Mr. Hastings had squeezed out of a miserable country a bribe of 40,000_l._, of which he was enabled to bring to the account of the Company only 20,000_l._, and of which we should not even have known the existence, if the inquiries pursued with great diligence by the House of Commons had not extorted the discovery:  and even now that we know the fact, we can never get at the money; the Company can never receive it; and before the House had squeezed out of him that some such money had been received, he never once told the Court of Directors that his black bribe-agent, whom he recommended to their service, had cheated both them and him of 20,000_l._ out of the fund of the bribe-revenue.  If it be asked, Where is the record of this?  Record there is none.  In what office is it entered?  It is entered in no office; it is mentioned as privately received for the Company’s benefit:  and you shall now further see what a charming office of receipt and account this new exchequer of Mr. Hastings’s is.

For there is another and a more serious circumstance attending this business.  Every one knows, that, by the law of this, and, I believe, of every country, any money which is taken illegally from any person, as every bribe or sum of money extorted or paid without consideration is, belongs to the person who paid it, and he may bring his action for it, and recover it.  Then see how the Company stands.  The Company receives a bribe of 40,000_l._ by Mr. Hastings; it is carried to its account; it turns bribery into a revenue; it sanctifies it.  In the mean time, the man from whom this money is illegally taken sues Mr. Hastings.  Must not he recover of Mr. Hastings?  Then, if so, must not Mr. Hastings recover it again from the Company?  The Company undoubtedly is answerable for it.  And here is a revenue which every man who has paid it may drag out of the treasury again.  Mr. Hastings’s donations of his bribes to the treasury are liable to be torn from it at pleasure by every man who gives the money.  First it may be torn from him who receives it; and then he may recover it from the treasury, to which he has given it.

But admitting that the taking of bribes can be sanctified by their becoming the property of the Company, it may still be asked, For what end and purpose has the Company covenanted with Mr. Hastings that money taken extorsively shall belong to the Company?  Is it that satisfaction and reparation may be awarded against the said Warren Hastings to the said Company for their own benefit?  No:  it is for the benefit of the injured persons; and it is to be carried to the Company’s account, “but in trust, nevertheless, and to the intent that the said Company may and do render and pay over the moneys received or recovered by them to the parties injured or defrauded, which the said Company accordingly hereby agree and covenant to do.”  Now here is a revenue to be received by Mr. Hastings for the Company’s use, applied at his discretion to that use, and which the Company