The earliest document we have concerning John Cree from this source is a copy of an agreement made with a Mr Hatch dated 26 March 1776. It is for delivery of cloths to Mr Cree's house in Dacca. The agreement is loosely worded, implying a degree of mutual tacit understanding of what is required. From a later agreement we can deduce that the agreement is for delivery of 400 pieces of cloth of various grades and types ("assortments") at prices of between 2 rupees 10 annas to 4 rupees 13 annas. The total amount for the delivery would have been around 1200 rupees. A later agreement, dated 17 June 1776, appears to have been for a monthly delivery of 600 pieces per month.

John Cree's correspondence with the East India Company and others was printed in an Appendix to the Ninth Report of the Select Committee on the Administration of Justice in India in 1783. There is a facsimile version on-line at Reports from committees of the House of Commons, Volume 6 (House of Commons, London, 1806) but it is difficult to read. (See the first item below.)

The Report itself is available in more readable form as Ninth Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Affairs of India, June 25, 1783, in The Works of the Right Honorable Edumund Burke Vol. VIII. However this version does not include the Appendices which contain John Cree's correspondence.

Copy of a Note from C.W. Boughton Rous, Esquire, Provincial Chief, to Mr Cree dated May 17th 1776.

Sir,

I have examined the contents of the Letter you delivered to me last night; from which I am sorry to observe, that the Factory Gomastah should have presumed to oppose your purchases, and equally astonished to find the officer of justice supporting such oppression by his authority. This person was, a few days ago, summoned at Dacca, to answer for other abuses of his power; and if you chuse to pursue the matter, I will take care that the Company's Gomastah shall be brought to a severe and public scrutiny; but if you are disinclined to stand forth as complainant, I will satisfy myself with procuring you redress in the present occurrence, and acquainting the Gomastah that he will be punishable for impeding the freedom of private Trade. For the present I send you a Perwannah of reprimand to the Naib of Adawbat[?Adabar], whom I understand to be still at his station; which I flatter myself will produce the effect required; if not, I beg you will please to inform me, and I will render you every equitable assistance in my power.

I am, &c.

(Signed) C.W. Boughton Rous

It appears that John Cree found that an agent of the East India Company, a "Factory Gomastah... presumed to oppose [his] purchases, and... the officer of justice supporting such oppression by his authority." He must have written a letter of complaint in May 1776, although the letter has not survived. We can deduce its nature from the replies that were written, and shown here, both by the Provincial Chief and the acting Commercial Chief. The Provincial Chield who signed "C.W. Boughton Rous, Esquire" later became known as Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton, Bart.

Copy of a Note from Thomas Legh, Esquire, acting Commercial Chief, to Mr Cree; dated 17th May 1776.

Dear Sir,

I am greatly concerned at the difficulties that have arose to you from the situation of your Gomastah at Teedbaddy, and have wrote upon the subject to the Company's Gomastahs there, in the fullest manner; your servant will be immediately released. It is not, as you observe, always an easy matter to distinguish the truth in these cases - you can best judge. I am sorry, nevertheless, that you are induced to recall your Gomastah; disagreeables will occur in business, however well conducted. I am always happy to render you such assistance as may be within my power, being,
Dear Sir,

Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) Thos. Legh.

Copy of a Letter from Mr. John Cree to C.W. Boughton Rous Esquire, Provincial Chief of Dacca

Sir,

I am extremely concerned at being so often under a necessity of troubling you upon my affairs; but as the difficulties and embarrassments I daily experience affect the Public as well as myself, to whom in such case can I so properly apply, as to the person holding the chief authority in Dacca?

I beg leave to send you a Letter received last night from my Gomastah at Teedbaddy, which sickness prevents my delivering personally; by which you will see I have for a long time turned a deaf ear to his complaints; I was by no means willng to credit him, on a supposition that he magnified the difficulties with a design to cheat. Facts however are incontrovertible; there is now a total stop put to my business in that Aurung [district]. My Deloll there is confined by the Company's Gomastah, and my own Gomastah's house surrounded day and night with Peons; in so much that the moor wretch cannot stir abroad, nor even dare to bring away those Cloths he has purchased. Arbitrary as the Country Government was, they nevertheless gave all possible encouragement to this valuable branch of Trade, knowing it to be the chief support of the Dacca Province; but it was reserved for the English to form regulations respecting this branch, fraught with every evil tendency. The flagitious use made of the Company's and the Supreme Council's orders (so contrary to their true spirit) is a scandal to the English name. I confess you have always shewn a readiness to protect and support me; but I am only giving you a great deal of trouble, as I plainly see the evil is not to be redressed but below; I am therefore preparing a state of the case in the best manner I can, which I intend to lay before the Honourable Goyernor General and Council, for I find no end to disputes. And as to the provision of my Investment, it's impossible to accomplish it, except through those in the Cloth Department. In the meantime be pleased to favour me with a Purwannah, that I may bring away the goods already bought, and remove my Gomestah.

Dacca,
2d July 1776.

I am Sir, &c.
(Signed) John Cree

By July, the matter had escalated, with EIC agents detaining Cree's dellol at Teedbaddy and placing his gomastah there under house arrest. On 2nd July 1776 John Cree wrote to the Provincial Chief again, receiving an acknowledgement the next day:

No. 3. Copy of a Note from C.W. Boughton Rous, Esquire, Provincial Chief, to Mr Cree dated July 3d 1776

Sir,

I am extremely sorry that you have still cause to complain against the Factory Gomastahs. If I have permission to consider your Letter to me of yesterday's date as a public one, which I hope you will allow me, the measures I shall take upon it will convince you of my determination to protect the Merchant and defeat as far as my power extends all influence of the Company's name when employed to the detriment of private Trade. In any representations you may make upon this subject, I promise you my utmost support.

I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) C.W. Boughton Rous.

I will order a Perwannah for your Gomastah's release.

To the Honourable Warren Hastings Esquire General &c Gentlemen of the Supreme Council at Calcutta.

Honourable Sir and Sirs,

As the intention of the present address is merely to represent to your Honourable Board the hardships and inconveniences we lay under from the regulations lately established by the Commercial Department here, we hope you will judge favourably of our motive, and grant us such relief as may appear to you equitable and conducive to the general prosperity of the Country.

The destructive principle on which the most interesting and valuable branch of Trade in this Province is conducted, by which the Honourable Company and numerous body of Manufacturers and Merchants are materially affected, obliges us, who are of the number aggrieved, to take up the disagreeable task of remonstrating, and to lay our complaints before you; being fully persuaded, when you are acquainted with the deplorable state of the Cloth Manufacture, the causes of its decline, and the ruinous consequence that must unavoidably result from a continuation of the present system; that you will issue such orders as cannot fail of promoting both the immediate and remote interest of the Company, which is inseparable from that of the Province.

Long experience and minute attention qualifies us to enumerate the evils which have lately befallen this once flourishing branch of Commerce; and in reciting them, we shall strictly adhere to truth; nor do we mean to reflect on the characters of others, further than the active part they have taken obliges us, in support of the facts we are necessitated to advance.

Under the Mahometan Government every possible encouragement was given to the Cloth business, as being the staple of this Province, and the chief support of the Revenue; and all the Foreign Nations settled here, as well as the Natives, were privileged to furnish themselves with this article to what amount they required. And the same course of business continued under the protection of the present Government, transacted through the channel of a set of creditable men, called Delolls; who constantly, in consideration of a small premium, furnished all goods by contract, and were answerable far all outstanding balances. This mode of conducting the business rendered it extremely safe for the public Companies as well as Individuals; and it was an effectual means of avoiding disputes with Government. This system, so well calculated, and so happily established for the good of all, was however altered during the Chiefship of Mr Barwell, who thought proper to establish new regulations, from whence has sprung all the evils now so severely felt. He placed the Dacca Aurungs under two Superintendants, namely, Mr Matthew Day and Mr George Hurst; who were directed to make the Advances and to continue constantly going between the Aurungs. This method exposed to view a new scene; and now it was found impracticable to procure a single piece of Cloth, except through those Superintendants, and at the prices they chose to fix. This plan, so replete with ruin to the general interest of Commerce, has continued ever since, and becomes daily more insupportable, owing to the unwarrantable and oppressive measurs pursued by these Superintendants; who under the authority of their Chief, or in consequence of his orders, have lately stamped every piece of Cloth with the Company's Seal without distinction; as a proof of which, we take the liberty to send you two pieces of Cloths, of such assortments as the Company never purchase; and in support of what we here advance, we request that all the Gentlemen employed in the Company's export warehouse at Calcutta, may be called upon to declare, if they ever knew the Company deal in such assortments. If their declarations correspond with what we here represent, it will prove, beyond a possibility of contradiction, that the Commercial Chief, and his Superintendants, want to fix and rivet an injurious monopoly, under the plausible, although false pretence of providing the public Investment.

That we may not, however, be supposed to found our opinion on conjecture only, permit us, honourable Sir and Sirs, to mention a case in point. Mr. Cree, who has considerable orders from the Merchants in Calcutta for the ordinary assortments of Piece Goods, which are usually sent to the Gulph of Arabia and Persia, and on which those voyages chiefly depend, sent Gomastahs unto the Aurungs, to purchase, on fair terms of Trade, what he had occasion for. These Gomastahs were seized, and the Weavers prevented from furnishing him with Cloths. On his representing this circumstance to Mr Hurst, who has the immediate charge of the Narrainpore Aurungs, where the affair happened, he gave him for answer, that he acted by authority; a reply the more extraordinary, as Mr Hurst was sensible that he had at that very period entered into contracts to furnish him with a quantity of those very Cloths monthly; a conduct so extraordinary must astonish every candid and impartial man. Thus, Mr. Hurst does not hesitate to contract and provide Cloths for those who chuse to employ him; and yet if private Merchants send their Servants to purchase, they are prevented, and no Cloths can be had, but through the means of this Superintendant. Mr. Cree had likewise his Gomastah at Tidbaddy seized and prevented from purchasing; which obliged him to apply for redress to Mr. Rous, the Provincial Chief, and Mr. Legh, the then acting Commercial Chief. Their answers we enclose No. 1. and 2. -- As a further instance: in the year 1774, when this monopoly first was instituted, Mr. Lanka, the Dutch Chief, was obliged to apply to the monopolists for the provision of their national Investment; a measure which was disapproved by his superiors at Chinsurah, who made him responsible for the whole. On settling his Accounts with Messrs. Day and Hurst, they were indebted to him a considerable sum; soon after the unfortunate man died; and those very Gentlemen have actually obliged the Executors to his Estate to sue them, in the King's Court at Calcutta for the Amount, where the suit is now depending. -- These concurring circumstances at once declare a monopoly, founded on the most unjust and oppressive principles. The plea of outstanding balances due to the Company, serves as a cloak to cover the most pernicious purposes; and while the present system continues, those balances will rather increase than diminish, and the unhappy Weavers will be for ever prevented from extricating themselves.

May we, honourable Sir and Sirs, presume to ask, in order to prevent our opposing, in the most minute circumstance, the orders of Government, if this Gentleman, and the other Superintendant, are authorized to appropriate to their sole use and advantage, the whole produce of Aurungs, that can with ease be extended to two hundred thousand pieces of ordinary Cloths; especially when the public Investment does not require one twentieth part of that number? Last year when a similar complaint (as mentioned above) was laid before the Provincial Chief, he sent Mr Campbell, one of his assistants, to inquire how far private purchasers really interfered with the public Investment. The result of the inquiry was such, as convinced him that every pretence of that kind was futile, and calculated to answer private interested purposes, more than public utility. Nor can it appear surprising, when we reflect, that this extensive manufacturing District can with ease produce between twenty-five and thirty Lacks of Rupees [a lakh is 100,000] value in Cloths; and the Investment for the Company does not exceed (if we are rightly informed) five Lacks, and the assortment wanted does not bear, in proportion to the produce, more than 2/5[?] th of the fine Fabrics and not 1/20 th of the Ordinary. Such being the case, the Commercial Chief and his Superintendants surely cannot, in reason or in sound policy, have an exclusive privilege, so big with ruin to the Weavers, and all the other numerous body of people employed in preparing materials for the Loom. These are circumstances that cannot bear the least doubt. They are stubborn facts, and what we are ready to prove when called upon.

Permit us then humbly to request you would be pleased to publish a free and unlimited encouragement to all Merchants, to carry on their Commerce with safety under the protection of your Government; and that every obstacle of this kind, as well as the superintendancy of those Aurungs, the curtain behind which they screen themselves, may be removed. The quantity wanted by the Company, when compared to the whole, is so very inconsiderable, and what might be so easily provided, that every argument, every pretence to the contrary, is not worthy of serious reflection; nor can there be urged, by the most subtile and designing, a single plea to invalidate, in one instance, what we have here taken the liberty to set forth.

We cannot, in justice to C. W. Boughton Rous, Esquire, Provincial Chief, neglect this opportunity of testifying our public approbation of his disinterested and impartial conduct; as well as to return him thanks for the readiness he has always shewn of giving every reasonable assistance and encouragement to the fair Trader; being sensible, that the happiness and prosperity of the people immediately under his Government, depended on a full and secure possession of their property, a mutual intercourse and reciprocal exchange of advantages between the Merchants and Manufacturers; and were our present cause of complaint removed, we might hope to see this once rich and flourishing Province restored to its former happy state.

The Note No. 3. is Mr Rous's answer to Mr. Cree's second representation. No. 4. and 7. are contracts positively entered into between Mr. Hurst and Mr. Cree which proves the whole of our remonstrance.

We are &c
(Signed)
Rob Hunter
John Cree
James Kerr
Bernd. McCalum
A J Devereux
Jo' Bruce

Dacca
the 8th July 1776

A week later on 8th July 1776 John Cree, no doubt unsatisfied with the progress of his complaint, since his business was at a complete standstill, enlisted the support of other free merchants at Dacca and wrote to the Governor General and members of the Supreme Council:

To William Aldersey, Esquire President, &c. Members of the Board of Trade.

Gentlemen,

I am now to reply to your Letter of the 16th of July.

Before I enter on the subject of the Memorial which you have been pleased to transmit to me, it is necessary I give you some account of the persons whose signatures appear affixed to it that you may form some idea of the bond of interest that unites them, in order for you to make just distinction between their real and professed views, and how far those may be compatible with the commercial interests of the Company, confided to my charge. Having done this, I shall proceed to lay before you my sentiments on the present mode, which appears to me far the most eligible, for the provision of the Investment; and should they be approved by you, I hope and flatter myself you will strengthen my hands in such a manner, as to enable me to execute my trust, enable me to overcome a competition of all the private interests that may operate against my endeavours, and effectually enable me to prevent all the attempts that may be made to deprive the Company of the means of providing their own goods by throwing them once more into the hands of the Delolls; a set of men who concentered [sic] in their unbounded influence all the Commerce of the Province, and shared it at their pleasure. Mr Robert Hunter, who places himself at the head of the Memorialists, has long resided at Dacca; this man, in contempt of the exclusive rights and privileges held by the Company under charter, was impelled by his necessities to seek a subsistence in India; and not being able to obtain or declining to apply for a license from the Company, stole out to Bengal across the Deserts of Arabia. A knowledge of this circumstance afterwards coming to the Company, they directed, that if there was such a person resident in any of their Settlements, he should be forthwith sent to Europe; as they were determined, no one who had not obtained their leave, or who surreptitiously got out to any of their Settlements, should have the benefit of the Company's protection, or reside under it. This same man was engaged last year in making a provision of piece goods for the French, and actually did provide for that Nation a considerable Investment. The particulars of this transaction, if I can obtain them, I will take the first opportunity of communicating; but this is not necessary as the general fact is of public notoriety, and sufficient to point out his motives in the present Memorial, and whence springs his resentment, that the junior Company's Servants of the Factory should, from their local influence, share in the Commission business.

Mr. Cree, whose name is next on the Memorial, came out in one of your ships, and deserting, was left in India. For a time he engaged in the Country sea service; this not answering his interested views, on the death of Captain Alexander Scott, who succeeded Captain Barton in the office of Master Attendant, he pursued and married Captain Scott's widow, an old black woman to whom Captain Scott united himself when he was Pilot's Mate, and separated from, on her becoming of notorious character to the whole Settlement. Captain Scott's humanity, however, induced him to support her, and at his decease, or a little before it, he settled on her what he judged might be a comfortable maintenance to her in her old age. I mention this circumstance merely to expose the principles which have swayed this man in life. And you see him here consonant to the same base principle; first influencing Mr. Hatch to place a confidence in him, and then, because Mr. Hatch will not allow himself to be biassed by the hank this man supposes he has got over him, he charges the engagements he himself has led Mr. Hatch into, as a crime committed by that Gentleman against the Company; can any thing be more infamous? But in this I imagine he must be disappointed for what offence has this young man committed? what public interest has he sacrificed? what allowance does he draw from the Company, that he is to regard himself precluded from the advantages of Commerce, if he can derive any from his local situation? what are his engagements Mr. Cree? 600 pieces of coarse Cloths per month, for about two months, and the highest of those Cloths not 5 Rupees; so that the whole of this mighty Investment of Mr Hatch's is about 1,200 pieces, and its amount 6,000 Rupees, and this possibly gives him 600 Rupees profit, to slender wages of Current Rupees 20. 6. per month from the Company; yet this man (Cree) from June 1775 to January 1776, provided near 3 Lacks of goods for himself and near 2 of the Europe assortments, and this without any license of Trade from the Company, while he thinks a Servant of the Company has no claim, under ihe Company's license, to trade at all; such are the inconsistencies of self interest, and such the arts of unprincipled men in pursuit of their object. It is obvious, from the engagement being made direct with Mr. Hatch, and that Gentleman ratifying it by his own signature, that he could not possibly have thought he subjected himself, by such an act, to the displeasure of the Company; had such an idea struck him, the facility with which he might have covered the transaction would have occurred, and he would not have neglected to have done it. To every person of the least intelligence, it must be evident Mr Hatch had no conception of his being guilty of a crime to his employers, or that his employers expected he should debar himself of the privilege of Commerce, in the only articles of manufacture the Country produces, and from which he possibly could draw a subsistence; for certainly you, and every Gentleman who has any just notion of India, must know that the Company's allowance of 20. 6. C. R. per month, I think, to a Factor on this establishment, will not find him in raiment Fair as Mr Hatch appears in this business. Mr. Cree's conduct is dark, insidious and vile; he plainly shews[?], that in his opinion, he had attempted to influence Mr. Hatch to do wrong, and having succeeded in the attempt, he produces it as an instance of criminality in that Gentleman. In this, however, his cunning overshoots itself. Mr. Hatch, it is true, is made his instrument; but the crime, if there is any, in the act of providing Cloths not of Company's manufacture, is all Mr. Cree's. But, exclusive of the suppositious offence of Mr. Hatch, of engaging to execute a commission, what are we to think of Mr. Cree under these circumstances? think what we will, there is no room to hope any mind can possibly be impressed with sentiments of respect, or even so small a share of kindness for him, as to soften his crime against the first school tye with the appellation of folly, for it is worse.

Mr Kerr comes next; he is not engaged in Commerce, that I know, of of any kind; all I know of him is, that he has taken a very active part in restoring the Delolls to the provision of the Company's Investment, and that the head Deloll, Dooneram, has engaged himself to Mr Kerr for a Banian

Mr. Barnard M Cullum, a person in the service of Mr. Hunter, not licensed by the Company, was employed by him at Gaul Para, and does not do business, that I know of, independant of Mr. Hunter; so that in fact Mr. Hunter splits himself into Mr. M Cullum, and to swell the number of names to the Address, separates Mr. M Cullum's from his own. - A. J. Devereux and J. Bruce, are Portuguese Writers; these two last may be regarded in the same light as Mr. M Cullum; so that in fact the Address is Messrs, Hunter, Cree and Kerr.

The object of the Address itself requires scarce a comment; it is obvious; and must strike every Gentleman who shall read it with the least degree of attention; and the Directors must determine for the Company, whether it is most to their interest to resume the pernicious practice that has long obtained at Dacca, of purchasing their goods through intermediate Agents, or manufacturing their goods themselves; either conformably to the pbn Mr, Barwell adopted, or any other that may strike the Direction in a more eligible point of view. The argument, that individuals and the Foreign Companies have, from time immemorial, depended on the Delolls for their Investment, is a most curious reason for subjecting the English Company again to those men, or making those men at all necessary to them in the provision of their goods. Without the influence of the Company's name, it is evident the Delolls cannot, with equal facility as formerly, supply the national rivals of the English Commerce; of course, this is a strong sort of merit on which to urge their pretensions to serve the Company, and to decry the regulations that militate against the Foreign Companies and interlopers in the Trade, and at the same time give security to the Company's purchases. Admitting what the Addressers urge to be truth, that the Servanmts of the Company, under the Company's name engross the manufactures of the Country, and that all purchases must be made throught them. Under those circumstances let me ask, what is the alternative thc Addressers propose? why that the Aurungs shall be free and open to all. And the means, doubtless, correspond with this professed object. No such thing; for they declare, that, as individuals they formerly purchased through the Delolls, the Delolls should be restored to the same power and influence at the Aurungs; and all [...] of Merchants, the Company not excepted, buy through them. This is emancipating the Manufactures with a witness, and giving free currency to Trade with a vengeance; as if shackling all ranks, by making the Delolls superior and necessary to all, gave an independancy to all. Matchless inpudence! to pretend, by establishing a monopoly with the Delolls, far beyond anything that can possibly be effected by the Servants of the Company, there would be a greater freedom and currency in the purchases to be made, than under the present system; which, though it may and does give to the Servants of the Company a larger portion of the Trade than formerly, and a share in the Commission business with the free Merchants, yet it is not possible it should discourage the Manufacture, or depress the Manufacturers; who under whatever masters, must always remain simple workmen at the Looms, and eat the bread of industry. That the Manufacturer is poor, I can readily admit; and it will be happy for the Company and the Community they should continue so; was this not the case, they would never labour; and indeed, it is the first policy of all States, to have a well-regulated and industrious poor. If it is a doubt that the Manufacturers are a miserable poor, and the [...] shall be [...] to condemn the change of system in 1774, for the provision of the Investment, what reply? I leave you to draw the conclusion. A system has not been adopted above two years, opposed and counteracted by all the powerful influence of money and personal connection, while the system that preceded it, has operated for a long course of time. Now, if that system, opposed to a new one so circumstanced, does not appear to advantage, can any one suppose the new, properly supported, will not in time rise greatly superior.

But whatever is said of monopoly, to vilify the Company's Servants it is merely declamatory. All the purchases, made by all the degrees of Company's Servants, do not exceed six Lacks; the Company's purchases are about six Lacks more; the Foreign Companies and Individuals, of course, have eighteen Lacks to divide amongst themselves. See the Address, which state the Manufactures at Dacca 25 or 30 Lacks, though in reality they exceed this sum, if the fabrics for raiment to the Country people are included; now if the Company's Servants do not share amongst themselves above six Lacks of this produce, (and I am certain they do not) no one, I believe, will judge them to be immoderate in possessing that share.

The story of the Dutch Chief, Mr Lankeet, is introduced to shew, not only the difficulties the Foreign Companes had to struggle with, but to excite the resentment of the Company, and to influence the Company to abolish the present mode of procuring their Investment. The difficulties opposed to your rivals, the French and Dutch, is indeed a very good reason for continuing the new mode of your purchases; much better cannot be urged againat the very point the Addresses urge; that is, the throw your business into the hands of the Delolls. Messrs. Day and Hatch acted with Mr. Barwell's leave in the tyransaction with Mr. Lankeet; if they were wrong it was his fault; he authorized them; and the difficulties he had to encounter in conciliating and controlling the combined interests of all the Foreign Companies, their servants, and individuals, induced him to approve what is necessary to execute his purpose, and with as little disturbance as possible. If Mr. Barwell has erred, then, it is with the best of intentions; and the Company, I dare say, will justify him. Reflect only how solicitous the Dutch and French were in Lord Clive's and Mr Verelst's Governments, to provide their Investment with yours, or to have such a fixed number of Manufacturers; but here the Dutch declaring Mr Lankeet's transaction, and with good policy; because here they wished to support Delolls influence, by which they were enabled to rival you and then at the other Aurungs they wanted to insinuate themselves, and establish an interest they had not - the only motive they possibly could have, in all their Commercial negociations with Lord Clive and Mr Verelst. There are people, who seem to have adopted a notion, that since the Act of Parliament took place in this Country, the Company's Commercial, are separated from their Revenue Interest, and that they are no longer to be considered as more than mere Merchants, and barely upon an equality with the English trader who has established himself under their influence and name. Mr. Rous, by the whole tenor of his conduct where the Commercial interest of the Company have come in question, has stood forth as the champion of the opponents to his employers. Notwithstanding he is receiving the Company's pay, in the present instance you see he has not scrupled to proceed such lengths, as to avow himself, under his own hand, the instigator and abettor of the complaints of these unlicensed men, whose interests are diametrically opposite to those of his employers; and the support that Gentleman has given to the Addressers, flows entirely from the check his influence receives by so large a body of the people of the Province being in a manner placed beyond the reach of his authority; and all the Zemindars and Revenue Officers must naturally be averse to a system, which will not allow them to fleece the Manufacturers; who are sure to find against all illicit claims from the Commercial Agents, by complaining to the Revenue Officers; in short, they are mutual checks upon each other, for the security of Manufacture, and upon this principle the system should be continued.

With regard to what Mr. John Cree alledges in his Letter to your Board, of the Cloths (not of the Company's assortments) being indiscriminately chopped, I must observe, that on my arrival, I found the Cloths coming in very slowly; and I received repeated representations from the Company's Gomastah, that many of the Weavers who owed a former Balance to the Company, and had actually received their Advances for this year, instead of going to work upon the assortments for which they had engaged, had began to debase the fabric, and manufacture Cloths of different denominations, merely to avoid the delivery to the Company; flattering themselves such would be rejected, and consequently an opportunity be left them, of withholding the Company's Balances and selling the Cloths manufactured upon their money, to some of the many itinerant Europeans, who are constantly moving from one Aurung to another, to make these clandestine purchases. That the Company might not, therefore, by this chicanery, both be deprived of their Investment and lose the money advanced on their account, I was obliged, as the only alternative left me, to direct that the Cloths of all Weavers who stood in this predicament, should be chopped. If the Gomastahs have, in any one instance, exceeded these orders they certainly shall be punished; but the measure you will observe, was unavoidable.

I shall conclude my observation upon the subject of these Addressers, by requesting you will take particular notice, that no one single advantage is proposed for the Company by the Addressers; and whatever good they may propose to themselves and the Foreign Companies, it is all at the expence of the English Company and Company's Servants.

I beg leave to enclose you copy of another Letter, received this day from the Provincial Council, with my reply; by which you will perceive, I have not considered myself as authorized, without your immediate orders, to allow the Assistants under my Department to undergo any examination before the Provincial Council. Accompanying, is the copy of a Letter from Mr Cree.

Dacca,
the 30th July 1776.

I am, with esteem,
(Signed) G. Hurst.

A true copy,
(Signed) J. King
Depy. Secry.

As a result of the complaint of John Cree and his fellow merchants of Dacca, the Supreme Council (or Warren Hastings himself) sent letters (dated 25 July 1776) to various East India Company Officals asking them to look into the complaints and report back to them. On 29th July, the Chief and Provisional Council announnced that "next Friday" (2nd August?) would see the start of their inquiry and requested interested parties to attend on that date.

On 31st August George Hurst wrote to the Board of Trade defending the actions of Day and Hatch and attacking John Cree and other complainants:

To the Honourable Warren Hastings Esquire Governor General &c Gentlemen of the Supreme Council of Calcutta Honourable Sir and Sirs

Since doing ourselves the honour to address you under date the 2d instant, containing our proofs in support of our Memorial of the 8th July; we, on mature deliberation, think it necessary, as we have been disappointed in not having a local examination, agreeable to your orders (to which no reasonable set of men could object; and we are surprized our opponents should have hesitated, as it gave them every opportunity of convincing the impartiality of their innocence) to submit the following remarks and circumstances to your consideration, as they all serve to confirm and elucidate the several facts represented in our remonstrance.

The French were last year obliged to purchase their goods at Dacca, upon commission, from the English Company's Servants, to the Amount of sixty thousand Rupees

Since, the Dutch Resident, Mr. Craigle, purchased from Mr. Day a quantity of Cloths. which were returned at Mr. Day's desire, being, it is thought, afraid Mr. Grueber would demand them for the Honourable Company; for as soon as Mr. Grueber was suspended the service, he again fold them to Mr. Craigle.

The Aurungs are guarded with a number of Sepoys, merely to preserve the monopoly; for the Delolls procured four times the quantity of Cloths without Sepoys.

In the year 1774, the monopoly was so complete, that the Armenians and Shopkeepers in Dacca were under the necessity of paying to the Superintendants 40 per cent. advance upon Cloths purchased from them; we request the Armenians may be called upon to declare the truth of this circumstance.

The up-country Merchants would not purchase on these terms; they returned with their money, and have never since visited Dacca. One of these Merchants applied for a Perwannah to carry back with him eighty thousand Rupees which was lost to this Province.

The Superintendants have oppressed the Delolls and Pykar, and seized their houses in the Aurungs. As a particular proof of the violence with which they have conducted themselves, we take the liberty to enclose the Copy (No. 1) of a petition from Ramgongah, a Pykar residing at Junglebarry, against one of them, of a very extraordinary nature. The validity of which cannot bear the least doubt; the original was delivered in to Mr. Grueber, in his public capacity, as Commercial Chief, and we request he may be ordered to produce it. We, from motives of tenderness, avoid commenting on transactions of this kind; a delicacy which, we have many reasons to believe, would not be observed to us were we in the same situation

We also enclose (No. 2) a particular and general statement of the Dacca Manufactures; by which it will plainly appear, there can be no difficulty in the few Lacks wanted for the public Investment, and leaving the most unlimited and extensive room for speculation, and the execution of orders from Merchants.

On collecting and placing the whole of what we wrote in one general view before you, relative to this monopoly, we flatter ourselves the truth of it will soon appear. As it is not our intention to perplex or mislead, we have confined ourselves to the bare representation of facts, and leave it to the judgment of our superior to determine on them

We are with respect, &c.

(Signed) Robert Hunter
James Kerr
John Cree

Dacca,
31st August, 1776

P.S. The paper (No. 3) contains a gross calculation of the charges attending the provision of the public Investment, and we believe upon strict inquiry it will be found to be pretty near the truth.

On 1st August a further letter was sent out announcing the postponement of the inquiry, giving no reason and fixing no alternative date. The Dacca merchants, having heard nothing by the end of the month, wrote again to the Hastings and the Supreme Council: