plicitly, to join his sanction, "either by attesting the treaty, or acting as guaranty on the part of the Company for the performance of it": both which letters, though they did not arrive until after the actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet incontrovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said Committee (of which the said Hastings was President) that the sanction of Colonel Champion's attestation should be regarded as a public, not a private, sanction; and it was more peculiarly incumbent on such persons, who had been members of the said Committee, so to regard the same.

IV. That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much criminal concealment for the space of "twelve months," inasmuch as he did not lay before the board the frequent and urgent solicitations which he, the said Hastings, was continually receiving from the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, until the 9th of March, 1778; on which day the said Hastings did communicate to the Council a public letter of the aforesaid Middleton, Resident at Oude, acquainting the board that he, the said Middleton, taking occasion from a late application of Fyzoola Khân for the Company's guaranty, had deputed Mr. Daniel Octavus Barwell (Assistant Resident at Benares, but then on a visit to the Resident Middleton at Lucknow) to proceed with a special commission to Rampoor, there to inquire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circulated to the prejudice of Fyzoola Khân, which reports, however, the said Middleton did afterwards confess himself to have "always" thought "in the highest degree improbable.'

That the said Resident Middleton did "request to

know whether, on proof of Fyzoola Khân's innocence, the honorable board would be pleased to grant him [the Resident] permission to comply with his [Fyzoola Khân's] request of the Company's guarantying his treaty with the Vizier." And the said Middleton, in excuse for having irregularly "availed himself of the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belonged to another station, and for deputing him with the aforesaid commission to Rampoor without the previous knowledge of the board, did urge the plea "of immediate necessity"; and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hastings, from whose criminal neglect and concealment the urgency of such necessity did arise.

V. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did immediately move," that the board approve the deputation of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and that the Resident [Middleton] be authorized to offer the Company's guaranty for the observance of the treaty subsisting between the Vizier and Fyzoola Khân, provided it meets with the Vizier's concurrence"; and that the Governor-General's proposition was resolved in the affirmative: the usual majority of Council then consisting of Richard Barwell, Esquire, a near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had the casting voice.

VI. That, on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and early assurance of Fyzoola Khân's "having preserved every article of his treaty inviolate," the Resident, Middleton, applied for the Vizier's concur

rence, which was readily obtained, the Vizier, however, “premising, that he gave his consent, taking it for granted, that, on Fyzoola Khân's receiving the treaty and khelaut [or robe of honor], he was to make him a return of the complimentary presents usually offered on such occasions, and of such an amount as should be a manifestation of Fyzoola Khân's due sense of his friendship, and suitable to his Excellency's rank to receive"; and that the Resident, Middleton, "did make himself in some measure responsible for the said presents being obtained," and did write to Mr. Daniel Barwell accordingly.

VII. That, agreeably to the resolution of Council hereinbefore recited, the solicited guaranty, under the seal of the Resident, Middleton, thus duly authorized on behalf of the Company, was transmitted, together with the renewed treaty, to Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Rampoor, and that they were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, with a solemnity not often paralleled, "in the presence of the greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, who were assembled, that the ceremony might create a full belief in the breasts of all his people that the Company would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the letter of his treaty."

VIII. That, in the conclusion of the said ceremony, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of the Vizier, a nuzzer (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., and did add thereto a lac of rupees, or 10,000l. and upwards: which sum the said Barwell, "not being authorized to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at first refuse; but

upon Fyzoola Khân's urging, that on such occasions it was the invariable custom of Hindostan, and that it must on the present be expected, as it had been formerly the case," (but when does not appear,) he, the said Barwell, did accept the said lac in the name of the Vizier, our ally, "in whose wealth" (as Warren Hastings on another occasion observed) "we should participate," and on whom we at that time had an accumulating demand.

IX. That, over and above the lac of rupees thus presented to the Vizier, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did likewise offer one other lac of rupees, or upwards of 10,000l. more, for the Company, "as some acknowledgment of the obligation he received; that, although such acknowledgment was not pretended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such occasions, however it might on the present be expected," Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid (knowing, probably, the disposition and views of the then actual government at Calcutta) did not, even at first, decline the said offer, but, as he was not empowered to accept it, did immediately propose taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the board should be known.

That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said Barwell to the Resident, Middleton, to be by him, the Resident, referred to the board, and that it was so referred; that, in reply to the said reference of the Resident, Middleton, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and carry a vote of Council, "authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the offer made by Fyzoola Khân to the Company of one lac of rupees," without assigning any reason whatever in support of the said motion, notwithstanding it was

objected by a member of the board, "that, if the measure was right, it became us to adopt it without such a consideration," and that "our accepting of the lac of rupees as a recompense for our interposition is beneath the dignity of this government [of Calcutta], and will discredit us in the eyes of the Indian, powers."

That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, was beneath the dignity of the said government, and did tend so to discredit us; and that the motion of the said Hastings for such acceptance was therefore highly derogatory to the honor of this nation.

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X. That the aforesaid member of the Council did further disapprove altogether of the guaranty, unnecessary "; and that another member of Council, Richard Barwell, Esquire, the near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell, herein before named, did declare, (but after the said guaranty had taken place,) that "this government [of Calcutta] was in fact engaged by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty with Fyzoola Khân." That the said unnecessary guaranty did not only subject to an heavy expense a prince whom we were bound to protect, but did further produce in his mind the following obvious and natural conclusion, namely, "that the signature of any person, in whatever public capacity he at present appears, will not be valid and of effect, as soon as some other shall fill his station": a conclusion, however, immediately tending to the total discredit of all powers delegated from the board to any individual servant of the Company, and consequently to clog, perplex, and embarrass in future all transactions carried on at a distance from the seat of government, and to