eceived it, (whether justifiable or not,) or
any one circumstance under heaven relative to it. This is a very
extraordinary account to give to the public of a sum which we find to be
somewhere above twenty thousand pounds, taken by Mr. Hastings in some
way or other. He set the Company blindly groping in the dark by the very
pretended light, the ignis-fatuus, which he held out to them: for at
that time all was in the dark, and in a cloud: and this is what Mr.
Hastings calls _information_ communicated to the Company on the subject
of these bribes.

You have heard of obscurity illustrated by a further
obscurity,--_obscurum per obscurius_. He continues to tell
them,--"Something of affinity to this anecdote may appear in the first
aspect of another transaction, which I shall proceed to relate, and of
which it is more immediately my duty to inform you." He then tells them
that he had contrived to give a sum of money to the Rajah of Berar, and
the account he gives of that proceeding is this. "We had neither money
to spare, nor, in the apparent state of that government in its relation
to ours, would it have been either prudent or consistent with our public
credit to have afforded it. It was, nevertheless, my decided opinion
that some aid should be given, not less as a necessary relief than as an
indication of confidence, and a return for the many instances of
substantial kindness which we had within the course of the two last
years experienced from the government of Berar. I had an assurance that
such a proposal would receive the acquiescence of the board; but I knew
that it would not pass without opposition, and it would have become
public, which might have defeated its purpose. Convinced of the
necessity of the expedient, and assured of the sincerity of the
government of Berar, from evidences of stronger proof to me than I could
make them appear to the other members of the board, I resolved to adopt
it and take the entire responsibility of it upon myself. In this mode a
less considerable sum would suffice. I accordingly caused three lac of
rupees to be delivered to the minister of the Rajah of Berar resident in
Calcutta. He has transmitted it to Cuttack. Two thirds of this sum I
have raised by my own credit, and shall charge it in my official
accounts; the other third I have supplied from the cash in my hands
belonging to the Honorable Company."

Your Lordships see in this business another mode which he has of
accounting wi