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Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

"The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 11 (of 12)"

Markham in the difficulties which he had to encounter
immediately after the date of my letter to him, and to have recommended
the substance of it for an order to the board." He seems to have
promised Mr. Markham, that, if the violent act which Mr. Markham
proposed, and which he, Mr. Hastings, ordered, was carried into
execution, an authority should be procured from the board. He, however,
did not get Mr. Markham such an authority. Why? Because he was resolved,
as he has told you, to act by his own separate authority; and because,
as he has likewise told you, that he disobeys the orders of the Court of
Directors, and defies the laws of his country, as a signal of his
authority.
Now what does he recommend to the board? That it will be pleased to
confirm the appointment which Mr. Markham made in obedience to his
individual orders, as well as the directions which he had given him to
exact from Baboo Durbege Sing with the utmost rigor every rupee of the
collections, and either to confine him at Benares or send him to Chunar
and imprison him there until the whole of his arrears were paid up.
Here, then, my Lords, you have, what plainly appears in every act of Mr.
Hastings, a feeling of resentment for some personal injury.


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