these circumstances gave him a claim to the uncontrolled exercise of domestic authority; and it might reasonably be supposed that he would pay a greater regard to a just economy in his own family than had been observed by those who were aliens to it.  For these reasons Mr. Hastings recommended to the board that Mahomed Reza Khan should be immediately divested of the office of superintendent of the Nabob’s household, and that the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire receipts and disbursements of his stipend, and the uncontrolled management and regulation of his household.  Thus far your Committee are of opinion, that the conclusion corresponds with the premises; for, supposing the fact to be established or admitted, that the Nabob, in point of age, capacity, and judgment, was qualified to act for himself, it seems reasonable that the management of his domestic affairs should not be withheld from him.  On this part of the proceeding your Committee will only observe, that, if it were strictly true that the Nabob’s understanding had been much improved of late by an attention to his education, (which seems an extraordinary way of describing the qualifications of a man of six-and-twenty, the father of many children,) the merit of such improvement must be attributed to Mahomed Reza Khan, who was the only person of rank and character connected with him, or who could be supposed to have any influence over him.  Mr. Hastings himself reproaches the Nabob with raising mean men to be his companions, and tells him plainly, that some persons, both of bad character and base origin, had found the means of insinuating themselves into his company and constant fellowship.  In such society it is not likely that either the Nabob’s morals or his understanding could have been much improved; nor could it be deemed prudent to leave him without any check upon his conduct.  Mr. Hastings’s opinion on this point may be collected from what he did, but by no means from what he said, on the occasion.

The House will naturally expect to find that the Nabob’s request was granted, and that the resolution of the board was conformable to the terms of Mr. Hastings’s recommendation.  Yet the fact is directly the reverse.  Mr. Hastings, after advising that the Nabob should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire receipts and disbursements of his stipend, immediately corrects that advice, being aware that so sudden and unlimited a disposal of a large revenue might at first encourage a spirit of dissipation in the Nabob,—­and reserves to himself a power of establishing, with the Nabob’s consent, such a plan for the regulation and equal distribution of the Nabob’s expenses as should be adapted to the dissimilar appearances of preserving his interests and his independence at the same time.  On the same complicated principles the subsequent resolution of the board professes to allow the Nabob the management of his stipend and expenses,—­with an hope, however, (which, considering the relative situation of the parties, could be nothing less than an injunction,) that he would submit to such a plan as should be agreed on between him and the Governor-General.