to the king's servants the
object of them for the highest trust which they have to bestow. If Mr.
Stuart was really guilty, the possession of this post must furnish him
not only with the means of renewing the former evil practices charged
upon him, and of executing them upon a still larger scale, but of
oppressing those unhappy persons who, under the supposed protection of
the faith of the Company, had appeared to give evidence concerning his
former misdemeanors.

This attempt in the Directors was the more surprising, when it is
considered that two committees of this House were at that very time
sitting upon an inquiry that related directly to their conduct, and that
of their servants in India.

[Sidenote: Mr. Sulivan's situation at the time of his appointment.]

It was in the same spirit of defiance of Parliament, that at the same
time they nominated Mr. Sulivan, son to the then Chairman of the Court
of Directors, to the succession to the same high trust in India. On
these appointments, your Committee thought it proper to make those
inquiries which the Court of Directors thought proper to omit. They
first conceived it fitting to inquire what rank Mr. Sulivan bore in the
service; and they thought it not unnecessary here to state the
gradations in the service, according to the established usage of the
Company.

The Company's civil servants generally go to India as _writers_, in
which capacity they serve the Company _five years_. The next step, in
point of rank, is to be a _factor_, and next to that a _junior
merchant_; in each of which capacities they serve the Company _three
years_. They then rise to the rank of _senior merchant_, in which
situation they remain till called by rotation to the _Board of Trade_.
Until the passing of the Regulation Act, in 1773, seniority entitled
them to succeed to the _Council_, and finally gave them pretensions to
the _government of the Presidency_.

The above gradation of the service, your Committee conceive, ought never
to be superseded by the Court of Directors, without evident reason, in
persons or circumstances, to justify the breach of an ancient order. The
names, whether taken from civil or commercial gradation, are of no
moment. The order itself is wisely established, and tends to provide a
natural guard against partiality, precipitancy, and corruption in
patronage. It affords means and opportunities for an examination into
character; and among the servants it secures a str