By the bill commonly called Mr. Pitt's bill, the
inquiry was specially, and by express words, committed to the Court of
Directors, without any reserve for the interference of any other person
or persons whatsoever. It was ordered that _they_ should make the
inquiry into the origin and justice of these debts, as far as the
materials in _their_ possession enabled them to proceed; and where
_they_ found those materials deficient, _they_ should order the
Presidency of Fort St. George (Madras) to complete the inquiry.
The Court of Directors applied themselves to the execution of the trust
reposed in them. They first examined into the amount of the debt, which
they computed, at compound interest, to be 2,945,600_l._ sterling.
Whether their mode of computation, either of the original sums or the
amount on compound interest, was exact, that is, whether they took the
interest too high or the several capitals too low, is not material. On
whatever principle any of the calculations were made up, none of them
found the debt to differ from the recital of the act, which asserted
that the sums claimed were "_very_ large." The last head of these debts
the Directors compute at 2,465,680_l._ sterling. Of the existence of
this debt the Directors heard nothing until 1776, and they say, that,
"although they had _repeatedly_ written to the Nabob of Arcot, and to
their servants, respecting the debt, yet they _had never been able to
trace the origin thereof, or to obtain any satisfactory information on
the subject_.
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