was justifiable in violating an act of Parliament, and giving out of the
Council's hands the great trust which the laws of his country had vested
in them. It is part of a paper written in 1785 by Mr. Shore, who was
sole acting president of this committee to which all Bengal was
delivered. He was an old servant of the Company, and he is now at the
head of the government of that country. He was Mr. Hastings's particular
friend, and therefore you cannot doubt either of his being a competent
evidence, or that he is a favorable evidence for Mr. Hastings, and that
he would not say one word against the establishment of which he himself
was at the head, that was not perfectly true, and forced out of him by
the truth of the case. There is not a single part of it that does not
point out some abuse.

"In the actual collection of the revenues, nothing is more
necessary than to give immediate attention to all complaints, which
are preferred daily without number, and to dispatch them in a
summary manner. This cannot be done where the control is remote. In
every purgunnah throughout Bengal there are some distinct usages,
which cannot be clearly known at a distance; yet in all complaints
of oppression or extortion, these must be known before a decision
can be pronounced. But to learn at Calcutta the particular customs
of a district of Rajeshahye or Dacca is almost impossible; and
considering the channel through which an explanation must pass, and
through which the complaint is made, any coloring may be given to
it, and oppression and extortion, to the ruin of a district, may be
practised with impunity. This is a continual source of
embarrassment to the Committee of Revenue in Calcutta.

"One object of their institution was to bring the revenues without
the expenses of agency to the Presidency, and to remove all local
control over the farmers, who were to pay their rents at Calcutta.
When complaints are made against farmers by the occupiers of the
lands, it is almost impossible to discriminate truth from
falsehood; but to prevent a failure in the revenue, it is found
necessary, in all doubtful cases, to support the farmer,--a
circumstance which may give rise to and confirm the most cruel acts
of oppression. The real state of any district cannot be known by
the Committee. An occupier or zemindar may plead, that an