The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke

was dismissed from the office of Phousdar of Hoogly for a contempt of the authority of the
board; that, within a few weeks after the death of the late Colonel Monson, the number of
the Council being then even, and all questions being then determined by the Governor-
General's casting voice, the said Warren Hastings did move and carry it in Council, that the
said Khân Jehan Khân should be restored to his office; and that restoration, not having been
preceded, accompanied, or followed by any explanation or defence whatsoever, or even by
a denial of the specific and circumstantial charge of collusion with the said Khân Jehan
Khân, has confirmed the truth of the said charge.

That, besides the sums charged to have been paid to the said Warren Hastings by the said
Nundcomar and Munny Begum and Khân Jehan Khân, and besides the sum of one hundred
and ten thousand pounds already mentioned to have been accepted without hesitation by
him, as a present on the part of the Nabob of Oude and that of his ministers, the
circumstances of which have been particularly reported to the House of Commons, it
appears by the confession of the said Warren Hastings, that he has at different times since
the promulgation of the act of 1773, received various other sums, contrary to the express
prohibition of the said act, and his own declared sense of the evident intent and obligation
thereof.—That in the month of June, 1780, the said Warren Hastings made to the Council
what he called "a very unusual tender, by offering to exonerate the Company from the
expense of a particular measure, and to take it upon himself; declaring that he had already
deposited two lacs of rupees [or twenty-three thousand pounds] in the hands of the
Company's sub-treasurer for that service." That in a subsequent letter, dated the 29th of
November, 1780, he informed the Court of Directors, that "this money, by whatever means
it came into their possession, was not his own"; but he did not then, nor has he at any time
since, made known to the Court of Directors from whom or on what account he received

<<   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   >>

More intriguing information