xpense, (such a body of proof as perhaps never
existed,) but there is one proof still remaining, namely, a paper, which
was produced before the Committee, and which we shall produce to your
Lordships. It is an authentic paper, delivered in favor of Mr. Hastings
by Major Scott, who acted at that time as Mr. Hastings's agent, to a
committee of the House of Commons, and authenticated to come from Munny
Begum herself. All this body of evidence we mean to produce; and we
shall prove, first, that he received the two lacs,--and, secondly, that
he received one lac and a half under the name of entertainment. With
regard to the lac and a half, Mr. Hastings is so far from controverting
it, even indirectly, that he is obliged to establish it by testimonies
produced by himself, in order to sink in that, if he can, the two lacs,
which he thinks he is not able to justify, but which he fears will be
proved against him. The lac and a half, I do believe, he will not be
advised to contest; but whether he is or no, we shall load him with it,
we shall prove it beyond all doubt. But there are other circumstances
further auxiliary in this business, which, from the very attempts to
conceal it, prove beyond doubt the fraudulent and wicked nature of the
transaction. In the account given by the Begum, a lac, which is for Mr.
Hastings's entertainment, is entered in a suspicious neighborhood; for
there is there entered a lac of rupees paid for the subahdarry sunnuds
to the Mogul through the Rajah Shitab Roy. Upon looking into the
account, and comparing it with another paper produced, the first thing
we find is, that this woman charges the sum paid to be a sum due; and
then she charges this one lac to have been paid when the Mogul was in
the hands of the Mahrattas, when all communication with him was stopped,
and when Rajah Shitab Roy, who is supposed to have paid it, was under
confinement in the hands of Mr. Hastings. Thus she endeavors to conceal
the lac of rupees paid to Mr. Hastings.

In order to make this transaction, which, though not in itself
intricate, is in some degree made so by Mr. Hastings, clear to your
Lordships, we pledge ourselves to give to your Lordships, what must be a
great advantage to the culprit himself, a syllabus, the heads of all
this charge, and of the proofs themselves, with their references, to
show how far the proof goes to the two lacs, and then to the one lac and
a half singly. This we shall put in writing, that you m