filling the vacancy in the Nizamut before our arrival, as the Lapwing arrived in the month "of January with your general letter, and the "appointment of a Committee with express powers to that purpose, for the successful "exertion of which the happiest occasion now "offered; however, a contrary resolution pre"vailed in the Council; the opportunity of

acquiring immense fortunes was too inviting "to be neglected, and the temptation too pow"erful to be resisted; a treaty was hastily "drawn up by the Board, or rather transcribed "with few unimportant additions from that con"cluded with Meer Jaffier, and a deputation "consisting of Messrs. Johnstone, senior, Mid"dleton and Leycester, appointed to raise the "natural son of the deceased Nabob to the Subadarry, in prejudice of the claim of the grandson; and for this measure such reasons assigned as ought to have dictated a diametrically opposite resolution. Miran's son was "a minor, which circumstance alone would "have naturally brought the whole administra"tion into our hands at a juncture when it "became indispensably necessary we should "realize the shadow of power and influence, "which, having no solid foundation, was exposed "to the danger of being annihilated by the first "stroke of adverse fortune; but this inconsis

"tence

tence was not regarded, nor was it material "to the views for precipitating the treaty, which

was pressed on the young Nabob at the first "interview, in so earnest and indelicate a man"ner as highly disgusted him and chagrined "his ministers, while not a single rupee was sti"pulated for the Company, whose interests

were sacrificed that their servants might revel " in the spoils of a treasury, before impoverished, "but now totally exhausted."

"6. This scene of corruption was first dis"closed at a visit the Nabob paid to Lord Clive "and the gentlemen of the Committee a few "days after our arrival; he there delivered to "his Lordship a letter filled with bitter com

plaints of the insults and indignity he had "been exposed to, and the embezzlement of "near twenty lacks of rupees issued from his

treasury for purposes unknown, during the "late negotiations;-so public a complaint could "not be disregarded, and it soon produced an "inquiry. We referred the letter to the Board, "in expectation of obtaining a satisfactory ac"count of the application of this money, and "were answered only by a warm remonstrance

entered by Mr. Leycester, against that very "Nabob in whose elevation he boasts of having "been a principal agent."

"7.-Mahomed Reza Khan, the naib sou

"bah

66

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bah, was then called upon to account for this large disbursement from the treasury; and " he soon delivered to the Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered in our proceedings, the 6th of June, wherein he specifies "the several names and sums, by whom paid, "and to whom, whether in cash, bills or obligation; so precise, so. accurate an account "as this of money for secret and venal services "was never, we believe, before this period ex"hibited to the honourable Court of Directors, "at least never vouched by undeniable testimony and authentick documents by Juggut "Seet, who himself was obliged to contribute

largely to the sums demanded by Moolyram, "who was employed by Mr. Johnstone in all "these pecuniary transactions by the Nabob "and Mahomet Reza Khan, who were the hea"viest sufferers; and lastly by the confession "of the gentlemen themselves whose names "are specified in the distribution list."

"8.-Juggut Seet expressly declared in his "narrative, that the sum which he agreed to pay the deputation, amounting to 125,000

rupees, was extorted by menaces; and since "the close of our inquiry, and the opinions we "delivered in the proceedings of the 21st of

June, it fully appears, that the presents from "the Nabob and Mahomed Rezah Khan, exceed

❝ing the immense sum of seventeen lacks, were "not the voluntary offerings of gratitude, but " contributions levied on the weakness of the "government, and violently exacted from the

dependent state and timid disposition of the "minister. The charge, indeed, is denied on "the one hand, as well as affirmed on the "other. Your honourable Board must there"fore determine, how far the circumstance of "extortion may aggravate the crime of disobe "dience to your positive orders; the exposing "the government in a manner to sale, and "receiving the infamous wages of corruption "from opposite parties and contending interests. "We speak with boldness, because we speak "from conviction founded upon indubitable "evidence, that besides the above sums speci"fied in the distribution account, to the amount "of 228,125 pounds sterling, there was like"wise to the value of several lacks of rupees "procured from Nundcomar and Roydullub, "each of whom aspired at, and obtained a "promise of that very employment it was pre"determined to bestow on Mahomed Reza Khan. "Signed at the end,-Clive, WTM B. Sumner, "John Carnac, H. Verelst, Fra Sykes."

t

My Lords, the persons who sign this letter are mostly the friends, and one of them is the gentleman

VOL. XVI.

gentleman who is bail for, and sits near Mr. Hastings. They state to you this horrible and venal transaction by which the government was set to sale, by which a bastard son was elevated to the wrong of the natural and legitimate heir; and in which a prostitute, his mother, was put in the place of the honourable and legitimate mother of the representative of the family.

Now if there was one thing more than another under heaven which Mr. Hastings ought to have shunned, it was the suspicion of being concerned

in

any such infamous transaction as that which is here recorded to be so-a transaction in which the country government had before been sold to this very woman and her offspring, and in which two great candidates for power in that country, fought against each other, and perhaps the largest offerer carried it.

When a governour general sees the traces of corruption in the conduct of his predecessors, the traces of injustice following that corruption, -the traces of notorious irregularity, in setting aside the just claimants in favour of those that have no claim at all, he has that before his eyes which ought to have made him the more scrupulously avoid, and to keep at the farthest distance possible from, the contagion and even the suspicion of being corrupted by it. Moreover, my Lords, it was in consequence of these