"[54] He declares in that very letter
that he had not _at any time_ possessed the confidence with them which
they never withheld from the meanest of his predecessors. With wishes so
near his heart perpetually disappointed, and, instead of applauses, (as
he tells us,) receiving nothing but reproaches and disgraceful epithets,
his steady continuance for so many years in their service, in a place
obnoxious in the highest degree to suspicion and censure, is a thing
altogether singular.
It appears very necessary to your Committee to observe upon the great
leading principles which Mr. Hastings assumes, to justify the irregular
taking of these vast sums of money, and all the irregular means he had
employed to cover the greater part of it. These principles are the more
necessary to be inquired into, because, if admitted, they will serve to
justify every species of improper conduct. His words are, "that the
sources from which these reliefs to the public service have come would
never have yielded them to the Company _publicly_; and that the
exigencies of their service (exigencies created by the exposition of
their affairs, and faction in their divided councils) required those
supplies.
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