apprised of their intentions, ordered the doors to be shut.  In the mean time Letafit and Hossmund Ali Khan posted sentries to secure the gates of the Lesser Mohul.  During the whole of this conflict, the ladies and women remained exposed to the view of the sepoys.

“’The Begum then sent for Letafit and Hossmund Ali Khan, whom she severely reprimanded, and insisted upon knowing the cause of this infamous behavior.  They pleaded in their defence the impossibility of helping it, as the treatment the women had met with had only been conformable to his Excellency the Vizier’s orders.  The Begum alleged, that, even admitting that the Nabob had given these orders, they were by no means authorized in this manner to disgrace the family of Sujah Dowlah, and should they not receive their allowances for a day or two, it could be of no great moment; what had passed was now at an end, but that the Vizier should certainly be acquainted with the whole of the affair, and that whatever he directed she should implicitly comply with.  The Begum then sent for two of the children who were wounded in the affray of last night, and after endeavoring to soothe them, she again sent to Letafit and Hossmund Ali Khan, and in the presence of the children again expressed her disapprobation of their conduct, and the improbability of Asoph ul Dowlah’s suffering the ladies and children of Sujah Dowlah to be disgraced by being exposed to the view of the sepoys.  Upon which Letafit produced the letter from the Nabob, representing that he was amenable only to the order of his Excellency, and that whatever he ordered it was his duty to obey; and that, had the ladies thought proper to have retired quietly to their apartments, he would not have used the means he had taken to compel them.  The Begum again observed, that what had passed was now over.  She then gave the children four hundred rupees and dismissed them, and sent word by Sumrud and the other eunuchs, that, if the ladies would peaceably retire to their apartments, Letafit would supply them with three or four thousand rupees for their present expenses, and recommended them not to incur any further disgrace, and that, if they did not think proper to act agreeably to her directions, they would do wrong.  The ladies followed her advice, and about ten at night went back to the zenanah.  The next morning the Begum waited upon the mother of Sujah Dowlah, and related to her all the circumstances of the disturbance.  The mother of Sujah Dowlah returned for answer, that, after there being no accounts kept by crores of revenue, she was not surprised that the family of Sujah Dowlah, in their endeavors to procure subsistence, should be obliged to expose themselves to the meanest of the people.  After bewailing their misfortunes and shedding many tears, the Begum took her leave and returned home.’”

As a proof of the extremity of the distress which reigned in the Khord Mohul, your Lordships have been