There was no great reason to apprehend that soldiers ill paid, that soldiers who thought they had been defrauded of their plunder on former services of the same kind, would not have been sufficiently attentive to the spoil they were expressly come for; but the gallantry and generosity of the profession was justly suspected, as being likely to set bounds to military rapaciousness.  The Company’s first civil magistrate discovered the greatest uneasiness lest the women should have anything preserved to them.  Terms tending to put some restraint on military violence were granted.  He writes a letter to Mr. Popham, referring to some letter written before to the same effect, which I do not remember to have seen; but it shows his anxiety on this subject.  Hear himself:—­“I think every demand she has made on you, except that of safety and respect to her person, is unreasonable.  If the reports brought to me are true, your rejecting her offers, or any negotiation, would soon obtain you the fort upon your own terms.  I apprehend she will attempt to defraud the captors of a considerable part of their booty, by being suffered to retire without examination.  But this is your concern, not mine.  I should be very sorry that your officers and soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so well entitled; but you must be the best judge of the promised indulgence to the Ranny:  what you have engaged for I will certainly ratify; but as to suffering the Ranny to hold the purgunna of Hurlich, or any other zemindary, without being subject to the authority of the zemindar, or any lands whatsoever, or indeed making any condition with her for a provision, I will never consent.”

Here your Governor stimulates a rapacious and licentious soldiery to the personal search of women, lest these unhappy creatures should avail themselves of the protection of their sex to secure any supply for their necessities; and he positively orders that no stipulation should be made for any provision for them.  The widow and mother of a prince, well informed of her miserable situation, and the cause of it, a woman of this rank became a suppliant to the domestic servant of Mr. Hastings, (they are his own words that I read,) “imploring his intercession that she may be relieved from the hardships and dangers of her present situation, and offering to surrender the fort, and the treasure and valuable effects contained in it, provided she can be assured of safety and protection to her person and honor, and to that of her family and attendants.”  He is so good as to consent to this, “provided she surrenders everything of value, with the reserve only of such articles as you shall think necessary to her condition, or as you yourself shall be disposed to indulge her with.—­But should she refuse to execute the promise she has made, or delay it beyond the term of twenty-four hours, it is my positive injunction