ts which he had
proposed required much consideration, and the previous ratification of a
formal agreement, before he could consent to them." That the whole of
the said verbal agreement with the Nabob of Oude in his own person,
without any assistance on his part, was carried on and concluded by the
said Warren Hastings alone, without any person who might witness the
same, without the intervention even of an interpreter, though he
confesses that he spoke the Hindostan language _imperfectly_, and
although he had with him at that time and place several persons high in
the Company's service and confidence, namely, the commander-in-chief of
their forces, two members of their Council, and the Secretary to the
Council, who were not otherwise acquainted with the proceedings between
him and the said Nabob than by such communications as he thought fit to
make to them.

That the object avowed by the said Warren Hastings, and the motives
urged by him for employing the British arms in the utter extirpation of
the Rohilla nation, are stated by himself in the following terms:--"The
acquisition of forty lacs of rupees to the Company, and of so much
specie added to the exhausted currency of our provinces;--that it would
give wealth to the Nabob of Oude, of which we should participate;--that
the said Warren Hastings _should_ always be ready to profess that he did
reckon the probable acquisition of wealth among his reasons for taking
up arms against his _neighbors_;--that it would ease the Company of a
considerable part of their military expense, and preserve their troops
from inaction and relaxation of discipline;--that the weak state of the
Rohillas promised an easy conquest of them;--and, finally, that such was
his idea of the Company's distress at home, added to his knowledge of
their wants abroad, that he should have been glad of _any_ occasion to
employ their forces which saved so much of their pay and expenses."

That, in the private verbal agreement aforesaid for offensive war, the
said Warren Hastings did transgress the bounds of the authority given
him by his instructions from the Council of Fort William, which had
limited his powers to such compacts "as were consistent with the spirit
of the Company's orders"; which Council he afterwards persuaded, and
with difficulty drew into an acquiescence in what he had done.

That the agreement to the effect aforesaid was settled in the said
secret conferences before the 10th of Septembe