iversal perception, and management of
the revenues) of Bengal was acquired to the Company, together with the
command of the army, the Nabob, or governor, naturally fell into the
rank rather of a subject than that even of a dependent prince. Yet the
preservation of such a power in such a degree of subordination, with the
criminal jurisdiction, and the care of the public order annexed to it,
was a wise and laudable policy. It preserved a portion of the government
in the hands of the natives; it kept them in respect; it rendered them
quiet on the change; and it prevented that vast kingdom from wearing the
dangerous appearance, and still more from sinking into the terrible
state, of a country of conquest. Your Committee has already reported the
manner in which the Company (it must be allowed, upon pretences that
will not bear the slightest examination) diverted from its purposes a
great part of the revenues appropriated to the country government; but
they were very properly anxious that what remained should be well
administered. In the lifetime of General Clavering and Colonel Monson,
Mahomed Reza Khan, a man of rank among the natives, was judged by them
the fittest person to conduct the affairs of the Nabob, as his Naib, or
deputy: an office well known in the ancient constitution of these
provinces, at a time when the principal magistrates, by nature and
situation, were more efficient. This appointment was highly approved,
and in consequence confirmed, by the Court of Directors. Mr. Hastings
and Mr. Barwell, however, thought proper to remove him. To the authority
of the Court of Directors they opposed the request of the Nabob, stating
that he was arrived at the common age of maturity, and stood _in no need
of a deputy to manage his affairs_. On former occasions Mr. Hastings
conceived a very low opinion of the condition of the person whom he thus
set up against the authority of his masters. "On a former occasion," as
the Directors tell him, "and to serve a very different purpose, he had
not scrupled to declare it as visible as the sun that the Nabob was a
mere pageant, without even _the shadow of authority_." But on this
occasion he became more substantial. Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell
yielded to his representation that a deputy was not necessary, and
accordingly Mahomed Reza Khan was removed from his office.

However, lest any one should so far mistrust their understanding as to
conceive them the dupes of this pretext, they