vernment share of the crop and the proceedings | it necessary or expedient, you apply to the nabob, in our name, to desire that his highness will permit proper spots of ground to be set out, and bounded by proper marks on the Trichinopoly side, where the rajah and his people may at all times take sand and earth sufficient for these repairs; and that his highness will grant his lease of such spots of land for a certain term of years to the company, at a reasonable annual rent, to the intent that through you the cultivation of the Tanjore country may be secured, without infringing or impairing the rights of the nabob. before us not sufficiently explaining whether, in the sum which the rajah, by his before-mentioned letter of the 21st April, 1777, admits to have collected, are included those parts of the government share of the crop which were taken by his people from Mr. Benfield, or from any other of the assignees, or tuncaw-holders; and uninformed as we also are, what compensation the rajah has or has not made to Mr. Benfield, or any other of the parties from whom the grain was taken by the rajah's people; or whether, by means of the rajah's refusal so to do, or from any other circumstance, If any attempts have been, or shall be, hereany of the persons dispossessed of their grain, may after, made to divert the water from the Cavery have had recourse to the nabob for satisfaction; into the Coleroon, by contracting the current of we are, for these reasons, incompetent to form a the Upper or Lower Cavery, by planting long proper judgment what disposition ought in justice grass, as mentioned in Mr. Pringle's report, or by to be made of the one lack of pagodas deposited any other means, we have no doubt his highness, by the rajah. But as our sentiments and inten- on a proper representation to him in our name, tions are so fully expressed upon the whole subject, will prevent his people from taking any measures we presume you, who are upon the spot, can have detrimental to the Tanjore country, in the prosno doubt or difficulty in making such an applica-perity of which his highness, as well as the comtion of the deposit as will be consistent with those pany, is materially interested. principles of justice whereon our sentiments are founded. But should any such difficulty suggest itself, you will suspend any application of the deposit, until you have fully explained the same to us, and have received our further orders. With respect to the repairs of the Anicut and banks of the Cavery, we have upon various occasions fully expressed to you our sentiments, and in particular, in our general letter of the 4th July, 1777, we referred you to the investigation and correspondence on that subject of the year 1764, and to the report made by Mr. James Bourchier, on his personal survey of the waters, and to several letters of the year 1765 and 1767; he also, by our said general letter, acquainted you, that it appeared to us perfectly reasonable that the rajah should be permitted to repair those banks, and the Anicut, in the same manner as had been practised in times past; and we directed you to establish such regulations, by reference to former usage, for keeping the said banks in repair, as would be effectual, and remove all cause of complaint in future. Notwithstanding such our instructions, the rajah, in his letter to us of the 15th October, 1783, complains of the destruction of the Anicut; and as the cultivation of the Tanjore country appears, by all the surveys and reports of our engineers employed on that service, to depend altogether on a supply of water by the Cavery, which can only be secured by keeping the Anicut and banks in repair, we think it necessary to repeat to you our orders of the 4th July, 1777, on the subject of those repairs. And further, as it appears, by the survey and report of Mr. Pringle, that these repairs are attended with a much heavier expence when done with materials taken from the Tanjore district, than with those of Trichinopoly, and that the last-mentioned materials are far preferable to the other, it is our order, that if any occurrence should make Should you succeed in reconciling the nabob to this measure, we think it but just, that the proposed lease shall remain no longer in force than whilst the rajah shall be punctual in the payment of the annual peshcush to the nabob, as well as the rent to be reserved for the spots of ground. And in order effectually to remove all future occasions of jealousy and complaint between the parties, that the rajah on the one hand may be satisfied that all necessary works for the cultivation of his country will be made and kept in repair; and that the nabob on the other hand may be satisfied that no encroachment on his rights can be made, nor any works detrimental to the fertility of his country erected; we think it proper that it should be recommended to the parties, as a part of the adjustment of this very important point, that skilful engineers, appointed by the company, be employed at the rajah's expence to conduct all the necessary works, with the strictest attention to the respective rights and interests of both parties. This will remove every probability of injury or dispute; but should either party unexpectedly conceive themselves to be injured, immediate redress might be obtained by application to the government of Madras, under whose appointment the engineer will act, without any discussion between the parties, which might disturb that harmony which it is so much the wish of the company to establish and preserve, as essential to the prosperity and peace of the Carnatick. Having now, in obedience to the directions of the act of parliament, upon the fullest consideration of the indeterminate rights and pretensions of the nabob and rajah, pointed out such measures and arrangements as in our judgment and discretion will be best calculated to ascertain and settle the same, we hope, that upon a candid consideration of the whole system, although each of the parties may feel disappointed in our decision on particular points, they will be convinced that we have been guided in our investigation by principles | bob shall give soucar security for the punctual of strict justice and impartiality, and that the payment, by instalments, into the company's treamost anxious attention has been paid to the sub-sury, of twelve lacks of pagodas per annum (as stantial interests of both parties, and such a ge- voluntarily proposed by his highness) until those neral and comprehensive plan of arrangement debts, with interest, shall be discharged; and proposed, as will most effectually prevent all shall also consent that the equitable provision future dissatisfaction. lately made by the British legislature for the liquiApproved by the board. dation of those debts, and such resolutions and determinations as we shall hereafter make, under the authority of that provision for the liquidation and adjustment of the said debts, bona fide incurred, shall be carried into full force and effect. Whitehall, October 27, 1784. HENRY DUNDAS, No. IX. Referred to from p. 336 and 338. Extract of a letter from the Court of Directors, to the President and Council of Fort St. George, as amended and approved by the Board of Controul. Should any difficulty arise between his highness and our government of Fort St. George, in respect to the responsibility of the soucar security, or the times and terms of the instalments, it is our pleasure that you pay obedience to the orders and resolutions of our governour general and council of Bengal in respect thereto, not doubting but the nabob will in such case consent to abide by the determination of our said supreme government. Although from the great confidence we repose in the honour and integrity of the nabob, and from an earnest desire not to subject him to any embarrassment on this occasion, we have not proposed any specific assignment of territory or revenue for securing the payments aforesaid, we nevertheless think it our duty, as well to the private creditors, whose interests in this respect have been so solemnly intrusted to us, by the late act of parliament, as from regard to the debt due to the company, to insist on a declaration that in the event of the failure of the security proposed, or in default of payment at the stipulated periods, we reserve to ourselves full right to demand of the nabob such additional security, by assignment on his country, as shall be effectual for answering the purposes of the agreement. After having conciliated the mind of the nabob to this measure, and adjusted the particulars, you are to carry the same into execution by a formal deed between his highness and the company, according to the tenour of these instructions. We have taken into our consideration the several advices and papers received from India, relative to the assignment of the revenues of the Carnatick, from the conclusion of the Bengal treaty to the date of your letter in October, 1783, together with the representations of the nabob of the Carnatick upon that subject; and although we might contend, that the agreement should subsist till we are fully reimbursed in his highness's proportion of the expences of the war, yet from a principle of moderation and personal attachment to our old ally, his highness the nabob of the Carnatick, for whose dignity and happiness we are ever solicitous, and to cement more strongly, if possible, that mutual harmony and confidence which our connexion makes so essentially necessary for our reciprocal safety and welfare, and for removing from his mind every idea of secret design on our part to lessen his authority over the internal government of the Carnatick, and the collection and administration of its revenues, we have resolved that the assignment shall be surrendered; and we do accordingly direct our president, in whose name the assignment was taken, without delay, to surrender the same to his highBut, while we have adopted this resolution, we repose entire confidence in his highness, that, actuated by the same motives of liberality, and feelings of old friendship and alliance, he will cheerfully and instantly accede to such arrangements as are necessary to be adopted for our com- For the accomplishment of this great and necesmon safety, and for preserving the respect, rights, sary object, we direct you, in the name of the comand interests, we enjoy in the Carnatick. The fol-pany, to use your utmost endeavours to impress lowing are the heads and principles of such an arrangement as we are decisively of opinion must be adopted for these purposes, viz. ness. That for making a provision for discharging the nabob's just debts to the company and individuals, (for the payment of which his highness has so frequently expressed the greatest solicitude,) the na As the administration of the British interests and connexions in India has in some respects assumed a new shape by the late act of parliament, and a general peace in India has been happily accomplished, the present appears to us to be the proper period, and which cannot without great imprudence be omitted, to settle and arrange, by a just and equitable treaty, a plan for the future defence and protection of the Carnatick, both in time of peace and war, on a solid and lasting foundation. the expediency of, and the good effects to be derived from, this measure, so strongly upon the minds of the nabob and the rajah of Tanjore, as to prevail upon them, jointly or separately, to enter into one or more treaty or treaties with the company, grounded on this principle of equity, That all the contracting parties shall be bound to contribute jointly to the support of the military force and garrisons, as well in peace as in war. That the military peace establishment shall be forthwith settled and adjusted by the company, in pursuance of the authority and directions given to them by the late act of parliament. As the payment of the troops and garrisons, occasional expences in the repairs and improvements of fortifications, and other services incidental to a military establishment, must of necessity be punctual and accurate, no latitude of personal assurance or reciprocal confidence of either of the parties on the other must be accepted or required; but the nabob and rajah must of necessity specify particular districts and revenues for securing the due and regular payment of their contributions into the treasury of the company, with whom the charge of the defence of the coast, and of course the power of the sword, must be exclusively intrusted, with power for the company, in case of failure or default of such payments, at the stipulated times and seasons, to enter upon and possess such districts, and to let the same to renters, to be confirmed by the nabob and the rajah respectively; but trusting that in the execution of this part of the arrangement no undue obstruction will be given by either of those powers, we direct, that this part of the treaty be coupled with a most positive assurance, on our part, of our determination to support the dignity and authority of the nabob and rajah, in the exclusive administration of their civil government, and revenues of their respective countries; and further, that in case of any hostility committed against the territories of either of the contracting partics on the coast of Coromandel, the whole revenues of their respective territories shall be considered as one common stock, to be appropriated in the common cause of their defence That the company on their part shall engage to refrain, during the war, from the application of any part of their revenues to any commercial purposes whatsoever, but apply the whole, save only the ordinary charges of their civil government, to the purposes of the warThat the nabob and the rajah shall in like manner engage on their parts to refrain, during the war, from the application of any part of their revenues, save only what shall be actually necessary for the support of themselves, and the civil government of their respective countries, to any other purposes than that of defraying the expences of such military operations as the company may find it necessary to carry on for the common safety of their interests on the coast of Coromandel. And to obviate any difficulties, or misunderstanding, which might arise from leaving indeterminate the sum necessary to be appropriated for the civil establishment of each of the respective powers, that the sum be now ascertained which is indispensably necessary to be applied to those purposes, and which is to be held sacred under every emergency, and set apart previous to the application of For the ground of this "great reliance," see the papers in this Appendix, No. 5., as also the nabob's letters to the court of the rest of the revenues, as hereby stipulated, for the purposes of mutual or common defence against any enemy, for clearing the incumbrance which may have become necessarily incurred in addition to the expenditure of those revenues which must be always deemed part of the war establishment. This we think absolutely necessary, as nothing can tend so much to the preservation of peace, and to prevent the renewal of hostilities, as the early putting the finances of the several powers upon a clear footing; and the shewing to all other powers, that the company, the nabob, and the rajah, are firmly united in one common cause, and combined in one system of permanent and vigorous defence, for the preservation of their respective territories, and the general tranquillity. That the whole aggregate revenue of the contracting parties shall, during the war, be under the application of the company, and shall continue as long after the war as shall be necessary, to discharge the burthens contracted by it; but it must be declared, that this provision shall in no respect extend to deprive either the nabob or the rajah of the substantial authority necessary to the collection of the revenues of their respective countries. But it is meant that they shall faithfully perform the conditions of this arrangement; and if a division of any part of the revenues, to any other than the stipulated purposes, shall take place, the company shall be entitled to take upon themselves the collection of the revenue. The company are to engage, during the time they shall administer the revenues, to produce to the other contracting parties regular accounts of the application thereof to the purposes stipulated by the treaty, and faithfully apply them in support of the war. And lastly, as the defence of the Carnatick is thus to rest with the company, the nabob shall be satisfied of the propriety of avoiding all unnecessary expence, and will therefore agree not to maintain a greater number of troops than shall be necessary for the support of his dignity, and the splendour of the durbar, which number shall be specified in the treaty; and if any military aid is requisite for the security and collection of his revenues, other than the fixed establishment employed to enforce the ordinary collections, and preserve the police of the country, the company must be bound to furnish him with such aid; the rajah of Tanjore must likewise become bound by similar engagements, and be entitled to similar aid. As, in virtue of the powers vested in Lord Macartney, by the agreement of December, 1781, sundry leases, of various periods, have been granted to renters, we direct, that you apply to the nabob, in our name, for his consent, that they may be permitted to hold their leases to the end of the stipulated term; and we have great reliance * on the liberality and spirit of accommodation manifested by the nabob on so many occasions, that he will be disposed to acquiesce in a proposition so directors in this Appendix, No. 10. just and reasonable; but if, contrary to our expectations, his highness should be impressed with any particular aversion to comply with this proposition, we do not desire you to insist upon it as an essential part of the arrangement to take place between us; but in that event you must take especial care to give such indemnification to the renters for any loss they may sustain, as you judge to be reasonable. It equally concerns the honour of our government, that such natives as may have been put in any degree of authority over the collections, in consequence of the deed of assignment, and who have proved faithful to their trust, shall not suffer inconvenience on account of their fidelity. that no official communication was made to him of the peace, for near a month after the cessation of arms took place. This, and every other mark of disrespect to the nabob, will ever appear highly reprehensible in our eyes; and we direct that you do, upon all occasions, pay the highest attention to him and his family. Lord Macartney, in his minute of the 9th of September last, has been fully under our consideration : we shall ever applaud the prudence and foresight of our servants, which induces them to collect and communicate to us, every opinion or even ground of suspicion, they may entertain, relative to any of the powers in India, with whose conduct our interest, and the safety of our settlements, are essentially connected. At the same time we earnestly recommend, that those opinions and speculations be communicated to us with prudence, discretion, and all possible secrecy; and the terms in which they are conveyed be expressed in a manner as little offensive as possible to the powers whom they may concern, and into whose Having thus given our sentiments at large, as well for the surrender of the assignment, as with regard to those arrangements which we think necessary to adopt in consequence thereof, we cannot dismiss this subject without expressing our highest approbation of the ability, moderation, and command of temper, with which our president at Madras has conducted himself in the manage-hands they may fall.† ment of a very delicate and embarrassing situation. His conduct and that of the select committee of Fort St. George, in the execution of the trust delegated to Lord Macartney, by the nabob Mahommed Ally, has been vigorous and effectual, for the purpose of realizing as great a revenue, at a crisis of necessity, as the nature of the case admitted; and the imputation of corruption, suggested in some of the proceedings, appears to be totally groundless and unwarranted. While we find so much to applaud, it is with regret we are induced to advert to any thing which may appear worthy of blame, as the step of issuing the Torana Chits in Lord Macartney's own name can only be justified upon the ground of absolute necessity; and as his lordship had every reason to believe that the demand, when made, would be irksome and disagreeable to the feelings of Mahommed Ally, every precaution ought to have been used, and more time allowed, for proving that necessity, by previous acts of address, civility, and conciliation, applied for the purposes of obtaining his authority to such a measure. It appears to us, that more of this might have been used; and therefore we cannot consider the omission of it as blameless, consistent with our wishes of sanctifying no act contrary to the spirit of the agreement, or derogatory to the authority of the nabob of the Carnatick, in the exercise of any of his just rights, in the government of the people under his authority. We likewise observe, the nabob has complained For the full proof of this necessity, Lord Macartney's whole correspondence on the subject may be referred to. Without the act here condemned, not one of the acts commended in the preceding paragraph could be performed. By referring to the nabob's letters in this Appendix it will be seen what sort of task a governour has on his hands, who is to use, according to the direction of this letter, "acts of address, civility, and concilia"tion," and to pay, upon all occasions, the highest attention to persons, who at the very time are falsely, and in the grossest terms, accusing him of peculation, corruption, treason, and every species of malversation in office. The recommendation, under menaces of such behaviour, and under such circumstances, conveys a lesson, the tendency of which cannot be misunderstood. We next proceed to give you our sentiments respecting the private debts of the nabob; and we cannot but acknowledge, that the origin and justice, both of the loan of 1767, and the loan of 1777, commonly called the cavalry loan, appear to us clear and indisputable, agreeably to the true sense and spirit of the late act of parliament. In speaking of the loan of 1767, we are to be understood as speaking of the debt as constituted by the original bonds of that year, bearing interest at 101. per cent. ; and therefore, if any of the nabob's creditors, under a pretence that their debts made part of the consolidated debt of 1767, although secured by bonds of a subsequent date, carrying an interest exceeding 101. per cent. shall claim the benefit of the following orders, we direct that you pay no regard to such claims, without further especial instructions for that purpose. With respect to the consolidated debt of 1777, it certainly stands upon a less favourable footing. So early as the 27th March, 1769, it was_ordered by our then president and council of Fort St. George, that, for the preventing all persons living under the company's protection from having any dealings with any of the country powers, or their ministers, without the knowledge or consent of the board, an advertisement should be published, by fixing it up at the sea-gate, and sending round a copy to the company's servants and inhabitants, and to the different subordinates, and our garrisons, and giving it out in general orders; ↑ The delicacy here recommended in the expressions concerning conduct "with which the safety of our settlements is essen"tially connected," is a lesson of the same nature with the former. Dangerous designs, if truly such, ought to be expressed according to their nature and qualities; and as for the secrecy recommended concerning the designs here alluded to, nothing can be more absurd, as they appear very fully and directly in the papers published bythe authority of the court of directors in 1775, and may be easily discerned from the propositions for the Bengal treaty, published in the Reports of the Committee of Secrecy, and in the Reports of the Select Committee. The keeping of such secrets too long has been one cause of the Carnatick war, and of the ruin of our affairs in India. stating therein, that the president and council did | consider the irreversible order of the court of directors of the year 1714 (whereby their people were prohibited from having any dealings with the country governments in money matters) to be in full force and vigour; and thereby expressly forbidding all servants of the company, and other Europeans under their jurisdiction, to make loans, or have any money transactions, with any of the princes or states in India, without special licence and permission of the president and council for the time being, except only in the particular cases there mentioned; and declaring, that any wilful deviation therefrom should be deemed a breach of orders, and treated as such. And on the 4th of March, 1778, it was resolved by our president and council of Fort St. George, that the consolidated debt of 1777 was not, on any respect whatever, conducted under the auspices or protection of that government; and on the circumstance of the consolidation of the said debt being made known to us, we did, on the 23d of December, 1778, write to you in the following terms: "Your account "of the uabob's private debts is very alarming; "but from whatever cause or causes those debts "have been contracted or encreased, we hereby repeat our orders, that the sanction of the company be on no account given to any kind of security for the payment or liquidation of any part thereof (except by the express authority of "the court of directors) on any account or pre"tence whatever." The loan of 1777, therefore, has no sanction or authority from us; and, in considering the situation and circumstances of this loan, we cannot omit to observe, that the creditors could not be ignorant how greatly the affairs of the nabob were at that time deranged, and that his debt to the company was then very considerable; the payment of which the parties took the most effectual means to postpone, by procuring an assignment of such specific revenues, for the discharge of their own debts, as alone could have enabled the nabob to have discharged that of the company. Under all these circumstances, we should be warranted to refuse our aid or protection in the recovery of this loan: but when we consider the inexpediency of keeping the subject of the nabob's debts longer afloat than is absolutely necessary; when we consider how much the final conclusion of this business will tend to promote tranquillity, credit, and circulation of property in the Carnatick ; and when we consider that the debtor concurs with the creditor in establishing the justice of those debts consolidated in 1777 into gross sums, for which bonds were given, liable to be transferred to persons different from the original creditors, and having no share or knowledge of the transactions in which the debts originated, and of course how little ground there is to expect any substantial good to result from an unlimited investigation into them, we have resolved so far to recognise the justice of those debts, as to extend to them that protection which, upon more forcible grounds, we have seen cause to allow to the other two classes of debts. But although we so far adopt the general presumption in their favour, as to admit them to a participation in the manner hereafter directed, we do not mean to debar you from receiving any complaints against those debts of 1777, at the instance either of the nabob himself, or of other creditors injured by their being so admitted, or by any other persons having a proper interest, or stating reasonable grounds of objection; and if any complaints are offered, we order that the grounds of all such be attentively examined by you, and be transmitted to us, together with the evidence adduced in support of them, for our final decision; and as we have before directed, that the sum of twelve lacks of pagodas, to be received annually from the nabob, should be paid into our treasury, it is our order that the same be distributed according to the following arrange ment. That the debt be made up in the following manner, viz. The debt consolidated in 1767 to be made up to the end of the year 1784, with the current interest at ten per cent. The cavalry loan to be made up to the same period, with the current interest at twelve per cent. The debt consolidated in 1777 to be made up to the same period, with the current interest at twelve per cent. to November, 1781, and from thence with the current interest at six per cent. The twelve lacks annually to be received are then to be applied, 1. To the growing interest on the cavalry loan, at twelve per cent. 2. To the growing interest on the debt of 1777, at six per cent. The remainder to be equally divided; one half to be applied to the extinction of the company's debt, the other half to be applied to the payment of growing interest at 107. per cent. and towards the discharge of the principal of the debt of 1767. This arrangement to continue till the principal of the debt 1767 is discharged. The application of the twelve lacks is then to be, 1. To the interest of the debt 1777, as above. The remainder to be then equally divided; one half towards the discharge of the current interest and principal of the cavalry loan, and the other half towards the discharge of the company's debt. When the cavalry loan shall be thus discharged, there shall then be paid, towards the discharge of the company's debt, seven lacks. To the growing interest and capital of the 1777 loan, five lacks. When the company's debt shall be discharged, the whole is then to be applied in discharge of the debt 1777. If the nabob shall be prevailed upon to apply the arrears and growing payments of the Tanjore peshcush in further discharge of his debts, over and above the twelve lacks of pagodas, we direct that the whole of that payment, when made, shall |