° 
. 
1799.) 
for which ftill-remain involved in obfeuri- 
ty, been effected without oppofition or 
bloodfhed ; but whether Mr. Sheridan 
and the agents will confider it as redound- 
‘ing to the honour of Great Britain, or 
will be more difpofed to rank it in the 
‘catalogue of the black tranfactions alledg- 
ed by them to have been committed by the 
Britifh in, India, mutt be decided here- 
after. 
Vizier Ali Khan, though fo young, 
‘vas a boy of a bold intrepid {pirit, and it 
was a pretty univerfal epimon that his 
-depofition was. confidered as neceflary, 
from the vigour and ob{tinacy with which 
he was faid to have refifted certain de- 
mands made on him by our government. 
Phis conjecture has however been contra- 
diSed by fubfequent events ; for it can 
hardly be doubted but we might have 
shad carte blanche from Saadut Ali; and 
all that has yet been gained avowedly by 
the change, is a fum-of money to repair 
the fort of Allahabad, and permiflion to 
‘garrifon it. ; 
Some people will not hefitate to charge 
the government, if not with iniquity, 
with folly and incapacity ; for there can 
be no quettion but that Saadut Ali would 
have been highly fatisfied with the title 
of nabob and a {plendid augmentation of 
hhis penfion, while we might have taken 
poffeffion of the country and its revenues 
without incurring more reproach than 
perhaps we have done by the prefent mea- 
fure. 
Poflibly neither the one nor the other 
is to be juftified, on moral principles ; 
but the adoption of the former would have 
obviated any imputation of folly, — by 
putting into our hands fuch an acceffion 
of wealth and ftrength~as would have 
rendered us not only invincible but in- 
vulnerableto the united powers of Afia 
and of Europe. But perhaps I tire you 
with a fubject in which you may feel lit- 
tle intereted, and will certainly ruin you 
in poftage if 1 go on further, by f{well- 
ing this into the fizeof a pamphlet ;_ let 
ame therefore bid you adieu. 
Fulty-Gbhurr, 28ib Fed. 1798. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Biss: difpute between My. Good and 
jt myfelf, feems to have approached 
that point, beyond which, in the em- 
phatical language of Bithop Hurd, all 
is noife and nonlenfe, diffonance and dif- 
cord. Fair, candid, liberal ditcuffion, is 
pleafant to the individual ; and, it the 
~ ‘Montury Maga. No. #LiIL 
Mr. Woed in Reply to Mr. Good on the Poor. 
201 
fubjec&t be of importance, may be bene- 
ficial to the community. But wrangling, 
or, as an apoftle well {tiles it,-vain bab- 
bling, is fit only. for poifardes ; and I 
never will defcend into. the arzena with 
Mr. Goop, or any other man, for the pur- 
pofe of combating with {uch weapons. 
{ conceived, that by adducing collateral 
proofs in fupport of the faét I ftated re- 
{pecting the weekly coft of our poor in 
provifions, I was furnifhing (at leaft, in 
the eye of Mr. GooD) much ftronger evi- 
dence than he would have admitted any 
ftatement to be, that was taken from the 
accounts of the Shrew{bury Houfe ; for to 
thefe, he was furnifhed with this conve- 
“nient reply, that the moft ‘* extraordinary 
conclukous’ were deducible from them. 
_Prefuming, however, that I have no fuch 
data to produce, he now boldly challenges 
me to this proof: and be it remembered, 
protounces that it will ‘‘ terminate the 
difpute.”” To this teft, as well as every 
other that is fair and candid, I have not 
the fmalleft objection. If, therefore, you, 
Mr. Editor, will once, and but this once 
more indulge me, 1 will now proceed to 
comply with his demand ; and that I may 
not be thought to make an unfair felec- 
tien, will take the accounts of that year, 
when the {maller number of poor in the 
honfe was particularly unfavourable to 
the ftatement of the average coft per 
head; for it does not require any laboured 
reafoning to prove, that a family of 400 
may be fupported at a lower average 
coft per head than a family of 300. It is 
alfo proper I fhould remark, that Mr. 
Goop is not warranted by any expref- 
fion I made ufe of, to apply the word 
< unfaithful” to our late officer; my ob- 
fervation was, that he was inaccurate and 
negligent; and that the confequence of 
implicit confidence, was imcreafed ex- 
pence and growing neglect; unfaithful- 
nels includes this, but implies fomething 
more. At the period ftated in the fol- 
lowing account, neither this implicit 
confidence, nor the coniequences pro-. 
duced by it, had begun to exift. The 
direStors were alert, active, and vigilant. 5 
and their fuecefs furnifhed a ftriking 
proot of what may be effected by fuch 
exertionss Notwithftanding the poor’s 
ates were reduced one third, and not- 
withftanding the intereft of upwards of 
7oool, borrowed to purchafe the houfe 
and land, &c. was added to the annual 
expenditure, the balance of debt was re- 
duced, in four years, upwards of a thoy- 
fand pounds. 
Ce A year’s 
