-pointed by him in 1781, to fix the time, for which the ensuing settlement should be made; and the said committee having declared, that, with respect to the period of the leases in general, it appeared to the committee, that to limit them to one year would be the best period, he, the said Warren Hastings, approved of that limitation, in manifest contradiction to all his own arguments, professions, and declarations, concerning the fatal consequences of annual leases of the lands:-that, in so doing, the said Warren Hastings did not hold himself bound or restrained by the orders of the court of directors, but acted upon his own discretion; and that he has, for partial and interested purposes, exercised that discretion in particular instances against his own general settlement for one year, by granting perpetual leases of farms and zemindaries to persons specially favoured by him; and particularly by granting a perpetual lease of the zemindary of Baharbund to his servant Cantoo Baboo on very low terms :-that, in all the preceding transactions, the said Warren Hastings did act contrary to his duty, as governor of Fort William, contrary to the orders of his employers, and contrary to his own declared sense of expediency, consistency, and justice; and thereby did harass and afflict the inhabitants of the provinces with perpetual changes in the system and execution of the government placed over them, and with continued innovations and exactions against the rights of the said inhabitants; thereby destroying all security to private property, and all confidence in the good faith, principles, and justice of the British government; and that the said Warren Hastings, having substituted his own instruments to be the managers and collectors of the public revenue, in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, did act in manifest breach and defiance of an act of the 13th of his present Majesty, by which the ordering and management and government of all the territorial revenues in the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, were vested in the governor-general and council, without any power of delegating the said trust and duty to any other persons; and that by such unlawful delegation of the powers of the council to a subordinate board appointed by himself, he, the said Warren Hastings, did in effect unite and vest in his own person the ordering, government, and management of all the said territorial revenues:-and that,

for the said illegal act, he, the said Warren Hastings, is solely answerable, the same having been proposed and resolved in council, when the governor-general and council consisted but of two persons present; namely, the said Warren Hastings, and the late Edward Wheler, Esquire; and when consequently the governor-general, by virtue of the casting voice, possessed the whole power of the government.-That in all the changes and innovations herein before described, the pretence used by the said Warren Hastings to recommend and justify the same to the court of directors has been, that such changes and innovations would be attended with increase of revenue, or diminution of expense to the East-India Company -that such pretence, if true, would not have been a justification of such acts; but that such pretence is false and groundless.-That, during the administration of the said. Warren Hasting, the territorial revenues have declined; that the charges of collecting the same have greatly increased; and that the said Warren Hastings, by his neglect, mismanagement, and by a direct and intended waste of the Company's property, is chargeable with, and answerable for, all the said decline of revenue, and all the said increase of expense.

XVI. MISDEMEANOURS IN OUDE.

I.

THAT the province of Oude and its dependencies were, before their connexion with and subordination to the Company, in a flourishing condition with regard to culture, commerce, and population, and their rulers and principal nobility maintained themselves in a state of affluence and splendour; but very shortly after the period aforesaid, the prosperity both of the country and its chiefs began sensibly and rapidly to decline; insomuch that the revenue of the said province, which on the lowest estimation had been found, in the commencement of the British influence, at upwards of three millions sterling annually, (and that ample revenue raised without detriment to the country,) did not, in the year 1779,

exceed the sum of £1,500,000, and in the subsequent years did fall much short of that sum, although the rents were generally advanced, and the country grievously oppressed in order to raise it.

II.

That in the aforesaid year 1779, the demands of the EastIndia Company on the Nabob of Oude are stated by Mr. Purling, their resident at the court of Oude, to amount to the sum of £1,360,000 sterling and upwards, leaving (upon the supposition, that the whole revenue should amount to the sum of £1,500,000 sterling, to which it did not amount) no more than £140,000 sterling for the support of the dignity of the household and family of the Nabob, and for the maintenance of his government, as well as for the payment of the public debts due within the province.

III.

That by the treaty of Fyzabad a regular brigade of the Company's troops, to be stationed in the dominions of the Nabob of Oude, was kept up at the expense of the said Nabob; in addition to which a temporary brigade of the same troops was added to his establishment, together with several detached corps in the Company's service, and a great part of his own native troops were put under the command of British officers.

IV.

That the expense of the Company's temporary brigade increased in the same year (the year of 1779) upwards of £80,000 sterling above the estimate; and the expense of the country troops under British officers, in the same period, increased upwards of £40,000 sterling; and in addition to the aforesaid ruinous expenses a large civil establishment was gradually, secretly, and without any authority from the court. of directors, or record in the books of the council-general concerning the same, formed for the resident, and another under Mr. Wombwell, an agent for the Company; as also several pensions and allowances, in the same secret and clandestine manner, were charged on the revenues of the said

Nabob for the benefit of British subjects, besides large occasional gifts to persons in the Company's service.

V.

That in the month of November, 1779, the said Nabob did represent to Mr. Purling, the Company's resident aforesaid, the distressed state of his revenues in the following terms: "During three years past, the expense occasioned by the troops in brigade, and others commanded by European officers, has much distressed the support of my household, insomuch that the allowances made to the seraglio and children of the deceased Nabob have been reduced to onefourth of what it had been, upon which they have subsisted in a very distressed manner for two years past. The attendants, writers, and servants, &c. of my court, have received no pay for two years past; and there is at present no part of the country, that can be allotted to the payment of my father's private creditors, whose applications are daily pressing upon me. All these difficulties I have for these three years past struggled through, and found this consolation therein, that it was complying with the pleasure of the honourable Company, and in the hope, that the supreme council would make inquiry from impartial persons into my distressed situation; but I am now forced to a representation. From the great increase of expense the revenues were necessarily farmed out at a high rate; and deficiencies followed yearly. The country and cultivation is abandoned, and this year, in particular, from the excessive drought, deductions of many lacks" [stated by the resident, in his letter to the board of the 13th of the month following, to amount to 25 lacks, or £250,000 sterling] "have been allowed the farmers, who were still left unsatisfied. I have received but just sufficient to support my absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of 15 lacks, [£150,000 sterling.] and for this reason many of the old chieftains, with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court, were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory, there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And the said

Nabob did therefore pray, that the assignments for the new brigade, the corps of horse, and the other detached bodies of the Company's troops, might not be required from him; alleging, "that the former was not only quite useless to his government, but moreover the cause of much loss both in the revenues and customs; and that the detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely their own masters."

VI.

That it appears, that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to the maintenance, without his consent, even of the old brigade; the court of directors having in their letter of the 15th December, 1775, approved of keeping the same in his service, “provided it was done with the free consent of the subah, and by no means without it." And the new brigade, and temporary corps, were raised on the express condition, that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "for so long a time as he should require the corps for his service." And the court of directors express to the governor-general and council their sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "but if you intend to exert your influence, first to induce the vizier to acquiesce in your proposal, and afterwards to compel him to keep the troops in his pay during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent conduct would reflect great dishonour on the Company."

VII.

That in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to discharge the demands made on him, were confirmed by the testimony of the English resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to be, "without hesitation, totally inadmissible;" and did falsely and maliciously insinuate, “that the tone in which the demands of the Nabob were asserted,