All that the natives could
possibly perceive in such a transaction must be highly dishonorable to
the Company's government; for they must conceive, when they gave money
to Mr. Hastings, that they bought from Mr. Hastings either what was
their own right or something that was not so, or that they redeemed
themselves from some acts of rigor inflicted, threatened, or
apprehended. If, in the first case, Mr. Hastings gave them the object
for which they bargained, his act, however proper, was corrupt,--if he
did not, it was both corrupt and fraudulent; if the money was extorted
by force or threats, it was oppressive and tyrannical. The very nature
of such transactions has a tendency to teach the natives to pay a
corrupt court to the servants of the Company; and they must thereby be
rendered less willing, or less able, or perhaps both, to fulfil their
engagements to the state. Mr. Scott's evidence asserts that they would
rather give to Mr. Hastings than lend to the Company. It is very
probable; but it is a demonstration of their opinion of his power and
corruption, and of the weak and precarious state of the Company's
authority.
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