and trustee of the Company at the expense of his
employers, and of which he confesses he has received a considerable
part.
The committee of the Governor-General and Council appear to have closed
their proceedings with several resolutions, which, with the answers
given by Mr. Barwell as a defence, are inserted in the Appendix. The
whole are referred thither together, on account of the ample extent of
the answer. These papers will be found to throw considerable light not
only on the points in question, but on the general administration of the
Company's revenues in Bengal. On some passages in Mr. Barwell's defence,
or account of his conduct, your Committee offer the following remarks to
the judgment of the House.
In his letter of the 23rd March, 1775, he says, that he engaged for
Savagepoor _in the persuasion of its being a very profitable farm_. In
this place your Committee think it proper to state the 17th article of
the regulations of the Committee of Circuit, formed in May, 1772, by
the President and Council, of which Mr. Barwell was a member, together
with their own observations thereupon.
17th. "That no peshcar, banian, or other servant, of whatever
denomination, of the collector, or relation or dependant of any such
servant, be allowed to farm lands, nor directly or indirectly to
hold a concern in any farm, nor to be security for any farmer; that
the collector be strictly enjoined to prevent such practices; and
that, if it shall be discovered that any one, _under a false name,
or any kind of collusion_, hath found means to evade this order, he
shall be subject to an heavy fine, proportionate to the amount of
the farm, and the farm shall be re-let, or made _khas_: and if it
shall appear that the collector shall have countenanced, approved,
or connived at a breach of this regulation, he shall stand _ipso
facto_ dismissed from his collectorship. Neither shall any European,
directly or indirectly, be permitted to rent lands in any part of
the country."
_Remark by the Board._
17th. "If the collector, or any persons who partake of his
authority, are permitted to be the farmers of the country, no other
persons will dare to be their competitors: of course they will
obtain the farms on their own terms. _It is not fit that the
servants of the Company should be dealers with their masters._ The
collectors are checks on the farmers. If
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