d
in irons in the manner aforesaid, the officer on guard, in a letter of
the 18th May, did represent to the Resident as follows. "The prisoners,
Behar and Jewar Ali Khan, who seem to be very sickly, have requested
their irons might be taken off for a few days, that they might take
medicine, and walk about the garden of the place where they are
confined. Now, as I am sure _they will be equally secure without their
irons as with them_, I think it my duty to inform you of this request: I
desire to know your pleasure concerning it." To which letter the said
officer did receive a direct refusal, dated 22d May, 1782, in the
following words. "I am sorry it is not in my power to comply with your
proposal of easing the prisoners for a few days of their fetters. Much
as my humanity may be touched by their sufferings, I should think it
inexpedient to afford them any alleviation while they persist in a
breach of their contract with me: and, indeed, no indulgence can be
shown them without the authority of the Nabob, who, instead of
consenting to moderate the rigors of their situation, would be most
willing to multiply them":--endeavoring to join the Nabob, whom he well
knew to be reluctant in the whole proceeding, as a party in the
cruelties by which, through the medium of her servants, it was intended
to coerce his mother.

XXXVIII. That the said Resident, in a few days after, that is to say, on
the 1st June, 1782, in a letter to Major Gilpin, in command at Fyzabad,
did order the account, as by himself stated, to be read to the
prisoners, and, without taking any notice of their proposal concerning
the valuation of the effects, or their denial of the offences imputed to
them, to demand a positive answer relative to the payment, and, "upon
receiving from them a negative or unsatisfactory reply, to inform them,
that, all further negotiation being at an end, they must prepare for
their removal to Lucknow, where they would be called upon to answer not
only their recent breach of faith and solemn engagement, but also to
atone for other heavy offences, the punishment of which, as had
frequently been signified to them, it was in their power to have
mitigated by a proper acquittal of themselves in this transaction." By
which insinuations concerning the pretended offences of the said unhappy
persons, and the manner by which they were to atone for the same, and by
their never having been specifically and directly made, it doth appear
that th