Hastings, who, in his
letter of January, 1782, thinks fit to declare, that "an offer of a very
considerable sum of money was made to him, both on the part of the Nabob
and his ministers, as _a present_, which he _accepted without
hesitation_." The plea of his pretended necessity is of no avail. The
present was not in ready money, nor, as your Committee conceive,
applicable to his immediate necessities. Even his credit was not
bettered by bills at long periods; he does not pretend that he raised
any money upon them; nor is it conceivable that a banker at Benares
would be more willing to honor the drafts of so miserable, undone, and
dependent a person as the Nabob of Oude than those of the
Governor-General of Bengal, which might be paid either on the receipt of
the Benares revenue, or at the seat of his power, and of the Company's
exchequer. Besides, it is not explicable, upon any grounds that can be
avowed, why the Nabob, who could afford to give these bills as _a
present_ to Mr. Hastings, could not have equally given them in discharge
of the debt which he owed to the Company.
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