rt and destroy them; and we shall show upon that
head, that he well fulfilled the purposes for which he was appointed.
Did Mr. Hastings pretend to say that he destroyed the Provincial
Councils for their corruptness or insufficiency, when he dissolved them?
No: he says he has no objection to their competency, no charge to make
against their conduct, but that he has destroyed them for his new
arrangement. And what is his new arrangement? Gunga Govind Sing. Forty
English gentlemen were removed from their offices by that change. Mr.
Hastings did it, however, very economically; for all these gentlemen
were instantly put upon pensions, and consequently burdened the
establishment with a new charge. Well, but the new Council was formed
and constituted upon a very economical principle also. These five
gentlemen, you will have it in proof, with the necessary expenses of
their office, were a charge of 62,000_l._ a year upon the establishment.
But for great, eminent, capital services, 62,000_l._, though a much
larger sum than what was thought fit to be allowed for the members of
the Supreme Council itself, may be admitted. I will pass it. It shall be
granted to Mr. Hastings, that these pensions, though they created a new
burden on the establishment, were all well disposed, provided the
Council did their duty. But you have heard what they say themselves:
they are not there put to do any duty; they can do no duty; their
abilities, their integrity, avail them nothing; they are tools in the
hands of Gunga Govind Sing. Mr. Hastings, then, has loaded the revenue
with 62,000_l._ a year to make Gunga Govind Sing master of the kingdoms
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. What must the thing to be moved be, when
the machinery, when the necessary tools, for Gunga Govind Sing have cost
62,000_l._ a year to the Company? There it is; it is not my
representation, not the representation of observant strangers, of good
and decent people, that understand the nature of that service, but the
opinion of the tools themselves.

Now did Mr. Hastings employ Gunga Govind Sing without a knowledge of his
character? His character was known to Mr. Hastings: it was recorded long
before, when he was turned out of another office. "During my long
residence," says he, "in this country, this is the first time I heard of
the character of Gunga Govind Sing being infamous. No information I have
received, though I have heard _many_ people speak ill of him, ever
pointed to any