There is another circumstance which serves to show that in the persecution of these great men, and the persons employed by them, he could have no other view than to extort money from them.  There was a person of the name of Shitab Roy, who had a great share in the conduct of the revenues of Bahar.  Mr. Hastings, in the letter to the Company, complaining of the state of their affairs, and saying that there were great and suspicious balances in the kingdom of Bahar, does not even name the name of Shitab Roy.  There was an English counsellor, a particular friend of Mr. Hastings’s, there, under whose control Shitab Roy acted.  Without any charges, without any orders from the Company, Mr. Hastings dragged down that same Shitab Roy, and in the same ignominious prison he kept him the same length of time, that is, one year and three months, without trial; and when the trial came on, there was as much appearance of collusion in the trial as there was of rigor in the previous process.  This is the manner in which Mr. Hastings executed the command of the Company for removing Mahomed Reza Khan.

When a successor to Mahomed Reza Khan was to be appointed, your Lordships naturally expect, from the character I have given of him, and from the nature of his functions, that Mr. Hastings would be particularly precise, would use the utmost possible care in nominating a person to succeed him, who might fulfil the ends and objects of his employment, and be at the same time beyond all doubt and suspicion of corruption in any way whatever.  Let us now see how he fills up that office thus vacant.  When the Company ordered Mahomed Reza Khan to be dispossessed of his office, they ordered at the same time that the salary of his successor should be reduced:  that 30,000_l._ was a sufficient recompense for that office.  Your Lordships will see by the allowance for the office, even reduced as it was, that they expected some man of great eminence, of great consequence, and fit for those great and various trusts.  They cut off the dewanny from it, that is, the collection of the revenues; and having lessened his labors, they lessened his reward.—­They ordered that this person, who was to be guardian of the Nabob in his minority, and who was to represent the government, should have but 30,000_l._ The order they give is this.

“And that as Mahomed Reza Khan can no longer be considered by us as one to whom such a power can safely be committed, we trust to your local knowledge the selection of some person well qualified for the affairs of government, and of whose attachment to the Company you shall be well assured.  Such person you will recommend to the Nabob, to succeed Mahomed Reza, as minister of the government, and guardian of the Nabob’s minority; and we persuade ourselves that the Nabob will pay such regard to your recommendation as to invest him with the necessary power and authority.