ineffectually, and of
course myself to discredit, I shall consider it as a _wanton_ affront
and indignity _which I can never forgive_; nor will I grant her _any_
conditions whatever, but leave her exposed _to those_ dangers which she
has chosen to risk, rather than trust to the clemency and generosity of
our government. I think she cannot be ignorant of these consequences,
and will not venture to incur them; and it is for this reason I place a
dependence on her offers, and have consented to send my duan to her."
The dreadful secret hinted at by the merciful Governor in the latter
part of the letter is well understood in India, where those who suffer
corporeal indignities generally expiate the offences of others with
their own blood. However, in spite of all these, the temper of the
military did, some way or other, operate. They came to terms which have
never been transmitted. It appears that a fifteenth per cent of the
plunder was reserved to the captives, of which the unhappy mother of
the Prince of Benares was to have a share. This ancient matron, born to
better things [_A laugh from certain young gentlemen]_--I see no cause
for this mirth. A good author of antiquity reckons among the calamities
of his time "_nobilissimarum faeminarum exilia et fugas_." I say, Sir,
this ancient lady was compelled to quit her house, with three hundred
helpless women and a multitude of children in her train. But the lower
sort in the camp, it seems, could not be restrained. They did not forget
the good lessons of the Governor-General. They were unwilling "to be
defrauded of a considerable part of their booty by suffering them to
pass without examination."--They examined them, Sir, with a vengeance;
and the sacred protection of that awful character, Mr. Hastings's
_maitre d'hotel,_ could not secure them from insult and plunder. Here is
Popham's narrative of the affair:--

"The Ranny came out of the fort, with her family and dependants, the
tenth, at night, owing to which such attention was not paid to her as I
wished; and I am exceedingly sorry to inform you that _the
licentiousness of our followers was beyond the bounds of control; for,
notwithstanding all I could do, her people were plundered on the road of
most of the things which they brought out of the fort, by which means
one of the articles of surrender has been much infringed_. The distress
I have felt upon this occasion cannot be expressed, and can only be
allayed by a firm per