitants, which should be partial in their extent, and confined in their effects; and to adopt that plan which combines the most advantages to every party interested in the prosperity of Oude, and which in its operation, would be sure, general, and effectual. 9. I was inclined to have introduced this reasoning in the letter now addressed to his excellency; but wished to make trial of another effort for procuring his acquiescence to the first proposition, before giving his excellency cause to suppose that the hope of it was abandoned. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. To the Vizier. Dated the 15th of Zeebija, or 29th April, 1801. Par. 1. It is now nine days since I did myself the honour of presenting to your excellency a letter from his excellency the most noble the governor-general. 2. The points discussed in that letter, whether viewed as connected with the prosperity of this country, as eventually affecting the happiness of your excellency, or as involving the interests of the company in Oude, are of such magnitude and importance, that I cannot allow myself to suppose that they have not engaged your excellency's most serious and deliberate reflection. 3. It was, however, with extreme surprise and concern that I learned from your excellency's conversation of the 26th instant, that you had not come to any determination on the subject of his lordship's letter. The two propositions formally submitted to your excellency's consideration are therein renewed in so decided and solemn a manner, that it is impossible for your excellency to conceive that a second rejection of both can be accepted as an answer to the alternative proposed. 4. Upon this consideration, therefore, in again offering to your excellency, in compliance with the orders of the 3900 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, Resident at Lucknow. True copy. (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE, Secretary to Government. 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. most 2. In a conversation with his excel lency 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 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 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 return ed 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 chanuel, 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 him, 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 de. termine 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 dnected 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 assome 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 determination 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 imbued 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 deminions several possessions, whether considered 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 sull 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 instances 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' troops, yet your excellency must be satis fied, 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 your 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 |