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 accept of a proposal made to him by James Peter Auriol, then secretary to the Council, to supply the Presidency of Fort-St.-George with rice and other articles, and did appoint the said Auriol to be the agent for supplying all the other Presidencies with those articles :--that the said Warren Hastings declared, that the intention of the appointment was most likely to be fulfilled by a liberal "consideration of it," and therefore allowed 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,

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 the following declaration: "the agent being upon honour with respect to the sums charged "in his accounts for the cost of the articles sup

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plied, I did not think myself authorized to re

quire 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 lost in going down the river; and

on

on that ground I thought myself equally bound

to admit the sums acknowledged as received for "the sales of goods returned, without requiring "vouchers of the rates, at which they were sold." -That, in this transaction, the said Warren Hastings has been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty in the unnecessary expenditure of the Company's money, and in subjecting the Company to a profusion of expense, at all times wholly unjustifiable, but particularly at the time when that expense 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

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.

THAT, before the appointment of the Governour-General and Council of Fort-William by Act of Parliament, the allowances made by the EastIndia Company to the Presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient; and that the said Presidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings particularly was restrained by a specifick

covenant

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 "principal 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.

That, notwithstanding the covenants and engagements above mentioned, it appears in the recorded proceedings of the Governour-General and Council of Fort-William, that sundry charges have been

brought