Hastings himself, that these soldiers committed misdemeanors of the very
same kind with those which we have stated. They ought not, therefore, to
be listened to for a moment; and we aver that it is an aggravation of
the prisoner's crimes, that he has brought the instruments of his guilt,
the persons of whom he has complained as having ruined and destroyed
that country, and whom he had engaged, at the Nabob's desire, in the
treaty of Chunar, to send out of the country, as being a nuisance in
it,--to bring, I say, these people here, to criminate, at a distance of
nine thousand miles, these unfortunate women, where they have neither
attorney or agent who can from local knowledge cross-examine them. He
has the audacity to bring these people here; and in what manner they
comport themselves, when they come here, your Lordships have seen.

There is one of them whom we cannot pass by: that is, Captain Gordon.
The other witnesses, who appeared here as evidences to criminate the
Begums, did it by rumors and hearsays. They had heard some person say
that the Begums had encouraged rebellion, always coupling them with
Saadut Ali Khan, and sometimes with the Nabob, because there might have
been some probability for their charge in the transactions with Saadut
Ali Khan, which, though impossible with regard to the Begums, they
thought would implicate him [them?] in his designs. But Captain Gordon
is to give a different account of the proceedings.

Captain Gordon was one of Colonel Hannay's under-farmers. He was hunted
out of the country and, as one of the Begums says, pursued by a
thousand of the zemindars, for robbing the whole country. This woman,
through respect to the British name, that name which guarantied her
possessions to her, receives this Captain Gordon and Captain Williams
with every mark of kindness, hospitality, and protection, that could be
given them. She conveys them from the borders to the city of Fyzabad,
and from Fyzabad, her capital, supposed to be the nest of her rebellion,
on to their place of destination. They both write her letters full of
expressions of gratitude and kindness for the services that they had
received. They then pass on to Lucknow to Sir Elijah Impey, and there
they sink every word of kindness, of any service or protection that they
had received, or of any acknowledgment that they had ever made of it.
They sink all this: not one word of it appears in their affidavits.

How, then, did we come to t