XII. That the report of the Rajah's arrest did cause a great alarm in the city, in the suburbs of which the Rajah's palace is situated, and in the adjacent country. The people were filled with dismay and anger at the outrage and indignity offered to a prince under whose government they enjoyed much ease and happiness. Under these circumstances the Rajah desired leave to perform his ablutions; which was refused, unless he sent for water, and performed that ceremony on the spot. This he did. And soon after some of the people, who now began to surround the palace in considerable numbers, attempting to force their way into the palace, a British officer, commanding the guard upon the Rajah, struck one of them with his sword. The people grew more and more irritated; but a message being sent from the Rajah to appease them, they continued, on this interposition, for a while quiet. Then the Rajah retired to a sort of stone pavilion, or bastion, to perform his devotions, the guard of sepoys attending him in this act of religion. In the mean time a person of the meanest station, called a _chubdar_, at best answering to our common beadle or tipstaff, was sent with a message (of what nature does not appear) from Mr. Hastings, or the Resident, to the prince under arrest: and this base person, without regard to the rank of the prisoner, or to his then occupation, addressed him in a rude, boisterous manner, "passionately and insultingly," (as the said Rajah has without contradiction asserted,) "and, reviling him with a loud voice, gave both him and his people the vilest abuse"; and the manner and matter being observable and audible to the multitude, divided only by an open stone lattice from the scene within, a firing commenced from without the palace; on which the Rajah again interposed, and did what in him lay to suppress the tumult, until, an English officer striking him with a sword, and wounding him on the hand, the people no longer kept any measures, but broke through the inclosure of the palace. The insolent tipstaff was first cut down, and the multitude falling upon the sepoys and the English officers, the whole, or nearly the whole, were cut to pieces: the soldiers having been ordered to that service without any charges for their pieces. And in this tumult, the Rajah, being justly fearful of falling into the hands of the said Hastings, did make his escape over the walls of his palace, by means of a rope formed of his turban tied together, into a boat upon the river, and from thence into a place of security; abandoning many of his family to the discretion of the said Hastings, who did cause the said palace to be occupied by a company of soldiers after the flight of the Rajah.