Extract of the proceedings of the resident at Benares, under date the 16th February, 1788, at the pergunnah of Gurrah Dehmah, &c.; printed minutes, page 2610.

"THE resident having arrived in this pergunnah of Gurrah Dehmah, from that of Mohammedabad, is very sorry to observe, that it seems about one third at least uncultivated, owing to the mismanagement of the few last years. The rajah however promises, that it shall be by next year in a complete state of cultivation; and Tobarck Hossaine, his aumeen, aumil, or agent, professes his confidence of the same happy effects, saying, that he has already brought a great proportion of the land, that lay fallow when he came into the pergunnah in the beginning of the year, into cultivation; and that it being equally the rajah's directions, and his own wish, he does not doubt of being successful in regard to the remaining part of the waste land."

Report, dated the 18th of February, at the pergunnah of Bulleah.

"THE resident having come yesterday into this pergunnah, from that of Gurrah Dehmah, finds its appearance much superior to that pergunnah, in point of cultivation; yet it is on the decline so far, that its collectable jumma will not be so much this year as it was last; not withstanding all the efforts of Reazel Husn, the agent of Khulb Ali Khân, who has farmed this pergunnah upon a three years' lease, (of which the present is the last,) during which his, that is, the head farmer's, management cannot be applauded, as the funds of the pergunnah are very considerably declined in his hands; indeed Reazel Husn declares, that this year there was little. or no khereof, or first harvest, in the pergunnah; and that it has been merely by the greatest exertions that he has prevailed on the ryots to cultivate the rubby crop which is now on the ground, and seems plentiful."

Report dated the 20th of February, at the pergunnah of Khereed.

"THE resident, having this day come into the pergunnah of Khereed, finds that part of it laying between the frontiers. of Bulleah, the present station, and Bansdeah, (which is one of the tuppahs or subdivisions of Khereed,) exceedingly wasted and uncultivated. The said tuppah is subfarmed by Gobind Ram, from Kulub Ali Bey, and Gobind Ram has again under-rented it to the zemindars."

Report dated the 23d February, at the pergunnah of Sekunderpoor.

"THE resident is set out for Sekunderpoor, and is sorry to observe, that for about six or seven coss that he had further to pass through the pergunnah of Kereebs, the whole appeared one continued waste as far as the eye could reach, on both sides of the road. The pergunnah Sekunderpoor, beginning about a coss before he reached the village, an old fort of that name, appeared to a little more advantage, but even here the crops seem very scanty, and the ground more than half fallow."

Extract of the proceedings of the resident at Benares, under date the 26th February, at the pergunnah of Sekunderpoor.

"THE resident now leaves Sekunderpoor to proceed to Nurgurah, the head cutcherry of the pergunnah. He is sorry to observe, that during the whole way between these two places, which are at the distance of six coss or twelve miles from each other, not above twenty fields of cultivated ground are to be seen, all the rest being, as far as the eye can reach, except just in the vicinity of Nuggeha, one general waste of long grass, with here and there some straggling

jungly trees. This falling off in the cultivation is said to have happened in the course of but a few years, that is since the late rajah's expulsion.

Your lordships will observe, the date of the ruin of this country, is the expulsion of Cheit Sing.

Extract of the proceedings of the resident at Benares, under date the 27th February, at the pergunnah of Sekunderpoor.

"THE resident meant to have proceeded from this place to Cossimabad, but understanding that the village of Ressenda, the capital of the pergunnah of Susknesser, is situated at three coss distance, and that many Rhardarry collections are there exacted, the zemindars and ryots being, it seems, all one body of Rajepoots, who affect to hold themselves in some sort independent of the rajah's government, paying only a mohurrery of fixed jumma, (which it may be supposed is not over-rated,) and managing their inferior concerns as they think fit; the resident thought it proper on this report to deviate a little from his intended route, by proceeding this day to Ressenda, where he accordingly arrived in the afternoon; and the remaining part of the country near the road through Sekunderpoor, from Nuggurha to Seundah appearing nearly equally waste with the former part, as already noticed in the proceedings of the 26th instant.

"The rajah is therefore desired to appoint a person to bring those waste lands into cultivation, in like manner as he has done in Khereed, with this difference or addition in his instructions, that he subjoin in those to the Aband Kar or manager of the recultivation of Sekunderpoor, the rates at which he is authorized to grant pottahs, for the various kinds of land; and it is recommended to him, to make these rates even somewhat lower than he may himself think strictly conformable to justice, reporting the particulars to the resident.

“The rajah is also desired to prepare and transmit a table of similar rates to the Aband Kar, of pergunnah Khereed. Jonn Duncan,

"(signed)

"Benares,

"the 12th September, 1788."

"Resident."

Here your lordships find, in spite of Mr. Hastings himself, in spite of all the testimonies which he has called, and of all the other testimonies which he would have called, that his own account of the matter is confirmed against his own pretended evidence; you find his own written account confirmed in a manner not to be doubted; and the only difference between his account and this is, that the people did not fly from Mr. Duncan when he approached, as they fled from Mr. Hastings. They did not feel any of that terror at the approach of a person from the beneficient government of Lord Cornwallis, with which they had been entirely filled at the appearance of the prisoner at your bar. From him they fled in dismay. They fled from his very presence as from a consuming pestilence, as from something far worse than drought and famine; they fled from him as a cruel, corrupt, and arbitrary governor, which is worse than any other evil that ever afflicted mankind.

You see, my lords, in what manner the country has been wasted and destroyed; and you have seen by the date of these measures, that they have happened within a few years, namely, since the expulsion of rajah Cheit Sing. There begins the era of calamity. Ask yourselves then, whether you will or can countenance the acts which led directly and necessarily to such consequences? Your lordships will mark what it is to oppress and expel a cherished individual from. his government, and finally to subvert it. Nothing stands after him; down go all order and authority with him; ruin and desolation fall upon the country; the fields are uncultivated, the wells are dried up. The people, says Mr. Duncan, promised indeed, some time or other, under some other gov

ernment, to do something. They will again cultivate the lands, when they can get assurance of security. My lords, judge, I pray you, whether the House of Commons, when they had read the account which Mr. Hastings has himself given of the dreadful consequences of his proceedings, when they had read the account given by Mr. Duncan, of an uncultivated country as far as the eye could reach, would not have shown themselves unworthy to represent not only the Commons of Great Britain, but the meanest village in it, if they had not brought this great criminal before you, and called upon your lordships to punish him. This ruined country, its desolate fields, and its undone inhabitants, all call for vengeance upon the head of this execrable criminal.

Oh! but we ought to be tender towards his personal character; extremely cautious in our speech; we ought not to let indignation loose. My lords, we do let our indignation loose. We cannot bear with patience this affliction of mankind. We will neither abate our energy, relax in our feelings, nor in the expressions which those feelings dictate. Nothing but corruption like his own could enable any man to see such a scene of desolation and ruin unmoved. We feel pity for the works of God and man; we feel horror for the debasement of human nature; and feeling thus, we give a loose to our indignation, and call upon your lordships for justice.

Strange as it may appear to your lordships, there remains. to be stated an aggravation of his crimes, and of his victims' misery. Would you consider it possible, my lords, that there could be an aggravation of such a case as you have heard? Would you think it possible for a people to suffer more than the inhabitants of Benares have suffered, from the noble possessor of the splendid mansion down to the miserable tenants of the cottage and the hut? Yes, there is a state of misery, a state of degradation far below all that you have yet heard. It is, my lords, that these miserable people should come to your lordships' bar, and declare, that they have