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proper to create the office of Advocate General in Bengal, and to appoint Sir John Day to that office, it was resolved by a general court of proprietors, that a salary of £3,000 a year should be allowed to the said Sir John Day in full consideration of all demands and allowances whatsoever for his services to the company at the presidency of Fort William: that the said Warren Hastings, nevertheless, shortly after Sir John Day's arrival in Bengal, did encrease the said Sir John Day's salary and allowances to six thousand pounds a year, in direct disobedience to the resolution of the court of proprietors, and of the order of the court of directors:-that the directors, as soon as they were informed of this proceeding, declared, "that they held themselves bound by the resolution of "the general court, and that they could not "allow it to be disregarded by the company's "servants in India;" and ordered, that the encreased allowances should be forthwith discontinued.

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hoped to be protected against any future enquiry into his conduct that it was of itself highly criminal in the said Warren Hastings to have so wasted the property of the East India company, and that the purpose to be obtained by such waste was a great aggravation of that crime.-That among the various instances of profusion, by which the civil establishment of Fort William was encreased to the enormous annual sum hereinbefore mentioned, it appears, that a salt-office was created of six commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as follow: viz.

President, or comptroller, per annum
1st member

2d do. 3d do. 4th do. 5th do.

1st member, per annum
2d do.
3d do.
4th do.
5th do.

£.18,480

13,100

11,480

13,183

6,257

10,307

£.72,807

£.10,950

9,100

9,100

9,100

9,100

£.47,350

That David Anderson, Esq. first member of the said board, did not execute the duties, though he received the emoluments, of the said office; having acted, for the greatest part of the time, as ambassador to Madajee Scindia, with a further salary of £.4,280 a year, making in all £.15,230 a year.

That the said Warren Hastings, after having first thought it necessary, in obedience to the orders of the court of directors, to stop the ex- That a board of revenue was created by the said traordinary allowance, which he had granted to Sir Warren Hastings, consisting of five commissioners, John Day, did afterwards resolve, that the allow-whose annual emoluments were as follow: viz. ance, which had been struck off, should be repaid to him upon his signing an obligation to refund the amount, which he might receive, in case the directors should confirm their former orders, already twice given-that in this transaction the said Warren Hastings trifled with the authority of the company, eluded the repeated orders of the directors, and exposed the company to the risk and uncertainty of recovering, at a distant period, and perhaps by a process of law, a sum of money, which they had positively ordered him not to pay. That, in the latter part of 1776, by the death of Colonel Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to the governour and one member of the council; and that from that time the governour-general and council have generally consisted of an even number of persons, in consequence of which the casting voice of the said Warren Hastings has usually prevailed in the decision of all questions.-That about the end of the year 1776 the whole civil establishment of the said government did not exceed £.205,399 per annum; that in the year 1783 the said civil establishment had been encreased to the enormous annual sum of £.927,945. -That such encrease in the civil establishment could not have taken place, if the said Warren Hastings, who was at the head of the government with the power annexed to the casting voice, had not actively promoted the said encrease, which he had power to prevent, and which it was his duty to have prevented :-that by such immoderate waste of the property of his employers, and by such scandalous breach of his fidelity to them, it was the intention of the said Warren Hastings to gain and secure the attachment and support of a multitude of individuals, by whose united interest, influence, and intrigues, he

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That the said Warren Hastings did create an office of agent victualler to the garrison of Fort William, whose profits, on an average of three years, were £.15,970 per annum:-1 -that this agency was held by the postmaster-general, who, in that capacity, received £.2,200 a year from the company, and who was actually no higher than a writer in the service :-that the person, who held these lucrative offices, viz. John Belli, was private secretary to the said Warren Hastings.

That the said Warren Hastings created a nominal office of resident at Goa, where the company never had a resident, nor business of any kind to transact, and gave the said nominal office to a person, who was not a covenanted servant of the company, with an allowance of £.4,280 a

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| the following declaration : " the agent being upon "honour with respect to the sums charged in his "accounts for the cost of the articles supplied, I "did not think myself authorized to require any "voucher of the sums charged for the demurrage "of sloops, either as to the time of detention, or "the rate of the charge, or of those for the articles

power, derived from the effect of his casting voice, all the said waste and profusion did take place. That at the end of the year 1780, when, as the court of directors affirm, the company were in the utmost distress for money, and almost every department in arrear, and when it appears, that there was a great scarcity and urgent want of grain at Fort St. George, the said Warren Hastings did" lost in going down the river; and on that ground accept of a proposal made to him by James Peter "I thought myself equally bound to admit the Auriol, then secretary to the council, to supply "sums acknowledged as received for the sales of the presidency of Fort St. George with rice and "goods returned, without requiring vouchers of other articles, and did appoint the said Auriol to "the rates, at which they were sold."-That, in be the agent for supplying all the other presiden- this transaction, the said Warren Hastings has cies with those articles-that the said Warren been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty in Hastings declared, that the intention of the ap- the unnecessary expenditure of the company's pointment was most likely to be fulfilled by a money, and in subjecting the company to a pro"liberal consideration of it," and therefore allow-fusion of expence, at all times wholly unjustifiable, ed the said Auriol a commission of 15 per cent. on the whole of his disbursements; thereby rendering it the direct interest of the said Auriol to make his disbursements as great as possible;-that the chance of capture by the enemy, or danger of the sea, was to be at the risk of the India company, and not of the said Auriol :-that the said Warren Hastings declared personally to the said Auriol, "that this post was intended as a reward for his long and faithful services."-That the president and council of Bombay did remonstrate against what they called the enormous amount of the charges of the rice, with which they were supplied, which they state to be nine rupees a bag at Calcutta, when they themselves could have contracted for its delivery at Bombay, free of all risk and charges, at five rupees and three-sixteenths per bag; and that even at Madras, where the distress and demand was greatest, the supplies of grain by private traders, charged to the company, were nineteen per cent. cheaper than that supplied by the said Auriol, exclusive of the risk of the sea, and of capture by the enemy. That it is stated by the court of directors, that the agent's commission on a supply of a single year (the said commission being not only charged on the prime cost of the rice, but also on the freight, and on all other charges) would amount to pounds sterling twentysix thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, and by the said Auriol himself is admitted to amount to £.18,292-that William Larkins, the accomptant-general at Fort William, having been ordered to examine the accounts of the said agent, did report to the governour-general and council, that he found them to be correct in the additions and calculations; and that then the said Larkins adds

but particular y at the time when that expence was incurred.-That the said Warren Hastings was guilty of breach of orders, as well as breach of trust, in not advertising generally for proposals; in not contracting indifferently for the supplies with such merchants as might offer to furnish them on the lowest terms; in giving an enormous commission to an agent, and that commission not confined to the prime cost of the articles, but to be computed on the whole of his charges; in accepting of the honour of the said agent as a sufficient voucher for the cost of the articles supplied, and for all charges whatever, on which his commission was to be computed; and finally, in giving a lucrative agency for the supply of a distressed and starving province, as a reward to a secretary of state, whose labours in that capacity ought to have been rewarded by an avowed publick salary, and not otherwise. That, after the first year of the said agency was expired, the said Warren Hastings did agree, that for the future the commission to be drawn by the said agent should be reduced to five per cent. which the governour-general and council then declared to be the customary amount drawn by merchants; but that, even in this reduction of the commission, the said Warren Hastings was guilty of a deception, and did not in fact reduce the commission from 15 to 5 per cent. having immediately after resolved, that he, the agent, should be allowed the current interests of Calcutta upon all his draughts on the treasury from the day of their dates, until they should be completely liquidated that the legal interest of money in Bengal is twelve per cent. per annum, and the current interest from eight to ten per cent.

VIII. PRESENTS.

money passed into those of the said Warren Hastings, are named ;-that such particularity on the face of such a charge, supposing it false, is favourable to the party wrongfully accused, and

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tion; for though, as the said Warren Hastings himself has observed on another occasion, "papers may be forged, and evidences may appear in "numbers to attest them, yet it must always be matter to detect the falsity of any forged paper produced by examining the witnesses. separately, and subjecting them to a subsequent cross examination, in which case, if false, they "will not be able to persevere in one regular con"sistent story."

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THAT, before the appointment of the governour- | general and council of Fort William by act of parliament, the allowances made by the East India company to the presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient; and that the said pre-exposes the accuser to an instant and easy detecsidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings particularly, was restrained by a specifick covenant and indenture, which he entered into with the company, from accepting any gifts, rewards, or gratuities whatsoever, on any account or pretence whatsoever. That, in the regulating act passed" in the year 1773, which appointed the said Warren Hastings, Esquire, governour-general of Fort William in Bengal, a salary of £.25,000 a year was established for him, to which the court of directors added, "that he should enjoy their prin"cipal houses, with the plate and furniture, both "in town and country, rent free." That the same law, which created the office, and provided the salary, of the said Warren Hastings, did expressly, and in the clearest and most comprehensive terms, that could be devised, prohibit him from receiving any present, gift, or donation, in any manner, or on any account whatsoever; and that the said Warren Hastings perfectly understood the meaning, and acknowledged the binding force, of this prohibition, before he accepted of the office, to which it was annexed. He knew, and had declared, that the prohibition was positive and decisive; that it admitted neither of refinement or misconstruction; and that in his opinion an opposition would be to incur the penalty.

Whereas, if no advantage be taken of such particularity in the charge to detect the falsehood thereof, and if no attempt to disprove it, and no defence whatever be made, a presumption justly and reasonably arises in favour of the truth of such charge. That the said Warren Hastings, instead of offering any thing in his defence, declared, that he would not suffer Nundcomar to appear before the board as his accuser. That he attempted to indict his said accuser for a conspiracy, in which he failed; and that the said Rajah Nundcomar was soon after, and while his charge against the said Warren Hastings was depending before the council, indicted upon an English penal statute, which does not extend even to Scotland, before the supreme court of judicature, for an offence said to have been committed several years before, and not capiThat, notwithstanding the covenants and en- tal by the laws of India, and was condemned and gagements above mentioned, it appears in the re- executed.- -That the evidence of this man, not corded proceedings of the governour-general and having been encountered at the time, when it might council of Fort William, that sundry charges have and ought to have been, by the said Warren Hastbeen brought against the said Warren Hastings ings, remains justly in force against him, and is for gifts or presents corruptly taken by him before not abated by the capital punishment of the said the promulgation of the act of 1773 in India, and Nundcomar, but rather confirmed by the time and that these charges were produced at the council circumstances, in which the accuser of the said board in the presence of the said Warren Hast- Warren Hastings suffered death.-That one of the ings that, in March 1775, the late Rajah Nund- offices, for which a part of the money above mencomar, a native Hindoo, of the highest cast in his tioned is stated to have been paid to the said Warreligion, and of the highest rank in society by the ren Hastings, was given by him to Munny Begum, offices which he had held under the country go- the widow of the late Myr Jaffier, nabob of Bengal, vernment, did lay before the council an account whose son, by another woman, holds that title at of various sums of money paid by him to the said present. That the said Warren Hastings had been Warren Hastings, amounting to £.40,000 and instructed by the court of directors of the East upwards, for offices and employments corruptly India company to appoint " a minister to transact disposed of by the said Warren Hastings, and did" the political affairs of the government, and to offer and engage to prove and establish the same "select for that purpose some person well qualiby sufficient evidence.- That this account is "fied for the affairs of government, to be the stated with a minute particularity and precision; "minister and guardian of the nabob's minority." the date of each payment down to that of small-That, for these offices, and for the execution of sums is specified; the various coins, in which such payments were severally made, are distinguished; and the different persons, through whose hands the

the several duties belonging to them, the said Warren Hastings selected and appointed the said Munny Begum, a woman evidently unqualified

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for, and incapable of, such offices, and restrained prevailed in the collection of the revenues, or from acting in such capacities by her necessary any part of the civil government of the presiseclusion from the world, and retirement in a se- dency, and to communicate to the directors all raglio. That a considerable deficiency or em- "information, which they might be able to obtain bezzlement appearing in this woman's account of "relative thereto, or to any dissipation or embezthe young nabob's stipend, she voluntarily de- "zlement of the company's money."-That the clared, by a writing under her seal, that she had above petition and instruction having been read in given £.15,000 to the said Warren Hastings for council, it was moved, that the petitioner should an entertainment; which declaration corresponds be ordered to attend the next day to make good with and confirms that part of the charge pro- his charge. That the said Warren Hastings deduced by Rajah Nundcomar, to which it relates.- clared, that it appeared to him to be the purpose That neither this, nor any other part of the said "of the majority to make him the sole object of charge, has been at any time directly denied or "their personal attacks. That they had taken disputed by the said Warren Hastings, though "their line, and might pursue it.—That he should made to his face, and though he was repeatedly "have other remarks to make upon this transacaccused by his colleagues, who were appointed "tion, but as they would be equally applicable to by parliament at the same time with himself, of many others, which in the course of this business peculation of every sort. That instead of pro- were likely to be brought before the board, he moting a strict enquiry into his conduct for the "should say no more on the subject;”—and he clearance of his innocence and honour, he did re-objected to the motion. That by the preceding peatedly endeavour to elude and stifle all enquiry declaration the said Warren Hastings did admit, by attempting to dissolve the meetings of the coun- that many other charges were likely to be brought cil, at which such charges were produced, and by against him, and that such charges would be of a other means; and has not since taken any steps similar nature to the first, viz. a corrupt bargaining to disprove or refute the same. That the said War- for the disposal of a great office, since he declared, ren Hastings, so long ago as September 1775, as- that his remarks on that transaction would be sured the court of directors, "that it was his fixed equally applicable to the rest; and that, by object“determination most fully and liberally to explaining to the motion for the personal attendance of the every circumstance of his conduct on the points, which he had been injuriously arraigned, and "to afford them the clearest conviction of his own "integrity, and of the propriety of his motives for "declining a present defence of it;" and having never since given to the court of directors any explanation whatever, much less the full and liberal explanation he had promised so repeatedly, has thereby abandoned even that late and protracted defence, which he himself must have thought necessary to be made at some time or other; and which he would be thought to have deferred to a period more suitable and convenient than that, in which the facts were recent, and the impression of these and other charges of the same nature against him was fresh and unimpaired in the minds of men.

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accuser, he resisted and disobeyed the company's instructions; and did, as far as depended on his power, endeavour to obstruct and prevent all enquiry into the charge. That in so doing he failed in his duty to the company; he disobeyed their express orders, and did leave the charge against himself without a reply, and even without a denial; and with that unavoidable presumption against his innocence, which lies against every person accused, who not only refuses to plead, but, as far as his vote goes, endeavours to prevent an examination of the charge, and to stifle all enquiry into the truth of it.-That the motion having been nevertheless carried, the said Warren Hastings did, on the day following, declare, " that he could not sit "to be confronted with such accusers, nor suffer a judicial enquiry into his conduct at the board, That on the 30th of March 1775, a member of "of which he was president; and declared the the council produced and laid before the board a "meeting of the board dissolved."-That the petition from Mir Zein Abul Dheen, (formerly far-board continued to sit and examine witnesses, mer of a district, and who had been in creditable stations,) setting forth, that Khân Jehan Khân, then phousdar of Houghly, had obtained that office from the said Warren Hastings, with a salary of seventytwo thousand sicca rupees a year; and that the said phousdar had given a receipt of bribe to the patron of the city, meaning Warren Hastings, to pay him annually thirty-six thousand rupees a year, and also to his banyan, Cantoo Baboo, four thousand rupees a year, out of the salary above mentioned. That by the 35th article of the Instructions given to the governour-general and council, they are directed" immediately to cause the strictest enquiry to "be made into all oppressions, which might have "been committed either against the natives or Europeans, and into all abuses, that might have

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servants of the phousdar, on oath and written evidence, being letters under the hand and seal of the phousdar, all directly tending to prove the charge; viz. that out of the salary of seventy-two thousand rupees a year paid by the company, the said phousdar received but thirty-two thousand, and that the remainder was received by the said Warren Hastings and his banyan.-That the phousdar, though repeatedly ordered to attend the board, did, under various pretences, decline attending, until the 19th of May, when the letters stated to be his, that is, under his hand and seal, being shewn to him, it was proposed by a member of the board, that he should be asked, whether he had any objection to swear to the truth of such answers as he might make to the questions pro

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That, besides the sums charged to have been paid to the said Warren Hastings by the said Nundcomar, and Munny Begum, and Khân Jehan Khân, and besides the sum of £.110,000, already mentioned to have been accepted without hesitation by him, as a present on the part of the nabob of Oude and that of his ministers, the circumstances of which have been particularly reported to the House of Commons, it appears by the confession of the said Warren Hastings, that he has, at different times since the promulgation of the act of 1773, received various other sums, contrary to the express prohibition of the said act, and his own declared sense of the evident intent and obligation thereof.-That in the month of June 1780 the said Warren Hastings made to the council, what he called, a very unusual tender, by offering to "exonerate the company from the expence of a

posed by the board. That the said Warren Hast-cil, constituting a lawful act of the governourings objected to his being put to his oath.-That general and council, the said Khân Jehan Khân the question was nevertheless put to him, in con- was dismissed from the office of phousdar of sequence of a resolution of the board. That he Houghly for a contempt of the authority of the first declined to swear, under pretence, that it was board. That, within a few weeks after the death a matter of serious consequence to his character of the late Colonel Monson, the number of the to take an oath; and, when it was finally left to council being then even, and all questions being his option, he declared, "mean people might then determined by the governour-general's castswear, but that his character would not allow ing voice, the said Warren Hastings did move, and "him; that he could not swear, and had rather carry it in council, that the said Khân Jehan "subject himself to a loss."-That the evidence in Khân should be restored to his office; and that support of the charge being on oath was in this restoration, not having been preceded, accommanner left uncontradicted; that it was admitted panied, or followed, by any explanation or deby the said Warren Hastings, that neither Mussul- fence whatsoever, or even by a denial of the men or Hindoos are forbidden by the precepts of specifick and circumstantial charge of collusion their religion to swear. That it is not true, as the with the said Khân Jehan Khân, has confirmed said Warren Hastings asserted, that it was repug- the truth of the said charge. nant to the manners either of Hindoos or Mussulmen; and that if, under such pretences, the natives were to be exempted from taking an oath, when examined by the governour and council, all | the enquiries pointed out to them by the company's instructions might stop, or be defeated.That no valid reason was, or could be, assigned, why the said phousdar should not be examined on oath; that the charge was not against himself; and that, if any questions had been put to him, tending to make him accuse himself, he might have declined to answer them.-That, if he could have safely sworn to the innocence of the said Warren Hastings, from whom he received his employment, he was bound in gratitude, as well as justice, to the said Warren Hastings, to have consented to be examined on oath.-That not having done so, and having been supported and abetted in his refusal by the said Warren Hastings" particular measure, and to take it upon himself; himself, whose character and honour were imme- "declaring, that he had already deposited two diately at stake, the whole of the evidence for the "lacks of rupees (or twenty-three thousand truth of the charge remains unanswered, and in full force against the said Warren Hastings, who on this occasion recurred to the declaration he had before made to the directors, viz. "that he "would most fully and liberally explain every "circumstance of his conduct," but has never since that time given the directors any explanation whatsoever of his said conduct.-And finally, that when the court of directors, in January 1776, referred the question (concerning the legality of the power assumed, and repeatedly exercised by the said Warren Hastings, of dissolving the council at his pleasure) to the late Charles Sayer, then standing council of the East India company, the said Charles Sayer declared his opinion in favour of the power; but concerning the use and exercise of it in the cases stated, did declare his opinion in the following words: "I be"lieve, he, Warren Hastings, is the first gover-ings from Cheyt Sing, the rajah of Benares, who nour that ever dissolved a council enquiring into "his behaviour, when he was innocent." Before he could summon three councils, and dissolve them, he had time fully to consider what would be the result of such conduct, to convince every body beyond a doubt of his conscious guilt.

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That by a resolution of a majority of the coun

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pounds) in the hands of the company's sub"treasurer for that service." That in a subsequent letter, dated the 29th of November 1780, he informed the court of directors, that "this money, by whatever means it came into their possession, was not his own ;" but he did not then, nor has he at any time since made known to the court of directors from whom, or on what account, he received that money, as it was his duty to have done in the first instance; and notwithstanding the said directors signified to him their expectation, that he should communicate to them "immediate information of the channel, by which "this money came into his possession, with a

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complete illustration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event;"-But, from evidence examined in England it has been discovered, that this money was received by the said Warren Hast

was soon after dispossessed of all his property, and driven from his country and government by the said Warren Hastings.

That notwithstanding the declaration made by the said Warren Hastings, that he had actually deposited the sum above mentioned in the hands of the company's sub-treasurer for their service,

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