The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 10 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 10 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
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 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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