--
"and that I have in no action of my life sacrificed tile
?
"and that I have in no action of my life sacrificed tile
?
Edmund Burke
I
showed, from his own letters, that his accounts were
confused and inaccurate. I am ready, my Lords, to
admit that there are situations in which a minister
in high office may use concealment: it may be his duty to use concealment from the enemies of his masters; it may be prudent to use concealment from his inferiors in the service. It will always be suspicious
to use concealment from his colleagues and coordinates in office; but when, in a money transaction,
any man uses concealment with regard to them to
whom the money belongs, he is guilty of a fraud.
My Lords, I have shown you that Mr. Hastings kept
no account, by his own confession, of the moneys that
he had privately taken, as he pretends, for the Company's service, and we have but too much reason to
presume for his own. We have shown you, my
Lords, that he has not onily no accounts, but no
memory; we have shown that he does not even un
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 397 derstand his own motives; that, when called upon to recollect them, he begs to guess at them; and that as his memory is to be supplied by his guess, so he has no confidence in his guesses. He at first finds, after
a lapse of about a year and a half, or somewhat less,
that he cannot recollect what his motives were to
certain actions which upon the very face of them appeared fraudulent. He is called to an account some
years after, to explain what they were, and he makes
a just reflection upon it, - namely, that, as his memory did not enable him to find out his own motive at
the former time, it is not to be expected that it would
be clearer a year after. Your Lordships will, however, recollect, that in the Cheltenham letter, which
is made of no perishable stuff, he begins again to
guess; but after he has guessed and guessed again,
and after he has gone through all the motives he can
possibly assign for the action, he tells you he does
not know whether those were his real motives, or
whether he has not invented them since.
In that situation the accounts of the Company were
left with regard to very great sums which passed
through Mr. Hastings's hands, and for which he, instead of giving his masters credit, took credit to himself, and, being their debtor, as he confesses himself to be at that time, took a security for that debt as if
he had been their creditor. This required explanation. Explanation he was called upon for, over and
over again; explanation he did not give, and declared he could not give. He was called upon for
it when in India: he had not leisure to attend to it
there. He was called upon for it when in Europe:
he then says he must send for it to India. With much
prevarication, and much insolence too, he confesses
? ? ? ? 398 - IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
himself guilty of falsifying the Company's accounts
by making himself their creditor when he was their
debtor, and giving false accounts of this false transaction. The Court of Directors was slow to believe
him guilty; Parliament expressed a strong suspicion
of his guilt, and wished for further information. Mr.
Hastings about this time began to imagine his conscience to be a faithful and true monitor, - which it
were well he had attended to upon many occasions, as
it would have saved him his appearance here, - and
it told him that he was in great danger from the Parliamentary inquiries that were going on. It was now
to be expected that he would have been in haste to
fulfil the promise which he had made in the Patna
letter of the 20th of January, 1782; and accordingly
we find that about this time his first agent, Major
Fairfax, was sent over to Europe, which agent entered himself at the India House, and appeared before the Committee of the House of Commons, as an agent expressly sent over to explain whatever might
appear doubtful in his conduct. Major Fairfax, notwithstanding the character in which Mr. Hastings
employed him, appeared to be but a letter-carrier:
he had nothing to say: he gave them no information
in the India House at all: to the Committee (I can
speak with the clearness of a witness) he gave no
satisfaction whatever. However, this agent vanished
in a moment, in order to make way for another, more
substantial, more efficient agent, - all agent perfectly
known in this country, - an agent known by the name
given to him by Mr. Hastings, who, like the princes
of the East, gives titles: he calls him an incomparable agent; and by that name he is very well known
to your Lordships and the world. This agent, Major
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 399 Scott, who I believe was here prior to the time of Major Fairfax's arrival in the character of an agent, and for the very same purposes, was called before the Committee, and examined, point by point, article by article, upon all that obscure enumeration of bribes which the Court of Directors declare they did not understand; but he declared that he could speak nothing with regard to any of these transactions, and that he had got no instructions to explain any part
of them. There was but one circumstance which in
the course of his examination we drew from him, -
namely, that one of these articles, entered in the account of the 22d of May as a deposit, had been received from Mr. Hastings as a bribe from Cheyt Sing. He produced an extract of a letter relative to it, which
your Lordships in the course of this trial may see, and
which will lead us into a further and more minute
inquiry on that head; but when that committee made
their report in 1783, not one single'article had been
explained to Parliament, not one explained to the
Company, except this bribe of Cheyt Sing, which Mr.
Hastings had never thought proper to communicate
to the East India Company, either by himself, nor,
as far as we could find out, by his agent; nor was
it at last otherwise discovered than as it was drawn
out from him by a long examination in the Committee
of the House of Commons. And thus, notwithstanding the letters he had written and the agents he employed, he seemed absolutely and firmly resolved to give his employers no satisfaction at all. What is
curious in this proceeding is, that Mr. Hastings, all
the time he conceals, endeavors to get himself the
credit of a discovery. Your Lordships have seen
what his discovery is; but Mr. Hastings, among his
? ? ? ? 400 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
other very extraordinary acquisitions, has found an
effectual method of concealment through discovery.
I will venture to say, that, whatever suspicions there
might have been of Mr. Hastings's bribes, there was
more effectual concealment in regard to every circumstance respecting them in that discovery than if he
had kept a total silence. Other means of discovery
might have been found, but this, standing in the way,
prevented the employment of those means.
Things continued in this state till the time of the
letter from Cheltenham. The Cheltenham letter declared that Mr. Hastings knew nothing of the mat*ter, -that he had brought with him no accounts to England upon the subject; and though it appears by
this very letter that he had with him at Cheltenham
(if he wrote the letter at Cheltenham) a great deal
of his other correspondence, that he had his letter of
the 22d of May with him, yet any account that could
elucidate that letter he declared that he had not; but
he hinted that a Mr. Larkins, in India, whom your
Lordships will be better acquainted with, was perfectly
apprised of all that transaction. Your Lordships will
observe that Mr. Hastings has all his faculties, some
way or other, in deposit: one person can speak to his
motives; another knows his fortune better than himself; to others he commits the sentimental parts of
his defence; to Mr. Larkins he commits his memory.
We shall see what a trustee of memory Mr. Larkins is,
and how far he answers the purpose which might be
expected, when appealed to by a man who has no memory himself, or who has left it on the other side of the
water, and who leaves it to another to explain for him
accounts which he ought to have kept himself, and
circumstances which ought to be deposited in his own
memory.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 401
This Cheltenham letter, I believe, originally becamne known, as far as I can recollect, to the House
of Commons, upon a motion of Mr. Hastings's own
agent: I do not like to be positive upon that point,
but I think that was the first appearance of it. It
appeared likewise in public: for it was thought so
extraordinary and laborious a performance, by the
writer or his friends, (as indeed it is,) that it might
serve to open a new source of eloquence in the kingdom, and consequently was printed, I believe, at the
desire of the parties themselves. But however it became known, it raised an extreme curiosity in the public to hear, when Mr. Hastings could say nothing, after so many years, of his own concerns and his own affairs, what satisfaction Mr. Larkins at last would
give concerning them. This letter was directed to
Mr. Devaynes, Chairman of the Court of Directors.
It does not appear that the Court of Directors wrote
anything to India in consequence of it, or that they directed this satisfactory account of the business should
be given them; but some private communications
passed between Mr. Hastings, or his agents, and Mr.
Larkins. There was a general expectation upon this
occasion, I believe, in the House of Commons and in
the nation at large, to know what would become of
the portentous inquiry. Mr. Hastings has always contrived to have half the globe between question and
answer: when he was in India, the question went to
him, and then he adjourned his answer till he came
to England; and when he came to England, it was
necessary his answer should arrive from India; so
that there is no manner of doubt that all time was
given for digesting, comparing, collating, and making
up a perfect memory upon the occasion.
VOL. X. 26
? ? ? ? 402 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
But, my Lords, Mr. Larkins, who has in custody
Mr. Hastings's memory, no small part of his conscience, and all his accounts, did, at last, in compliance with Mr. Hastings's desire, think proper to send an account. Then, at last, we may expect light.
Where are we to look for accounts, but from an accountant-general? Where are they to be met with,
unless from him? And accordingly, in that night of
perplexity into which Mr. Hastings's correspondence
had plunged them, men looked up to the dawning of
the day which was to follow that star, the little Lucifer, which with his lamp was to dispel the shades
of night, and give us some sort of light into this
dark, mysterious transaction. At last the little lamp
appeared, and was laid on the table of the House of
Commons, on the motion of Mr. Hastings's friends: for
we did not know of its arrival. It arrives, with all
the intelligence, all the memory, accuracy, and clearness which Mr. Larkins can furnish for Mr. Hastings
upon a business that before was nothing but mystery
and confusion. The account is called," Copy of the particulars of the dates on which the
component parts of sundry sums included in the account of sums received on the account of the Honorable Company by the Governor-General, or paid to their Treasury by his order, and applied to their service, were received for Mr. Hastings, and paid to the
Sub- Treasurer. "
The letter from Mr. Larkins consisted of two parts:
first, what was so much wanted, an account; next,
what was wanted most of all to such an account as
he sent, a comment and explanation. The account
consisted of two members: one gave an account of several detached bribes that Mr. Hastings had received
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 403
withilt the course of about a year and a half; and the
other, of a great bribe which he had received in one
gross sum of one hundred thousand pounds from the
Nabob of Oude. It appeared to us, upon looking into
these accounts, that there was some geography, a little bad chronology, but nothing else in the first: neither the persons who took the money, nor the persons from whom it was taken, nor the ends for which it
was given, nor any other circumstances are mentioned. The first thing we saw was Dinagepore. I believe
you know this piece of geography, - that it is one of
the provinces of the kingdom of Bengal. We then
have a long series of months, with a number of sums
added to them; and in the end it is said, that on
the 18th and 19th of Asin, (meaning part of September and part of October,) were paid to Mr. Croftes two lac of rupees; and then remains one lac, whiph
was taken from a sum of three lac six thousand nine
hundred and seventy-three rupees. After we had
waited for Mr. Hastings's own account, after it had
been pursued through a series of correspondence in
vain, after his agents had come to England to explain
it, this is the explanation that your Lordships have got
of this first article, Dinagepore. Not the person paid
to, not the person paying, are mentioned, nor any
other circurhstance, except the signature, G. G. S. :
this might serve for George Gilbert Sanders, or any
other name you please; and seeing Croftes above
it, you mnight imagine it was an Englishman. And
this, which I call a geographical and a chronological
account, is the only account we have. Mr. Larkins,
upon the mere face of the account, sadly disappoints
us; and I will venture to say that in matters of ac
? ? ? ? 404 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
count Bengal book-keeping is as remote from good
book-keeping as the Bengal painches are remote from
all the rules of good composition. We have, how
ever, got some light: namely, that one G. G. S. has
paid some money to Mr. Croftes for some purpose,
but from whom we know not, nor where; that there
is a place called Dinagepore; and that Mr. Hastings
received some money from somebody in Dinagepore.
The next article is Patna. Your Lordships are
not so ill acquainted with the geography of India as
not to know that there is such a place as Patna, nor
so ill acquainted with the chronology of it as not to
know that there are three months called Baisakh,
Asin, Chait. Here was paid to Mr. Croftes two lac
of rupees, and there was left a balance of about
two more. But though you learn with regard to the
province of Dinagepore that there is a balance to be
discharged by G. G. S. , yet with regard to Patna
we have not even a G. G. S. : we have no sort of
light whatever to know through whose hands the
money passed, nor any glimpse of light whatever respecting it.
You may expect to be made amends in the other
province, called Nuddea, where Mr. Hastings had
received a considerable sum of money. There is
the very same darkness: not a word from whom
received, by whom received, or any other circumstance, but that it was paid into the hands of Mr. Hastings's white banian, as he was commonly called
in that country, into the hands of Mr. Croftes, who
is his white agent in receiving bribes: for he was
very far from having but one.
After all this inquiry, after so many severe ani
madversions from the House of Commons, after all
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. FOURTH DAY. 405
those reiterated letters from the Directors, after an
application to Mr. Hastings himself, when you are
hunting to get at some explanation of the proceedings mentioned in the letter of the month of May, 1782, you receive here by Mr. Larkins's letter, which
is dated the 5th of August, 1786, this account,
which, to be sure, gives an amazing light into this
business: it is a letter for which it was worth sending to Bengal, worth waiting for with all that anxious expectation with which men wait for great events. Upon the face of the account there is not
one single word which can tend to illustrate the
matter: he sums up the whole, and makes out that
there was received five lac and fifty thousand rupees,
that is to say, 55,0001. , out of the sum of nine lac
and fifty thousand engaged to be paid: namely, --
From Dinagepore. . 4,00,000
From Nuddea. . 1,50,000
And from Patna. . 4,00,000
9,50,000
Or ~ 95,000
Now you have got full light! Cabooleat signifies a
contract, or an agreement; and this agreement was,
to pay Mr. Hastings, as one should think, certain sums
of money,- it does:,ot say from whom, but only that
such a sum of money was paid, and that there remains
such a balance. When you come and compare the
money received by Mr. Croftes with these cabooleats,
you find that the cabooleats amount to 95,0001. , and
that the receipt has been about 55,0001. , and that upon
the face of this account there is 40,0001. somewhere
? ? ? ? 406 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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 superior 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 dike 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 favor 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 tile
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 407
duty and fidelity which I owed to my honorable 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 candor 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 dishonorable 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 honorable 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
accountant-general of the Company, who declares, and
fixes it as a point of hbnor, 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 honor to adhere. Let us see what becomes of us, when
the principle of honor is so debauched and perverted.
A principle of honor, 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 honor, the moment that it becomes unconnected with the duties of official function, with the relations of life,
? ? ? ? 408 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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
account which he ought to give to them in consequence
of the trust reposed in him, he thinks himself bound
by honor 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 honor, of the faith of conspirators
against their masters, the faith of robbers against the
public, held up against the duty of an officer in a
public 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 honor of conspirators and this
faith of robbers, that there will be no other honor 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
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 409
seems to have known things which Mr. Larkins did
not; Mr. Larkins knew things which Gunga Govind
Sing did not; Gunga Govind 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 intrusted to any of the rest. Such is the labyrinth of this practical painche, or screw, that, if,
for instance, you were endeavoring 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 Govind Sing. If you pierce the breast of Gunga Govind 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 colors, black, white, and mezzotinto; that he
kept them in all languages, - in Persian, in Bengalee,
and in a language which, I believe, is neither Persian
nor Bengalee, 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 Mahometan. So all languages,
all religions, all descriptions of men are to keep the
? ? ? ? 41. 0 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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 banians 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 lac. 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, AccountantGeneral of Bengal, to the C(hairman of the East India Company, dated 5th August, 1786. " Mr. Hastings returned from Benares to Calcutta
on the 5th February, 1782. At that time I was wholly
ignorant of the letter which on the 20th January he
wrote from Patna to the Secret Committee of the Honorable the Court of Directors. The rough draught of
this letter, in the handwriting of Major Palmer, is
now in my possession. Soon after his arrival at the
Presidency, lie 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 Honorable 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
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 411
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 shall I make out a fair account
of debtor and creditor between you and the Company? " He does no such thing. There lies a suspicion in his breast that Mr. Hastings must have
taken some money in some irregular way, or he could
not have made those payments. Mr. Larkins begins
to suspect him. "Where did you lose this bodkin? "
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
said one lady to another, upon a certain occasion.
"Pray, Madam, where did you find it? " Mr. Hastings, at the very moment of his life when confidence
was required, even when making up his accounts
with his accountant, never told him one word of the
matter. You see he had no confidence in Mr. Larkins. This makes out one of the propositions I want
to impress upon your Lordships' minds, that no one
man did he let into every part of his transactions: a
material circumstance, which will help to lead your
Lordships' judgment in forming your opinion upon
many parts of this cause.
You see that Mr. Larkins suspected him. Probably in consequence of those suspicions, or from some
other cause, he at last told him, upon the 22d of May,
1782, (but why at that time, rather than at any other time, does not appear; and this we shall find very
difficult to be accounted for,) -he told him that he
had received a bribe from the Nabob of Oude, of
100,0001. He informs him of this on the 22d of May,
which, when the accounts were making up, he conceals from him. And he communicates to him the
rough draught of his letter to the Court of Directors,
informing them that this business was not transacted by any known secretary of the Company, nor with
the intervention of any interpreter of the Company,
nor passed through any official channel whatever, but
through a gentleman much in his confidence, his military secretary; and, as if receiving bribes, and receiving letters concerning them, and carrying on correspondence relative to them, was a part of military duty, the rough draught of this letter was in the
hands of this military secretary. Upon the communication of the letter, it rushes all at once i. nto the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 413
mind of Mr Larkins, who knows Mr. Hastings's recollection, who knows what does and what does not escape it, and who had a memory ready to explode at
Mr. Hastings's desire, " Good God! " says he, " you
have promised the Directors an account of this business! "- a promise which Mr. Larkins assures the
Directors, upon his word, had entirely escaped Mr.
Hastings's recollection. Mr. Hastings, it seems, had
totally forgotten the promise relative to the paltry sum
of 100,0001. which he had made to the Court of Directors in the January before; he never once thought
of it, no, not even when he was making up his accounts of that very identical sum, till the 22d of
May. So that these persons answer for one another's
bad memory: and you will see they have good reason.
Mr. Hastings's want of recollection appears in things
of some moment. However lightly he may regard
the sum of 100,0001. , which, considering the enormous sums he has received, I dare say he does, -for
he totally forgot it, he knew nothing about it, - observe what sort of memory this registrar and accountant of such sums as 100,0001. has. In what confusion of millions must it be, that such sums can be lost to Mr. Hastings's recollection! However, at last it
was brought to his recollection, and he thought that
it was necessary to give some account of it. And
who is the accountant whom he produces? His own
memory is no accountant. He had dismissed the matter (as lie happily expresses it in the Cheltenham
letter) from his memory. Major Palmer is not the accountant. One is astonished that a man who had had
100,0001. in his hands, and laid it out, as he pretends,
in the public service, has not a scrap of paper to show
for it. No ordinary or extraordinary account is gi ven
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS,
of it. Well, what is to be done in such circumstances? IHe sends for a person whose name you have heard and will often hear of, the faithful Cantoo Baboo. This man comes to Mr. Larkins, and he reads to him (be so good as to remark the words) from a
Bengal paper the account of the detached bribes.
Your Lordships will observe that I have stated the
receipt of a number of detached bribes, and a bribe
in one great body: one, the great corps d'arme'e; the
other, flying scouting bodies, which were only to be
collected together by a skilful man who knew how
to manage them, and regulate the motions of those
wild and disorderly troops. When No. 2 was to be
explained, Cantoo Baboo failed him; he was not
worth a farthing as to any transaction that happened
when Mr. Hastings was in the Upper Provinces, where
though he was his faithful and constant attendant
through the whole, yet lie could give no account of
it. Mr. Hastings's moonsbee then reads three lines
from a paper to Mr. Larkins. Now it is no way even
insinuated that both the Bengal and Persian papers
did not contain the account of other immense sums;
and, indeed, from the circumstance of only three lines
being read from the Persian paper, your Lordships
will be able, in your own minds, to form some judgment upon this business.
I shall now proceed with his letter of explanation. ' The particulars," he goes on to say, "' of the paper No. 1 were read to me from a Bengal paper by Mr.
Hastings's banian, Cantoo Baboo; and if I am not mistaken, the three first lines of that No. 2 were read over to me from a Persian paper by his moonshee.
The translation of these particulars, made by me, was,
as I verily believe, the first complete memorandum
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 415
that he ever possessed of them in the English language; and I am confident, that, if I had not suggested to him the necessity of his taking this precaution, he would at this moment have been unable to have
afforded any such information concerning them. "
Now, my Lords, if he had not got, on the intimation of Mr. Larkins, some scraps of paper, your
Lordships might have at this day wanted that valuable information which Mr. Larkills has laid before
you. These, however, contain, Mr. Larkins says,
" the first complete" -- what? -- account, do you
imagine? - no, " the first complete memorandum. "
You would imagine that he would himself, for his
own use, have notched down, somewhere or other,
in short-hand, in Persian characters, short without
vowels, or in some other way, memorandums. But
he had not himself even a memoran. dum of this
business; and consequently, when he was at Cheltenham, and even here at your bar, he could never
have had any account of a sum of 200,0001. , but by
this account of Mr. Larkins, taken, as people read
them, from detached pieces of paper.
One would have expected that Mr. Larkins, being
warned that day, and cautioned by the strange memory of Mr. Hastilgs, and the dangerous situation,
therefore, in whiich he himself stood, would at least
have been very guarded and cautious. Hear what he
next says upon this subject. " As neither of the
other' sums passed throtugl his hands, these" (meaning the scraps) " contained no such specification, and
consequently could not enable him to afford the information with which he has requested me to furnish
you; and it is more than probable, that, if the affidavit which I took on the 16th December, 1782, had
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
not exposed my character to the suspicion of my
being capable of committing one of the basest trespasses upon the confidence of mankind, I should, at
this distance of time, have been equally unable to
have complied with this request: but after I became
acquainted with the insinuation suggested in the
Eleventh Report of the Select Committee of the
House of Commons, I thought it but too probable,
that, unless I was possessed of the original memorandum which I had made of these transactions, I
might not at some distant period be able to prove
that I had not descended to commit so base all action. I have therefore always most carefully preserved every paper which I possessed regarding these transactions.
showed, from his own letters, that his accounts were
confused and inaccurate. I am ready, my Lords, to
admit that there are situations in which a minister
in high office may use concealment: it may be his duty to use concealment from the enemies of his masters; it may be prudent to use concealment from his inferiors in the service. It will always be suspicious
to use concealment from his colleagues and coordinates in office; but when, in a money transaction,
any man uses concealment with regard to them to
whom the money belongs, he is guilty of a fraud.
My Lords, I have shown you that Mr. Hastings kept
no account, by his own confession, of the moneys that
he had privately taken, as he pretends, for the Company's service, and we have but too much reason to
presume for his own. We have shown you, my
Lords, that he has not onily no accounts, but no
memory; we have shown that he does not even un
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 397 derstand his own motives; that, when called upon to recollect them, he begs to guess at them; and that as his memory is to be supplied by his guess, so he has no confidence in his guesses. He at first finds, after
a lapse of about a year and a half, or somewhat less,
that he cannot recollect what his motives were to
certain actions which upon the very face of them appeared fraudulent. He is called to an account some
years after, to explain what they were, and he makes
a just reflection upon it, - namely, that, as his memory did not enable him to find out his own motive at
the former time, it is not to be expected that it would
be clearer a year after. Your Lordships will, however, recollect, that in the Cheltenham letter, which
is made of no perishable stuff, he begins again to
guess; but after he has guessed and guessed again,
and after he has gone through all the motives he can
possibly assign for the action, he tells you he does
not know whether those were his real motives, or
whether he has not invented them since.
In that situation the accounts of the Company were
left with regard to very great sums which passed
through Mr. Hastings's hands, and for which he, instead of giving his masters credit, took credit to himself, and, being their debtor, as he confesses himself to be at that time, took a security for that debt as if
he had been their creditor. This required explanation. Explanation he was called upon for, over and
over again; explanation he did not give, and declared he could not give. He was called upon for
it when in India: he had not leisure to attend to it
there. He was called upon for it when in Europe:
he then says he must send for it to India. With much
prevarication, and much insolence too, he confesses
? ? ? ? 398 - IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
himself guilty of falsifying the Company's accounts
by making himself their creditor when he was their
debtor, and giving false accounts of this false transaction. The Court of Directors was slow to believe
him guilty; Parliament expressed a strong suspicion
of his guilt, and wished for further information. Mr.
Hastings about this time began to imagine his conscience to be a faithful and true monitor, - which it
were well he had attended to upon many occasions, as
it would have saved him his appearance here, - and
it told him that he was in great danger from the Parliamentary inquiries that were going on. It was now
to be expected that he would have been in haste to
fulfil the promise which he had made in the Patna
letter of the 20th of January, 1782; and accordingly
we find that about this time his first agent, Major
Fairfax, was sent over to Europe, which agent entered himself at the India House, and appeared before the Committee of the House of Commons, as an agent expressly sent over to explain whatever might
appear doubtful in his conduct. Major Fairfax, notwithstanding the character in which Mr. Hastings
employed him, appeared to be but a letter-carrier:
he had nothing to say: he gave them no information
in the India House at all: to the Committee (I can
speak with the clearness of a witness) he gave no
satisfaction whatever. However, this agent vanished
in a moment, in order to make way for another, more
substantial, more efficient agent, - all agent perfectly
known in this country, - an agent known by the name
given to him by Mr. Hastings, who, like the princes
of the East, gives titles: he calls him an incomparable agent; and by that name he is very well known
to your Lordships and the world. This agent, Major
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 399 Scott, who I believe was here prior to the time of Major Fairfax's arrival in the character of an agent, and for the very same purposes, was called before the Committee, and examined, point by point, article by article, upon all that obscure enumeration of bribes which the Court of Directors declare they did not understand; but he declared that he could speak nothing with regard to any of these transactions, and that he had got no instructions to explain any part
of them. There was but one circumstance which in
the course of his examination we drew from him, -
namely, that one of these articles, entered in the account of the 22d of May as a deposit, had been received from Mr. Hastings as a bribe from Cheyt Sing. He produced an extract of a letter relative to it, which
your Lordships in the course of this trial may see, and
which will lead us into a further and more minute
inquiry on that head; but when that committee made
their report in 1783, not one single'article had been
explained to Parliament, not one explained to the
Company, except this bribe of Cheyt Sing, which Mr.
Hastings had never thought proper to communicate
to the East India Company, either by himself, nor,
as far as we could find out, by his agent; nor was
it at last otherwise discovered than as it was drawn
out from him by a long examination in the Committee
of the House of Commons. And thus, notwithstanding the letters he had written and the agents he employed, he seemed absolutely and firmly resolved to give his employers no satisfaction at all. What is
curious in this proceeding is, that Mr. Hastings, all
the time he conceals, endeavors to get himself the
credit of a discovery. Your Lordships have seen
what his discovery is; but Mr. Hastings, among his
? ? ? ? 400 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
other very extraordinary acquisitions, has found an
effectual method of concealment through discovery.
I will venture to say, that, whatever suspicions there
might have been of Mr. Hastings's bribes, there was
more effectual concealment in regard to every circumstance respecting them in that discovery than if he
had kept a total silence. Other means of discovery
might have been found, but this, standing in the way,
prevented the employment of those means.
Things continued in this state till the time of the
letter from Cheltenham. The Cheltenham letter declared that Mr. Hastings knew nothing of the mat*ter, -that he had brought with him no accounts to England upon the subject; and though it appears by
this very letter that he had with him at Cheltenham
(if he wrote the letter at Cheltenham) a great deal
of his other correspondence, that he had his letter of
the 22d of May with him, yet any account that could
elucidate that letter he declared that he had not; but
he hinted that a Mr. Larkins, in India, whom your
Lordships will be better acquainted with, was perfectly
apprised of all that transaction. Your Lordships will
observe that Mr. Hastings has all his faculties, some
way or other, in deposit: one person can speak to his
motives; another knows his fortune better than himself; to others he commits the sentimental parts of
his defence; to Mr. Larkins he commits his memory.
We shall see what a trustee of memory Mr. Larkins is,
and how far he answers the purpose which might be
expected, when appealed to by a man who has no memory himself, or who has left it on the other side of the
water, and who leaves it to another to explain for him
accounts which he ought to have kept himself, and
circumstances which ought to be deposited in his own
memory.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 401
This Cheltenham letter, I believe, originally becamne known, as far as I can recollect, to the House
of Commons, upon a motion of Mr. Hastings's own
agent: I do not like to be positive upon that point,
but I think that was the first appearance of it. It
appeared likewise in public: for it was thought so
extraordinary and laborious a performance, by the
writer or his friends, (as indeed it is,) that it might
serve to open a new source of eloquence in the kingdom, and consequently was printed, I believe, at the
desire of the parties themselves. But however it became known, it raised an extreme curiosity in the public to hear, when Mr. Hastings could say nothing, after so many years, of his own concerns and his own affairs, what satisfaction Mr. Larkins at last would
give concerning them. This letter was directed to
Mr. Devaynes, Chairman of the Court of Directors.
It does not appear that the Court of Directors wrote
anything to India in consequence of it, or that they directed this satisfactory account of the business should
be given them; but some private communications
passed between Mr. Hastings, or his agents, and Mr.
Larkins. There was a general expectation upon this
occasion, I believe, in the House of Commons and in
the nation at large, to know what would become of
the portentous inquiry. Mr. Hastings has always contrived to have half the globe between question and
answer: when he was in India, the question went to
him, and then he adjourned his answer till he came
to England; and when he came to England, it was
necessary his answer should arrive from India; so
that there is no manner of doubt that all time was
given for digesting, comparing, collating, and making
up a perfect memory upon the occasion.
VOL. X. 26
? ? ? ? 402 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
But, my Lords, Mr. Larkins, who has in custody
Mr. Hastings's memory, no small part of his conscience, and all his accounts, did, at last, in compliance with Mr. Hastings's desire, think proper to send an account. Then, at last, we may expect light.
Where are we to look for accounts, but from an accountant-general? Where are they to be met with,
unless from him? And accordingly, in that night of
perplexity into which Mr. Hastings's correspondence
had plunged them, men looked up to the dawning of
the day which was to follow that star, the little Lucifer, which with his lamp was to dispel the shades
of night, and give us some sort of light into this
dark, mysterious transaction. At last the little lamp
appeared, and was laid on the table of the House of
Commons, on the motion of Mr. Hastings's friends: for
we did not know of its arrival. It arrives, with all
the intelligence, all the memory, accuracy, and clearness which Mr. Larkins can furnish for Mr. Hastings
upon a business that before was nothing but mystery
and confusion. The account is called," Copy of the particulars of the dates on which the
component parts of sundry sums included in the account of sums received on the account of the Honorable Company by the Governor-General, or paid to their Treasury by his order, and applied to their service, were received for Mr. Hastings, and paid to the
Sub- Treasurer. "
The letter from Mr. Larkins consisted of two parts:
first, what was so much wanted, an account; next,
what was wanted most of all to such an account as
he sent, a comment and explanation. The account
consisted of two members: one gave an account of several detached bribes that Mr. Hastings had received
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 403
withilt the course of about a year and a half; and the
other, of a great bribe which he had received in one
gross sum of one hundred thousand pounds from the
Nabob of Oude. It appeared to us, upon looking into
these accounts, that there was some geography, a little bad chronology, but nothing else in the first: neither the persons who took the money, nor the persons from whom it was taken, nor the ends for which it
was given, nor any other circumstances are mentioned. The first thing we saw was Dinagepore. I believe
you know this piece of geography, - that it is one of
the provinces of the kingdom of Bengal. We then
have a long series of months, with a number of sums
added to them; and in the end it is said, that on
the 18th and 19th of Asin, (meaning part of September and part of October,) were paid to Mr. Croftes two lac of rupees; and then remains one lac, whiph
was taken from a sum of three lac six thousand nine
hundred and seventy-three rupees. After we had
waited for Mr. Hastings's own account, after it had
been pursued through a series of correspondence in
vain, after his agents had come to England to explain
it, this is the explanation that your Lordships have got
of this first article, Dinagepore. Not the person paid
to, not the person paying, are mentioned, nor any
other circurhstance, except the signature, G. G. S. :
this might serve for George Gilbert Sanders, or any
other name you please; and seeing Croftes above
it, you mnight imagine it was an Englishman. And
this, which I call a geographical and a chronological
account, is the only account we have. Mr. Larkins,
upon the mere face of the account, sadly disappoints
us; and I will venture to say that in matters of ac
? ? ? ? 404 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
count Bengal book-keeping is as remote from good
book-keeping as the Bengal painches are remote from
all the rules of good composition. We have, how
ever, got some light: namely, that one G. G. S. has
paid some money to Mr. Croftes for some purpose,
but from whom we know not, nor where; that there
is a place called Dinagepore; and that Mr. Hastings
received some money from somebody in Dinagepore.
The next article is Patna. Your Lordships are
not so ill acquainted with the geography of India as
not to know that there is such a place as Patna, nor
so ill acquainted with the chronology of it as not to
know that there are three months called Baisakh,
Asin, Chait. Here was paid to Mr. Croftes two lac
of rupees, and there was left a balance of about
two more. But though you learn with regard to the
province of Dinagepore that there is a balance to be
discharged by G. G. S. , yet with regard to Patna
we have not even a G. G. S. : we have no sort of
light whatever to know through whose hands the
money passed, nor any glimpse of light whatever respecting it.
You may expect to be made amends in the other
province, called Nuddea, where Mr. Hastings had
received a considerable sum of money. There is
the very same darkness: not a word from whom
received, by whom received, or any other circumstance, but that it was paid into the hands of Mr. Hastings's white banian, as he was commonly called
in that country, into the hands of Mr. Croftes, who
is his white agent in receiving bribes: for he was
very far from having but one.
After all this inquiry, after so many severe ani
madversions from the House of Commons, after all
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. FOURTH DAY. 405
those reiterated letters from the Directors, after an
application to Mr. Hastings himself, when you are
hunting to get at some explanation of the proceedings mentioned in the letter of the month of May, 1782, you receive here by Mr. Larkins's letter, which
is dated the 5th of August, 1786, this account,
which, to be sure, gives an amazing light into this
business: it is a letter for which it was worth sending to Bengal, worth waiting for with all that anxious expectation with which men wait for great events. Upon the face of the account there is not
one single word which can tend to illustrate the
matter: he sums up the whole, and makes out that
there was received five lac and fifty thousand rupees,
that is to say, 55,0001. , out of the sum of nine lac
and fifty thousand engaged to be paid: namely, --
From Dinagepore. . 4,00,000
From Nuddea. . 1,50,000
And from Patna. . 4,00,000
9,50,000
Or ~ 95,000
Now you have got full light! Cabooleat signifies a
contract, or an agreement; and this agreement was,
to pay Mr. Hastings, as one should think, certain sums
of money,- it does:,ot say from whom, but only that
such a sum of money was paid, and that there remains
such a balance. When you come and compare the
money received by Mr. Croftes with these cabooleats,
you find that the cabooleats amount to 95,0001. , and
that the receipt has been about 55,0001. , and that upon
the face of this account there is 40,0001. somewhere
? ? ? ? 406 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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 superior 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 dike 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 favor 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 tile
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 407
duty and fidelity which I owed to my honorable 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 candor 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 dishonorable 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 honorable 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
accountant-general of the Company, who declares, and
fixes it as a point of hbnor, 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 honor to adhere. Let us see what becomes of us, when
the principle of honor is so debauched and perverted.
A principle of honor, 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 honor, the moment that it becomes unconnected with the duties of official function, with the relations of life,
? ? ? ? 408 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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
account which he ought to give to them in consequence
of the trust reposed in him, he thinks himself bound
by honor 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 honor, of the faith of conspirators
against their masters, the faith of robbers against the
public, held up against the duty of an officer in a
public 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 honor of conspirators and this
faith of robbers, that there will be no other honor 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
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 409
seems to have known things which Mr. Larkins did
not; Mr. Larkins knew things which Gunga Govind
Sing did not; Gunga Govind 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 intrusted to any of the rest. Such is the labyrinth of this practical painche, or screw, that, if,
for instance, you were endeavoring 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 Govind Sing. If you pierce the breast of Gunga Govind 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 colors, black, white, and mezzotinto; that he
kept them in all languages, - in Persian, in Bengalee,
and in a language which, I believe, is neither Persian
nor Bengalee, 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 Mahometan. So all languages,
all religions, all descriptions of men are to keep the
? ? ? ? 41. 0 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
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 banians 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 lac. 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, AccountantGeneral of Bengal, to the C(hairman of the East India Company, dated 5th August, 1786. " Mr. Hastings returned from Benares to Calcutta
on the 5th February, 1782. At that time I was wholly
ignorant of the letter which on the 20th January he
wrote from Patna to the Secret Committee of the Honorable the Court of Directors. The rough draught of
this letter, in the handwriting of Major Palmer, is
now in my possession. Soon after his arrival at the
Presidency, lie 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 Honorable 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
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 411
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 shall I make out a fair account
of debtor and creditor between you and the Company? " He does no such thing. There lies a suspicion in his breast that Mr. Hastings must have
taken some money in some irregular way, or he could
not have made those payments. Mr. Larkins begins
to suspect him. "Where did you lose this bodkin? "
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
said one lady to another, upon a certain occasion.
"Pray, Madam, where did you find it? " Mr. Hastings, at the very moment of his life when confidence
was required, even when making up his accounts
with his accountant, never told him one word of the
matter. You see he had no confidence in Mr. Larkins. This makes out one of the propositions I want
to impress upon your Lordships' minds, that no one
man did he let into every part of his transactions: a
material circumstance, which will help to lead your
Lordships' judgment in forming your opinion upon
many parts of this cause.
You see that Mr. Larkins suspected him. Probably in consequence of those suspicions, or from some
other cause, he at last told him, upon the 22d of May,
1782, (but why at that time, rather than at any other time, does not appear; and this we shall find very
difficult to be accounted for,) -he told him that he
had received a bribe from the Nabob of Oude, of
100,0001. He informs him of this on the 22d of May,
which, when the accounts were making up, he conceals from him. And he communicates to him the
rough draught of his letter to the Court of Directors,
informing them that this business was not transacted by any known secretary of the Company, nor with
the intervention of any interpreter of the Company,
nor passed through any official channel whatever, but
through a gentleman much in his confidence, his military secretary; and, as if receiving bribes, and receiving letters concerning them, and carrying on correspondence relative to them, was a part of military duty, the rough draught of this letter was in the
hands of this military secretary. Upon the communication of the letter, it rushes all at once i. nto the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 413
mind of Mr Larkins, who knows Mr. Hastings's recollection, who knows what does and what does not escape it, and who had a memory ready to explode at
Mr. Hastings's desire, " Good God! " says he, " you
have promised the Directors an account of this business! "- a promise which Mr. Larkins assures the
Directors, upon his word, had entirely escaped Mr.
Hastings's recollection. Mr. Hastings, it seems, had
totally forgotten the promise relative to the paltry sum
of 100,0001. which he had made to the Court of Directors in the January before; he never once thought
of it, no, not even when he was making up his accounts of that very identical sum, till the 22d of
May. So that these persons answer for one another's
bad memory: and you will see they have good reason.
Mr. Hastings's want of recollection appears in things
of some moment. However lightly he may regard
the sum of 100,0001. , which, considering the enormous sums he has received, I dare say he does, -for
he totally forgot it, he knew nothing about it, - observe what sort of memory this registrar and accountant of such sums as 100,0001. has. In what confusion of millions must it be, that such sums can be lost to Mr. Hastings's recollection! However, at last it
was brought to his recollection, and he thought that
it was necessary to give some account of it. And
who is the accountant whom he produces? His own
memory is no accountant. He had dismissed the matter (as lie happily expresses it in the Cheltenham
letter) from his memory. Major Palmer is not the accountant. One is astonished that a man who had had
100,0001. in his hands, and laid it out, as he pretends,
in the public service, has not a scrap of paper to show
for it. No ordinary or extraordinary account is gi ven
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS,
of it. Well, what is to be done in such circumstances? IHe sends for a person whose name you have heard and will often hear of, the faithful Cantoo Baboo. This man comes to Mr. Larkins, and he reads to him (be so good as to remark the words) from a
Bengal paper the account of the detached bribes.
Your Lordships will observe that I have stated the
receipt of a number of detached bribes, and a bribe
in one great body: one, the great corps d'arme'e; the
other, flying scouting bodies, which were only to be
collected together by a skilful man who knew how
to manage them, and regulate the motions of those
wild and disorderly troops. When No. 2 was to be
explained, Cantoo Baboo failed him; he was not
worth a farthing as to any transaction that happened
when Mr. Hastings was in the Upper Provinces, where
though he was his faithful and constant attendant
through the whole, yet lie could give no account of
it. Mr. Hastings's moonsbee then reads three lines
from a paper to Mr. Larkins. Now it is no way even
insinuated that both the Bengal and Persian papers
did not contain the account of other immense sums;
and, indeed, from the circumstance of only three lines
being read from the Persian paper, your Lordships
will be able, in your own minds, to form some judgment upon this business.
I shall now proceed with his letter of explanation. ' The particulars," he goes on to say, "' of the paper No. 1 were read to me from a Bengal paper by Mr.
Hastings's banian, Cantoo Baboo; and if I am not mistaken, the three first lines of that No. 2 were read over to me from a Persian paper by his moonshee.
The translation of these particulars, made by me, was,
as I verily believe, the first complete memorandum
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 415
that he ever possessed of them in the English language; and I am confident, that, if I had not suggested to him the necessity of his taking this precaution, he would at this moment have been unable to have
afforded any such information concerning them. "
Now, my Lords, if he had not got, on the intimation of Mr. Larkins, some scraps of paper, your
Lordships might have at this day wanted that valuable information which Mr. Larkills has laid before
you. These, however, contain, Mr. Larkins says,
" the first complete" -- what? -- account, do you
imagine? - no, " the first complete memorandum. "
You would imagine that he would himself, for his
own use, have notched down, somewhere or other,
in short-hand, in Persian characters, short without
vowels, or in some other way, memorandums. But
he had not himself even a memoran. dum of this
business; and consequently, when he was at Cheltenham, and even here at your bar, he could never
have had any account of a sum of 200,0001. , but by
this account of Mr. Larkins, taken, as people read
them, from detached pieces of paper.
One would have expected that Mr. Larkins, being
warned that day, and cautioned by the strange memory of Mr. Hastilgs, and the dangerous situation,
therefore, in whiich he himself stood, would at least
have been very guarded and cautious. Hear what he
next says upon this subject. " As neither of the
other' sums passed throtugl his hands, these" (meaning the scraps) " contained no such specification, and
consequently could not enable him to afford the information with which he has requested me to furnish
you; and it is more than probable, that, if the affidavit which I took on the 16th December, 1782, had
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
not exposed my character to the suspicion of my
being capable of committing one of the basest trespasses upon the confidence of mankind, I should, at
this distance of time, have been equally unable to
have complied with this request: but after I became
acquainted with the insinuation suggested in the
Eleventh Report of the Select Committee of the
House of Commons, I thought it but too probable,
that, unless I was possessed of the original memorandum which I had made of these transactions, I
might not at some distant period be able to prove
that I had not descended to commit so base all action. I have therefore always most carefully preserved every paper which I possessed regarding these transactions.
