on the soundest principles of justice, and on a maxim received in courts of equity, namely, that no one shall avail himself of his own wrong; and that, if any one refuse or neglect to perform that, which he is bound to do, the rights of others shall not be prejudiced thereby, but such acts shall be deemed and reputed to have been actually performed, and all the consequences shall be enforced, which would have followed from such actual performance. And therefore the resolutions moved and voted in council by the said Warren Hastings, declaring the offices of General Clavering to be vacant, were not only illegal, inasmuch as the said Warren Hastings had no authority to warrant such a declaration, even on the supposition of the acts of General Clavering being contrary to law; but the said resolutions were further highly culpable and criminal, inasmuch as the said acts done by General Clavering, which were made the pretence of that proceeding, were strictly regular and legal. That the refusal of the said Warren Hastings to ratify the resignation, and his disavowal of the said Lauchlin Macleane, his agent, is not justified by any thing contained in his said letter to the court of directors, dated on the 15th of August 1777, the said Warren Hastings no where directly and positively asserting, that the said Lauchlin Macleane was not his agent, and had not both full and general powers, and even particular instructions for this very act; although the said Warren Hastings uses many indirect and circuitous, but insufficient and inapplicable, insinuations to that effect. And the said letter does on the contrary contain a clear and express avowal, that the said Lauchlin Macleane was his confidential agent, and that in that capacity he acted throughout, and particularly in this special matter, with zeal and fidelity. And the said letter does further admit in effect the instructions produced by the said Lauchlin Macleane, Esquire, confirmed by Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, and relied on and confided in by the court of directors, by which the said Lauchlin Macleane appeared to be specially empowered to declare the said resignation; the words of the said instruction being as follow: "that he (Mr. Hastings) will not continue in the "government of Bengal," "unless certain condi"tions therein specified can be obtained:" and the words of the said letter being as follow: "What I myself know with certainty, or can re"collect at this distance of time, concerning the powers and instructions, which were given to "Messieurs Macleane and Graham, when they "undertook to be my agents in England, I will circumstantially relate. 66 written instructions (and which having in his possession he might as easily have given verbatim) to other words, which may appear less explicit, yet they are in fact capable of only the same meaning; for as at the time of giving the said instructions to his agents he was in full possession of his office, he could want no confirmation therein, except his own; and, in such circumstances, to require "certain things, as the conditions of his being con"firmed in his government," is tantamount to a declaration," that he will not continue in his government, unless those conditions can be ob"tained." And the said attempt at prevarication can serve its author the less, as either both sentences have one and the same meaning, or if their meaning be different, the original instructions in his own hand-writing, or, in other words, the thing itself, must be preferred as evidence of its contents to a loose statement of its purport, founded, perhaps, on a loose recollection of it at a great distance of time. 66 That the said refusal of Warren Hastings, Esq. was a breach of faith with the court of directors, and His Majesty's ministers in England; as the said resignation was not merely a voluntary offer without any consideration, and therefore subject to be recalled or retracted at the pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, but ought rather to be considered as having been the result of a negociation carried on between Mr. Macleane for the benefit of Warren Hastings, Esq. on the one hand, and by the court of directors for the interests of the company on the other which view of the transaction will appear the more probable, when it is considered, that at the time of the said resignation a strict enquiry had been carrying on by the court of directors into the conduct of the said Warren Hastings; and the solicitor and counsel to the company, and other eminent counsel, had given it as their opinions, on cases stated to them, that there were grounds for suing the said Warren Hastings in the courts of law and equity; and that the company would be entitled to recover in the said suits against Warren Hastings, Esq. several very large sums of money taken by him in his office of governour-general, contrary to law, and in breach of his covenants, and of his duty to the company and the publick; and the court of directors had also come to various severe resolutions of censure against the said Warren Hastings, and amongst others to a resolution to recall the said Warren Hastings, and remove him from his office of governour-general, to answer for sundry great crimes and delinquencies by him committed in his said office. And on these accounts it appears probable, that the said resignation was tendered and accepted as a consideration for some beneficial concessions made in consequence thereof to the said Warren Hastings in his said dangerous and desperate condition. And the said refusal was also an act of great disrespect to the court of directors, and to His Majesty; and by rendering abortive their said 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 for which they were to continue, the expence of 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 governourgeneral 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 up and prevent their going to decay. 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." 66 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. 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 ment. 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. 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 the court of directors of the East India company, in consideration of the hardship imposed on the native owners and cultivators of the lands, who were deprived of their natural right of dealing with many competitors, and compelled to sell the produce 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. 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 about the end of the year 1780 the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to the order above mentioned, did take away the sale of the opium from the board of trade, though he disclaimed, at the same time, any intention of implying a censure on their management. 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 with- That the said Sullivan had been but a few months out advertising for proposals: that this transac-in Bengal when the above contract was given to tion was condemned by the court of directors, him; that he was a stranger to the country, and 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; as he affirmed, no sale, did, under pretence of and that the said Sullivan, instead of executing finding a market for the same, engage the company the contract himself, did, shortly after obtaining the in an enterprise of great and certain expence, subsame, assign it over to John Benn, and others; ject to a manifest risk, and full of disgrace to the and in consideration of such assignment did re- East India company, not only in their political ceive from the said Benn a great sum of money. character, as a great sovereign power in India, but That from the preceding facts, as well as from in their commercial character, as an eminent and sundry other circumstances of restrictions taken off, respectable body of merchants: and that the exe(particularly by abolishing the office of inspector cution of this enterprise was accompanied with into the quality of the opium,) and of beneficial sundry other engagements with other persons, in clauses introduced, it appears that the said Warren all of which the company's interest was constantly Hastings gave this contract to the said Stephen sacrificed to that of individuals favoured by the Sullivan in contradiction to the orders of the court said Warren Hastings. 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, depending 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 private traders had declined to be concerned in it, 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 engaged in another scheme for exporting two thousand 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's chief engineer, to convey the same in a vessel of his own, and to deliver it to the company's supercargoes.-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 company's stores at Madras, with which request the board complied.-That it appears, that George Williamson, the company's auctioneer at Calcutta, having complained, that by this mode of exporting the opium which used to be sold by publick auction, he lost his commission as auctioneer, the board allowed him to draw a commission 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 commission on the opium then shipping on the company's 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 opium 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. 66 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. That the said Warren Hastings, having in this" &c. we cannot help being of opinion, that primanner purchased a commodity, for which he said. "vate considerations have been suffered to interthere was no sale, and paid for it with money, "fere too much for any benefit, that may have which he was obliged to borrow at a high interest, "been intended to the honourable company. We 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 our conduct in this affair. The novelty and the importation of opium into China is forbidden "nature of the consignments have been the source by the Chinese government; that the opium, on" of much trouble and anxiety; and though we seizure, is burnt; the vessel, that imports it, con- "wished to have had it in our power to do more, fiscated; and the Chinese, in whose possession it we may truly say we have exceeded our expectamay be found for sale, punished with death. "tions." 66 That every part of this transaction, from the monopoly, with which it commenced, to the con That the governour-general and council were well aware of the existence of these prohibitions and penalties, and did therefore inform the super-traband dealing, with which it concluded, crimicargoes 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 nates 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 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 |