This was
consented to by Mr. Bristow, at that time Resident for the Company in
Oude; and to this arrangement Asoph ul Dowlah and his advisers lent a
willing ear. What did Mr. Hastings then say of this transaction? He
called it a violent assumption of power on the part of the Council. He
did not, you see, then allow that a bad system justified any persons
whatever in an abuse of it. He contended that it was a violent attack
upon the rights and property of the parties from whom the money was to
be taken, that it had no ground or foundation in justice whatever, and
that it was contrary to every principle of right and equity.
Your Lordships will please to bear in mind, that afterwards, by his own
consent, and the consent of the rest of the Council, this business was
compromised between the son, the mother, and their relations. A very
great sum of money, which was most useful to the Company at that period,
was raised by a family compact and arrangement among themselves. This
proceeding was sanctioned by the Company, Mr. Hastings himself
consenting; and a pledge was given to the Begums and family of the
Nabob, that this should be the last demand made upon them,--that it
should be considered, not as taken compulsively, but as a friendly and
amicable donation.
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