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
examination we drew from him,--namely, that one of these articles,
entered in the account of the 22d of May as a deposit, had been received
from Mr. Hastings as a bribe from Cheyt Sing. He produced an extract of
a letter relative to it, which your Lordships in the course of this
trial may see, and which will lead us into a further and more minute
inquiry on that head; but when that committee made their report in 1783,
not one single article had been explained to Parliament, not one
explained to the Company, except this bribe of Cheyt Sing, which Mr.
Hastings had never thought proper to communicate to the East India
Company, either by himself, nor, as far as we could find out, by his
agent; nor was it at last otherwise discovered than as it was drawn out
from him by a long examination in the Committee of the House of Commons.
And thus, notwithstanding the letters he had written and the agents he
employed, he seemed absolutely and firmly resolved to give his employers
no satisfaction at all. What is curious in this proceeding is, that Mr.
Hastings, all the time he conceals, endeavors to get himself the credit
of a discovery. Your Lordships have seen what his discovery is; but Mr.
Hastings, among his other very extraordinary acquisitions, has found an
effectual method of concealment through discovery. I will venture to
say, that, whatever suspicions there might have been of Mr. Hastings's
bribes, there was more effectual concealment in regard to every
circumstance respecting them in that discovery than if he had kept a
total silence. Other means of discovery might have been found, but this,
standing in the way, prevented the employment of those means.
Things continued in this state till the time of the letter from
Cheltenham. The Cheltenham letter declared that Mr. Hastings knew
nothing of the matter,--that he had brought with him no accounts to
England upon the subject; and though it appears by this very letter that
he had with him at Cheltenham (if he wrote the letter at Cheltenham) a
great deal of his other correspondence, that he had his letter of the
22d of May with him, yet any account that could elucidate that letter he
declared that he had not; but he hinted that a Mr. Larkins, in India,
whom your Lordships will be better acquainted with, was perfectly
apprised of all that transaction. Your Lordships will observe that Mr.
Hastings has all his faculties, some way or other, in deposit: one
person can speak to his motives; another knows his fortune better than
himself; to others he commits the sentimental parts of his defence; to
Mr. Larkins he commits his memory. We shall see what a trustee of memory
Mr. Larkins is, and how far he answers the purpose which might be
expected, when appealed to by a man who has no memory himself, or who
has left it on the other side of the water, and who leaves it to another
to explain for him accounts which he ought to have kept himself, and
circumstances which ought to be deposited in his own memory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account