possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us;
and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us
and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always
remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from
that warlike and powerful nation."

That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said
Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honor and
injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the
said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most
sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith were necessary to
the existence of the national interests in that country," and though the
said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this
kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the
possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition,
avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and
honor, to the violation of this just and wise maxim."

That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles,
with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in
sacrificing the allies of this country "_to the provocations of
ambition, avarice, or vengeance_," in violation of the national faith
and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was
thereby guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.




XV.--REVENUES.