Ay,
my Lords, here is the grievance;--no man can dare show in India an
independent spirit. It is this, and not his having shown such a
contempt of their authority, not his having shown himself so wretched an
advocate for his own cause and so had a negotiator for his own interest,
that makes him unfit to be trusted with the guardianship of their honor,
the execution of their measures, and to be their confidential manager
and negotiator with the princes of India.
But, my Lords, what is this want of skill which Mr. Bristow has shown in
negotiating his own affairs? Mr. Hastings will inform us. "He should
have pocketed the letter of the Court of Directors; he should never have
made the least mention of it. He should have come to my banian, Cantoo
Baboo; he should have offered him a bribe upon the occasion. That would
have been the way to succeed with me, who am a public-spirited taker of
bribes and nuzzers. But this base fool, this man, who is but a vile
negotiator for his own interest, has dared to accept the patronage of
the Court of Directors. He should have secured the protection of Cantoo
Baboo, their more efficient rival. This would have been the skilful mode
of doing the business." But this man, it seems, had not only shown
himself an unskilful negotiator, he had likewise afforded evidence of
his want of integrity.
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