very transactions, that the new covenants were made, which bind the servants of the Company, never to take a present of above 2001. or some such sum of money, from any native in circumstances, there described. This covenant I shall reserve for consideration in another part of this business. It was in pursuance of this idea, and to prevent the abuse of the prevailing custom of visiting the governing powers of that country, with a view of receiving presents from them, that the House of Commons afterwards, in its inquiries, took up this matter and passed the regulating act in 1773. But to return to Munny Begum this very person, that had got into power by the means already mentioned, did Mr. Hastings resort to, knowing her to be well skilled in the trade of bribery ;-knowing her skilful practice in business of this sort; knowing the fitness of her eunuchs, instruments and agents to be dealers in this kind of traffick. This very woman did Mr. Hastings select, stigmatized as she was in the Company's record, stigmatized by the very gentleman who sits next to him, and whose name you have heard read to you, as one of those members of the Council that reprobated the horrible iniquity of the transaction, in which this woman was a principal agent. For though neither the young Nabob nor his mother ought to have been raised to the stations

in which they were placed, and were placed there for the purpose of facilitating the receipt of bribes; yet the order of nature was preserved, and the mother was made the guardian of her own son. For though she was a prostitute and he a bastard, yet still she was a mother and he a son; and both nature and legitimate disposition, with regard to the guardianship of a son, went together.

But what did Mr. Hastings do? improving upon the preceding transaction, improving on it by a kind of refinement in corruption-he drives away the lawful mother from her lawful guardianship; the mother of nature he turns out, and he delivers her son to the stepmother, to be the guardian of his person. That your Lordships may see who this woman was, we shall read to you a paper from your Lordships' Minutes, produced before Mr. Hastings's face, and never contradicted by him from that day to this.

At a consultation, 24th July 1775 :—“ Shah "Chanim, deceased, was sister to the Nabob "Mahub ul Jung by the same father, but dif"ferent mothers; she married Meer Mahomed "Jaffier Khan, by whom she had a son and a "daughter; the name of the former was Meer Mahomed Sadduc Ali Khan, and the latter

"was married to Meer Mahomed Cossim Khan "Sadduc; Ali Khan had two sons and two "daughters; the sons' names are Meer Sydoc "and Meer Sobeem, who are now living; the "daughters were married to Sultan Merza "Daood.

"Baboo Begum, the mother of the Nabob "Mobarick ul Dowlah, was the daughter of "Summim Ali Khan, and married Meer Ma "homed Jaffier Khan. The history of Munny "Begum, is this:-At a village called Balcurda, "near Sehindra, there lived a widow, who from "her great poverty, not being able to bring up "her daughter Munny, gave her to a slave girl "belonging to Summim Ali Khan, whose name "was Bissoo; during the space of five years "she lived at Shahjehunabad, and was educated

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by Bissoo, after the manner of a dancing girl; "afterward the Nabob Shamot Jung, upon the "marriage of Ikram ul Dowlah, brother to the "Nabob Surage ul Dowlah, sent for Bissoo "Beg's set of dancing girls from Shahjehunabad, "of which Munny Begum was one, and allowed "them 10,000 rupees for their expences, to "dance at the wedding; while this ceremony "was celebrating they were kept by the Nabob, "but some months afterwards he dismissed "them, and they took up their residence in this Meer Mahomed Jaffier Khan then

"city.

" took them into keeping, and allowed Munny "and her set 500 rupees per month; till at length finding that Munny was pregnant, he "took her into his own house; she gave birth "to the Nabob Nijam ul Dowlah, and in this "manner she has remained in the Nabob's "family ever since.'

My Lords, I do not mean to detain you long upon this part of the business; but I have thought it necessary to advert to these particulars. As to all the rest, the honourable and able Manager who preceded me has sufficiently impressed upon your Lordships' minds the monstrous nature of the deposing of the Nabob's mother from the guardianship of her son, for the purpose of placing this woman there at the head of all his family, and of his domestick concerns in the seraglio within doors, and at the head of the state without; together with the disposal of the whole of the revenue that was allowed him. Mr. Hastings pretends, indeed, to have appointed at the same time a trusty mudseddy to keep the accounts of the revenue, but he has since declared that no account had been kept, and that it was in vain to desire it or to call for it. This is the state of the case with respect to the appointment of Munny Begum. With regard to the re-appointment of Mahomed Reza Khan, you have heard from my worthy fellow Manager,

that

that he was acquitted of the charges that had been brought against him by Mr. Hastings, after a long and lingering trial. The Company was perfectly satisfied with the acquittal, and declared that he was not only acquitted, but honourably acquitted; and they also declared that he had a fair claim to a compensation for his sufferings. They not only declared him innocent, but meritorious. They gave orders that he should be considered as a person who was to be placed in office again upon the first occasion, and that he had entitled himself to this favour by his conduct in the place which he had before filled.

The Council of the year 1775 (whom I can never mention nor shall mention without honour) who complied faithfully with the Act of Parliament, who never disobeyed the orders of the Company, and to whom no man has imputed even the shadow of corruption, found that this Munny Begum had acted in the manner which my honourable fellow Manager had stated; that she had dissipated the revenue, that she had neglected the education of the Nabob, and had thrown the whole judicature of the country into confusion. They ordered that she should be removed from her situation, that the Nabob's own mother should be placed at the head of the seraglio, a situation to which she was entitled;