versation, when Mr. Hastings saved them the trouble by turning out the whole committee, consisting of a president and five members. So that in all times, in all characters, in all places, he stood as a man of a bad character and evil repute, though supposed to be a man of great abilities.

My lords, permit me for one moment to drop my representative character here, and to speak to your lordships only as a man of some experience in the world, and conversant with the affairs of men, and with the characters of men.

I do then declare my conviction, and wish it may stand recorded to posterity, that there never was a bad man, that had ability for good service. It is not in the nature of such men; their minds are so distorted to selfish purposes, to knavish, artificial, and crafty means of accomplishing those selfish ends, that, if put to any good service, they are poor, dull, helpless. Their natural faculties never have that direction, they are paralytick on that side;-the muscles, if I may use the expression, that ought to move it, are all dead. They know nothing, but how to pursue selfish ends by wicked and indirect means. No man ever knowingly employed a bad man on account of his abilities, but for evil ends. Mr. Hastings knew this man to be bad; all the world knew him to be bad; and how did he employ him? in such a manner as that he might be controulled by others? A great deal might be said for him, if this had been the case. There might be circumstances, in which such a man might be used in a subordinate capacity. But who ever thought of putting such a man virtually in possession of the whole authority both of the committee and the council-general, and of the revenues of the whole country?

As soon as we find Gunga Govin Sing here, we find him employed in the way, in which he was meant to be employ. ed; that is to say, we find him employed in taking corrupt bribes and corrupt presents for Mr. Hastings. Though the committee were tools in his hands, he was a tool in the hands of Mr. Hastings; for he had, as we shall prove, constant, uniform, and close communications with Mr. Hastings. And, indeed, we may be saved a good deal of the trouble of proof; for Mr. Hastings himself, by acknowledging him to

be his bribe broker, has pretty well authenticated a secret correspondence between them. For the next great bribe, as yet discovered to be taken by Mr. Hastings, about the time of his great operation of 1781, was the bribe of 40,000l., which we charge to have been privately taken from one of two persons, but from which is not yet ascertained, but paid to him through this flagitious black agent of his iniquities, Gunga Govin Sing. The discovery is made by another agent of his, called Mr. Larkins, one of his white bribe confidants, and by him made accountant-general to the supreme presidency. For this sum, so clandestinely and corruptly taken, he received a bond to himself, on his own account, as for money lent to the company. For, upon the frequent, pressing, tender solicitations of the court of directors, always insinuated to him in a very delicate manner, Mr. Hastings had written to Mr. Larkins to find out, if he could, some of his own bribes; and accordingly Mr. Larkins sent over an account of various bribes; an account, which, even before it comes directly in evidence before you, it will be pleasant to your lordships to read. In this account, under the head Dinagepore, No. 1, I find, "Duplicate copy of the particulars of debts, in which the component parts of sundry sums received on the account of the honourable company of merchants trading to the East-Indies, were received by Mr. Hastings, and paid to the sub-treasurer." We find here, Dinagepore peshcush, four lacks of rupees-cabuleat, that is, an agreement to pay four lacks of rupees, of which three were received, and one remained in balance at the time this account was made out. All, that we can learn from this account, after all our researches, after all the court of directors could do to squeeze it out of him, is—that he received from Dinagepore, at twelve monthly payments, a sum of about three lacks of rupees, upon an engagement to pay him four; that is, he received about 30,000l. out of 40,000l. which was to be paid him; and we are told, that he received this sum through the hands of Gunga Govin Sing; and that he was exceedingly angry with Gunga Govin Sing for having kept back or defrauded him of the sum of 10,000, out of the 40,000l. To keep back from him the

fourth part of the whole bribe was very reprehensible behaviour in Gunga Govin Sing, certainly very unworthy of the great and high trust, which Mr. Hastings reposed in his integrity. My lords, this letter tells us, Mr. Hastings was much irritated at Gunga Govin Sing. You will hereafter see how Mr. Hastings behaves to persons, against whom he is irritated for their frauds upon him in their joint concerns. In the mean time Gunga Govin Sing rests with you as a person, with whom Mr. Hastings is displeased on account of infidelity in the honourable trust of bribe-undertaker and månager.

My lords, you are not very much enlightened, I believe, by seeing these words Dinagepore peshcush. We find a province, we find a sum of money, we find an agent, and we find a receiver. The province is Dinagepore, the agent is Gunga Govin Sing, the sum agreed on is 40,000l., and the receiver of a part of that is Mr. Hastings. This is all that can be seen. Who it was, that gave this sum of money to Mr. Hastings in this manner, does no way appear; it is murder by persons unknown: and this is the way, in which Mr. Hastings, after all the reiterated solicitations of parliament, of the company, and the publick, has left the account of this bribe.

Let us, however, now see what was the state of transactions at Dinagepore at that period. For, if Mr. Hastings, in the transactions at that period, did any thing for that country, it must be presumed this money was given for those acts; for Mr. Hastings confesses it was a sum of money corruptly received, but honestly applied. It does not signify much, at first view, from whom he received it; it is enough to fix upon him, that he did receive it. But because the consequences of his bribes make the main part of what I intend to bring before your lordships, I shall beg to state to you, with your indulgence, what I have been able to discover by a very close investigation of the records respecting this business of Dinagepore.

Dinagepore, Rungpore and Edrackpore make a country, I believe, pretty nearly as large as all the northern counties of England, Yorkshire included; it is no mean country, and

it has a prince of great, antient, illustrious descent at the head of it, called the rajah of Dinagepore.

I find, that, about the month of July 1780, the rajah of Dinagepore after a long and lingering illness died, leaving an half brother and an adopted son. A litigation respecting the succession instantly arose in the family; and this litigation was of course referred to, and was finally to be decided by, the governour-general in council,-being the ultimate authority, to which the decision of all these questions was to be referred. This cause came before Mr. Hastings, and I find, that he decided the question in favour of the adopted son of the rajah against his half brother. I find, that upon that decision a rent was settled, and a peshcush, or fine, paid. So that all, that is in this transaction, is fair and above-board; there is a dispute settled; there is a fine paid; there is a rent reserved to the company; and the whole is a fair settlement. But I find along with it very extraordinary acts: for I find Mr. Hastings taking part in favour of the minor, agreeably to the principles of others, and contrary to his own. I find, that he gave the guardianship of this adopted son to the brother of the rannee, as she is called, or the widow of the deceased rajah; and though the hearing and settling of this business was actually a part of the duty of his office, yet I find, that, when the steward of the province of Dinagepore was coming down to represent this case to Mr. Hastings, Mr. Hastings, on pretence, that it would only tend to increase the family dissensions, so far from hearing fully all the parties in this business, not only sent him back, but ordered him to be actually turned out of his office. If then the 40,000l. be the same with the money taken from the rajah in 1780, to which account it seems to refer (for it was taken in regular payments, beginning July 1780, and ending at the same period in 1781,) it was a sum of money corruptly taken by him as a judge in a litigation of inheritance between two great parties. So that he received the sum of 40,000l. for a judgment; which, whether that judgment was right or wrong, true or false, he corruptly received.

This sum was received, as your lordships will observe,

through Gunga Govin Sing. He was the broker of the agreement; he was the person, who was to receive it by monthly instalments, and he was to pay it to Mr. Hastings.

-His son was in the office of register-general of the whole country, who had in his custody all the papers, documents, and every thing, which could tend to settle a litigation among the parties.

If Mr. Hastings took this bribe from the rajah of Dinagepore, he took a bribe from an infant of five years old through the hands of the register. That is, the judge receives a bribe through the hands of the keeper of the genealogies of the family, the records, and other documents, which must have had the principal share in settling the question.

This history of this Dinagepore peshcush is the publick one received by the company, and which is entered upon the record-but not the private, and probably the true, history of this corrupt transaction.

Very soon after this decision, very soon after this peshcush was given, we find all the officers of the young rajah, who was supposed to have given it, turned out of their employment by Gunga Govin Sing, by the very man, who received the peshcush for Mr. Hastings. We find them all turned out of their employments: we find them all accused, without any appearance or trace in the records of any proof of embezzlement, of neglect in the education of the minor rajah, of the mismanagement of his affairs, or the allotment of an unsuitable allowance. And accordingly to prevent the relations of his adopted mother-to prevent those, who might be supposed to have an immediate interest in the family, from abusing the trust of his education, and the trust of the management of his fortune, Gunga Govin Sing-(for I trust your lordships would not suffer me, if I had a mind, to quote that tool of a thing the committee of revenue, bought at 62,000l. a year, you would not suffer me to name it, especially when you know all the secret agency of bribes in the hand of Gunga Govin Sing)-this Gunga Govin Sing produces soon after another character, to whom he consigns the custody of the whole family and the whole province.