Of this great danger your Committee will take farther notice in
another place.
No notice whatever appears to have been taken of the Company's orders in
Bengal till the 11th of January, 1779, when Mr. Barwell moved, _that the
claim made upon him by the Court of Directors should be submitted to the
Company's lawyers, and that they should be perfectly instructed to
prosecute upon it_. In his minute of that date he says, "_that the state
of his health had long since rendered it necessary for him to return to
Europe_."
Your Committee observe that he continued in Bengal another year. He
says, "that he had hitherto waited for the arrival of Sir John Day, the
Company's advocate; but as the season was now far advanced, he wished to
bring the trial speedily to issue."
In this minute he retracts his original engagement to submit himself to
the judgment of the Court of Directors, "and to account to them for the
last shilling he had received": he says, "that no merit had been given
him for the offer; that a most unjustifiable advantage had been
attempted to be made of it, by first declining it and _descending to
abuse_, and then giving orders upon it as if it had been rejected, when
called upon by him in the person of his agent to bring home the charge
of delinquency.
Pages:
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258