"It is with great diffidence," said he, "that I attempt to speak to this House; but I find myself so particularly called upon, that I must make the attempt, though I should expose myself in so doing. With what confidence can I venture to give my sentiments upon a subject of such national consequence, who myself stand charged with having been the cause of the present melancholy situation of the Company's affairs in Bengal? This House can have no reliance on my opinion, whilst such an impression remains unremoved. The House will, therefore, give me leave to remove this impression, and to endeavour to restore myself to that favourable opinion which, I flatter myself, they entertained of my conduct before these charges were exhibited against me. Nor do I wish to lay my conduct before the members of this House only; I speak, likewise, to my country in general, upon whom I put myself, not only without reluctance, but with alacrity." After mentioning the critical and dangerous situation of the Company's affairs, when in 1764 he was called upon, by a General Court, to leave his family and the enjoyment of wealth and ease, to take upon himself the management of their affairs in a distant and unhealthy climate (an undertaking in which he engaged from a point of honour, and from a principle of gratitude), he observes, that on his arrival in Bengal he found his powers disputed by the Council; that in the discharge of his difficult duty three paths lay before him: the first, to take the government as he found it, and carry it on upon the same principles; by which he might have returned to England with an immense fortune, but condemned by justice and honour: the second, to have given up the commonwealth, and to have left Bengal without an effort to save it. "The third path," says he, "was intricate. Dangers and difficulties were on every side. But I resolved to pursue it. In short, I was determined to do my duty to the public, although I should incur the odium of the whole settlement. The welfare of the Company required a vigorous exertion, and I took the resolution of cleansing the Augean stable.