Such is the account of the first sum _confessed_ to be taken as a
present by Mr. Hastings, since the year 1775; and such are its
consequences. Mr. Hastings apologizes for this action by declaring "that
he would not have received the money but for the _occasion_, which
prompted him to avail himself of the accidental means which were at that
instant afforded him of accepting and converting it to the use of the
Company."[23] By this account, he considers the act as excusable only by
the particular occasion, by the temptation of accidental means, and by
the suggestion of the _instant_. How far this is the case appears by the
very next paragraph of this letter in which the account is given and in
which the apology is made. If these were his sentiments in June, 1780,
they lasted but a very short time: his accidental means appear to be
growing habitual.
To point out in a clear manner the spirit of the second money
transaction to which your Committee adverted, which is represented by
Mr. Hastings as having some "affinity with the former _anecdote_,"[24]
(for in this light kind of phrase he chooses to express himself to his
masters,) your Committee think it necessary to state to the House, that
the business, namely, this business, which was the second object of
their inquiry, appears in three different papers and in three different
lights: on comparing of these authorities, in every one of which Mr.
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