Hastings's
moonsbee
then reads three lines
from a paper to Mr.
from a paper to Mr.
Edmund Burke
?
?
?
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. "
You see that Mr. Hastings had no memorandums
of his accounts; you see, that, after Mr. Larkins had
made his memorandums of them, he had no design
of guarding or keeping them; and you will commend those wicked and malicious committees who
by their reports have told an accountant-general and
first public officer of revenue, that, in order to guard
his character from their suspicions, it was necessary that he should keep some paper or other of an
account. We have heard of the base, wicked, and
mercenary license that has been used by these gentlemen of India towards the House of Commons:
a license to libel and traduce the diligence of the
House of Commons, the purity of their motives, and
the fidelity of their actions, by which the very means
of informing the people are attempted to be used for
the purpose of leaving them in darkness and delusion. But, my Lords, when the accountant-general
declares, that, if the House of Commons had not
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTU ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 417 expressed, as they ought to express, much diffidence and distrust respecting these transactions, and even suspected him of perjury, this very day that man would not have produced a scrap of those papers to you, but might have turned them to the basest and most infamous of uses. If, I say, we have saved
these valuable fragments by suspecting his integrity, your Lordships will see suspicion is of some use:
and I hope the world will learn that punishment will be of use, too, in preventing such transactions.
Your Lordships have seen that no two persons
knew anything of these transactions; you see that
even memorandums of transactions of very great
moment, some of which had passed in the year 1779,
were not even so much as put in the shape of complete memoranda until May, 1782; you see that Mr. Hastings never kept them: and there is no reason to
imagine that a black banian and a Persian moonshee
would have been careful of what Mr. Hastings himself, who did not seem to stimulate his accountants to a vast deal of exactness and a vast deal of fidelity,
was negligent. You see that Mr. Larkins, our last,
our only hope, if he had not been suspected by the
House of Commons, probably would never have kept
these papers; and that you could not have had this
valuable cargo, such as it is, if it had not been for
the circumstance Mr. Larkins thinks proper to mention.
From the specimen which we have given of Mr.
Hastings's mode of accounts, of its vouchers, checks,
and counter-checks, your Lordships will have observed that the mode itself is past describing, and that the checks and counter-checks, instead of being
put upon one another to prevent abuse, are put upon
VOL. x. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
each other to prevent discovery and to fortify abuse.
When you hear that one man has an account of receipt, another of expenditure, another of control, you say that office is well constituted: but here is an
office constituted by different persons without the
smallest connection with each other; for the only purpose which they have ever answered is the purpose of base concealment.
We shall now proceed a little further with Mr.
Larkins. Tile first of the papers from which he took
the memoranda was a paper of Cantoo Baboo. It
contained detached payments, amounting in the
whole, with the cabooleat, or agreement, to about
95,0001. sterling, and of which it appears that there
was received by Mr. Croftes 55,0001. , and no more.
Now will your Lordships be so good as to let it rest
in your memory what sort of anll exchequer this is,
even with regard to its receipts? As your Lordships
have seen the economy and constitution of this office,
so now see the receipt. It appears that in the month
of May, 1782, out of the sums beginning to be received in the month of Shawal, that is, in July,
1779, there was, during that interval, 40,0001. out
of 95,0001. sunk somewhere, in some of the turnings
over upon the gridiron, through some of those agents
and panders of corruption which Mr. Hastings uses.
Here is the valuable revenue of the Company, which
is to supply them in their exigencies, which is to come
from sources which otherwise never would have yielded
it, - which, though small in proportion to the other
revenue, yet is a diamond, something that by its value
makes amends for its want of bulk, - falling short by
40,0001. out of 95,0001. Here is a system made for
fraud, and producillg all the effects of it.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -- FOURTH DAY. 419
Upon the face of this account, the agreement was
to yield to Mr. Hastings, some way or other, to be
paid to Mr. Croftes, 95,0001. , and there was a deficiency of 40,0001. Would any man, even with no more sense than Mr. Hastings, who wants all the ifaculties of the human mind, who has neither memory nor judgment, any man who was that poor half-idiot
creature that Mr. Hastings pretends to be, engage in a dealing that was to extort from some one or other an agreement to pay 95,0001. which was not to produce more than 55,0001. ? What, then, is become of it?
Is it in the hands of Mr. Hastings's wicked bribe-brokers, or in his own hands? Is it in arrear? Do you
know anything about it? Whom are you to apply
to for information? Why, to G. G. S. -G. G. S. I
find to be, what indeed I suspected him to be, a person that I have mentioned frequently to your Lordships, and that you will often hear of, commonly called Gunga Govind Sing, --in a short word, the
wickedest of the whole race of banians: -the consolidated wickedness of the whole body is to be found in this man.
Of the deficiency which appears in this agreement
with somebody or other on the part of Mr. Hastings
through Gunga Govind Sing you will expect to hear
some explanation. Of the first sum, which is said to
have been paid through Gunga Govind Sing, amounting on the cabooleat to four lac, and of which no more than two lac was actually received, -that is to say,
half of it was sunk, --we have this memorandum
only:'" Although Mr. Hastings was extremely dissatisfied with the excuses Gunga Govind Sing assigned
for not paying Mr. Croftes the sum stated by the
paper No. 1 to be in his charge, he never could ob
? ? ? ? 420 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tain from him any further payments on this account. "
Mr. Hastings is exceedingly dissatisfied with those
excuses, and this is the whole account of the transaction. This is the only thing said of Gunga Govind
Sing in the account: he neither states how. he came
to be employed, or for what he was employed. It
appears, however, from the transaction, as far as we
can make our way through this darkness, that he had
actually received 10,0001. of the money, which he did
not account for, and that he pretended that there
was an arrear of the rest. So here Mr. Hastings's
bribe-agent admits that he had received 10,0001. , but
he will not account for it; he says there is an arrear
of another 10,0001. ; and thus it appears that he was
enabled to take from somebody at Dinagepore, by a
cabooleat, 40,0001. , of which Mr. Hastings can get but
20,0001. : there is cent per cent loss upon it. Mr.
Hastings was so exceedingly dissatisfied with this
conduct of Gunga Govind Sing, that you would imagine a breach would have immediately ensued between them. I shall not anticipate what some of my honorable friends will bring before your Lordships;
but I tell you, that, so far from quarrelling with Gunga Govind Sing, or being really angry with him, it is
only a little pettish love quarrel with Gunga Govind
Sing: amantium irce amoris integratio est. For Gunga Govind Sing, without having paid him one shilling
of this money, attended him to the Ganges; and one
of the last acts of Mr. Hastings's government was to
represent this man, who was unfaithful even to fraud,
who did not keep the common faith of thieves and
robbers, this very man he recommends to the Company as a person who ought to be rewarded, as one
of their best and most faithful servants. And how
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 421
does he recommend him to be rewarded? By giving
him the estate of another person, - the way ill which
Mr. Hastings desires to be always rewarded himself:
for, in calling upon the Company's justice to give
him some money for expenses with which he never
charged them, he desires them to assign him the
money upon some person of the country. So here
Mr. Hastings recommends Gunga Govind Sing not
only to trust, confidence, and employment, which he
does very fiully, but to a reward taken out of the substance of other people. This is what Mr. Hastings has done with Gunga Govind Sing; and if such are
the effects of his anger, what must be the effect of
his pleasure and satisfaction? Now I say that Mr.
Hastings, who, in fact, saw this man amongst the
very last with whom he had any communication in
India, could not have so recommended him after this
known fraud, in one business only, of 20,0001. , -- he
could not so have supported him, he could not so
have caressed him, he could not so have employed
him, he could not have done all this, unless he had
paid to Mr. Hastings privately that sum of money
which never was brought into any even of these miserable accounts, without some payment or other with which Mr. Hastings was and ought to be satisfied, or
unless Gunga Govind Sing had some dishonorable secret to tell of him which he did not dare to provoke him to give a just account of, or, lastly, unless the
original agreement was that half or a third of the
bribe should go to Gunga Govind Sing.
Such is this patriotic scheme of bribery, this publicspirited corruption which Mr. Hastings has invented upon this occasion, and by which lie thinks out of
the vices of mankind to draw a better revenue than
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
out of any legal source whatever; and therefore he
has resolved to become the most corrupt of all Governors-General, in order to be the most useful servant to the finances of the Company. So much as to the first article of Dinagepore
peshcush. All you have is, that G. G. S. is Gunga
Govind Sing; that he has cheated the public of half
of it; that Mr. Hastings was angry With him, and
yet went away from Bengal, rewarding, praising, and
caressing him. Are these things to pass as matters
of course? They cannot so pass with your Lordships' sagacity: I will venture to say that no court,
even of pie-poudre, could help finding him guilty
upon such a matter, if such a court had to inquire
into it.
The next article is Patna. Here, too, he was to
receive 40,0001. ; but from whom this deponent saith
not. At this circumstance Mr. Larkins, who is a
famous deponent, never hints once. You may look
through his whole letter, which is a pretty long one,
(and which I will save your Lordships the trouble of
hearing read at length now, because you will have it
before you when you come to the Patna business,)
and you will only find that somebody had engaged to
pay him 40,0001. , and that but half of this sum was
received. You want an explanation of this. You
have seen the kind of explanation given in the former case, a conjectural explanation of G. G. S. But
when you come to the present case, who the person
paying was, why the money was not paid, what the
cause of failure was, you are not told: you only
learn that there was that sum deficient; and Mr.
Larkins, who is our last resort and final hope of
elucidation in this transaction, throws not the small
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 423
est glimpse of light upon it. We of the House of
Commons have been reduced to form the best legitimate conjectures we could upon this business, and
those conjectures have led us to further evidence,
which will enable us to fix one of the most scandalous and most mischievous bribes, in all the circumstances of it, upon Mr. Hastings; that was ever known. If he extorted 40,0001. under pretence of
the Company's service, here is again another failure
of half the money. Oh, my Lords, you will find that
even the remaining part was purchased with the loss
of one of the best revenues in India, and with the
grievous distress of a country that deserved well your
protection, instead of being robbed to give 20,0001.
to the Company, and another 20,0001. to some robber
or other, black or white. When I say, given to some
other robber, black or white, I do not suppose that
either generosity, friendship, or even communion,
can exist in that country between white men and
black: no, their colors are not more adverse than
their characters and tempers. There is not that
idem velle et idem nolle, there are none of those
habits of life, nothing, that can bind men together
even in the most ordinary society: the mutual means
of such an union do not exist between them. It is a
money-dealing, and a money-dealing only, which can
exist between them; and when you hear that a black
man is favored, and that 20,0001.
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. "
You see that Mr. Hastings had no memorandums
of his accounts; you see, that, after Mr. Larkins had
made his memorandums of them, he had no design
of guarding or keeping them; and you will commend those wicked and malicious committees who
by their reports have told an accountant-general and
first public officer of revenue, that, in order to guard
his character from their suspicions, it was necessary that he should keep some paper or other of an
account. We have heard of the base, wicked, and
mercenary license that has been used by these gentlemen of India towards the House of Commons:
a license to libel and traduce the diligence of the
House of Commons, the purity of their motives, and
the fidelity of their actions, by which the very means
of informing the people are attempted to be used for
the purpose of leaving them in darkness and delusion. But, my Lords, when the accountant-general
declares, that, if the House of Commons had not
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTU ARTICLE. -FOURTH DAY. 417 expressed, as they ought to express, much diffidence and distrust respecting these transactions, and even suspected him of perjury, this very day that man would not have produced a scrap of those papers to you, but might have turned them to the basest and most infamous of uses. If, I say, we have saved
these valuable fragments by suspecting his integrity, your Lordships will see suspicion is of some use:
and I hope the world will learn that punishment will be of use, too, in preventing such transactions.
Your Lordships have seen that no two persons
knew anything of these transactions; you see that
even memorandums of transactions of very great
moment, some of which had passed in the year 1779,
were not even so much as put in the shape of complete memoranda until May, 1782; you see that Mr. Hastings never kept them: and there is no reason to
imagine that a black banian and a Persian moonshee
would have been careful of what Mr. Hastings himself, who did not seem to stimulate his accountants to a vast deal of exactness and a vast deal of fidelity,
was negligent. You see that Mr. Larkins, our last,
our only hope, if he had not been suspected by the
House of Commons, probably would never have kept
these papers; and that you could not have had this
valuable cargo, such as it is, if it had not been for
the circumstance Mr. Larkins thinks proper to mention.
From the specimen which we have given of Mr.
Hastings's mode of accounts, of its vouchers, checks,
and counter-checks, your Lordships will have observed that the mode itself is past describing, and that the checks and counter-checks, instead of being
put upon one another to prevent abuse, are put upon
VOL. x. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
each other to prevent discovery and to fortify abuse.
When you hear that one man has an account of receipt, another of expenditure, another of control, you say that office is well constituted: but here is an
office constituted by different persons without the
smallest connection with each other; for the only purpose which they have ever answered is the purpose of base concealment.
We shall now proceed a little further with Mr.
Larkins. Tile first of the papers from which he took
the memoranda was a paper of Cantoo Baboo. It
contained detached payments, amounting in the
whole, with the cabooleat, or agreement, to about
95,0001. sterling, and of which it appears that there
was received by Mr. Croftes 55,0001. , and no more.
Now will your Lordships be so good as to let it rest
in your memory what sort of anll exchequer this is,
even with regard to its receipts? As your Lordships
have seen the economy and constitution of this office,
so now see the receipt. It appears that in the month
of May, 1782, out of the sums beginning to be received in the month of Shawal, that is, in July,
1779, there was, during that interval, 40,0001. out
of 95,0001. sunk somewhere, in some of the turnings
over upon the gridiron, through some of those agents
and panders of corruption which Mr. Hastings uses.
Here is the valuable revenue of the Company, which
is to supply them in their exigencies, which is to come
from sources which otherwise never would have yielded
it, - which, though small in proportion to the other
revenue, yet is a diamond, something that by its value
makes amends for its want of bulk, - falling short by
40,0001. out of 95,0001. Here is a system made for
fraud, and producillg all the effects of it.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -- FOURTH DAY. 419
Upon the face of this account, the agreement was
to yield to Mr. Hastings, some way or other, to be
paid to Mr. Croftes, 95,0001. , and there was a deficiency of 40,0001. Would any man, even with no more sense than Mr. Hastings, who wants all the ifaculties of the human mind, who has neither memory nor judgment, any man who was that poor half-idiot
creature that Mr. Hastings pretends to be, engage in a dealing that was to extort from some one or other an agreement to pay 95,0001. which was not to produce more than 55,0001. ? What, then, is become of it?
Is it in the hands of Mr. Hastings's wicked bribe-brokers, or in his own hands? Is it in arrear? Do you
know anything about it? Whom are you to apply
to for information? Why, to G. G. S. -G. G. S. I
find to be, what indeed I suspected him to be, a person that I have mentioned frequently to your Lordships, and that you will often hear of, commonly called Gunga Govind Sing, --in a short word, the
wickedest of the whole race of banians: -the consolidated wickedness of the whole body is to be found in this man.
Of the deficiency which appears in this agreement
with somebody or other on the part of Mr. Hastings
through Gunga Govind Sing you will expect to hear
some explanation. Of the first sum, which is said to
have been paid through Gunga Govind Sing, amounting on the cabooleat to four lac, and of which no more than two lac was actually received, -that is to say,
half of it was sunk, --we have this memorandum
only:'" Although Mr. Hastings was extremely dissatisfied with the excuses Gunga Govind Sing assigned
for not paying Mr. Croftes the sum stated by the
paper No. 1 to be in his charge, he never could ob
? ? ? ? 420 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tain from him any further payments on this account. "
Mr. Hastings is exceedingly dissatisfied with those
excuses, and this is the whole account of the transaction. This is the only thing said of Gunga Govind
Sing in the account: he neither states how. he came
to be employed, or for what he was employed. It
appears, however, from the transaction, as far as we
can make our way through this darkness, that he had
actually received 10,0001. of the money, which he did
not account for, and that he pretended that there
was an arrear of the rest. So here Mr. Hastings's
bribe-agent admits that he had received 10,0001. , but
he will not account for it; he says there is an arrear
of another 10,0001. ; and thus it appears that he was
enabled to take from somebody at Dinagepore, by a
cabooleat, 40,0001. , of which Mr. Hastings can get but
20,0001. : there is cent per cent loss upon it. Mr.
Hastings was so exceedingly dissatisfied with this
conduct of Gunga Govind Sing, that you would imagine a breach would have immediately ensued between them. I shall not anticipate what some of my honorable friends will bring before your Lordships;
but I tell you, that, so far from quarrelling with Gunga Govind Sing, or being really angry with him, it is
only a little pettish love quarrel with Gunga Govind
Sing: amantium irce amoris integratio est. For Gunga Govind Sing, without having paid him one shilling
of this money, attended him to the Ganges; and one
of the last acts of Mr. Hastings's government was to
represent this man, who was unfaithful even to fraud,
who did not keep the common faith of thieves and
robbers, this very man he recommends to the Company as a person who ought to be rewarded, as one
of their best and most faithful servants. And how
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 421
does he recommend him to be rewarded? By giving
him the estate of another person, - the way ill which
Mr. Hastings desires to be always rewarded himself:
for, in calling upon the Company's justice to give
him some money for expenses with which he never
charged them, he desires them to assign him the
money upon some person of the country. So here
Mr. Hastings recommends Gunga Govind Sing not
only to trust, confidence, and employment, which he
does very fiully, but to a reward taken out of the substance of other people. This is what Mr. Hastings has done with Gunga Govind Sing; and if such are
the effects of his anger, what must be the effect of
his pleasure and satisfaction? Now I say that Mr.
Hastings, who, in fact, saw this man amongst the
very last with whom he had any communication in
India, could not have so recommended him after this
known fraud, in one business only, of 20,0001. , -- he
could not so have supported him, he could not so
have caressed him, he could not so have employed
him, he could not have done all this, unless he had
paid to Mr. Hastings privately that sum of money
which never was brought into any even of these miserable accounts, without some payment or other with which Mr. Hastings was and ought to be satisfied, or
unless Gunga Govind Sing had some dishonorable secret to tell of him which he did not dare to provoke him to give a just account of, or, lastly, unless the
original agreement was that half or a third of the
bribe should go to Gunga Govind Sing.
Such is this patriotic scheme of bribery, this publicspirited corruption which Mr. Hastings has invented upon this occasion, and by which lie thinks out of
the vices of mankind to draw a better revenue than
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
out of any legal source whatever; and therefore he
has resolved to become the most corrupt of all Governors-General, in order to be the most useful servant to the finances of the Company. So much as to the first article of Dinagepore
peshcush. All you have is, that G. G. S. is Gunga
Govind Sing; that he has cheated the public of half
of it; that Mr. Hastings was angry With him, and
yet went away from Bengal, rewarding, praising, and
caressing him. Are these things to pass as matters
of course? They cannot so pass with your Lordships' sagacity: I will venture to say that no court,
even of pie-poudre, could help finding him guilty
upon such a matter, if such a court had to inquire
into it.
The next article is Patna. Here, too, he was to
receive 40,0001. ; but from whom this deponent saith
not. At this circumstance Mr. Larkins, who is a
famous deponent, never hints once. You may look
through his whole letter, which is a pretty long one,
(and which I will save your Lordships the trouble of
hearing read at length now, because you will have it
before you when you come to the Patna business,)
and you will only find that somebody had engaged to
pay him 40,0001. , and that but half of this sum was
received. You want an explanation of this. You
have seen the kind of explanation given in the former case, a conjectural explanation of G. G. S. But
when you come to the present case, who the person
paying was, why the money was not paid, what the
cause of failure was, you are not told: you only
learn that there was that sum deficient; and Mr.
Larkins, who is our last resort and final hope of
elucidation in this transaction, throws not the small
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FOURTH DAY. 423
est glimpse of light upon it. We of the House of
Commons have been reduced to form the best legitimate conjectures we could upon this business, and
those conjectures have led us to further evidence,
which will enable us to fix one of the most scandalous and most mischievous bribes, in all the circumstances of it, upon Mr. Hastings; that was ever known. If he extorted 40,0001. under pretence of
the Company's service, here is again another failure
of half the money. Oh, my Lords, you will find that
even the remaining part was purchased with the loss
of one of the best revenues in India, and with the
grievous distress of a country that deserved well your
protection, instead of being robbed to give 20,0001.
to the Company, and another 20,0001. to some robber
or other, black or white. When I say, given to some
other robber, black or white, I do not suppose that
either generosity, friendship, or even communion,
can exist in that country between white men and
black: no, their colors are not more adverse than
their characters and tempers. There is not that
idem velle et idem nolle, there are none of those
habits of life, nothing, that can bind men together
even in the most ordinary society: the mutual means
of such an union do not exist between them. It is a
money-dealing, and a money-dealing only, which can
exist between them; and when you hear that a black
man is favored, and that 20,0001.
