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.
more effectual concealment in regard to every circumstance respecting them in that discovery than if he
had kept a total silence.
Edmund Burke
"
My Lords, in fact, every word of this is either false
or groundless: it is completely fallacious in every
part. The first sum, he says, was entered as a loan,
the second as a deposit. Why was this done? Because, when you enter moneys of this kind, you must
enter them under some name, some head of account;
"and I entered them," he says, " under these, because otherwise there was no entering them at all. "
Is this true? Will he stick to this? I shall desire to
know from his learned counsel, some time or other,
whether that is a point he will take issue upon. Your
Lordships will see there were other bribes of his which
he brought under a regular official head, namely,
durbar charges; and there is no reason why he should
not have brought these under the same head. Therefore what he says, that there is no other way of entering them but as loans and deposits, is not true. He next says, that in the second sum there was no
reason for concealment, because it was avowed.
But that false deposit was as much concealment as
the false loan, for he entered that money as his
own; whereas, when he had a mind to carry any
money to the Company's account, he knew how to
do it, for he had been accustomed to enter it under a general name, called durbar charges, - a name
which, in its extent at least, was very much his
own invention, and which, as he gives no account
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 389
of those charges, is as large and sufficient to cover
any fraudulent expenditure in the account as, one
would think, any person could wish. You see him,
then, first guessing one thing, then another, -- first
giving this reason, then another; at last, however,
he seems to be satisfied that he has hit upon the
true reason of his conduct.
Now let us open the next paragraph, and see what
it is. -" Although I am firmly persuaded that these
were my sentiments on the occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. Though I feel their impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on
my memory, I am not certain that they may not
have been produced by subsequent reflection on the
principal fact, combining with it the probable motives of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my
design originally to have concealed the receipt of all
the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge of the Court of Directors. They had answered my purpose of public utility, and I had almost dismissed them from my remembrance. "
My Lords, you will observe in this most astonishing account which he gives here, that several of these sums he meant to conceal forever, even from the
knowledge of the Directors. Look back to his letter of 22d May, 1782, and his letter of the 16th of December, and in them he tells you that he might
have concealed them, but that he was resolved not to
conceal them; that he thought it highly dishonorable so to do; that his conscience would have been wounded, if he had done it; and that he was afraid
it would be thought that this discovery was brought
from him in consequence of the Parliamentary inquiries. Here he says of a discovery which he values
? ? ? ? 390 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
himself upon making voluntarily, that he is afraid it
should be attributed to arise from motives of fear.
Now, at last, he tells you, from Cheltenham, at a time
when he had just cause to dread the strict account to
which he is called this day, first, that he cannot tell
whether any one motive which he assigns, either in
this letter or in the former, were his real motive or
not; that he does not know whether he has not invented them since, in consequence of a train of meditation upon what he might have done or might
have said; and, lastly, he says, contrary to all his
former declarations, " that he had never meant nor
could give the Directors the least notice of them at
all, as they had answered his purpose, and he had dismissed them from his remembrance. " " I intended," he says, " always to keep them secret, though I have declared to you solemnly, over and over again,
that I did not. I do not care how you discovered
them; I have forgotten them; I have dismissed them
from my remembrance. " Is this the way in which
money is to be received and accounted for?
He then proceeds thus: -" But when fortune threw
a sum of money in my way of a magnitude which
could not be concealed, and the peculiar delicacy of
my situation at the time I received it made me more
circumspect of appearances, I chose to apprise my
employers of it, which I did hastily and generally:
hastily, perhaps, to prevent the vigilance and activity
of secret calumny; and generally, because I knew
not the exact amount of which I was in the receipt,
but not in the full possession. I promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be
in possession of it; and, in the performance of my
promise, I thought it consistent with it to add to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 391
the amount all the former appropriations of the same
kind: my good genius then suggesting to me, with
a spirit of caution which might have spared me the
trouble of this apology, had I universally attended
to it, that, if I had suppressed them, and they were
afterwards known, I might be asked what were my
motives for withholding a part of these receipts from
the knowledge of the Court of Directors and informing them of the rest, it being my wish to clear up
every doubt. "
I am almost ashamed to remark upon the tergiversations and prevarications perpetually ringing the
changes in this declaration. He would not have discovered this hundred thousand pounds, if he could
have concealed it: he would have discovered it, lest
malicious persons should be telling tales of it. He
has a system of concealment: he never discovers
anything, but when he thinks it can be forced from
him. He says, indeed, " I could conceal these things
forever, but my conscience would not give me leave ":
but it is guilt, and not honesty of conscience, that
always prompts him. At one time it is the malice
of people and the fear of misrepresentation which induced him to make the disclosure; and. he values
himself on the precaution which this fear had suggested to him. At another time it is the magnitude
of the sum which produced this effect: nothing but
the impossibility of concealing it could possibly have
made him discover it. This hundred thousand pounds
he declares he would have concealed, if he could; and
yet he values himself upon the discovery of it. Oh,
my Lords, I am afraid that sums of much greater magnitude have not been discovered at all! Your Lordships now see some of the artifices of this letter. You
? ? ? ? 392 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
see the variety of styles he adopts, and how he turns
himself into every shape and every form. But, after
all, do you find any clear discovery? do you find any
satisfactory answer to the Directors' letter? does he
once tell you firom whom he received the money? does
he tell you for what he received it, what the circumstances of the persons giving it were, or any explanation whatever of his mode of accounting for it? No: and here, at last, after so many years' litigation,
he is called to account for his prevaricating, false accounts in Calcutta, and cannot give them to you.
His explanation of his conduct relative to the bonds
now only remains for your Lordships' consideration.
Before he left Calcutta, in July, 1784 [1781? ], he
says, when he was going upon a service which he
thought a service of danger, he indorsed the false
bonds which he had taken from the Company, declaring them to be none of his. You will observe
that these bonds had been in his hands from the 9th
or 15th of January (I am not quite sure of the exact
date) to the day when he went upon this service, some
time in the month of July, 1784 [ 1781? ]. This service he had formerly declared he did not apprehend
to be a service of danger; but he found it to be so
after: it was in anticipation of that danger that he
made this attestation and certificate upon the bonds.
But who ever saw them? Mr. Larkins saw them, says
he: " I gave them Mr. Larkins. " We will show you
hereafter that Mr. Larkins deserves no credit in this
business, - that honor binds him not to discover the
secrets of Mr. Hastings. But why did he not deliver them up entirely, when he was going upon that
service? for all pretence of concealment in the business was now at all end, as we shall prove. Wihy
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 393
did he not cancel these bonds? Why keep them at
all? Why not enter truly the state of the account
in the Company's records? " But I indorsed them,"
he says. "Did you deliver them so indorsed into
the treasury? " " No, I delivered them indorsed into the hands of my bribe-broker and agent. " " But
why not destroy them, or give them up to the Company, and say you were paid, which would have been the only truth in this transaction? Why did you
not indorse them before? Why not, during the long
period of so many years, cancel them? " No, he
kept them to the very day when he was going from
Calcutta, and had made a declaration that they were
not his. Never before, upon any account, had they
appeared; and though the Committee of the House
of Commons, in the Eleventh Report, had remarked
upon all these scandalous proceedings and prevarications, yet he was not stimulated, even then, to give up these bonds. He held them in his hands till the
time when he was preparing for his departure from
Calcutta, in spite of the Directors, in spite of the
Parliament, in spite of the cries of his own conscience, in a matter which was now grown public,
and would knock doubly upon his reputation and
conduct. He then declares they are not for his own
use, but for the Company's service. But were they
then cancelled? I do not find a trace of their being cancelled. In this letter of the 17th of January,
1785, he says with regard to these bonds, "The following sums were paid into the treasury, and bonds granted for the same in the name of the GovernorGeneral, in whose possession the bonds remain, with a declaration upon each, indorsed and signed by him,
that he has no claim on the Company for the amount
? ? ? ? 394 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
either of principal or interest, no part of the latter
having been received. "
To the account of the 22d of May, of the indorsement, is added the declaration upon oath. But why any man need to declare upon oath that the money
which he has fraudulently taken and concealed from
another person is not his is the most extraordinary
thing in the world. If he had a mind to have it
placed to his credit as his own, then an oath would
be necessary; but in this case any one would believe
him upon his word. He comes, however, and says,
"This is indorsed upon oath. " Oath! before what
magistrate? In whose possession were the bonds?
Were they given -up? There is no trace of that upon
the record, and it stands for him to prove that they
were ever given up, and in any hands but Mr. Larkins's and his own. So here are the bonds, begun in obscurity and ending in obscurity, ashes to ashes, dust
to dust, corruption to corruption, and fraud to fraud.
This is all we see of these bonds, till Mr. Larkins, to
whom he writes some letter concerning them which
does not appear, is called to read a funeral sermon
over them.
My Lords, I am come now near the period of this
class of Mr. Hastings's bribes. I am a little exhausted. There are many circumstances that might make me wish not to delay this business by taking
up another day at your Lordships' bar, in order to
go through this long, intricate scene of corruption.
But my strength now fails me. I hope within a very
short time, to-morrow or the next court-day, to finish
it, and to go directly into evidence, as I long much to
do, to substantiate the charge; but it was necessary
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. THIRD DAY. 395 that the evidence should be explained. You have heard as much of the drama as I could go through: bear with my weakness a little: Mr. Larkins's letter will be the epilogue to it. I have already incurred
the censure of the prisoner; I mean to increase it, by bringing home to him the proof of his crimes, and to display them in all their force and turpitude. It is
my duty to do it; I feel it an obligation nearest to my heart.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF CHARGE.
FOURTH DAY: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1789.
M Y LORDS, -When I had the honor last to
address you from this place, I endeavored to
press this position upon your minds, and to fortify it
by the example of the proceedings of Mr. Hastings,
-that obscurity and inaccuracies in a matter of
account constituted a just presumption of fraud. 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
? ?
My Lords, in fact, every word of this is either false
or groundless: it is completely fallacious in every
part. The first sum, he says, was entered as a loan,
the second as a deposit. Why was this done? Because, when you enter moneys of this kind, you must
enter them under some name, some head of account;
"and I entered them," he says, " under these, because otherwise there was no entering them at all. "
Is this true? Will he stick to this? I shall desire to
know from his learned counsel, some time or other,
whether that is a point he will take issue upon. Your
Lordships will see there were other bribes of his which
he brought under a regular official head, namely,
durbar charges; and there is no reason why he should
not have brought these under the same head. Therefore what he says, that there is no other way of entering them but as loans and deposits, is not true. He next says, that in the second sum there was no
reason for concealment, because it was avowed.
But that false deposit was as much concealment as
the false loan, for he entered that money as his
own; whereas, when he had a mind to carry any
money to the Company's account, he knew how to
do it, for he had been accustomed to enter it under a general name, called durbar charges, - a name
which, in its extent at least, was very much his
own invention, and which, as he gives no account
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 389
of those charges, is as large and sufficient to cover
any fraudulent expenditure in the account as, one
would think, any person could wish. You see him,
then, first guessing one thing, then another, -- first
giving this reason, then another; at last, however,
he seems to be satisfied that he has hit upon the
true reason of his conduct.
Now let us open the next paragraph, and see what
it is. -" Although I am firmly persuaded that these
were my sentiments on the occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. Though I feel their impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on
my memory, I am not certain that they may not
have been produced by subsequent reflection on the
principal fact, combining with it the probable motives of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my
design originally to have concealed the receipt of all
the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge of the Court of Directors. They had answered my purpose of public utility, and I had almost dismissed them from my remembrance. "
My Lords, you will observe in this most astonishing account which he gives here, that several of these sums he meant to conceal forever, even from the
knowledge of the Directors. Look back to his letter of 22d May, 1782, and his letter of the 16th of December, and in them he tells you that he might
have concealed them, but that he was resolved not to
conceal them; that he thought it highly dishonorable so to do; that his conscience would have been wounded, if he had done it; and that he was afraid
it would be thought that this discovery was brought
from him in consequence of the Parliamentary inquiries. Here he says of a discovery which he values
? ? ? ? 390 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
himself upon making voluntarily, that he is afraid it
should be attributed to arise from motives of fear.
Now, at last, he tells you, from Cheltenham, at a time
when he had just cause to dread the strict account to
which he is called this day, first, that he cannot tell
whether any one motive which he assigns, either in
this letter or in the former, were his real motive or
not; that he does not know whether he has not invented them since, in consequence of a train of meditation upon what he might have done or might
have said; and, lastly, he says, contrary to all his
former declarations, " that he had never meant nor
could give the Directors the least notice of them at
all, as they had answered his purpose, and he had dismissed them from his remembrance. " " I intended," he says, " always to keep them secret, though I have declared to you solemnly, over and over again,
that I did not. I do not care how you discovered
them; I have forgotten them; I have dismissed them
from my remembrance. " Is this the way in which
money is to be received and accounted for?
He then proceeds thus: -" But when fortune threw
a sum of money in my way of a magnitude which
could not be concealed, and the peculiar delicacy of
my situation at the time I received it made me more
circumspect of appearances, I chose to apprise my
employers of it, which I did hastily and generally:
hastily, perhaps, to prevent the vigilance and activity
of secret calumny; and generally, because I knew
not the exact amount of which I was in the receipt,
but not in the full possession. I promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be
in possession of it; and, in the performance of my
promise, I thought it consistent with it to add to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 391
the amount all the former appropriations of the same
kind: my good genius then suggesting to me, with
a spirit of caution which might have spared me the
trouble of this apology, had I universally attended
to it, that, if I had suppressed them, and they were
afterwards known, I might be asked what were my
motives for withholding a part of these receipts from
the knowledge of the Court of Directors and informing them of the rest, it being my wish to clear up
every doubt. "
I am almost ashamed to remark upon the tergiversations and prevarications perpetually ringing the
changes in this declaration. He would not have discovered this hundred thousand pounds, if he could
have concealed it: he would have discovered it, lest
malicious persons should be telling tales of it. He
has a system of concealment: he never discovers
anything, but when he thinks it can be forced from
him. He says, indeed, " I could conceal these things
forever, but my conscience would not give me leave ":
but it is guilt, and not honesty of conscience, that
always prompts him. At one time it is the malice
of people and the fear of misrepresentation which induced him to make the disclosure; and. he values
himself on the precaution which this fear had suggested to him. At another time it is the magnitude
of the sum which produced this effect: nothing but
the impossibility of concealing it could possibly have
made him discover it. This hundred thousand pounds
he declares he would have concealed, if he could; and
yet he values himself upon the discovery of it. Oh,
my Lords, I am afraid that sums of much greater magnitude have not been discovered at all! Your Lordships now see some of the artifices of this letter. You
? ? ? ? 392 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
see the variety of styles he adopts, and how he turns
himself into every shape and every form. But, after
all, do you find any clear discovery? do you find any
satisfactory answer to the Directors' letter? does he
once tell you firom whom he received the money? does
he tell you for what he received it, what the circumstances of the persons giving it were, or any explanation whatever of his mode of accounting for it? No: and here, at last, after so many years' litigation,
he is called to account for his prevaricating, false accounts in Calcutta, and cannot give them to you.
His explanation of his conduct relative to the bonds
now only remains for your Lordships' consideration.
Before he left Calcutta, in July, 1784 [1781? ], he
says, when he was going upon a service which he
thought a service of danger, he indorsed the false
bonds which he had taken from the Company, declaring them to be none of his. You will observe
that these bonds had been in his hands from the 9th
or 15th of January (I am not quite sure of the exact
date) to the day when he went upon this service, some
time in the month of July, 1784 [ 1781? ]. This service he had formerly declared he did not apprehend
to be a service of danger; but he found it to be so
after: it was in anticipation of that danger that he
made this attestation and certificate upon the bonds.
But who ever saw them? Mr. Larkins saw them, says
he: " I gave them Mr. Larkins. " We will show you
hereafter that Mr. Larkins deserves no credit in this
business, - that honor binds him not to discover the
secrets of Mr. Hastings. But why did he not deliver them up entirely, when he was going upon that
service? for all pretence of concealment in the business was now at all end, as we shall prove. Wihy
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 393
did he not cancel these bonds? Why keep them at
all? Why not enter truly the state of the account
in the Company's records? " But I indorsed them,"
he says. "Did you deliver them so indorsed into
the treasury? " " No, I delivered them indorsed into the hands of my bribe-broker and agent. " " But
why not destroy them, or give them up to the Company, and say you were paid, which would have been the only truth in this transaction? Why did you
not indorse them before? Why not, during the long
period of so many years, cancel them? " No, he
kept them to the very day when he was going from
Calcutta, and had made a declaration that they were
not his. Never before, upon any account, had they
appeared; and though the Committee of the House
of Commons, in the Eleventh Report, had remarked
upon all these scandalous proceedings and prevarications, yet he was not stimulated, even then, to give up these bonds. He held them in his hands till the
time when he was preparing for his departure from
Calcutta, in spite of the Directors, in spite of the
Parliament, in spite of the cries of his own conscience, in a matter which was now grown public,
and would knock doubly upon his reputation and
conduct. He then declares they are not for his own
use, but for the Company's service. But were they
then cancelled? I do not find a trace of their being cancelled. In this letter of the 17th of January,
1785, he says with regard to these bonds, "The following sums were paid into the treasury, and bonds granted for the same in the name of the GovernorGeneral, in whose possession the bonds remain, with a declaration upon each, indorsed and signed by him,
that he has no claim on the Company for the amount
? ? ? ? 394 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
either of principal or interest, no part of the latter
having been received. "
To the account of the 22d of May, of the indorsement, is added the declaration upon oath. But why any man need to declare upon oath that the money
which he has fraudulently taken and concealed from
another person is not his is the most extraordinary
thing in the world. If he had a mind to have it
placed to his credit as his own, then an oath would
be necessary; but in this case any one would believe
him upon his word. He comes, however, and says,
"This is indorsed upon oath. " Oath! before what
magistrate? In whose possession were the bonds?
Were they given -up? There is no trace of that upon
the record, and it stands for him to prove that they
were ever given up, and in any hands but Mr. Larkins's and his own. So here are the bonds, begun in obscurity and ending in obscurity, ashes to ashes, dust
to dust, corruption to corruption, and fraud to fraud.
This is all we see of these bonds, till Mr. Larkins, to
whom he writes some letter concerning them which
does not appear, is called to read a funeral sermon
over them.
My Lords, I am come now near the period of this
class of Mr. Hastings's bribes. I am a little exhausted. There are many circumstances that might make me wish not to delay this business by taking
up another day at your Lordships' bar, in order to
go through this long, intricate scene of corruption.
But my strength now fails me. I hope within a very
short time, to-morrow or the next court-day, to finish
it, and to go directly into evidence, as I long much to
do, to substantiate the charge; but it was necessary
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. THIRD DAY. 395 that the evidence should be explained. You have heard as much of the drama as I could go through: bear with my weakness a little: Mr. Larkins's letter will be the epilogue to it. I have already incurred
the censure of the prisoner; I mean to increase it, by bringing home to him the proof of his crimes, and to display them in all their force and turpitude. It is
my duty to do it; I feel it an obligation nearest to my heart.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF CHARGE.
FOURTH DAY: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1789.
M Y LORDS, -When I had the honor last to
address you from this place, I endeavored to
press this position upon your minds, and to fortify it
by the example of the proceedings of Mr. Hastings,
-that obscurity and inaccuracies in a matter of
account constituted a just presumption of fraud. 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
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