situation they remain till called by rotation to the _Board of Trade_.
Until the passing of the Regulation Act, in 1773, seniority entitled
them to succeed to the _Council_, and finally gave them pretensions to
the _government of the Presidency_.

The above gradation of the service, your Committee conceive, ought never
to be superseded by the Court of Directors, without evident reason, in
persons or circumstances, to justify the breach of an ancient order. The
names, whether taken from civil or commercial gradation, are of no
moment. The order itself is wisely established, and tends to provide a
natural guard against partiality, precipitancy, and corruption in
patronage. It affords means and opportunities for an examination into
character; and among the servants it secures a strong motive to preserve
a fair reputation. Your Committee find that no respect whatsoever was
paid to this gradation in the instance of Mr. Sulivan, nor is there any
reason assigned for departing from it. They do not find that Mr. Sulivan
had ever served the Company in any one of the above capacities, but was,
in the year 1777, abruptly brought into the service, and sent to Madras
to succeed as Persian Translator and Secretary to the Council.

Your Committee have found a letter from Mr. Sulivan to George Wombwell
and William Devaynes, Esquires, Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the
Court of Directors, stating that he trusted _his applications_ would
have a place in their deliberations when Madras affairs were taken up.
Of what nature those applications were your Committee cannot discover,
as no traces of them appear on the Company's records,--nor whether any
proofs of his ability, even as Persian Translator, which might entitle
him to a preference to the many servants in India whose study and
opportunities afforded them the means of becoming perfect masters of
that language.