"I feel
myself," says he, "and may be allowed on such an occasion to acknowledge
it, personally hurt at the ingratitude of this man, and the discredit
which his ill conduct has thrown on my appointment of him. The Rajah
himself, scarcely arrived at the verge of manhood, was in understanding
but little advanced beyond the term of childhood; and it had been the
policy of Cheyt Sing to keep him equally secluded from the world and
from business." This is the character Mr. Hastings gives of a man whom
he appointed to govern the country. He goes on to say of Durbege
Sing,--"As he was allowed a jaghire of a very liberal amount, to enable
him to maintain a state and consequence suitable both to the relation in
which he stood to the Rajah and the high office which had been assigned
to him, and sufficient also to free him from the temptation of little
and mean peculations, it is therefore my opinion, and I recommend, that
Mr. Markham be ordered to divest him of his jaghire, and reunite it to
the _malguzaree_, or the land paying its revenue through the Rajah to
the Company. The opposition made by the Rajah and the old Ranny, both
equally incapable of judging for themselves, do certainly originate from
some secret influence which ought to be checked by a decided and
peremptory declaration of the authority of the board, and a denunciation
of their displeasure at their presumption.
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