BENARES. 
Ill 
The massacre at Benares has been by some supposed to have 
been merely an unpremeditated ebullition of rage in Vizier Ali, on 
finding that he must go down to Calcutta ; and that his resentment 
against Mr. Cherry was owing to that gentleman's having so ably 
arranged the journey of Saadut Ali toCawnpore, (when summoned 
by Sir John Shore to be placed on the musnud,) that his departure 
IwSLS not suspected by his own family, till they heard of his having 
reached his destination. That this might have heightened his dis- 
like to Mr. Cherry, I can easily believe ; but it is evident that his 
plans were arranged long before the order arrived, which in fact 
was not issued till after repeated warnings had been received by the 
Government that he meditated mischief. The Nawaub Vizier made 
strong representations on the subject to the Resident at his court, 
which he communicated to Mr. Cherry. Many of the most res- 
pectable inhabitants of Benares confirmed his Excellency's suspi- 
cions ; and so convinced was General Erskine of the danger, that 
he urged Mr. Cherry to have a few companies of sepoys stationed 
at Secrole, but without success. At length, on the ^4th of Decem- 
ber, 1798, Lord Wellesley communicated his orders for the re- 
moval of Vizier AH to Calcutta, and on the 14th of January, 1799, 
the massacre took place ; which had been evidently determined 
upon when the assassins quitted Madoodoss's garden ; for, accord- 
ing to a Mussulmaun superstition, they had carried with them 
their winding sheets, which had been dipped in the holy well at 
Mecca. 
There seems to have been a fatal degree of infatuation in Mr. 
Cherry, whom no warning could sufficiently alarm. Conscious that 
he deserved no ill from Vizier Ali, he expected none ; forgetting 
