Here they only bring so
much of these circumstances again into view as may serve to throw light
upon the true nature of the sums of money taken by British subjects in
power, under the name of _presents_, and to show how far they are
entitled to that description in any sense which can fairly imply in the
pretended donors either willingness or ability to give. The condition of
the bountiful parties who are not yet discovered may be conjectured from
the state of those who have been made known: as far as that state
anywhere appears, their generosity is found in proportion, not to the
opulence they possess or to the favors they receive, but to the
indigence they feel and the insults they are exposed to. The House will
particularly attend to the situation of the principal giver, the Subah
of Oude.
"When the knife," says he, "had penetrated to the bone, and I was
surrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no longer live in
expectations, I wrote you an account of my difficulties.
"The answer which I have received to it is such that it has given me
inexpressible grief and affliction.
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