last evidence of the kind. The
informant was hanged. An attempt was made by Mr. Hastings to indict him
for a conspiracy; this failing of effect, another prosecutor appeared
for an offence not connected with these charges. Nundcomar, the object
of that charge, was executed, at the very crisis of the inquiry, for an
offence of another nature, not capital by the laws of the country. As
long as it appeared safe, several charges were made (which are inserted
at large in the Appendix); and Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell seemed
apprehensive of many more. General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr.
Francis declared, in a minute entered on the Consultations of the 5th
May, 1775, that, "in the late proceedings of the Revenue Board, it will
appear that there is no species of peculation from which the Honorable
Governor-General has thought proper to abstain." A charge of offences of
so heinous a nature, so very extensive, so very deliberate, made on
record by persons of great weight, appointed by act of Parliament his
associates in the highest trust,--a charge made at his own board, to his
own face, and transmitted to their common superiors, to whom they were
jointly and severally accountable, this was not a thing to be passed
over by Mr. Hastings; still less ought it to have perished in other
hands. It ought to have been brought to an immediate and strict
discussion. General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis ought to
have been punished for a groundless accusation, if such it had been. If
the accusation were founded, Mr. Hastings was very unfit for the high
office of Governor-General, or for any office.

After this comprehensive account by his colleagues of the
Governor-General's conduct, these gentlemen proceeded to the
particulars, and they produced the case of a corrupt bargain of Mr.
Hastings concerning the disposition of office. This transaction is here
stated by your Committee in a very concise manner, being on this
occasion merely intended to point out to the House the absolute
necessity which, in their opinion, exists for another sort of inquiry
into the corruptions of men in power in India than hitherto has been
pursued. The proceedings may be found at large in the Appendix.

A complaint was made that Mr. Hastings had sold the office of Phousdar
of Hoogly to a person called Khan Jehan Khan on a corrupt agreement,--which
was, that from his emoluments of seventy-two thousand rupees a
year he was to pay to the Governo