pirators against
their masters, the faith of robbers against the public, held up against
the duty of an officer in a public situation. You see how they are bound
to one another, and how they give their fidelity to keep the secrets of
one another, to prevent the Directors having a true knowledge of their
affairs; and I am sure, if you do not destroy this honor of conspirators
and this faith of robbers, that there will be no other honor and no
other fidelity among the servants in India. Mr. Larkins, your Lordships
see, adheres to the principle of secrecy.

You will next remark that Mr. Hastings had as many bribe-factors as
bribes. There was confidence to be reposed in each of them, and not one
of these men appears to be in the confidence of another. You will find
in this letter the policy, the frame, and constitution of this new
exchequer. Mr. Croftes seems to have known things which Mr. Larkins did
not; Mr. Larkins knew things which Gunga Govind Sing did not; Gunga
Govind Sing knew things which none of the rest of the confederates knew.
Cantoo Baboo, who appears in this letter as a principal actor, was in a
secret which Mr. Larkins did not know; it appears likewise, that there
was a Persian moonshee in a secret of which Cantoo Baboo was ignorant;
and it appears that Mr. Palmer was in the secret of a transaction not
intrusted to any of the rest. Such is the labyrinth of this practical
_painche_, or screw, that, if, for instance, you were endeavoring to
trace backwards some transaction through Major Palmer, you would be
stopped there, and must go back again; for it had begun with Cantoo
Baboo. If in another you were to penetrate into the dark recess of the
black breast of Cantoo Baboo, you could not go further; for it began
with Gunga Govind Sing. If you pierce the breast of Gunga Govind Sing,
you are again stopped; a Persian moonshee was the confidential agent. If
you get beyond this, you find Mr. Larkins knew something which the
others did not; and at last you find Mr. Hastings did not put entire
confidence in any of them. You will see, by this letter, that he kept
his accounts in all colors, black, white, and mezzotinto; that he kept
them in all languages,--in Persian, in Bengalee, and in a language
which, I believe, is neither Persian nor Bengalee, nor any other known
in the world, but a language in which Mr. Hastings found it proper to
keep his accounts and to transact his business. The persons carrying on
the account