reader concerning the circumflances of that-.war, but it would
be foreign to the objebt of thefe pages, tp enter upon a minute
detail; and the public is already inpoflèflion of the great outline
of the fadts. Some-notes, however,. which I made on
the fpot, and at the.tinxe, .may prove not..quite uninterefting,-
and I flatter myfelf will contain fomething of original information.
I t is not my bufinefs to enter into the queflion refpedfcmg
the rights of the government in different countries and thofe
of: the governed. Fadts are my objedt, and fuch alone a.s
fell within the limited and confined Iphere of- niyii.Mtice.-,
On my arrival, the 15th of ■ Auguft, the general convocation
turned upon the condudt of Cheyt Sing, the Zemindar of
the province. It is neceflary in this, placebo remark, that the
word Zemindar implies fimply a land-holder, either by a right
of inheritance, or as a renter merely :• if by right-of inheritance,
the government, being virtually the proprietors bi the
foil, i f they think proper, may poffefs themfelves ;of it by the
laws of Hindoftan, paying to the Zemindar ten per cent,
out of fuch Zemindary. .Rajah Cheyt Sing had met the
Governor General at Buxar, attended with a confiderable
train, and a large fleet of boats, in which were two thpufand
armed men, feledted from the flower of the military of Benares,
and fuppofed at the time, and reafonably fo, to be intended
for the purpofe of fupporting him in the refufal of
fuqh demands as might be made upon him by the Governor
General, and to prevent the exertion 9# force in fupporfe. of
theJBritifh authority*. > |
T h e - caufe of^rfagreementhetween the BritHh government
anjl the Zemindar of Benares‘is well-known. It is, however,'
merely an. adt.of cornmon juftiegItbrfftate,1 that, during myi
whole refidence in India, I never*fo much.as.heard^th.e guilt
and perfidy of Cheyt Sing once called .in qu6fton. Itwis 'tiou
torious 'that he -y£s in the: interefkof the.enemy;, and(iHwa|
equally notorious that .he; withheld, under the ’moft,tricing
and 'falfe pretences, 'the afliftance .which was demanded o f
him,-and which by the nature of -his treaty he*wastboun|vtp
fumifli: in a word, it was notorious, to f very. per fan • ^tshat h$
wanted only a convenient-opportunity to-withdraw his alle-
glance'ffom the Company.:
A f t e r feveral letters and* meflages;,had pafled’ between
Cheyt Sing and the Governor Geheral, the Refident, Mr.
Markam,* received orders .th-puti the -Rajah under -Vat
his houfe at Sewalla Gkut on the-'-banks-of 1 the* river,' to
which he quietly fubmitted, without any appearance of op-
pofition’. This sivas'on''the },.and about one. o^clock in
the afternoon we were informed, that a large body, dfivthe
Rajah’s vpeople had: croffed^from Ramnagur to the Benares
fide of - the river, and had grounded .the Rajah’s houfe.- A
note was at the fame time received by the Refident, Mr.
Markham, from Lieutenant Staulker, who had been left with
n