Hastings's government.
I have briefly taken notice of the claim which Mr. Hastings thought
proper to make, on the part of the Company, to the treasure found in the
fort of Bidjegur, after he had instigated the army to claim it as the
right of the captors. Your Lordships will not be at a loss to account
for this strange and barefaced inconsistency. This excellent Governor
foresaw that he would have a bad account of this business to give to the
contractors in Leadenhall Street, who consider laws, religion, morality,
and the principles of state policy of empires as mere questions of
profit and loss. Finding that he had dismal accounts to give of great
sums expended without any returns, he had recourse to the only expedient
that was left him. He had broken his faith with the ladies in the fort,
by not suffering his officers to grant them that indemnity which his
proclamation offered. Then, finding that the soldiers had taken him at
his word, and appropriated the treasure to their own use, he next broke
his faith with them. A constant breach of faith is a maxim with him. He
claims the treasure for the Company, and institutes a suit before Sir
Elijah Impey, who gives the money to the Company, and not to the
soldiers.
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