ode, assure the Nabob that
Mahomed Reza Khan should not hold the place longer than till he heard
from England. He then wrote him another letter, that he should hold it
no longer than while he submitted to his present necessity, (thus giving
up to his colleague what he refused to the Company,) and engaged,
privately, that he would dismiss Mahomed Reza Khan again. And
accordingly, the moment he thought Mr. Francis was not in a condition to
give him trouble any longer, that moment he again turned out Mahomed
Reza Khan from that general superintendence of affairs which the Company
gave him, and deposed him as a minister, leaving him only a very
confined authority as a magistrate.

All these changes, no less than four great revolutions, if I may so call
them, were made by Mr. Hastings for his own corrupt purposes. This is
the manner in which Mr. Hastings has played with the most sacred objects
that man ever had a dealing with: with the government, with the justice,
with the order, with the dignity, with the nobility of a great country:
he played with them to satisfy his own wicked and corrupt purposes
through the basest instrument.

Now, my Lords, I have done with these presumptions of corruption with
Munny Begum, and have shown that it is not a slight crime, but that it
is attended with a breach of public faith, with a breach of his orders,
with a breach of the whole English government, and the destruction of
the native government, of the police, the order, the safety, the
security, and the justice of the country,--and that all these are much
concerned in this cause. Therefore the Commons stand before the face of
the world, and say, We have brought a cause, a great cause, a cause
worthy the Commons of England to prosecute, and worthy the Lords to
judge and determine upon.

I have now nothing further to state than what the consequences are of
Mr. Hastings taking bribes,--that Mr. Hastings's taking of bribes is not
only his own corruption, but the incurable corruption of the whole
service. I will show, first, that he was named in 1773 to put an end to
that corruption. I will show that he did not,--that he knowingly and
willingly connived at it,--and that that connivance was the principal
cause of all the disorders that have hitherto prevailed in that country.
I will show you that he positively refused to obey the Company's order
to inquire into and to correct the corruptions that prevailed in that
country; next, that he es