e said Warren Hastings trifled with the authority
of the Company, eluded the repeated orders of the Directors, and exposed
the Company to the risk and uncertainty of recovering, at a distant
period, and perhaps by a process of law, a sum of money which they had
positively ordered him not to pay.

That in the latter part of the year 1776, by the death of Colonel
Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to
the Governor and one member of the Council; and that from that time the
Governor-General and Council have generally consisted of an even number
of persons, in consequence of which the casting voice of the said Warren
Hastings has usually prevailed in the decision of all questions. That
about the end of the year 1776 the whole civil establishment of the said
government did not exceed 205,399_l._ per annum; that in the year 1783
the said civil establishment had been increased to the enormous annual
sum of 927,945_l._ That such increase in the civil establishment could
not have taken place, if the said Warren Hastings, who was at the head
of the government, with the power annexed to the casting voice, had not
actively promoted the said increase, which he had power to prevent, and
which it was his duty to have prevented. That by such immoderate waste
of the property of his employers, and by such scandalous breach of his
fidelity to them, it was the intention of the said Warren Hastings to
gain and secure the attachment and support of a multitude of
individuals, by whose united interest, influence, and intrigues he hoped
to be protected against any future inquiry into his conduct. That it was
of itself highly criminal in the said Warren Hastings to have so wasted
the property of the East India Company, and that the purpose to be
obtained by such waste was a great aggravation of that crime.

That among the various instances of profusion by which the civil
establishment of Fort William was increased to the enormous annual sum
hereinbefore mentioned, it appears that a Salt Office was created, of
six commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as follows, viz.:--

President, or Comptroller, per annum L18,480
1st member 13,100
2d do 11,480
3d do 13,183
4th do 6,257
5th do 10,307
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