ich took place between Mr. Hastings and the clan
of Residents that were in Oude,--the Resident of the Company, Mr.
Bristow, the two Residents of Mr. Hastings, Mr. Middleton and Mr.
Johnson, and the two Residents sent by him to watch over all the rest,
Major Palmer and Major Davy,--upon quarrels, I say, between them, we
discovered that Mr. Middleton had received the offer of a present of
100,000_l._ in February, 1782. This circumstance is mentioned in a
letter of Mr. Middleton's, in which he informs Mr. Hastings that the
Nabob had destined such a sum for him.

Now the first thing that will occur to your Lordships upon such an
affair will be a desire to know what it was that induced the Nabob to
make this offer. It was but in the September preceding that Mr. Hastings
had received, for his private use, as the Nabob conceived, so bountiful
a present as 100,000_l._; what motive, then, could he have had in
February to offer him another 100,000_l._? This man, at the time, was
piercing heaven itself with the cries of despondency, despair, beggary,
and ruin. You have seen that he was forced to rob his own family, in
order to satisfy the Company's demands upon him; and yet this is
precisely the time when he thinks proper to offer 100,000_l._ to Mr.
Hastings. Does not the mind of every man revolt, whilst he exclaims, and
say, "What! another 100,000_l._ to Mr. Hastings?" What reason had the
Nabob to think Mr. Hastings so monstrously insatiable, that, having but
the September before received 100,000_l._, he must give him another in
February? My Lords, he must, in the interval, have threatened the Nabob
with some horrible catastrophe, from which he was to redeem himself by
this second present. You can assign no other motive for his giving it.
We know not what answer Mr. Hastings made to Mr. Middleton upon that
occasion, but we find that in the year 1783 Mr. Hastings asserts that he
sent up Major Palmer and Major Davy to persuade the Nabob to transfer
this present, which the Nabob intended for him, to the Company's
service. Remark, my Lords, the progress of this affair. In a formal
accusation preferred against Mr. Middleton, he charges him with
obstructing this design of his. In this accusation, my Lords, you find
him at once in the curious character of prosecutor, witness, and judge.

Let us see how he comports himself. I shall only state to you one of the
articles of his impeachment; it is the third charge; it is in page 1267
of yo