ue _five_ years
after the expiration of the government by which they were granted. That
by this anticipation the discretion and judgment of the succeeding
government respecting the subject-matter of such contracts was taken
away, and any correction or improvement therein rendered impracticable.
That the said Warren Hastings might have been justified by the rules and
practice or by the necessity of the public service in binding the
government by engagements to endure one year after the expiration of his
own office; but on no principles could he be justified in extending such
engagements beyond the term of one year, much less on the principles he
has avowed, namely, "that it was only an act of common justice in him to
secure _every man connected with him_, as far as he legally could, from
the apprehension of future oppression." That the oppression to which
such apprehension, if real, must allude, could only consist in and arise
out of the obedience which he feared a future government might pay to
the orders of the Court of Directors, by making all contracts _annual_,
and advertising for proposals publicly and indifferently from all
persons whatever, by which it might happen that such beneficial
contracts would not be constantly held by men _connected with him_, the
said Warren Hastings. That this declaration, made by the said Warren
Hastings, combined with all the circumstances belonging to these
transactions, leaves no room to doubt, that, in disobeying the Company's
orders, and betraying the trust reposed in him as guardian of the
Company's property, his object was to purchase the attachment of a
number of individuals, and to form a party capable of supporting and
protecting him in return.

That, with the same view, and on the same principles, it appears that
excessive salaries and emoluments, at the East India Company's charge
and expense, have been lavished by the said Warren Hastings to sundry
individuals, contrary to the general principles of his duty, and in
direct contradiction to the positive orders of the Court of Directors:
particularly, that, whereas by a resolution of the Court of Proprietors
of the East India Company, and by an instruction of the Court of
Directors, it was provided and expressly ordered that there should be
paid to the late Sir John Clavering "the sum of six thousand pounds
sterling per annum in full for his services as commander-in-chief, in
lieu of travelling charges and of all other advan