ificance and disgrace to which all of those have been
reduced whom they approved, and that even utter ruin and premature death
have been among the fruits of their favor, I must be convinced, that in
this case, as in all others, hypocrisy is the only vice that never can
be cured.

Attend, I pray you, to the situation and prosperity of Benfield,
Hastings, and others of that sort. The last of these has been treated by
the Company with an asperity of reprehension that has no parallel. They
lament "that the power of disposing of their property for perpetuity
should fall into such hands." Yet for fourteen years, with little
interruption, he has governed all their affairs, of every description,
with an absolute sway. He has had himself the means of heaping up
immense wealth; and during that whole period, the fortunes of hundreds
have depended on his smiles and frowns. He himself tells you he is
incumbered with two hundred and fifty young gentlemen, some of them of
the best families in England, all of whom aim at returning with vast
fortunes to Europe in the prime of life. He has, then, two hundred and
fifty of your children as his hostages for your good behavior; and
loaded for years, as he has been, with the execrations of the natives,
with the censures of the Court of Directors, and struck and blasted with
resolutions of this House, he still maintains the most despotic power
ever known in India. He domineers with an overbearing sway in the
assemblies of his pretended masters; and it is thought in a degree rash
to venture to name his offences in this House, even as grounds of a
legislative remedy.

On the other hand, consider the fate of those who have met with the
applauses of the Directors. Colonel Monson, one of the best of men, had
his days shortened by the applauses, destitute of the support, of the
Company. General Clavering, whose panegyric was made in every dispatch
from England, whose hearse was bedewed with the tears and hung round
with the eulogies of the Court of Directors, burst an honest and
indignant heart at the treachery of those who ruined him by their
praises. Uncommon patience and temper supported Mr. Francis a while
longer under the baneful influence of the commendation of the Court of
Directors. His health, however, gave way at length; and in utter
despair, he returned to Europe. At his return, the doors of the India
House were shut to this man who had been the object of their constant
admiration. He h