We will now read a paper which perhaps ought not to have been received in evidence, but which we were willing to enter in your minutes as evidence, in order that everything should come before you.  Your Lordships have heard the Nabob speak of his misery, distress, and oppression; but here he makes a complete defeasance, as it were, of the whole charge, a direct disavowal of every one of the complaints, and particularly that of having never received an answer to these complaints.  Oh, think, I say, my Lords, of the degraded, miserable, and unhappy state to which human nature may be reduced, when you hear this unhappy man declare that all the charges which we have made upon this subject relative to him, and which are all either admitted by him or taken from his own representation, are now stated by him in a paper before you to be all false, and that there is not a word of the representation which he had made of Mr. Hastings that has the least truth in it!  Your Lordships will find this in that collection of various papers which ought to be preserved and put into every museum in Europe, as one of the most extraordinary productions that was ever exhibited to the world.

Papers received the 8th of March, 1788, and translated pursuant to an Order of the Governor-General in Council, dated the 21th of April, 1788, under the Seal of His Excellency the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah, Asoph Jah Bahadur, Vizier ul Momalik.

“I have at this time learnt that the gentlemen in power in England, upon the suspicion that Mr. Hastings, during his administration, acted contrary to the rules of justice and impartiality, and, actuated by motives of avidity, was inimical towards men without cause; that he broke such engagements and treaties as had been made between the Company and other chiefs; that he extended the hand of oppression over the properties of men, tore up the roots of security and prosperity from the land, and rendered the ryots and subjects destitute by force and extortion.—­As this accusation, in fact, is destitute of uprightness and void of truth, therefore, with a view to show the truth in its true colors, I have written upon this sheet with truth and sincerity, to serve as an evidence, and to represent real facts,—­to serve also as information and communication, that Mr. Hastings, from the commencement of his administration until his departure for England, whether during the lifetime of the deceased Nabob, of blessed memory, Vizier ul Moolk, Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, my father, or during my government, did not at any time transact contrary to justice any matter which took place from the great friendship between me and the Company, nor in any business depart from the path of truth and uprightness, but cultivated friendship with integrity and sincerity, and in every respect engaged himself in the duties of friendship with me, my ministers and confidants.  I am at all times, and in every way, pleased with and thankful for his friendly manners and qualities;