quire his utmost abilities and powers,
applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good
order and affluence."

XVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute
aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only
colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with
powers "to assist the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may
be necessary for the peace and good order of his government, the
improvement of his revenue, and the adjustment of the mutual concerns
subsisting between him and the Company." And in the said commission or
delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted
certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature: that is to
say, reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself
"such authority to enforce the same _as the Governor-General and Council
might or could exercise on occasions in which they could be warranted to
exercise the same_, and to form and conclude such several engagements or
treaties with the Nabob Vizier, the government of Berar, and with any
chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as _he_ should judge expedient and
necessary." Towards the conclusion of the act or instrument aforesaid
are the words following, viz.: "It is hereby declared, that all such
acts, and all such engagements or treaties aforesaid, shall be binding
on the Governor-General and Council in the same manner, _and as
effectually, as if they had been done and passed by the specific and
immediate concurrence and actual junction of the Governor-General and
Council, in council assembled_." And the said powers were, by the said
Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of
the Company, on the 3d July, 1781.

XVIII. That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren
Hastings, the whole functions of the Council, is destructive to the
constitution thereof, and is contrary to the Company's standing orders,
and is illegal.

XIX. That, in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation
aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business
at Benares, did procure a meeting with the Nabob of Oude at a place
called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did
there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said Nabob; one
part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a
series of requisitions presented to him by the