ceipt of money, of which, in
the course of this day, we have got about six lacs. I know not yet
what amount we shall actually realize, but I think I may safely
venture to pronounce it will be equal to the liquidation of the
Company's balance. It has been at once the most important and the
most difficult point of duty which has ever occurred in my office;
and the anxiety, the hopes and fears, which have alternately
agitated my mind, cannot be described or conceived but by those who
have been witness to what has passed in the course of this long
contest. The [Nabob's] ministers have supported me nobly, and
deserve much commendation. Without the shrewd discernment and
knowledge of the finesse and tricks of the country which Hyder Beg
Khan possesses, I believe we should have succeeded but
indifferently; for I soon found that no real advantage was to be
obtained by proceeding at once to violent extremities with the
Begum, and that she was only to be attacked through the medium of
her confidential servants, who it required considerable address to
get hold of. However, we at last effected it; and by using some few
severities with them, we at length came at the secret hoards of
this old lady. I will write you more particulars hereafter.

"I am sorry to inform you my little boy still continues in a very
precarious way, though somewhat better than when I had last the
honor to address you. My respects to Lady Impey. And believe me,
with great regard, my dear Sir Elijah, your faithful, obliged, and
most affectionate humble servant,

"NATHANIEL MIDDLETON."

My Lords, we produce this letter to your Lordships, because it is a
letter which begins with "_Dear Sir Elijah_," and alludes to some family
matters, and is therefore more likely to discover the real truth, the
true genius of a proceeding, than all the formal and official stuff that
ever was produced. You see the tenderness and affection in which they
proceed. You see it is his _dear Sir Elijah_. You see that he does not
tell the dear Sir Elijah, the Chief-Justice of India, the pillar of the
law, the great conservator of personal liberty and private property,--he
does not tell him that he has been able to convict these eunuchs of any
crime; he does not tell him he has the pleasure of informing him what
matter he has got upon which a decision at law may