nabob to think Mr. Hastings so monstrously insatiable, that, having but the September before received £100,000, he must give him another in February ?-My lords, he must, in the interval, have threatened the nabob with some horrible catastrophe, from which he was to redeem himself by this second present. You can assign no other motive for his giving it. We know not what answer Mr. Hastings made to Mr. Middleton, upon that occasion, but we find that in the year 1783 Mr. Hastings asserts, that he sent up Major Palmer and Major Davy, to persuade the nabob to transfer this present, which the nabob intended for him, to the company's service. Remark, my lords, the progress of this affair. In a formal accusation preferred against Mr. Middleton, he charges him with obstructing this design of his. In this accusation, my lords, you find him at once in the curious character of prosecutor, witness, and judge.

Let us see how he comports himself. I shall only state to you one of the articles of his impeachment. It is the third charge; it is in page 1267 of your lordships' minutes :— "For sending repeatedly to the vizier and to his minister, Hyder Beg Khân, to advise them against transferring the ten lacks of rupees, intended as a present to the governor-general, to the company's account; as it would be a precedent for further demands, which if the vizier did not refuse in the first instance, the government would never cease to harass him for money."

The first thing, that will occur to your lordships, is an assertion of the accuser's :-"I am morally certain, that jaydaads or assets for ten lacks, either in assignment of land or in bills, had been prepared, and were in the charge or possession of Mr. Middleton, before Major Palmer's arrival, and left with Mr. Johnson on Mr. Middleton's departure."

My lords, here is an accusation, that Mr. Middleton had actually received money, either in bills or assets of some kind or other; and that, upon quitting his residency, he had handed it over to his successor, Mr. Johnson. Here are then facts

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asserted, and we must suppose substantiated. Here is a sum of money to be accounted for, in which there is a gross malversation directly charged as to these particulars, in Mr. Hastings's opinion. Mr. Macpherson, another member of the council, has declared, that he understood at the time, that the ten lacks were actually deposited in bills, and that it was not a mere offer made by the nabob to pay such a sum from the future revenue of the country. Mr. Hastings has these facts disclosed to him. He declares that he was "morally certain " of it; that is, as certain as a man can be of any thing, because physical certitude does not belong to such matters. The first thing you will naturally ask is, why does he not ask Mr. Johnson how he had disposed of that money, which Mr. Middleton had put in his hands? He does no such thing; he passes over it totally, as if it were no part of the matter in question, and the accusation against Mr. Middleton terminates in the manner you will there find stated. When Mr. Johnson is asked, why was not that money applied to the company's service? he boldly steps forward, and says, I prevented it from being so applied. It never was, it never ought to have been so applied; such an appropriation of money to be taken from the nabob would have been enormous upon that occasion.

What then does Mr. Hastings do? Does he examine Mr. Middleton upon the subject, who charges himself with having received the money?-Mr. Middleton was at that very time in Calcutta, called down thither by Mr. Hastings himself. One would naturally expect that he would call upon him, to explain for what purpose he left the money with Mr. Johnson. He did no such thing. Did he examine Mr. Johnson himself, who was charged with having received the money from Mr. Middleton? Did he ask him, what he had done with that money? Not one word. Did he send for Major Palmer and Major Davy to account for it? No. Did he call any shroff, any banker, any one person concerned in the payment of the money; or any one person in the management

of the revenue? No, not one.-Directly in the face of his own assertions, directly contrary to his moral conviction of the fact, that the money had been actually deposited, he tries Mr. Johnson collusively and obliquely; not upon the account of what was done with the money, but why it was prevented from being applied to the company's service; and he acquits him in a manner that (taking the whole of it together) will give your lordships the finest idea possible of a Bengal judicature, as exercised by Mr. Hastings.

"I am not sorry," says he, "that Mr. Johnson chose to defeat my intentions, since it would have added to the nabob's distresses, but with no immediate relief to the company. If, in his own breast, he can view the secret motives of this transaction, and on their testimony approve it, I also acquit him.”—Merciful God! Here is a man accused by regular articles of impeachment. The accuser declares, he is morally certain that the money had been received, but was prevented from being applied to its destination by the person accused, and he acquits him! Does he acquit him, from his own knowledge, or from any evidence? No; but he applies to the man's conscience, and says, if you in your conscience can acquit yourself, I acquit you.

Here then is a proceeding, the most astonishing and shameless that perhaps was ever witnessed; a court trying a man for a delinquency and misapplication of money, destined, in the first instance, for the use of the judge, but which he declares ought, in his own opinion, to be set apart for the public use; and which he was desirous of applying to the company's service, without regard to his own interest; and then the judge declaring he is not sorry that his purpose had been defeated by the party accused. Instead, however, of censuring the accused, he applies to the man's own conscience-Does your conscience, says he, acquit you of having acted wrong? The accused makes no reply; and then Mr. Hastings, by an hypothetical conclusion acquits him.

Mr. Hastings is accused by the Commons, for that having

a moral certainty of the money's being intended for his use, he would not have ceased to inquire into the actual application of it, but from some corrupt motive and intention. With this he is charged. He comes before you to make his defence. Mr. Middleton is in England. Does he call Mr. Middleton to explain it here? Does he call upon Mr. Johnson, who was the other day in this court, to account for it? Why did he not, when he sent for these curious papers and testimonials to Major Palmer, (the person authorized, as he pretends, by him, to resign all his pretensions to the money procured,) send for Major Palmer, who is the person that accused him in this business? some testimony respecting it? but at no one time, and in no fore the imputation of the foulest corruption attaches upon him, joined with the infamy of a collusive prosecution, instituted for the sake of a collusive acquittal.

Why not send for him to bear No; he had time enough; place, did he do this; there

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Having explained to your lordships the nature, and detailed the circumstances, as far as we are acquainted with them, this fraudulent transaction, we have only further to remind you, that, though Mr. Middleton was declared guilty of five of the six charges brought against him by Mr. Hastings, yet the next thing you hear is, that Mr. Hastings, after declaring that this conduct of Mr. Middleton had been very bad, and that the conduct of the other servants of the company concerned with him had been ten times worse, he directly appoints him to one of the most honorable and confidential offices the company had to dispose of-he sends him ambassador to the nizam; to give to all the courts of India a specimen of the justice, honor, and decency of the British government.

My lords, with regard to the bribe for the entertainment, I only beg leave to make one observation to you upon that article. I could say, if the time would admit it, a great deal upon that subject; but I wish to compress it, and I shall therefore only recommend it in general to your lordships'

deliberate consideration. The covenant subsisting between the company and its servants was made for the express purpose of putting an end to all such entertainments. By this convention it is ordered, that no presents exceeding £200 shall be accepted upon any pretence for an entertainment. The covenant was intended to put an end to the custom of receiving money for entertainments, even when visiting an independent oriental prince. But your lordships know that the nabob was no prince, but a poor, miserable, undone dependant upon the company. The present was also taken by Mr. Hastings, at a time when he went upon the cruel commission of cutting down the nabob's allowance from £400,000 to £260,000-and when he was reducing to beggary thousands of persons, who were dependent for bread upon the nabob; and ruining, perhaps, forty thousand others. I shall say no more upon that subject, though, in truth, it is a thing upon which much observation might be made.

I shall now pass on to another article connected with, though not making a direct part of, that of corrupt bribery; I mean the swindling subterfuges, by which he has attempted to justify his corrupt practices. At one time he defends them, by pleading the necessities of his own affairs, as when he takes presents and entertainments avowedly for his own profits. At another time he defends them, by pleading the goodness of his intentions. He intended, he says, to give the money to the company. His last plea has something in it (which shall I say?) of a more awful or of a more abandoned character, or of both. In the settlement of his public account before he left India, he takes credit for a bond which he had received from Nobkissin, upon some account or other. He then returns to England, and what does he do? Pay off? No. Give up the bond to the company? No. He says, I will account to the company for this money; and when he comes to give this account of the expenditure of this money, your lordships will not be a little astonished at the items of One is for founding a Mahomedan college. It is a very

it.