That, although the said Palmer did suppose the number of Rohillas (employed "in ordinary occupations) in Rampoor alone to exceed that limited by the treaty for his [Fyzoola Khân's] service," yet the said Palmer did by no means imply that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân maintained in his service a single man more than was allowed by treaty; and by a particular and minute account of the troops of Fyzoola Khân, transmitted by the Resident, Bristow, to the said Palmer, the number was stated but at 5,840, probably including officers, who were not understood to be comprehended in the treaty.
That the said Palmer did further admit it "to be not clearly expressed in the treaty, whether the restriction included Rohillas of all descriptions"; but, at any rate, he adds, "it does not appear that their number is formidable, or that he [Fyzoola Khân] could by any means subsist such numbers as could cause any serious alarm to the Vizier; neither is there any appearance of their entertaining any views beyond the quiet possession of the advantages which they at present enjoy."
And that, in a subsequent letter, in which the said Palmer thought it prudent "to vindicate him
self from any possible insinuation that he meant to sacrifice the Vizier's interest," he, the said Palmer, did positively attest the new claim on Fyzoola Khân for the protection of the Vizier's ryots to be wholly without foundation, as the Nabob Fyzoola Khân "had proved to him [Palmer], by producing receipts of various dates and for great numbers of these people surrendered upon requisition from the Vizier's officers."
III. That, over and above the aforesaid complete refutation of the different charges and pretexts under which exactions had been practised, or attempted to be practised, on the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, the said Palmer did further condemn altogether the principle of calculation assumed in such exactions (even if they had been founded in justice) by the following explanation of the nature of the tenure by which, under the treaty of Lall-Dang, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân held his possessions as a jaghiredar.
"There are no precedents in the ancient usage of the country for ascertaining the nuzzerana [customary present] or peshcush [regular fine] of grants of this nature: they were bestowed by the prince as rewards or favors; and the accustomary present in return was adapted to the dignity of the donor rather than to the value of the gift,—to which it never, I believe, bore any kind of proportion."
IV. That a sum of money ("which of course was to be received by the Company") being now obtained, and the "interests both of the Company and the Vizier" being thus much "better promoted" by "establishing the rights" of Fyzoola Khân than they
could have been by "depriving him of his independency," when every undue influence of secret and criminal purposes was removed from the mind of the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, Esquire, he, the said Hastings, did also concur with his friend and agent, Major Palmer, in the vindication of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, and in the most ample manner.
That the said Warren Hastings did now clearly and explicitly understand the clauses of the treaty, "that Fyzoola Khân should send two or three [and not five] thousand men, or attend in person, in case it was requisite."
That the said Warren Hastings did now confess that the right of the Vizier under the treaty was at best "but a precarious and unserviceable right; and that he thought fifteen lacs, or 150,000l. and upwards, an ample equivalent," (or, according to the expression of Major Palmer, an excellent bargain,) as in truth it was, "for expunging an article of such a tenor and so loosely worded."