ot dare to attack us,
because he was afraid that his natural enemies, the Mahrattas, would
fall upon him. The Nizam could not attack us, because he was also afraid
of the Mahrattas. The Mahratta state itself was divided into such
discordant branches as to make it impossible for them to unite in any
one object; that commonwealth, which, certainly at that time was the
terror of India, was so broken, as to render it either totally
ineffective or easy to be resisted. There was not one government in
India that did not look up to Great Britain as holding the balance of
power, and in a position to control and do justice to every individual
party in it. At that juncture Mr. Hastings deliberately broke the treaty
of Poorunder; and afterwards, by breaking faith with and attacking all
the powers, one after another, he produced that very union which one
would hardly have expected that the incapacity or ill faith of any
Governor could have effected. Your Lordships shall hear the best and
most incontrovertible evidence both of his incapacity and ill faith, and
of the consequences which they produced. It is the declaration of one of
the latest of their allies concerning all these proceedings. It is
contained in a letter from the Rajah of Berar, directly and strongly
inculpating Mr. Hastings, upon facts which he has never denied and by
arguments which he has never refuted, as being himself the cause of that
very junction of all the powers of India against us.

_Letter from Benaram Pundit._

"As the friendship of the English is, at all events, the first and
most necessary consideration, I will therefore exert myself in
establishing peace: for the power of making peace with all is the
best object; to this all other measures are subservient, and will
certainly be done by them, the English. You write, that, after
having laid the foundation of peace with the Pundit Purdhaun, it
is requisite that some troops should be sent with General Goddard
against Hyder Naig, and take possession of his country, when all
those engagements and proposals may be assented to. My reason is
confounded in discussing this suggestion, at a time when Hyder Naig
is in every respect in alliance with the Peshwa, and has assisted
with his soul and life to repel the English. For us to unite our
troops with those of the enemy and extirpate him, would not this
fix the stamp of infamy upon us for