e a few
days after our arrival. He there delivered to his Lordship a letter
filled with bitter complaints of the insults and indignity he had
been exposed to, and the embezzlement of near twenty lacs of rupees
issued from his treasury for purposes unknown during the late
negotiations. So public a complaint could not be disregarded, and
it soon produced an inquiry. We referred the letter to the board in
expectation of obtaining a satisfactory account of the application
of this money, and were answered only by a warm remonstrance
entered by Mr. Leycester against that very Nabob in whose elevation
he boasts of having been a principal agent.

"7. Mahomed Reza Khan, the naib subah, was then called upon to
account for this large disbursement from the treasury; and he soon
delivered to the Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered
in our Proceedings the 6th of June, wherein he specifies the
several names and sums, by whom paid, and to whom, whether in cash,
bills, or obligations. So precise, so accurate an account as this
of money for secret and venal services was never, we believe,
before this period, exhibited to the Honorable Court of Directors,
at least never vouched by undeniable testimony and authentic
documents: by Juggut Seet, who himself was obliged to contribute
largely to the sums demanded; by Muley Ram, who was employed by Mr.
Johnstone in all these pecuniary transactions; by the Nabob and
Mahomed Reza Khan, who were the heaviest sufferers; and, lastly, by
the confession of the gentlemen themselves whose names are
specified in the distribution list.

"8. Juggut Seet expressly declared in his narrative, that the sum
which he agreed to pay the deputation, amounting to 125,000 rupees,
was extorted by menaces; and since the close of our inquiry, and
the opinions we delivered in the Proceedings of the 21st of June,
it fully appears that the presents from the Nabob and Mahomed Reza
Khan, exceeding the immense sum of seventeen lacs, were not the
voluntary offerings of gratitude, but contributions levied on the
weakness of the government, and violently exacted from the
dependent state and timid disposition of the minister. The charge,
indeed, is denied on the one hand, as well as affirmed on the
other. Your honorable board must therefor