ll events obliged to conform.
That, even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas,
whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest
to accuse and their determined object to destroy the said Ranna, no
satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he
had entered into with the Company.
That, moreover, if all the charges which have been pretended against the
Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of
his conduct, had been well founded and proved to be true, the
subject-matter of those accusations and the proofs by which they wore to
be supported were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the
treaty he entered into with Mahdajee Sindia; and therefore, whatever
suspicions may have been entertained or whatever degree of criminality
may have been proved against the said Ranna previous to the said treaty,
from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty he
was fully and justly entitled to the security stipulated for him by the
Company, and had a right to demand and receive the protection of the
British government.
That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to the said Warren
Hastings, in his letter of the 24th of June, 1781, and were enforced by
this additional argument,--"that, in point of policy, I believe, it
ought not to be our wish that the Mahrattas should ever recover the
fortress of Gualior. It forms an important barrier to our own
possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us;
and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us
and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always
remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from
that warlike and powerful nation."
That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said
Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honor and
injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the
said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most
sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith were necessary to
the existence of the national interests in that country," and though the
said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this
kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the
possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition,
avarice, or v
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