“I am this instant favored with yours of yesterday.  Mine of the same date [22d October, 1781] has before this time acquainted you with my resolutions and sentiments respecting the Rannee [the mother of the Rajah Cheyt Sing].  I think every demand she has made to you, except that of safety and respect for her person, is unreasonable.  If the reports brought to me are true, your rejecting her offers, or any negotiations with her, would soon obtain you possession of the fort upon your own terms.  I apprehend that she will contrive to defraud the captors of a considerable part of the booty by being suffered to retire without examination.  But this is your consideration, and 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 I cannot make any objection, as you must be the best judge of the expediency of the promised indulgence to the Rannee.  What you have engaged for I will certainly ratify; but as to permitting the Rannee to hold the purgunnah of Hurluk, or any other in the zemindary, without being subject to the authority of the zemindar, or any lands whatever, or indeed making any conditions with her for a provision, I will never consent to it.”  And in another letter to the same person, dated Benares, 3d of November, 1781, in which he, the said Hastings, consents that the said woman of distinction should be allowed to evacuate the place and to receive protection, he did express himself as follows.  “I am willing to grant her now the same conditions to which I at first consented, provided that she delivers into your possession, within twenty-four hours from the time of receiving your message, the fort of Bidzigur, with the treasure and effects lodged therein by Cheyt Sing or any of his adherents, with the reserve only, as above mentioned, of such articles as you shall think necessary to her sex and condition, or as you shall be disposed of yourself to indulge her with.  If she complies, as I expect she will, it will be your part to secure the fort and the property it contains for the benefit of yourself and detachment.  I have only further to request that you will grant an escort, if Panna should require it, to conduct her here, or wherever she may choose to retire to.  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 that you immediately put a stop to any further intercourse or negotiation with her, and on no pretext renew it.  If she disappoints or trifles with me, after I have subjected my duan to the disgrace of returning ineffectually, and of course myself to discredit, I shall consider it as a wanton affront and indignity which I can never forgive, nor will I grant her any conditions whatever, but leave her exposed to those dangers which she has chosen to risk rather than trust to the clemency and generosity of our government.  I think she cannot be ignorant of these consequences, and will not venture to incur them; and it is for this reason I place a dependence on her offers, and have consented to send my duan to her.”