On the 2d of May, 1775, Mr. James Grant, accountant to the Provincial Council of Moorshedabad, produced to the Governor-General and Council certain Persian papers which stated nine lacs of rupees (upwards of ninety thousand pounds sterling) received by Munny Begum, on her appointment to the management of the Nabob’s household, over and above the balance due at that time, and not accounted for by her.  These Grant had received from Nuned Roy, who had been a writer in the Begum’s Treasury Office.  Both Mr. Grant and Nuned Roy were called before the board, and examined respecting the authenticity of the papers.  Among other circumstances tending to establish the credit of these papers, it appears that Mr. Grant offered to make oath that the chief eunuch of the Begum had come to him on purpose to prevail on him not to send the papers, and had declared that the accounts were not to be disputed.

On the 9th of May it was resolved by a majority of the board, against the opinion and solemn protest of the Governor-General, that a gentleman should be sent up to the city of Moorshedabad to demand of Munny Begum the accounts of the nizamut and household, from April, 1764, to the latest period to which they could be closed, and to divest the Begum of the office of guardian to the Nabob; and Mr. Charles Goring was appointed for this purpose.

The preceding facts are stated to the House, not as the foundation of an inquiry into the conduct of the Begum, but as they lead to and are therefore necessary to explain by what means a discovery was made of a sum of money given by her to Mr. Hastings.

Mr. Goring’s first letter from the city, dated 17th May, 1775, mentions, among other particulars, the young Nabob’s joy at being delivered out of the hands of Munny Begum, of the mean and indigent state of confinement in which he was kept by her, of the distress of his mother, and that he had told Mr. Goring that the “Begum’s eunuch had instructed the servants not to suffer him to learn anything by which he might make himself acquainted with business”:  and he adds, “Indeed, I believe there is great truth in it, as his Excellency seems to be ignorant of almost everything a man of his rank ought to know,—­not from a want of understanding, but of being properly educated.”

On the 21st of May, Mr. Goring transmitted to the Governor-General and Council an account of sums given by the Begum under her seal, delivered to Mr. Goring by the Nabob in her apartments.  The account is as follows.

Memorandum of Disbursements to English Gentlemen, from the
Nabob’s Sircar, in the Bengal Year 1179.

+--------------------+
|Seal of Munny Begum,|
|Mother of the Nabob |
|Nudjuf ul Dowlah,   |
|deceased.           |
+--------------------+

To the Governor, Mr. Hastings, for an
entertainment 1,50,000

To Mr. Middleton, on account of an agreement
entered into by Baboo Begum 1,50,000
--------
Rupees 3,00,000