aforesaid, presumed to threaten to "bring to pun"ishment, if my influence [his the said Hastings's "influence] can produce that effect, those incen"diaries, who have endeavoured to make them"selves the instruments of division between us," hath, as far as in him lay, obstructed the performance of one of the most essential duties of a prince, engaged in an unequal alliance with a presiding state-that of representing the grievances of his subjects to that more powerful state, by whose acts they suffer; leaving thereby the governing power in total ignorance of the effects of its own measures, and to the oppressed people no other choice than the alternative of an unqualified submission, or a resistance productive of consequences more fatal.

X.

That all relief being denied to the nabob, in the manner and on the grounds aforesaid, the demands of the company on the said nabob in the year following, that is to say, in the year 1780, did amount to the enormous sum of £.1,400,000 sterling, and the distress of the province did rapidly

encrease.

XI.

That the nabob, on the 24th of February of the same year, did again write to the governour-general, the said Warren Hastings, a letter, in which he expressed his constant friendship to the company, and his submission and obedience to their orders; and asserting, that he had not troubled them with any of his difficulties, trusting they would learn them from other quarters, and that he should be relieved by their friendship: "but (he "says) when the knife had penetrated to the "bone, and I was surrounded with such heavy "distresses, that I could no longer live in expecta"tions, I then wrote an account of my difficulties. "The answer I have received to it is such, that it "has given me inexpressible grief and affliction. "I never had the least idea or expectation from "you and the council, that you would have given your orders in so afflicting a manner, in which you never before wrote, and I could never have imagined. I have delivered up all my private papers to him, [the resident,] that after examining my receipts and expences, he may take "whatever remains. That as I know it to be my duty to satisfy you, [the company and council,] "I have not failed to obey in any instance; but "requested of him, that it might be done so as "not to distress me in my necessary expences. "There being no other funds but those for the "expences of my mutseddies, [clerks and ac"countants,] household expences, and servants, " &c. he demanded these in such a manner, that being remediless I was obliged to comply with "what he required. He has accordingly stopped "the pensions of my old servants for 30 years, whether sepoys, [soldiers,] mutseddies, [secre"taries and accountants,] or household servants, "and the expences of my family and kitchen,

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That on the 15th of May the nabob replied, complaining in an humble and suppliant manner of his distressed situation, that he had at first opposed the assigning to the use of the company the estates of his mother, of his grandmother, of one of his uncles, and of the sons of another; but that, in obedience to the injunctions of the gentlemen of the council, it had been done to the amount, on the whole, of £.80,000 sterling a year, or thereabouts; that whatever effects were in the country, with even his table, his animals, and the salaries of his servants, were granted in assignments; that besides these, if they were resolved again to compel him to give up the estates of his parents and relations, which were granted them for their maintenance, they were at the company's disposal; saying, "if the council have directed you to at"tach them, do it; in the country no further sources remain. I have no means; for I have "not a subsistence.-How long shall I dwell upon my misfortunes?"

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XIV.

That the truth of the said remonstrances was not disputed, nor the tone, in which they were written, complained of, the same being submissive, and even abject, though the cause (his distresses) was by the said Hastings, in a great degree, and in terms the most offensive, attributed to the nabob himself; but no relief was given, and the same unwarrantable establishments, maintained at the same ruinous expence, were kept up.

XV.

That the said Warren Hastings having considered as incendiaries those, who advised the remonstrances aforesaid, and, to prevent the same in future, having denounced vengeance on those concerned therein, did, for the purpose of keeping in his own power all representations of the state of the court and country aforesaid, and to subject both the one and the other to his own arbitrary will, and to draw to himself and to his creatures the management of the nabob's revenues, in defiance of the orders of the court of directors, a second time recall Mr. Bristow, the company's resident, from the court of Oude; having once before recalled him, as the said directors express themselves, "without the shadow of a charge being exhibited

XVI.

That the said Warren Hastings, after he had refused all relief to the distresses of the nabob in the manner aforesaid, and had described those, who advised the representation of the grievances of Oude, as incendiaries, did himself, in a minute of the 21st of May 1781, describe that province" as "fallen into a state of great disorder and confu"sion, and its resources in an extraordinary degree diminished;" and did state, that his presence in the said province was requested by the nabob; and that unless some effectual measures were taken for his relief, he [the nabob] must be under the necessity of leaving his country, and coming down to Calcutta, to represent the situation of his government. And Mr. Wheler did declare, that the governour-general's representation of the state of that province" was but too well founded; "and was convinced, that it would require his ut"most abilities and powers, applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good order " and affluence."

XVII.

That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with powers "to assist the nabob vizier "in forming such regulations as may be necessary "for the peace and good order of his government, "the improvement of his revenue, and the adjust"ment of the mutual concerns subsisting between "him and the company."-And in the said commission or delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature; (that is to say) reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself "such authority to enforce the same, as the governour-general and council might or could exercise on occasions, in which they could be warranted to exercise the same; "and to form and conclude such several engage"ments or treaties with the nabob vizier, the government of Barar, and with any chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as he should judge expe"dient and necessary." Towards the conclusion

of the act or instrument aforesaid are the words following; viz. "it is hereby declared, that all "such acts, and all such engagements or treaties "aforesaid, shall be binding on the governour

general and council in the same manner, and as effectually, as if they had been done and pass"ed by the specifick and immediate concurrence "and actual junction of the governour-general "and council, in council assembled." And the

said powers were, by the said Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of the company, on the 3d July 1781.

XVIII.

That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren Hastings, the whole functions of the council, is destructive to the constitution thereof; and is contrary to the company's standing orders; and is illegal.

XIX.

That in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business at Benares, did procure a meeting with the nabob of Oude at a place called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said nabob; one part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a series of requisitions presented to him by the nabob, but which requisitions, or any copy thereof, or of any other material document relative thereto, he did not at the time transmit to the presidency; the said Warren Hastings informing Mr. Wheler, that the resident, Middleton, had taken the authentick papers relative to this transaction with him to Lucknow; and it does not appear, that the said Warren Hastings did ever reclaim the said papers, in order to record them at the presidency, to be transmitted to the court of directors, as it was his duty to do.

XX.

That the purport of certain articles of the said treaty, on the part of the company, was, that in consideration of the nabob's inability (which inability the preamble of the treaty asserts to have been "repeatedly and urgently represented") to support the expences of the temporary brigade, and of three regiments of cavalry, and also of the British officers, with their battalions, and of other gentlemen, who were then paid by him, the several corps aforesaid, and the other gentlemen, (with the exception of the resident's office, then on the nabob's list, and a regiment of sepoys for the resident's guard,) should, after a term of two and a half months, be no longer at his [the nabob's] charge." The true meaning of this being, that

said were to be removed from the nabob's establishment, by declaring as follows: "that the "actual disbursements to those troops had fallen upon our own funds, and that we support a body "of troops, established solely for the defence of "the nabob's possessions, at our own expence. It "is true, we charge the nabob with this expence; "but the large balance already due from him "shews too justly the little prospect there was of disengaging ourselves from a burthen, which was daily adding to our distresses, and must soon become insupportable, although it were granted, that the nabob's debt, then suffered to "accumulate, might at some future period be liquidated; and that this measure would sub"stantially effect an instant relief to the pecuniary "distresses of the company."

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XXII.

That Nathaniel Middleton, the resident, did also declare, that he would at all times testify, "that upon the plan of the foregoing years the receipts from the nabob were only a deception, "and not an advantage, but an injury, to the company;" and "that a remission to the nabob "of this insufferable burthen was a profit to the company." And the said Hastings did assert, that the force of the company was not lessened by withdrawing the temporary troops; although (when it suited the purpose of the said Hastings, in denying just relief to the distresses of the said nabob of Oude) he had not scrupled to assert the direct contrary of the positions by him maintained in justification of the treaty of Chunar, having in his minute aforesaid, of the 15th of December 1779, asserted," that these troops" [the troops maintained by the nabob of Oude] had no separate or distinct existence, and may be properly said "to consist of our whole military establishment, "with the exception only of our European in"fantry; and that they could not be withdrawn, "without imposing on the company the additional "burthen of their expence, or disbanding nine "battalions of disciplined sepoys, and three regi"ments of horse."

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XXIII.

tinuance of the said troops; and that the nabob, "whose concern it was, and not ours," did affirm the same, notwithstanding he the said Hastings had before, in answer to the humble supplications of the nabob, asserted, that "it was our part, and "not his, to judge and determine in what manner "and at what time, they should be reduced or "withdrawn."

XXIV.

That the said Warren Hastings, in support of his measure of withdrawing the said brigade, and other troops, did also represent, that "the remote stations "of those troops, placing the commanding officers beyond the notice and controul of the board, "afforded too much opportunity and temptation "for unwarrantable emoluments, and excited the "contagion of peculation and rapacity through"out the whole army; and as an instance there-of, that a court martial, composed of officers of "rank and respectable characters, unanimously "and honourably, most honourably,' acquitted an officer upon an acknowledged fact, which in "times of stricter discipline would have been "deemed a crime deserving the severest punish"ment."

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XXV.

That the said Warren Hastings having in the letter aforesaid contradicted all the grounds and reasons by him assigned for keeping up the aforesaid establishment, and having declared his own conviction, that the whole was a fallacy and imposition, and a detriment to the company instead of a benefit, circumstances (if they are true) which he might and ought to have well known, was guilty of an high crime and misdemeanour in carrying on the imposture and delusion aforesaid, and in continuing an insupportable burthen and grievance upon the nabob for several years, without attending to his repeated supplications to be relieved therefrom, to the utter ruin of his country, and to the destruction of the discipline of the British troops, by diffusing among them a general spirit of peculation; and the said Hastings hath committed a grievous offence in upholding the same pernicious system, until by his own confession and declaration in his minute of the 21st of May 1781, "the evils had

grown to so great an height, that exertions will "be required more powerful than can be made " through the delegated authority of the servants "of the company now in the province; and that "he was far from sanguine in his expectations, "that even his own endeavours would be attended "with much success."

XXVI.

That at the time of making the said treaty, and at the time when, under colour of the distresses of the nabob of Oude, and the failure of all other means for his relief, he the said Hastings broke the company's faith with the parents of the nabob, and first encouraged, and afterwards compelled, him to

despoil them of their landed-estates, money, jewels, and household goods, and while the said nabob continued heavily in debt to the company, he the said Warren Hastings did, "without hesitation," accept of and receive from the nabob of Oude, and his ministers, (who are notoriously known to be not only under his influence, but under his absolute command,) a bribe, or unlawful gift or present, of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and upwards that even if the said pretended gift could be supposed to be voluntary, it was contrary to the express provision of the regulating act of the 13th year of His Majesty's reign, prohibiting the receipt of all presents upon any pretence whatsoever, and contrary to his own sense of the true intent and meaning of the said act, declared upon a similar but not so strong a case; that is, where the service done, and the present offered in return for it, had taken place before the promulgation of the above laws in India; on that occasion he declared, "that the exclusion by an act of parlia"ment admitted of no abatement or evasion, "wherever its authority extended."

XXVII.

That the said Warren Hastings, confiding in an interest, which he supposed himself to have formed in the East India house, did endeavour to prevail on the court of directors to violate the said act, and to suffer him to appropriate the money so illegally accepted by him to his own profit, as a reward for his services.

See his letter of the 11th July 1785, at

the end of the

Charges.

XXVIII.

That the said Warren Hastings has since declared to the court of directors, that when fortune threw a sum in his way (meaning the sum of money above mentioned) of a magnitude, which could not be concealed, he chose to apprize his employers of it; thereby confessing, that, but for the magnitude of the same rendering it difficult to be concealed, he never would have discovered it to them. And the said unlawful present being received at the time when, for reasons directly contradictory to all his former recorded declarations, he did agree to remove the aforesaid troops from the nabob's dominions, and to recall the pensioners aforesaid, it must be presumed, that he did not agree to give the relief (which he had before so obstinately refused) upon the grounds and motives of justice, policy, or humanity, but in consideration of the sum of money aforesaid, which in a time of such extreme distress in the nabob's affairs could not be rationally given, except for those and other concessions stipulated for in the said treaty, but which had on former

occasions been refused.

XXIX.

That notwithstanding his, the said Warren Hastings's, receipt of the present of £.100,000 as afore

said, he did violate every one of the stipulations in the said treaty contained; and particularly he did continue in the country, and in the service of the nabob of Oude, those troops, which he had so recently stipulated to withdraw from his country, and to take from his establishment; for, upon the 24th of December following, he did order the temporary brigade, making 10 battalions of 500 men each, to be again put on the vizier's list; although he had recently informed the court of directors, through Edward Wheler, Esquire, that any benefit to be derived from the nabob's paying that brigade was a fallacy and a deception, and that the same was a charge upon the company, and not an alleviation of its distresses, as well as an insupportable burthen to the nabob; thus having, within a short space of time, twice contradicted himself, both in declaration and in conduct.

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XXX.

That this measure, in direct violation of a treaty of not three months duration, was so injudicious, that, in the opinion of the assistant resident, Johnson, "nothing less than blows could effect it ;" he the said resident further adding, “that the nabob was not even able to pay off the arrears still due "to it [the new brigade]; and that the troops being all in arrears, and no possibility of present payment, so large a body assembled here [viz. "at Lucknow] without any means to check and "controul them, nothing but disorder could follow. "As one proof, that the nabob is as badly off for "funds as we are, I may inform you, that his

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cavalry rose this day upon him, and went all "armed to the palace, to demand from 13 to 18 "months arrears, and were with great difficulty "persuaded to retire, which was probably more "effected by a body of troops getting under arms "to go against them, than any other considera"tion." But the letter of Warren Hastings, Esquire, of the 24th of December, giving the above orders for the infraction of the treaty, and to which the letter, from whence the foregoing extracts are taken, is an answer, doth not appear, any otherwise than as the same is recited in the said answer.

XXXI.

That, notwithstanding the disorders and deficiencies in the revenue aforesaid had continued and encreased, and that three very large balances had accumulated, the said Warren Hastings did cause the treasury accounts at Calcutta to be examined and scrutinized, and on account of another arrear, composed of various articles, pretended to have accumulated during seven years previous to the year 1799, (the articles composing which, if they had been just, ought to have been charged at the times they severally became due,) was sent to the resident, and payment thereof demanded, to the amount of £.260,000 sterling; which unexpected demand, in so distressed a situation, did not a little embarrass the nabob. But whilst he and his