on the said Warren Hastings
has been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty, in the unnecessary
expenditure of the Company's money, and in subjecting the Company to a
profusion of expense, at all times wholly unjustifiable, but
particularly at the time when that expense was incurred. That the said
Warren Hastings was guilty of breach of orders, as well as breach of
trust, in not advertising generally for proposals; in not _contracting_
indifferently for the supplies with such merchants as might offer to
furnish them on the lowest terms; in giving an enormous commission to an
agent, and that commission not confined to the prime cost of the
articles, but to be computed on the whole of his charges; in accepting
of the _honor_ of the said agent as a sufficient voucher for the cost of
the articles supplied, and for all charges whatever on which his
commission was to be computed; and finally, in giving a lucrative agency
for the supply of a distressed and starving province as a reward to a
Secretary of State, whose labors in that capacity ought to have been
rewarded by an avowed public salary, and not otherwise. That, after the
first year of the said agency was expired, the said Warren Hastings did
agree, that, for the future, the commission to be drawn by the said
agent should be reduced to five per cent, which the Governor-General and
Council then declared to be _the customary, amount drawn by merchants_;
but that even in this reduction of the commission the said Warren
Hastings was guilty of a deception, and did not in fact reduce the
commission from fifteen to five per cent, having immediately after
resolved that he, the agent, should be allowed the current interest of
Calcutta upon all his drafts on the Treasury from the day of their
dates, until they should be completely liquidated; that the legal
interest of money in Bengal is twelve per cent per annum, and the
current interest from eight to ten per cent.

VIII.--PRESENTS.

That, before the appointment of the Governor-General and Council of Fort
William by act of Parliament, the allowances made by the East India
Company to the Presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient;
and that the said Presidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings
particularly, was restrained by a specific covenant and indenture, which
he entered into with the Company, from accepting any gifts, rewards, or
gratuities whatsoever, on any account or pretence whatsoever. T