this opposition, persevere, and by his casting vote
alone did carry the said unjust and oppressive demand.
The Rajah submitted, after some murmuring and remonstrance,
to pay the sum required,—but on the express
condition (as has been frequently asserted by him to
the said Warren Hastings without any contradiction)
that the exaction should continue but for one year,
and should not be drawn into precedent. He
also requested that the extraordinary demand should
be paid along with the instalments of his monthly
tribute: but although the said Warren Hastings
did not so much as pretend that the instant payment
was at all necessary, and though he was urged by his
before-mentioned colleagues to moderate his proceedings,
he did insist upon immediate payment of the whole;
and did deliver his demand in proud and insulting language,
wholly unfit for a governor of a civilized nation to
use towards eminent persons in alliance with and in
honorable and free dependence upon its government;
and did support the same with arguments full of unwarrantable
passion, and with references to reports affecting merely
his own personal power and consideration, which reports
were not proved, nor attempted to be proved, and,
if proved, furnishing reasons insufficient for his
purpose, and indecent in any public proceedings.
That the said Hastings did cause the said sums of money
to be rigorously exacted, although no such regular
battalions as he pretended to establish, as a color
for his demand on the Rajah, were then raised, or
any steps taken towards raising them; and when the
said Rajah pleaded his inability to pay the whole
sum at once, he, the said Hastings, persevering in
his said outrageous and violent demeanor, did order
the Resident to wait on the Rajah forthwith, and “demand
of him in person, and by writing, the full payment
in specie to be made to him within five days of such
demand, and to declare to him, in the name of this
government, that his evading or neglecting to accomplish
the payment thereof within that space of time should
be deemed equivalent to an absolute refusal;
and in case of non-compliance with this [the Resident’s]
demand, we peremptorily enjoin you to refrain from
all further intercourse with him”:
the said Hastings appearing by all his proceedings
to be more disposed to bring on a quarrel with the
Prince of Benares, than to provide money for any public
service.
IV. That the said demand was complied with, and the whole thereof paid on the 10th of October that year. And the said Rajah did write to the said Hastings a letter, in order to mitigate and mollify him, declaring to the said Hastings that his sole reliance was on him, “and that in every instance he depended on his faith, religion, promises, and actions.” But he, the said Warren Hastings, as if the being reminded of his faith and promises were an incentive to him to violate the same, although he had agreed that his demand should not be drawn into precedent, and the payment of the fifty thousand pounds