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THAT the said Warren Hastings, in the year to enjoy any emolument arising from his being 1777, did grant to the surgeon-general a contract concerned in dieting the patients; and that the for three years, for defraying every kind of hospital" occupations of surgeon and contractor should and medicine expence-not only in breach of the "be forthwith separated."-That the said contract general orders of the court of directors with respect was in itself highly improper, and inconsistent to the duration of contracts, but in direct oppo- with the good of the service; as it afforded the sition to a particular order of the court of direct-greatest temptation to abuse, and established a ors, of the 30th of March 1774, when they di- pecuniary interest in the surgeon-general, contrary rected, "that the surgeon should not be permitted to the duties of his station and profession.

XI. CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS.

THAT the governour-general and council at Fort William did, on the motion and recommendation of Warren Hastings, Esquire, enter into a contract with Archibald Frazer, Esquire, on the 17th of April 1778, for the repairs of the pools and banks in the province of Burdwan, for two years, at the rate of 120,000 sicca rupees for the first year, and 80,000 rupees for the second year. That on the 19th of December 1778 the said

Warren Hastings did further persuade the supreme council, to prolong the term of the above contract with Archibald Frazer for the space of three years more on the same conditions; namely, the payment of 80,000 sicca rupees for each year. To which was added a permission to Mr. Frazer to make dobunds, or special repairs, whenever he should judge them necessary, at the charge of govern

ment.

That the said contracts, both in the manner of their acceptance by the supreme council, without having previously advertised for proposals, and in the extent of their duration, were made in direct violation of the special orders of the court of directors.

That so far from any advantage having been

obtained for the company in the terms of these contracts, in consideration of the length of time of for which they were to continue, the expence government upon this article was encreased by these engagements to a very great amount.

That it appears, that this contract had been heid for some years before by the rajah of Burdwan, at the rate of 25,000 rupees per annum.

That the superintendent of Poolbundy repairs, after an accurate and diligent survey of the bunds and pools, and the provincial council of Burdwan, upon the best information they could procure, had delivered it as their opinion to the governour general and council, before the said agreement was entered into, that after the heavy expence, (stated in Mr. Kinlock's estimate, viz. 119,405 sicca rupees,) if disbursed as they recommended, the charge in future seasons would be greatly reduced, and after one thorough and effectual repair, they conceived a small annual expence would be sufficient to keep the bunds and prevent their going to decay.

up

That whatever extraordinary and unusual damages the pools and bunds might have sustained, either from the neglect of the rajah's officers, or

from the violence of the then late rains, and the torrents thereby occasioned, to justify the expence of the first year, yet as they were all considered and included in the estimate for that year, there could be no pretence for allowing and continuing so large and burthensome a payment as 80,000 rupees per annum for the four succeeding years. That the said Warren Hastings did, in his minutes of the 13th of February 1778, himself support that opinion, in the comparison to be made between Mr. Thomson's proposals of undertaking the same service for 60,000 rupees a year, for nine years, and the terms of Mr. Frazer's contract; preferring the latter, because these were" to effect "a complete repair, which could hardly be con"cluded in one season, and the subsequent expence would be but trifling."

Notwithstanding which, the said Warren Hastings urged and prevailed upon the council to allow in the first year the full amount proposed by Mr. Kinlock in his estimate of the necessary repairs, and did burthen the company with what he must have deemed to be, for the greater part, an unnecessary expence of 80,000 rupees per annum for four years.

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That the permission granted to Mr. Frazer to make dobunds, or new and additional embankments in aid of the old ones, whenever he should judge them necessary, at the charge of government, (the said charge to be verified by the oath of the said Frazer, without any voucher,) was a power very much to be suspected, and very improper to be intrusted to a contractor, who had already covenanted to keep the old pools in perfect repair, and to construct new ones wherever the old pools had been broken down and washed away, or where the course of the rivers might have rendered new ones necessary, in consideration of the great sums stipulated to be paid to him by the govern

That the grant of the foregoing contracts, and the permission afterwards annexed to the second of the said grants, become much more reprehensible from a consideration of the circumstances of the person to whom such a grant was made.

That the due performance of the service required local knowledge and experience, which the said Archibald Frazer, being an officer in the supreme court of justice, could not have possessed.

XII. CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM.

notwithstanding a clause had been inserted in that contract, by which it was left open to the court of directors to annul the same at the expiration of the first or second year.

THAT it appears, that the opium produced in | Bengal and Bahar is a considerable and lucrative article in the export trade of those provinces; that the whole produce has been for many years monopolized either by individuals or by the government; That about the end of the year 1780 the said that the court of directors of the East India com- Warren Hastings, in contradiction to the order pany, in consideration of the hardship imposed on above mentioned, did take away the sale of the the native owners and cultivators of the lands, who opium from the board of trade, though he diswere deprived of their natural right of dealing with claimed, at the same time, any intention of immany competitors, and compelled to sell the pro-plying a censure on their management. duce of their labour to a single monopolist, did authorize the governour-general and council to give up that commodity as an article of commerce. That while the said commodity continued to be a monopoly for the benefit of government, and managed by a contractor, the contracts for providing it were subject to the company's fundamental regulation, namely, to be put up to auction, and disposed of to the best bidder; and that the company particularly ordered, that the commodity when provided should be consigned to the board of trade, who were directed to dispose thereof by publick auction.

That in March 1781 the said Warren Hastings did grant to Steven Sullivan, son of Lawrence Sullivan, chairman of the court of directors of the East India company, a contract for the provision of opium, without advertising for proposals, and without even receiving any written proposals from him the said Sullivan; that he granted this contract for four years, and at the request of the said Sullivan did omit that clause, which was inserted in the preceding contract, and by which it was rendered liable to be determined by orders from the company; the said Warren Hastings declaring, contrary to truth, that such clause was now unnecessary, as the directors had approved the contract.

That in May 1777 the said Warren Hastings granted to John Mackenzie a contract for the proVision of opium, to continue three years, and without advertising for proposals: that this transac-in tion was condemned by the court of directors,

That the said Sullivan had been but a few months

Bengal when the above contract was given to him; that he was a stranger to the country, and

as he affirmed, no sale, did, under pretence of finding a market for the same, engage the company in an enterprise of great and certain expence, subject to a manifest risk, and full of disgrace to the East India company, not only in their political character, as a great sovereign power in India, but in their commercial character, as an eminent and respectable body of merchants: and that the execution of this enterprise was accompanied with sundry other engagements with other persons, in all of which the company's interest was constantly sacrificed to that of individuals favoured by the said Warren Hastings.

to all the local commerce thereof, and therefore | lick auction, or even by private contract, there was, unqualified for the management of such a concern; and that the said Sullivan, instead of executing the contract himself, did, shortly after obtaining the same, assign it over to John Benn, and others; and in consideration of such assignment did receive from the said Benn a great sum of money. That from the preceding facts, as well as from sundry other circumstances of restrictions taken off, (particularly by abolishing the office of inspector into the quality of the opium,) and of beneficial clauses introduced, it appears that the said Warren Hastings gave this contract to the said Stephen Sullivan in contradiction to the orders of the court of directors, and without any regard to the interests of the India company, for the sole purpose of creating an instant fortune for the said Sullivan at the expence of the India company, without any claim of service or pretence of merit on his part, and without any apparent motive whatever, except that of securing or rewarding the attachment and support of his father, Lawrence Sullivan, a person of great authority and influence in the direction of the company's affairs, and notoriously attached to and connected with the said Warren Hastings.

That the said Stephen Sullivan neither possessed nor pretended to possess, any skill in the business of his contract; that he exerted no industry, nor shewed, or could shew, any exactness in the performance of it, since he immediately sold the contract for a sum of money to another person, (for the sole purpose of which sale, it must be presumed the same was given,) by which person another profit was to be made; and by that person the same was again sold to a third, by whom a third profit was to be made.

That the said Warren Hastings, at the very time when he engaged the company in a contract for engrossing the whole of the opium produced in Bengal and Bahar in the ensuing four years on terms of such exorbitant profit to the contractor, affirmed, that" there was little prospect of selling "the opium in Bengal at a reasonable price; and "that it was but natural to suppose, that the price "of opium would fall from the demand being "lessened:"—that in a letter, dated the 5th of May 1781, he informed the directors, "that owing to the indifferent state of the markets last season "to the eastward, and the very enhanced rates of "insurance, which the war had occasioned, they "had not been able to dispose of the opium of "the present year to so great an advantage as they expected; and that more than one half of it "remained still in their warehouses."-That the said Warren Hastings was guilty of a manifest breach of trust to his constituents and his employers in monopolizing for their pretended use an article of commerce, for which he declared no purchasers had offered, and that there was little prospect of any offering; and the price of which, he said, it was but natural to suppose would fall. That the said Warren Hastings having, by his own act, loaded the company with a commodity, for which, either in the ordinary and regular course of pub

That the said Warren Hastings first engaged in a scheme to import one thousand four hundred and sixty chests of opium, on the company's account, on board a ship belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, half of which was to be disposed of in a coasting voyage, and the remainder in Canton.That, besides the freight and commission payable to the said Thornhill on this adventure, twelve pieces of cannon belonging to the company were lent for arming the ship; though his original proposal was, that the ship should be armed at his expence. That this part of the adventure, depend ing for its success on a prudent and fortunate management of various sales and resales in the course of a circuitous voyage, and being exposed to such risk both of sea and enemy, that all pri vate traders had declined to be concerned in t was particularly unfit for a great trading company, and could not be undertaken on their account with any rational prospect of advantage.

That the said Warren Hastings soon after en gaged in another scheme for exporting two thou sand chests of opium directly to China on the company's account, and for that purpose accepted of an offer made by Henry Watson, the company chief engineer, to convey the same in a vessel his own, and to deliver it to the company's super cargoes.-That after the offer of the said Henry Watson had been accepted, a letter from him was produced at the board, in which he declared, that he was unable to equip the ship with a proper number of cannon, and requested, that he might be furnished with thirty-six guns from the com pany's stores at Madras, with which request the board complied.-That it appears, that Georg Williamson, the company's auctioneer at Cale cutta, having complained, that by this mode d exporting the opium which used to be sold by publick auction, he lost his commission as auction eer, the board allowed him to draw a commissi of one per cent. on all the opium which had been or was to be exported. That it appears that the contractor for opium (whose proper duties and emoluments as contractor ended with the delivery of the opium) was also allowed to draw a comms sion on the opium then shipping on the company' account; but for what reason, or on what pretence, does not appear.

That the said Warren Hastings, in order to pay the said Stephen Sullivan in advance for the opi

furnished, or to be furnished, by him in the first | factory estimate the loss to the company, includyear of his contract, did borrow the sum of twenty ing port-charges, demurrage, and factory charges lacks of rupees at eight per cent. or two hundred allowed the captain, at sixty-nine thousand nine thousand pounds sterling, to be repaid by draughts hundred and ninety-three dollars, or about twenty to be drawn on the company by their super-cargoes thousand pounds sterling. in China, provided the opium consigned to them should arrive safe; but that if the adventure failed, whether by the loss of the ships, or otherwise, the subscribers to the above loan were to be repaid their capital and interest out of the company's treasury in Bengal.

That the company's factory at China, after stating the foregoing facts to the court of directors, conclude with the following general observations thereon :-" on a review of these circumstances, with the extravagant and unusual terms "of the freight, demurrage, factory-charges, &c. "&c. we cannot help being of opinion, that pri"vate considerations have been suffered to inter"fere too much for any benefit, that may have "been intended to the honourable company. We

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That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner purchased a commodity, for which he said there was no sale, and paid for it with money, which he was obliged to borrow at a high interest, was still more criminal in his attempt, or pretended" hope for the honourable court's approbation of plan, to introduce it clandestinely into China. That the importation of opium into China is forbidden by the Chinese government; that the opium, on seizure, is burnt; the vessel, that imports it, confiscated; and the Chinese, in whose possession it may be found for sale, punished with death.

That the governour-general and council were well aware of the existence of these prohibitions and penalties, and did therefore inform the supercargoes in China, that the ship belonging to the said Henry Watson would enter the river at China as an armed ship, and would not be reported, as bearing a cargo of opium; that being a contraband trade.-That of the above two ships, the first, belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, was taken by the French; and that the second, arriving in China, did occasion much embarrassment and distress to the company's super-cargoes there, who had not been previously consulted on the formation of the plan, and were exposed to great difficulty and hazard in the execution of their part of it. That the ship was delayed, at a demurrage of an hundred dollars a day, for upwards of three months, waiting in vain for a better market.—The

our conduct in this affair. The novelty and "nature of the consignments have been the source "of much trouble and anxiety; and though we "wished to have had it in our power to do more, we may truly say we have exceeded our expecta"tions.'

That every part of this transaction, from the monopoly, with which it commenced, to the contraband dealing, with which it concluded, criminates the said Warren Hastings, with wilful disobedience of orders, and a continued breach of trust; that every step taken in it was attended with heavy loss to the company, and with a sacrifice of their interest to that of individuals, and that, if finally a profit had resulted to the company from such a transaction, no profit attending it could compensate for the probable risk, to which their trade in China was thereby exposed; or for the certain dishonour and consequent distrust, which the East India company must incur in the eyes of the Chinese government by being engaged in a low clandestine traffick, prohibited by the laws of the country.

XIII. APPOINTMENT OF R. J. SULLIVAN.

THAT, in the month of February 1781, Mr. | Richard Joseph Sullivan, secretary to the select committee at Fort St. George, applied to them for leave to proceed to Calcutta on his private affairs. That, being the confidential secretary to the select committee at Fort St. George, and consequently possessed of all the views and secrets of the company, as far as they related to that government, he went privately into the service of the nabob of Arcot and under the pretence of proceeding to Calcutta on his private business, undertook a commission from the said nabob to the governour-general and council, to negociate with

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them in favour of certain projects of the said nabob, which had been reprobated by the company.

That the said Sullivan was soon after appointed back again by the said Warren Hastings to the office of resident at the durbar of the said nabob of Arcot. That it was a high crime and misdemeanour in the said Hastings to encourage so dangerous an example in the company's service, and to interfere unnecessarily with the government of Madras in the discharge of the duties peculiarly ascribed to them by the practice and orders of the company, for the purpose of appointing to a great and confidential situation a man, who had so re

cently committed a breach of trust to his em- pany's service, though that fact was known at ployers.

Madras on the 31st of the preceding January, did That the court of directors, in their letter to recommend the said Sullivan to be ambassadour at Bengal, dated the 12th of July 1782, and received the court of Nizam Ally Cawn, subahdar of the there on the 18th of February 1783, did condemn | Deccan, in defiance of the authority and orders of and revoke the said appointment. That the said the court of directors. directors, in theirs to Fort St. George, dated the 28th of August 1782, and received there the 31st of January 1783, did highly condemn the conduct of the said Sullivan; and, in order to deter their servants from practices of the same kind, did dismiss him from their service.

That the said Hastings knowing, that the said Sullivan's appointment had been condemned and revoked by the court of directors, and pretending, that on the 15th of March 1783 he did not know, that the said Sullivan was dismissed from the com

XIV. RANNA OF GOHUD.