use of the company. Now I hope I shall demonstrate, if not, it will be by some one abler than me demonstrated in the course of this business, that there never was a bribe received by Mr. Hastings, that was not instantly followed with a deficiency in the revenue; this is clear, and what we undertake to prove and that Debi Sing himself was, at the time Mr. Hastings came away, between twenty and thirty thousand pounds debtor to the company. So that in truth you always find a deficiency of revenue nearly equal, and in some instances I shall show double, to all the bribes Mr. Hastings received; from whence it will be evident, that he never could, nor did, receive them under that absurd and strange idea of a resource to government.

I must re-state to your lordships, because I wish you never to forget, that this committee of revenue was, in their own opinion, and from their own certain knowledge, and mere motion, if motion can be attributed originally to instruments, mere tools; that they knew, that they were tools in the hands of Gunga Govin Sing. There were two persons principal in it, Mr. Shore, who was the acting president, and Mr. Anderson, who was president in rank, and president in emolument, but absent for a great part of the time upon a foreign embassy. It is the recorded opinion of the former, for I must beg leave to read again a part of the paper, which has already been read to your lordships, that "the committee, with the best intentions, best abilities, and steadiest application, must, after all, be a tool in the hands of their dewan."

Now do you believe in the first place, that men will long have abilities, will long have good intentions, and will long, above all, have steady application, when they know they are but tools in the hands of another? when they know they are tools for his own corrupt purposes?

In the next place I must beg leave to state to you, that on the constitution of this committee Mr. Hastings made them all take a solemn oath, that they would never receive any present whatever. It was not enough to trust to a general covenant; it was not enough to trust to the penal act of 1773; he bound the committee by a new oath, and forc

ed them to declare, that they would not receive any bribės. As soon as he had so secured them against receiving bribes, he was resolved to make them inefficient,-a good way to secure them against bribes, by taking from them the power of bribe-worthy service. This was a good counter security to their oath. But Mr. Hastings put a dewan there, against whom there was no security; he let loose this dewan to frustrate their intentions, their application, their abilities and oath; that is, there was a person at that board, who was more than the board itself, who might riot in peculation and plunder from one end of the country to the other. He was there to receive bribes for Mr. Hastings; the committee were to be pure with impotent hands; and then came a person with ample power for Mr. Hastings himself. And, lest this person should not have power enough in this committee, he is made the general bribe broker to Mr. Hastings. This secret under-current, as your lordships will see, is to counteract every thing, and, as fast as one part is rendered pure, totally to corrupt all the rest.

But, my lords, this was not the private opinion of Mr. Shore only, a man of great abilities, and intimately acquainted with the revenue, who must know when he was in a situation to do good, and when not. The other gentleman, whom I have mentioned, Mr. Hastings's confidant in every thing but his bribes, and supposed to be in his closest secrets, is Mr. Anderson. I should remark to your lordships, that Mr. Anderson is a man apparently of weak nerves, of modest and very guarded demeanour, as we have seen him in. the House of Commons; it is in that way only I have the honour of knowing him. Mr. Anderson being asked, whether he agreed in the opinion and admitted the truth of his friend Mr. Shore's statement relative to the dewan of the committee, his answer was this "I do not think, that I should have written it quite so strong, but I do in a great measure agree to it, that is, I think there is a great deal of truth in the observation; I think, in particular, that it would require great exertion in the committee, and great abilities on the part of the president, to restrain effectually the conduct of the dewan; I think it would be difficult for the com

mittee to interpose a sufficient controul to guard against all the abuses of the dewan."

There is the real president of the committee, there the most active, efficient member of it. They are both of one opinion concerning their situation; and, I think, this opinion of Mr. Anderson is still more strong; for as he thinks he should have written it with a little more guard, but should have agreed in substance, you must naturally think the strongest expression the truest representation of the circum

stance.

There is another circumstance, that must strike your lordships relative to this institution. It is where the president says, that the use of the president would be to exert his best abilities, his greatest application, his constant guard, for what?

-to prevent his dewan from being guilty of bribery, and being guilty of oppressions. So here is an executive constitution, in which the chief executive minister is to be in such a situation, and of such a disposition, that the chief employment of the presiding person in the committee is to guard against him, and to prevent his doing mischief. Here is a man appointed, of the greatest possible power, of the greatest possible wickedness, in a situation to exert that power and wicked: ess for the destruction of the country; and, without doubt, it would require the greatest ability and diligence in the person at the head of that council to prevent it. Such a constitution, allowed and alleged by the persons themselves, who composed it, was, I believe, never heard of in the world.

Now that I have done with this part of the system of bribery, your lordships will permit me to follow Mr. Hastings to his last parting scene. He parted with his power, he parted with his situation, he parted with every thing, but he never could part with Gunga Govin Sing. He was on his voyage, he had embarked, he was upon the Ganges, he had quitted his government; and his last dying sigh, his last parting voice, was Gunga Govin Sing. It ran upon the banks of the Ganges, as another plaintive voice ran upon the banks of another river, (I forget whose ;) his last accents were Gunga, Gunga Govin Sing. It demonstrates the power of friendship.

It is said by some idle absurd moralists, that friendship is a thing, that cannot subsist between bad men; but I will show your lordships the direct contrary; and, after having shown you what Gunga Govin Sing was, I shall bring before you Mr. Hastings's last act of friendship for him. Not that I have quite shown you every thing, but pretty well, I think, respecting this man. There is a great deal concerning his character and conduct, that is laid by; and I do believe, that whatever time I should take up in expatiating upon these things, there would be "in the lowest deep still a lower deep;" for there is not a day of the inquiry, that does not bring to light more and more of this evil against Mr. Hastings.

But, before I open the papers, relative to this act of Mr. Hastings's friendship for Gunga Govin Sing, I must re-state some circumstances, that your lordships may understand thoroughly the nature of it. Your lordships may recollect, that about the time of the succession of the minor rajah of Dinagepore, who was then but five or six years of age, and, when Mr. Hastings left Bengal, eight or nine, Mr. Hastings had received from that country a bribe of about 40,000l. There is a fidelity even in bribery ;-there is a truth and observance even in corruption; there is a justice, that, if money is to be paid for protection, protection should be given. My lords, Mr. Hastings received this bribe through Gunga Govin Sing; then, at least through Gunga Govin Sing, he ought to take care, that that rajah should not be robbed; that he should not be robbed, if Gunga Govin Sing could help it; that above all he should not be robbed by Gunga Govin Sing himself. But your lordships will find, that the last act of Mr. Hastings's life was to be an accomplice in the most cruel and perfidious breach of faith, in the most iniquitous transaction, that I do believe ever was held out to the indignation of the world with regard to private persons. When he departed on the 16th of February 1785, when he was on board in the mouth of the Ganges, and preparing to visit his native country, let us see what the last act of his life then was. Hear the last tender accents of the dying swan upon the Ganges: "The regret

which I cannot but feel in relinquishing the service of my honourable employers, would be much embittered, were it accompanied by the reflection, that I have neglected the merits of a man, who deserves no less of them than of myself, Gunga Govin Sing, who from his earliest youth had been employed in the collection of the revenues, and was, about eleven years ago, selected for his superiour talents to fill the office of dewan to the Calcutta committee. He has from that time, with a short intermission, been the principal native agent in the collection of the company's revenues; and I can take upon myself to say, that he has performed the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence, and ability. To myself he has given proofs of a constancy and attachment, which neither the fears, nor expectations, excited by the prevalence of different influence, could shake and at a time too when these qualities were so dangerous, that, far from finding them amongst the generality of his countrymen, I did not invariably meet with them amongst my own. With such a sense of his merits, it is natural, that I should feel a desire of rewarding him; for justice, gratitude, generosity, and even policy demand it and I resort to the board for the means of performing so necessary a duty, in full confidence, that as those, which I shall point out, are neither incompatible with the company's interest, nor prejudicial to the rights of others, they will not be withheld from me. At the request, therefore, of Gunga Govin Sing I deliver the accompanying durkausts, or petitions, for grants of lands lying in different districts; the total jumma, or rent, of which amount to rupees 2,38,061. 12. 1."

Your lordships recollect, that Mr. Larkins was one of the bribe agents of Mr. Hastings; one, I mean, of a corporation, but not corporate in their acts. My lords, Mr. Larkins has told you, he has told us, and he has told the court of directors, that Mr. Hastings parted in a quarrel with Gunga Govin Sing, because he had not faithfully kept his engagement with regard to his bribe; and that, instead of 40,000l. from Dinagepore, he had only paid him 30,000l. My lords, that iniquitous men will defraud one another I can conceive; but you will perceive by Mr. Hastings's beha