following observations and instructions upon the points adverted to in that let ter. 2. You will have observed by his lordship's letter to you of the 15th instant that he anticipated the effect upon his excellency the vizier's conduct of his lordship's intended visit tothe upper provinces, and therefore expressed a doubt whether he should think it expedient to meet his excellency during the actual crisis of affairs. As his lordship's conjecture regarding the effect of his intended journey has been verified, his lordship deems it of the utmost importance to remove from his excellency's mind those impressions upon which he founds the hope of procrastination, or of a relaxation of the demands which have been made upon him. His lordship therefore desires that his excellency the vizier may be given to understand that it is his lordship's resolution not to have any personal intercourse with him until the pending negotiation shall have been finally and completely concluded. His lordship further wishes that his excellency should understand, that it is not his lordship's practice to conduct political negotiations in person. His lordship reposes the fullest confidence in those officers whom he has selected for the conduct of political affairs, and he considers them fully competent to be the agents of his lordship's views at the several courts where they are stationed. Upon this principle it is his lordship's determination to terminate the negotiation with his excellency the vizier through the same official channel by which they have been hitherto conducted, and his lordship accordingly desires that you will diligently extinguish every hope which his excellency may entertain of any alteration in the equitable demands of the British government, or of any delay in their fulfilment, founded on his lordship's visit to the upper stations; and that you will rather mention his lordship's journey as an additional argument for the necessity of an immediate adjustment of the pending negotiations, since his lordship is resolved to avoid a meeting with his excel lency until they shall have been finally and completely closed. 3. In the paper of intelligence inclosed in your letter his lordship observed two passages of which he is desirous of receiving an an explanation. The first passage is this, "he (Molavy Sudden) pledge ed himself to this point, provided his "excellency would furnish him with such letters as he might wish to the governor"general, and to the other gentlemen, "&c." His lordship requests that you will inform him, if you can, who are those gentlemen to whom his excellency had it in contemplation to write on such an occasion as that of sending an ambassador to the representative of the British government in India. 86 4. The other passage alluded to is this; "his excellency answered, that upon receiving an auswer from Cal"cutta he would do whatever might be "advisable." His lordship is doubtful whether by this expression his excellency means an answer from his lordship to an intended remonstrance on the part of his excellency, or whether he adverts to any other correspondence which he holds with persons residing at Calcutta. 5. His lordship requests that you will state for his information, what you may know, or what your opinion is upon these two points. As you may not have retained a copy of the paper of intelligence I have the pleasure to return it. 6. There is another point materially connected with the subject of your letter, to which his lordship has directed me to draw your attention. 7. You will no doubt be informed at Lucknow of a report promulgated at Calcutta of a change in the ministry at home, by the resignation of Mr. Pitt and the duke of Portland, and the appointment of the speaker and the marquis of Lansdowne to their situations respectively. It has occurred to his lordship, that should this report, vague and unsupported as it is, reach his excellency's ears, he may be induced to believe that a charge of administration in India may be the consequence, or that his lordship may think it advisable to wait the sentiments of his majesty's ministers, upon the measures now under discussion with his excellency; and in this expectation his excellency may be more anxious than before to procrastinate a final adjustment. His lordship therefore deems it proper that you should be prepared to discountenance any such belief in the mind of his excellency, and that you shall press the final adjustment of the pending negotiations with increased earnestness. 8. His lordship observes, that you have already received such repeated injunctions on the subject of urging payment of the pecuniary demands upon his excellency, that it is superfluous to add any further directions, the more so as you seem seem to be fully aware of his lordship's anxiety upon that head, and of the importance which his lordship attaches to the immediate and complete liquidation of the amount. (Signed) N. B. EDMONSTONE. N. B. EDMONSTONE, Fort Wiliam, 24th June, 1801. His excellency the most noble the marquis Wellesley, K. P. governorgeneral, &c. Fort William. My lord,-Para. 1.-I had the honour, on the 10th instant, to receive from the Persian translator to government the statement of remarks which your lordship had been pleased to prepare on the vizier's of and on the 11th paper requests, instant presented it to his excellency. 2. The observations with which I accompanied the delivery of that document were intended to impress his excellency with the necessity of his resuming the discussion of the negotiation which has been so long on foot, with a sincere and earnest desire of concluding a definitive arrangement on the basis of one of the propositions; and it was my further aim to convince his excellency, that if, under the specious show of resignation, he hoped to postpone or evade satisfying the just demand of the company for territorial security, he was suffering himself to be deceived by the weakest counsels. 3. His excellency listened to my remarks with an impatience very unusual to him, and his behaviour, subsequent to my visit of the 7th instant, has been contrary to his ordinary practice and desire of a frequent intercourse by reciprocal visits. 4. Perceiving from these circumstances, as well as from what I understand to be the language of his durbar, that his excellency is acting upon the declaration which he verbally delivered to me on the 7th instant, of abstaining from any participation or co-operation in the measures which your lordship might adopt, and despairing of obtaining his consent to either of the propositions through the medium of mild persuasion, I thought it indispensable for the promotion of the interests committed to my charge, to address his excellency in the language of strong remon strance upon the spirit of invasion which governs his counsels and his conduct in regard to the territorial cession. 5. For this purpose I prepared a mememorial which was yesterday delivered to his excellency by my moonshee, inclosed in a short letter, copies of both which papers, in English and Persian, accompany this dispatch. 6. The vizier, previous to his receipt of the above paper, but whilst the moonshee was on his way to the palace, sent a message that he would breakfast with me this morning; his excellency accordingly came, but declined engaging in a private conversation on the plea that he had not perused my memorial. 7. Although no doubt can exist, that his exceliency is now acting upon the declaration adverted to in the 4th paragraph of this dispatch, yet it remains to be dis covered whether he is governed by a sincere determination of meeting the consequence of a perseverance in his refusal to adjust the terms of a territorial cession, or whether he is guided by a belief that your lordship will refrain from decisive measures in the event of his persisting in such a refusal. One object of my memorial being to ascertain, if possible, by which of these sentiments he is actuated, I judged that the communication of my being in possession of your lordship's instructions, providing for the event of his excellency's refusal to adjust a conclusive arrangement, afforded the most probable means of obtaining that knowledge. 8. If his excellency has been acting under a persuasion that no measures will be pursued without his acquiescence, the above communication, by undeceiving him, will probably induce him to renew the discussion of the territorial cession; in which case, and provided he engages in the discussion with a cordial desire of concluding the arrangement, I have little doubt of his consenting to the stipulations regarding the right of the company to station the British troops in such parts of his exceliency's dominions as shall be judged expedient, and of reducing his own military establishment to the compass proposed; he will probably also forbear to renew the subject of his papers of requests; but a long study of his excellency's character and disposition constrains me to express my apprehensions that he will contend against the introduction into his reserved dominions of regula tions of police, under the controul of the company sompany's officers, with a tenaciousness not to be relaxed. 9. If on the contrary it has been his excellency's design to elude a territorial cession, and it be his determination to meet the consequences of a rejection of that plan, the negotiation will then be at a crisis when the British government must either sacrifice its just demand to his perseverance, or resort to decisive measures for the support of them. 10. In the last case supposed, I should entertain little doubt of any arrangement, to whatever extent your lordship might deem advisable, being carried into effect, without throwing the country into a state of convulsion; and the introduction of his excellency's articles of request in a manifesto would, in the eyes of the nobles, and other persons about the court, justify the proceeding, and reconcile it to their minds. Should your lordship's measures be confined to the acquisition of the territory proposed to be ceded, I conceive that arrangement would be easily effected by investing the aumils with khelauts of office in your lordship's name, and supporting their authority by the presence of the company's troops, when the state of the country shall allow of their marching, which however will not be at an earlier period than the middle of September. 11. Although I have presumed to offer my opinion on the facility of establishing the company's authority in these countries, to any extent which shall be judged expedient, without the consent and aid of the vizier, yet so fully satisfied am I that your lordship would prefer the attainment of the objects which your lordship has in view by the milder ineans of negotiation, that I beg leave to assure your lordship that my most zealous endea vours, and diligent perseverance, shall be exerted to procure his excellency's acquiescence to one of the propositions, under such modifications at may be admissible. I have the honour to be, Your Lordship's most obedient and faithful humble Servant, (Signed) W.SCOTT, Resident, Lucknow. Lucknow, 21st June, 1801. Presented to his excellency the Nawaub Vizier on the of June, 1801, by lieutenant-colonel Scott, resident at Lucknow. The sentiments and resolutions deli. vered by your excellency, in the conversation which 1 had the honour to hold with your excellency on the 7th instant, seem to me to have been designedly calculated to put a stop to the progress of the negotiation which has been so long on foot. Charged as I am by the British government with the conduct of a negotiation so important to the combined interests of the company, and of your excellency, and seeing as I do a fixed determination in your excellency to evade and frustrate the object of that negotiation, your excellency must not be surprised if, in the course of the following observations, some of them should seem to question the wisdom, the justice, and the sincerity of the counsels by which your excellency is governed. The negotiation is now at that crisis wherein the British government must either sacrifice its just demands to an evasive policy, or resort to decisive steps to support its interest in Oude. Under such circumstances, silence, or a disguise of my sentiments, would be an unpardonable dereliction of my duty. In a former paper, dated the 3d of May, I demonstrated the duty of the company to interpose their authority to rescue the numerous inhabitants of this country from the grievous and increasing oppressions which they suffer under the adiginistration of of a prince whom the power of the company had placed over them with extensive authority. For the fulfilment of this duty his excellency the marquis of Wellesley, governor-general, with a consideration for your excellency's ever exalted condition, with a retrospective reflection on the splendour of your ancestors, and with a provident foresight for the welfare and happiness of your illustrious family, foffered for your consideration a proposition which, whilst it applied an effectual remedy to the evils and abuses prevailing in Oude, permanently secured the honour, the dignity, and affluence of your excellency, and of your posterity. But his lordship, with that wisdom and energy which has marked all his actions since he assumed the management of the British affairs in India, implicitly declared to your excellency, that if you should be unfortunately persuaded to reject that proposition which combined the greatest advantages to all persons concerned in the welfare of Oude, he could not suffer the company's interests to be involved in the impending ruin. Whilst your excellency admits that the principle of the first proposition is calculated to secure your personal ease and peace of mind; whilst you have made no objections to the stipulations of it, excepting to one; and whilst you have so frequently acknowledged that the disorders and mischiefs existing in every branch of your administration are of a magnitude not to be overcome by any exertions of your own power, it is not possible to conceive that your rejection of the first proposition is the deliberate and dispassionate result of your own mature judgment. It is the effect of the influence and ascendancy which certain persons possess over your counsels, persons not actuated in their advice by a regard for your excellency's honour, reputation, or happiness, not by any consideration for the welfare of your excellency's family or subjects, but by the sordid apprehension of being deprived of their shares of the peculations of the revenues of the state, and of the spoils extracted from your oppressed people. On the other hand, if the rejection of the first proposition be the result of your own mind, no part of your excellency's conduct, since you were exalted to the musnud, can sustain the belief that it is founded on the only rational and praiseworthy motives for which a retention of power can be coveted, a desire of exert ing it for the security and improvement of your dominions, and the prosperity of your subjects; although perhaps, your excellency is not accustomed to hear the language of truth, yet it cannot have escaped your reflection that an aumil let loose on a district, with no superintendence or controul over his conduct, with no other commands than to pay into the treasury, with regularity, the kists agreed upon, with no security for the permanence of his situation but what arises from gratifying the avaricious demands of persons in office, or possessing influence about the court, as no other limit to his tyrannical oppressions and arbitrary exactions than the extent and efficiency of his force: hence the frequency of those tumults, and of those contentions in the mofussil, which troops are called upon to suppress, is to be accounted for. It is evident that in a country where there exists no regulations of police, where all sorts of crimes, if noticed, are compromised for a fine, the lives and property of the people are at the mercy of the desperate robber. It requires no loud clamours to be informed that persons about the court, who have long derived their only subsistence from the bounty of the state, must execrate the man by whom it is withheld. This is the present picture of Oude, and I only desire that it may be contrasted with that of the company's provinces, to show the effects of that government, and of that system of jurisprudence which your excellency, out of respect, refrained from commenting upon. I must now observe upon your excellency's conduct in regard to the second proposition: In giving a consent to the territorial cession your excellency accompanied it with preliminary and conditional articles, and in opposition to all my remonstrances against the act itself, as being contrary to reason and usage, and in defiance to all my representations against the general substance of these articles, your excellency persisted in your desire of having them transmitted to his excellency the governor-general. The inference which I drew from this perseverance was, that your excellency meant to clog your consent with stipula tions which, you were sensible, the wisdom and justice of the British government could never accede to. Your excel lency, lency, in denying that such was your intention, in your letter to me of the 13th Mohurrum, takes credit to yourself for having withdrawn two of the articles which affected the amount of the funds to be provided: so far from considering the retraction of these two articles as a concession on your excellency's part for the purpose of facilitating the arrangement, I regard it as coming within the scope of your excellency's scheme to offer an apparently full consent to the principle of the territorial cession, but with the secret design of rendering that consent nugatory; for, whilst you left the other extravagant and unjustifiable articles (most of them unconnected with the territorial cession) as conditions on which alone your consent to the cession could be granted, you, in fact, declared that the government of lord Wellesley must condescend to purchase that security for the payment of the company's subsidy, which it has a right to demand, at the expense of every thing that is just, dignified, and honourable. When your excellency was informed that his excellency the most noble the governor-general felt it his duty peremptorily to reject those stipulations, your excellency, without hesitation, recurred to the declaration of passive submission to any measures to which his lordship might be pleased to enforce; and although many days have elapsed since your excellency has been in possession of his lordship's sentiments at large, on the nature and tendency of your paper of requests, and although your excellency is explicitly informed, in his lordship's answer, that the demand of territorial security for the payment of the subsidy is a matter of right and justice, which requires no correspondent concession on the part of the company, yet your excellency, so far from discovering any inclination to resume with me the discussion of either of the propositions, talks of preparing a rejoinder to his lordship's answer. From this review of your excellency's conduct, I am warranted in asserting, that it has from the first been the sole aim and endeavour of your excellency to procrastinate and elude a definitive arrangement upon the basis of either of the propositions which have been so long under your consideration; but your excellency could never seriously believe that the right of the company to insist on a territorial cession could be satisfied by your excel lency's conditional consent to the measure, and that it would fall to the ground on the rejection of stipulations which you might think proper to propose, however unwarrantable and unjust; and as your excellency could not yourself cherish this belief, you could hardly expect to impose it on the understanding of lord Wellesley. Your excellency declares that, although you cannot give your voluntary consent to either of the plans under the terms proposed, you possess neither) the inclination nor the power to oppose the introduction of such measures as his lordship may think proper to enforce. This is not the language of a manly submission to the superior judgment and discernment of those whose advice and assistance your excellency has so repeatedly solicited, it is the concealed language of a misplaced confidence in forbearance; but if your excellency entertains the hope of evading or postponing the settlement of the affairs of your country, under this specious show of resignation, the deliberate, the decided, and repeated assurances of his lordship's unalterable resolution to apply an effectual remedy, without delay, to the existing abuses in the dominions of Oude, ought to satisfy your excellency that such a belief is erroneous. It is undoubtedly his lordship's wish that your excellency should not only assent to the measures proposed, but that you should afford your cordial assistance in carrying them into execution; but to convince your excellency that his lordship's determination is not to be diverted from having recourse to decisive steps (should your excellency's perseverance in the unhappy counsel which you have adopted render it indispensable), I must now explicitly inform your excellency that I am in possession of instructions under his lordship's signature, providing for such an event. Before carrying these instructions into effect, I feel it a duty incumbent on me again to call upon your excellency, in the most solemn manner, to resume the discussion of the negotiation, with a sincere and earnest desire of bringing it to a speedy conclusion; and if your excellency reject this solemn requisition, to protest in the name of the British government against those counsels by which your excellency is induced to neglect my repeated remonstrances on the means which your excellency has had recourse to for evading a conclusive adjustment of the terms of territorial |