In what other lights than those which are official
and regular matters of public account ought to be regarded by those who
have the charge of them, either in Bengal or in England, does not appear
to your Committee. Any other is certainly "unprecedented and improper,"
and can only serve to cover fraud both in the receipt and in the
expenditure. The acquisition of 58,000 rupees, or near 6000_l._, which
appears in the sort of _unofficial and irregular account_ that he
furnishes of his presents, in his letter of May, 1782,[48] must appear
extraordinary indeed to those who expect from men in office something
official and something regular. "This sum," says he, "I received while I
was on my journey to Benares."[49] He tells it with the same careless
indifference as if things of this kind were found by accident on the
high-road.
Mr. Hastings did not, indeed he could not, doubt that this unprecedented
and improper account would produce much discussion. He says, "Why these
sums were taken by me, why they were (except the second) _quietly_
transferred to the Company's account, why bonds were taken for the first
and not for the rest, might, were this matter to be exposed to the view
of the public, _furnish a variety of conjectures_.
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