ur Lordships that he once had a great number of
letters and papers to prove this rebellion of the Begums. But he
declares that he has lost all these letters. A search was ordered to be
made in Mr. Hastings's record-office, called a trunk; and accordingly in
the trunk is found a paper worthy of such a place and such a cause. This
letter, which has been made use of to criminate the Begums, has not
their names mentioned, nor is there any possibility of their being
included in it. By this paper which is preserved you may judge of the
whole of the papers that are lost. Such a letter, I believe, was never
before brought as evidence in a court of justice. It is a letter said to
have been intercepted, and is as follows.

"To the most noble * * * * *, whose prosperity be everlasting!

"It is represented, that the august purwannah [command], having
completed his honorable arrival on the 16th of the month in the
evening, highly exalted me. It is ordered that I should charge
Medeporee, and the other enrolled sepoys belonging to my district,
and take bonds from them that none of them go for service to the
Rajah; and that, when four or five hundred men, nudjeeves and
others, are collected, I should send them to the presence.
According to the order, I have written to Brejunekar Shah Rehemet
Ullah, who is in Bhooaparah, charging him to take bonds from them,
and that whatever sepoys fit for service are collected he should
send to the presence. As at this time the wind is contrary, the
sepoys will not * * * * without travelling charges; for I have
learnt from a letter previously received from Brejunekar Shah
Rehemet Ullah, that the people there also are badly inclined. By
the grace of God, the unalterable glory shall be * * * * *. Zehan
Beg and the nudjeeves who were in the fort of Aneelah have gone off
to Goruckpore."

This is a letter of somebody or other employed by somebody or other for
the recruiting service,--it should seem, by the word "presence,"
somebody employed in enlisting forces for the Nabob. The charge against
the Begum was, that she had joined with the rebellious Rajahs to
exterminate her son's government and the English influence in that
country. In this very paper you see that the soldiers entering into that
service, and officers who are to contract for soldiers, are expressly
bound not to join the Rajahs; and this they produce a