The soldiers appeal; and since the beginning of this trial, I
believe even very lately, it has been decided by the Council that the
letter of Mr. Hastings was not, as Sir Elijah Impey pretended, a mere
private letter, because it had "Dear Sir," in it, but a public order,
authorizing the soldiers to divide the money among themselves.
Thus 200,000_l._ was distributed among the soldiers; 400,000_l._ was
taken away by Cheyt Sing, to be pillaged by all the Company's enemies
through whose countries he passed; and so ended one of the great
sources from which this great financier intended to supply the
exigencies of the Company, and recruit their exhausted finances.
By this proceeding, my Lords, the national honor is disgraced, all the
rules of justice are violated, and every sanction, human and divine,
trampled upon. We have, on one side, a country ruined, a noble family
destroyed, a rebellion raised by outrage and quelled by bloodshed, the
national faith pledged to indemnity, and that indemnity faithlessly
withheld from helpless, defenceless women; while the other side of the
picture is equally unfavorable. The East India Company have had their
treasure wasted, their credit weakened, their honor polluted, and their
troops employed against their own subjects, when their services were
required against foreign enemies.
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