A report of Major Hart's case, of rice-frauds, near Seringapatam — Inside the Classic

Hart did never carry to the field a quantity of private grain.

And yet, notwithstanding this _pretended_ acknowledgment of _real_ error, it is the Board of Controul which, in order to allow Major Hart to hold private grain, must set aside the very regulation upon this subject. The 39th Regulation says, "it being the principle of the present system, by liberal and avowed allowances, to place this department upon so respectable a footing as to leave no temptation to seek for unauthorized advantages, the Commissary of Grain is not on any account, directly or indirectly, to derive any other advantage or emolument from this situation than the _salary_ fixed by Government. The strictest economy is, therefore, to be observed in every expense attending this department; and the disbursements and accounts of the Commissary are to be attested on honour, as prescribed in the forms annexed to these Regulations.--Papers, p. 17.

And the mighty Board of Controul, besides allowing Major Hart to hold private grain, and therefore to reap the attendant profit on it _with perfect security_, next considers this both as _another question_ and as _not another question_. Thus the Board having said "whether he (Major Hart) ought to have derived any profit upon the original price of the rice, so in his possession, is another question," can yet add, "but _suppose he ought not_, when he[B] openly supplied it to our army, and was contented with much less (profit) than he might have obtained with perfect security, we cannot think it a crime of the blackest die.--Papers, p. 232.

[B] See in page 11, and query he or Captain Macleod; also whether openly or covertly supplied, &c.

The Board continues "this, and the circumstance of his silence, from the 16th to the 22d of April, appear to us the only points of doubt in the whole case, and a conduct doubtful only on two such points does not, in our contemplation, warrant the sentence[C] that has been passed upon it, with the consequences to his fortune and honour to which it has led." Papers, p. 232.

[C] The propriety of Major Hart's dismission, after suspension from the Company's service, is, perhaps, self-evident, and might have been a ground of thanks; but who would have thanked the Court of Directors for being now made to deem correct, what formerly they were pleased to deem incorrect, viz. an Act of Parliament, and the one cited on what are called the Mandamus Papers!

But, "in our contemplation" of this "whole case," there are yet to be noticed other two grand points of doubt. And first, as Lord Harris writes, "it was not the loss of rice in the department of the Commissary of Grain _alone_ that so seriously affected the general store of provision for the army, but," again, secondly, "that infinitely more extensive and entirely unexpected deficiency which was discovered, on the 16th of April, in the quantity carried by bullocks, hired in the Ceded Districts, under the authority of Lieutenant-Colonel Read, and of which Captain Macleod was in the general superintendance."

Lord Harris explains, saying "Captain Macleod, to whom no report of material loss had been made by the carriers on the 3d of April, had, on the 5th, given me a report, of which a copy is enclosed, by which it appeared that rice, the property of government, sufficient for the consumption of 30,000 men, at half a seer per day, for six-and-thirty days, was then in camp, independently of nearly an equal quantity reported by the benjarries (bullock-owners) to be in their possession, and which they had been ordered to retain for the public service. No issues had been authorized from this stock, and the belief that it existed prevented my feeling any uneasiness on the subject of provisions, although I knew the amount in _Major Hart's_ charge was nearly expended. The measurement of the rice on the 15th of April, in the course of delivery (not by, observe, because) to Major Hart, produced the FIRST suspicion of this enormous deficiency, and the report of it, when ascertained the succeeding day, the consequent alarm." Papers, p. 75.

Nor is Lord Harris here alluding towards the whole, but rather to the close of Captain Macleod's Report, where it is stated that "the private and public rice would feed 30,000 men for thirty-three (or, as Lord Harris says, thirty-six) days, exclusive of Major Hart's department. It is supposed Major Hart has 7000 bullock-loads, which would be ten seers each to 30,000 men. (Signed) William Macleod, Superintendant of Supplies." Papers, p. 82.