Oni the 5th of January following we see the
business
take a totally different
turn; and then Mr.
turn; and then Mr.
Edmund Burke
It was undoubtedly voluntarily offered
to them by the party, in the height of victory, and
enriched by the plunder of whole provinces. I believe your Lordships will agree with me, that, if any relaxation, any evasion, of an act of Parliament
could be allowed, if the intention of the legislature
could for a moment be trifled with, or supposed for
a moment doubtful, it was in this instance; and yet,
upon the rigor of the act, Mr. Hastings refuses that
army the price of their blood, money won solely almost by their arms for a prince who had acquired millions by their bravery, fidelity, and sufferings.
This was the case in which Mr. Hastings refused a
public donation to- the army; and from that day to
this they have never received it.
If the receipt of this public donation could be thus
forbidden, whence has Mr. Hastings since learned
that he may privately take money, and take it not
only from princes, and persons in power, and al)oullding in wealth, but, as we shall prove, from persons in a comparative degree of penury adii distress? that
he could take it from persons ill office and trust,
whose power gave them the mleans of ruining the
people for the purpose of enabliing tlhemselves to pay
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD I)AY. 333
it? Consider in what a situation the Company must
be, if the Governor-General can form such a secret exchequer of direct bribes, given eo nomine as bribes, and accepted as such, by the parties concerned in the transaction, to be discovered only by himself, and with only the inward reservation that I have spoken of.
In the first place, if Mr. Hastings should die without having made a discovery of all his bribes, or
if any other servant of the Company should imitate
his example without his heroic good intentions in
doing such villanons acts, how is the Company to recover the bribe-money? The receivers need not divulge it till they think fit; and the moment an informer comes, that informer is ruined. He comes, for instance, to the Governor-General and Council,
and charges, say, not Mr. Hastings, but the head of
the Board of Revenue, with receiving a bribe. " Receive a bribe? So I did; but it was with an inten
tion of applying it to the Company's service. There
I nick the informer: I am beforehand with him: the
bribe is sanctified by my inward jesuitical intention.
I will make a merit of it with the Company. I have
received 40,0001. as a bribe; there it is for you: I
am acquitted; I am a meritorious servant: let the
informer go and seek his remedy as he can. " Now,
if an informer is once instructed that a person who
receives bribes can turn them into merit, and take
away his action from him, do you think that you
ever will or can discover any one bribe? But what
is still worse, by this method disclose but one bribe,
and you secure all the rest that you possibly can receive upon any occasion. For instance, strong report prevails that a bribe of 40,0001. has been given,
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and the receiver expects that information will be laid
against him. He acknowledges that lie has received
a bribe of 40,0001. , but says that it was for the service of the Company, and that it is carried to their account. And thus, by stating that he has taken
some money which he has accounted for, but concealing from whom that money came, which is exactly Mr. Hastings's case, if at last an information should
be laid before the Company of a specific bribe having
been received of 40,0001. , it is said by the receiver,
"Lord! this is the 40,0001. I told you of: it is
broken into fragments, paid by instalments; and you
have taken it and put it into your own coffers. "
Again, suppose him to take it through the hand
of an agent, such as Gunga Govind Sing, and that
this agent, who, as we have lately discovered, out of
a bribe of 40,0001. , which Mr. Hastings was to have
received, kept back half of it, falls into their debt
like him: I desire to know what the Company can
do in such a case. Gunga Govind Sing has entered
into no covenants with the Company. There is no
trace of his having this money, except what Mr.
Hastings chooses to tell. If he is called upon to
refund it to the Company, he may say he never received it, that he was never ordered to extort this money from the people; or if he was under any
covenant not to take money, he may set up this defence: " I am forbidden to receive money; and I
will not make a declaration which will subject me
to penalties": or he may say in India, before the
Supreme Court, "I have paid the bribe all to Mr.
Hastings "; and then there must be a bill and suit
there, a bill and suit here, and by that means, having one party on one side the water and the other
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 335 party on the other, the Company may never come
to a discovery of it. And that in fact this is the
way in which one of his great bribe-agents has acted I shall prove to your Lordships by evidence.
Mr. Hastings had squeezed out of a miserable
country a bribe of 40,0001. , of which he was enabled
to bring to the account of the Company only 20,0001. ,
and of which we should not even have known the
existence, if the inquiries pursued with great diligence by the House of Commons had not extorted the discovery: and even now that we know the fact,
we can never get at the money; the Company can
never receive it; and before the House had squeezed
out of him that some such money had been received,
he never once told the Court of Directors that his
black bribe-agent, whomn le recommended to their
service, had cheated both them and him of 20,0001.
out of the fund of the bribe-revenue. If it be asked,
Where is the record of this? Record there is none.
In what office is it entered? It is entered in no
office; it is mentioned as privately received for the
Company's benefit: and you shall now further see
what a charming office of receipt and account this
new exchequer of Mr. Hastings's is.
For there is another and a more serious circumstance attending this business. Every one knows, that, by the law of this, and, I believe, of every country, any money which is taken illegally from anlly person, as every bribe or sum of money extorted
or paid without consideration is, belongs to the person who paid it, and he may bring his action for it, and recover it. Then see how the Company stands.
The Company receives a bribe of 40,0001. by Mr.
Hastings; it is carried to its account; it turns brib
? ? ? ? 336 IMPEACHM1ENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ery into a revenue; it sanctifies it. In the mean
time, the man from whom this money is illegally
taken sues Mr. Hastings. Must not he recover. of
Mr. Hastings? Then, if so, must not Mr. Hastings
recover it again from the Company? The Company undoubtedly is answerable for it. And here is a revenue which every man who has paid it may drag
out of the treasury again. Mr. Hastings's donations of his bribes to the treasury are liable to be torn from it at pleasure by every man who gives the money. First it may be torn from him who receives it; and then he may recover it from the treasury, to which he has given it.
But admitting that the taking of bribes can be
sanctified by their becoming the property of the
Company, it may still be asked, For what end and
purpose has the Company covenanted with Mr. Hastings that money taken extorsively shall belong to the Company? Is it that satisfaction and reparation
may be awarded against the said Warren Hastings
to tile said Company for their own benefit? No:
it is for the benefit of the injured persons; and it
is to be carried to the Company's account, "but in
trust, nevertheless, and to the intent that the said
Company may and do render and pay over the moneys received or recovered by them to the parties injured or defrauded, which the said Company accordingly hereby agree and covenant to do. " Now here is a revenue to be received by Mr. Hastings for
the Company's use, applied at his discretion to that
use, and which the Company has previously covenanted to restore to the persons that are injured and damaged. This is a revenue which is to be torn
away by the action of any person, - a revenue which
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 3837
they must return back to the person complaining,
as they in justice ought to do: for no nation ever
avowed making a revenue out of bribery and peculation. They are, then, to restore it back again. But how can they restore it? Mr. Hastings has
applied it: he has given it in presents to princes,laid it out in budgeros, -- in pen, ink, and wax, --
in salaries to secretaries: he has laid it out just ill
any way he pleased: and the India Company, who
have covenanted to restore all this money to the persons from whom it came, are deprived of all means of performing so just a duty. Therefore I dismiss the
idea that any man so acting could have had a good
intention in his mind: the supposition is too weak,
senseless, and absurd. It was only in a desperate
cause that he made a desperate attempt: for we shall
prove that lie never made a disclosure without thinking that a discovery had been previously made or was likely to be made, together with anl exposure
of all the circumstances of his wicked and abominable concealment.
You will see the history of this new scheme of
bribery, by which Mr. Hastings contrived by avowing some bribes to cover others, attempted to outface
his delinquency, and, if possible, to reconcile a weak
breach of the laws with a sort of spirited observance
of them, and to become infamous for the good of his
country.
The first appearance of this practice of bribery
was in a letter of the 29th of November, 1780. The
cause which led to the discovery was a dispute between him and Mr. Francis at the board, in collsequence of a very handsome offer made by Mr. Hastings to the board relative to a measure proposed by VOL. X. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
him, to which he found one objection to be the money
that it would cost. He made the most generous and
handsome offer, as it stands upon record, that perhaps
any man ever made, - namely, that lie would defiay
the expense out of his own private cash, and that he
had deposited with the treasurer two lac of rupees.
This was in June, 1780, and Mr. Francis soon after
returned to Europe. I need not inform your Lordslhips, tlhat Mr. Hastings had before this time been charged with bribery and peculation by General Claverin(g, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis. He sus. pected that Mr. Francis, theii going to Europe, would
confirm this charge by the suspicious nature and circunmstances of this generous offer; and this suspicion was increased by the connection which lhe supposed,
and whllich we can prove lie tlloughlt, Mr. Francis had
with Clieyt Sing. Apprellending, therefore, that he
miglht discover and bring the bribe to liglht some way
or other, lie resolved to anticipate any such discovery
by declaring, upoI the 29th of November, that this
money was not his own. I will mention to your Lordships hereafter the circumstanlces of this money. He says, "My present reason for adverting to my conduct," (that is, his offer of two lac of rupees out of
his own private cash for the Company's service, upon
the 26th of June, 1780,) " on the occasion I have mentioned, is to obviate the false' conchlsions or purposed misrepresentations which may be made of it, eitfher as
an artifice of ostentation or as the effect of corrupt
influence, by assuring you that the money, by whatever means it came into your possession, was not my own, -- that I had myself no right to it, nor would
or could have received it, but for the occasion, which
prompted me to avail myself of the accidental means
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 339
which were at that instant afforded me of accepting
and converting it to the property and use of the Company: and with this brief apology I shall dismiss the subject. "
My Lords, you see what an account Mr. Hastings
has given of some obscure transaction by which he
contradicts the record. For, on the 26th of June, he
generously, nobly, fill of enthusiasm for their service, offers to the Company money of his own. On the 29th of November lie tells the Court of Directors that
the money he offered on the former day was not his
own, - thllat his assertion was totally false, - that the
money was not his,- that he had no right to receive
it, - and that he would not have received it, but for
the occasion, which prompted him to avail himself of
the accidental means whicll at that instant offered.
Such is the account sent by their Governor in India, acting as an accountant, to the Company, - a company with whom everything is matter of account.
IIe tells them, indeed, that the sum he had offered
was not his own,- that lie had no right to it, --and
that he would not have takeni it, if he had not been
greatly tempted by the occasion; but lie never tells
tlhem by what means he came at it, the person from
whom he received it, the occasion upon which lhe
received it, (whether justifiable or not,) or any one
circumstance under heaven relative to it. This is
a very extraordinary account to give to the public of
a sum which we find to be somewhere above twenity
thousand pounds, taken by Mr. Hastings in some way
or other. He set the Company blindly groping in
the dark by the very pretended light, thle ignis-fatuus,
which he held out to them: for at that time all was
in the dark, and in a cloud: and this is what Mr.
? ? ? ? 840 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Hastings calls infornzation communicated to the Company on the sublject of these bribes.
You have heard of' obscurity illustrated by a further obscurity, -obseurum per obsecurius. He continues to tell them, --" Sometling of affinity to this anecdote may appear in the first aspect of another
transaction, which I shall proceed to relate, and of
wllich it is more immediately my duty to inform
you. " He then tells them that he had contrived to
give a sum of money to the Rajah of Berar, and the
account he gives of that proceeding is this. " We
had neither money to spare, nor, in the apparent state
of that government in its relation to ours, would it
have been either prudent or consistent with our public credit to have afforded it. It was, nevertheless,
my decided opinion that some aid should be given,
not less as a necessary relief than as an indication of
confidence, and a return for the many instances of
substantial kindness which we had within the course
of the two last years experienced from the government of Berar. I had an assurance that such a proposal would receive the acquiescence of the board; but I knew that it would not pass without opposition,
and it would have become public, which might have
defeated its purpose. Convinced of the necessity of
the expedient, and assured of the sincerity of the government of Berar, from evidences of stronger proof to
me than I could make them appear to the other memnbers of the board, I resolved to adopt it, and take the
entire responsibility of it upon myself. In this mode
a less considerable sum would suffice. I accordinigly caused three lac of rupees to be delivered to the
minister of the Rajah of Berar resident in Calcutta.
He has transmitted it to Cuttack. Two thirds of this
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 341
sum I have raised by my own credit, and shall charge
it in my official accounts; the other third I have
supplied from the cash in my hands belonging to the
Honorable Company. "
Your Lordslhips see in this business another mode
which he has of accounting with the Company, and
informing them of his bribe, He beginis his account
of this transaction by saying that it has something of
affinity to the last anecdote, --meaning the account
of the first bribe. An anecdote is made a head of
anl accounlt; and this, I believe, is what none of your
Lordships ever have heard of before, --and I believe
it is yet to be learned in this commercial nation, a na-,
tion of accurate commercial accolunt. The account
he gives of the first is an anecdote; and what is his
account of the second? A relation of an anecdote:
not a near relation, but something of affinity, --a remote relation, cousin three or four times removed, of the half-blood, or something of that kind, to tlhis anecdote: and lie never tells them any circumstance of it whatever of any kind, but that it has some affinity
to the former anecdote. But, my Lords, the thing
which comes to some degree of clearness is this, that
he did give money to the Rajah of Berar. And your
Lordslhips will be so good as to advert carefully to the
proportions in which he gave it. He did give him
two lac of rupees of money raised by his own credit,
his own money; and the third he advanced out of
the Company's money in his hands. He minglt have
taken the Company's money undoubtedly, fairly,
openly, and held it in his hands, for a hundred putrposes; and therefore he does not tell them that even that third was money he had obtained by bribery and
corruption. No: he says it is money of the Corn
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pany's, which he had in his hand. So that you must
get through a long train of construction before you
ascertain that this sum was what it turns out to be,
a bribe, which lie retainied for the Company. Your
Lordships will please to observe, as I proceed. , the nature oitlhis pretended generosity ill Mr. Hastings.
He is always generous in the same way. As he offered thle whole of his first bribe as his own money,
and afterward acknowledged that no part of it was
his own, so he is now generous again in this latter
transaction, --in which, however, lie shows that lie is
neither generous nor just. He took the first money without right, and he did not apply it to the very
service for which it was pretended to be taken. He
then tells you of another anecdote, which, lie says,
has an affinity to that anecdote, and here he is generous again. In the first he appears to be generous
and just, because he appears to give his own money,
which he had a right to dispose of; then he tells you
he is neither generous nor just, for lie had takeil money he had no right to, and did not apply it to the service for which he pretended to have received it. And now he is generous again, because lie gives two lac
of his own money, - and just, because lie gives one
lac which belonged to the Company; but there is not
an idea suggested from whom lie took it.
But to proceed, my Lords. In this letter lie tells
you he had given two taiirds his own money and one
third the Company's money. So it stood upon the
29th of November, 1780.
Oni the 5th of January following we see the business take a totally different
turn; and then Mr. Hastings calls for three Company's bonds, upon two different securities, antedated
to the 1st and 2d of October, for the three lac, which
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 343
he before told them was two thirds his own money
and one third the Company's. He now declares the
whole of it to be his own, and he thus applies by letter to the board, of which he himself was a majority. " Honorable Sir and Sirs, - Having had occasion to
disburse the sum of three lacs of sicca rupees on account of secret services, which having been advanced from my own private cash, I request that the same
may be repaid to me in the following manner.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the
second loan, bearing date from 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the first loan, bearing date from 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the
first loan, bearing date from the 2d October, for one
lac of sicca rupees. "
Here are two accounts, one of which must be directly and flatly false: for he could not have given two thirds his own, and have supplied the other third
from money of the Company's, and at the same time
have advanced the whole as his own. He here goes
the full length of the fraud: he declares that it is all
his own, - so much his own that he does not trust
the Company with it, and aqtually takes their bonds
as a security for it, bearing an interest to be paid to
him whlen lihe thinks proper.
Thus it remained from the 5th of January, 1781,
till 16th December, 1782, when this business takes
another turn, and in a letter of his to the Company
these bonds become all their own. All the money ad.
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHSMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
vanced is now, all of it, the Company's money. First
he says two thirds were his own; next, that the whole
is his own; and the third account is, that the whole
is the Company's, and he will account to them for it.
Now he has accompanied this account with another
very curious one. For when you come to look into the particulars of it, you will find there are three bonds declared to be the Company's bonds, and which
refer to the former transactions, namely, the money
for which he had taken the bonds; but when you
come to look at the numbers of them, you will find
that one of the three bonds which he had taken as
his own disappears, and another bond, of another date,
and for a much larger sum, is substituted in its place,
of which he had never mentioned anything whatever.
So that, taking his first account, that two thirds is his
own money, then that it is all his own, in the third
that it is all the Company's money, by a fourth account, given in a paper describing the three bonds, you will find that there is one lac which he does not
account for, bhut substitutes in its place a bond before
taken as his own. He sinks and suppresses one bond,
he gives two bonds to the Company, and to supply
the want of the third, which he suppresses, he brings
forward a bond for another sum, of another date,
which he had never mentioned before. Here, then,
you have four different accounts: if any one of them
is true, every one of the other three is totally false.
Such a system of cogging, such a system of fraud, sucl
a system of prevarication, such a system of falsehood,
never was, I believe, before exhibited in the world.
In the first place, why did he take bonds at all firom
the Company for the money that was their own? I
must be cautious how I charge a legal crime. I will
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 345 not charge it to be forgery, to take a bond from the Company for money which was their own. He was employed to make out bonds for the Company, to raise money on their credit. He pretends he lent them a sum of money, which was not his to lend: but he gives their own money to them as his own, and takes a security for it. I will not say that it is
a forgery, but I am sure it is an offence as grievous,
because it is as much a cheat as a forgery, with this
addition to it, that the person so cheating is in a
trust; he violates that trust, and in so doing he defrauds and falsifies the whole system of the Company's accounts.
I have only to show what his own explanation of
all these actions was, because it supersedes all observation of mine. Hear what prevaricating guilt says for the falsehood and delusion which had been used to
cover it; and see how he plunges deeper and deeper upon every occasion. This explanation arose out of another memorable bribe, which I must now beg
leave to state to your Lordslhips.
About the time of the receipt of the former bribes,
good fortune, as good things seldom come singly, is
kind to him; and when he went up and had nearly
ruined the Company's affairs in Oude and Benares,
he received a present of 100,0001. sterling, or thereabouts. He received bills for it in September, 1781, and he gives the Company an account of it in January, 1782. Remark in what manner the account of this money was given, and-the purposes for which
he intends to apply it. He says, in this letter, " I received the offer of a considerable sum of money, both on the Nabob's part and that of his ministers, as a
present to myself, not to the Company: I accepted it
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
without hesitation, and gladly, being entirely destitute
both of means and credit, whether for your service or
the relief of my own necessities. " My Lords, upon
this you shall hear a comment, made by some abler
persons than me. This donation was not made in
species, bat in bills upon the house of Gopaul Doss,
who was then a prisoner inl the hands of Clheyt Sing.
After mentioning that lie took tlhis presenit for the
Company, and for their exigencies, and partly for his
own necessities, and in consequence of the distress of
both, he desires the Company, in the moment of this
tlheir greatest distress, to award it to him, and therefore lihe ends, " If you should adjudge the deposit to
me, I shall consider it as the most honorable approbation and reward of my labors: and I wish to owe
my fortune to your bounty. I am now in the fiftieth
year of my life: 1 have passed thirty-one years in the
service of the Company, and tile greatest part of that
time in employments of the highest trust. My conscience allows me boldly to claim the merit of zeal
and integrity; nor has fortune been unpropitious to
their exertions. To these qualities I bound my pretemnsions. I shall not repine, if you shall deem otherwise of my services; nor ought your decision, liowever it may disappoint my hope of a retreat adequate to the consequence and elevation of the office which I
now possess, to lessen my gratitude for having been
so long permitted to hold it, since it has at least e01abled me to lay up a provision with which I can l)e
contented in a more humble station. "
And here your Lordships will be pleased incidentally to remark the circumstance of his condition of
life and his fortune, to which he appeals, and upon account of which he desires this money. Your Lord
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 347
ships will remember that ill 1773 he said, (and this I
stated to you from himself,) that, if he held his then
office for a very few years, lhe should be enabled to
lay by an ample provision for his retreat. About
nine years after that time, namely, in the month
of. January, 1782, lie finds himself rather pinched
withl want, but, however, not in so bad a way but
tlat the holding of his office had enabled him to lay
up a provision with which he could be contented in a
more humble statioii. He wishes to have affluence;
he wishes to have dignity; lie wishes to have consequence and rank: but he allows that he has competence. Your Lordships will see afterwards how miserably his hopes were disappointed: for the Court of Directors, receiving this letter from Mr. Hastings,
did declare, that they could not give it to him, because the act had ordered that "no fees of office,
perquisites, emoluments, or advantages whatsoever,
should be accepted, received, or taken by such Governor-General and Council, or any of them, in any
manner or on any account -or pretence whatsoever";' and as the same act further directs,'that no Governor-General, or any of the Council, shall directly take, accept, or receive, of or from any person or
persons, in any manner or on any account whatsoever, any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward,
pecuniary or otherwise, or any promise or engagement for any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward,' we cannot, were we so inclined, decree the amount of this present to the Governor-General.
And it is further enacted,'that any such present,
gift, gratuity, donation, or reward, accepted, taken,
or received, shall be deemed and construed to have
been received to and for the sole use of the Corl
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pany. '" And therefore they resolved, most unjustly
and most wickedly, to keep it to themselves. The
act made it in the first instance the property of the
Company, and they would not give it him. And one
should think this, with his own former construction
of the act, would have made him cautious of taking
bribes. You have seen what weight it had with him
to stop the course of bribes which he was in such a
career of taking in every place and with both hlands.
Your Lordships have now before you this hundred
thousand pounds, disclosed in a letter from Patna,
dated the 20th January, 1782. You find mystery
and concealment in every one of Mr. Hastings's discoveries. For (which is a curious part of it) this letter was not sent to the Court of Directors in their packet iregularly, but transmitted by Major Fairfax,
one of his agents, to Major Scott, another of his
agents, to be delivered to the Company. Why was
this done? Your Lordships will judge, from that circuitous mode of transmission, whether he did not
thereby intend to leave some discretion in his agent
to divulge it or not. We are told he did not; but
your Lordships will believe that or not, according to
the nature of the fact. If he had been anxious to
make this discovery to the Directors, the regular way
would have been to send his letter to the Directors
immediately in the packet: but he sent it in a box to
an agent; and that agent, upon due discretion, conveyed it to the Court of Directors. Here, however,
he tells you nothing about the persons from whom
he received this money, any more than he had done
respecting the two former sums.
On the 2d of May following the date of this Patna
letter he came down to Calcutta with a mind, as he
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 349
himself describes it, greatly agitated. All his hope
of plundering Benares had totally failed. The produce of the robbing of the Begums, in the manner
your Lordships have heard, was all dissipated to pay
the arrears of the armies: there was no fund left.
He felt himself agitated and fiull of dread, knowing
that he had been threatened with having his place
taken from him several times, and that he might be
called home to render an account. He had heard
that inquiries had begun in a menacing form in Parliament; and though at that time Bengal was not
struck at, there was a charge of bribery and peculation brought against the Governor of Madras. With
this dread, with a mind full of anxiety and perturbation, he writes a letter, as he pretends, on the 22d of
May, 1782. Your Lordships will remark, that, when
he came down to Calcutta from his expedition up
the country, he did not till the 22d of May give any
account whatever of these transactions, - and that
this letter, or pretended letter, of the 22d of May was
not sent till the 16th of December following. We
shall clearly prove that he had abundant means of
sending it, and by various ways, before the 16th of
December, 1782, when he inclosed in another letter
that of the 22d of May. This is the letter of discovery; this is the letter by which his breast was to be
laid open to his employers, and all the obscurity of
his transactions to be elucidated. Here are indeed
new discoveries, but they are like many new-discovered lands, exceedingly inhospitable, very thinly inhabited, and producing nothing to gratify the curiosity of the human mind. This letter is addressed to the Honorable the
Court of Directors, dated Fort William, 22d May,
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
1782. Ile tells them he had promised to account
for the tell lacs of rupees which lie had received, and
this promise, he says, he now performs, and that he
takes that opportunity of accounting with them likewise for several other sums which lhe had received.
His words are, --
"This promise I now perform, and, deeming it
consistent with the spirit of it, I have added suclh
other sums as have been occasionally converted to
the Company's property through my means, in consequence of the like original destination. Of the second of these sums you have already been advised in a letter which I had the honor to address the
Honorable Court of Directors, dated 29th November,
1780. Both this and the third article were paid immediately to the treasury, by my order to the subtreasurer to receive them on the Company's account, but never passed through my hands. The three
sums for which bonds were granted were in like
manner paid to the Company's treasury, without
passing through my hands, but their application was
not specified. The sum of 50,000 current rupees
was received while I was on my journey to Benares,
and applied as expressed in the account.
"As to the manner in which these sums have been
expended, the reference which I have made of it in
the accompanying account, to the several accounts in
which they are credited, renders any other specification of it unnecessary, - besides that those accounts
either haie or will have received a mucli stronger authentication than any that I could give to mine. "
I wish your Lordships to attend to the next paragraph, which is meant by him to explain why he took
bribes at all, -why he took bonds for some of them,
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 351
as moneys of his own, and not moneys of the Company, - why he entered some upon the Company's accounts, and why of the others he renders no account at all. Light, however, will beam upon you as we proceed. ' Why these sums were taken by me, - why they
were, except the second, quietly transferred to the
Company's use, - why bonds were taken for the first,
and not for the rest,-mighlt, were this matter exposed to the view of the public, furnish a variety of
conjectures, to which it would be of little use to reply.
Were your Honorable Court to question me on these
points, I would answer, that the sulns were taken for
the Company's benefit, at times when the Company
very much needed them, - that I either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by receivin'g bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied design whlich my memory could at this
distance of time verify, and that I did not tllink it
worth my care to observe the same means with the
rest. I trust, Honorable Sirs, to your breasts for a
candid interpretation of my actions, - and assume
the freedom to add, that I think myself, on such a
subject, on such an occasion, entitled to it. "
Lofty, my Lords! You see, that, after the Directors had expected an explanation for so long a time,
he says, " Why these sums were taken by me, and,
except the second, quietly transferred to the Company's use, I cannot tell; why bonds were takeni for
the first, and not for the rest, I cannot tell: if this
matter were exposed to view, it would furnishl a variety of conjectures. " Here is an account which is
to explain the most obscure, thle most mysterious,
the most evidently fraudulent transactions. When
asked how lie came to take these bonds, how he came
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to use these frauds, he tells you he really does not
know, - that he might have this motive for it, that he
might have another motive for it, - that he wished
to conceal it from public curiosity, - but, which is the
most extraordinary, he is not quite sure that he
had any motive for it at all, which his memory can
trace. The whole of this is a period of a year and a
half; and here is a man who keeps his account upon
principles of whim and vagary. One would imagine
he was guessing at some motive of a stranger. Why
he came to take bonds for money not due to him, and
why he enters some and not others, -he knows nothing of these things: he begs them not to ask about it, because it will be of no use. " You foolish Court of
Directors may conjecture and conjecture on. You
are asking me why I took bonds to myself for money
of yours, why I have cheated you, why I have falsified my account in such a manner. I will not tell
you. "l
In the satisfaction which he had promised to give
them he neither mentions the persons, the times, the
occasions, or motives for any of his actions. He adds,
"I did not think it worth my care to observe the
same means with the rest. " For some purposes, he
thought it necessary to use the most complicated and
artful concealments; for some, lie could not tell what
his motives were; and for others, that it was mere
carelessness. Here is the exchequer of bribery! have I falsified any part of my original stating of it?
- an exchequer in which the man who ought to pay
receives, the man who ought to give security takes
it, the man who ought to keep an account says he
has forgotten; an exchequer in which oblivion was
the remembrancer; and, to sum up the whole, an
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 353
exchequer into the accounts of which it was useless
to inquire. This is the manner in which the account
of near two hundred thousand pounds is given to the
Court of Directors. You can learn nothing in this
business that is any way distinct, except a premeditated design of a concealment of his transactions. That is avowed.
But there is a more serious thing behind. Who
were the instruments of his concealment? No other, my Lords, than the Company's public accountant. That very accountant takes the money, knowing it to be the Company's, and that it was only pretended to be advanced by Mr. Hastings for the
Company's use. He sees Mr. Hastings make out
bonds to himself for it, and Mr. Hastings makes him
enter him as creditor, when in fact he was debtor.
Thus he debauches the Company's accountant, and
makes him his confederate. These fraudulent and
corrupt acts, covered by false representations, are
proved to be false not by collation with anything
else, but false by a collation with themselves. This,
then, is the account, and his explanation of it; and
iin this insolent, saucy, careless, negligent manner,
a public accountant like Mr. Hastings, a man bred
up a book-keeper in the Company's service, who
ought to be exact, physically exact, in his account,
has not only been vicious in his own account, but
made the public accounts vicious and of no value.
But there is in this account another curious circumstance with regard to the deposit of this sum of
money, to which he referred in his first paragraph
of his letter of the 29th of November, 1780. He
states that this deposit was made and passed into the
hands of Mr. Larkins on the 1st of June. It did so;
VOL. X. 23
? ? ? ? 354 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
but it is not entered in the Company's accounts till
November following. Now in all that intermediate space where was it? what account was there
of it? It was entirely a secret between Mr. Larkins
and Mr. Hastings, without a possibility of any one
discovering any particular relative to it. Here is
an account of two hundred thousand pounds received,
juggled between the accountant and him, without a
trace of it appearing in the Company's books. Some
of those committees, to whom, for their diligence at
least, I must say the public have some obligation, and
in return for which they ought to meet with some
indulgence, examining into all these circumstances,
and having heard that Mr. Hastings had deposited a
sum of money in the hands of the Company's subtreasurer in the month of June, sent for the Company's books. They looked over those books, but they did not find the least trace of any such sum of money, and not any account of it: nor could there be,
because it was not paid to the Company's account
till the November following. The accountant had received the money, but never entered it from June
till November. Then, at last, have we an account
of it. But was it even then entered regularly upon
the Company's accounts? No such thing: it is a
deposit carried to the Governor-General's credit.
[The entry of the several species in which this deposit was made was here read from the Company's General'Journal of 1780 and 1781.
to them by the party, in the height of victory, and
enriched by the plunder of whole provinces. I believe your Lordships will agree with me, that, if any relaxation, any evasion, of an act of Parliament
could be allowed, if the intention of the legislature
could for a moment be trifled with, or supposed for
a moment doubtful, it was in this instance; and yet,
upon the rigor of the act, Mr. Hastings refuses that
army the price of their blood, money won solely almost by their arms for a prince who had acquired millions by their bravery, fidelity, and sufferings.
This was the case in which Mr. Hastings refused a
public donation to- the army; and from that day to
this they have never received it.
If the receipt of this public donation could be thus
forbidden, whence has Mr. Hastings since learned
that he may privately take money, and take it not
only from princes, and persons in power, and al)oullding in wealth, but, as we shall prove, from persons in a comparative degree of penury adii distress? that
he could take it from persons ill office and trust,
whose power gave them the mleans of ruining the
people for the purpose of enabliing tlhemselves to pay
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD I)AY. 333
it? Consider in what a situation the Company must
be, if the Governor-General can form such a secret exchequer of direct bribes, given eo nomine as bribes, and accepted as such, by the parties concerned in the transaction, to be discovered only by himself, and with only the inward reservation that I have spoken of.
In the first place, if Mr. Hastings should die without having made a discovery of all his bribes, or
if any other servant of the Company should imitate
his example without his heroic good intentions in
doing such villanons acts, how is the Company to recover the bribe-money? The receivers need not divulge it till they think fit; and the moment an informer comes, that informer is ruined. He comes, for instance, to the Governor-General and Council,
and charges, say, not Mr. Hastings, but the head of
the Board of Revenue, with receiving a bribe. " Receive a bribe? So I did; but it was with an inten
tion of applying it to the Company's service. There
I nick the informer: I am beforehand with him: the
bribe is sanctified by my inward jesuitical intention.
I will make a merit of it with the Company. I have
received 40,0001. as a bribe; there it is for you: I
am acquitted; I am a meritorious servant: let the
informer go and seek his remedy as he can. " Now,
if an informer is once instructed that a person who
receives bribes can turn them into merit, and take
away his action from him, do you think that you
ever will or can discover any one bribe? But what
is still worse, by this method disclose but one bribe,
and you secure all the rest that you possibly can receive upon any occasion. For instance, strong report prevails that a bribe of 40,0001. has been given,
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and the receiver expects that information will be laid
against him. He acknowledges that lie has received
a bribe of 40,0001. , but says that it was for the service of the Company, and that it is carried to their account. And thus, by stating that he has taken
some money which he has accounted for, but concealing from whom that money came, which is exactly Mr. Hastings's case, if at last an information should
be laid before the Company of a specific bribe having
been received of 40,0001. , it is said by the receiver,
"Lord! this is the 40,0001. I told you of: it is
broken into fragments, paid by instalments; and you
have taken it and put it into your own coffers. "
Again, suppose him to take it through the hand
of an agent, such as Gunga Govind Sing, and that
this agent, who, as we have lately discovered, out of
a bribe of 40,0001. , which Mr. Hastings was to have
received, kept back half of it, falls into their debt
like him: I desire to know what the Company can
do in such a case. Gunga Govind Sing has entered
into no covenants with the Company. There is no
trace of his having this money, except what Mr.
Hastings chooses to tell. If he is called upon to
refund it to the Company, he may say he never received it, that he was never ordered to extort this money from the people; or if he was under any
covenant not to take money, he may set up this defence: " I am forbidden to receive money; and I
will not make a declaration which will subject me
to penalties": or he may say in India, before the
Supreme Court, "I have paid the bribe all to Mr.
Hastings "; and then there must be a bill and suit
there, a bill and suit here, and by that means, having one party on one side the water and the other
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 335 party on the other, the Company may never come
to a discovery of it. And that in fact this is the
way in which one of his great bribe-agents has acted I shall prove to your Lordships by evidence.
Mr. Hastings had squeezed out of a miserable
country a bribe of 40,0001. , of which he was enabled
to bring to the account of the Company only 20,0001. ,
and of which we should not even have known the
existence, if the inquiries pursued with great diligence by the House of Commons had not extorted the discovery: and even now that we know the fact,
we can never get at the money; the Company can
never receive it; and before the House had squeezed
out of him that some such money had been received,
he never once told the Court of Directors that his
black bribe-agent, whomn le recommended to their
service, had cheated both them and him of 20,0001.
out of the fund of the bribe-revenue. If it be asked,
Where is the record of this? Record there is none.
In what office is it entered? It is entered in no
office; it is mentioned as privately received for the
Company's benefit: and you shall now further see
what a charming office of receipt and account this
new exchequer of Mr. Hastings's is.
For there is another and a more serious circumstance attending this business. Every one knows, that, by the law of this, and, I believe, of every country, any money which is taken illegally from anlly person, as every bribe or sum of money extorted
or paid without consideration is, belongs to the person who paid it, and he may bring his action for it, and recover it. Then see how the Company stands.
The Company receives a bribe of 40,0001. by Mr.
Hastings; it is carried to its account; it turns brib
? ? ? ? 336 IMPEACHM1ENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ery into a revenue; it sanctifies it. In the mean
time, the man from whom this money is illegally
taken sues Mr. Hastings. Must not he recover. of
Mr. Hastings? Then, if so, must not Mr. Hastings
recover it again from the Company? The Company undoubtedly is answerable for it. And here is a revenue which every man who has paid it may drag
out of the treasury again. Mr. Hastings's donations of his bribes to the treasury are liable to be torn from it at pleasure by every man who gives the money. First it may be torn from him who receives it; and then he may recover it from the treasury, to which he has given it.
But admitting that the taking of bribes can be
sanctified by their becoming the property of the
Company, it may still be asked, For what end and
purpose has the Company covenanted with Mr. Hastings that money taken extorsively shall belong to the Company? Is it that satisfaction and reparation
may be awarded against the said Warren Hastings
to tile said Company for their own benefit? No:
it is for the benefit of the injured persons; and it
is to be carried to the Company's account, "but in
trust, nevertheless, and to the intent that the said
Company may and do render and pay over the moneys received or recovered by them to the parties injured or defrauded, which the said Company accordingly hereby agree and covenant to do. " Now here is a revenue to be received by Mr. Hastings for
the Company's use, applied at his discretion to that
use, and which the Company has previously covenanted to restore to the persons that are injured and damaged. This is a revenue which is to be torn
away by the action of any person, - a revenue which
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 3837
they must return back to the person complaining,
as they in justice ought to do: for no nation ever
avowed making a revenue out of bribery and peculation. They are, then, to restore it back again. But how can they restore it? Mr. Hastings has
applied it: he has given it in presents to princes,laid it out in budgeros, -- in pen, ink, and wax, --
in salaries to secretaries: he has laid it out just ill
any way he pleased: and the India Company, who
have covenanted to restore all this money to the persons from whom it came, are deprived of all means of performing so just a duty. Therefore I dismiss the
idea that any man so acting could have had a good
intention in his mind: the supposition is too weak,
senseless, and absurd. It was only in a desperate
cause that he made a desperate attempt: for we shall
prove that lie never made a disclosure without thinking that a discovery had been previously made or was likely to be made, together with anl exposure
of all the circumstances of his wicked and abominable concealment.
You will see the history of this new scheme of
bribery, by which Mr. Hastings contrived by avowing some bribes to cover others, attempted to outface
his delinquency, and, if possible, to reconcile a weak
breach of the laws with a sort of spirited observance
of them, and to become infamous for the good of his
country.
The first appearance of this practice of bribery
was in a letter of the 29th of November, 1780. The
cause which led to the discovery was a dispute between him and Mr. Francis at the board, in collsequence of a very handsome offer made by Mr. Hastings to the board relative to a measure proposed by VOL. X. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
him, to which he found one objection to be the money
that it would cost. He made the most generous and
handsome offer, as it stands upon record, that perhaps
any man ever made, - namely, that lie would defiay
the expense out of his own private cash, and that he
had deposited with the treasurer two lac of rupees.
This was in June, 1780, and Mr. Francis soon after
returned to Europe. I need not inform your Lordslhips, tlhat Mr. Hastings had before this time been charged with bribery and peculation by General Claverin(g, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis. He sus. pected that Mr. Francis, theii going to Europe, would
confirm this charge by the suspicious nature and circunmstances of this generous offer; and this suspicion was increased by the connection which lhe supposed,
and whllich we can prove lie tlloughlt, Mr. Francis had
with Clieyt Sing. Apprellending, therefore, that he
miglht discover and bring the bribe to liglht some way
or other, lie resolved to anticipate any such discovery
by declaring, upoI the 29th of November, that this
money was not his own. I will mention to your Lordships hereafter the circumstanlces of this money. He says, "My present reason for adverting to my conduct," (that is, his offer of two lac of rupees out of
his own private cash for the Company's service, upon
the 26th of June, 1780,) " on the occasion I have mentioned, is to obviate the false' conchlsions or purposed misrepresentations which may be made of it, eitfher as
an artifice of ostentation or as the effect of corrupt
influence, by assuring you that the money, by whatever means it came into your possession, was not my own, -- that I had myself no right to it, nor would
or could have received it, but for the occasion, which
prompted me to avail myself of the accidental means
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 339
which were at that instant afforded me of accepting
and converting it to the property and use of the Company: and with this brief apology I shall dismiss the subject. "
My Lords, you see what an account Mr. Hastings
has given of some obscure transaction by which he
contradicts the record. For, on the 26th of June, he
generously, nobly, fill of enthusiasm for their service, offers to the Company money of his own. On the 29th of November lie tells the Court of Directors that
the money he offered on the former day was not his
own, - thllat his assertion was totally false, - that the
money was not his,- that he had no right to receive
it, - and that he would not have received it, but for
the occasion, which prompted him to avail himself of
the accidental means whicll at that instant offered.
Such is the account sent by their Governor in India, acting as an accountant, to the Company, - a company with whom everything is matter of account.
IIe tells them, indeed, that the sum he had offered
was not his own,- that lie had no right to it, --and
that he would not have takeni it, if he had not been
greatly tempted by the occasion; but lie never tells
tlhem by what means he came at it, the person from
whom he received it, the occasion upon which lhe
received it, (whether justifiable or not,) or any one
circumstance under heaven relative to it. This is
a very extraordinary account to give to the public of
a sum which we find to be somewhere above twenity
thousand pounds, taken by Mr. Hastings in some way
or other. He set the Company blindly groping in
the dark by the very pretended light, thle ignis-fatuus,
which he held out to them: for at that time all was
in the dark, and in a cloud: and this is what Mr.
? ? ? ? 840 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Hastings calls infornzation communicated to the Company on the sublject of these bribes.
You have heard of' obscurity illustrated by a further obscurity, -obseurum per obsecurius. He continues to tell them, --" Sometling of affinity to this anecdote may appear in the first aspect of another
transaction, which I shall proceed to relate, and of
wllich it is more immediately my duty to inform
you. " He then tells them that he had contrived to
give a sum of money to the Rajah of Berar, and the
account he gives of that proceeding is this. " We
had neither money to spare, nor, in the apparent state
of that government in its relation to ours, would it
have been either prudent or consistent with our public credit to have afforded it. It was, nevertheless,
my decided opinion that some aid should be given,
not less as a necessary relief than as an indication of
confidence, and a return for the many instances of
substantial kindness which we had within the course
of the two last years experienced from the government of Berar. I had an assurance that such a proposal would receive the acquiescence of the board; but I knew that it would not pass without opposition,
and it would have become public, which might have
defeated its purpose. Convinced of the necessity of
the expedient, and assured of the sincerity of the government of Berar, from evidences of stronger proof to
me than I could make them appear to the other memnbers of the board, I resolved to adopt it, and take the
entire responsibility of it upon myself. In this mode
a less considerable sum would suffice. I accordinigly caused three lac of rupees to be delivered to the
minister of the Rajah of Berar resident in Calcutta.
He has transmitted it to Cuttack. Two thirds of this
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 341
sum I have raised by my own credit, and shall charge
it in my official accounts; the other third I have
supplied from the cash in my hands belonging to the
Honorable Company. "
Your Lordslhips see in this business another mode
which he has of accounting with the Company, and
informing them of his bribe, He beginis his account
of this transaction by saying that it has something of
affinity to the last anecdote, --meaning the account
of the first bribe. An anecdote is made a head of
anl accounlt; and this, I believe, is what none of your
Lordships ever have heard of before, --and I believe
it is yet to be learned in this commercial nation, a na-,
tion of accurate commercial accolunt. The account
he gives of the first is an anecdote; and what is his
account of the second? A relation of an anecdote:
not a near relation, but something of affinity, --a remote relation, cousin three or four times removed, of the half-blood, or something of that kind, to tlhis anecdote: and lie never tells them any circumstance of it whatever of any kind, but that it has some affinity
to the former anecdote. But, my Lords, the thing
which comes to some degree of clearness is this, that
he did give money to the Rajah of Berar. And your
Lordslhips will be so good as to advert carefully to the
proportions in which he gave it. He did give him
two lac of rupees of money raised by his own credit,
his own money; and the third he advanced out of
the Company's money in his hands. He minglt have
taken the Company's money undoubtedly, fairly,
openly, and held it in his hands, for a hundred putrposes; and therefore he does not tell them that even that third was money he had obtained by bribery and
corruption. No: he says it is money of the Corn
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pany's, which he had in his hand. So that you must
get through a long train of construction before you
ascertain that this sum was what it turns out to be,
a bribe, which lie retainied for the Company. Your
Lordships will please to observe, as I proceed. , the nature oitlhis pretended generosity ill Mr. Hastings.
He is always generous in the same way. As he offered thle whole of his first bribe as his own money,
and afterward acknowledged that no part of it was
his own, so he is now generous again in this latter
transaction, --in which, however, lie shows that lie is
neither generous nor just. He took the first money without right, and he did not apply it to the very
service for which it was pretended to be taken. He
then tells you of another anecdote, which, lie says,
has an affinity to that anecdote, and here he is generous again. In the first he appears to be generous
and just, because he appears to give his own money,
which he had a right to dispose of; then he tells you
he is neither generous nor just, for lie had takeil money he had no right to, and did not apply it to the service for which he pretended to have received it. And now he is generous again, because lie gives two lac
of his own money, - and just, because lie gives one
lac which belonged to the Company; but there is not
an idea suggested from whom lie took it.
But to proceed, my Lords. In this letter lie tells
you he had given two taiirds his own money and one
third the Company's money. So it stood upon the
29th of November, 1780.
Oni the 5th of January following we see the business take a totally different
turn; and then Mr. Hastings calls for three Company's bonds, upon two different securities, antedated
to the 1st and 2d of October, for the three lac, which
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 343
he before told them was two thirds his own money
and one third the Company's. He now declares the
whole of it to be his own, and he thus applies by letter to the board, of which he himself was a majority. " Honorable Sir and Sirs, - Having had occasion to
disburse the sum of three lacs of sicca rupees on account of secret services, which having been advanced from my own private cash, I request that the same
may be repaid to me in the following manner.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the
second loan, bearing date from 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the first loan, bearing date from 1st October, for one lac of sicca rupees.
" A bond to be granted me upon the terms of the
first loan, bearing date from the 2d October, for one
lac of sicca rupees. "
Here are two accounts, one of which must be directly and flatly false: for he could not have given two thirds his own, and have supplied the other third
from money of the Company's, and at the same time
have advanced the whole as his own. He here goes
the full length of the fraud: he declares that it is all
his own, - so much his own that he does not trust
the Company with it, and aqtually takes their bonds
as a security for it, bearing an interest to be paid to
him whlen lihe thinks proper.
Thus it remained from the 5th of January, 1781,
till 16th December, 1782, when this business takes
another turn, and in a letter of his to the Company
these bonds become all their own. All the money ad.
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHSMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
vanced is now, all of it, the Company's money. First
he says two thirds were his own; next, that the whole
is his own; and the third account is, that the whole
is the Company's, and he will account to them for it.
Now he has accompanied this account with another
very curious one. For when you come to look into the particulars of it, you will find there are three bonds declared to be the Company's bonds, and which
refer to the former transactions, namely, the money
for which he had taken the bonds; but when you
come to look at the numbers of them, you will find
that one of the three bonds which he had taken as
his own disappears, and another bond, of another date,
and for a much larger sum, is substituted in its place,
of which he had never mentioned anything whatever.
So that, taking his first account, that two thirds is his
own money, then that it is all his own, in the third
that it is all the Company's money, by a fourth account, given in a paper describing the three bonds, you will find that there is one lac which he does not
account for, bhut substitutes in its place a bond before
taken as his own. He sinks and suppresses one bond,
he gives two bonds to the Company, and to supply
the want of the third, which he suppresses, he brings
forward a bond for another sum, of another date,
which he had never mentioned before. Here, then,
you have four different accounts: if any one of them
is true, every one of the other three is totally false.
Such a system of cogging, such a system of fraud, sucl
a system of prevarication, such a system of falsehood,
never was, I believe, before exhibited in the world.
In the first place, why did he take bonds at all firom
the Company for the money that was their own? I
must be cautious how I charge a legal crime. I will
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 345 not charge it to be forgery, to take a bond from the Company for money which was their own. He was employed to make out bonds for the Company, to raise money on their credit. He pretends he lent them a sum of money, which was not his to lend: but he gives their own money to them as his own, and takes a security for it. I will not say that it is
a forgery, but I am sure it is an offence as grievous,
because it is as much a cheat as a forgery, with this
addition to it, that the person so cheating is in a
trust; he violates that trust, and in so doing he defrauds and falsifies the whole system of the Company's accounts.
I have only to show what his own explanation of
all these actions was, because it supersedes all observation of mine. Hear what prevaricating guilt says for the falsehood and delusion which had been used to
cover it; and see how he plunges deeper and deeper upon every occasion. This explanation arose out of another memorable bribe, which I must now beg
leave to state to your Lordslhips.
About the time of the receipt of the former bribes,
good fortune, as good things seldom come singly, is
kind to him; and when he went up and had nearly
ruined the Company's affairs in Oude and Benares,
he received a present of 100,0001. sterling, or thereabouts. He received bills for it in September, 1781, and he gives the Company an account of it in January, 1782. Remark in what manner the account of this money was given, and-the purposes for which
he intends to apply it. He says, in this letter, " I received the offer of a considerable sum of money, both on the Nabob's part and that of his ministers, as a
present to myself, not to the Company: I accepted it
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
without hesitation, and gladly, being entirely destitute
both of means and credit, whether for your service or
the relief of my own necessities. " My Lords, upon
this you shall hear a comment, made by some abler
persons than me. This donation was not made in
species, bat in bills upon the house of Gopaul Doss,
who was then a prisoner inl the hands of Clheyt Sing.
After mentioning that lie took tlhis presenit for the
Company, and for their exigencies, and partly for his
own necessities, and in consequence of the distress of
both, he desires the Company, in the moment of this
tlheir greatest distress, to award it to him, and therefore lihe ends, " If you should adjudge the deposit to
me, I shall consider it as the most honorable approbation and reward of my labors: and I wish to owe
my fortune to your bounty. I am now in the fiftieth
year of my life: 1 have passed thirty-one years in the
service of the Company, and tile greatest part of that
time in employments of the highest trust. My conscience allows me boldly to claim the merit of zeal
and integrity; nor has fortune been unpropitious to
their exertions. To these qualities I bound my pretemnsions. I shall not repine, if you shall deem otherwise of my services; nor ought your decision, liowever it may disappoint my hope of a retreat adequate to the consequence and elevation of the office which I
now possess, to lessen my gratitude for having been
so long permitted to hold it, since it has at least e01abled me to lay up a provision with which I can l)e
contented in a more humble station. "
And here your Lordships will be pleased incidentally to remark the circumstance of his condition of
life and his fortune, to which he appeals, and upon account of which he desires this money. Your Lord
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - THIRD DAY. 347
ships will remember that ill 1773 he said, (and this I
stated to you from himself,) that, if he held his then
office for a very few years, lhe should be enabled to
lay by an ample provision for his retreat. About
nine years after that time, namely, in the month
of. January, 1782, lie finds himself rather pinched
withl want, but, however, not in so bad a way but
tlat the holding of his office had enabled him to lay
up a provision with which he could be contented in a
more humble statioii. He wishes to have affluence;
he wishes to have dignity; lie wishes to have consequence and rank: but he allows that he has competence. Your Lordships will see afterwards how miserably his hopes were disappointed: for the Court of Directors, receiving this letter from Mr. Hastings,
did declare, that they could not give it to him, because the act had ordered that "no fees of office,
perquisites, emoluments, or advantages whatsoever,
should be accepted, received, or taken by such Governor-General and Council, or any of them, in any
manner or on any account -or pretence whatsoever";' and as the same act further directs,'that no Governor-General, or any of the Council, shall directly take, accept, or receive, of or from any person or
persons, in any manner or on any account whatsoever, any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward,
pecuniary or otherwise, or any promise or engagement for any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward,' we cannot, were we so inclined, decree the amount of this present to the Governor-General.
And it is further enacted,'that any such present,
gift, gratuity, donation, or reward, accepted, taken,
or received, shall be deemed and construed to have
been received to and for the sole use of the Corl
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pany. '" And therefore they resolved, most unjustly
and most wickedly, to keep it to themselves. The
act made it in the first instance the property of the
Company, and they would not give it him. And one
should think this, with his own former construction
of the act, would have made him cautious of taking
bribes. You have seen what weight it had with him
to stop the course of bribes which he was in such a
career of taking in every place and with both hlands.
Your Lordships have now before you this hundred
thousand pounds, disclosed in a letter from Patna,
dated the 20th January, 1782. You find mystery
and concealment in every one of Mr. Hastings's discoveries. For (which is a curious part of it) this letter was not sent to the Court of Directors in their packet iregularly, but transmitted by Major Fairfax,
one of his agents, to Major Scott, another of his
agents, to be delivered to the Company. Why was
this done? Your Lordships will judge, from that circuitous mode of transmission, whether he did not
thereby intend to leave some discretion in his agent
to divulge it or not. We are told he did not; but
your Lordships will believe that or not, according to
the nature of the fact. If he had been anxious to
make this discovery to the Directors, the regular way
would have been to send his letter to the Directors
immediately in the packet: but he sent it in a box to
an agent; and that agent, upon due discretion, conveyed it to the Court of Directors. Here, however,
he tells you nothing about the persons from whom
he received this money, any more than he had done
respecting the two former sums.
On the 2d of May following the date of this Patna
letter he came down to Calcutta with a mind, as he
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 349
himself describes it, greatly agitated. All his hope
of plundering Benares had totally failed. The produce of the robbing of the Begums, in the manner
your Lordships have heard, was all dissipated to pay
the arrears of the armies: there was no fund left.
He felt himself agitated and fiull of dread, knowing
that he had been threatened with having his place
taken from him several times, and that he might be
called home to render an account. He had heard
that inquiries had begun in a menacing form in Parliament; and though at that time Bengal was not
struck at, there was a charge of bribery and peculation brought against the Governor of Madras. With
this dread, with a mind full of anxiety and perturbation, he writes a letter, as he pretends, on the 22d of
May, 1782. Your Lordships will remark, that, when
he came down to Calcutta from his expedition up
the country, he did not till the 22d of May give any
account whatever of these transactions, - and that
this letter, or pretended letter, of the 22d of May was
not sent till the 16th of December following. We
shall clearly prove that he had abundant means of
sending it, and by various ways, before the 16th of
December, 1782, when he inclosed in another letter
that of the 22d of May. This is the letter of discovery; this is the letter by which his breast was to be
laid open to his employers, and all the obscurity of
his transactions to be elucidated. Here are indeed
new discoveries, but they are like many new-discovered lands, exceedingly inhospitable, very thinly inhabited, and producing nothing to gratify the curiosity of the human mind. This letter is addressed to the Honorable the
Court of Directors, dated Fort William, 22d May,
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
1782. Ile tells them he had promised to account
for the tell lacs of rupees which lie had received, and
this promise, he says, he now performs, and that he
takes that opportunity of accounting with them likewise for several other sums which lhe had received.
His words are, --
"This promise I now perform, and, deeming it
consistent with the spirit of it, I have added suclh
other sums as have been occasionally converted to
the Company's property through my means, in consequence of the like original destination. Of the second of these sums you have already been advised in a letter which I had the honor to address the
Honorable Court of Directors, dated 29th November,
1780. Both this and the third article were paid immediately to the treasury, by my order to the subtreasurer to receive them on the Company's account, but never passed through my hands. The three
sums for which bonds were granted were in like
manner paid to the Company's treasury, without
passing through my hands, but their application was
not specified. The sum of 50,000 current rupees
was received while I was on my journey to Benares,
and applied as expressed in the account.
"As to the manner in which these sums have been
expended, the reference which I have made of it in
the accompanying account, to the several accounts in
which they are credited, renders any other specification of it unnecessary, - besides that those accounts
either haie or will have received a mucli stronger authentication than any that I could give to mine. "
I wish your Lordships to attend to the next paragraph, which is meant by him to explain why he took
bribes at all, -why he took bonds for some of them,
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 351
as moneys of his own, and not moneys of the Company, - why he entered some upon the Company's accounts, and why of the others he renders no account at all. Light, however, will beam upon you as we proceed. ' Why these sums were taken by me, - why they
were, except the second, quietly transferred to the
Company's use, - why bonds were taken for the first,
and not for the rest,-mighlt, were this matter exposed to the view of the public, furnish a variety of
conjectures, to which it would be of little use to reply.
Were your Honorable Court to question me on these
points, I would answer, that the sulns were taken for
the Company's benefit, at times when the Company
very much needed them, - that I either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by receivin'g bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied design whlich my memory could at this
distance of time verify, and that I did not tllink it
worth my care to observe the same means with the
rest. I trust, Honorable Sirs, to your breasts for a
candid interpretation of my actions, - and assume
the freedom to add, that I think myself, on such a
subject, on such an occasion, entitled to it. "
Lofty, my Lords! You see, that, after the Directors had expected an explanation for so long a time,
he says, " Why these sums were taken by me, and,
except the second, quietly transferred to the Company's use, I cannot tell; why bonds were takeni for
the first, and not for the rest, I cannot tell: if this
matter were exposed to view, it would furnishl a variety of conjectures. " Here is an account which is
to explain the most obscure, thle most mysterious,
the most evidently fraudulent transactions. When
asked how lie came to take these bonds, how he came
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to use these frauds, he tells you he really does not
know, - that he might have this motive for it, that he
might have another motive for it, - that he wished
to conceal it from public curiosity, - but, which is the
most extraordinary, he is not quite sure that he
had any motive for it at all, which his memory can
trace. The whole of this is a period of a year and a
half; and here is a man who keeps his account upon
principles of whim and vagary. One would imagine
he was guessing at some motive of a stranger. Why
he came to take bonds for money not due to him, and
why he enters some and not others, -he knows nothing of these things: he begs them not to ask about it, because it will be of no use. " You foolish Court of
Directors may conjecture and conjecture on. You
are asking me why I took bonds to myself for money
of yours, why I have cheated you, why I have falsified my account in such a manner. I will not tell
you. "l
In the satisfaction which he had promised to give
them he neither mentions the persons, the times, the
occasions, or motives for any of his actions. He adds,
"I did not think it worth my care to observe the
same means with the rest. " For some purposes, he
thought it necessary to use the most complicated and
artful concealments; for some, lie could not tell what
his motives were; and for others, that it was mere
carelessness. Here is the exchequer of bribery! have I falsified any part of my original stating of it?
- an exchequer in which the man who ought to pay
receives, the man who ought to give security takes
it, the man who ought to keep an account says he
has forgotten; an exchequer in which oblivion was
the remembrancer; and, to sum up the whole, an
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -THIRD DAY. 353
exchequer into the accounts of which it was useless
to inquire. This is the manner in which the account
of near two hundred thousand pounds is given to the
Court of Directors. You can learn nothing in this
business that is any way distinct, except a premeditated design of a concealment of his transactions. That is avowed.
But there is a more serious thing behind. Who
were the instruments of his concealment? No other, my Lords, than the Company's public accountant. That very accountant takes the money, knowing it to be the Company's, and that it was only pretended to be advanced by Mr. Hastings for the
Company's use. He sees Mr. Hastings make out
bonds to himself for it, and Mr. Hastings makes him
enter him as creditor, when in fact he was debtor.
Thus he debauches the Company's accountant, and
makes him his confederate. These fraudulent and
corrupt acts, covered by false representations, are
proved to be false not by collation with anything
else, but false by a collation with themselves. This,
then, is the account, and his explanation of it; and
iin this insolent, saucy, careless, negligent manner,
a public accountant like Mr. Hastings, a man bred
up a book-keeper in the Company's service, who
ought to be exact, physically exact, in his account,
has not only been vicious in his own account, but
made the public accounts vicious and of no value.
But there is in this account another curious circumstance with regard to the deposit of this sum of
money, to which he referred in his first paragraph
of his letter of the 29th of November, 1780. He
states that this deposit was made and passed into the
hands of Mr. Larkins on the 1st of June. It did so;
VOL. X. 23
? ? ? ? 354 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
but it is not entered in the Company's accounts till
November following. Now in all that intermediate space where was it? what account was there
of it? It was entirely a secret between Mr. Larkins
and Mr. Hastings, without a possibility of any one
discovering any particular relative to it. Here is
an account of two hundred thousand pounds received,
juggled between the accountant and him, without a
trace of it appearing in the Company's books. Some
of those committees, to whom, for their diligence at
least, I must say the public have some obligation, and
in return for which they ought to meet with some
indulgence, examining into all these circumstances,
and having heard that Mr. Hastings had deposited a
sum of money in the hands of the Company's subtreasurer in the month of June, sent for the Company's books. They looked over those books, but they did not find the least trace of any such sum of money, and not any account of it: nor could there be,
because it was not paid to the Company's account
till the November following. The accountant had received the money, but never entered it from June
till November. Then, at last, have we an account
of it. But was it even then entered regularly upon
the Company's accounts? No such thing: it is a
deposit carried to the Governor-General's credit.
[The entry of the several species in which this deposit was made was here read from the Company's General'Journal of 1780 and 1781.
