DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5831#0175
144 SCENES IN INDIA.
leading to one of the most invidious of those charges
brought against the persecuted Governor-General, by
which his enemies thought to accomplish his ruin,—
a short account of it may not be uninteresting to the
reader.
Cheit Singh was constituted Zemeendar of Benares
by Mr. Hastings, in 1770, under stipulations which
decidedly rendered it a feudal tenure. By the pro-
visions of this tenure, he was to pay certain sums
into the Company's treasury, as occasion might require,
for the protection which he enjoyed under their go-
vernment. His father, Munsuram, originally pos-
sessed but half of the small village of Gungapoor, in
the province of Allahabad; but, by gradual additions,
and by the policy of a crafty ambition, he finally laid
the foundation of the Zemeendary of Benares, which
his son and successor, Bulwunt Singh, in thirty years,
considerably enlarged, and increased greatly in import-
ance. He, however, was much indebted for the ad-
vancement of his prosperity and influence to the pro-
tection of our government in India. Cheit Singh, his
son, when he succeeded his father, was confirmed in
the Zemeendary, and admitted to much more extensive
privileges than had been before enjoyed by the pre-
vious Zemeendars, through the intervention and under
the especial sanction of Mr. Hastings, but upon the
implied condition of his contributing to the exigencies
of the government under which he ruled. He be-
came a feudatory, not by a slavish compulsion, but by
a wise choice, in order to avail himself of the ad-
vantages which such a tenure secured, in guaranteeing
to him the protection of the British Government. He
leading to one of the most invidious of those charges
brought against the persecuted Governor-General, by
which his enemies thought to accomplish his ruin,—
a short account of it may not be uninteresting to the
reader.
Cheit Singh was constituted Zemeendar of Benares
by Mr. Hastings, in 1770, under stipulations which
decidedly rendered it a feudal tenure. By the pro-
visions of this tenure, he was to pay certain sums
into the Company's treasury, as occasion might require,
for the protection which he enjoyed under their go-
vernment. His father, Munsuram, originally pos-
sessed but half of the small village of Gungapoor, in
the province of Allahabad; but, by gradual additions,
and by the policy of a crafty ambition, he finally laid
the foundation of the Zemeendary of Benares, which
his son and successor, Bulwunt Singh, in thirty years,
considerably enlarged, and increased greatly in import-
ance. He, however, was much indebted for the ad-
vancement of his prosperity and influence to the pro-
tection of our government in India. Cheit Singh, his
son, when he succeeded his father, was confirmed in
the Zemeendary, and admitted to much more extensive
privileges than had been before enjoyed by the pre-
vious Zemeendars, through the intervention and under
the especial sanction of Mr. Hastings, but upon the
implied condition of his contributing to the exigencies
of the government under which he ruled. He be-
came a feudatory, not by a slavish compulsion, but by
a wise choice, in order to avail himself of the ad-
vantages which such a tenure secured, in guaranteeing
to him the protection of the British Government. He