The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke

heavy debts which he had been obliged to contract during his unjust persecution and
imprisonment aforesaid.

XVI. That, on the removal of the said Mahomed Reza Khân from the superintendency of
the criminal justice, and in consequence of letting the province of Bengal in farm by the
said Warren Hastings, several dangerous and mischievous innovations were made by him,
the said Warren Hastings, and the criminal justice of the country was almost wholly
subverted, and great irregularities and disorders did actually ensue.

XVII. That the Council-General, established by act of Parliament in the year 1773, did
restore the said Mahomed Reza Khân, with the consent and approbation of the Nabob, (but
under a protest from the said Warren Hastings,) to his liberty and to his offices, according
to the spirit of the orders given by the Court of Directors as aforesaid; and the Court of
Directors did approve of the said appointment, and did assure the said Mahomed Reza
Khân of their favor and protection as long as his conduct should merit the same, in the
following terms. "As the abilities of Mahomed Reza Khân have been sufficiently
manifested, as official experience qualifies him for so high a station in a more eminent
degree than any other native with whom the Company has been connected, and as no proofs
of maladministration have been established against him, either during the strict
investigation of his conduct or since his retirement, we cannot under all circumstances but
approve your recommendation of him to the Nabob to constitute him his Naib. We are well
pleased that he has received that appointment, and authorize you to assure him of our favor,
so long as a firm attachment to the interest of the Company and a proper discharge of the
duties of his station shall render him worthy of our protection." And the said Mahomed
Reza Khân did continue to execute the same without any complaint whatsoever of

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