the treaty and guarantee, by which the Begums held their property, as no longer binding upon the English government, who consequently could have no further right to interfere between the nabob and his rebellious parents, but ought to leave him at liberty to punish or forgive them as he should think fit. But, instead of holding this language, which manliness and conscious integrity would have dictated, had he been convinced of the guilt of the Begums, Mr. Hastings wished to derive all possible advantage from active measures against the Begums, and, at the same time, so far to save appearances as to be thought passive in the affair.

Mr. Sheridan remarked, that in another passage of the same letter upon which he had just made these observations, Mr. Middleton informed the governor-general that he sent him at the same time a letter from the nabob on the subject of seizing the treasures; but this letter had been suppressed. Mr. Sheridan called upon the counsel for the prisoner to produce it, and then it would speak for itself; or to account satisfactorily to their lordships for its not having been entered upon the company's records. But this, he said, was not the only suppression of which he had reason to complain; the affidavit of Goulass Roy, who lived at Fyzabad, the residence of the Begums, and who was known to be their enemy, was suppressed. No person could be so well informed of their guilt, if they had been guilty, as Goulass Roy, who lived upon the spot where levies were said to have been made for Cheit Sing by order of the Begums. Therefore, if his testimony had not destroyed the idea of a rebellion on the part of the Begums, there was no doubt but it would have been carefully preserved. The information of Mr. Scott had also been suppressed. That gentleman had lived unmolested at Saunda, where Sumpshire Khan commanded for the Begums, and where he had carried on an extensive manufacture without the least hindrance from this (supposed) disaffected governor Sumpshire Khan. Mr. Scott was at Saunda when Captain Gordon arrived there, and when it was said that the governor pointed the guns of the fort upon Captain Gordon's party. If this circumstance had really happened, Mr. Scott must have heard of it, as he was himself at the time under the protection of those very guns. Why then was not the examination of this gentleman produced? He believed their lordships were satisfied, that if it had supported the allegations against Sumpshire Khan, it would not have been suppressed.

Mr. Sheridan said, it was not clear to him that, servile a tool as Mr. Middleton was, Mr. Hastings had thought proper to entrust him with every part of his intentions throughout the business of the Begums; he certainly mistrusted, or pretended to mistrust him, in his proceedings relative to the resumption of the jaghires, when it began to be rumoured abroad that terms so favourable to the nabob, as he obtained in the treaty of Chunar, by which Mr. Hastings consented to withdraw the temporary brigade, and to remove the English gentlemen from Oude, would never have been granted, if the nabob had not bribed the parties concerned in the negotiation to betray the interest of the company. As soon as these rumours reached the ears of Mr. Hastings he accused Mr. Middleton and his assistant-resident, Mr. Johnson, with having accepted bribes from the nabob. They both joined in the most solemn assurances of their innocence, and called God to witness the truth of their declarations. Mr. Hastings, after this, appeared satisfied; possibly the consciousness that he had in his own pocket the only bribe which had been given on the occasion (the £100,000), might have made him the less earnest in prosecuting any further inquiry into the business.

From a passage in a letter from Mr. Hastings, it was clear he did not think proper to commit to writing all the orders that he wished Mr. Middleton to execute; for there Mr. Hastings expressed his doubts of that person's "firmness and activity; and, above all, of his recollection of his instructions, and their importance; and said, that if he (Mr. Middleton) could not rely on his own power, and the means he possessed for performing those services, he would free him from the charge, and would proceed himself to Lucknow, and would himself undertake them."

Their lordships must presume that the instructions alluded to must have been verbal; for had they been written, there was no danger of their having been forgotten. Here Mr. Sheridan called the counsel to state what those instructions were which were upon of so much importance,-which the governor was greatly afraid Mr. Middleton would not recollect, and which, nevertheless, he did not dare to commit to writing, although it would have been the most effectual way to prevent him from forgetting them. To make their lordships understand some other expressions in the above passage, Mr. Sheridan recalled to their memory that it had appeared in the evidence that Mr. Middleton had a strong

objection to the resumption of the jaghires, which he thought a service of so much danger that he removed Mrs. Middleton and her family when he was about to enter upon it; for he expected resistance not only from the Begums, but from the nabob's own aumeels, who, knowing that the nabob was a reluctant instrument in the hands of the English, thought they would please him by resisting a measure to which they knew he had given his authority against his will; in a word, Mr. Middleton expected that the whole country, as one man, would rise against him; and therefore it was that he suspended the execution of the order of resumption, until he should find whether the seizing of the treasures, proposed as an alternative, would be accepted as such. Mr. Hastings pressed him to execute the order for resuming the jaghires, and offered to go himself upon that service, if the other should decline it. Mr. Middleton, at last, having received a thundering letter from Mr. Hastings, by which he left him to act under "a dreadful responsibility," set out for Fyzabad. For all the cruelties and barbarities that were executed there, the governor-general in his narrative said he did not hold himself responsible, because he had commanded Mr. Middleton to be personally present during the whole of the transaction, until he should have completed the business of seizing the treasures, and resuming the jaghires. But for what purpose had he ordered Mr. Middleton to be present? He would answer by quoting the orders verbatim." You yourself must be personally presentyou must not allow any negotiation or forbearance, but must prosecute both services until the Begums are at the entire mercy of the nabobs.”—These peremptory orders, given under a "dreadful responsibility," were not issued for purposes of humanity, that the presence of the resident might restrain the violence of the soldiers, but that Mr. Middleton should be a watch upon the nabob, to steel his heart against the feelings of returning nature in his breast, and prevent the possibility of his relenting, or granting any terms to his mother and grandmother. This was the abominable purpose for which Mr. Hastings had commanded him to be present in person; and, on account of his presence for such an end, Mr. Hastings pleaded that he was not responsible for what was done on that occasion at Fyzabad.

Here Mr. Sheridan was taken ill, and retired for a while to try if in the fresh air he could recover, so that he might conclude all he had to say upon the evidence

on the second charge. Mr. Adam, in the mean time, read some letters of Mr. Middleton. Some time after Mr. Fox informed their lordships that Mr. Sheridan was much better, but that he felt he was not sufficiently so to be able to do justice to the subject he had in hand. The managers therefore hoped their lordships would be pleased to appoint a future day, on which Mr. Sheridan would finish his observations on the evidence. Upon this their lordships returned to their own house, and adjourned the court to Friday, June 13.

JUNE 13.

At twelve o'clock the lord chancellor, and the mover of the present charge, appeared in their respective places, and both in a state of recovered health.

MR. SHERIDAN began by apologizing for the interruption which his indisposition had caused on the former day. He assured their lordships, in the strongest terms, that nothing but the importance of the cause, to which he felt himself totally unable to do justice, could have made him trespass on that indulgence which, on other occasions, he had so amply experienced.

He had then concluded, with submitting to their lordships the whole of the correspondence, as far as it could be obtained, between the principals and agents, in the nefarious plot carried on against the nabob vizier and the Begums of Oude. These letters were worthy the most abstracted attention of their lordships, as containing not only a narrative of that foul and unmanly conspiracy, but also a detail of the motives and ends for which it was formed, and an exposition of the trick, the quibble, the prevarication, and the untruth with which it was then acted, and now attempted to be defended! The question would undoubtedly suggest itself, why the correspondence ever was produced by the parties against whom it was now adduced in evidence, and who had so much reason to distrust the propriety of their own conduct? To this the answer was, that it was owing to a mutual and providential resentment which had broken out between the parties, which was generally the case between persons concerned in such transactions. Mr. Middleton was incensed, and felt as a galling triumph the confidence reposed by the governor-general in other agents. Mr. Hastings was offended by the tardy wariness which marked the conduct of Middleton; by the various remonstrances by the agent-though as knowing the man to whom they were addressed, they were all grounded on motives of policy-not of humanity-and of expediency, which left justice entirely out of the question; but the great ostensible ground

of quarrel was, that Middleton had dared to spend two days in negotiation-though that delay had prevented the general massacre of upwards of two thousand persons! The real cause, however, of this difference, was a firm belief on the part of Mr. Hastings, that Mr. Middleton had inverted their different situations, and kept the lion's share of' plunder to himself. There were, undoubtedly, some circumstances to justify this suspicion. At the time when Mr. Hastings had first complained the nabob's treasury was empty, and his troops so mutinous for their pay as even to threaten his life, yet in this moment of gratitude and opulence, Middleton intimated the nabob's desire to make Mr. Hastings a present of £100,000. That sacrifice, however, not being deemed sufficient, Mr. Middleton was recalled, and Major Palmer was sent in his room with instructions to tell the nabob that such a donation was not to be attempted: the prince, however, with an unfortunate want of recollection, said, that "no such offer had ever been in his mind." Thus, it had always been considered as the heightening of a favour bestowed, that the receiver should not know from what quarter it came; but it was reserved for Mr. Middleton to improve on this by such a delicate refinement, that the person giving should be totally ignorant of the favour he conferred!

But

But notwithstanding these little differences and suspicions, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Middleton, on the return of the latter to Calcutta in October, 1782, continued to live in the same style of friendly collusion, and fraudulent familiarity as ever. when Mr. Bristow, not answering the purposes of Mr. Hastings, was accused on the suborned letters procured from the nabob, one of which pronounced him the blackest character in existence, while another, of the same date, spoke of him as a very honest fellow, Mr. Hastings thought it might appear particular; and therefore, after their intimacy of six months, accuses Mr. Middleton also before the board at Calcutta. It was then that in the rash eagerness which distinguished his pursuit of every object, Mr. Hastings had incautiously, but happily for the present purposes of justice, brought forth these secret letters. It mattered not what were the views which induced Mr. Hastings to bring that charge; whether he had drawn up the accusation, or obliged Mr. Middleton with his aid in framing a defence; the whole ended in a repartee, and a poetical quotation from the governor