ied
with a description of a young man of mean abilities, to be her duan, or
steward of the household. The rest of the arrangement was correspondent
to this disposition of the principal offices.

It seems not to have been lawful or warrantable in Mr. Hastings to set
aside the arrangement positively prescribed by the Court of Directors,
which evidently pointed to a man, not to any woman whatever. As a woman
confined in the female apartment, the lady he appointed could not be
competent to hold or qualified to exercise any active employment: she
stood in need of guardians for herself, and had not the ability for the
guardianship of a person circumstanced as the Subah was. General
Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis declare in their minute,
"that they believe there never was an instance in India of such a trust
so disposed of." Mr. Hastings has produced no precedent in answer to
this objection.

It will be proper to state to the House the situation and circumstances
of the women principally concerned, who were in the seraglio of Jaffier
Ali Khan at his death. The first of these was called Munny Begum, a
person originally born of poor and obscure parents, who delivered her
over to the conductress of a company of dancing girls; in which
profession being called to exhibit at a festival, the late Nabob took a
liking to her, and, after some cohabitation, she obtained such influence
over him that he took her for one of his wives and (she seems to have
been the favorite) put her at the head of his harem; and having a son by
her, this son succeeded to his authority and estate,--Munny Begum, the
mother, being by his will a devisee of considerable sums of money, and
other effects, on which he left a charge, which has since been applied
to the service of the East India Company. The son of this lady dying,
and a son by another wife succeeding, and dying also, the present Nabob,
Mobarek ul Dowlah, son by a third wife, succeeded. This woman was then
alive, and in the seraglio.

It was Munny Begum that Mr. Hastings chose, and not the natural mother
of the Nabob. Whether, having chosen a woman in defiance of the
Company's orders, and in passing by the natural parent of the minor
prince, he was influenced by respect for the disposition made by the
deceased Nabob during his life, or by other motives, the House will
determine upon a view of the facts which follow. It will be matter of
inquiry, when the question is stated upon the app