il, instead of
laying the whole correspondence before them, instead of consulting them
upon his answers, he went himself up into the country, took his
Majesty's chief-justice along with him, and made that person the
instrument of those wrongs, violences, robberies, and concealments
which we call upon your Lordships to punish.

My Lords, an extraordinary circumstance occurred in the course of our
proceedings in another place, which I must state, to show you in what a
horrible manner your laws have been trampled upon and despised. None of
the proceedings which have been last stated to your Lordships respecting
the seizure of the treasures of the Begums appear upon any public record
whatever. From the manner in which they came to our knowledge, your
Lordships will perceive what must have been the prisoner's own opinion
of the horrible nature of proceedings which he thought so necessary to
be concealed.

Whilst we were inquiring into the violences committed against the
Begums, in breach of the treaty entered into with them, there came into
my hands an anonymous letter containing a full account of all the matter
which has lately been stated to you. It came anonymously; and I did not
know from what quarter it came. I do not even know with certainty at
this hour: I say, not with certainty, for I can only form a conjecture.
This anonymous communication enabled us to produce all the
correspondence with Mr. Middleton respecting the cruelties exercised
towards the Begums and their eunuchs in order to extort money. We found
the names of Major Gilpin and several other persons in these letters. We
also found in them a strong fox smell of a Sir Elijah Impey, that his
brush and crime had left behind him; we traced him by that scent; and as
we proceeded, we discovered the footsteps of as many of the wolves as
Mr. Hastings thought proper to leave there. We sent for and examined Mr.
Middleton, and Major Gilpin produced his correspondence. When we applied
to Mr. Middleton, we found that all this part of his correspondence had
been torn out of his book; but having come at it by means of our
anonymous communication, we subsequently proved and established it, in
the manner we have done before your Lordships. Here, then, you have
important matter which this anonymous letter has brought to light; and
otherwise the whole of this correspondence, so essential to the
interests and justice of Great Britain, would have been concealed by
this wicked