House of Lords Journal Volume 37: May 1787 11-14

May 1787 11-14

DIE Veneris, 11^o Maii 1787.

Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes fuerunt:

PRAYERS.

Sutton against Johnstone in Error:

The Order of the Day being read for the further hearing of the Errors argued, assigned upon the Writ of Error, wherein Evelyn Sutton Esquire is Plaintiff, and George Johnstone Esquire is Defendant; and for the Judges to attend:

Counsel were accordingly called in.

And the Counsel for the Defendant having been fully heard:

As also one Counsel for the Plaintiff, by way of Reply:

The Counsel were directed to withdraw.

Question put to Judges.

Proposed, "That the following Question be put to the Judges:

"What Judgement or other Award ought to be made upon the Record, as it now lies before the House?"

The same was agreed to, and the said Question was accordingly put to the Judges.

And the Judges desiring Time to consider the said Question:

Ordered, That the further Consideration of the said Cause be put off to Thursday the 24th Day of this Instant May, and that the Judges do then attend to deliver their Opinions upon the said Question.

Cart Navigation Bill:

Hodie 3^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act for enabling the Magistrates and Town Council of Paisley to improve the Navigation of the River Cart, and to make a Navigable Cut or Canal across the Turnpike Road leading from Glasgow to Greenock."

The Question was put, "Whether this Bill shall pass?"

It was resolved in the Affirmative.

Glasgow Road Bill:

Hodie 3^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act to continue the Term, and alter and enlarge the Powers of several Acts made in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Years of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second, and the Sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, so far as relates to the Road leading from Glasgow to Redburn Bridge; and for altering the Course of the Road from Glasgow to Redburn Bridge; and for repairing the Road from Redburn Bridge to Bonny Water, and from thence to or near Loanhead in the County of Stirling, there to join the Turnpike Road leading from Falkirk to Kilsyth."

The Question was put, "Whether this Bill shall pass?"

It was resolved in the Affirmative.

Balby Road Bill:

Hodie 3^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of an Act made in the Fifth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, "An Act for amending the Road from the Pinfold in Balby in the County of York, to Worksop in the County of Nottingham."

The Question was put, "Whether this Bill shall pass?"

It was resolved in the Affirmative.

Hippius' Naturalization Bill:

Hodie 3^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act for naturalizing Frederick Hippius."

The Question was put, "Whether this Bill shall pass?"

It was resolved in the Affirmative.

Messages to H. C. that the Lords have agreed to the Four preceding Bills.

And Messages were, severally, sent to the House of Commons, by Mr. Holford and Mr. Graves:

To acquaint them, That the Lords have agreed to the said Bills, without any Amendment.

St. George (Hanover Square) Workhouse Bill.

Hodie 2^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act to render effectual the Purchase of a House situate in the Parish of Saint Luke Chelsea in the County of Middlesex, to be used as an additional Workhouse for the Parish of Saint George Hanover Square, within the Liberty of the City of Westminster, and for other Purposes."

Ordered, That the said Bill be committed to the Consideration of the Lords following:

Their Lordships, or any Five of them, to meet on Monday next, at Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, in the Prince's Lodgings, near the House of Peers; and to adjourn as they please.

Hatfield Chace Bill.

Hodie 2^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act for better draining and preserving certain Lands and Grounds within the Level of Hatfield Chace and Parts adjacent, in the Counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham."

Ordered, That the said Bill be committed to the Consideration of the Lords Committees aforenamed:

Their Lordships, or any Five of them, to meet on the same Day, at the same Place; and to adjourn as they please.

Ecclesiastical Courts Bill.

The Order of the Day being read, for the House to be put into a Committee upon the Bill, intituled, " An Act to prevent frivolous and vexatious Suits in Ecclesiastical Courts:"

Ordered, That the House be put into a Committee upon the said Bill on Monday next.

Adjourn.

Dominus Cancellarius declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse usque ad et in diem Lunæ, decimum quartum diem instantis Maii, horâ undecimâ Auroræ, Dominis sic decernentibus.

DIE Lunæ, 14^o Maii 1787.

Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes fuerunt:

PRAYERS.

Sibbald and Brown against against Dewar.

After Hearing Counsel in Part, in the Cause wherein William Sibbald and William Brown Merchants are Appellants, and Andrew Dewar is Respondent:

It is Ordered, That the further Hearing of the said Cause be put off till To-morrow.

Shrewsbury Roads Bill.

Hodie 2^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, " An Act for continuing the Term, and altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act passed in the Twenty-ninth Year of His late Majesty, for repairing the Roads from Shrewsbury to Preston Brockhurst, to Shawbury, and to Shreyhill, in the County of Salop; and for repairing several other Roads in the said County."

Ordered, That the said Bill be committed to the Consideration of the Lords following:

Their Lordships, or any Five of them, to meet on Wednesday next, at Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, in the Prince's Lodgings, near the House of Peers; and to adjourn as they please.

Callico Printers, &c. Bill:

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Alderman Newnham and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for the Encouragement of the Arts of designing and printing Linens, Cottons, Callicoes, and Muslins, by vesting the Properties thereof in the Designers, Printers, and Proprietors, for a limited Time;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

The said Bill was read the First Time.

Kirkbymalzeard Enclosure Bill.

Hodie 2^a vice lecta est Billa, intituled, "An Act for dividing and enclosing certain Moors, Commons, or Waste Grounds in the Parish of Kirkbymalzeard in the County of York."

Ordered, That the said Bill be committed to the Consideration of the Lords Committees aforenamed:

Their Lordships, or any Five of them, to meet Tomorrow, at the usual Time and Place; and to adjourn as they please.

E. Cholmondeley's Estate Bill.

The House proceeded to take into Consideration the Amendments made by the Commons to the Bill, intituled, "An Act for vesting Part of the settled Estates of the Right Honourable George James Earl of Cholmondeley in the County of Chester, in the said Earl of Cholmondeley in Fee-Simple; and for settling an Estate of greater Value in the same County in Lieu thereof."

And the same, being read three Times by the Clerk, were agreed to by the House.

And, a Message was sent to the House of Commons, by Mr. Montagu and Mr. Eames, to acquaint them therewith.

Ecclesiastical Courts Bill.

The House (according to Order) was adjourned during Pleasure, and put into a Committee upon the Bill, intituled "An Act to prevent frivolous and vexatious Suits in Ecclesiastical Courts."

After some Time, the House was resumed:

And the Lord Scarsdale reported from the Committee, "That they had gone through the Bill, and directed him to report the same to the House, without any Amendment."

Hemp and Flax, Accounts respecting, delivered.

The House being informed, "That Mr. Mitford from the Treasury attended:"

He was called in, and delivered at the Bar, pursuant to the Directions of an Act of the 26th Year of His present Majesty,

"Account of the Quantities of Hemp and Flax certified to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, to be raised in that Part of Great Britain called England, and of the Monies directed to be issued to the Order of the Quarter Sessions of the different Counties therein mentioned."

Also, "Amount of Sums allowed by the Justices of the Peace to the several Clerks of the Peace, for Business done under the Acts for encouraging the Growth of Hemp and Flax."

And then he withdrew.

And the Titles thereof being read by the Clerk;

Ordered, That the said Accounts do lie on the Table.

Beverley Road Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Sir James Pennyman and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of an Act passed in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for repairing and widening the Road from Beverley by Molscroft to Kéndell House, and from Molscroft to Bainton Balk in the County of York;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Barrowupon-Trent Enclosure Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by the Lord George Cavendish and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for dividing and enclosing the several Common and Open Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Commons, and Waste Grounds, within the Manor and Hamlet of Barrow-upon-Trent, in the Parish of Barrow-upon-Trent, in the County of Derby;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Ashborne Road Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by the Lord George Cavendish and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty King George the Third, for repairing and widening the Road from Ashborne to Sudbury, and from Sudbury to Yoxall Bridge, and from the Turnpike Road upon Hatton Moor to Tutbury, in the Counties of Derby and Stafford;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Stamford and Grantham Road Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Sir John Thorold and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of two Acts passed in the Twelfth and Twenty-fourth Years of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second, for repairing the Road between Stamford and Grantham, in the County of Lincoln;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Dorrington Enclosure Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Sir John Thorold and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for dividing and enclosing certain Open and Common Fields, Meadows, Pastures, Fens, and Waste Lands, within the Parish of Dorrington, in the County of Lincoln;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Stafford Gaol Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Captain Leveson Gower and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for building a new Gaol and providing a proper Prison for Debtors, and House of Correction for the several Boroughs, Towns Corporate, Liberties, Franchises, and all other Places, within the County of Stafford; and for regulating the same respectively;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Margate Pier.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Robinson and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for re-building the Pier of Margate in the Isle of Thanet, in the County of Kent; for ascertaining, establishing, and recovering certain Duties, in Lieu of the ancient and customary Droits for the Support and Maintenance of the said Pier; for widening, paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching, the Streets, Lanes, Highways, and Public Passages, in the Town of Margate and Parish of Saint John the Baptist in the said Isle of Thanet; for settling the Rates of Porters, Chairmen, Carters, and Carmen, within the said Town; and for preventing Encroachments, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Sarsden, &c. Enclosure Bill:

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Bastard and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for dividing and enclosing the Common Fields, Common Pastures, Common Meadows, Common Grounds, and Waste Grounds, in the Parishes of Sarsden and Churchill, and Tithing of Lyneham, Merriscourt, and Finescourt, in the Parish of Shipton-under-Whichwood, in the County of Oxford;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

The said Eight Bills were, severally, read the First Time.

The King's Consent signified to it.

The Lord Sydney acquainted the House, "That His Majesty having been informed of the Contents of the last-mentioned Bill, was pleased to Consent (as far as His Majesty's Interest is concerned), that their Lordships may proceed therein as they shall think fit."

Berwick Road Bill, repairing.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Home and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for repairing and widening the Road leading from the Borough of Berwickupon-Tweed, by Ayton Bridge and the New Bridge over the Pees or Pass of Cockburnspath to Dunglas Bridge, and also the Roads leading from Billie Causeway and Preston Bridge to join the said Road at or near Cockburnspath Tower, in the County of Berwick;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

The said Bill was read the First Time.

Message from H. C. with Articles of Impeachment against Warren Hastings Esquire.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Burke and others:

Who said, "He was commanded by the House of Commons to exhibit to this House Articles of Impeachment of High Crimes and Misdemeanors against Warren Hastings Esquire, late Governor General of Bengal."

And he delivered in the said Articles which were read as follow; (videlicet)

Articles exhibited by the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses in Parliament assembled, in the Name of themselves and of all the Commons of Great Britain, against Warren Hastings Esquire, late Governor General of Bengal, in Maintenance of their Impeachment against him for High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Whereas the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies had, for a long Time past, carried on an extensive Trade, obtained great Territorial Possessions and Revenues, entered into various Alliances and Connections, and waged frequent Wars with the native Powers in India; and whereas it became necessary that the said United Company, in pursuance of and by the Authority in them vested by Act of Parliament, and Charter under the Great Seal, should create certain great Offices for the Management of these important Affairs, and for the more perfect conducting and directing of the various Concerns from them resulting; and whereas, among others, the Office created and known by the Name and Designation of President of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal was an Office of high Trust, Power, and Dignity; on the due and incorrupt Execution of which, the Welfare of the said United Company, the Happiness of the native Inhabitants of India, the Honour of the Crown of these Kingdoms, and the Character of the British Nation, did most materially depend; and whereas Warren Hastings Esquire was, by legal Authority, constituted and ap pointed to succeed to the Situation and Office of President of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, by an Appointment, bearing Date the Twenty-fifth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-one; and the said Warren Hastings did, on or about the Month of April, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, succeed to the said Office; by which said Appointment and Succession, all the Power, Authority, and Dignity, which ever had been annexed thereto, were conveyed to the said Warren Hastings; and whereas the great and growing National Importance of the Affairs of the East India Company had made them peculiarly the Object of Public and Parliamentary Consideration; and whereas, in consequence thereof, an Act passed in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty (intituled, "An Act for the establishing certain Regulations for the better Management of the Affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe"); and whereas by the said Act it was, among other Things, enacted, That a Governor General, instead of a President as aforesaid, should be appointed to preside over the Affairs of the said East India Company; and whereas great Power, Authority, Dignity, Trust, and Responsibility, were by the said Act annexed to the Office of Governor General; on the due and uncorrupt Execution of which, the before recited important Interests, relative to the native Subjects and protected Princes in India, as well as to the said East India Company and the British Nation, did likewise in a most especial Manner depend; and whereas the said Warren Hastings was appointed, by the Act of Parliament aforesaid, to the Office of Governor General, with all the Powers by Law belonging to the said Office; and whereas, by virtue of several subsequent Acts of Parliament, he the said Warren Hastings has been frequently reappointed to the said Office of Governor General, with all the Power, Authority, Dignity, Trust, and Responsibility, originally annexed to the same; and whereas, in fact, the said Warren Hastings did accept of these great Offices of President and Governor General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, so bestowed on him as aforesaid, and did continue to act therein, without any Suspension or Intermission whatever, from the Period herein first mentioned, until the Month of February, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-five; and whereas the said Warren Hastings did solemnly swear faithfully to discharge his Duty therein; by which he became bound, by the most solemn Obligations, to the Company, the Crown, and the Nation, faithfully to discharge the Duty of the Trust reposed in him, during all the Time aforesaid; yet the said Warren Hastings, not regarding the sacred Obligation of his Oath, nor the important Duties of the high Offices to which he was appointed, but entertaining base and corrupt Views of procuring for himself and his Dependants exorbitant Wealth, and arbitrary Designs of raising himself, by means of the undue Influence so acquired, to excessive Power, as well to gratify his inordinate Ambition, as to secure himself from Punishment for the many unjustifiable Acts by him done and committed in the Exercise of his Office, did, whilst he was President and Governor General as aforesaid, by the various unwarrantable and criminal Practices hereinafter set forth, faithlessly, illegally, and tyrannically violate the Duties of his Station; by each and all of which Practices the Welfare of the East India Company has materially suffered, the Happiness of the Native Inhabitants of India been deeply affected, their Confidence in English Faith and Lenity shaken and impaired, and the Honour of the Crown and Character of this Nation wantonly and wickedly degraded."

Article First.

That Rajah Bulwant Sing, a great Chief or Zemindar of certain Provinces or Districts in India, called Benares, and Gazepoor, dependant upon the Mogul Empire, through Sujah ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, and Vizier of the said Empire, did, in the Commencement of the English Power in India, in or about the Year One thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, attach himself to the British Nation, and was, in the Opinion of the Directors of the East India Company, of signal Service to the Affairs and Interests of Great Britain.

That, in Consideration of those Services, the said Bulwant Sing was, by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Allahabad, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, between Sujah ul Dowlah and the British Nation, fully secured in the Possession of his Territories, which Possession he retained till his Death.

That by the Influence of the British Bengal Government, and in Consideration of a large Sum of Money, and a considerable Increase of Tribute paid to the Vizier, his Son Rajah Cheit Sing did, on the Death of his Father, the said Bulwant Sing, succeed to the said Territories, and on or about the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy, was fully invested with the Government thereof.

That in the Month of June, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, Warren Hastings Esquire, (being then President of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal,) was empowered by the President and Council, (that is, by himself and Council,) to renew, on behalf of Rajah Cheit Sing, the Stipulations which had been formerly made with the Vizier in Favour of his Father Rajah Bulwant Sing, in Consideration of his Services in the Year One thousand seven hundred and sixty-four.

That in consequence of these Powers, the said Warren Hastings did, by various Treaties and Agreements, renew and secure to Rajah Cheit Sing and his Posterity, the Inheritance of the above-mentioned Territories, (which said Territories had been already conveyed to the said Rajah by Acts of the Vizier in his Favour,) upon the same Terms as they had been granted to his Father Bulwant Sing, excepting only the Increase of Tribute heretofore mentioned; and the said Treaties or Agreements did expressly provide, that no Increase of the same should ever be demanded from him; and the same were fully guaranteed by the East India Company, and their Faith pledged that they should remain inviolable, and that there should never be any Deviation from them.

That the said Warren Hastings was bound, as well by the Ties of Justice as by the Obligations of Public Faith, to afford the Protection of the East India Company to the said Rajah, more particularly as the Inheritance, and even the Life of the said Rajah, were no longer safe than whilst he enjoyed such Protection.

That he the said Warren Hastings did think himself bound by the said Treaties and Agreements in Favour of Rajah Cheit Sing, to afford him Protection, and to prevent the Vizier from breaking through or deviating from the said Treaties, and did accordingly, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, interfere and prevent, or did approve of the Interference of the Resident at the Court of Oude for the Purpose of preventing, the said Vizier from levying a Sum of Five Lacks of Rupees in Advance from the said Cheit Sing, under Pretence of his the said Vizier's urgent Necessities, by declaring that His Excellency, (videlicet the Vizier,) could not on his Part demand either an Increase of Rent or Sums in Advance from the said Rajah; and that the Demand of Five Lacks would, if complied with, establish a Precedent against the said Cheit Sing, contrary to the Letter of the Treaty with him; and that the Honourable Board, videlicet the Council of Fort William, of which Warren Hastings Esquire was then Governor General, would not see the Rights of their Dependants infringed upon; and that Rajah Cheit Sing was to be considered in that Light; and that the said Vizier must expect to see him protected, for he was not to be put upon a Footing with his the said Vizier's other Zemindars.

That the above, and all other Stipulations in Favour of the said Rajah, were fully known to, and approved of, and confirmed and ratified by, the said Warren Hastings.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, propose and carry in Council a Resolution, that it should be made a Condition of the Treaty then negociating with the Vizier, that Rajah Cheit Sing should exercise a free and independant Authority in his Dominions, subject only to the Payment of his Tribute.

That an Assignment was afterwards obtained from the Vizier by the Company, of the Tribute payable by the said Rajah, whereby the Rights of Superiority, which the said Vizier was entitled to hold and to bestow, were transferred, yet the Tenure and Condition of the Rajah continued the same as before; the said Assignment being, as the said Warren Hastings has himself declared, without any Encroachment on the just Rights of the Rajah, or the Engagements actually subsisting with him; the Nature and Extent of which had been fully known to, and often recognized by, the said Warren Hastings, and which never were, by any subsequent Agreement, Treaty, or otherwise, done away or superseded.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Month of June, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, lay before the Council at Fort William in Bengal, several Propositions, for the Purpose of carrying into Effect the Intentions of the Board to render the said Rajah more independent, to prevent him from being reduced to what he, the said Warren Hastings, calls the mean and depraved State of a mere Zemindar, and to raise him to a Situation of Power and Dignity unknown to any of his Ancestors; that in order to carry the said Intentions into Execution, the said Warren Hastings did inter alia specially propose, and with the Approbation of his Council, did actually convey to Cheit Sing the Powers of executing criminal Justice, and of coining Money within his Dominions, which Powers, in that Country, have always been considered as Marks of Sovereignty; and did further propose, that whilst the Rajah should continue faithful to his Engagements, and punctual in his Payments, and should pay due Obedience to the British Government, no more Demands should be made upon him by the East India Company, of any Kind, or on any Pretence whatsoever should any Person be allowed to interfere with his Authority, or disturb the Peace of his Country; which Proposition was agreed to by the Council, and was ordered to be communicated to the said Rajah Cheit Sing by Francis Fowke Esquire, the then Resident at Benares, which voluntary Restraint was proposed by the said Warren Hastings, and laid by the Government upon its own Actions, in order, among other Purposes, to inspire the Rajah with the greatest Confidence, without which he the said Rajah would expect from every Change of Government additional Demands to be made upon him, and would of course descend to all the Arts of Intrigue and Concealment practised by other dependent Rajahs; and because, by proper Encouragement, he would prove a powerful Ally, and a useful Barrier to the East India Company; but that he would be neither the one nor the other, if the Conditions of his Connection with the Company were left open to future Variations.

That the said Warren Hastings, in or about the Month of June, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, did propose to his Council that Rajah Cheit Sing should engage to maintain in constant Pay a Body of Two thousand Cavalry, for which the Company were to pay after the Rate of Fifteen Rupees per Month for each private Man, and in Proportion for the Officers, so long as they should continue in the Service of the said Company. That the said Warren Hastings then declared it was far from his Intention to propose the above or any other Article to be imposed upon the said Rajah by Compulsion; and the Board did finally resolve, on or about the Month of July, in the Year last aforesaid, that it be recommended to the said Cheit Sing to keep up Two thousand Cavalry, to be disciplined after the European Manner; but that there be no Obligation upon him so to do.

That by these and various other Acts, Agreements, Treaties, or Stipulations, the said Rajah Cheit Sing was, under the Authority of the East India Company, fully confirmed and secured in the free and uncontrouled Authority in the Regulation and Government of his Zemindary, subject to no Demand of any Sort or Kind, or upon any Pretence whatsoever, over and above the Payment of the Rent or Tribute stipulated to be by him paid.

That the said Warren Hastings was bound by the Duties of his Office, and by the Ties of Justice and Public Faith, strictly to adhere to the aforesaid Treaties, Stipulations, and Engagements, and to every other Treaty, Stipulation, and Engagement, which subsisted between the East India Company and the said Rajah, or to which the said Company were or had been Parties or Guarantees, according to the plain Sense and true Understanding of the same.

That the said Warren Hastings, whilst he was Governor-General as aforesaid, in direct Breach of his Duty, and of the Trust reposed in him, and in positive Contradiction to the Treaties, Stipulations, and Engagements, which existed between the East India Company and the said Rajah, and with a View to harass, distress, and finally to ruin the said Rajah, in consequence of pre-conceived Malice against him, did, on some Day in the Month of July, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, under the Pretence of a War in Europe, of which he the said Warren Hastings had not any authentic Accounts, and at a Time when the Treasury of the East India Company was unusually full, and when no general Levy or Contribution was made upon any other Persons in Situations similar to that of the said Cheit Sing, require that the said Cheit Sing should furnish Three Battalions of Sepoys, at his own Expence, for the Service of the said East India Company, and did extort from the said Cheit Sing the Sum of Five Lacks of Rupees, under Pretence of providing and paying for the said Battalions.

That the said Warren Hastings did farther, in or about the Month of July, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, extort a like Sum of Five Lacks of Rupees from the said Cheit Sing, under similar or such like Pretences, and did compel the Payment of the same by means of a Military Force; and did also extort the Payment of a farther Sum of Two thousand Pounds Sterling, or thereabouts, under Pretence of paying the Expences of the said Force.

That the said Warren Hastings did again, on or about the Twenty-second Day of June, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty, extort from the said Cheit Sing, by similar and other rigorous Means, and particularly by the Threats of a Fine of Ten thousand Pounds, the Payment of the like Sum of Five Lacks, under the aforesaid and other such like Pretences, although he the said Hastings had, on the Twenty-first Day of June, that is to say, on or about the Day before the said renewed Demand, privately received from a Person named Sadanund, Buxey or Treasurer to the said Rajah, a Present or Bribe of Two Lacks of Rupees, or some other Sum, which was given under the Plea of atoning for the Opposition alledged by the said Warren Hastings to have been made against the Payment of the said Subsidy, but really in Hopes of its inducing him the said Warren Hastings to give up that Claim.

That, notwithstanding the Receipt of the abovementioned Bribe or Present, the said Warren Hastings, in further Prosecution of a wicked and malicious Design to harass, oppress, and ruin the said Rajah, did, on the Second Day of November, One thonsand seven hundred and eighty, move at the Council Board, and carry, a Resolution, that the Rajah of Benares should be required to furnish such Cavalry as he could spare for the Service of the British Government; and after wards, under Pretence and Colour of the said Resolution of the Board, did peremptorily and arbitrarily demand from the said Rajah Two thousand Cavalry, which Demand was afterwards reduced to some other Number, but without any Offer of paying for the same, although the said Rajah was not bound to keep up any Cavalry, and for whatever Number he furnished for the Service of the East India Company he was to be paid at the Rate already stated.

That the said Warren Hastings, in further Prosecution of the Design aforesaid, did, in direct Defiance of both the Letter and Spirit of the said Treaties and Agreements, wickedly and maliciously enter into a clandestine Negociation with the Vizier, Nabob of Oude, whom the said Warren Hastings well knew to be the Ancient and Hereditary Enemy of the Rajah and his Family, and from the Enmity of whose Father the said Rajah's Family had been secured and protected by the British Power, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, for the express Purpose of selling the Territories of the said Rajah to the said Vizier, for a Sum of Money to be paid to the said East India Company.

That the said Warren Hastings, in further Prosecution of the said wicked Design, and in order to draw the said Rajah to some Act which might afford a Pretence for Violence towards him, did, some Time early in the Month of January, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, peremptorily and insultingly write, or cause to be written, a Letter to the said Rajah, charging him with Delay in Payment of his Monthly Kists or Payments, and with being the Cause of the Non-payment of the Stipend of Mirza Sadit Ally, although the said Cheit Sing did pay his Kists with the utmost Regularity, and the Stipend to the said Mirza Sadit Ally was paid with equal Regularity, at the very Time when the said Warren Hastings did falsely and unjustly charge him with Delay in paying the same.

That the said Warren Hastings, in further Prosecution of the Design aforesaid, did, in or about the Month of July, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, by a Vote of Council, invest himself with an illegal and dangerous Delegation of the Powers of the whole Council, without any Authority given to him so to do, either by the East India Company or by any Act or Acts of Parliament; and, among other Things, did, in the Manner aforesaid, confer upon himself full Power and Authority to form such Arrangements with the Rajah of Benares, for the better Government and Management of his Zemindary, and to perform such Acts, for the Improvements of the Interests which the Company possessed in it, as he should think fit, and consonant to the mutual Engagements subsisting between the Company and the Rajah.

That the said Warren Hastings, under Colour of the above Authority, and under certain false, wicked, and malicious Pretences, with a view to harass, ruin, and oppress the said Cheit Sing, and with an Intention to extort certain large and enormous Sums of Money from him, without any just or reasonable Cause, (although the said Cheit Sing had a short Time before, knowing the Malice of the said Warren Hastings, offered to pay the Sum of Twenty Lacks of Rupees, for the Service of the East India Company,) did wickedly and maliciously undertake a Journey to the Upper Provinces, and in particular to the Province of Benares, and did then and there, in Prosecution of the Wickedness and Malice aforesaid, wantonly, arbitrarily, and tyrannically degrade, insult, and falsely accuse him the said Rajah of certain Acts of Mis-government, and of Disaffection and Breach of Faith and Duty to the East India Company, and of other Crimes and Offences, which said pretended Offences were set forth in a certain Paper Writing, delivered or ordered to be delivered to the said Rajah by the said Warren Hastings: And although the said Rajah did, by every Means in his Power, endeavour to pay every Mark of Respect and Attention to the said Warren Hastings, did express the utmost Distress and Concern at having given any supposed Cause of Offence to him, and assured him, that his Zemindary, and all he possessed, were at his Devotion, and did accompany his Words with Actions strongly expressive of his Sincerity; and although the said Rajah did, in the most submissive and humble Manner, either fully deny or offer a complete Justification of himself from the false, wicked, and malicious Charges brought against him, and did desire a full Enquiry into the Truth of his Allegations made in his Defence aforesaid, yet the said Warren Hastings did arbitrarily and tyrannically order him the said Rajah to be put under Arrest in his own Palace, and loaded him with unmerited Indignities, which Measure did cause great Alarm amongst his Subjects, by disgracing their Prince in the Eyes of all Hindostan, by being a flagrant Instance of Breach of Faith, highly unwarrantable and disgraceful, and tending materially to weaken the Confidence which the native Princes ought to have in the Justice and Moderation of the British Government. That he the said Rajah did, after the said Arrest, write several Letters, full of Distress and Submission, and apparent Despondency, to the said Warren Hastings, who took little Notice of the same; and, a sudden Affray having arisen, in consequence of the March of a Company of Sepoys to reinforce the Guard put over the Rajah, and in consequence of the Insults and Indignities offered to him, and a Part of the said Guard having been destroyed by the Fury of the Populace, enraged by the Outrages offered to their Prince in their Presence, and the Rajah having fled for Safety, during the Tumult, to a Fort in the Neighbourhood, he the said Rajah did immediately, and at divers and sundry Times afterwards, send other Letters of Submission to the said Warren Hastings, requesting Permission to justify himself from the Charges brought against him, and offering to submit in all Things to the Pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, who nevertheless constantly and peremptorily refused to answer or to listen to the same; and at last, upon the Pretence that the said Insurrection or Affray (really raised by his own Violence, Breach of Faith, and Oppression) was the Effect of a premeditated Design to overturn the British Empire in India, and to exterminate therefrom the British Nation; and that the said Rajah aimed at the total Subversion of the Authority of the Company, and the Erection of his own Independency upon its Ruins; and upon other Allegations equally extravagant, untrue, and incredible, he the said Warren Hastings did hazard the Safety of the said Empire in the East, upon the Event of a Civil War, at a Time when it was attacked by Enemies upon every Side, rather than listen to any Terms of Accommodation, or Offers of Justification from the said Rajah; and, collecting around him the Troops of the Company, did wickedly, arbitrarily, and tyrannically expel the said Rajah from those Territories which he held by virtue of repeated Agreements with the Company, and to which he had not forfeited his Right by any Acts by him the said Rajah done or omitted, previous to the violent and unjust Imprisonment aforesaid; in consequence of which Arrest and Expulsion, an unjust War arose, much Blood was shed, the Collection of the Revenues impeded, and the whole Country thrown into Confusion; which said War did extend itself into the neighbouring Provinces, and which Bloodshed, War, and Confusion, are solely imputable to the Misconduct, Violence, Tyranny, and culpable Improvidence of the said Warren Hastings. In all which unjust and illegal Acts, repeated Demands, extorsive Exactions, arbitrary Arrest, and final Expulsion of the said Cheit Sing from his Dominions, upon Pretences, many of which were never suggested or alledged by the said Warren Hastings till after the said Expulsion, and in various other Acts by him the said Warren Hastings done and omitted towards the said Rajah, he the said Warren Hastings has, in many and various Instances, acted contrary to the Trust reposed in him, to the Faith of solemn Treaties, to his own declared Sense of his Duty, and thereby greatly disgraced and discre dited the Character of the British Nation in India: and by all and every one of the aforesaid Acts, done, perpetrated, authorized, or permitted by him the said Warren Hastings, he the said Warren Hastings was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That the said Warren Hastings did farther, after the Flight of the said Cheit Sing, direct an Attack to be made upon a Castle called Bidjegur, the Residence of Panna, the Mother of the said Rajah, and of the surviving Women of the Family of Rajah Bulwant Sing; and, for the Purpose of the directed Attack, did order a Body of Troops to march and dispossess them of their Residence, and to seize upon their Money and Effects, without even pretending that they had committed any Offence whatsoever, and without even enquiring whether the Treasure contained in the Fortress of Bidjegur was the Property of the said Women, or of Cheit Sing. That the said Warren Hastings did neither then nor since, alledge, or attempt to prove, that the said Ladies ever were concerned, in the remotest Degree, in any of the Designs falsely by the said Warren Hastings imputed to the said Cheit Sing; yet nevertheless he did not only besiege, or cause to be besieged, the Fortress aforesaid, but did stimulate the Army to Rapine and Outrage, by the wicked Orders which he issued, by directing that the Fort, and all the Property it contained, should be secured for the Benefit of the Detachment employed in reducing it, and by abandoning to the Soldiery all the Property of the said Women of every Sort, contrary to the Practice of civilized Nations, and particularly offensive to the Manners of the East, and the Respect there paid to the Female Sex. And did farther prohibit Major Popham, or the Commanding Officer of the Army employed in the above Service, from entering into any Conditions with the said Mother of the said Rajah, even for a Provision; and did declare, that if she disappointed certain Expectations, or did not instantly comply with certain Terms which he the said Warren Hastings proposed to her, in consequence of some Overtures from her, he would consider it as a wanton Affront, and never would forgive the same. That the Mother of the said Rajah, having evacuated the Fortress aforesaid, and surrendered the same upon certain Terms, rather than incur the Dangers with which she was threatened by the said Warren Hastings, the Terms of the said Capitulation were violated, and the said Lady, her Relations, and Dependants, plundered, in consequence of that Spirit of Rapacity excited by the Acts of the said Warren Hastings, and his abandoning the Plunder of the said Fort, and every Thing it contained, to the Soldiery:

Which said Acts, Orders, Directions, or Licence, of him the said Warren Hastings, giving up the Plunder aforesaid, in the Manner aforesaid, were issued, directed, or given by him the said Warren Hastings, without any competent Authority being vested in him for that Purpose; in direct Contradiction to the Orders of his Masters, and to his own Sense of his public Duty; and which said Orders did, in the Opinion of him the said Warren Hastings, necessarily tend to bring Corruption and Ruin on the Army. And the said Warren Hastings, after such Licence given to the Soldiery to plunder for their own Benefit, and after the Spoil made in consequence of that Licence, amounting in Value to a very large Sum, was actually divided amongst and shared by the Soldiery, did retract his Declaration of Right, and his Permission to the Soldiers to appropriate the Plunder to themselves, and did endeavour, by various Artifices and Devices, to explain away such his Declaration and Permission, and to recover from the Soldiery the Spoil so before by himself granted to them; but having failed in this Attempt to resume, by a Breach of Faith with the Soldiers, what he had unlawfully granted by a Breach of Duty to his Constituents, he then attempted to obtain the same from the Soldiers and Officers as a Loan; and sailing in this Attempt also, and this Spoil being the only Part of the Treasures belonging to the Rajah, or any Part of his Family; the said Warren Hastings was altogether frustrated in the Acquisition of every Part of that dishonourable Object which alone he had pretended to, and pursued through a long, Series of Acts of Injustice, Inhumanity, Oppression, Violence, and Bloodshed, to the great Risk, even in his own Opinion, of the total Subversion of the British Empire in India.

That the said Warren Hastings having, as aforesaid, expelled the said Cheit Sing from his dominions, did of his own usurped Authority, and without any Communication with, or any Approbation given by, the other Members of the Council, nominate and appoint Rajah Mehipnarain to the Government of the Provinces of Benares, and did appoint his Father, Durbedgy Sing, as Administrator of his Authority; and did give to the British Resident, William Markham, a controuling Authority over both; and did farther abrogate and set aside all Treaties and Agreements which subsisted between the State of Benares and the British Nation; and did arbitrarily and tyrannically, of his mere Authority, raise the Tribute to the Sum of Four hundred thousand Pounds Sterling, or thereabouts; did further wantonly and illegally impose certain oppressive Duties upon Goods and Merchandize, to the great Injury of Trade, and Ruin of the Provinces, and did farther dispose of, as his own, the Property within the said Provinces, by granting the same, or Parts thereof, in Pensions to such Persons as he thought sit.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eightytwo, enter into a clandestine Correspondence with William Markham Esquire, the then Resident at Benares; which said Markham had been by him the said Warren Hastings obtruded into the said Office contrary to the positive Orders of the Court of Directors: And in consequence of the Representations of the said Markham did, under Pretence that the new excessive Rent or Tribute was in Arrear, and that the Affairs of the Provinces were likely to fall into Confusion, authorize and empower him, by his own private Authority, to remove the said Durbedgy Sing from his Office, and deprive him of his Estate.

That the said Durbedgy Sing was, by the private Orders and Authorities given by the said Warren Hastings, and in consequence of the Representations aforesaid, violently thrown into Prison, and cruelly consined therein, under Pretence of the Non-payment of the Arrears of the Tribute aforesaid.

That the Widow of Bulwant Sing, and the Rajah Mehipnarain, did pointedly accuse the said Markham of being the sole Cause of any Delay in the Payment of the Tribute aforesaid, and did offer to prove the Innocence of the said Durbedgy Sing, and also to prove, that the Faults ascribed to him were solely the Faults of the said Markham; yet the said Warren Hastings did pay no Regard whatever to the said Representations, nor make any Inquiry into the Truth of the same, but did accuse the said Widow of Bulwant Sing, and the Rajah aforesaid, of gross Presumption for the same; and listening to the Representations of the Person accused (viz. the Resident Markham), did continue to confine the said Durbedgy Sing in Prison, and did invest the Resident Markham with Authority to bestow his Office upon whomsoever he pleased.

That the said Markham did bestow the said Office of Administrator of the Province of Benares upon a certain Person named Jagger Deo Seo, who, in order to gratify the arbitrary Demands of the said Warren Hastings, was obliged greatly to distress and harass the unfortunate Inhabitants of the said Provinces.

That the said Warren Hastings did some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, remove the said Jagger Deo Seo from the said Office, under Pretence of certain Irregularities and Oppressions, which Irregularities and Oppressions are solely imputable to him the said Warren Hastings.

That the Consequences of all these violent Changes and arbitrary Acts were, the total Ruin and Desola tion of the Country, and the Flight of the Inhabitants; the said Warren Hastings having found every Place abandoned at his Approach, even by the Officers of the very Government which he established, and seeing nothing but Traces of Devastation in every Village; the Provinces, in effect, without a Government; the Administration misconducted; the People oppressed; Trade discouraged; and the Revenue in Danger of a rapid Decline.

All which Destruction, Devastation, Oppression, and Ruin, are solely imputable to the above-mentioned and other arbitrary, illegal, unjust, and tyrannical Acts of him the said Warren Hastings; who by all and every one of the same, was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article Second.

That the Mother and Grandmother of the present Vizier Asoph ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, are amongst the Women of the highest Rank, Family, and Distinction in Asia, the former being the Wife of the late Suja ul Dowlah, and the latter Widow of Sufder Jung, and Daughter of Sadit, the Predecessor of the said Sufder Jung in the Government of Oude, which said Sufder Jung, Father of Suja ul Dowlah, and Grandfather of the present Nabob of Oude, first obtained his Rank among the Princes of India, through the Means of the said Alliance.

That the said Mother and Grandmother of the said Asoph ul Dowlah were in Possession of certain Landed Estates, called Jaghires, and certain valuable Moveables, for the Purpose as well of maintaining their own Rank and Dignity, as for the Maintenance of their numerous Family and Dependants.

That on or about the Months of September or October, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, John Bristow Esquire, the then Resident at the Court of Oude, was requested by Asoph ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, and Vizier of the Empire, to use his Endeavours to persuade his said Mother, commonly called the Bow Begum, to assist him with a Sum of Money, under a Pretence of his great Distress and urgent Necessities, which were principally occasioned by the heavy Debt which he had incurred to the East-India Company.

That the said Bow Begum did positively refuse to advance or pay to the Nabob any Sum or Sums of Money whatsoever, unless for the Sake, and under the Guarantee of the English.

That in Consequence thereof a solemn Treaty was finally concluded between the said Vizier and the said Begum, by which she the said Begum consented to pay to the Vizier, the Sum of Thirty Lacks of Rupees in Money and Goods, and granted to him a Release for a Sum of Twenty-six Lacks, which she had formerly advanced to him the said Vizier; which said Sum of Money was paid and released under the express Condition that no farther Sum of Money, should ever be demanded from her by the said Vizier, upon any Occasion, or upon any Pretence whatsoever, and under the farther express Condition, that the Jaghires, Lands, Money, Goods, and Property of every Kind, then in her Possession, should be firmly secured and guaranteed to her, under the Protection and Guarantee of the English Nation; and that no further Loan, Claim, or Demand of any Sort should ever be required from her.

That the said Agreement or Treaty was confirmed by the most sacred Forms of the Mahomedan Religion by the said Vizier, and was fully guaranteed by the said Bristow, upon the Part of the East-India Company.

That the said Guarantee was afterwards, (videlicet) in or about the Month of November of the Year last aforesaid, fully approved of, and confirmed by the Governor General and Council, Warren Hastings being then Governor General as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings, being Governor General as aforesaid, was (as it was his Duty to be) fully apprized both of the Nature and Extent of the said Guarantee, and has frequently declared his own Sense of the binding Force and Operation of the same, and of the Disgrace and Discredit which would fall upon the English Name, if even the Appearance of Oppression existed towards a Person of the Begum's Sex and Character, after the Honour and Faith of the East-India Company was pledged for the Observance of the said Treaty.

That the said Warren Hastings, in Conformity to the above just Sense of the Nature and Extent of the said Treaty and Guarantee, has repeatedly interfered with his Authority to support and defend the same; and in particular, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, upon certain Complaints being made to the Governor General and Council by the said Begum, of certain Infractions of the said Treaty, he the said Warren Hastings did, in Concurrence with the Council, write, or order to be written to Nathaniel Middleton Esquire, then Resident at Oude, a Letter or Order to the Effect following: "That she the said Begum, was entitled to the Protection of the British Government by an Act not sought by the said Government, but solicited by the Nabob himself, and granted in compliance with his and her Request; and therefore the said Resident was empowered to afford his Support and Protection to her in due Maintenance of all the Rights she possessed by virtue of the Treaty between her and her Son, under the Guarantee of the Company, and against every Attempt that might be made, directly or indirectly, to infringe them." In consequence of which Letter or Order, she was protected by the said Resident in the Enjoyment of her Rights, under the Authority of the Guarantee aforesaid.

That the said elder Begum, Wife of Sufder Jung, and Grandmother of Asoph ul Dowlah, was also in Possession of certain Jaghires and Effects, in the quiet Possession of which she was molested by the said Asoph ul Dowlah, aud in consequence thereof she the said elder Begum, applied for Relief and Protection to the Governor General and Council of Fort William, he the said Warren Hastings being Governor General as aforesaid; who did accordingly interfere in her Behalf, by directing the Resident Middleton, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, to represent to the Nabob the Consequences of such arbitrary Proceedings, the Reproach to which his Honour and Reputation, as well as that of the British Government from being connected with him, would be exposed by such Acts of Cruelty and Injustice, and the Right which the said Government derived, from the Nature of its Alliance with him, to expect that he would pay a Deference to its Remonstrances: That in consequence of the above and other Interferences, Powers, and Authorities, made, given, granted, or confirmed by the Governor General and Council aforesaid, the said elder Begum was finally and fully secured in the Possession of the Jaghires and Effects, and in the Government of the Family of Sufder Jung, which was then stated by her, and acknowledged by the said Middleton and Warren Hastings, to be dependent upon her the said Begum; and the positive Guarantee of the British Nation was by the said Resident, under the Authority of the said Warren Hastings, solemnly pledged to her for her Protection.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Months of May, June, or July, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, illegally and unwarrantably confer upon himself complete and full Military Authority and Command over all the Troops of the East-India Company stationed beyond the Provinces of the said Company, and particularly over the Troops stationed in the Dominions of the said Vizier.

That the said Warren Hastings did about the said Time, contrary to Law, to his Duty, and to the very Nature of the Powers vested in him, confer upon himself a full and complete Delegation of the whole Power and Authority of the Governor General and Council of Fort William.

That he the said Warren Hastings, some Time before, that is to say, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, did recal the Resident at the Court of Oude, specially nominated and appointed thereto by the Court of Directors, without any Fault being to be found, as he himself has since declared, with the Conduct of the said Resident; and did arrogate to himself the Nomination of the Resident at the Court of Oude, as his particular Agent and Representative, and did invest Nathaniel Middleton with the said Office.

That the said Nabob of Oude was in Substance and Effect, as well as in general Repute and Estimation, dependant upon, and under the Controul of, the Governor General of Bengal.

That he the said Warren Hastings did in Substance and Effect invest the said Middleton with great Civil and Military Authority in the Dominions of the said Nabob.

That the said Warren Hastings, by the above illegal Delegation of Authority, by the improper Nomination of the Resident, by being in Possession of the real, though not of the oftensible Power in the Dominions of the said Nabob Vizier, and by many other Acts by him the said Warren Hastings himself, or by his Authority, Approbation, and Concurrence, done and committed, he the said Warren Hastings did render himself peculiarly responsible for the good Government of the said Provinces.

That the said Warren Hastings was bound by the Ties of Justice and good Faith, and by the Duties of his Office, and the Trust reposed in him, strictly to adhere to Treaties entered into or guaranteed by the East-India Company or the British Nation, and to attend to the Happiness and Security of the Properties, Possessions, Liberties, and Lives of those who either were subject to, or dependant upon, the British Power in India.

That he the said Warren Hastings, under Colour and Pretence of the above-mentioned illegal Delegation of Authority, and, as he pretended, in Prosecution of certain Objects mentioned by him in a Minute dated the Twenty-first of May, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, did undertake a Journey to the Upper Provinces, and having met the aforesaid Nabob of Oude at a certain Place called Chunar, did, in gross Violation of his Duty, of the Faith of Treaties, of the Sanction of the Company's Guarantee, and without any Regard to Justice or good Faith, wickedly, corruptly, and maliciously enter into a certain Treaty and Agreement with the said Nabob, since known by the Appellation of the Treaty of Chunar; whereby, among other Things, Power was given to the said Nabob to resume such Jaghires as he should find necessary, with a Reservation that the Amount of such as were guaranteed by the Company, should be paid through the Resident in Money; and although at the Time of the said Treaty, no Charge of any Sort was made, as alledged by the said Warren Hastings, against the Mother and Grandmother of the said Nabob, and although nothing more is purported by the said Treaty than a simple Permission to the said Nabob, and although no particular Jaghires and Estates are pointed out, and although the said Treaty purports to be at the Desire of the said Nabob, and the Execution or Nonexecution of the same to depend entirely upon his Discretion, he the said Warren Hastings having invested his Creature Middleton with almost an absolute Authority over the Dominions of the said Nabob, did compel the said Nabob to become the unnatural Instrument of Outrage and Extortion against his own Parents, and after much Resistance upon the Part of the Nabob did force him to yield a nominal Acquiescence to the Desires of the said Warren Hastings, and to issue his own Orders (which Orders he did, at the very Time of issuing the same, declare to be the Effect of Compulsion only) for the Seizure and Confiscation of the Estates and Jaghires of his Mother, Grandmother, and many of the principal Nobility of his Country; which said extorted Orders were cruelly and violently carried into Effect, by the Approbation and with the Concurrence of the said Warren Hastings, to the Subversion of Property, the Destruction of many ancient and honourable Families, the Confusion and Discontent of the whole Country, to the Disgrace of the Prince thus made the Instrument of Persidy and Outrage toward his Parents, and to the unspeakable Dishonour and Disgrace of the British Name and Character in the Eyes of all Asia; which Lands, Jaghires, and Estates, when so taken, were first assigned to the said Resident, in Part Payment of the pretended Debt to the Company, and finally mortgaged to Shroffs, Bankers or Money Dealers, for the Use of the said Company, and no Steps of any Kind were taken, either by the said Warren Hastings, or by his Order and Authority, to secure the Amount of the said Jaghires to be paid to the said Ladies; and positive Orders were given by the said Warren Hastings, that the said Nabob should not be permitted to restore the said Estates to his said Parents, who thereby were reduced to great Difficulty, Distress, and Want.

By all and every one of which Acts and Proceedings, he the said Warren Hastings was and is guilty of a base and flagitious Violation of the solemn Guarantee of the British Nation, and also guilty of a Breach of the Treaty of Chunar, and by the Means by which he effected the above Crimes, is further guilty of Fraud, Violence, Extortion, and Injustice towards the Nabob of Oude and his said Parents, and is thereby guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That not only the Landed Estates or Jaghires, but the Property, Money, Jewels, and other Effects of the said Parents of the Nabob of Oude, were specially guaranteed to them by the Treaties aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings, without even the Form of a Treaty, and in further direct Violation of the above solemn Engagements, during his Residence at Chunar aforesaid, did, under Colour and Pretence of the aforesaid illegal Powers and Authorities delegated to him, and under certain other false, frivolous, wicked, and malicious Pretences, communicate through Sir Elijah Impey Knight, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, first his Pleasure and then his Orders to the Resident Middleton, that the said Treasures, solemnly guaranteed to the said Begums, should be confiscated, and that the same should be applied to the Liquidation of the Nabob's pretended Debt to the East-India Company:

Which said Pleasure and Order of the said Warren Hastings was forced upon the said Nabob, and his Consent to the said unjust and unjustifiable Acts was wrung from him with an almost unconquerable Reluctance.

That the said Warren Hastings, in Prosecution of the said unjust, violent, and oppressive Orders, did specially prohibit the said Middleton from allowing any Negociation or Forbearance, and expressly ordered him to prosecute both Services (that is, the Seizure of the Jaghires as aforesaid, and the Confiscation of the Treasures of the said Ladies) until they the said Ladies were reduced to the entire Mercy of the said Nabob, their Jaghires in the quiet Possession of his Aumils, and their Wealth in quiet Possession of those who should screen it from private Embezzlement; and by these and other Orders given to the said Middleton, did stimulate and encourage him, the said Middleton, to every Degree of Severity and Outrage, and threatened him with the Effects of dreadful Responsibility, if he did not obey him, the said Warren Hastings; and in order to enable him the better to carry the same violent and unjust Measures into Execution, did order a large Force to be marched into the Territories of the said Vizier, without any Request from him the said Nabob, and contrary to his declared and avowed Desire and Inclination.

In consequence of which Pleasure and Orders of him the said Warren Hastings, and by means of the Authorities and Powers by him given, the said Middleton did, in conformity to the same, proceed to the City of Fyzabad with a Party of British and other Troops, at which City the said Mother and Grandmother of the said Nabob did reside; and after spending Two Days in Negotiation (which small Delay was afterwards charged as a Crime by the said Warren Hastings upon the said Middleton) did first storm the Town and then the Castle where the said Ladies resided, and did violently, wickedly, and cruelly extort from the said Begums and their principal Servants, a Discovery of their Treasures and Effects, by throwing the said principal Servants into Prison, loading them with Fetters, and by various other Severities and Cruelties practised towards them; which said Treasures and Effects were first secured by the said Middleton, or by his Authority, and afterwards applied to the Use of the East-India Company.

That the said Resident Middleton, or his Assistant Resident Johnson, in farther Prosecution of the Orders of the said Warren Hastings, and in order to satisfy the unjust, oppressive, and rapacious Demands of him the said Warren Hastings, did compel the principal Ministers of the said Begums to enter into certain Securities for divers large Sums of Money, and extort the Payment of the same by Means horrid and cruel, by throwing the unfortunate Ministers aforesaid into Prison, loading them with Irons, depriving them of Food, and by means of various other Indignities and Severities: And the said Payment was finally made by the Sale or pretended Sale of the Effects, Clothes, and Wearing Apparel of the said Ladies; which said Seizure of the Treasures of the said Begums, the Imprisonment of their Ministers, and subsequent Sale of their Effects, were conducted with Circumstances of aggravated Atrocity, highly disgraceful to the British Name and Character, and were the Means of reducing the Mother and Grandmother of the then reigning Prince of Oude to the utmost Distress, under the pretended Authority of the said Prince, and of reducing the Women and Children of the late Nabob Suja ul Dowlah, dependant upon the said Begums, by Want of the mere Necessaries of Life, to break through all the Principles of local Decorum which constitute the Character of the Female Sex in that Part of the World, and after fruitless Supplications and Shrieks of Famine, to endeavour to break the Inclosure of the Palace, and force their Way to the Market Place, in order to beg for Bread, and finally to submit to the Extremity of Disgrace and Degradation, by exposing themselves to public View, with the starving Children of their late Sovereign, the Brothers and Sisters of the Reigning Prince; in which Attempt they were attacked by the Sepoys, armed with Bludgeons, and driven back by blows into the Place: For all which Circumstances of Cruelty and Barbarity the said Warren Hastings is in a peculiar Manner responsible, many if not most of the same being the necessary and inevitable Consequences of the illegal Powers assumed by the said Warren Hastings, and the atrocious and unjust Orders given by him; and many of the said Severities and Cruelties being made known to the said Warren Hastings by the Resident or others, he the said Warren Hastings, although informed of the same, did take no Steps for the Redress of the said Cruelties, but, on the Contrary, did declare the same to be justly merited, and did stimulate and encourage his Agents and others to continue and enforce the same.

By all and every one of which Actings, Doings, and Proceedings, by him the said Warren Hastings, or by his Authority, Counsel, Connivance, or Criminal Neglect, done, perpetrated, and committed, he the said Warren Hastings was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors:

Which said Crimes and Misdemeanors are not only greatly aggravated and increased by the Outrage and Violence offered to the Persons and Properties of the said Ladies, the Cruelties practised towards their Ministers, and the Misery, Degradation, and Want to which they themselves and their Dependants were reduced; but are also further aggravated by the Instruments employed by the said Warren Hastings in the Perpetration thereof, the one being a Son, who was compelled to become the Instrument of Extortion and Violence against his own Parents, and the other being His Majesty's Chief Justice in India, a Person by his Situation peculiarly unfit to become the Tool of such atrocious Proceedings.

And the said Crimes are farther aggravated and increased by the false, frivolous, wicked, and malicious Pretences which he the said Warren Hastings has endeavoured to set up in Justification of the above disgraceful and atrocious Acts, and which he has attempted to impose upon his Masters, the Directors of the East-India Company, and the British Nation, and by the malicious and unfounded Accusations which he has since brought against the said Begums, and which he has endeavoured to support by Means highly disgraceful to British Government, and by a scandalous Prostitution of the sacred Character of British Justice in India.

And the said Warren Hastings has farther aggravated his said Offences by audaciously stifling an Enquiry into the Crimes charged by him the said Warren Hastings upon the said Princesses; which Enquiry he was bound to make, because the Court of Directors did declare themselves dissatisfied with the scandalous Evidence transmitted by him in his Justification of the wicked Acts aforesaid, and did in Effect and Substance direct him to make a fuller Enquiry, and to procure, if he could procure, Evidence fitter for his Justification, and to give the oppressed Women of Rank aforesaid the Means of objecting to the said Evidence, and of producing Evidence on their Part; and the said Enquiry, in consideration of the true Intent and meaning of the Letter from the Court of Directors, was proposed by his Colleague, John Stables Esquire, and resisted by the said Warren Hastings, who did thereby presumptuously endeavour to pass an Act of Indemnity for his own Crimes, did wantonly insult the Sufferings of the Allies of the Company, and shew an indecent Contempt of the Authority and Opinions of the Directors, his lawful Masters.

And all the above Acts and Deeds are still more highly aggravated by the gross and avowed Corruption in which they originated; the said Warren Hastings at or about the Time when he executed the said Treaty of Chunar, withdrew the Guarantee, and planned the Seizure of the Treasures as aforesaid, having accepted and taken to his own use a Present or Brible of One hundred thousand Pounds from the said Nabob of Oude, contrary to his Duty, the Orders of his Masters, and the positive Directions of the Law, to the great Discredit, Disgrace, and Dishonour of the British Name and Character."

Article Third.

That certain Treaties of Amity and Friendship were entered into between Sujah ul Dowlah, Vizier of the Empire, and Achmet Khan, a Chief of the Nation of Affghans, or Pattans, a Prince of a noble and ancient Family, whose Ancestors fill a respected Station in the Annals of Hindostan, and who from an early Period have been the Friends and Allies of the British Power in India.

That during the Life of the said Achmet Khan, the said Sujah ul Dowlah did unjustly withhold and retain Possession of certain Territories which did of Right belong to the said Achmet Khan, and both he, and his Son and Successor Asoph ul Dowlah, did, under Pretext of Friendship, Protection and Guardianship of Muzuffer Jung, Son and Successor to the said Achmet Khan, make new and repeated Invasions of the Rights and Possessions of the said Muzuffer Jung, during his Minority; and did fraudulently obtain from him the said Muzuffer Jung and Instrument, or pretended Instrument, or Treaty, derogatory to former Treaties, and the Rights of Muzuffer Jung, under Colour of which, or under some other Colour or Pretence, the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah aforesaid, Vizier of the Empire, did place the Territories of the said Muzuffer Jung under the Authority of an Officer, appointed by him the said Nabob Vizier, called a Sizwall or Sequestrator, the severe Exercise of whose undue Authority in the collecting of a Tribute, concerning the Justice of which Warren Hastings has expressed Doubts, but the Amount of which has invariably continued a part of the Funds assigned by the Vizier as a Provision for the several public Demands of the East India Company on him the said Vizier, was the Cause of great Ruin to the Country, and of many Complaints from the said Muzuffer Jung.

That Warren Hastings Esquire, being Governor General as aforesaid, and the said Complaints being made to the British Government by the said Muzuffer Jung, he the said Warren Hastings "did deem it incompatible with the Dignity and Honour of the Government over which he presided, to appear to countenance the Exercise of an Authority altogether unsupported by Equity and Justice, and much more so to share in the Odium of a severe and oppressive Exercise of such an Authority;" and did, "from Motives of common Justice, and from a Sense of the Nabob Muzuffer Jung's Weakness and Incapacity, and of the Knavery and Corruption of his Servants," on or about the Twenty-second Day of May, in the Year One thousand Seven hundred and Eighty, propose to his Council, in order to relieve the said Muzuffer Jung from the Indignity and Hardships under which he laboured, entirely to withdraw the Sizwall, and to nominate One of the Company's Civil Servants to that Trust, with the same Powers as formerly exercised by the said Native Officer, subject to the Authority of the British Resident at the Court of Oude:"

Which proposition was carried into Effect upon the Reasons, and for the Purposes mentioned and declared by the said Warren Hastings, in a Minute dated the Twenty-second Day of May, in the Year One thousand Seven hundred and Eighty; and in consequence thereof George Shee was appointed to the Office aforesaid.

That by the aforesaid Acts done by the said Warren Hastings, and by various Powers and Authorities given or authorized by him, the said Muzuffer Jung was completely taken under the East India Company's Protection; which Company, and their Servants and Representatives, and particularly the said Warren Hastings, their Governor General, became responsible for the good Government of the Territories of that Prince whom they had thus put in a State of Pupillage, and were bound to protect him, not only from the Oppressions of the Officers of the said Vizier but also from the Effects of his own Weakness on the one Hand, and the Knavery and Corruption of his Servants on the other.

That he the said Warren Hastings falsely pretending, that if Muzuffer Jung must endure Oppression, he the said Warren Hastings durst not then propose his Relief:

And that the Authority of the said Shee was more subversive of the Authority of the said Muzuffer Jung than that of the Vizier's Officer, and the Exercise of it more oppressive:

And also falsely pretending, that the Nabob Muzuffer Jung was equally anxious with the Vizier for the Recal of the said Shee.

And further falsely pretending, that it was the desire of him the said Warren Hastings that a proper Guardian should be selected for him the said Muzuffer Jung, from among the ancient Dependants of his Family, he the said Warren Hastings, upon these and other Pretences, equally false, and not possessing any legal Authority to enter into, or to conclude any Treaty whatsoever, and having, at or about the same Time, received from the said Nabob of Oude a Present or Bribe of Ten Lacks of Rupees, did, at a certain Place called Chunar, enter into a certain Treaty or Agreement, dated the Nineteenth Day of September, in the Year One thousand Seven hundred and Eightyone, with Asoph ul Dowlah aforesaid, Nabob of Oude; by which Treaty he did expressly stipulate, "that no British Resident should be appointed at Farruckabad, and the present One recalled;" by which Treaty he did abandon that Country, the Protection of which he had but a short Time before undertaken from Motives of Common Justice, and did deliver over the helpless Prince thereof to the Rapacity of the Vizier and his Servants, the Exercise of whose Authority over the said Muzuffer Jung he the said Warren Hastings has declared to be founded neither in Equity or Justice.

That the said Warren Hastings did, neither at the Time of making the said Treaty, nor has he since, ever attempted to bring the said Shee to any Trial for the pretended Oppression of which he thus accused him; on the contrary, he very soon after his Recal did conser upon him a large Pension, and did shortly after conser upon him a high Judicial Office, for which he was peculiarly unsit, if he had ever been guilty of any such Crime.

That the said Warren Hastings did neither then, nor has he since, ever given the least Reason to believe, that any of the Pretences upon which he grounded the said Treaty had any Foundation whatever in Truth; on the contrary, there is every Reason to conclude, that they were totally false, and that the Bribe aforesaid was the real, and the said pretended Reasons only the oftensible Grounds for the said Treaty.

That the Vizier understanding the said Treaty (as it was really meant) to give him an uncontrouled Authority over Farruckabad; and that, by the same, he was left to settle his Matters as he could with the said Muzuffer Jung; he the said Vizier did shortly after appoint a certain Person, named Allmass Ali Cawn, to be Sizwall at Farruckabad, which Appointment the said Warren Hastings did very soon after compel him to recal, and by that Compulsion did violate the very Treaty of Chunar, which he had but a few Weeks before entered into with the said Vizier.

That the said Warren Hastings did, nearly about the same Time, that is to say, on or about some Day in the Month of November, in the Year One thousand Seven hundred and Eighty-one, recommend one Subghut Ulla, a Servant of the said Muzuffer Jung, to have the chief Management of his Affairs:

Which said Recommendation was in direct Contradiction to the Reason given by the said Warren Hastings for the Appointment of the said Shee, he having then declared the Knavery and Corruption of the Servants of the said Muzuffer Jung to be such, that it was necessary he should be taken out of their Hands.

That the said Warren Hastings did, at or about the Time of the said Recommendation, make himself responsible to the Vizier for the Payment of the Tribute payable to the said Vizier by the said Muzuffer Jung; which Tribute was not paid, either by the said Subghut Ulla or the said Warren Hastings; and by the Non-payment of which he the said Warren Hastings was guilty of another Breach of Faith to the said Vizier.

That the said Warren Hastings, alledging that the said Subghut Ulla had reported that the Interference to which his Master owed his then Protection was purchased by him from the English Gentlemen, meaning thereby the Governor General and Council, or Chief Justice, or some of them, or some other English Persons in Authority, or Possession of Influence in the Government, did, of his own Authority, in the Month of April, in the Year One thousand Seven hundred and Eighty-two, order the said Subghut Ulla to be dismissed from the Service of the said Muzuffer Jung, contrary to the earnest Wishes and Desires of of the said Prince; and the said Warren Hastings having ordered such Dismission, did take no Care whatever to place the Affairs of the said Muzuffer Jung in the Hands of any proper Person, but did again expose the unfortunate Prince aforesaid to the ruinous Effects of his own Weakness, and the Knavery and Corruption of his Servants, from the Effects of which Weakness, Knavery and Corruption, it was the Duty of the said Warren Hastings to guard the Prince whose Protection he had undertaken.

That the said Warren Hastings did further, some Time in the Month of August, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, under Pretence of the said Report propagated by One of the Servants of the said Muzuffer Jung, communicate his Resolution of withdrawing the British Protection from the said Muzuffer Jung to the Nabob Vizier, and did direct that effectual Assistance should be given to the Vizier, for the Recovery of his Claims upon Farruckabad, concerning the Justice of which Claims the said Warren Hastings has himself expressed Doubts; and the said Vizier accordingly did re-appoint a Native Sizwall, a Subject or Servant of him the said Vizier, who was established in his Authority, and maintained in the same by means of a British Military Force, commanded by British Officers, and under the Direction of the British Resident; which said Acts, done upon the Pretence aforesaid, were in manifest Contradiction to every Principle of Justice and Equity towards the said Muzuffer Jung.

That the said Native Sizwall did aggravate and renew the Severities exercised by the former Native Sizwall against the said Muzuffer Jung, to the utter Extinction of his Rights, and the depriving him of the Means of Subsistence, which said Severities and Cruelties were made known to the said Warren Hastings so early as the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two; and Complaints concerning the same were repeated frequently, and particularly in the Month of February One thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, with Assurances, that if Relief were delayed, the Existence of the said Muzuffer Jung and his Family became doubtful and difficult: Yet nevertheless the said Warren Hastings did, in direct Breach of his Duty, delay to bring the said Complaints before his Council, from the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, till the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and did during the whole Time aforesaid leave the said Muzuffer Jung under the severe Exercise of an Authority, which in Truth, and according to his own Declaration, was unsupported by Equity and Justice, and which Authority it was incompatible with the Honour and Dignity of a British Government to appear even to countenance, but which Authority was solely established and maintained by the Means of a British Military Force, subject to the Orders and Commands of the said Warren Hastings and his Colleagues.

That the said Warren Hastings did, in the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, make a Proposal to his Council for the appointing a British Resident at Farruckabad, pretending he did the same from a Sense of Submission to the implied Orders of the Court of Directors, but really from a Conviction long since entertained by him of the Necessity of such an Appointment for the Preservation of our national Credit, which national Credit, however, he had put it out of his own Power to preserve, without a Breach of the national Faith, pledged to the Vizier by the Treaty of Chunar.

That in consequence of such Proposal, John Willes Esquire was appointed to the Office of Resident at the City of Farruckabad, and did proceed to the said City in Execution of his Duty, in which however he was much impeded by the Neglect and by the Orders of the said Warren Hastings; by which Treaty aforesaid, entered into at Chunar, the implied Consent given by the same to the Appointment of a Native Sizwall, and subsequent Breach of Faith to the Vizier by ordering his Recal; the Delivery over of Muzuffer Jung to the Corruption of his Servants; Re-delivery of him to the Rapacity of the Vizier's Servants; Re-appointment of a British Resident, in direct Contradiction to the said Chunar Treaty; and by all the other Acts and Deeds before mentioned, done and omitted to be done by him the said Warren Hastings he has been guilty of great Neglect of Duty, Usurpation of Authority, complicated Breach of Treaty, and Duplicity, towards both the said Vizier and the said Muzuffer Jung, to the great Disgrace of the British Name, and the Discredit of the British Government in India; having reduced himself to the Situation that he could neither deliver Muzuffer Jung from Oppression, without a Breach of Faith to the Nabob Vizier, nor suffer him to remain under the said Oppression, without violating all Faith and Justice with regard to him.

And by all and every one of the aforesaid Acts, done perpetrated, and committed by him the said Warren Hastings, he was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article Fourth.

That it was the Duty of Warren Hastings Esquire, while Governor General of Bengal, strictly to attend to the Expenditure of Public Money, and more particularly, in a Time of War and public Distress, to be careful that those Revenues upon which the Welfare and Safety of the Empire did necessarily depend, should not be diminished or ruined by Dissipation and Prodigality, and should not be diverted from the public Service, and squandered for the Purpose of increasing his own personal Influence, and providing for his Dependants.

That it was the Duty of Warren Hastings Esquire, in every Instance in his Power, to pay due Obedience to the Orders of the Court of Directors, his lawful Superiors.

That it was a fundamental Regulation of the East India Company, that all Contracts should be put up to public Auction, and disposed of to the best Bidder. —And it was, by the Thirty-sixth Paragraph of the Instructions given by the Court of Directors of the East India Company, to the Governor General and Council, dated some Day in March, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, specially directed, that all Contracts, with the Conditions, should be publicly advertised, and sealed Proposals delivered in for the same; and that every Proposal should be opened in Council, and the Preference given to the lowest, provided sufficient Security should be offered for the Performance of the same; and that all such Proposals, with all Proceeding thereupon, should be entered in a Book, and be regularly transmitted to the Court of Directors.

That it was the express Order of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, that their Servants in Bengal should advertise for, and should receive, every Year, such Proposals as might be offered for supplying the Troops with Provisions, and for furnishing Draft and Carriage Bullocks to be employed with the Army; and that they should in all Cases accept the Proposals which might appear most reasonable in point of Charge; and that they should take Care, that in all their Advertisements a sufficient Time should be allowed, before the Expiration of the Contract which might then subsist, or the Time which they might limit for receiving Proposals, for such Persons who might become Candidates for the Contractorship, to prepare their Proposals for such Contract.

That divers other Orders and Commands, to the same Purpose and Effect, have been issued by the said Court of Directors, at different Times, to their Servants in India.

That the Opium produced in Bengal and Bahar is a very considerable and lucrative Article in the Export Trade of those Provinces, and has of late Years been under a Monopoly for the Advantage of the East India Company, and has been provided by a Contractor; previous to the making a Contract with whom, and in the Contract made, all the Rules and Regulations prescribed by the Directors of the East India Company ought to have been substantially observed and followed.

That it was particularly directed and ordered, that the said Opium, when so provided, should be consigned to the Board of Trade, who were directed to dispose of the same by public Auction."

That it was further the Duty of the said Warren Hastings, not only to be careful in the Expenditure of the public Money, in the making of Contracts, and in providing for Services, but it was also his Duty to be particularly careful not to lavish the Money of his Employers in excessive Salaries and Emoluments to favoured Individuals, contrary not only to the general Principles of his Duty, but to the positive Orders of his Masters.

That the Court of Directors did especially order and direct that the Sum of Six thousand Pounds per Annum, or some other such Sum, should be paid to the Commander in Chief, in full for his Services as Commander in Chief, in Lieu of Travelling Charges, and of all other Emoluments whatsoever.

That it was particularly the Duty of the said Warren Hastings not to create, by his Prodigality, that public Distress, which he has since offered as the principal, if not the only Excuse, for many of his violent and oppressive Acts; and it was particularly his Duty not to rob, by enormous and extravagant Pensions to his Friends and Favourites, that Prince whose Subsidy to the Company was among its best Resources, but whose Wants and Necessities had forced him to incur an enormous Debt to the Company, to the Ruin of his Country, and the great Distress of the East India Company.

That the said Warren Hastings, without Regard to his Duty, or the Trust reposed in him, the Distress of the Company, or the Orders of the Court of Directors, did, in pursuance of a System of Profusion and Prodigality, and with a View to enrich his Favourites and Dependants, enter into many and various Contracts, without the least Attention to the wholesome Orders above mentioned, which said improvident and corrupt Contracts did greatly tend to the Impoverishment and Ruin of the East India Company.— And he the said Warren Hastings did further authorize and approve of many enormous Salaries and extravagant Allowances to his Favourites, and did lavish away much of the Resources of the Company, and of the Princes in Alliance with them, in the same.—And in particular,

Having granted a Contract for the Provision of Opium to John Mackenzie for Three Years, without having advertised for the same, which said Transaction was condemned by the Court of Directors; and having, contrary to the Orders above mentioned, taken away the Sale of Opium from the Board of Trade at Calcutta; he the said Warren Hastings did, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, grant to Stephen Sullivan Esquire, Son to Lawrence Sullivan (a Person of great Weight and Influence with the East India Company, and then, on or about that Time, Chairman of the Court of Directors of the said Company), a Contract for the Provision of Opium for Four Years, without advertising for the Proposals, and even, as far as appears, without receiving any written Proposals from the said Sullivan for the same.—And in the said Contract did omit the Clause inserted in the preceding Contract, providing that the same should be liable to be determined by the Orders of the Court of Directors; and did further take away sundry Restrictions usually and providently imposed upon the Contractor in Contracts of that Nature; and, among other Things, did abolish the Office of Inspector into the Quality of the Opium, an Office instituted for the sole Purpose of preventing Fraud upon the Part of the Contractor, and did not only grant the said Contract in a Manner contrary to the Orders of his Masters, but upon Terms glaringly extravagant and wantonly prosuse, for the Purpose of creating an instant Fortune to the said Sullivan, at the Expence of the East India Company, the said Sullivan possessing neither local Knowledge nor Skill in the particular Manufacture; which said Sullivan did never execute, or attempt to execute, the said Contract, but did, on or before the Execution of the Articles between him and the Governor General and Council, transfer the same to John Benn Esquire, for the Sum of Three hundred and fifty thousand Rupees, or some other large Sum; which said Benn did, almost at the same Time, transfer the same to another for the Sum of One hundred and forty-nine thousand Rupees, or Fourteen thousand nine hundred Pounds per Annum, or some other large Sum, to be paid to him during the Duration of the same.

That the said Warren Hastings, in Breach of his Duty aforesaid, and upon Pretence that there was little Demand for the Commodity which he had thus monopolized at an extravagant Rate, and upon a Pretence that no Purchaser had offered, and that there was little Prospect of any offering, although the said Warren Hastings did make no Attempt to sell the same; and although the Directors of the East India Company had specially ordered the same to be consigned to the Board of Trade, and put up to public Auction; and although, in Point of Fact, there were Persons in Calcutta who had Authority to bid for the whole, or the greatest Part of the said Opium—Yet the said Warren Hastings, in order to favour certain Individuals, did borrow Money at a large Interest, for the Purpose of advancing the same to the Contractor aforesaid, and did finally engage the East India Company in a smuggling Adventure, of a complicated and expensive Nature, to China, where the Importation of Opium is expressly forbidden, not only to the great Risk and Hazard, but to the great actual Loss of the said East India Company, and to the great Disgrace of the British Character in India.

That the said Warren Hastings, in further Prosecution of the said System of Disobedience to the Orders of his Superiors, and of Prodigality and Profusion above mentioned, having, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, accepted of Proposals for providing Draft and Carriage Bullocks to the Army for Three Years, without advertising for the same, did, while One Half of the Time limited for the Duration of the said Contract was unexpired, and without any Complaint upon the Part of the Contractor, and without any Complaint upon the Part of the Army, that the said Contract was inadequate to the regular Supply, first approve of, and then carry in Council, a Resolution that a Proposal should be made on the Part of the Government to the then Contractors, for dissolving the then existing Contract, and entering into a new Contract for Five Years, upon Terms infinitely more advantageous to the Contractor, and more injurious to the East India Company, than the then subsisting Contract; and did by the same agree for the keeping of a Number of Bullocks far exceeding the Number which the Commander in Chief had some time before declared to be sufficient for the whole Army, and at a Rate infinitely higher than that of the then existing Contract; which said unnecessary Increase, both in the Number and Rate, did create a most wanton and enormous Expence to the East India Company, of no less a Sum than near Fifty thousand Pounds per Annum, or some, other large Sum more than the then existing Contract; which said Proposal and Resolution was finally carried into Effect, and a Contract for the same granted to Charles Croftes, the confidential Friend of the said Warren Hastings, to the great Loss and Damage of the East India Company, and in every Respect contrary to the express Orders and Directions of the Court of Directors."

That the said Contract did contain a Clause, by which it was agreed, that if at the End of Four Years the East India Company, or their Servants, should not give Notice to the Contractor of their Desire to put an End to the said Contract, that then, and in that Case, the same should be continued for One additional Year, beyond the Term of Five Years.

That the Directors of the East India Company did condemn, in strong and pointed Terms, the above Contract, and did direct that, One Year at least before the Expiration of the same, Advertisements should be issued for Proposals for a new Contract upon the lowest Terms; yet the said Warren Hastings, did neglect, at or before the Expiration of Four Years, to give such Notice as aforesaid; by means of which Neglect the said Contract was extended to Six Years by virtue of the Clause aforesaid, as by Reference thereto will more fully appear; by which Extension the Company were not only, by the culpable Neglect of the said Warren Hastings, put under the Necessity of continuing an extravagant and improvident Contract for a longer Time than they were bound to do, but a Pretence was afforded to the said Warren Hastings to purchase a Relinquishment of the said Contract, upon Terms nearly, if not equally, extravagant with the Contract itself, to the great Loss and Damage of the East India Company. And the said Warren Hastings, after the extravagant Purchase, did further, in direct Contradiction to his Duty, and to the Orders of his Masters, grant the Provision of Bullocks for the Army to one Sir Charles Blunt, by the Mode of Agency, a Mode of conducting the Business condemned by the Court of Directors, as one in which private Influence is likely to prevail over Public Advantage, where every erroneous Calculation turns to the Loss of the Public, and where the Expence is uncertain and indefinite.

That the said Warren Hastings did, by the same Acts done and omitted, first wantonly waste the Treasure of his Employers, and positively disobey the Orders of his Masters in granting the said Contract; then culpably neglect his Duty, by not giving Notice to the Contractor of the Company's Intention of putting an End to his Contract; next did prodigally and extravagantly purchase the Relinquishment of the Right thus gained to the Contractor by his own Neglect; and finally disobey the repeated Orders of his Masters, by the Mode in which he conducted the Business after the Contractor's Right was thus bought.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventynine, in further Prosecution of the said corrupt and prodigal System of Government, and in direct Contradiction to his Duty, and the Orders of his Superiors, and with a View to increase his own Influence, create an Establishment for Sir Eyre Coote, then Commander in Chief, at an Expence of no less a Sum than One hundred eighty-four thousand one hundred and sixty-two Rupees per Annum, or about Eighteen thousand Pounds sterling, which said Establishment was created in consequence of a Claim which the said Sir Eyre Coote made to certain Allowances granted by the said Warren Hastings to Giles Stibbert, provincial Commander in Chief, before the Arrival of Sir Eyre Coote in India: Which Allowances, to the Amount of about Eight thousand Pounds per Annum, the said Sir Eyre Coote contended did devolve upon him; and although there was no Pretence to continue the same to the said Stibbert, yet, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings did continue the said Allowances to the said Stibbert, and did further allow the above Sum of Eighteen thousand Pounds per Annum, or some other large Sum, to the said Sir Eyre Coote, in Lieu of the Allowances thus demanded by him.

That the said Warren Hastings did further, in Prosecution of the said System of Profusion and Prodigality, and also in direct Violation of the Treaty between the East India Company and the Nabob Vizier, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, order and direct, through the Means of his Council, that the extravagant Allowances aforesaid should be added to the general Debit of the Nabob Vizier's Account by the Resident at Lucknow, and that the same should continue so long as the General should remain beyond the River Carumnassa.

That although the Court of Directors, some Time in the Month of October One thousand seven hundred and eighty, did pointedly condemn the said Allowances, and order the same to be discontinued, yet the said Warren Hastings, in direct Breach of his Duty, of the Treaty with the Vizier, and of the Orders of his Masters, did, of his own private Authority, continue to the said Sir Eyre Coote certain large Allowances, to the Amount of Fifteen thousand five hundred and fifty-four Rupees, or thereabouts, per Month, or about Twenty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-four Pounds per Annum; which Allowances continued, by the sole Command and private Authority of the said Warren Hastings, to be paid by the Vizier for the Use and Behoof of the said Sir Eyre Coote, not only while he continued in the Province of Oude, but even while he was with the British Army upon the Coast of Coromandel.

By which Acts, Orders, Allowances, and Contracts, made and granted, and ordered and done by the said Warren Hastings, he the said Warren Hastings has been guilty of direct Disobedience of Orders; of enormous Profusion; of Prodigality and Waste of the Public Treasure, in a Time of War and Difficulty, in these few Instances alone, to the Amount of Five hundred thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money. And by all and every one of which Acts and Deeds, by him the said Warren Hastings done, perpetrated, and committed, he the said Warren Hastings was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That in further Pursuance of the same prodigal and corrupt System of Government, the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in or about the Month of December, One thousand seven hundred and eighty, nominate and appoint James Peter Auriol Esquire, to be Agent for the Purchase of Supplies for the Relief of the Presidency of Madras, at which Settlement there was then a great Scarcity of Provisions.

That the said Warren Hastings, then uniting in his own Person all the Powers of Government, did give to the said Auriol a Commission of Fifteen Pounds per Centum upon all Purchases to be made by him, and all Expences of Shipping and Freightage, and on all other Expences whatsoever incurred in consequence and by reason of the said Purchases, although the said Auriol had required only the usual Commission for his Trouble, and notwithstanding the said Warren Hastings did know that the Rate of Five Pounds per Centum only was the customary Allowance made to Merchants when employed in Transactions of the like Nature.

That the said Warren Hastings did, at the same Time, that is to say, in or about the Month of December, One thousand seven hundred and eighty, further nominate and appoint the said James Peter Auriol to be Agent of Supplies to all the other Presidencies, and to the Island of Saint Helena; and did allow him the same Commission of Fifteen Pounds per Centum as aforesaid, although the said Auriol, in the Proposal by him delivered to the Board, did only make Offers for the Supply of the Presidency of Madras, and notwithstanding the said Warren Hastings did neither know, or pretend to know, that any extraordinary Supplies were then wanted by the other Presidencies, or by the Island of Saint Helena, or that a sufficient Complaint had been made by any of the Presidencies, or Island aforesaid, of the Mode by which, or the Persons by whom, they had been usually supplied with Provisions.

That the said Warren Hastings, at the Time of such Appointment, did illegally and scandalously, and upon a Principle at once subversive of Subordination and Œconomy, declare, that the aforesaid Post of Agent was intended as a Reward for his, the said Auriol's, long and laborious Services, the said Auriol being then, and having been for some Time before, One of the Secretaries of the Supreme Council, which Office, at the Time when the said Auriol succeeded to the same, had, by the public Authority of the Board, suffered a Reduction in the regular Salary annexed to it.

That the said Warren Hastings, being himself sensible of the very exorbitant Gain which accrued to the said Auriol from the Rate of Commission originally allowed to him, did, on the Twenty-fifth Day of March propose in Council a Reduction thereof to Five Pounds per Centum on the Freight, Charges of Shipping, and all other Charges, which Sum the said Warren Hastings did then represent to be the Amount drawn by Merchants; but the said Warren Hastings was therein guilty of Criminal Misrepresentation to his Masters, inasmuch as it was not customary for Merchants to draw any Commission for Freight, Charges, or Shipping, or any other Charges, and no more than a Commission of Five Pounds per Centum on the Purchases alone, on which the said Warren Hastings did suffer the said Agent Auriol still to draw the original Allowance of Fifteen Pounds per Centum; and the Rice and other Provisions supplied by the said Auriol having been found, in divers Instances, of a bad and insufficient Quality, desicient in Measure, and not corresponding with the Musters and Invoices thereunto relating, and divers Complaints thereof having been received by the said Warren Hastings, he the said Warren Hastings did not only continue the said Auriol in the said Agency, but did discourage all just and necessary Enquiry into the Execution of so important a Service, and all Complaints of the Non-performance thereof.

That in all the aforesaid Declarations, Acts, and Deeds, by him made and done, and committed, in Violation of his Duty, and in Breach of the high Trust reposed in him, the said Warren Hastings was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That in further Prosecution of the same prodigal and corrupt System of Government, the said Governor General, Warren Hastings, did some Time in or about the Month of November, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, propose in Council to create, and did induce the said Council to concur in creating a new Office or Appointment, that is to say, the Appointment of an Agent for the Supply of Stores and Provisions for the Garrison of Fort William in Bengal, for which Appointment no adequate Necessity did then exist.

That the said Warren Hastings did, in a Spirit of criminal Partiality to his own Favourites, nominate and appoint to the said Agency John Belli Esquire, who at that Time was, and did continue to be, the considential and private Secretary of the said Warren Hastings.

That, notwithstanding the said Warren Hastings, at the Time of creating the said Office or Agency, had consented to take the Opinion of respectable Merchants in Calcutta, in order to ascertain the Rate of Commission proper to be allowed to the said Agent; and notwithstanding that the Opinion of the said Merchants was formally reported to the Board, wherein they the said Merchants did declare that a Commission of Twenty Pounds per Centum per Annum to be allowed to the said Agent, upon all Purchases by him to be made, would be a full and sufficient Compensation for all the Trouble and Expences of of the said Agent, in Consequence of executing the the said Office; yet the said Warren Hastings did propose in Council, and by his own casting Voice did grant an Allowance of Commission, of Thirty Pounds per Centum per Annum, upon all Purchases to be made by him the said Agent as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings did at the same Time engage and make himself answerable to the Council, that in case the Court of Directors should disapprove of and disallow the said Allowance or Commission of Thirty Pounds per Centum, he would himself become bound for the Repayment of such Part thereof into the Company's Treasury, and for their Use, as should be so disallowed or ordered to be repaid by the Court of Directors, thereby manifesting a Degree of Connection and Concern in the Interests of the said Belli, of a most suspicious Appearance, and dangerous Example.—But nevertheless the said Warren Hastings, when thereunto required by the Orders of the Company, did refuse to comply with and fulfil the said Engagement of repaying to the Company any Part of the Profits so granted to the said John Belli, as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings did some Time on or about the Month of August, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, at a Time when he knew the Government of which he was the Head was about to expire, convert the said Agency into a Contract, and upon the same advantageous Terms, and at the same Rates of Allowance to the said Belli, for the Space of Five Years, thereby engaging the Company in the Support of an unnecessary and expensive Establishment, contrary to the Orders of the Court of Directors, for the Purpose of creating and securing a Fortune to One of his own Dependants, in Defiance of the lawful Authority of the Court of Directors, and in Subversion of the just Rights and Powers of any Governor who might be appointed to succeed him.

In all which Declarations, Engagements, Acts, and Proceedings, by him made, done, proposed, and perpetrated, the said Warren Hastings was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article Fifth.

That Sujah ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, and Vizier of the Empire, did, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, engage in a War with the Tribe or Nation of the Rohillas. That Warren Hastings, whilst he was President of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, did engage the United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies, to assist the said Sujah ul Dowlah in the Prosecution of the said War.

That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, a Chief of the Rohillas, a Prince of a mild and pacific Disposition, and faithfully attached to the said United Company and the English Nation, did, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, at the Time of the Extirpation or Expulsion of that Tribe or Nation, save himself by Retreat.

That, trusting to the good Faith of the said Company and the English Nation, he did, soon after such Retreat, (videlicet) in the Month of May in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, make Overtures of Peace, by sending a Vakeel or Ambassador to Alexander Champion, Commander in Chief of the Forces of the Company in Bengal, and, at the Time of such Overture for Peace as aforesaid, commanding the Troops of the Company then serving against the said Rohillas.

That the said Alexander Champion did, for divers weighty and sufficient Reasons by him then set forth, warmly recommend to the President and Council of the said United Company, nominated and appointed for the Government of the Affairs of the said Company in Bengal, by and through the said Warren Hastings, whilst he was President as aforesaid, to agree to such Overtures of Peace as aforesaid: That the Terms of Peace so offered by the said Fyzoola Khan were wife and advantageous, as well to the said Vizier as to the said United Company: That the said Warren Hastings, without any valid Objection being set up or inforced by him, in Answer to the Reasons of found Policy, Moderation, and Justice, recommended by the said Alexander Champion as aforesaid, did, on or about the Month of June, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, instruct and desire the said Alexander Champion not to solicit the said Sujah ul Dowlah to relinquish his Conquest of the said Fyzoola Khan, but to encourage him therein; whereby the said Warren Hastings did act in Violation of the Principles of Justice and found Policy, and contrary to the Duties of his Station.

That, as well at the Time last aforesaid, as at the Time herein next set forth, the Government of the said united Company in Bengal was carried on by a President and Council: That for the better Government thereof, a Select Committee was appointed, consisting of the President and certain other Members of the Council.—That the President had no Authority to act singly, nor any Right to send Orders without the Concurrence of the said Council or Select Committee.

That the said Warren Hastings, whilst he was President as aforesaid, did, on divers Days in the Month of September, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and on divers other Days and Times, in Conjunction with the Select Committee aforesaid, testify his Satisfaction on the Prospect of an Accommodation, and his Hope that the said Vizier Sulah ul Dowlah would accede to lenient Terms respecting the said Fyzoola Khan, and, together with the said Committee, did communicate the same to the said Alexander Champion, That, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, not regarding, but grossly violating his said public Order or Instruction, did, on or about the Sixteenth Day of September, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, by himself, without the Participation of the Members of the said Select Committee or Council for conducting the Government of Bengal as aforesaid, direct the said Alexander Champion and Sujah ul Dowlah not to come to any Terms of Accommodation with the said Fyzoola Khan, but to dictate the Conditions of Peace, and admit only of the Acceptance of such Conditions without Reservation. By which last-mentioned Conduct, the said Warren Hastings did not only violate the Duty of his Station, by, as far as in him lay, illegally and clandestinely counteracting the avowed Object of the Orders of the said Select Committee, but by such his faithless Duplicity did risque the putting an honourable Period to the Rohilla War.

That, previous to the Receipt of these Secret Orders of the said Warren Hastings, by the said Alexander Champion, a Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was finally signed and sealed on the Seventh Day of October, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, at a Place called Llal Dang. That, in Consideration of concluding the said Treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan agreed to pay, and did in Fact pay, the Sum of Fifteen Lacks of Rupees, or One hundred and fifty thousand Pounds Sterling, and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money, to the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah.

That, by the said Treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in Consideration of the above-mentioned Sum of Money so paid by him to the Vizier, was established in the quiet Possession of the Territories of Rumpore, Shawabad, and some other Districts of the Country dependant thereon, in the Nature of Jaghires, or Landed Estates.

That the said Alexander Champion was invested with Power to engage the Guarantee of the Company to the Treaty aforesaid. That he did, on the Day and Year last aforesaid, sign and seal the Treaty of Llal Dang, meaning to engage, and he did thereby engage, the said United Company to guarantee the same.

That the said Warren Hastings understood the Guarantee of the said Company to be so engaged."

That the said Fyzoola Khan did conceive Doubts respecting the Security of the Jaghire Lands, and Apprehensions that the Validity of the Guarantee of his Jaghire would be disputed; and in consequence thereof did, on divers Days and Times, in the year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, as well as at divers Days and Times afterwards, through Nathaniel Middleton, at that Time Resident at the Court of Oude, by the Appointment of the said Warren Hastings, and by divers Letters and otherwise, entreat the said Warren Hastings to confirm the said Guarantee of the United Company to him the said Fyzoola Khan so granted as aforesaid; but the said Warren Hastings, whilst he was Governor General as aforesaid, did not communicate to the Supreme Council of Bengal, but did, for many Months, conceal and keep secret the Solicitations of him the said Fyzoola Khan respecting the said Guarantee; and did not, as was his Duty, lay the same before the said Council until the Ninth of March, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight. That the said Hastings did then communicate to the said Council a Letter from the said Middleton, notifying, that he the said Middleton had appointed Daniel Octavus Barwell Esquire, to go to Rumpore the Capital and Residence of the said Fyzoola Khan, to enquire into the Truth of certain Reports, circulated to the Prejudice of the said Fyzoola Khan, respecting the said Treaty. That the said Warren Hastings, whilst he was Governor General, did propose, and the Council (the Majority of which was composed of the said Hastings, and Richard Barwell Esquire, Brother to Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid) did approve of the Appointment of the said Daniel Octavus Barwell, made by the said Middleton; and further resolved, that the said Resident (Middleton) be authorized to offer the Company's Guarantee for the Observance of the Treaty subsisting between the Vizier and Fyzoola Khan, provided it meets with the Vizier's Concurrence." That the said Daniel Octavus Barwell did report from Rumpore, to the Council at Calcutta aforesaid, the good Faith of the said Fyzoola Khan, and that he the said Fyzoola Khan, had preserved inviolate every Article of the Treaty of Llal Dang aforesaid; and, infact, the said Fyzoola Khan had preserved inviolate the Treaty as aforesaid.

That the Vizier Asoph ul Dowlah did consent to the said Guarantee being renewed, on the Condition that he should receive the Presents usually offered on such Occasions. That the renewed Treaty and Guarantee was presented to the said Fyzoola Khan, by the said Daniel Octavus Barwell, with great and unusual Solemnity. That the said Fyzoola Khan did deliver to the said Daniel Octavus Barwell, the Present for the Vizier as aforesaid, and accompanied the said present with a Lack of Rupees, equal in Value to Ten thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, as a further Gift to the said Vizier: That the said Fyzoola Khan did offer a like Sum of one Lack of Rupees, equal in Value to Ten thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, to the said Daniel Octavus Barwell, as a Gift or Present to the Company, on renewing the said Treaty and Guarantee: That the said Daniel Octavus Barwell did not immediately accept the Money, but took a Bond for the same, and communicated the offer to the Board at Calcutta; That the said Warren Hastings did propose, and the Board, constituted as last aforesaid, notwithstanding the Objections thereto, insisted upon and set forth by Phillip Francis Esquire, at that Time a Member of the said Board, did agree to accept the same, and it was in fact accepted.

That the said Warren Hastings, First, in admitting, by his Conduct as aforesaid, that it was Matter of Doubt whether the Guarantee of the said United Company, pledged to the said Fyzoola Khan by the Signature of Alexander Champion as aforesaid, was binding on the said United Company; Secondly, in consenting to the Receipt of certain Presents on behalf of the Vizier, for the Renewal of a Treaty already binding and in force; and lastly, in agreeing to accept, and in fact accepting, on the Part of the Company, a Sum of Money for renewing the same, has violated the Faith of the Company, and degraded the English in the Eyes of India, by holding them forth as a Nation which refuses to acknowledge the undoubted Rights of Princes, or to maintain their own undoubted Guarantees, without being moved thereto by a valuable Consideration: That in so doing the said Warren Hastings has in fact broken the Treaty which he professes to have maintained, and has thereby violated the Duties of the Trust reposed in him.

That by the Treaty of Llal Dang aforesaid the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did agree to retain in his Service Five thousand Troops, and not a single Man more; farther than with whomsoever the Vizier should make War, Fyzoola Khan did agree to send Two or Three thousand Men, according to his Ability, to join the Forces of the Vizier; and that if the Vizier should March in Person, Fyzoola Khan should himself accompany him with his Troops.

That it was not stipulated by the said Treaty what, and whether any Proportion of the said Troops should consist of Cavalry.

That the Resident Middleton was empowered to guarantee, and did in fact guarantee the Treaty of Llal Dang aforesaid; but certain Doubts having occurred to Fyzoola Khan respecting the Guarantee of Middleton, the said Warren Hastings, in order to satisfy those Doubts, did, in or about the Month of May, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, propose to confirm, and did in fact confirm, the said Treaty and Guarantee, as such Governor General as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings, disregarding the Pledge of his own private Honour, thus superadded to the public Guarantee, and in direct Opposition as well to the obvious Meaning and Intent of the said Treaty as to his the said Warren Hastings's Opinion thereof, he the said Warren Hastings did, on or about the Month of November, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty, without any reasonable Cause given for the same, the said Vizier not being then at War, and a Body of the Cavalry of Fyzoola Khan having been voluntarily granted, and being then actually serving under a British Officer, recommend to the Vizier to require from Fyzoola Khan the Quota of Troops stipulated by Treaty to be furnished by the said Fyzoola Khan for his (the Vizier's) Service, and did falsely set forth the same, contrary to the Letter and Spirit of the said Treaty, to amount to Five thousand Horse.

That the said Warren Hastings did afterwards, viz. on or about the Month of February, in the Year One thousand seven hundred aud eighty-one, desire the said Vizier to demand Three thousand Horse from the said Fyzoola Khan; and the Vizier did, in Obedience to the Desire of the said Warren Hastings, demand the same.

That the said Warren Hastings well knew at the Time, as well of directing the First as of enforcing the last-mentioned Demand, that he the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise, to furnish the same, and that in fact the said Fyzoola Khan had not more than Two thousand Horse in his Service; by which said Acts herein last set forth, the said Warren Hastings did again break the Guarantee of the Company, to the said Fyzoola Khan given as aforesaid, and did excite the said Vizier to Acts of Violence, and Breach of Treaty against the said Fyzoola Khan.

That the said Warren Hastings did, in or about the Month of June, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, obtain for himself, from the Council at Calcutta, by his own casting Voice, certain illegal Powers, by which he the said Warren Hastings was, contrary to Law, vested with the whole and entire Authority of the Supreme Council, and authorized to proceed to the Country of Oude, under Pretence of meeting the Vizier, in order to regulate the Government of Oude, and the Dependencies thereof.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on the Nineteenth of September, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, at the Fort of Chunar in the said Province of Oude, make and execute a certain Treaty, since known by the Appellation of the Treaty of Chunar, whereby, among other Things, it was by the Third Article of the said Treaty agreed between the said Warren Hastings and the said Vizier, that, as the said Fyzoola Khan had, by his Breach of Treaty, forseited the Protection of the English Government, and caused, by his Continuance in his present independent State, great Alarm and Detriment to the said Vizier, he, the said Vizier, be permitted, when Time shall suit, to resume the Lands of him the said Fyzoola Khan, meaning the Territories of Rumpore and Shawabad, and the Districts and Country depending thereon, and secured to the said Fyzoola Khan by the Treaty of Llal Dang, as aforesaid.

That at or about the Time of executing the said last-mentioned Treaty, the said Vizier did give, and the said Warren Hastings did receive, a large Sum of Money, amounting to One hundred thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, as a Consideration to him, the said Warren Hastings, for executing the Treaty of Chunar aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings, by making and executing the Article aforesaid of the Treaty last aforesaid, did corruptly and treacherously break the Faith of the Company, by surrendering their Guarantee, solemnly pledged to the said Fyzoola Khan for the Preservation and Security of the Treaty of Llal Dang, as herein-before set forth to have been entered into.

That at or about the Time of executing the said Treaty of Chunar as aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings did, by a certain Paper Writing, communicated by him to the Members of the Supreme Council at Calcutta, express his Reasons and Motives for entering into the said Third Article of the said Treaty.

That the said Warren Hastings did in the said Paper set forth and declare, that the Conduct of Fyzoola Khan, in refusing the Aid demanded, though not an absolute Breach of Treaty, was evasive and uncandid; that the Demand was made for Five thousand Cavalry; that the Engagement in the Treaty was literally Five thousand Horse and Foot; that Fyzoola Khan could not be ignorant that they (meaning the East India Company, or the Supreme Council aforesaid) had no Occasion for any Succours of Infantry from him, and that Cavalry would be of the most essential Service; that so scrupulous an Attention to literal Expression, when a more liberal Interpretation would have been highly useful and acceptable to them (meaning the said Company, or Council), strongly marked the unfriendly Disposition of the said Fyzoola Khan, and though it might not impeach his Fidelity, it left him little Claim to any Exertions from them (meaning the said Company, or Council) for the Continuance of his Jaghires; but that he, the said Warren Hastings, was of Opinion, that neither the Vizier's or the Company's Interests would be promoted by depriving the said Fyzoola Khan of his Independency; that he had therefore reserved the Execution of the said Agreement (meaning the Third Article of the said Treaty of Chunar) to an indefinite Term; that their Government (that is, the Government of the said United Company) might always interpose to prevent any ill Effects from it (that is, from the said Third Article of the said Treaty of Chunar.)

That the said Warren Hastings, soon after the Conclusion of the said Treaty of Chunar, and the Declaration last aforesaid, (videlicet) on or about the Month of March, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, did give Instructions to the said Nathaniel Middleton to act in Conformity to the aforesaid Declaration, and to prevent the Vizier from resuming the Jaghire of the said Fyzoola Khan as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings was thus, on the one Hand, by making and executing the Treaty of Chunar, guilty of a Breach of Faith solemnly pledged to Fyzoola Khan by the Guarantee of the Treaty of Llal Dang, and, on the other Hand, by his Declaration and Instructions respecting the same, was guilty of Duplicity, Evasion, and Deceit, to the Vizier; and thus, by disregarding all the Principles upon which Treaties between Nations and Powers ought to rest, did place the East India Company in such a Situation, that it was impossible for the said Company to keep Faith with the one Party, without breaking with the other.

That afterwards, on or about the Month of De cember One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, the said Warren Hastings did cause Sir Elijah Impey Knight, His Majesty's Chief Justice at Fort William in Bengal, to signify to the Resident, Middleton, that it was the desire of him the said Warren Hastings, that the said Middleton should demand a Subsidy or Sum of Money from the said Fyzoola Khan—That the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise, to pay any Subsidy; that the said Impey did signify the said Demand for a Subsidy to Middleton as aforesaid; and the said Middleton did demand the same from the said Fyzoola Khan.

That afterwards, (videlicet) on divers Days and Times in the Months of February, March, and April, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, the said Middleton did propose to exact and require from the said Fyzoola Khan the Cession of his Jaghire aforesaid, pursuant to the Treaty of Chunar, contrary as well to the Treaty of Llal Dang, guaranteed by the Company as aforesaid, as to the declared Intention and Instructions of the said Warren Hastings as aforesaid; and the said Jaghire was in fact demanded to be ceded by the said Middleton.

That the said Warren Hastings did, not only by entering into the Third Article of the Treaty of Chunar aforesaid, render the said Fyzoola Khan liable to such contradictory Demands, to the great Disquietude and Injury of the said Fyzoola Khan, and Disgrace of the British Name, but did not then, nor has he since, disapproved of the said Middleton for his Conduct therein.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on the Sixth of May, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, by a private Commission and Appointment, and of his private Authority, nominate William Palmer Esquire, a Major in the Service of the United Company aforesaid, a confidential Friend of the said Warren Hastings, to repair to Rumpore aforesaid, with Powers to act with the said Fyzoola Khan as private Agent of the said Hastings.—That the said Palmer was, by the said Warren Hastings, charged with secret Instructions respecting the Affairs of the said Fyzoola Khan, verbally communicated by the said Warren Hastings to the said Palmer; that by such criminal Concealment, and secret Appointment, the said Warren Hastings acted contrary to the Duties of his Station.

That on or about the Month of August, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, the said Middleton did demand from the said Fyzoola Khan a Force to be made stationary at Lucknow, in the Province of Oude, to the furnishing of which, or any other stationary Force, the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise.

That the said Warren Hastings, having removed the said Middleton from the Residence of Lucknow, in the Province of Oude, as aforesaid, did, in the Month of September, One thousand seven hundred and eightytwo, appoint John Bristow Esquire Resident in his Place, with full Power and Authority to discharge the Duties of the same.

That the said Bristow did, soon after his Appointment, endeavour to procure, through a certain Person called Aliff Khan, Vakeel or Ambassador of Fyzoola Khan to the Court of Lucknow, a pecuniary Aid from the said Fyzoola Khan, which he the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound to supply, by Treaty or otherwise.

That the said Bristow did, soon after his Appointment as aforesaid, with the Approbation of the said Warren Hastings, publicly depute the said Palmer to go to Rumpore aforesaid, for the Purpose of carrying into Execution the unjust and arbitrary Plans of the said Warren Hastings respecting the said Fyzoola Khan.

That the said Palmer, being particularly directed by the said Warren Hastings and Bristow, did, soon after his Appointment last aforesaid, endeavour to obtain from the said Fyzoola Khan, a Supply of Money, which the said Warren Hastings acknowledged and declared, at the very Time he required the Demand to be made, that he the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise, to supply.

That the said Warren Hastings did, in case of a Refusal of such Supply, command the said Palmer to demand and six the Number of Horse which he the said Fyzoola Khan should furnish, and did ascertain the Rate or Number to be Two thousand five hundred; that the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise, to furnish such a Number of Horse; and he, the said Warren Haslings, well knew, at the Time he gave such Orders, that the said Fyzoola Khan had not such a Number of Horse in his Service.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on or about the Time last aforesaid, instruct and command the said Palmer to demand from the said Fyzoola Khan an Annual Tribute, or a Sum of Money from the said Fyzoola Khan, in Compensation for the Service of certain Ryots, or Persons employed in the Cultivation of the Ground of the Vizier, to whom the said Warren Hastings asserted, that the said Fyzoola Khan had given Protection and Service, and to demand the Surrender of the said Ryots; that in fact the said Fyzoola Khan had not at any Time given Protection or Service to such Ryots as aforesaid.

That the said Palmer, under the Authority aforesaid, did, on or about the Month of February, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, exact from the said Fyzoola Khan a Promise to pay a large Sum of Money, amounting to Fifteen Lacks of Rupees, equal in Value to One hundred and fifty thousand Pounds Sterling, and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money, although the said Fyzoola Khan was not bound, by Treaty or otherwise, to the Payment of that or any other Sum.

That the said Exaction was made under the Pretence of settling certain Doubts between the said Vizier and the said Fyzoola Khan, respecting the Troops with which he, the said Fyzoola Khan, was bound to supply the said Vizier—Which Doubts were created and raised by the faithless Conduct of the said Warren Hastings, herein-before set forth.

That it was particularly stipulated between the said Palmer and the said Fyzoola Khan, that the said Sum of Money was to be paid by certain fixed periodical Payments.

That the said Warren Hastings, not regarding this last-mentioned Stipulation, thus solemnly entered into by the said Palmer, under the Authority of him the said Hastings, did, in or about the Month of April, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, require the said Fyzoola Khan to pay the whole Amount that then remained due, and the said Fyzoola Khan did in fact pay the same.

By all which Acts and Deeds, herein-before set forth to have been done and perpetrated by the said Warren Hastings, whilst President and Governor General, he the said Warren Hastings did, by a Violation of the most sacred Ties of Honour and Conscience, scandalously betray his Trust; whereby a solemn Treaty and Guarantee was broken, the Mind and Government of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan alarmed and distressed, and his Treasure unjustly extorted; the Honour of the British Nation (renowned for a faithful Adherence to Engagements) basely prostituted and degraded; and the English Power in India fundamentally shaken; and therefore the said Warren Hastings, by all and every one of the said Acts, was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article Sixth.

That great Extortion and Corruption had been practised by the Servants of the East-India Company, under the Pretence of receiving Presents from the Indian Princes or Powers, their Ministers and Agents, or others.

That the receiving such Presents is illegal and criminal; injurious to the Interests of the Natives of India; destructive of the Welfare of the Company, and dishonourable to the English Nation.

That the East-India Company had endeavoured to restrain such Practice, by obliging the Servants (as well those who were invested with the higher Offices, as those in a more subordinate Situation) to enter into Covenants, obliging themselves not to receive Presents as aforesaid.

That the said Warren Hastings did in fact enter into such Covenants.

That the British Legislature did, by an Act of the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, strictly prohibit the receiving Presents by the Servants of the East-India Company, on any Pretence or Account whatsoever.

That a great Salary, amounting to Twenty-five thousand Pounds a Year, and other great and considerable Emoluments, were provided for the Office of President and Governor General, as well by the East-India Company, as by the Act of Parliament aforesaid: And that the said Warren Hastings did in fact receive the said Salary, and enjoy the said Emoluments.

That the said Warren Hastings did well understand the Receipt of such Presents to be prohibited, illegal, and criminal:

Yet the said Warren Hastings, not contented with the large Profit and Gain to him arising from the Salary and Emoluments annexed to the said Office of President and Governor General, did on divers Days and Times, both before and since the passing of the Act of Parliament above-mentioned, and whilst he continued such President and Governor General as aforesaid, corruptly, illegally, and criminally, take and accept of divers large Sums of Money, as Presents, Gifts, Donations, Gratuities, or Rewards, in Violation of the Duties of his Office, in Defiance of the Act of Parliament above mentioned, and in direct Contradiction to his Understanding respecting the same:

Particularly, that some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, at Calcutta in Bengal, the said Warren Hastings did first fraudulently solicit as a Loan, and afterwards corruptly and illegally take and retain as a Present or Gift, from a certain Person called Rajah Nobkissin, a Sum of Money, amounting to Thirty-four thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money.

That the said Warren Hastings did, without any Allowance or Permission then or since had or obtained from the Directors of the East-India Company, or any Person or Persons authorized or empowered to grant such Allowance or Permission, apply the same to his own Use, under Pretence of discharging certain Expences said to be incurred by him the said Warren Hastings, in his public Capacity, without any Authority from the said Company to incur the same, and of which said Expences the said Warren Hastings has not produced any sufficient Voucher or Account to the said Company.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on divers Days and Times, in the Years One thousand seven hundred and eighty, and One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, take and receive from divers Persons, known and unknown, several large Sums of Money, amounting to Two hundred thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money, as Gifts or Presents to him the said Warren Hastings.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on or before the Twenty-sixth Day of June, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty, at Calcutta, in Bengal, corruptly and illegally receive and take from one Sadanund, the Buxey or Treasurer of Cheit Sing, Rajah of Benares, the Sum of Two Lacks of Rupees, equal in Value to Twenty thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, as a Present and Gift.

That the said Warren Hastings did, on or about the Month of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty, take and receive from a certain Person called Kelleram (since appointed, by the said Warren Hastings, Renter of the Province of (Bahar), on Behalf of himself the said Kelleram, and a certain Person called Cullian Sing, a Sum of Money amounting to Four Lacks of Rupees, equal in Value, to Forty thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, or an Obligation or Security for the same. In Consideration of which, the said Warren Hastings did, contrary to his Duty, and to the great Injury of the Interests of the said East-India Company, and the British Nation, let certain Lands in the Province of Bahar, in Perpetuity, to Kelleram and Cullian Sing, or one of them.

That Asoph ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude, or Vizier of the Empire, was, in the Month of February, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eighty, and from that Time until the Period herein-after next mentioned, in a State of great pecuniary Distress and Embarrassment; that the Condition of the Finances of the said Vizier was well known to the said Warren Hastings, as well at the Time herein-before mentioned, as at the period herein-after next set forth; and that the said Vizier was, at these Times, greatly indebted to the East-India Company.

That on or about the Month of September, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, at Chunar in the Province of Oude, the said Warren Hastings did, contrary to his Duty, and to the great Distress and additional Embarrassment of the said Vizier, take and receive, as a Present or Gift, from him the said Vizier, the Sum of Ten Lacks of Rupees, equal in Value to One hundred thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and eightyone, receive and take, as a Present or Gift, from a certain Person called Nundoolol, the Sum of Fifty-eight thousand Rupees, equal in Value to Five thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money.

That the said Warren Hastings did, at different Days and Times between the First Day of October, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, and the First Day of February, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, corruptly, illegally, and arbitrarily extort and receive, by the Means of Cantoo Baboo, his Banyan or Servant, and others, from a certain Person called Maha Ranny Bowannee, Zemindar of Radshahy, divers Sums of Money, amounting to Four Lacks Forty thousand and one Rupees, equal in Value to Forty thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money.

That the Supreme Council of Calcutta did, on divers Days and Times in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, legally and regularly meet. That the said Warren Hastings was, at the Times aforesaid, charged with the said last-mentioned Receipt of Money, and with various unjustisiable Transactions respecting the same. That the said Receipts and Transactions were regularly proved upon Oath before the said Council. That the said Warren Hastings did neither at that Time attempt to discredit the Testimony so given against him, or to oppose the same by Evidence, nor has he since taken any Measure to clear himself from the said Charge, or explain the Nature of the said Transaction.

That the said Warren Hastings did, at different Days and Times between the First Day of October, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventytwo, and the Thirtieth Day of September, in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, corruptly and illegally take, accept, and receive, from one Rajah Nuncomar, a native Hindoo, high in Office in the Country Government in India, or from some other Person or Persons, divers Sums of Money, amounting together to Three Lacks Fifty-four thousand one hundred and five Rupees, being equal in Value to Forty thousand Pounds Sterling, or some other large Sum of Money, as a Consideration or Bribe for the Disposal of, and Appointment to, certain Offices in the Gift of him the said Warren Hastings, being such President as aforesaid; particularly, for procuring Rajah Goordass, Son of the said Nuncomar, the Appointment of Niabut, or Head of the Finances of Bengal, and causing Munny Begum, Widow of Meer Jaffier, heretofore Nabob of Bengal, to be Superior of the Family, meaning the Family of Mobarick ul Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal; Seventy-five thousand and four Rupees, being equal in Value to Eight thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money; and the further Sums of Twenty-four thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight Rupees, Three thousand one hundred and two Rupees, and One thousand Rupees, being together equal to Three thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money. Further, for constituting and appointing the said Munny Begum Superior of the Family of the said Nabob Mobarick ul Dowlah; and taking away the Superiority thereof from Baboo Begum, Mother of the said Nabob, One Lack of Rupees, being equal in Value to Ten thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money. Further, from the said Munny Begum, by a Payment to one Nurr Sing, Brother of Cantoo Baboo Banyan or Servant of the said Warren Hastings, at the Desire of him the said Warren Hastings, One Lack and Fifty thousand Rupees, equal in Value to Fifteen thousand Pounds Sterling and upwards, or some other large Sum of Money.

That the Court of Directors aforesaid did, by a Letter bearing Date the Twenty-eighth Day of August, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, inform the said Warren Hastings that they were fully sensible of the Expediency of supporting some oftensible Minister in the Company's Interest at the Nabob's Court (meaning the Court of Mobarick ul Dowlah aforesaid), to transact the political Affairs of the Circar or Government, and they trusted to the local Knowledge of him the said Warren Hastings the Selection of some Person well qualified for the Affairs of Government, to succeed Mahomed Reza Khan, as Minister of the Government, and Guardian of the Nabob's Minority.

That the said Munny Begum had been originally in a low and degraded Condition, without Education, unacquainted with the Affairs of Government, and then lived secluded in a Zenana, and retired from the World, whereby the said Munny Begum was totally unqualified for discharging the Duties of Guardian to the said Nabob, and for governing his Dominions; so that the said Warren Hastings, by the Appointment of the said Munny Begum as aforesaid, not only acted corruptly and illegally in receiving the aforesaid Sums of Money, but added to the Criminality thereof by violating the express Orders of the said Court of Directors, to the great and manifest prejudice of the Rights and Interest of the said United Company and this Nation.

That the said Warren Hastings did, some Time in the Year One thousand seven hundred and seventythree, grant to one Khan Jehan Cawn, the Office of Phousdar, or Chief Criminal Magistrate of Hughly, in the Province of Bahar, a Place of great Trust and Profit.

That a Salary of Seventy-two thousand Sicca Rupees a-Year was annexed to the said Office. That it was corruptly and illegally agreed between the said Khan Jehan Cawn and the said Warren Hastings, that the said Khan Jehan Cawn should annually give the Sum of Thirty-six thousand Rupees for himself the said Warren Hastings, and Four thousand Rupees for one Cantoo Baboo, his Banyan or Servant, out of the said Sum of Seventy-two thousand Rupees settled on the Office of Phousdar of Hughly as aforesaid; and that the said Warren Hastings did corruptly and illegally take, receive, and accept as aforesaid the said Sum of Thirty-six thousand Rupees for himself, and Four thousand Rupees to Cantoo Baboo his Banyan or Servant, out of the said Salary so annexed to the said Office as aforesaid.

That the Supreme Council of Calcutta did, on the Thirtieth of March, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, legally and regularly meet; that the Majority of the said Council did charge the said Warren Hastings with the Receipts aforesaid; that the said Warren Hastings did not reply to the Charge so made against him, but did arbitrarily and illegally attempt to dissolve the said Meeting of Council, regularly and legally met as aforesaid, and did on that Day, and divers other Days and Times, illegally and violently attempt to prevent, and did prevent, the said Khan Jehan Cawn and other Persons, from giving their Testimony on Oath before the said Council respecting the Transactions aforesaid, whereby the said Warren Hastings violated his Duty as Governor General, and acted in Defiance of the Act of Parliament aforesaid.—And further, the said Warren Hastings, whilst he continued President and Governor General as aforesaid, did illegally and corruptly make, ordain, and appoint divers other Persons to divers other Offices, for Gift and Brocage, and did corruptly, illegally, and extorsively, receive and accept from the said Persons divers great Sums of Money, in Consideration of their Appointment to such Offices, both before and after their Admission thereto; and did at divers other Days and Times, without any such Consideration, take and receive divers Gifts, Presents, Donations, Gratuities, and Rewards.

By all, each, and every the Receipt and Receipts of Money aforesaid, as well those for which he has accounted, or pretended to account, as those which he has concealed and kept secret, and all and each his Actions, Declarations, and Writings respecting the same, he the said Warren Hastings has grossly violated the Duties of his Station, subverted good Government, shewn an evil Example to the Servants of the East India Company; been guilty of Corruption, Peculation, and Extortion, and acted in direct Defiance of an Act of Parliament; and thereby was, and is, guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

And the said Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, by Protestation, saving to themselves the Liberty of exhibiting, at any Time hereafter, any further Articles, or other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Warren Hastings Esquire; and also of replying to his Answers, which he shall make unto the said Articles, or any of them, and of offering Proof to all and every the aforesaid Articles, and to all and every other Articles, Impeachment, or Accusation, which shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall, according to the Course of Parliament require, do pray, that the said Warren Hastings Esquire may be put to answer the said Crimes and Misdemeanors, and that such Proceedings, Examinations, Trials, and Judgments may be thereupon had and given as is agreeable to Law and Justice."

Committee to consider Manner of Proceedings on Impeachments.

Lords Committees appointed to consider the Articles of Impeachment brought up this Day from the House of Commons, and to see what hath been the Manner of Proceedings formerly against Persons that have been impeached by the House of Commons upon Misdemeanors, and make Report thereupon:

Their Lordships, or any Five of them, to meet on Thursday next, at Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, in the Prince's Lodgings, near the House of Peers; and to adjourn as they please.

Post Horse Duty Farming Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Rose and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act to enable the Lord High Treasurer or Commissioners of the Treasury for the Time being, to let to Farm the Duties granted by an Act made in the Twenty-fifth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, on Horses let to Hire for travelling Post and by Time, to such Persons as should be willing to contract for the same;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

The said Bill was read the First Time.

Sussex Gaol Bill.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Steele and others:

With a Bill, intituled, "An Act for vesting the Scite, Buildings, and other the Premises belonging to the Old Gaol or Prison of the County of Sussex, in Trustees, for the Purpose of conveying the same to the Right Honourable Frances Viscountess Irwin and her Heirs, and to declare the New Gaol or Prison lately built to be the Common Gaol for the said County;" to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Salusbury's Bill.

The Lord Kinnaird reported from the Lords Committees, to whom the Bill, intituled, "An Act for rendering valid and effectual the Powers of Sale and Exchange inserted in the Settlement made on the Marriage of Robert Salusbury Esquire with Katherine his Wife," was committed: "That they had considered the said Bill, and examined the Allegations thereof, which were found to be true; that the Parties concerned had given their Consents, to the Satisfaction of the Committee; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and directed him to report the same to the House, without any Amendment."

Ordered, That the said Bill be engrossed.

St. George (Hanover Square) Workhouse Bill.

The Lord Kinnaird also reported from the Lords Committees, to whom the Bill, intituled, "An Act to render effectual the Purchase of a House situate in the Parish of Saint Luke Chelsea in the County of Middlesex, to be used as an additional Workhouse for the Parish of Saint George Hanover Square, within the Liberty of the City of Westminster, and for other Purposes," was committed: "That they had considered the said Bill, and examined the Allegations thereof, which were found to be true; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and directed him to report the same to the House, without any Amendment."

Hatfield Chace Drainage Bill.

The Lord Kinnaird made the like Report from the Lords Committees, to whom the Bill, intituled, "An Act for better draining and preserving certain Lands and Grounds within the Level of Hatfield Chace and Parts adjacent, in the Counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham," was committed.

Trowell Exchange Bill.

The Lord Kinnaird reported from the Lords Committees, to whom the Bill, intituled, "An Act to confirm an Agreement for dividing, enclosing, and exchanging the Lands and other Estates within the Lordship of Trowell in the County of Nottingham, and for uniting the Two Medieties of the Rectory of the Parish Church of Trowell aforesaid," was committed: "That they had considered the said Bill, and examined the Allegations thereof, which were found to be true; that the Parties concerned had given their Consents to the Satisfaction of the Committee; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and made some Amendments thereto."

Which Amendments were read by the Clerk, as follow; (videlicet)

Pr. 11. L. 26. After ("them") insert ("and also of the said Tristram Exley and his Successors, Rectors of the said Mediety of the said Rectory")

Pr. 22. L. 1. After ("them") insert ("and also of the said Isaac Pickihall and his Successors, Rectors of the first Mediety of the said Rectory")."

And the said Amendments, being read a second Time, were agreed to by the House.

Adjourn.

Dominus Cancellarius declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse usque ad et in diem Martis, decimum quintum diem instantis Maii, horâ undecimâ Auroræ, Dominis sic decernentibus.