has neither capacity nor experience, is responsible for the consequences of such an appointment; and Mr. Hastings is doubly responsible in this case, because he placed Mr. Markham as Resident, merely to show that he defied the authority of the Court of Directors.

But my Lords, let us proceed. We find Mr. Hastings resolved to exact forty lacks from the country; although he had no proof that such a tribute could be fairly collected. He next assigns to this boy the Rajah, emoluments amounting to about 60,000l. a year. Let us now see upon what grounds he can justify the assignment of these emoluments. I can perceive none but such as are founded upon the opinion of its being necessary to the support of the Rajah's dignity. Now, when Mr. Markham, who is the sole ostensible actor in the management of the new Rajah, as he had been a witness to the deposition of the former, comes before you to give an account of what he thought of Cheit Sing, who appears to have properly supported the dignity of his situation, he tells you, that about a lack or a lack and a half (10,000 l. or 15,0007.) a year was as much as Cheit Sing could spend. And yet this young creature, settled in the same country, and who was to pay 400,000l. a year, instead of 250,000l. tribute to the Company, was authorized by Mr. Hastings to collect

and

V

and reserve to his own use 60,000l. out of the revenue. That is to say, he was to receive four times as much as was stated by Mr. Hastings, on Mr. Markham's evidence, to have been necessary to support him.

Your Lordships tread upon corruption every where. Why was such a large revenue given to the young Rajah to support his dignity, when, as they say, Cheit Sing did not spend above a lack and half in support of his; though it is known he had great establishments to maintain; that he had erected considerable buildings adorned with fine gardens; and, according to them, had made great preparations for war?

We must at length imagine, that they knew the country could bear the impost imposed upon it. I ask, how did they know this? We have proved to you, by a paper presented here by Mr. Markham, that the net amount of the collections was about 360,000l. This is their own account, and was made up, as Mr. Markham says, by one of the clerks of Durbedgy Sing, together with his Persian moonshey, (a very fine council to settle the revenues of the kingdom,) in his private house. And with this account before them, they have dared to impose upon the necks of that unhappy people a tribute of 400,000l. together with an income for the Rajah of 60,000l. These sums the Naib Durbedgy

Sing was bound to furnish, and left to get them as he could. Your Lordships will observe, that I speak of the net proceeds of the collections. We have nothing to do with the gross amount. We are speaking of what came to the publick treasury, which was no more than I have stated; and it was out of the publick treasury that these payments were to be made, because there could be no other honest way of getting the money.

But let us now come to the main point, which is to ascertain what sums the country could really bear. Mr. Hastings maintains (whether in the speech of his counsel or otherwise, I do not recollect) that the revenue of the country was 400,000l. that it constantly paid that sum, and flourished under the payment. In answer to this, I refer your Lordships, first to Mr. Markham's declaration, and the Wassil Baakee, which is in page 1750 of the printed Minutes. I next refer your Lordships to Mr. Duncan's Reports, in page 2493. According to Mr. Duncan's publick estimate of the revenue of Benares, the net collections of the very year we are speaking of, when Durbedgy Sing had the management, and when Mr. Markham, his Persian moonshey, and a clerk in his private house, made their estimates, without any documents, or with whatever documents, or God only knows, for nothing appears on the record of the transaction; the collections

yielded

yielded in that year but 340,000l. that is 20,000% less than Mr. Markham's estimate. But take it which way you will, whether you take it at Mr. Markham's 360,000l. or at Mr. Duncan's 340,000l. your Lordships will see, that after reserving 60,000l. for his own private expenses, the Rajah could not realize a sum nearly equal to the tribute demanded.

Your Lordships have also in evidence before you, an account of the produce of the country, for I believe full five years after this period, from which it appears that it never realized the forty lacks, or any thing like it. Yielding only thirty-seven and thirty-nine lacks, or thereabouts, which is 20,000l. short of Mr. Markham's estimate, and 160,000l. short of Mr. Hastings's. On what data could the Prisoner at your bar have formed this estimate? Where were all the clerks and mutseddies, where were all the men of business in Benares, who could have given him complete information upon the subject? We do not find the trace of any of them; all our information is Mr. Markham's moonshey, and some clerk of Durbedgy Sing's employed in Mr. Markham's private counting-house, in estimating revenues of a country.

The disposable revenue was still further reduced by the jaghires which Mr. Hastings granted, but to what amount does not appear.

He

He mentions the increase in the revenue, by the confiscation of the estates of the Baboos, who had been in rebellion. This he rates at six lacks, But we have inspected the accounts; we have examined them with that sedulous attention, which belongs to that branch of the legislature that has the care of the publick revenues, and we have not found one trace of this addition. Whether these confiscations were ever actually made, remains doubtful; but if they were made, the application or the receipt of the money they yielded does not appear in any account whatever. I leave your Lordships to judge of this.

But it may be said, that Hastings might have been in an errour. If he was in an errour, my Lords, his errour continued an extraordinary length of time. The errour itself was also extraordinary in a man of business; it was an errour of account. If his confidential agent, Mr. Markham, had originally contributed to lead him into the errour, he soon perceived it. He soon informed Mr. Hastings, that his expectations were erroneous, and that he had overrated the country. What then are we to think of his persevering in this errour? Mr. Hastings might have formed extravagant and wild expectations when he was going up the country to plunder; for we allow that avarice may often VOL. XV. P overcalculate