excite his zeal and secure his attachment to the Company; we therefore empower you to grant to the person whom you shall think worthy of this trust an annual allowance not exceeding three lacs of rupees, (thirty thousand pounds,) which we consider not only as a munificent reward for any services he shall render the Company, but sufficient to enable him to support his station with suitable rank and dignity.  And here we must add, that, in the choice you shall make of a person to be the active minister of the Nabob’s government, we hope and trust that you will show yourselves worthy of the confidence we have placed in you, by being actuated therein, by no other motives than those of the public good and the safety and interest of the Company.”

Here, my Lords, a person was to be named fit to fill the office and supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan, who was deputy-viceroy of Bengal, at the head of the criminal justice of the country, and, in short, at the head of the whole ostensible Mahometan government; he was also to supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan as naib dewan, from which Reza Khan was to be removed:  for you will observe, the Directors always speak of a man fit to perform all the duties of Mahomed Reza Khan; and amongst these he was to be as the guardian of the Nabob’s person, and the representative of his authority and government.

Mr. Hastings, having received these orders from the Court of Directors, did—­what?  He alleges in his defence, that no positive commands were given him.  But a very sufficient description was given of the person who ought to succeed Mahomed Reza Khan, in whom the Company had before recognized all the necessary qualities; and they therefore desire him to name a similar person.  But what does Mr. Hastings do in consequence of this authority?  He names no man at all.  He searches into the seraglio of the Nabob, and names a woman to be the viceroy of the province, to be the head of the ostensible government, to be the guardian of the Nabob’s person, the conservator of his authority, and a proper representative of the remaining majesty of that government.

Well, my Lords, he searched the seraglio.  When you have to take into consideration the guardianship of a person of great dignity, there are two circumstances to be attended to:  one, a faithful and affectionate guardianship of his person; and the other, a strong interest in his authority, and the means of exercising that authority in a proper and competent manner.  Mr. Hastings, when he was looking for a woman in the seraglio, (for he could find women only there,) must have found actually in authority there the Nabob’s own mother:  certainly a person who by nature was most fit to be his guardian; and there is no manner of doubt of her being sufficiently competent to that duty.  Here, then, was a legitimate wife of the Nabob Jaffier Ali Khan, a woman of rank and distinction, fittest to take care of the person and interests, as