given the guarantee was not
ashamed to instigate the spoiler to excesses such that even he shrank
from them.

It was necessary to find some pretext for a confiscation inconsistent,
not merely with plighted faith, not merely with the ordinary rules of
humanity and justice, but also with that great law of filial piety
which, even in the wildest tribes of savages, even in those more
degraded communities which wither under the influence of a corrupt half
civilization, retains a certain authority over the human mind. A pretext
was the last thing that Hastings was likely to want. The insurrection at
Benares had produced disturbances in Oude. These disturbances it was
convenient to impute to the Princesses. Evidence for the imputation
there was scarcely any; unless reports wandering from one mouth to
another, and gaining something by every transmission, may be called
evidence. The accused were furnished with no charge; they were permitted
to make no defence; for the Governor-General wisely considered that, if
he tried them, he might not be able to find a ground for plundering
them. It was agreed between him and the Nabob Vizier that the noble
ladies should, by a sweeping act of confiscation, be stripped of their
domains and treasures for the benefit of the Company, and that the sums
thus obtained should be accepted by the government of Bengal in
satisfaction of its claims on the government of Oude.

While Asaph-ul-Dowlah was at Chunar, he was completely subjugated by the
clear and commanding intellect of the English statesman. But when they
had separated, the Vizier began to reflect with uneasiness on the
engagement into which he had entered. His mother and grandmother
protested and implored. His heart, deeply corrupted by absolute power
and licentious pleasures, yet not naturally unfeeling, failed him in
this crisis. Even the English resident at Lucknow, though hitherto
devoted to Hastings, shrank from extreme measures. But the
Governor-General was inexorable. He wrote to the resident in terms of
the greatest severity, and declared that, if the spoliation which had
been agreed upon were not instantly carried into effect, he would
himself go to Lucknow, and do that from which feebler minds recoil with
dismay. The resident, thus menaced, waited on His Highness and insisted
that the treaty of Chunar should be carried into full and immediate
effect. Asaph-ul-Dowlah yielded, making at the same time a solemn
protestation that he