he day; but I recollect perfectly I accompanied the Nabob all
the way from Lucknow to Chunar, and returned again with him until he
struck off on the road for Fyzabad."

Your Lordships see plainly the whole of this matter. When they had
resolved to seize the Begums' treasures, they propagated this report
just in proportion to their acts. As they proceeded, the report grew
hotter and hotter. This man tells you when it was that the propagation
of this report first began, when it grew hot, and when it was in its
greatest heat. He tells you that not one native of credit in the country
believed it,--that he did not think the Nabob himself believed it; and
he gives a reason that speaks for itself, namely, that he, the Nabob,
would have been the first man to give the alarm, if he believed in a
rebellion, as he was to be the object of it. He says the English were
the principal spreaders of the report. It was, in fact, a wicked report,
propagated by Mr. Middleton and the English agents for the purpose of
justifying their iniquitous spoliation of the Begums.

This is the manner in which the matter stands upon the ground of
rebellion, with the exception of Major Gilpin's and Hyder Beg Khan's
testimony. This last man we have proved to have been kept in his office
by Mr. Hastings's influence, and to have been entirely under his
government. When this dependant comes to give his attestation, he gives
a long account of all the proceedings of Cheyt Sing's rebellion, with
which the rebellion charged on the Begums was supposed to be coincident;
and he ends it very remarkably,--that he tells the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. But it is also remarkable, that even this Hyder
Beg Khan never mentions by name the rebellion of the Begums, nor says
that he ever heard a word about it: a strong proof that he did not dare,
in the face of his country, to give countenance to such a falsehood.

Major Gilpin's evidence leaves not even the shadow of a pretence for
this charge. He had the Begums and their eunuchs under his custody for a
full year; he was strictly ordered to watch them and to guard them; and
during all that time he lived at Fyzabad. He was the man who commanded
the troops, who had all the witnesses in his power, who had daily access
to all parties at Fyzabad, and who, moreover, was a person attached to
Mr. Hastings in the strongest manner. Your Lordships will now be pleased
to hear read to you this part of Major Gilpin's evidence.