MR. PAULL AND THE NABOB OF OUDE. SIR; To Mr. James Paull. I shall assign the same reason for this letter, that you have in that addressed by you to lord Folkestone, namely, that it appears to me necessary, under the present circumstances, to make known to the world some interesting facts; and I shall depend on the sound judgment and high sense of honour of a British Public; and, peculiarly at this moment, of the independent Electors of Westminster, for the conclusions which they will draw from their statement.-Previously to your leaving England the last time, you say that you were honoured with particular marks of kindness by H. R. H. the Prince of Wales; and that you considered yourself as belonging to his party: without enquiring into the truth of this assertion, I can only regret, that the Prince's condescension should have been so abused; but that you should presume to calumniate His Royal Highness, by arrogating to yourself the distinction of belonging to his party (as you insidiously term an union of friends known only for their exalted character and talent, and their steady adherence to the invaluable constitution of their Country), and that, for the vile purpose of mixing the black intents of your heart with the love and reverence we feel for the Prince's name and authority, is the most im pudent pudent attempt that profligacy and pride ever suggested. When you left England, you solicited from some gentlemen introductory letters to marquis Wellesley; and as your real character had not then appeared, some were unfortunately given you; -unfortunately, as the base return you have made to these introductions might operate on the minds of men filling high situations, to the prejudice of honest and deserving characters, soliciting the same indulgence. Upon your arrival in India, how did you stand? You represented that your own private concerns, and others with which you were entrusted, required your presence in Oude; you solicited lord Wellesley's permission to proceed there. You talked then, as you do now to the Electors of Westminster, of your eternal gratitude, and dwelt in the strongest manner on the ruin you should sustain if his lordship refused his permission. It is ever a disgusting office to trace and detail the black ingratitude of the human heart. You were permitted to proceed up the country, and that at a time when it was thought right to refuse many other adventurers; when you well knew strong representations had been made against granting you permission, and when your private affairs would have suffered ruin by your not going. I am not the unqualified panegyrist of marquis Wellesley; I respect his superior talents as a man; I honour his conduct as a governor; and I assert, without the fear of contradiction from those who have the honour of knowing him, and from every impartial mind, that cruelty and oppression Κ oppression are as remote from the feelings of his lordship's heart, as honour and gratitude are from those of Mr. Paull's; yet from the mouth outwards no man professes to feel more; you did so on this occasion, notwithstanding some of those oppressive acts, as you term them, which you have since charged lord Wellesley with, had then taken place, and which you say you were resolved to make the subject of legal investigation. I am sure that there is scarcely a man in his Majesty's dominions but will feel, equally with me, the utmost contempt for such duplicity.-Brought now on the stage in Oude, to which province you were permitted to go by the particular indulgence of lord Wellesley, how did you fill your part there? Were you solely employed in the manufacturing of indigo, and other obvious pursuits, the ostensible motives for your going? Can you say that you were alone sedulously occupied in supporting the character of a British merchant; who, while intent on the acquisition of wealth, makes its pursuit ever subservient to the preservation of a fair and unblemished name? Did not your ardent mind pant for something original, and soar beyond the tedious process of making indigo, or judging of the fitness of cloths for the market? Had you never heard of a nearer road to wealth, in which the extravagant and puerile pursuits of the Nabob afforded an ample field for a less conscientious trader? Propensities where you well knew every art aud incitement was practised to encourage them ; and every base and unworthy advantage taken in gratifying gratifying them. This, Mr. Paull, is the real source of much of his Highness's embarrassments: what consummate hypocrisy must you, then, be gifted with, to affect the appearance of feeling, and the cant of commiseration for the Nabob's pecuniary difficulties; what unblushing impudence must you possess, to accuse lord Wellesley of cruelty, tyranny, and oppression towards his Highness, in the representations it was necessary to make to procure the payment of the arrears due to the government of India; and the measures that were afterwards necessarily taken to enforce those just demands? During your residence in Oude, when you had finally quitted it, and returned to Calcutta, you still professed to have the same sense of the great obligations you were under to lord Wellesley. You did not journey, as Saul did towards Damascus, breathing threatenings and vengeance; but you affected to come in the pure spirit of gratitude and peace: and for some time after your arrival in Calcutta, you continued to receive civilities from his lordship! On the occasion of a brilliant victory obtained by the British troops under lord Lake, you solicited to be the bearer of marquis Wellesley's dispatches to England; but for which trust an officer, deservedly high in the opinion of lord Lake, and who was qualified, by having been in the action, to give all necessary information, was selected by the marquis. Had you succeeded in this application, Mr. Paull, you would have exhibited a new fea ture in the depravity of the human heart; a man soliciting to be entrusted with dispatches, the subject of which he had formed the design of making a matter of charge against his employer. Disappointed in this endeavour, you next solicited for his lordship's permission to embark in the Company's packet that was taken up for this service; but the regulations of the Court of Directors prevented its being granted. Determined upon returning to England, you now no longer thought it necessary to preserve the appearance of being grateful to lord Wellesley; the mask dropped, and you stood forth in your native deformity: like the reptile in the fable, you sought to sting the hand that had benefited you; where-ever you were admitted, you obtruded your bitter clamours against that nobleman, and invaded the happiness of social intercourse, with the rancour of your remarks against your benefactor. I think I hear the indignant mind ask, Is this man an Englishman? I have now filled up a very considerable hiatus in your history; and I challenge you to disprove a single word. Since your return, your conduct is before the public, on which there remains little to add by way of comment. It is fortunate for the happiness of mankind, that the designs of the most artful and mischievous almost ever unintentionally develope themselves. You say that you are yet young enough to see other days, and a far other spirit animate the People of Great Britain. As you come from the North, I know not how far you may |