Now do you believe, in the first place, that men will long have abilities, will long have good intentions, and will long, above all, have steady application, when they know they are but tools in the hands of another,—­when they know they are tools for his own corrupt purposes?

In the next place, I must beg leave to state to you, that, on the constitution of this Committee, Mr. Hastings made them all take a solemn oath that they would never receive any present whatever.  It was not enough to trust to a general covenant; it was not enough to trust to the penal act of 1773:  he bound the Committee by a new oath, and forced them to declare that they would not receive any bribes.  As soon as he had so secured them against receiving bribes, he was resolved to make them inefficient,—­a good way to secure them against bribes, by taking from them the power of bribe-worthy service.  This was a good counter-security to their oath.  But Mr. Hastings put a dewan there, against whom there was no security; he let loose this dewan to frustrate their intentions, their application, their abilities, and oath:  that is, there was a person at that board who was more than the board itself, who might riot in peculation and plunder from one end of the country to the other.  He was there to receive bribes for Mr. Hastings; the Committee were to be pure with impotent hands; and then came a person with ample power for Mr. Hastings himself.  And lest this person should not have power enough in this Committee, he is made the general bribe-broker to Mr. Hastings.  This secret under-current, as your Lordships will see, is to counteract everything, and, as fast as one part is rendered pure, totally to corrupt all the rest.

But, my Lords, this was not the private opinion of Mr. Shore only, a man of great abilities, and intimately acquainted with the revenue, who must know when he was in a situation to do good and when not.  The other gentleman whom I have mentioned, Mr. Hastings’s confidant in everything but his bribes, and supposed to be in his closest secrets, is Mr. Anderson.  I should remark to your Lordships, that Mr. Anderson is a man apparently of weak nerves, of modest and very guarded demeanor, as we have seen him in the House of Commons; it is in that way only I have the honor of knowing him.  Mr. Anderson being asked whether he agreed in the opinion and admitted the truth of his friend Mr. Shore’s statement relative to the dewan of the Committee, his answer was this:  “I do not think that I should have written it quite so strong, but I do in a great measure agree to it:  that is, I think there is a great deal of truth in the observation; I think, in particular, that it would require great exertion in the Committee, and great abilities on the part of the President, to restrain effectually the conduct of the dewan; I think it would be difficult for the Committee to interpose a sufficient control to guard against all the abuses of the dewan.”