Two letters from you have been received. You write, “that vermil­lion is not procurable within our dominions, and is only to be got at “Pondicherry, &c.” This being the case, you must send money, and buying it at those ports, dispatch it to the Presence. There is no necessity for sending [thither] goods [or merchandize] to barter for it.

You further write, “that the Serishtedârs* of —————,* incited “thereto by others, have preferred various complaints against you, with “the intention of bringing upon you our displeasure.” It is known. You have had instructions given to you. Acting in conformity therewith, and attending diligently to the business of the state, you may rest perfectly confident and easy in your mind: if, however, complaints and accusa­tions should be preferred against you, they will not be regarded or meet our approbation. Esteeming you to be intelligent and solicitous for our prosperity, we have entrusted you with an important office, in which we have no doubt of your proving your attachment and zeal for our service.

The preceding letter affords a fresh proof of the unremitting jealousy and dislike with which the Sultan, at this time, viewed any intercourse between his subjects and those of the neighbouring countries, but particularly the English possessions. He here objects to the exportation of the produce of Mysore even to Pondicherry; not so much, probably, on account of its being an European settle­ment, as because no trade could be carried on with it, that would not almost necessarily lead to some commercial intercourse with the Carnatic, through part of which the trade in question must unavoidably pass. Rather than incur this risk, we see him sending away the specie of his dominions for the purchase of the commodities he required, and which he could, no doubt, have obtained on more advantageous terms by barter. At a subsequent period he would appear to have acquired rather juster notions of what was essential to the prosperity of his country; having, in the year 1794, issued some commercial regulations, tending to encourage a limited trade with his neighbours. Still, however, his natural distrust of those neighbours predominated; ultimately superseding, or rendering null, the expectations which seemed to have been held out by the edicts referred to.*

My information does not enable me to say, how far the Sultan fulfilled the promises made in the present dispatch to Râjah Râm Chundur. I think there is a passage in a subsequent letter to another of the Sultan’s officers, that points at some secret impeachment of the Râjah’s integrity, and encourages the informer to pursue his inquiries. Colonel Munro, indeed, acquaints me, that being a native of Arcot, he finally became suspected of disaffection to the Sultan, who put him to death. However this may be, it is certain, that he continued in office, and apparently in the full possession of his master’s confidence, as late as the year 1791.