Governors, we know very well, cannot with their own hands be continually receiving bribes,—­for then they must have as many hands as one of the idols in an Indian temple, in order to receive all the bribes which a Governor-General may receive,—­but they have them vicariously.  As there are many offices, so he has had various officers for receiving and distributing his bribes; he has a great many, some white and some black agents.  The white men are loose and licentious; they are apt to have resentments, and to be bold in revenging them.  The black men are very secret and mysterious; they are not apt to have very quick resentments, they have not the same liberty and boldness of language which characterize Europeans; and they have fears, too, for themselves, which makes it more likely that they will conceal anything committed to them by Europeans.  Therefore Mr. Hastings had his black agents, not one, two, three, but many, disseminated through the country:  no two of them, hardly, appear to be in the secret of any one bribe.  He has had likewise his white agents,—­they were necessary,—­a Mr. Larkins and a Mr. Croftes.  Mr. Croftes was sub-treasurer, and Mr. Larkins accountant-general.  These were the last persons of all others that should have had anything to do with bribes; yet these were some of his agents in bribery.  There are few instances, in comparison of the whole number of bribes, but there are some, where two men are in the secret of the same bribe.  Nay, it appears that there was one bribe divided into different payments at different times,—­that one part was committed to one black secretary, another part to another black secretary.  So that it is almost impossible to make up a complete body of all his bribery:  you may find the scattered limbs, some here and others there; and while you are employed in picking them up, he may escape entirely in a prosecution for the whole.

The first act of his government in Bengal was the most bold and extraordinary that I believe ever entered into the head of any man,—­I will say, of any tyrant.  It was no more or less than a general, almost exceptless confiscation, in time of profound peace, of all the landed property in Bengal, upon most extraordinary pretences.  Strange as this may appear, he did so confiscate it; he put it up to a pretended public, in reality to a private corrupt auction; and such favored landholders as came to it were obliged to consider themselves as not any longer proprietors of the estates, but to recognize themselves as farmers under government:  and even those few that were permitted to remain on their estates had their payments raised at his arbitrary discretion; and the rest of the lands were given to farmers-general, appointed by him and his committee, at a price fixed by the same arbitrary discretion.