It is, indeed, very much to be
feared that the people of India find it sometimes turn more to their
account to give presents to the English in authority than to pay their
debts to the public; and this is a matter of a very serious
consideration.
No small merit is made by Mr. Hastings, and that, too, in a high and
upbraiding style, of his having come to a voluntary discovery of this
and other unlawful practices of the same kind. "That honorable court,"
says Mr. Hastings, addressing himself to his masters, in his letter of
December, 1782, "ought to know whether I possess the integrity and honor
which are the first requisites of such a station. If I wanted these,
they have afforded me too powerful incentives to suppress the
information which I now convey to them through you, and to appropriate
to my own use the sums which I have already passed to their credit, by
their _unworthy_, and pardon me if I add _dangerous reflections_, which
they have passed upon me for the first communication of this kind"; and
he immediately adds, what is singular and striking, and savors of a
recriminatory insinuation, "_and your own experience_ will suggest to
you that there are persons who would profit by such a warning.
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