Hastings and Mr. Barwell, by whom the office was created for him;
and Sir John Day, the Company's advocate, who arrived in Bengal in
February, 1779, had not been four months in Calcutta, when Mr. Hastings,
Mr. Barwell, and Sir Eyre Coote doubled his salary, contrary to the
opinion of Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheler.
If the Directors are known to devolve the whole cognizance of the
offences charged on their servants so highly situated upon the Supreme
Court, an excuse will be furnished, if already it has not been
furnished, to the Directors for declining the use of their own proper
political power and authority in examining into and animadverting on the
conduct of their servants. Their true character, as strict masters and
vigilant governors, will merge in that of prosecutors. Their force and
energy will evaporate in tedious and intricate processes,--in lawsuits
which can never end, and which are to be carried on by the very
dependants of those who are under prosecution. On their part, these
servants will decline giving satisfaction to their masters, because they
are already before another tribunal; and thus, by shifting
responsibility from hand to hand, a confederacy to defeat the whole
spirit of the law, and to remove all real restraints on their actions,
may be in time formed between the servants, Directors, prosecutors, and
court.
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