Mss Eur Orme OV.41

p. [ii]. Table of Contents. Arranged under Provinces.

1, pp. 1-4 (25 x 18.5 cm.). Note of Mahomed Cawn Bungish and Ahmed Khan of Seter Sall and Rajah Indaputt, 1729-176-. Copy. The affairs of Bundelkhand. See Beale's Oriental Biographical Dictionary under Muhammad Khan Bangash, and Ahmad Khan Bangash, and the Imperial Gazetteer XIX., pp. 401-3.

2, pp. 5-6 (25 x 18.5 cm.). Note of Setter Sall and the Bundle Cund country. Copy.

3, p. 9 (16.3 x 18 cm.). Note, undated, from Orme to Mr. Watts. Original. Asks for a plan of Cossimbazar Factory, to which Watts replies he has none. For the plan see 19. 9.

4, pp. 11-13 (25.5 x 19 cm.). Note from Robert Orme to Lord Shelburne, concerning Law de Lauriston. Copy. Dated Aug. 21st 1774. In this Orme mentions the difficulty of obtaining any account of Law's wanderings in Upper India between 1757 and 1761, but afterwards he obtained a copy of part of Law's Journal from Law himself (see 272. 1 below). The only complete copy of the Journal is, so far as I know, that in Add. MS., No. 20914, which has recently been printed by the Colonial Historical Society (Paris) under the Editorship of Monsieur A. Martineau, Governor of French India.

5, p. 15 (22.8 x 18.5). Letter dated --1761, from Clive to Orme. Original. Suggesting that a statement of Dutch affairs should be laid before Lord Bute. The statement as drawn up by Orme is given in 207. 2 and I. 10 below.

6, pp. 19-20 (23.3 x 18 cm.). Letter, dated Calcutta, 29th March 1767, from Richard Smith to Robert Orme. Original. Informs him of the despatch of a Survey and Borne plans.

7, pp. 23-49 (32 x 19 cm.). Regulations proposed for the governnment of Bengal, composed by Mr. Hastings, I [Orme] believe about the year 1765. Copy. This paper throws much light upon the state of the country, and the regulations considered necessary by Hastings for its good management. He gives his reasons for each of his proposals, which latter are as follows:- No. l. The Council shall hold no distinct Offices, but shall preside over the several Departments by Committees. No.2. The Governour shall be the President of every Comittee and Commander-in-Chief of the Army whether in the Field or in Garrison. All military Commissions shall be granted in his Name, and the Officers shall receive their Orders from Him only. In military Operations and in Treaties with foreign Powers he shall have a negative Voice, but shall undertake nothing without the Consent of his Council. In other Affairs he shall have only the casting Vote. No. 3. No military Officer, the Governour excepted, shall sit in Council, unless when summoned to give his Advice concerning military Affairs. No.4. The Council shall always reside at the Presidency, except on special Occasions, such as Deputations or o.ther extraordinary Commissions. No.5. The subordinate Factories should be put upon a footing with the Aurungs and the Investments provided by Residents appointed from the Junior Servants of the Company, with a Writer as an Assistant to each where the Business may require it. No.6. The collection of the Revenues shall be left in Charge with the Natives of the Country and carried on by Cucherrees established in each Moza, Perganah, and Sircar dependent one on the other and lastly responsible to the General Cucherree, which should be in Calcutta and under the immediate direction of the President and Council. No. 7. No Europeans shall be permitted to reside in the Country. No.8. The Mahometan and Gentoo Inhabitants shall be Subject only to their own Laws. No.9. Magistrates shall be chosen from the natural Subjects and appointed by the Residents and Council. No. 10. All Agents and Gomastahs, whether of private Merchants or of the Company, excepting only the Covenanted Servants of the Company, shall be subject to the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate. No. 11. A certain Number of the Council shall be appointed to go on an annual Circuit through the Province with Powers to hear and redress Grievances. No. 12. (1) The Rents of the Lands shall be all collected under one Head. (2) The Lands shall be divided as much as they can into Taalooks. (3) The Valuation of the Lands shall continue for a certain Term of Years notwithstanding any Improvements which they may receive, and at the Expiration of such Term the Lands shall be again valued and a certain Proportion of the improved Rents be claimed by the Government. No. 13. The Law by which the Effects and Estate of every Person in Office revert at his Death to the Government shall be repealed, and the natural Rights of Inheritance shall be substituted in its stead. No. 14. All Duties and Imposts shall be taken off, and Trade made free to all People without any Distinction of Dustucks, Farms, or other Privileges. No. 15. The Coin of the Provinces shall be reduced to one Denomination, and the Batta or Discount on the Coins of different Years and different Mints abolished. No. 16. An Alloy of Copper in the Proportion of -- per Cent. shall be mixed with the Coins of the Province. N.B. A copy, possibly the Original, of this paper is to be found in Brit. Museum Addl. MS. No. 29203, with which the above copy has been compared.

8, pp. 51-56 (missing). Revenues of Bengal, Bahar & of Orixa, so much as is dependant on Bengal, taken from the Ministers books by Luke Scrafton, by order of the Governor in 1758. (See 285. 1, and IV. 12.) This Account is probably that referred to by Clive in his letter to Mr. Pitt, dated Calcutta,7 Jan. 1759. See Malcolm's Life of Clive, II., p.119.

9, pp. 60-68 (58.5 x 48 cm.). Receipts and Issues of the Presidency of Fort William for the year 1768 from the Company's Books. Copy. Dated 1768.

10, pp. 69-70 (31.8 x 19.5 cm.). General Consultations concerning the private trade of the Supravisors sent to different divisions of the Province. Mr. Floyer concerned. Copy. Dated 27 Dec. 1771.

11, pp. 73-74 (31.8 x 19.5 cm.). Address, dated Jan. 1773, from Mr. [Charles] Floyer to the Court of Directors. Copy. Regarding the dispute between the Council and the Select Committee, and his own removal from the Presidentship.

12, pp. 77-84 (31.5 x 19.5 cm.). Letter, dated Queen Anne Street, Jan. 1773, from Mr. Charles Floyer to the Court of Directors. Copy. A defence of his conduct in India.

13, pp. 87-111 (35.5 x 20 cm.). Extract of a letter dated 3 Nov. 1772, from the Governor and Council at Fort William to the Court of Directors, transmitting a Letter from the Committee of Circuit at Cossimbuzar and a plan framed by that Committee for the Administration of Justice in Bengal. Printed. In the Table of Contents Orme appends a note as follows :-" Mr. Jones has been so kind to explain the Persic terms in the margin, which renders the copy very curious and valuable." (Sir William Jones was knighted on the 19th March 1783.)

14, pp. 113-134 (32.5 x 19 cm.). Roads in Bengal 117-127. Situation of the Provinces 122-132. Routes from Patna and Allahabad 133-134, from Mr [Gilbert] Ironside to Robert Orme. December 1773. Original. Copied in XVII. 43.

15, pp. 139-153 (32.5 x 18.5 cm.). Letter, dated the Grove, near Fort William, 23 Dec. 1773, from Colonel [Gilbert] Ironside to Richard Smith, with" Station of the Troops" and "'Abstract." Describes the state of affairs in Bengal at this time. N.B. Orme intended to use this volume for the 14th Book of his History. See 298 (a) 4.