is to say, 55,000l. out of the sum of nine lacks and 50,000

When

tract, or an agreement; and this agreement was to pay Mr. Hastings, as one should think, certain sums of money; it does not say from whom, but only that such a sum of money was paid, and that there remains such a balance. you come and compare the money received by Mr. Croftes with these cabooleats, you find that the cabooleats amount to 95,000l. and that the receipt has been about 55,000l. and that upon the face of this account, there is 40,000l. somewhere or other unaccounted for. There never was such a mode of account keeping, except in the new system of this bribe exchequer.

Your lordships will now see, from this luminous, satisfactory, and clear account, which could come from no other than a great accountant and a great financier, establishing some new system of finance, and recommending it to the world as superiour to those old-fashioned foolish establishments, the exchequer and bank of England, what lights are received from Mr. Hastings.

However, it does so happen, that from these obscure hints we have been able to institute examinations, which have discovered such a mass of fraud, guilt, corruption, and oppression, as probably never before existed since the beginning of the world and in that darkness, we hope and trust, the diligence and zeal of the House of Commons will find light sufficient to make a full discovery of his base crimes. We hope and trust, that after all his concealments, and, though he appear resolved to die in the last dyke of prevarication, all his artifices will not be able to secure him

from the siege, which the diligence of the House of Commons has laid to his corruptions.

Your lordships will remark in a paragraph, which though it stands last, is the first in principle, in Mr. Larkins's letter, that, having before given his comment, he perorates, as is natural, upon such an occasion. This peroration, as is usual in perorations, is in favour of the parties speaking it, and ad conciliandum auditorem. "Conscious, (he says) that the concern, which I have had in these transactions, needs neither an apology nor an excuse ;-that is rather extraordinary too!-and that I have in no action of my life sacrificed the duty and fidelity, which I owed to my honourable employers, either to the regard, which I felt for another, or to the advancement of my own fortune, I shall conclude this address, firmly relying upon the candour of those, before whom it may be submitted, for its being deemed a satisfactory as well as a circumstantial compliance with the requisition, in conformity to which the information it affords has been furnished;" meaning, as your lordships will see in the whole course of the letter, that he had written it in compliance with the requisition, and in conformity to the information he had been furnished with by Mr. Hastings;-" without which it would have been as base as dishonourable for me spontaneously to have afforded it; for though the duty, which every man owes to himself, should render him incapable of making an assertion not strictly true, no man, actuated either by virtuous or honourable sentiments, could mistakenly apprehend, that unless he betrayed the confidence reposed in him by another, he might be deemed deficient in fidelity to his employers."

My lords, here is, in my opinion, a discovery very well worthy your lordships' attention; here is the accountantgeneral of the company, who declares, and fixes it, as a point of honour, that he would not have made a discovery so important to them, if Mr. Hastings himself had not authorized him to make it a point to which he considers himself bound, by his honour, to adhere. Let us see, what becomes of us, when the principle of honour is so debauched and perverted. A principle of honour, as long as it is

:

connected with virtue, adds no small efficacy to its operation, and no small brilliancy and lustre to its appearance; but honour, the moment, that it becomes unconnected with the duties of official function, with the relations of life, and the eternal and immutable rules of morality, and appears in its substance alien to them, changes its nature, and instead of justifying a breach of duty, aggravates all its mischiefs to an almost infinite degree; by the apparent lustre of the surface, it hides from you the baseness and deformity of the ground here is Mr. Hastings's agent, Mr. Larkins, the company's general accountant, prefers his attachment to Mr. Hastings to his duty to the company. Instead of the ac

count, which he ought to give to them, in consequence of the trust reposed in him, he thinks himself bound by honour to Mr. Hastings, if Mr. Hastings had not called for that explanation, not to have given it; so that whatever obscurity is in this explanation, it is because Mr. Hastings did not authorize or require him to give a clearer: Here is a principle of treacherous fidelity; of perfidious honour; of the faith of conspirators against their masters; the faith of robbers against the publick, held up, against the duty of an officer in a publick situation. You see, how they are bound to one another, and how they give their fidelity to keep the secrets of one another, to prevent the directors having a true knowledge of their affairs; and, I am sure, if you do not destroy this honour of conspirators, and this faith of robbers, that there will be no other honour and no other fidelity among the servants in India. Mr. Larkins, your lordships see, adheres to the principle of secrecy; you will next remark, that Mr. Hastings had as many bribe-factors as bribes; there was confidence to be reposed in each of them, and not one of these men appears to be in the confidence of another. You will find, in this letter, the policy, the frame, and constitution of this new exchequer. Mr. Croftes seems to have known things, which Mr. Larkins did not: Mr. Larkins knew things, which Gunga Govin Sing did not. Gunga Goyin Sing knew things, which none of the rest of the confederates knew. Cantoo Baboo, who appears in this letter as a principal actor, was in a secret, which Mr. Larkins did

not know. It appears, likewise, that there was a Persian moonshee in a secret, of which Cantoo Baboo was ignorant; and it appears, that Mr. Palmer was in the secret of a transaction, not entrusted to any of the rest. Such is the labyrinth of this practical painche, or screw, that if, for instance, you were endeavouring to trace backwards some transaction through Major Palmer, you would be stopped there and must go back again, for it had begun with Cantoo Baboo. If in another you were to penetrate into the dark recess of the black breast of Cantoo Baboo, you could not go further; for it began with Gunga Govin Sing. If you pierce the breast of Gunga Govin Sing, you are again stopped; a Persian moonshee was the confidential agent. If you get beyond this, you find Mr. Larkins knew something, which the others did not; and at last, you find, Mr. Hastings did not put entire confidence in any of them. You will see, by this letter, that he kept his accounts in all colours, black, white and mezzotinto that he kept them in all languages; in Persian, in Bengallee, and in a language, which, I believe, is neither Persian, nor Bengallee, nor any other known in the world; but a language, in which Mr. Hastings found it proper to keep his accounts and to transact his business. The persons carrying on the accounts are, Mr. Larkins, an Englishman; Cantoo Baboo, a Gentoo, and a Persian moonshee, probably a Mahomedan. So all languages; all religions; all descriptions of men, are to keep the account of these bribes, and to make out this valuable account, which Mr. Larkins gave you!

Let us now see, how far the memory, observation, and knowledge of the persons referred to, can supply the want of them in Mr. Hastings. These accounts come at last, though late, from Mr. Larkins, who I will venture to say, let the banyans boast what they will, has skill perhaps equal to the best of them: he begins by explaining to you something concerning the present of the ten lacks. I wish your lordships always to take Mr. Hastings's word, where it can be had, or Mr. Larkins's, who was the representative of, and memory keeper to, Mr. Hastings; and, then, I may perhaps take the liberty of making some observations upon it.

"Extract of a letter from William Larkins, accountant-general of Bengal, to the chairman of the East-India Company, dated 5th August 1786. Mr. Hastings returned from Benares to Calcutta on the 5th February 1782: at that time wholly ignorant of the letter, which on the 20th January he wrote from Patna, to the secret committee of the honourable the court of directors: The rough draft of this letter, in the hand-writing of Major Palmer, is now in my possession. Soon after his arrival at the presidency, he requested me to form the account of his receipts and disbursements, which you will find journalized in the 280th, &c. and 307th pages of the honourable company's general books of the year 1781-2. My official situation as accountant-general, had previously convinced me, that Mr. Hastings could not have made the issues, which were acknowledged as received from him, by some of the paymasters of the army, unless he had obtained some such supply, as that, which he afterwards, viz. on the 22d May 1782, made known to me, when I immediately suggested to him the necessity of his transmitting that account, which accompanied his letter of that date, till when the promise contained in his letter of 20th January had entirely escaped his recollection."

The first thing I would remark on this, and I believe your lordships have rather gone before me in the remark, is, that Mr. Hastings came down to Calcutta on the 5th of February, that then, or a few days after, he calls to him his confidential and faithful friend (not his official secretary, for he trusted none of his regular secretaries with these transactions,) he calls him to help him to make out his accounts during his absence. You would imagine, that at that time, he trusted this man with his account: no such thing; he goes on with the accountant-general, accounting with him for money expended, without ever explaining to that accountant-general how that money came into his hands. Here, then, we have the accountant making out the account, and the person accounting; the accountant does not in any manner make an objection, and say, Here you are giving me an account, by which it appears, that you have expended money, but you have not told me, where you received it: how