all the robberies and rapines of
Gunga Govind Sing. You will recognize him as a faithful governor of
India. Yes, my Lords, let us rejoice in this man! Let us adopt him as
our own! Let our country, let this House, be proud of him! If Mr.
Hastings can be acquitted, we must admit Gunga Govind Sing's government
to be the greatest blessing that ever happened to mankind. But if Gunga
Govind Sing's government be the greatest curse that ever befell
suffering humanity, as we assert it to have been, there is the man that
placed him in it; there is his father, his godfather, the first author
and origin of all these evils and, calamities. My Lords, remember
Dinagepore; remember the bribe of 40,000_l._ which Gunga Govind Sing
procured for Mr. Hastings in that province, and the subsequent horror of
that scene.

But, my Lords, do you extend your confidence to Gunga Govind Sing? Not
even the face of this man, to whom the revenues of the Company, together
with the estates, fortunes, reputations, and lives of the inhabitants of
that country were delivered over, is known in those provinces. He
resides at Calcutta, and is represented by a variety of under-agents. Do
you know Govind Ghose? Do you know Nundulol? Do you know the whole tribe
of peculators, whom Mr. Hastings calls his faithful domestic servants?
Do you know all the persons that Gunga Govind Sing must employ in the
various ramifications of the revenues throughout all the provinces? Are
you prepared to trust all these? The Board of Revenue has confessed that
it could not control them. Mr. Hastings himself could not control them.
The establishment of this system was like Sin's opening the gates of
Hell: like her, he could open the gate,--but to shut, as Milton says,
exceeded his power. The former establishments, if defective, or if
abuses were found in them, might have been corrected. There was at least
the means of detecting and punishing abuse. But Mr. Hastings destroyed
the means of doing either, by putting the whole country into the hands
of Gunga Govind Sing.

Now, having seen all these things done, look to the account. Your
Lordships will now be pleased to look at this business as a mere account
of revenue. You will find, on comparing the three years in which Mr.
Hastings was in the minority with the three years after the appointment
of this Committee, that the assessment upon the country increased, but
that the revenue was diminished; and you will also find, which is a
m