This having
been stated and proved to you, I shall take up the subject where it was
left.
My Lords, in the first place, I have to remark to you, that the whole of
the charge originally brought by Mr. Hastings against Cheyt Sing, in
justification of his wicked and tyrannical proceedings, is, that he had
been dilatory, evasive, shuffling, and unwilling to pay that which,
however unwilling, evasive, and shuffling, he did pay; and that, with
regard to the business of furnishing cavalry, the Rajah has asserted,
and his assertion has not been denied, that, when he was desired by the
Council to furnish these troopers, the purpose for which this
application was made was not mentioned or alluded to, nor was there any
place of muster pointed out. We therefore contended, that the demand was
not made for the service of the state, but for the oppression of the
individual that suffered by it.
But admitting the Rajah to have been guilty of delay and unwillingness,
what is the nature of the offence? If you strip it of the epithets by
which it has been disguised, it merely amounts to an unwillingness in
the Rajah to pay more than the sums stipulated by the mutual agreement
existing between him and the Company. This is the whole of it, the whole
front and head of the offence; and for this offence, such as it is, and
admitting that he could be legally fined for it, he was subjected to the
secret punishment of giving a bribe to Mr.
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