The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 09 (of 12) — John Shaqi
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 09 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 09 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
That on the 1st of November, 1779, the said Warren Hastings did move and
carry it in Council, "that the Resident at the Vizier's court should be
furnished with an account of all the extra allowances and charges of the
commander-in-chief when in the field, with orders to add the same to the
debit of the Vizier's account, as a part of his general subsidy,--the
charge to commence from the day on which the general shall pass the
Caramnassa, and to continue till his return to the same line." That this
additional expense imposed by the said Warren Hastings on the Vizier was
unjust in itself, and a breach of treaty with that prince: the specific
amount of the subsidy to be paid by him having been fixed by a treaty,
to which no addition could justly be made, but at the previous
requisition of the Vizier. That the Court of Directors, in their letter
of the 18th of October, 1780, did condemn and prohibit the continuation
of the allowances above mentioned to Sir Eyre Coote in the following
words: "These allowances appear to us in a light so very extraordinary,
and so repugnant to the spirit of a resolution of the General Court of
Proprietors respecting the allowance made to General Clavering, that we
positively direct that they be discontinued immediately, and no part
thereof paid after the receipt of this letter." That on the 27th of
April, 1781, the Governor-General and Council, in obedience to the
orders of the Directors, did signify the same to the Commissary-General,
as an instruction to him that the extraordinary allowances to Sir Eyre
Coote _should be discontinued, and no part thereof paid after that
day_. That it appears, nevertheless, that the said extra allowances
(amounting to above twenty thousand pounds sterling a year) were
continued to be charged to the Vizier, and paid to Sir Eyre Coote, in
defiance of the orders of the Court of Directors, in defiance of the
consequent resolution of the Governor-General and Council, and in
contradiction to the terms of the original motion made by the said
Warren Hastings for adding those allowances to the debit of the Vizier,
viz., "that they should continue till Sir Eyre Coote's return to the
Caramnassa." That Sir Eyre Coote arrived at Calcutta about the end of
August, 1780, and must have crossed the Caramnassa, in his return from
Oude, some weeks before, when the charge on the Vizier, if at any time
proper, ought to have ceased. That it appears that the said allowances
were continued to be charged against the Vizier and paid to Sir Eyre
Coote for three years after, even while he was serving in the Carnatic,
and that this was done by the sole authority and private command of the
said Warren Hastings.
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