he said Warren Hastings declared that the intention of
the appointment "was most likely to be fulfilled by a liberal
consideration of it," and therefore allowed the said Auriol a commission
of fifteen per cent on the whole of his disbursements, thereby rendering
it the direct interest of the said Auriol to make his disbursements as
great as possible; that the chance of capture by the enemy, or danger of
the sea, was to be at the risk of the India Company, and not of the said
Auriol; that the said Warren Hastings declared personally to the said
Auriol, "that this post was intended as a reward for his long and
faithful services." That the President and Council of Bombay did
remonstrate against what they called _the enormous amount of the
charges_ of the rice with which they wore supplied, which they state to
be nine rupees a bag at Calcutta, when they themselves could have
contracted for its delivery at Bombay, free of all risk and charges, at
five rupees and three sixteenths per bag; and that even at Madras, where
the distress and demand was greatest, the supplies of grain by private
traders, charged to the Company, were nineteen per cent cheaper than
that supplied by the said Auriol, exclusive of the risk of the sea and
of capture by the enemy. That it is stated by the Court of Directors,
that the agent's commission on a supply of _a single year_ (the said
commission being not only charged on the prime cost of the rice, but
also on the freight and all other charges) would amount to pounds
sterling 26,873, and by the said Auriol himself is admitted to amount to
18,292_l._ That William Larkins, the Accountant-General at Port William,
having been ordered to examine the accounts of the said agent, did
report to the Governor-General and Council, that he found them to be
_correct in the additions and calculations_; and that then the said
Larkins adds the following declaration: "The agent _being upon honor_
with respect to the sums charged in his accounts for the cost of the
articles supplied, I did not think myself authorized to require _any
voucher_ of the sums charged for the demurrage of sloops, either as to
the time of detention or the rate of the charge, or of those for the
articles lost in going down the river; and on that ground I thought
myself equally bound to admit the sums acknowledged as received for the
sales of goods returned, without requiring vouchers of the rates at
which they were sold." That in this transacti