transferred the collection and management of the revenues to several
councils of revenue, commonly called _Provincial Councils_. That on the
24th of October, 1774, the said Warren Hastings _earnestly offered his
advice_ (to the Governor-General and Council, then newly appointed by
act of Parliament) _for the continuation of the said system of
Provincial Councils in all its parts_. That the said Warren Hastings
did, on the 22d of April, 1775, transmit to the Directors a formal plan
for the future settlement of the revenues, and did therein declare,
that, "with respect to the mode of managing the collection of the
revenue and the administration of justice, none occurred to him so good
as the system which was already established of Provincial Councils."
That on the 18th of January, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit
to the Court of Directors a plan for the better administration of
justice, that in this plan the establishment of the said Provincial
Councils was specially provided for and confirmed, and that Warren
Hastings did recommend it to the Directors _to obtain the sanction of
Parliament for a confirmation of the said plan_. That on the 30th of
April, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit to the Court of
Directors the draft or scheme of an act of Parliament for the better
administration of justice in the provinces, in which the said
establishment of Provincial Councils is again specially included, and
special jurisdiction assigned to the said Councils. That the Court of
Directors, in a letter dated 5th of February, 1777, did give the
following instruction to the Governor-General and Council, a majority of
whom, viz., Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, had
disapproved of the plan of Provincial Councils: "If you are fully
convinced that the establishment of Provincial Councils has not answered
nor is not capable of answering the purposes intended by such
institutions, we hereby direct you to form a new plan for the collection
of the revenues, and to transmit the same to _us for our
consideration_."--That the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to his
own sentiments repeatedly declared, and to his own advice repeatedly
and deliberately given, and in defiance of the orders of the Directors,
to whom he transmitted no previous communication whatever of his
intention to abolish the said Provincial Councils, did, in the beginning
of the year 1781, again change the whole system of the collecti