"_Q._ Had you any opportunity of knowing the character of the Begums,
and whether they were disaffected to our government?--_A._ I had a very
good opportunity of knowing, from the circumstance of my having
commanded so long there. The elder Begum, it was generally understood,
(and I have reason to believe,) was disaffected to our government; and
my sentiments of her conduct stand recorded in my correspondence to the
court of Lucknow to that effect; but with respect to the Bhow Begum, I
acquit her entirely of any disaffection to our government, so far as
comes to my knowledge: appearances were for some time against her; but,
on cool, deliberate inquiry, I found there was no ground for supposing
her guilty of any rebellious principles, at the time of Cheyt Sing's
rebellion.--_Q._ Whether that, according to your belief, is not your
present opinion?--_A._ I think I have answered that very fully, that it
was upon those very principles that I did form an opinion of her
innocence; how far they are justifiable or right I will not take upon me
to say upon oath; there was no one circumstance that came to my
knowledge, during my residence at Fyzabad or my residence in India, that
I would wish to withhold from your Lordships.--_Q._ You state here,
'upon cool, deliberate inquiry': what was that cool, deliberate
inquiry?--_A._ That cool, deliberate inquiry was the conversations I had
with the ministers and the people of Fyzabad, and the letters from
herself expressing her innocence; and it appeared to me from those
letters that she really was our friend and ally."

The same witness goes on afterwards to say:--

"_Q._ I understood you to say, that originally the report prevailed with
respect to both the Begums, but that you was induced to alter that
opinion with respect to the younger Begum, in consequence of Mr.
Gordon's letters, and the intelligence of some of her ministers and
other persons: were not those other persons in the interest of the
younger Begum?--_A._ In general the town of Fyzabad were in her
interest.--_Q._ In what sense do you mean generally in her interest?
Were the persons you conversed with merely those who were in her service
and household, or the inhabitants of Fyzabad in general?--_A._ Both: I
held conversations with both her own body-servants and the inhabitants
of the city."

A little lower down, in the same page:--

"_Q._ What do you mean by the word rebellion, as applied to the Begums?
In what sense