SPEECHES

OF

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
EDMUND BURKE.
VOL. IV.

"Printed liy A. Stratian,
Printsrs-Su.-et, London.

THE

SPEECHES

OF

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
EDMUND BURKE,

IN

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

AND IN

WESTMINSTER-HALL.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. IV.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWK,
PATERNOSTER-ROW ;
AND J. RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.
1816.

¦<

In

0

CONTENTS

OF

THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Page
Quebec Government Bill — French Revolu
tion — Separation between Mr. Burke and
Mr. Fox  i
May 6. The Same  5
11. The Same  28
12. Imprisonment for Debt  38
1792.
April 30. Parliamentary Reform  41
May 11. Mr. Fox's Motion for the Repeal of certain
Penal Statutes respecting Religious
Opinions  50
Dec. 13. Mr. Fox's Amendments to the Address on
the King's Speech at the Opening of the
Session  68
15. Mr. Fox's Motion for sending a Minister to
Paris, to treat with the Provisional Go
vernment of France  ,  80
28. Alien Bill — French Revolution  88
l79S-
Feb. 12. The King's Message respecting the Declar
ation of War by France  100
18. Mr. Fox's Resolutions against the War with
France  1 1 1
March 4. Mr. Sheridan's Motion relative to the Exist
ence of Seditious Practices in this Country 121
22. Traiterous Correspondence Bill  129
Apt!! 9* llM A&D16 HtMltlllHIilllttdMHMIHIIMtfMMHlltttlHH ^34*

VI CONTENTS.

1793-

Page
June 1 2. Complaint of a Libel on the Managers of the
Impeachment against Mr. Hastings  142
17. Mr. Fox's Motion for the Re-establishment
of Peace with France  145
1794.
March 17. General Fitzpatrick's Motion relative to the
Detention of M. De La Fayette  152
April 8. Motion for Taxing Placemen and Pensioners
during the Continuance of the War  157
1 1 . Bill to enable Subjects of France to enlist as
Soldiers in Regiments to serve on the
Continent, &c  163
30. Report of the Committee of Managers on
the Causes of the Duration of Mr. Hast
ings's Trial  167
May 23. The Same  288
June 20. Vote of Thanks to the Managers of the Im
peachment against Mr. Hastings  292
Mr. Burke's Retirement from Par
liament  ,  293

Report from the Committee of the House
of Commons appointed to inspect the
Lords' Journals, in Relation to their Pro
ceedings on the Trial of Warren Hastings,
Esq. and to report what they find therein
to the House ; which Committee were the
Managers appointed to make good the Ar
ticles of Impeachment against the said
Warren Hastings, Esq. and who were af
terwards instructed to Report the several
Matters which have occurred since the
Commencement of the said Prosecution,
and which have, in their Opinion, con
tributed to the Duration thereof to the
present Time ; with their Observations
- thereupon .,...,  168

CONTENTS. Vll
SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL ON
THE IMPEACHMENT OF
WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ.
1788.
»— v— ' Page
Feb. 15. Mr. Burke's Speech on Opening the Articles 297
16. The Speech continued  325
18. The Speech continued  372
19. The. Speech continued  410
1789.
April 2 1 . Mr. Burke's Speech on Opening the Presents
Charge  418
25. The Speech continued  438
May 5. The Speech continued  452
7. The Speech continued  461
1794.
May 28. 1
to £ Mr. Burke's Speech at the Close of the Trial 467
June i-t.\

SPEECHES

OF THE

KIGHT HONOURABLE
EDMUND BURKE,

Quebec Government Bill — French Revolution —
Separation between Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox.
April 21. 1 79 1.
/~\N the 4th of March 1791, Mr. Pitt obtained leave to bring
in a bill to repeal certain parts of the act of the 14th
of his present majesty, intituled " An act for making more
effectual provision for the government of the province of
Quebec in North America," and to make further provision for
the government of the said province. On the 8th of April,
upon a motion made by Mr. Hussey, that the bill be recom
mitted, Mr. Fox expressed his hope, that in promulgating the
scheme of a new constitution for the province of Quebec, the
House would keep in view those enlightened principles of
freedom, which had already made a rapid progress over a con
siderable portion of the globe, and were every day hastening
more and more to become universal. As the love of liberty
was gaining ground, in consequence of the diffusion of lite
rature and knowledge through the world, he thought that a
constitution should be formed for Canada as consistent as pos
sible with the genuine principles of freedom. This bill, in his
opinion, would not establish such a government, and that was
his chief- reason -for opposing it. Mr. Burke was not in the
House durbg Mr. Fox's speech. On the 1 5th of April 3 debate
VOL. IV. B

2 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [April 21'
took place upon a motion made by Mr. Baker relative to the
war with Russia, in the course of which Mr. Fox took occa
sion to enter into a comparison of the present state of France
with its former condition, both as it respected the politics of
Europe, and the happiness of the people, for the purpose of
shewing that those who detested the principles of the revolution
in that country had reason to rejoice in its effects. He praised
the new government of France, in its internal relation, as good
because it aimed to make those who were subject to it happy.
With regard to the change of system that had taken place in
that country, Mr. Fox said, that he knew different opinions
were entertained upon the point by different men, and added,
that he for one admired the new constitution of France, con
sidered altogether as the most stupendous and glorious edifice
of liberty, which had been erected on the foundation of human
integrity in any time or country *. As soon as Mr. Fox sat
down, Mr. Burke rose, in much visible emotion, but the cry
of " Question ! " being general, he unwillingly gave way to the
division, which immediately aftef took place. Mr. Fox is known
to have regretted the injudicious zeal of those who would not
suffer Mr. Burke to answer him on the spot. The contention,
he said, might have been fiercer and hotter, but the remem
brance of it would not have settled so deep, nor rankled so
long in the heart.
From the moment of the debate on the 15th of April on
Mr. Baker's motion relative to the war with Russia, a rupture
between Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox was distinctly foreseen. On
the morning of the 21st of April, the day appointed for the
re-commitment of the Quebec bill, Mr. Fox, for the last time,
paid Mr. Burke a visit, accompanied by a common friend. Mr.
Burke talked over with them the plan of all which he intended to
say, opened the different branches of his argument, and explained
the limitations which he meant to impose on himself. Mr. Fox,
on his part, treated him with confidence, and mentioned to
him a political circumstance of some delicacy. What it pre
cisely was, Mr. Burke declined telling, even in the heat of
altercation. But from the tenor of the charge, which he seems

# See Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, Burke's Works,
Vol. VI. p. 93,

*791'] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3
most anxious to refute, and from some intimations in one of
Mr. Fox's answers, we may form a reasonable conjecture.
The king, it seems, was represented to have used some ex
pressions favourable to Mr. Fox. In order, therefore, to secure
himself in his situation, the minister was asserted to have
given out the watch-word, that Mr. Fox was by principle a
republican ; and it was supposed that, in pursuance of this
plan, he instigated Mr. Burke to the discussion. Mr. Burke
undeceived his friend, by relating the fact as it was. Still it
was requested by Mr. Fox, that at least the discussion might
not take place on the re-commitment of the Quebec bill ; but,
Mr. Burke was unwilling to forego an opportunity which he
could not hope to find again in any other business then before
parliament, or likely to come before it. They walked however to
Westminster together, and together entered the House, where
they found that Mr. Sheridan, in the mean time, had moved to
postpone the re-commitment till after the holidays. Mr. M. A.
Taylor observed, that the business had been improperly treated,
as involving the consideration of general principles of govern
ment, and the constitutions of other countries ; on which
ground insinuations had been thrown out against some members
of the opposition party. But he gave notice, that if the
minister, or any other right honourable gentleman, should
wander from the proper discussion of the subject, he should
call him to order, and take the sense of the House upon the
occasion. Here was a palpable allusion to Mr. Burke. Yet
he did not rise to answer. Mr. Fox took the opportunity of
explaining what he had said on the former question relative to
the Quebec bill. After lamenting that he had been misunder
stood before, he admitted, that in forming a government for a
colony, some attention must be paid to the general principles
of all governments. In the course of this session, he said, he
had taken opportunities of alluding, perhaps too often, to the
French revolution, and to shew, whether right or wrong, that
his opinion, on the whole, was much in its favour ; but on this
bill he had only introduced one levity, silly enough perhaps,
and not worth recollection, that had any relation to the French
revolution ; he meant an allusion to the extinction of nobility
in France, and its revival in Canada. Certainly he had spoken
much on the government of the American states, because they
were in the neighbourhood of Canada, and were connected
with that province. Having then oberved that the prudence of
b 2

4 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [April 21*
concealing his opinions was a quality which his dearest friends
had not very often imputed to him* and that he thought the
public had a right to the opinions of public men on public
measures, he declared, that he never had stated any republican
principles, with regard to this country, in or out of parliament ;
and among other things he said, that when the Quebec bill came
again to be discussed, from the great respect which he enter
tained for some of his friends, he should be extremely sorry
to differ from them ; but he should never be backward in de
livering his opinion, and he did not wish to recede from any
thing which he had formerly advanced. — Mr. Powys com
plained that the debate had turned irregularly both on retro
spect and anticipation, and hinted that Mr. Fox should have
imitated the example of Mr. Burke, in writing, rather than
speaking there, of the French revolution.
Mr. Burke in a very affecting manner assured the
House, that nothing depressed him more — nothing had
ever more afflicted him in body and mind — than the
thought of meeting his friend as an adversary and anta
gonist. After noticing the anticipation which had been
suggested, and the observations which had been made, but
for which he trusted that he had given no just cause, he
declared his sentiments, that in framing a new constitu
tion, it was necessary to refer to principles of government
and examples of other constitutions, because it was a ma
terial part of every political question, to see how far such
and such principles have been adopted, and how they have
succeeded in other places. His opinions on government
he presumed not to be unknown ; and the more he con
sidered the French constitution, the more sorry he was to
see it. Once in the preceding session he had thought
himself under the necessity of speaking very fully upon
the subject ; but since that time, he had never mentioned
it either directly or indirectly; no man, therefore, could
"charge him with having provoked the conversation that
had passed. He signified, however, his intention of giving
his opinion on certain principles of government at the
proper moment, in the future progress of the Quebec bill.
He alluded with much candour to Mr. Fox's recent pane-

-^J?1'] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 5
gyric on France, as well as his own ineffectual attempt to
rise in answer to it; acquitting his friend from all design
of personal offence in it; and he finished by saying, that
should he and his friend differ, he desired it to be recol
lected, that however dear he considered his friendship,
there was something still dearer in his mind, the love of
his country : nor was he stimulated by ministers to take
the part which he should take; for whatever they knew of
his political sentiments, they had learned from him, not
he from them.
Mr. Fox had thus openly given a challenge, which was ac
cepted by Mr. Burke ; and a determination of calling the latter
to order was likewise avowed.

May 6.
When the House re-assembled on the 6th of May, they pro
ceeded to the recommitment of the Quebec bill. The chair
man took the chair, and began by putting the usual question,
" That the bill be read paragraph by paragraph ?" Upon this,
Mr. Burke immediately rose. He said, it might be
a question whether the chairman should be directed to
leave the chair, or whether the bill should be debated
clause by clause. He should, therefore, speak to the
general principle. The House, by the bill, was going
to do a high and important act, to appoint a legisla
ture for a distant people, and to affirm a legal autho
rity in itself, to exercise this high power. The first
consideration then was, the competency or incompetency
of the House to do such an act : for if it was not com
petent, the beneficence of the intention, or the good
ness of the constitution they were about to give, would
avail nothing. A body of rights, commonly called the
Rights of Man, imported from a neighbouring country,
had been lately set up by some persons in this, as paramount
to all other rights. A principle article in this new code
b 3

6 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT bill — [May 6.
was, " That all men are by nature free, are equal in respect of
rights, and continue so in society." If such a doctrine were to
be admitted, then the power of the House could extend no
farther than to call together all the inhabitants of Canada,
and recommend to them the free choice of a constitution
for themselves. On what, then, was this House to found
its competence ? There was another code on which man
kind in all ages had acted — the law of nations ; aiid on
this alone he conceived the competence of the House to
rest. This country had acquired the power of legislating
for Canada by right of conquest; and in virtue of that
right, all the rights and duties of the old government had
devolved on us. In the second place, came the right by
the cession of the old government ; and in the third, the
right of possession, which we had held for about thirty
years. All these, according to the law of nations, enabled
us to legislate for the people of Canada, and bound us to
afford them ,an equitable government, and them to alle
giance. Setting aside, then, the doctrine of the rights of man,
which was never preached any where without mischief, the
House was bound to give to the people of Canada the best
government that their local situation and their connection
with this country would admit. How was this to be done ?
He could not refer to the experience of old governments,
for that was exploded by the academies of Paris and the
clubs of London, who saw too much by the light of their
new lantern to have recourse to any other. The great
examples to be considered, were the constitutions of
America, of France, and of Great Britain. To that of
America great attention, no doubt, was due, because it was
of importance that the people of Canada should have
nothing to envy in the constitution of a country so near to
their own. Situation and circumstances were first to be
considered. Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor.
They were not to imitate the examples of countries that
1 had disregarded circumstances, torn asunder the bonds of

I791']' FRENCH REVOLUTION. 7
society, and even the ties of nature. In the local situation,
was there any thing to give a preference to the American
constitution, or in the habits of the people? Part of the
province was inhabited chiefly by persons who had mi
grated from the United States. These men had fled from the
blessings of American government, and there was no danger
of their going back. There might be many causes of
emigration not connected with government, such as a more
fertile soil, or more genial climate ; but they had forsaken
all the advantages of a more fertile soil, and more southern
latitude, for the bleak and barren regions of Canada.
There was no danger of their being so much shocked by
the introduction of the British constitution, as to return.
The people of America had, he believed, formed a con*
stitution as well adapted to their circumstances as they
could. But, compared with the French, they had a certain
quantity of phlegm, of old English good nature, that fitted
them better for a republican government. They had also
a republican education : their former internal government
was republican, and the principles and vices of it were re
strained by the beneficence of an over-ruling monarchy in
this country. The formation of their constitution was pre
ceded by a long war, in the course of which, by military
discipline, they had learned order, submission to com
mand, and a regard for great men. They had learned
what — if it was allowable in so enlightened an age as the
present to allude to antiquity — a king of Sparta had said
was the great wisdom to be' learned in his country — to
command and to obey. They were trained to government
, by war, not by plots, murders, and assassinations. In the
next place, they had not the materials of monarchy or
aristocracy among them. They did not, however, set up
the absurdity, that the nation should govern the nation ;
that Prince Prettyman should govern Prince Prettyman;
but formed their government, as nearly as they could, ac
cording to the model of the British constitution. Yet he
did not say, " Give this constitution to a British colony,"
because, if the bare imitation of the British constitution
b 4

8 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May 6.
was so .good, why not give them the thing itself? as he
who professed to sing like a nightingale, was told by the
person to whom he offered his talents, that he could hear
the nightingale herself. Hence he thought the greater
number of inhabitants of that description, would have no
objection to the British constitution ; and the British in
habitants were probably not so much corrupted by the
clubs of London and the academies of Paris, as to think
any form of government preferable to an old one.
The ancient Canadians were next to be considered, and
being the most numerous, they were entitled to the greatest
attention. Were we to give them the French constitution
— a constitution founded on principles diametrically, op
posite to ours, that could not assimilate with it in a single
point ; as different from it as wisdom from folly, as vice
from virtue, as the most opposite extremes in nature — a
constitution founded on what was called the rights of man?
But let this constitution be examined by its practical effects
in the French West-India colonies. These, notwith
standing three disastrous wars, were most happy and
flourishing till they heard of the rights of man. As soon
as this system arrived among them, Pandora's box, replete
with every mortal evil, seemed to fly open, hell itself to
yawn, and every daemon of mischief to overspread the
face of the earth. Blacks rose against whites, whites
against blacks, and each against one another in murderous
hostility; subordination was destroyed, the bonds of society
torn asunder, and every man seemed to thirst for the blood
of his neighbour. -
" Black spirits and white,
Blue spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle" —
All was toil and trouble, discord and blood, from the mo
ment that this doctrine .was promulgated among them; and
he verily believed, that wherever the rights of man were
preached, such ever had been and ever woidd be the con
sequences, France, who had generously sent them tbe

I79i'j' FRENCH REVOLUTION. 9
precious gift of the rights of man, did not like this image
of herself reflected in her child, and sent out a body of
troops, well seasoned too with the rights of man, to restore
order and obedience. These troops, as soon as they ar
rived, instmicted as they were in the principle of govern
ment, felt themselves bound - to become parties in the
general rebellion, and, like most of their brethren at home,
began asserting their rights by cutting off the head of their
general. Mr. Burke read the late accounts from St. Do
mingo, delivered to the National Assembly, and added,
that by way of equivalent for this information, M. Barnave
announced the return of the members of the late Colonial
Assembly to the true principles of the constitution. ; The
members of an assembly no longer in existence had be
queathed their return to the principles of the constitution
as their last act and deed as a body, and this was an equi
valent for all the horrors occasioned by troops joining in a
rebellion which they were sent to quell ! Ought this ex
ample to induce us to send to our colonies a cargo of the
rights of man ? As soon would he send them a bale of
infected cotton from Marseilles.
If we had so little regard for any of our colonies, as to
give them that, for the sake of an experiment, which we
would not take to ourselves, — if we were for experimenium
in corpore vili, let us think how it would operate at home.
Let us consider the effects of the French constitution on
France, a constitution on which he looked not with appro
bation but with horror, as involving every principle to be
detested, and pregnant with every consequence to be
dreaded and abominated, and the use which they proposed
to make of it. They had told us themselves, and the
National Assembly had boasted, that they would establish a
fabric of government which time could not destroy, and
the latest posterity would admire. This boast had been
echoed by the clubs of this country, the Unitarians, the
revolution-society, the constitutional-society, and the club of
the 14th of July. The assembly had now continued nearly
two years in possession of. the absolute authority which

IO QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [May <S»
they usurped ; yet they did not appear to have advanced a
single step in settling any thing like a government ; but to
have contented themselves with enjoying the democratic
satisfaction of heaping every disgrace on fallen royalty.
The constitution must be expected now, if ever, to be nearly
complete; to try whether it was good in its effects, he
should have recourse to the last accounts of the assembly
itself. They had a king such as they wished, a king who
was no king ; over whom the Marquis de la Fayette, chief
gaoler of Paris, mounted guard. The royal prisoner
having wished to taste the freshness of the country air, had
obtained a day-rule to take a journey of about five miles from
Paris. But scarcely had he left the city, before his suspi
cious governors, recollecting that a temporary release from
confinement might afford him the means of escape, sent a
tumultuous rabble after him; who, surrounding his car
riage, commanded him to stop, while one of the grenadiers
belonging to his faithful and loyal body guard, presented a
bayonet to the breast of the fore-horse 
Mr. Baker here called Mr. Burke to order. He said he had
sat many years in parliament, and no man entertained a higher
opinion of the integrity and abilities of" the right honourable
gentleman than he did. His eloquence was great, and his
powers, on many occasions, had been irresistible: His abilities
might enable him to involve the House in unnecessary alter
cation ; this, perhaps, the right honourable gentleman might do
unwittingly for others, and not to serve any purpose of his
own ; he himself, perhaps, might be the unwilling instrument,
and might involve the country itself in a contest with another
nation. He could not, therefore, sit any longer without call
ing him to order. — Mr. Fox said, that he conceived his right
honourable friend could hardly be said to be out of order. It
seemed that this was a day of privilege, when any gentleman
might stand up, select his mark, and abuse any government he
pleased, whether it had any reference or not to the point in
question. Although nobody had said a word on the subject
of the French revolution, his right honourable friend had risen
up and abused that event. He might have treated the Gentoo
government, or that of China, or the government of Turkey,

I791'] FRENCH REVOLUTION. II
or the laws of Confucius, precisely in the same manner, and
with equal appositeness to the question before the House.
Every gentleman had a right that day to abuse the government
of every country as much as he pleased, and in as gross terms
as he thought proper, or any government, either antient or
modern, with his right honourable friend.
Mr. Burke said, that his right honourable friend had
accused him of abusing governments in very gross terms.
He conceived his right honourable friend meant to abuse
him in unqualified terms. He submitted to the committee
whether he was or was not in order. The question was,
whether the bill was then to be read paragraph by para
graph. It was a fair way in reasoning to see what expe
riments had been made in other countries. His right
honourable friend had said that nobody had the least idea
of borrowing any thing of the French revolution in the
bill. How did his right honourable friend know that?
If it was determined that he should be stopped, why was
he not stopped in the beginning, and before he had declared
the French revolution to be the work of folly and not of
wisdom, of vice and not of virtue ? If the committee per
mitted him 4,o go on, he should endeavour to meet the most
captious ideas of order. He declared he would not suffer
friend nor foe to come between his assertion and his argu
ment, and thereby to make him a railer.. His honourable
friend, who had called him to order, had said, that although
he did not do it to serve any purpose of his own, he was
probably," though unwittingly, the instrument of other peo
ple's folly. He declared, he had not brought forward this
business from any views of his own. If the House did not
suffer the affair to be discussed, if they shewed a reluct
ance to it 
Here Mr. St. John called Mr. Burke to order. He really
asked it as a favour of his right honourable friend, that he
would fix a day on which he would bring on the discussion of
the French constitution. He said he knew the English con
stitution ; he admired it ; he daily felt the blessings of it. He

12 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May 6
should be extremely sorry if any person in England should en
deavour to persuade any man, or body of men, to alter the
constitution of the country. If his right honourable friend felt
the mischiefs of the French constitution as applicable tp the
English constitution, let him appoint a day for that discussion.
Mr. Burke said, he meant to take the sense of the com
mittee, whether or not he was in order. He declared he
had not made any reflection, nor did he mean any, on any
one gentleman whatever. He was as fully convinced as he
could be, that no one gentleman in that House wanted to
alter the constitution of England. The reason why, on the
.first regular opportunity that presented itself, he had been
anxious to offer his reflections on the subject, was, because
it was, a matter of great public concern, and occasion called
for ^ his observations. As long as they held to the consti
tution he should think it his duty to act with them ; but
'he would not be the slave of any whim that might arise.
.On the contrary, he thought it his duty not to give any
countenance to certain doctrines which were supposed to
.exist in this country, and which were intended fundamen
tally to subvert the constitution. They ought to consider
.well what they were doing. [Here there was a loud cry
.of Order ! order ! and Go on ! Go on !] Mr. Burke
. said, there was such an enthusiasm for order that it was not
easy to go on, but he was going to state what the result of
the French constitution perfected was, and to shew that
we ought not to adopt the principles of it. He might be
.asked, why state it, when no man meant to alter the Eng
lish constitution ? Why raise animosities, where none ex
isted? and why endeavour to stir up passions where all
. was quiet before ? He confessed a thing might be orderly,
and yet that it might be very improper to discuss it. Was
there any reason for doing this, or did they think the
country was in danger? He declared he was ready to
answer that question. He was perfectly convinced that
there was no immediate danger. He believed the body of
the country was perfectly sound, although attempts were
made to take the constitution from their heads by absurd

I791'] FRENCH REVOLUTION.

13

theories. He firmly believed the English constitution was
enthroned'in the affections' of their bosoms ; that they che
rished it as a part of their nature ; and that it was as inse
parable from Englishmen, as their souls and their bodies.
Some ministers and others had, at times, apprehended
danger, even from a minority ; and history had shewn that
in this way a constitution had been overturned. The ques
tion, he said, would be, what had they to do with the
French constitution ? They had no right to have recourse
to the proceedings of the National Assembly, because the
government of this country had not yet recognized it. If
they had, they would silence him. If the French revo
lutionists were to mind their own affairs, and had shewn
no inclination to go abroad and to make proselytes in other
countries, Mr. Burke declared, that neither he nor anv
other member of the House, had any right to meddle with
them. If they were not as much disposed to gain prose
lytes as Lewis the Fourteenth had been to make conquests,
he should have thought it very improper and indiscreet to
have touched on the subject. He would quote the National
Assembly itself, and a correspondent of his at Paris, who
had declared 'that he appeared as the ambassador of the
whole human race. Mr. Burke said, that an objection
had been taken against arguing the business on the ground,
that although it might be in order, yet the discussion of it
might be attended with mischievous consequences. If some
good were not to be obtained by it, he admitted it might
be censurable to argue it, and prudence he owned was a
very useful quality, and a part of every man's duty to his
country. He hoped there was a very small minority in
deed out of doors, who were dissatisfied with the English
constitution, and who wished to put the country out of
love with it, by endeavouring to fill them with admiration
for another. He was asked, why he did not come forward
with this business as a distinct subject? Before he did
that, it would be proper first to know what support he was
likely to have. He must know how government stood
affected to the business, and also how the other side of the

14 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — « [May 6.
House liked it. He had sat six-and-twenty years in that
House, and had never called any man to order in his life.
This being a question of prudence, he thought it was the
part of a wise man and good citizen rather to discoun
tenance the measure, and to admonish those, who might
entertain such designs, of their danger, than to come im
mediately to the knife. He knew there was a levity na
tural to mankind ; but when they were alarmed, they might
recollect themselves, and correct those things which he
should be sorry if the law were to correct for them.
Here .there was a loud cry of " Chair ! chair !" and " Hear !
hear !" and Mr. Anstruther interrupted Mr. Burke and called
him to order.
Mr. Burke again submitted to the committee, whether
he was orderly or not. He desired to proceed no further,
without taking the sense of the House upon it. When he
spoke of a design that was formed in this country against
the constitution, he said, he spoke with all the simplicity
of a member of parliament. He complained that his
friends had not used him with candour. He said, if they
reluctantly forced him to take a regular day, he should
certainly do it, provided they gave him a regular parlia
mentary call to do it.
Mr. St. John called Mr. Burke to order a second time, and
said, he should think it necessary to take the opinion of the
House on his conduct, provided his right honourable friend
pursued his irregular observations.
Mr. Burke said, an attempt was now made, by one who
had been formerly his friend, to bring down upon him the
censure of the House ; it was unfortunate for him, some
times to be hunted by one party, and sometimes by another.
He considered himself to be unfairly treated by those gen
tlemen with whom he had been accustomed to act, but
from whom he now received extreme violence. He should,
he said, if the tumult of order abated, proceed in the
10

I791'] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 5
account he was going to give of the horrible and nefarious
consequences flowing from the French idea of the rights of
man. Here Lord Sheffield rose. He said he was convinced that
Mr. Burke was disorderly, and would move, " That disserta
tions on the French constitution, and to read a narrative of the
transactions in France, are not regular or orderly on the ques
tion that the clauses of the Quebec bill be read a second time,
paragraph by paragraph." Mr. Fox seconded the motion in a
speech of some length *. As soon as he sat down,
Mr. Burke commenced his reply, in a grave and go
verned tone of voice, observing that although he had him
self been called to order so many times, he had sat with
perfect composure, and had heard the most disorderly
speech that perhaps ever was delivered in that House. He
had not pursued the conduct of which an example had
been set him, but had heard, without the least inter
ruption, that speech out to the end, irregular and disor
derly as it had been. His words and his conduct through
out had been misrepresented, and a personal attack had
been made upon him from a quarter he never could have
expected, after a friendship and an intimacy of more than
two-and-twenty years; and not only his public conduct,
words, and writings, had been alluded to in the severest
terms, but confidential conversations and private opinions
had been brought forward, with a view of proving that he
acted inconsistently; and now a motion was introduced,
which hindered him, in a great measure, from having an
opportunity to ascertain, by facts, what he had stated as
opinions. He could not help thinking, that on the subject
of the French revolution, he had met with great unfairness
from the right honourable gentleman, who had accused him
of speaking rashly, without information, and unsupported
by facts to bear out his deductions, and that he had been

* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. IV. p.»i3-

1 6 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May «5.
treated in a manner that did little justice to his feelings,
and had little appearance of decency on the part of the
right honourable gentleman. However, when and as
often as this subject came to be discussed fairly, and facts
that he was in possession of were allowed to be brought
forward, he was ready to meet the right honourable gen
tleman hand to hand, and foot to foot upon it. Much had
been said against proceeding without good information.
He was ready to state his proofs for all the facts he had
alleged, to which public proof was at all applicable;
there were, indeed, a few particulars on which he did not
chuse to take issue ; because, in the present state of things
in the happy country of France, he might subject his re
lators to the fashionable summary justice of the lanterrie.
Under a very few reserves of that kind, he was ready to
enter into the discussion concerning the facts in that book,
whenever he pleased. He might possibly have fallen into
minute and trivial mistakes, but he was sure he was sub
stantially right in every substantial matter of fact. Of the
truth of the few matters on which he must decline offering
proof, he pledged himself, upon his honour, that he had
sufficient to satisfy a sober and considerate judgment.
But this, it seemed, was not the cause of quarrel ; it was
not because this authority or that example were mentioned ;
but he was accused of misrepresenting what the right
honourable gentleman had said on a former day, when he
owned he was not present, and which he disavowed in the
most positive terms. He denied any reference to that, or
to any other speech of the right honourable gentleman,
and contended that he had argued on this, as he wished to
do on every other occasion, in a candid, plain, and simple
manner. With regard to the subject which he meant to
introduce in the committee on the Quebec bill, the right
honourable gentleman was no stranger to the grounds he,
meant to go upon. He had opened .to him very particu
larly the plan of his speech ; how far he meant to go ; and
what limits he proposed to put upon himself. His reasons
for forming those opinions, he had mentioned in the fullest

r79I0 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 7
and most particular manner to his right honourable friend
at his own house, and had walked from thence to that
House with him, conversing all the time on the subject.
The right honourable gentleman had then entirely dis
agreed with him upon it, but they had no quarrel upon
it, and what the right honourable gentleman had said upon
the subject, he did not now wish to state. He could not,
however, be persuaded, from what the right honourable
gentleman had urged, to give up his purpose of stating to
the House, upon this occasion, his mind with regard to the
French constitution, and the facts which led him to think
as he did ; and certainly in this he thought there could b«
nothing disorderly, especially when so much had been
already introduced, not about the constitution of Quebec,
but about the American constitution. He had asserted,
that dangerous doctrines were encouraged in this country,
and that dreadful consequences might ensue from them,
which it was his sole wish and ambition to avert, by stre
nuously supporting the constitution of Great Britain as it
is, which, in his mind, could better be done by preventing
impending danger, than by any remedy that could after
wards be applied ; and he thought himself justified in say
ing this, because he did know that there were people in
this country avowedly endeavouring to disorder its consti
tution and government, and that in a very bold manner.
The practice now was, upon all occasions, to praise in
the highest strain, the French constitution ; some indeed
qualified their argument so far, by praising only tbe French
revolution ; but in that he could see no difference, as the
French constitution, if they had any, was the consequence
and effect of that revolution. So fond were gentlemen of
this, favourite topic, that whoever disapproved of the
anarchy and confusion that had taken place in France, or
could not foresee the benefits that were to arise out of it,
were stigmatised as enemies to liberty, and to the British
constitution, — charges that were false, unfounded, misap
plied, and every way unfair. Doctrines of this kind, he
thought, were extremely dangerous at all times, and much
yoi. iv. c

1 8 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — > [April 2 1.
more so, if they were to be sanctioned by so great a name
as that of the right honourable gentleman, who always put
whatever he said in the strongest and most forcible view in
which it could possibly appear. Thus, it had become
common to set the French constitution up against the Engr
lish constitution, upon all occasions, when the comparison,
could be introduced; and then, he insisted, if the former
was praised, the latter must be proportionably depreciated.
Here again he reverted to what he had been told had
passed on a former day, when the right honourable gentle*
man had taken fire when the French constitution was men-*
tioned, and had termed it the most glorious and stupendous,
fabric that ever was reared by human wisdom.
He still insisted, that the discussion of the Quebec bill
was a proper opportunity, after what had been said, for
entering, upon a true and minute comparison of the French
constitution with that of England, though the disorderly
rage for order that prevailed that day, seemed to be
adopted for the purpose of precluding every fair or proper
discussion. He had that day been accused, among other
breaches of friendship towards the right honourable gen
tleman, of having provoked this discussion, for the pur
pose of giving an advantage to the right honourable
gentleman's enemies — a principle of action that he utterly.
disclaimed, and never thought that any fair or candid man
could have brought against him. However, if any could
have supposed so before what they had heard from the op
posite side of the House, this day must convince them of
the contrary. In what he had repeatedly said and written
concerning the French revolution, he had been accused of
stating his opinions rashly and without foundation, a charge
which he was certainly anxious and able to refute^ if he
had been allowed ; and at the very time when he was going
to produce facts in support of what he had asserted, blended
partly with private information and respectable authorities,
though he perhaps might have gone greater lengths than he
wished, by disclosing communications which he ouoht to
conceal, yet being so particularly called upon, he would

s79'*1 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1Q
have done it ; at this very moment, he was stopped in the
most unfair, and (notwithstanding the rage for order) the
most disorderly manner ; and, but for this extraordinary
conduct, he would have proved that the issue of the French
constitution, or revolution, whichever they liked to call it,
could never serve the cause of liberty, but would inevitably
promote that of tyranny, oppression, injustice, anarchy,
and confusion.
After what had been said, nobody could impute to him
interested or personal motives for his conduct. Those with
whom he had been constantly in habits of friendship and
agreement, were all against him, and from the other side of
the House he was not likely to have much support ; yet, all
he did, was no more than his duty. It was a struggle, not
to support any man, or set of men, but a struggle to support
the British constitution, in doing which he had incurred
the displeasure of all about him, and those opposite to him ;
and, what was worst of all, he had induced the right hon
ourable gentleman to rip up the whole course and tenor
of his life, public and private, and that not without a con
siderable degree of asperity. His failings and imperfec
tions had been keenly exposed, and, in short, without the
chance of gaining one new friend, he had made enemies,
it appeared malignant enemies, of his old friends ; but, after
all, he esteemed his duty far beyond any friendship, any
fahie, or any other consideration whatever. He had stated
the danger which the British constitution was daily in, from
the doctrines and conduct of particular persons ; however,
as neither side of the House supported him in this, but as
both sides thought otherwise, he would not press that point
upon them now in any stronger way than he had done ;
but he would still aver, that no assistance which could
either be given or refused to him, would ever bias him
against the excellence of the British constitution ; nor lead
him to think well of the French revolution, or the con
stitution, as it was named, that was formed in its place.
The right honourable gentleman, in the speech he ha2
just made, had treated him in every sentence -with u»*
C 2

20 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [April 21*
common harshness. In the first place, after being fatigued
with skirmishes of order, which were wonderfully managed
by his light troops, the right honourable gentleman brought.
down the whole strength and heavy artillery of his own
judgment, eloquence, and abilities, upon him, to crush him
at once, by declaring a censure upon his whole life, con
duct, and opinions. Notwithstanding this great and serious,
though, on his part, unmerited attack and attempt to crush
him, he would not be dismayed ; he was not yet afraid to
state his sentiments in that House, or any where else, and
he would tell all the world that the constitution was in
danger. And here he must, in the most solemn manner,
express his disapprobation of what was notorious to the
country, end to the world. Were there not clubs in every
quarter, who met and voted resolutions of an alarming
tendency ? Did they not correspond, not only with each
other in every part of the kingdom, but with foreign coun
tries ? Did they not preach in their pulpits doctrines that
were dangerous, and celebrate at their anniversary meet
ings, proceedings incompatible with tbe spirit of the British
constitution ? Admitting these things to be true — and he
believed no one would say his assertions were ill-founded —
would they hesitate a moment to pronounce such trans
actions dangerous to the constitution, and extremely mis
chievous in their nature ? In addition to these, were not
infamous libels against the constitution circulated every
where at a considerable expence? The malignity with
which the right honourable gentleman had spoken of his
sentiments with regard to government, and the charge he
had brought against him of inconsistency in his political
life and opinions, were neither fair nor true; for he de
nied that he ever entertained any ideas of government dif
ferent from those which he now entertained, and had upon
many occasions stated. He laid it down as a maxim, that
monarchy was the basis of all good government, and the
nearer to monarchy any government approached, the more
perfect it was, and vice versa ,- and he certainly, in his
wildest moments, never had so far forgotten the nature of

I791*3 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 21
government, as to argue that we ought to wish for a con
stitution that we could alter at pleasure and change like a
dirty shirt. He was by no means anxious for a monarchy
with a dash of republicanism to correct it. But the French
constitution was the exact opposite of the English in every
thing, and nothing could be so dangerous as to set it up to
the view of the English, to mislead and debauch their minds.
In carrying on the attack against him, the right honourable
gentleman had been supported by a corps of well disciplined
troops, expert in their manoeuvres, and obedient to the word
of their commander *. [Mr. Grey here called Mr. Burke to
order, conceiving that it was disorderly to mention gentle
men in that way, and to ascribe improper motives to them.]
Mr. Burke explained, and went on. He said he had
already stated, that he believed those who entertained doc
trines which he dreaded as dangerous to the constitution,
to be a very small number indeed. But if the spirit was
suffered to ferment, who could tell what might happen ?
Let it be remembered, that there were 300,000 meriin arms
in France, who at a favourable moment might be ready
to assist that spirit ; and though there might be no imme
diate danger threatening the British constitution, yet a time
of scarcity and tumult might come, and in such a case it
was certainly safer and wiser to prevent the consequences,
than to remedy the evil. He recurred to the events of the
year 1780, and mentioned the dreadful consequences of
the riots occasioned by Lord George Gordon. Had he

* " It is probable that a little incident which happened in the course
of Mr. Burke's reply contributed to draw from him the expressions
considered as disorderly by Mr. Grey. In his speech Mr. Fox had inti
mated an intention of leaving the House, if the committee should suffer
Mr. Burke to proceed. While the latter gentleman was speaking, the
former, being perhaps now resolved on a rejoinder, accidentally went
towards the lobby for some trifling refreshment, with which he soon
after returned to his place. But in the mean time about twenty or
thirty gentlemen, of those most personally attached to him, mistaking
his departure for the execution of his declared intention, rose from
their seats, and followed him out of the House." Annual Register For
1791/p. 1*6. c 3

22 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [April 21.
at that time cautioned the House to beware of the Pro
testant Association, and other caballing meetings, he sup
posed his cautions would have been treated in the same
•way as those he offered now ; but he trusted no person
would wish again to see such destruction aud disorder — the
houses of some of the greatest and best men that ever
adorned the country, the Marquis of Rockingham and Sir
George Savile, beset by the mob, and obliged to be de
fended by armed force ; they surely could not desire again
to behold camps in all our squares, and garrisons in our
palaces. As to the present state of this country, the king
•was in full possession of all his functions, his ministers were
responsible for ail their conduct ; the country was blessed
with an opposition of strong force ; and the common people
were united with the gentlemen in a column of prudence.
From all which he argued, that the present was the mo
ment for crushing this diabolical spirit, and that the slightest
attempt to subvert the principles of the constitution, ought
to be watched with the greatest jealousy and circumspection.
When he spoke of our constitution as valuable, he said he
spoke of the whole complete, and not of any particular or
predominant part; and therefore he thought it wiser to be
prepared for any attack that might be made upon it, than to
trust that we could preserve it after the attack was made.
Having dwelt for some time upon this point, he next re
capitulated the political questions upon which he had dif
fered with the right honourable gentleman upon former
occasions, particularly the several attempts that had been
made for a parliamentary reform, the dissenters bill, and
the royal marriage act. There might, perhaps, be other
instances ; but in the course of their long acquaintance, no
one difference of 'opinion had ever before for a single mo
ment interrupted their friendship. It certainly was indis-
cretiop, at any period, but especially at his time of life, to
provoke enemies, or give Lis friends occasion to desert
him ; yet if his firm and steady adherence to the British
constitution placed him in such a dilemma, he would risk
all; and, as public duty and public prudence taught him,
*5

1791-] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 23
with his last words exclaim, " Fly from the French con
stitution." [Mr. Fox here whispered, that there was no loss
qfjriends.2 Mr. Burke said, Yes, there was a loss of friends
— he knew . the price of his conduct — he had done his
duty at the price of his friend — their friendship was at
an end. He had been told, that it was much better to
defend the English constitution, by praising its own excel
lence, than by abusing other constitutions, and certainly
the task of praising was much more pleasant than that of
abusing ; but he contended, that the only fair way of ar
guing the merits of any constitution, was by comparing it
with others, and he could not speak with propriety of the
excellence of the English constitution, without comparing
it with the deformity and injustice of the French, which
was the shade that brought its colours forward in the
brightest point of view ; and to omit to do it, would be like
presenting a picture without a shade.
Before he sat down, he earnestly warned the two right
honourable gentlemen who were the great rivals in that
House, that whether they hereafter moved in the political
hemisphere as two flaming meteors, or walked together like
brethren hand in hand, to preserve and cherish the British
constitution, to guard against innovation, and to save it
from the danger of those new theories. In a rapturous
apostrophe to the infinite and unspeakable power of the
Deity, who, with his arm, hurled a comet like a projectile
out of its course — who enabled it to endure the sun's heat,
and the pitchy darkness of the chilly night ; he said, that
to the Deity must be left the task of infinite perfection,
while to us poor, weak, incapable mortals, there was no
rule of conduct so safe as experience. He concluded with
moving an amendment, that all the words of the motion,
after " Dissertations on the French constitution," should
be omitted, and the following be inserted in their room —
" tending to shew that examples may be drawn therefrom ;
and to prove that they are insufficient for any good pur
poses, and that they lead to anarchy and confusion, and
are consequently unfit to be introduced into schemes of
c 4

24 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [April 2f„
government, and improper to be referred to on a motion
for reading the Quebec bill paragraph by paragraph."*
Mr. Fox rose to reply, but his mind was so much agitated,
and his heart so much affected by what had fallen from Mr.
Burke, that it was some minutes before he could proceed.
Tears trickled down his cheeks, and he strove in vain to give
utterance to feelings that dignified and exalted his nature.
The sensibility of every member present seemed to be uncom
monly excited upon the occasion. Being at length recovered
from the depression under which he had risen, Mr. Fox pro
ceeded to answer the assertions which had caused itf . When
he had concluded,
Mr. Burke again rose. He began with remarking, that
the tenderness wliich had been displayed in the beginning
and conclusion of Mr. Fox's speech, was quite obliterated
by what had occurred in the middle part. He regretted,
in a tone and manner of earnestness and fervency, the pro
ceedings of that evening, which he feared might long be
remembered by their enemies to the prejudice of both.
He was unfortunate to suffer the lash of Mr. Fox, but he
must encounter it. Under the mask of kindness a new
attack, he said, was made upon his character and conduct
in the most hostile manner, and his very jests brought up
in judgment against him. He did not think the careless
expressions and playful triflings of his unguarded hours

*> In the course of the above speech, Mr. Burke having said, that Mr.
Fox had of late years forborne that friendly intercourse with him, by
.visits, &c. which he had formerly preserved, the latter, in reply, said,
that the omission complained of was purely accidental ; that men, at
different periods, fell into different habits ; and without any intentional
neglect, it frequently happened that they did not see their friends so
often as they might have done in preceding years ; but at the same
time, that their friendship was as warm and as sincere as ever. Mr.
Burke likewise, while in one of the parts of it, where he was reasoning
With great warmth, checked himself, and addressing himself to the
chair, said, " I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of
truth and soberness."
f See Fox's Speeches, Vol. iv. p. a*o.

I791-] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2?
would have been recorded, mustered up in the form of
accusations, and not only have had-a serious meaning im
posed upon them, which they were never intended to bear,
but one totally inconsistent with any fair and candid inter
pretation. Could his most inveterate enemy have acted
more unkindly towards him? The event of that night's
debate, in which »he had been interrupted without being
suffered to explain, in which he had been accused without
being heard in his defence, made him at a loss to under
stand what was either party or friendship. His' argu
ments had been misrepresented. He had never affirmed
that the English, like every other constitution, might not
in some points be amended. He had never maintained,
that to praise our own constitution the best way was to
abuse all others. The tendency of all that had been said,
was to represent him as a wild inconsistent man, only for
attaching bad epithets to a bad subject.
With the view of shewing his inconsistency, allusions
had been made to his conduct respecting his economical
reform in 1780, the American war, and the questions of
1784 ; but none of these applied. If he thought, in 1780,
that the influence of the crown ought to be reduced to a
limited standard, and with which Mr. Fox himself, at the
time, seemed to be satisfied, it did not follow that the
French were right in reducing it with them to nothing.
He was favourable to the Americans, because he supposed
they were fighting, not to acquire absolute speculative li
berty, but to keep what they had under the English con
stitution; and as to his representation to the crown in
X84, ne looked back to it with self-gratification, still think-
ino- the same. Yet he knew not how to devise a legislative
cure for the wound then inflicted, as it came from the
¦people, who were induced to decide for the crown, against
the independence of their own representatives. The incon
sistency of his book with his former writings and speeches,
. had been insinuated and assumed, but he challenged the
proof by specific instances; and he also asserted, that there
was not one step: of his conduct, nor one syllable of hk

26 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [April 21.
book, contrary to the principles of those men with whom
our glorious revolution originated, and to whose principles,
as a Whig, he declared an inviolable attachment. He
was an old man, and seeing what was attempted to be in
troduced instead of the ancient temple of our constitution,
could weep over the foundation of the new.
He again stated, still more particularly, the endeavours
used in this country to supplant our own by the introduc
tion of the new French constitution ; but he did not believe
Mr. Fox at present had that wish, and he did believe him
to have delivered his opinions abstractedly from any re
ference to this country : yet their effect might be different
on those who heard them, and still more on others through
misapprehension or misrepresentations. He replied to the
grounds on which Mr. Fox explained his panegyric. The
lesson to kings, he was afraid, would be of another kind.
He had heard Mr. Fox own the King of France to be the
best intentioned sovereign in Europe. His good nature
and love of his people had ruined him. He had conceded
every thing, till he was now in a jail. The example of the
confusions, on the other hand, would have very little ope
ration, when it was mentioned with tardy and qualified
censure, while the praises of the revolution were trumpeted
with the loudest blasts through the nation. He observed,
that Mr. Fox himself had termed the new French system
a most stupendous and glorious fabric of human integrity.
He had really conceived, that the right honourable gentle
man possessed a better taste in architecture, than to bestow
so magnificent an epithet upon a building composed of un-
tempered mortar. He considered it as the work of Goths
and Vandals, where every thing was disjointed and inverted.
It had been said that he did not love tests; yet, if his
intimacy should be renewed with the right honourable
gentleman, he might explain to him, that it was necessary
that some evil should be suffered in order to obtain a greater
good. In France, it had been asserted by the right
honourable gentleman, that the largest religious toleration
prevailed. It would be judged of what nature that tole-

* 79 X *3 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 27
ration was, when it was understood that there the most
cruel tests were imposed. Nay, tests were imposed for the
most inhuman of all purposes — in order to deprive those
of whom they were exacted of their bread. The treat
ment of the Nuns was too shocking almost to be mentioned.
These wretched girls, who could only be animated by the
most exalted rehgious enthusiasm, were engaged in the
most painful office of humanity, in the most sacred duty of
piety, visiting and attending the hospitals. Yet these
had been dragged into the streets ; these had been scourged
by the sovereigns of the French nation, because the priest,
from whom they had received the sacrament, had not
submitted to the test. And this proceeding had passed not
only unpunished, but uncensured. Yet, in the country in
which such proceedings had happened, the largest religious
toleration had been said to subsist. The present state of
France was ten times worse than a tyranny. The new
constitution was said to be an experiment; but the asser
tion was not true. It had already been tried, and had been
found to be only productive of evils. They would go on
from tyranny to tyranny, from oppression to oppression,
till at last the whole system would terminate in the destruc
tion of that miserable and deluded people. He said that
his opinion of the revolution in America did not at all
militate with his opinion of the revolution of France. In
that instance, he considered that the people had some
reason for the conduct which they pursued.
Mr. Burke said, that he was sorry for the occurrence of
that day. Sufficient for the day was the evil thereof. Yet if
the good were to many, he would willingly take the evil to
himself. He sincerely hoped that no member of that
House would ever barter the constitution of this country,
the eternal jewel of their souls, for a wild and visionary
system, which could only lead to confusion and disorder.
With regard to pretences of friendship, he must own that
he did not like them, where his character and public con
duct, as in the present instance, had been so materially
attacked and injured. The French principles in thia

28 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May I !•
country, he had been told, would come to some head. It
would then be perceived what were their consequences.
Several of the gentlemen present were young enough to
. see a change, and enterprising enough to act a part in the
events that might arise. It would then be seen whether
they would be borne on the top, or encumbered in the
gravel. In going along with the current, they would
most certainly be forced to execute and approve many
things very contrary to their own nature and character.
Mr. Pitt, after having made some remarks upon the singular
situation in which the House then stood with respect to the
question before it ; and having declared his own opinion to be,
that Mr. Burke had not been, even in the first instance, at all
out of order, suggested the propriety of withdrawing the motion
which had been made by Lord Sheffield. This being agreed to,
the chairman reported progress, and asked leave to sit again.

May ii.
On the nth of May, the clauses of the bill were debated.
Nothing very material occurred till the clause relating to the
legislative council was read, when Mr. Fox rose to object to it.
He took this opportunity of entering into a declaration of his
political opinions*. His speech seemed to give great satis
faction to Mr. Pitt, who remarked, however, that a different
impression respecting Mr. Fox's sentiments had been made both
in that house and abroad, by the debate of the former evening.
Believing him now to be truly sincere, he congratulated himself,
that he might expect to have, he might be sure of having, the
aid of such eloquence and talents, to resist any attempt at any
time to impair or destroy the constitution of this country.
Mr. Burke rose. He said he had served the House and
the country in one capacity or other for twenty-six years,
five and twenty of which had been spent within those
walls. He had, he said, wasted so large a portion of his

* See Fox's Speeches, vol. iv. p. »zS.

J791'] FRENCH REVOLUTION. , , 29
life to a precious purpose, if that House should at last
countenance a most insidious design to ruin him in repu
tation, and crown his age with infamy. For the best part
of the time, he had been a very laborious and assiduous,
though a very unimportant servant of the public. He had
not, he declared, been treated with friendship ; but if he
was separated from his party, if sentence of banishment
had been pronounced against him*, he hoped to meet a
fair, open hostility, to which he would oppose himself in a
firm, manly way, for the very short period that he should
continue a member of that House. He felt deeply wounded,
but jam certus eundi, carpebat somnus. With regard to the
friendly censures that a right honourable gentleman had
cast on him, he felt the difficulty that he had experienced
the other night, in a peculiar degree at that moment ;
because if he should reply to what he had heard from the
right honourable gentleman near him, on his idea of a
legislative council for Canada, and should say that his
sentiments were too democratical, he should then be liable
to be pointed out as invidiously designing to prevent the
right honourable gentleman's preferment, by describing
him as unworthy of his monarch's favour ; and if, on the
other hand, in observing upon the different suggestions of
the chancellor of the exchequer over the way, he should
state that they appeared to him to be too favourable to
monarchy, then he might be said to have charged that
right honourable gentleman with holding principles of
despotism, which would render him liable to the disfavour
of that House, and of the crown, both of whom he ought

* See Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, Burke's Works,
Vol. vi. p. 74. The following paragraph appeared in the Morning
Chronicle of the 12th of May 1791: — " The great and firm body of
the Whigs of England, true to their principles, have decided on the
dispute between Mr. Fox and Mr Burke; and the former is declared to
have maintained the pure doctrines by which they are bound together,
and upon which they have invariably acted. The consequence is, that,
Mr. Burke retires from parliament."

.30 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL — [May 1 1-
to honour and respect. Mr. Burke said farther, that in
consequence of the turn the conversation between a right
honourable gentleman and himself had taken the other
night, he had heard that there was an intention to make
or take an occasion of imputing whatever he might say, to
a base premeditated artifice on his part, to make the right
honourable gentleman pass for a republican, in order that
he might sooner get into power himself. He had found
this design conveyed to him as a secret, but the very next
day a plot ! a plot ! was cried out in one of the common
newspapers, which was wholly ascribed to him. Mr. Burke
here read from a daily paper, an intimation that an ac
count of such a plot had been received by the editor, but
that for prudential reasons, he did not choose to print it.
[Mr. M. A. Taylor rose to call Mr. Burke to order, but wa£
prevented by the gentlemen who sat next him.]
Mr. Burke resumed his argument, and contended that
he had a right to be heard, while he endeavoured to clear
himself from the foul conduct that had been imputed to
him. Would the House, he asked, think he was a fit man
to sit there while under the imputation he had described ?
If he had wished to attack the right honourable gentleman
for his opinions respecting what had happened in France,
he was free to do it any day he chose ; as the right honour-t
able gentleman had sufficiently often avowed those opinions
in that House. Finding himself, without any cause, sepa
rated and excluded from his party, it was a loss which he
severely felt ; but while he felt it like a man, he would bear
it like a man. He denied that he had ever imputed de»
mocratic principles to the right honourable gentleman with
a view to hurt him in the mind of his sovereign, and if he
had pushed him to a declaration of his principles, the
speech of the right honourable gentleman that day would
prove whether he was likely to have attained his end, if he
had wished to draw from him a declaration of democratic
principles. In the course of the conversation the other
evening, the right honourable gentleman had said, that hp

I791*] FRENCH REVOLUTION. -JT,
bad written a book which he had thought it seasonable and
proper for him to go about and reprobate in all its essential
parts and principles [A cry of No ! no ! from the oppo^
sition benches.] He rose therefore to justify himself in the
face of that House and of his country, and in the face of
an adversary the most able, eloquent, and powerful that
ever was encountered, and (he was sorry to perceive) the
most willing to rake up the whole of his opinions and con
duct, in order to prove that they had been abandoned by
him with the most shameless inconsistency. He avowed
the book and all it contained. He said he had written it,
in order to counteract the machinations of one of the most
desperate and most malignant factions that ever existed in
any age or country. He would still oppose the mischievous
principles of such a faction, though he was unfortunate
enough to stand alone, unprotected, supported with no
great connexions, with no great abilities, and with no great
fortune. And thus was he delivered over to infamy at the
end of a long life, just like the Dervise in the fable, who,
after living till ninety in the supposed practice of every'
virtue, was tempted at last to the commission of a single
error, when the devil spat in his face as a reward for all hist
actions ! In order to support monarchy, had' he said, the '
other evening, that it was right to abuse every republican
government that ever existed ? Had he abused America,
or Athens, or Rome, or Sparta? But every thing had
been remembered that he had ever said or written, in order
to render it the ground of censure and of abuse. He de
clared he could not caution the House too much against
what had passed in France, but he had not called that
country a republic ; no, it was an anomaly in government,
he knew not by what name to call it, nor in what terms to
describe it :

A shape,

Jf shape it might be called, that shape had none
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb ;
Or substance might be call'd that shadow seera'd,

32 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL. [May I I-
For each seem'd either ; black it stood as night,
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,
And shook a dreadful dart ; what seem'd his head,
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
A cry of hell-hounds never ceasing bark
With wide Cerberian mouths full loud, and rung
A hideous peal."
It was, he added, " A shapeless monster, born of hell and
chaos." After having repeated these emphatical lines, Mr.
Burke observed, that the right honourable gentleman's
words had gone deep to his heart, when he had told him,
" he knew how to draw a bill of indictment against a whole
people." He knew not how to draw any such bill of in
dictment; but he would tell the House who could, — the
National Assembly of France, who had drawn a bill of
indictment against the people of St. Domingo. He could
draw a bill of indictment against murder, against treason,
against felony, or he could draw such a bill against op
pression, tyranny and corruption, but not a bill of indict
ment against a whole people.
After a great deal of remark and complaint on the
ground of matter personal to himself, Mr. Burke at length
came to consider the subject of the clause before the
House. He said that the chancellor of the exchequer had
spoken his sentiments upon the subject more eloquently
than he could do. In a monarchy the aristocracy must
ever be nearer to the crown than to the democracy, be
cause it originated in the crown as the fountain of honour ;
but in those governments which partook not of any thino-
monarchical, the aristocracy there necessarily sprang out of
the democracy. In our own constitution undoubtedly, as
the right honourable gentleman had well defined it, our
aristocracy was nearer to the crown than the people, be
cause it reflected the honours of the sovereign. He must
agree that a king of England was the root of the constitu
tion, whereas in France, he was only, as he had been made
to state himself, the first minister. A king of England

I79I0 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33
might, if he chose it, select any persons, however improper
objects, for honours ; but he did not do so, because it would,
as he well knew, bring, his crown into contempt; and
therefore he exercised his prerogative in that respect cau
tiously and prudently. But could the King of France create
nobility? He could not; because he was himself degraded,
and a prisoner ; his orders, therefore, would not be accom
panied by respect, which ought ever to be the first attend
ant on nobility. Mr. Burke went much at large into the
constitution of the House of Lords, declaring that the
honour of a duke, a marquis, an earl or a viscount, were
severally familiar to us; we knew the nature and origin of
those honours. With us the crown was the fountain of
honour ; in other constitutions, the people said they them
selves were. He spoke of the power of the crown to create
a new order, as it had done in Ireland, and, he said, let
the title given to the hereditary nobility in Canada be
what it might, there could be no manner of doubt that
those whom the king designed to honour would have more
or less respect. Mr. Burke took notice of the suggestion
of Mr. Fox, of having the council elective, which he
owned he had put forcibly, because that right honourable
gentleman never said any thing that was foolish ; but he
had gone beyond his point; it was true, we could not
have in Canada ancient hereditary nobility as we had in
this country, because we could not make that a hundred
years old that was made but yesterday ; but an elective
council would clearly be a democratical council.
He next spoke much at length of the various sorts of
governments that had obtained in different colonies. In
some there were councils; others, again, had been a govern
ment by charter, consisting of a governor and a company,
in which case the settlement was governed by the governor
and freemen. He mentioned in particular the Mississippi
scheme, which had been of that nature. He spoke of
mere wealth alone as not a good ground for aristocracy,
though wealth, he admitted, was a material thing in it.
Undoubtedly, there might be titles, and baronetage he
vol. iv. »

34 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May. I I.
thought not an unfit one, as it was a species of hereditary
honour, though not so exalted as the peerage ; but in all
these things, Mr. Burke said, they must resort to ex
perience. He spoke of the various constitutions that had
prevailed in our American colonies before we lost them ;
the one which had approached nearest to perfection, was
that of Massachusets; and yet the province rebelled; and
so did the others, in which different forms of government
prevailed. He did not therefore attribute the loss of our
colonies to any one form of constitution- for them; that
form was undoubtedly the best under which they were the
most flourishing and happy. He pointedly condemned
what he called a close aristocracy, which he said would
prove a dead weight on any government, counteracting and
ultimately clogging its action. He recommended above all
things an open aristocracy, and said, he had always thought
the power of the crown to make an admiral who had dis
tinguished himself a peer, and occasionally to decorate the
old nobility by the infusion of new ones on account of
their merit and their talents, one of the first and most ex
cellent principles of the British constitution.
Having spoken much at large on the clause before
the committee, Mr. Burke recurred to his own situation.
The House he hoped would not consider him as a bad
man, although he had been excommunicated by his party,
and was too old to seek another. If his book stood an ob
ject of odium, he might possibly belong to a faction, but
not to a party, and consequently could be of less use to
his country. He defined the distinction between a party
and a faction. A party, he had ever understood to mean
a set of men, bound and united by principles to act to
gether in watching over the conduct of ministers, and
taking care that nothing should be done that was likely to
prove injurious to the constitution ; whereas a faction did
not draw together upon any known principles, but was
devoid of all principle of union and common interest. He
said, that his making use of the words " disciplined troops"
had been deemed uncivil, whereas he meant no incivility

I79I0 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3 J
by them. Discipline he had ever considered as one neces
sary quality of a party, and he trusted he had ever shewn
himself reasonably a friend to discipline, which was that
sort of connexion which made men act together as a com
pact body, having one common object, and professing to
feel it in common with their leader. In that sense he had
meant the word discipline the other evening, and he trusted
the gentlemen of the party that had excluded him, would
with their usual fairness continue to act against their com
mon adversaries, on the common principles of public good,
and not direct their weapons against a poor unfortunate
man who had been twenty-six years exerting his best en
deavours to serve his country.
He gave an account of his first entrance into parlia
ment, declaring, that he remembered the first ques
tion he ever brought forward, he lost; the next he at
tempted, was to oppose the taking off the duty of one shilling
from the land-tax, being of opinion, perhaps weakly, that it
was necessary to keep up the taxes, although it was a
period of peace, in order the sooner to reduce the debt of
the country ; and nothing could prevail on him to abandon
his purpose. He had mentioned, at the time, that he had
laid his political principles very low, in order that they
might stick by him, and he by them, all his life. He had
done so, and he had seen, on one occasion, two great
parties join against him, who had never acted together
before — Mr. Grenville's party, and the late Lord Rocking
ham's. He had then persisted, with the same pertinacity
with which he now supported his unfortunate opinions on
the French revolution. He complained of being obliged
to stand upon his defence by that honourable gentleman
who, when a young man, in the vigour of his abilities, at
the age of fourteen years, had been brought to him, and
evinced the most promising talents, which he had used his
best endeavours to cultivate ; and this man, who had arrived
at the maturity of being the most brilliant and powerful
debater that ever existed, had described him as having de
serted and abandoned every one of his principles !
d 2

36 QUEBEC GOVERNMENT BILL  [May II.
He said, that at a time when there was not a plot indeed,
but open and avowed attempts were made by clubs and
others, to circulate pamphlets and disseminate doctrines
subversive of the prerogative, and therefore dangerous to
the constitution, it was unwarrantable for any good subject
to be day after day holding out a parade of democracy, 111
order to irritate a mob against the crown. It should not,
and it ought not to be. The perpetually making violent
and flaming panegyrics on the subject of what had happened
in France, he condemned as dangerous ; and he now sup
ported the monarchy, not that he thought it better than
the aristocracy or the democracy, but because it was at
tacked and endeavoured to be run down. In like manner
when Lord George Gordon acted as a firebrand, and
caused the proud city of London to bow its head to its very
base, if they had joined in the cry against popery, was it
not clear that they would have done infinite mischief? And
yet he believed neither the right honourable gentleman
nor himself were .suspected of a violent attachment to po
pery ; but was that the hour to stand up for protestantism ?
If they had been rash enough to have done so, they must
have known that they would have clapped a firebrand to
the pile ; and that not only the metropolis, but all England
would have been in a blaze. Let them take warning by
that event Let them recollect, that the mere suggestion
that forty thousand persons could not assemble in a room
— for no room was large enough to hold them — which ap
peared ridiculous and contemptible at first, had produced
in one day such terror and alarm, that all ranks of people
felt indescribable apprehension, and knew not whither to
fly for safety. Just so there was at present a run against
monarchy, which was said to be the child of his wild un-
governed imagination. Let them not rest securely on such
a conception, but take care in time to prevent the possible
effects. In saying what he had upon the subject, he was
conscious he had done his duty; and he hoped he had in
some measure averted what otherwise might have effected
the downfall of the British constitution. That being

I791*] FRENCH REVOLUTION. 37
the case, separate and unsupported as he was, let not
the party who had excommunicated him imagine that
he was deprived of consolation — although all was solitude
without, there was sunshine and company enough within.
Mr. Fox said, in reply, that however the right honourable
gentleman might be unkind enough to impute democra tical or
republican notions to him, he could assure him that his sen
timents, whether on religion or any other topic, always made
a due impression on his mind. He said, that he did not like
bestowing fulsome and unnecessary praises on the English con
stitution ; they reminded him of a passage in one of our best
poet's best plays ; he meant, he said, King Lear ; who asks his
three "daughters, how much they love him ? Goneril and Regan
answer him in terms of the most extravagant and studied pa
negyric ; but when he puts the same question to Cordelia, she
answers just as he would answer the same sort of question, if it
were put to him respecting the constitution, when he should
say, he loved the constitution of Great Britain just as much as
a subject of Great Britain ought to love a government under
which he enjoyed such blessings. They were all, Mr. Fox
said, bound to love a constitution under which they lived hap
pily, and whenever it should really be attacked, all he should
say was, that he would not be found the most inactive in its
defence. With regard to the right honourable gentleman's de
claration, that he was separated from the party, if he was so
separated, it must be by his own choice ; and if he should repent
that separation, he might be assured his friends would ever be
ready to receive him, to respect him, and to. love him, as here
tofore. Mr. Burke rose in reply, and began with retorting on
Mr. Fox for what he had said respecting the eulogies on
the constitution. He said, they were at least as useful as
that right honourable gentleman's almost daily professions,
of admiration of the revolution in France. As the right
honourable gentleman had thought proper to appeal to a
passage from one poet in praise of the constitutiq/i, he
would take the liberty of remembering another line from
another poet — Qui nan defendit, alio culpante. He re-
D 3

38 IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. [May 12.
ferred to the books that were in circulation, and said, there
was serious cause for alarm, when associations publicly
avowed doctrines tending to alienate the minds of all who
read them from the constitution of their country, especially
at a time when it was notorious that it was systematically
run down abroad, and declaimed against as the worst in
existence. He again reminded the committee, from how
trivial a commencement Lord George Gordon's riots be
gan, in consequence of wliich London had bowed its head
so low. He said, he had never desired any books to be
prosecuted, but the right honourable gentleman near him
had done so more than once. He took notice of what had
been said, that if he would repent, he would be received.
He stood, he said, a man publicly disgraced by his party,
and therefore the right honourable gentleman ought not to
receive him. He declared he had gone through his youth
without encountering any party disgrace ; and though he
had then in his age been so unfortunate as to meet it, he
did not solicit the right honourable gentleman's friendship,
nor that of any man, either on one side of the House or
the other.
Thus ended a friendship which had lasted for more than the
fourth part of a century !

Imprisonment for Debt.
May 12.

'T'HIS day Mr. Grey moved, " That a committee be ap
pointed to inquire into the practice and effects of imprison
ment for debt."
Mr. Burke seconded the motion. The public, he said
were under many obligations to the honourable gentleman

I791'] IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. 39
who had undertaken to bring forward so great, so labo
rious, and so delicate a business. It would be necessary
for him, in this case, Mr. Burke said, to sift the false pre
tences of persons, and to make a nice discrimination be
tween what was real and what was affected. He never
had an opportunity of bringing forward this subject himself,
though he was always ready to give his best assistance to
those, of greater weight, by whom it was undertaken.
The motion furnished an awful monument of the difficulty
of giving a definition of law. It, had been said ,that it was a
state of fiberty in society, to be governed by law. They had,
Mr. Burke said, not only their prisons full, but they had
a commonwealth of debtors, a commonwealth of prisoners ;
a commonwealth as numerous as many that had existed
in ancient history. These prisoners were not distinguished
from slaves, but actually were slaves, existing in a country
valuing itself on its laws, and boasting its freedom, but in
which they endured a greater portion of slavery than ever
had been exercised by the most despotic powers. It cer
tainly was a blemish in our law, that it produced all the
effects of the most horrible tyranny, and likewise all the
effects of the most abject slavery. It was a paradox
strange and irreconcilable. One thing he wished to
suggest, which was, that it was not to be held, that this
business was in all cases connected with commerce. The
contracting of debts often happened among the lower classes
of men in the common transactions of life, and were
deemed ciyil suits, founded on false credit; commerce was
too wise and too cautious to act upon such a fallacious prin
ciple ; in cases of commerce, the creditor only wished to
secure the cessio bonorum. Not only the trading part of
the community, therefore, but every man in the kingdom
was deeply interested in the inquiry. If the system of laws
on the subject was a wrong one, it affected every body. If
any alteration was introduced with regard to the imprison
ment of insolvent debtors, it would be said, perhaps, that
such alteration would affect public credit. He denied it.
It would make men cautious, and would tend to protect
d 4

4° IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. [May 12.
them. There was no such thing, Mr. Burke said, as a
corps of debtors ; there was no such thing as a corps of
creditors. Debts were contracted by the rash and incon
siderate credit that was given. The power of a creditor to
seize the person of his debtor was like a person grasping at
real money, and finding his hand full of assignats. He
hoped the subject would be examined on the just and fair
foundation of public credit ; he hoped it would be examined
on the fair principles of debtor and creditor. Debtor and
creditor should never, he said, be separated ; they were
one person, and what was for the benefit of the one, was
evidently for the advantage of the other. Besides, Mr.
Burke observed, where they had one man in jail, they had
two or three that were in daily terror of imprisonment. If
there were ten thousand people in prison, there were at
least thirty thousand shut out from the means of getting
their bread, and who either were in the prison of the mind,
or in the prison of terror. How many persons were there,
who existed in the prison of flight, and in hiding places;
who were a loss to society, and a dead weight on the
community ! Thirty thousand at least were in that pre
dicament. This, therefore, was a subject highly worthy
of the wisdom and humanity of the House, and also highly
honourable to the young gentleman, of very great abilities,
who had taken it up, and had made the present motion.
Mr. Burke concluded with observing, that it was a dis
grace to the law of this country, to say that it had im
prisoned more than the most absolute power had done in
any other country.
The motion was agreed to nem. con.

i7920 parliamentary reform. 41
Parliamentary Reform.
April 30. 1792.
TN the spring of the year 1792, an association was formed among
several persons of consequence in and out of parliament ;
the purpose of which was to obtain a reform in the representa
tion of the people. The appellation by which they designated
themselves was, " The Friends of the People." It soon counted
among its members some of the most conspicuous characters,
among the merchants and literary men, throughout the kingdom.
They published their sentiments and resolutions with great spirit
and freedom ; and determined in the ensuing session to make
a formal application to parliament. Conformably to the plan
proposed, Mr. Grey gave notice, this day, that he intended in
the following session to carry into execution the design pro
posed by the society. He founded its propriety on the opinion
of the leading men in the House. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, he
said, had both declared themselves unequivocally on this sub
ject, and the majority .of the nation was of the same opinion.
The critical state of the times had induced those who saw the
necessity of obviating the probable consequences of the general
discontents throughout the great body of the people, to frame
such a system of representation as might, by its equitableness,
put an end to their incessant complaints of being what they
justly styled misrepresented, and made the instruments of
ministerial projects, in which their interests were sacrificed to
the ambitious views of their superiors. — This declaration called
up Mr. Pitt, who inveighed with uncommon warmth against the
designs of the society. This was not a time, he said, for
moving questions that involved the peace and safety of the na
tion, and endangered the constitution of the kingdom. He was
no enemy to a reform obtained peaceably by a general concur
rence ; but he thought the present time highly improper, and
decidedly inimical to such an attempt. He had, it was true, at
the conclusion of the American war, thought a reform imme
diately necessary to quiet the clamours and confusion that had
asisen from the dread of an approaching bankruptcy, and ta

42 parliamentary reform. [April 30.
unite both parliament and people in the most cordial endeavours
to prevent so dreadful an evil. But however he might have
been once inclined to promote schemes of reform, experience
had taught him the danger of altering the established form of
government. — Mr- Fox said, he had been long convinced that
the interest of the nation required a reform of parliament. The
frequent opposition of sentiments between the people and their
representatives proved that the nation was not fairly repre
sented ; otherwise there would seldom, if ever, exist such ex
treme variances between them. The society entitled the Friends
of the People, consisted of as respectable individuals as any
that supported the ministry. True, there were among the
former some violent republicans ; but there were among the
ministerialists, what was still worse, decided adherents to arbi
trary power. These were the true authors of innovations, as
they termed them ; as if the constitution of this country were
not erected upon perpetual changes of bad for good, and of
good for better. But improvements were not to be confounded
with innovations ; the meaning of which word was always odious,
and conveyed an idea of alterations for the worse.
Mr. Burke began by saying, that there were few subjects
indeed, which would have induced him to come down, and
deliver his opinions in that House, but this was certainly
one which he thought he was in duty bound not to pass
over in silence. He was now an old man, and there was
still a stronger reason for his not engaging in the dis
cussion of public questions — he had received frem his
best friends the best advice that they could have given to
him ; it was, to retire. His friends judged right, and he
certainly thought himself unfit for business, when he re
collected that he had lost such friends, as any man must
have been proud to associate with, and with whom he had
so long acted with the most fervent and mutual sincerity.
That being the case, the advice and the conduct of his
friends, as well as twenty-seven years' experience in par
liament, was a warning for him how to guide his future
proceedings in that House, or in other words, a warning
to retire, considering himself at the same time as one who
had done his duty, and had become old and infirm in the

1 792.] parliamentary reform. 43
service of his country. Yet, while he left the more active
concerns of life to the conduct of men more vigorous in
years and in understanding, he still would put in his
claim, as a friend to the country, to use his utmost exer
tions in its service, whenever an attack was made upon the
constitution, and to defend its real interests against every
attempt to overturn it. As invalids, therefore, were al
ways put upon garrison duty, and though not the first for
foreign service, were those who ought first to move when
the garrison was attacked, it became his duty now to come
forward ; they ought especially to be foremost in the de
fence, because if they were worsted, they left behind them
those who were possessed of more strength and greater
power to defend it effectually.
In this view, he looked Upon the present notice, which,
taking it merely as a notice, he considered to be fraught
with mischievous consequences ; not that he meant to ascribe
any wrong motives or intentions to those who brought it
forward, because he knew well that there were amongst
-them many for whom he had the highest respect, and most
sincere friendship ; but, he must contend, that though
their motives might be as pure and patriotic as could be,
still, by acting upon an erroneous system, the consequences
might be dangerous. He was happy to see, and to con
gratulate the House and the country upon one thing, and
that was, that two very great, and deservedly very great men,
both in the opinion of that House and of the country, gave
similar opinions, and entertained similar sentiments upon
this subject, with this only difference, that the right ho
nourable gentleman opposite to him had stated his belief
that no such grievances existed as ought to induce the
House to agree to this idea of reform, and the other right
honourable gentleman thought that if those grievances did
exist, the friends to a reform had not proposed or held
forth any thing like a remedy for them, because he was
convinced that a parliamentary reform would not be an
effectual remedy, if such grievances existed. He did not
think that the word reform ought to carry that weight with

44 parliamentary reform. [April 30.
it which some gentlemen seemed to allow. If a reform
was necessary, the way to prove that it ought to be agreed
to was first by stating the grievance, and then pointing out
the specific remedy. This, however, had not been done
in the present case. The friends to this plan of reform
seemed to address the people in the same manner, as if a
physician were to say to a patient, " You labour under a
terrible disease, and must take any and every remedy we
prescribe for you ; whether it be opium, an emetic, a blist
ering plaster, or all together, you must take them, however
discordant in effects, because, depend upon it, you are in
such a desperate situation that you must do it." Similar was
the present mode of telling the people, " You are unhappy,
ought to be discontented, and call for a reform, though
we do not even pretend to specify or shew what reform is
proper, or such as might be of any service to you." Mr.
Burke said, he considered giving a vote in that House
upon any subject as very different to joining an association
for making converts to a cause by holding out to the
people the necessity of complaining, when they themselves
felt no cause for complaint. The present reformers ap
peared in the light of quacks, rather than regular physi
cians; they held out preventives when no disease was
dreaded, and wished to cram them down the throats of
the people, and make them complain, when they were not
sensible of grievances, and when the public voice was com
pletely different from what those friends to reformation stated
it to be. He would ask, if the sense of the people had been
consulted, whether this association would have been formed ?
Were there any petitions from the people stating their
grievances ? If this was not the case, was it good and con
stitutional doctrine to hold out to them, that the House of
Commons was in itself a grievance ? that there was in its
formation something intrinsically corrupt? Let democracy
get to its greatest extent in this country, or in that House,
still it would be found that there were, and would continue
to be, great men in that Flouse upon different sides of any
question, that must and ought to have influence. He re-

I792,l parliamentary reform. 45
gretted being obliged to notice what a right honourable
friend of his (Mr. Fox) had said, relative to the proceed
ings in the year 1784; their mischievous tendency he al
lowed as much as the right honourable gentleman ; but what
had arisen from the conduct of the different societies and
clubs that associated in 1780, in various parts of the king
dom ? These societies, in associating, were obliged to admit
amongst their numbers men of very different principles,
and reformers of various denominations ; the consequence
was, that no system could be thought of that suited the
views of all, of course many were dissatisfied, and in the
end they dropt every idea of their own reform. This
failure, however, he could not ascribe to the right ho
nourable gentleman opposite (Mr. Pitt), who did every
thing he could to bring about a reform, and seemed as
eager and zealous to effect it, as he enforced it with all the
natural eloquence and energy that he possessed.
At that period, the acquiescence of the people was con
sidered necessary, as he trusted it ever would, and it was
found then, and he believed it would be found now, that
the people had no such idea in their heads. They did not
then, nor would they now, call for a parliamentary reform.
What next did the right honourable gentleman say ?
Why, that they must make the people feel the grievances
they laboured under, if they could not discover them them
selves, and excite them to complaints which they knew no
cause for ; and all this they would do from the following
argument : that they know some reform is necessary, and
that by putting it into the hands of such men as are, from
their rank, fortunes, character, and respectability in the
country, the most likely to propose a temperate and ade
quate reform, having much at stake themselves, they will
study the more the interests of the people. At to the
characters of the men, he would not hesitate a moment to
pronounce them entitled to every encomium that could be
bestowed on them ; but would they pledge their characters
and their consequence in the country, that when they have
• once raised a strong spirit of reformation and innovation

46 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. [April 30.
amongst the people, they will have the power to guide their
opinions, and prevent excesses, when the ideas of the
people may probably carry them to an ungovernable
length, upon a subject of which they understand so little?
If the honourable gentlemen who proposed this could guide
and regulate the public opinion as they could their own,
the case would be different; but that was not possible, and
therefore he thought there could be no such thing as a
temperate reform. Let them recollect, that in the days of
Hampden, Hyde, and other reformers, and at different
periods of the English history, it was almost invariably
found that the beginners of any reformation never saw it
ended. This was one strong reason why they should not
countenance any indefinite reform ; for in fact they never
could know its extent and its consequences.
He agreed perfectly with his right honourable friend,
that this country had been for a very long time in a per
petual state of innovation and progressive reform, and
though kings had reigned who rather checked than encou
raged improvements of the constitution, yet it was found
that improvements had, from time to time, taken place,
and they were uniformly found to be rather in defence of
the real constitution than innovations. It was likewise
true, that we had at different times cut off certain branches
of the prerogative, when those branches were found to be
inimical to the welfare of the people ; but we had alwavs
kept the lamp of the constitution burning, and supplied it
occasionally with necessary assistance, without ever at
tempting to alter its former nature ; we had seen a refor
mation, a revolution, and, on an abdication of the crown,
we had seen a new family seated upon the throne; but we
had never, at any one period, touched upon an alteration
in the representation of the people till very lately. If we
are in slavery, if in anarchy and confusion, if, in short,
we labour under any grievance whatever, let us look if it
proceeds from the representation of the people in parlia
ment. Is the landed or commercial interest affected ? does
any one interest overpower or act against another in this
16

I792-] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 47
country ? can it be proved that such are the effects of the
present representation of the people ? Fie really believed
not. The Russian armament had been mentioned, and
certainly that was a subject upon which the opinion of the
people was very decided, though that opinion differed
widely from the opinion of that House. The people were
decidedly against the measure, but yet they did not go so
far as to say that the measure ought to destroy the minister ;
and this, he contended, was generally the case with the
people of England, whoever was minister at the time. It
had been so with Sir Robert Walpole, and would be so
with every future minister.
He came next to what had been said on Paine's book,
which he thought had been very properly termed by the
right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) a libel of the most
infamous kind against the constitution of this country. He
would ask those who supported those visionary schemes of
reform, what it was they had to dread ? Could they point
out any person in that House who was the avowed friend to
despotism ? or could they suggest any thing like a conspi
racy against the privileges of the people ? He believed it
was impossible ; but he thought there was no difficulty in
saying there were those in the country who were avowed
enemies to the constitution. [A cry of, Name them !
Name them !] He begged gentlemen not to distress them
selves by the repetition of calls, with which he could not
comply. He would ask, whether he had called upon them
in a similar way, when they had made allusions much
stronger than he had done ; however, he would satisfy their
curiosity on this point, by stating what the declared opi
nions of that night warranted him in doing, which was, that
Paine's pamphlet was an infamous libel upon the consti
tution, and therefore that those clubs and societies who
recommended that book to be read by the people, were the
avowed enemies of the constitution, by prescribing to the
people, what was admitted by the first men in that House,
to be a libel on the constitution, and tending, by its con
tents, to subvert and overturn it. Mr. Paine had been

48 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. [April 3O.
called a stranger, a foreigner, not an Englishman, a
Frenchman, nor an American. In short, he seemed to be a
man who knew just enough of all countries to confuse and
distract all, without being of the least use to any. There
were in this country men who scrupled not to enter into
an alliance with a set in France of the worst traitors and
regicides that had ever been heard of — the club of the
Jacobins. Agents had been sent from this country, to enter
into a federation with that iniquitous club, and those
agents were men of some consideration in this country;
the names he alluded to were Thomas Cooper and James
Watt. Here Mr. Burke read the address presented to the
club of the Jacobins by those gentlemen on the 16th of
April. He said, this was nothing of fancy or invention,
but an avowal that there were clubs in this countiy, who
bound themselves, by a federation with those regicides, to
approve their conduct, and act in concert with them. He
likewise could name others who avowed similar principles ;
for instance, Mr. Walker of Manchester. And what did
those people do? did they only give their own sentiments?
No. By the answer of the Jacobin club, it appeared that
those worthies of Manchester undertook — from what au
thority he knew not — to represent all England. This led
him to state, that, however upright the motives of the ho
nourable gentlemen near him might be, they must necessa
rily, in order to succeed in their object, unite themselves
with some of the worst men in the kingdom.
Mr. Burke ridiculed the idea of a moderate or tempe
rate reform as impossible, nor could he look upon the
present schemes as if there were two parties, one for a
temperate reform, and the other for a subversion of the
constitution. And he would ask those honourable gentle
men, if they could answer for all who might join them on
this occasion, and were sure that they would be satisfied
with moderate measures ? He then observed, that France
was not in a situation for reform, but was distracted by a
violent party. He described the National Assembly as.
consisting of seven hundred members, four hundred of

1792.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 49
whom were lawyers, three hundred of no description that
be could name; and out of the whole he believed there
were not six of them that possessed in any one way a hun
dred pounds per annum. Having treated the National
Assembly and their conduct with great contempt, he asked
if this was a time for encouraging visionary reforms in this
country ? He said, though he had generally objected to
the reforms formerly proposed, it was because the mode
did not meet his approbation ; and he never had resisted
reform when he thought it likely to be useful; for instance,
the reform moved by the right honourable gentleman op
posite seemed to him, if it had been agreed to, productive
of good effects, without risk of any harm ; but in the year
1780, the associations in different parts of the country would
have defeated any temperate reform. The noble Duke
who was then a reformer had proposed one mode, and the
right honourable gentleman another, and he stated what
the difference between them was. He adverted to the
county meetings, which he thought not the most probable
or quiet way of obtaining the sense of the people, or even
knowing the true sense of those meetings. He made some
remarks on confidence in ministers, which had been too
much enlarged, both in 1784 and 1792, towards the right
honourable gentleman opposite, as had been stated by his
right honourable friend. He then declared his fixed ad-
miration of that constitution which gave us freedom with
out losing order; and which, by increasing its order,
increased its liberty; and which, he hoped and trusted,1
he ever should see a continuance of, unmolested and secure
against every attack. Theories ought to be found on
experience, and instead of adapting the constitution to a
theory, the theory he wished to see grow out of the con
stitution. He concluded, by putting it to the House -to
say, whether they knew of any existing grievance that
warranted the risk, that must inevitably attend the pro
posed motion for a parliamentary reform.

VOL. IY.

50 mr. fox's motion for the repeal [May 1 1.

Mr. Fox's Motion for the Repeal of certain Penai^.
Statutes respecting Religious Opinions.
May ii.
(TYN the 8th of March Mr. Fox presented a petition from tbe
Unitarians, complaining pf the difficulties they were under
from the provisions of certain penal itatutes, and praying for
a repeal of the same. On the nth of May, he called the
attention of the House to the subject. He shewed the impro
priety of continuing to keep useless statutes in existence, in
sisted on the propriety of committing to the flames obsolete
acts of parliament, framed in the days of bigotry'and persecu
tion, and Obnoxious to every person of understanding and huma
nity, and concluded a speech of great ability * with moving*
first, " That the different statutes of the 9th and 10th of King
William, entitled An act for the more effectual suppressing of
blasphemy and profaneness, the 1st of Edward VI. chap. 1 . t
the 1st of Queen Mary, ehap. 3.; the 14th and 15th of Eliza
beth, &c. Sec. be read ;" which being done, he then moved,
" That leave be given to bring in a bill to repeal and alter
sundry provisions of the said acts."
Mr. Burke contended, that the question was now no
longer a theological question, but from the comprehensive
manner in which the subject had been treated by the right
honourable gentleman, it became a question of legislative
prudence upon a point of policy ; and he could not help
congratulating the House and the public on the manner in
which the subject was brought forward. It was claimed
as a matter of justice, and not called for as the effect of
any of the new and false lights of the day which had lately
made their appearance, and would soon again disappear.
He trusted that these lights and the principles which fol-

* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. iv. p. 418.

1792.] OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. 5 1
lowed them, would be alike rejected in this country, and
every thing that bore any resemblance to them ; because
to reject them was the sober duty of every member of
that House, and what wisdom directed for the freedom
of the state. Stripping the question, therefore, of its
theological vestment, he should take it up as a question
of policy and prudence, and in that view he confessed
he did not see that sufficient reasons had been urged
for the repeal of those statutes, and he therefore wished to
have it well understood by the House, that upon the grounds
on which he spoke — prudence and policy — nothing yet
had been said.
The question he stated to be, whether the House should
go into a committee for the purpose of examining the laws
that had been enumerated. Before he delivered his opi
nion on the policy and prudence of the motion, he could
not but congratulate the House on the delicacy used by
the right honourable gentleman in matters of religion. Not
one word had dropt from him irreligious, or even indif
ferent. Another cause of satisfaction to him, was deduced
from the discovery that the House was untainted and un-
corrupted by those false principles which had been so
amply circulated without doors.
Alluding now to the policy and prudence of the motion,
he confessed that he had heard no arguments why the 9th
and 1 oth of King William ought at present to be repealed.
As to the rights of man, on which the right honourable mover
had laid some stress, he must be under the necessity of
differing from him completely. What were the rights of man
previous to his entering into a state of society ? Whether
they were paramount to, or inferior to social rights, he
neither knew nor cared. Man he had found in society,
and that man he looked at — he knew nothing of any other
man — nor could he argue on any of his rights. As to
abstract rights of all kinds, he thought they were incor
poreal, and unfit for the body. They might be discussed in
some other state ; but they were totally unfit for this life,
and consequently could not be fit for argument.
E 2

52 MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR THE REPEAL [May II»
These abstract ideas were too airy diet, and ill suited the
mixed constitution of man, which was composed of specu
lation and practice, of mind and body. He blamed Mr.
Fox for collecting such multifarious matter, such different
measures only by an abstract principle of toleration.
Of toleration and. of persecution the House had never
yet given a decided opinion. It had always acted from
circumstances and the pressure of events — when it re
lieved a Quaker, it relieved a Quaker — when it alleviated
the condition of a Catholic, it looked only to a Cathohc,
It never purged to the right and bled to the left at once.
In the present period, all discussions between the church
nnd state had ceased, like a volcano burnt out, or like Ve
suvius when Strabo saw it. Here stood the friendly olive
— there the cheering vine — on this spot the supporting
corn. Of the Unitarians he knew nothing; they came,, how
ever, in such a questionable shape, that he conceived he
had a right to ask them, whether they brought airs from
Heaven or blasts from Hell ? And whether their advent
was wicked or charitable ? The question now therefore
was, whether we had sufficient reason to repeal those acts
at this time. Upon this point he was of opinion, that the
subject, as opened by Mr. Fox, did not depend upon the
principles of toleration ; putting that consideration also, as
well as the theological part of the- subject, out of the ques
tion, he should look at the petition of the Unitarians, as it
now appeared before the House. The petition was against
the general principles of the Christian religion, as con
nected with the state. It went to dismember the Chris
tian commonwealth. By a Christian commonwealth there
was established no alliance, as had often been erroneously
stated, between church and state. Church and state were
one and the same, and in order to see whether this petition
agreed with that principle, the better way would be to look
at the professions of the Unitarians. He had often heard
that we were hot always to believe the man who professed
to be our friend ; but the devil was in it, if we did not be-

1792-J OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. 53
Tieve him, when he professed to be our enemy. The Uni
tarians were the enemies, the avowed enemies of the church;
they had lately accused themselves of a disgraceful timidity
with respect to the concealment of their sentiments, and
now they were to atone for that timidity by an extraordi
nary boldness. They had avowed their hostility to the
church. They had confessed their determination to pro
pagate their doctrines. They were avowedly a society for
the propagation of opinions immediately hostile to our
church — they had incorporated for that purpose — they
had published pamphlets with that view — they had raised
a large fund to be employed in that service — they had
entered into a solemn compact to obtain that end — it was
well known that Doctor Priestley was their patriarch.
Knowing all these things, the question was, whether per
sons with those views, wishes, and determinations, should
be objects of the special grace and favour of that House.
To prove that what he stated of them was true, he would
read their publications, as publications issued to the world
by themselves, which would be the best answer to the ques
tion, whether they were proper objects of favour, and whe
ther to grant them indulgencies would be at this time pru
dent or politic.
In order to shew what were the principles of these
Unitarians, he would give their own authority, by quoting-
die toasts given at one of their meetings, which might be
considered as articles of faith in all associations and poli
tical meetings, both of the present and former days, all of
which, fourteen in number, were bumper toasts, and he
would not withhold from the House a single bumper, by re
fusing to read them. He contended that the celebration of
the 14th of July, and the libels of Thomas Paine, were the
causes of the riots at Birmingham, and that they proceeded
from politicaland not religious prejudices; upon both of these
topics he dweltfor a long time, as highly mischievous in them
selves, and dangerous in their consequences, because those
very people, who were petitioners, had avowed their appro
bation of the abominable proceedings at Paris on that day,
E 3

54 MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR THE REPEAL [May II.
of horrid perfidy, and unprovoked rebellion ; likewise of
<he doctrine of Paine, and not only approved of them,
but as it were recommended them for the imitation of
England, to prove that they were connected with the Re
volution Society here, and the Club of Jacobins in Paris,
and adopted the same principles to their fullest extent.
He read several of their resolutions, and concluded, that
such people were not fit men for relief or encouragement,
from their sentiments and connections. He said, there
was no religious liberty in France ; but, on the contrary,
the greatest persecution had subsisted ever since that
dreadful 14th of July, and worse persecution than could
possibly take place in this country. He regretted sincerely
what had happened at Birmingham, but it was of some
consequence to know, that if we had not laws to prevent
such outrageous riots, we had law and justice enough to
compensate th? -sufferers; this was not the case in France.
He was sure- the right honourable gentleman must have
been imposed -upon on that subject, when he thought those
riots proceeded from religious prejudices against the Uni
tarians; for Dr. Priestley had preached and written his
Unitarian system for eight-and- twenty years without any
molestation, until he and his followers came forward to
celebrate avowedly the 14th of July, and declared their
principles to be precisely the same.
Mr. Burke then went into a description of almost every
event that had taken place in France since the Revolution,
accompanying his observations with severe remarks on the
proceedings of the National Assembly. He contended,
tnat the system of those in this country, who connected
themselves with such society, and approved or recom
mended these principles for examples to this country, was
nothing short of an avowed intention to subvert and over
turn every establishment, political and religious, of every
kind, and a wish to extend that destruction to all nations.
The above speech is taken from the Parliamentary Debates.
The following fragment of what Mr. Burke either said, or in-

X7920 OT" CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES,

55

tended to say, upon this occasion was found amongst his papers
after his decease. See his Works, Vol. X. p. 41.
##**###j never govern myself, no ra
tional man ever did govern himself, by abstractions and
universals. I do not put abstract ideas wholly out of any
question, because I well know that under that name I
should dismiss principles ; and that without the guide and
light of sound well-understood principles, all reasonings in
politics, as in every thing else, would be only a confused
jumble of particular facts and details, without the means of
drawing out any sort of theoretical or practical conclusion.
A statesman differs from a professor in an university; the
latter has only the general view of society ; the former, the
statesman, has a number of circumstances to combine with
those general ideas, and to take into his consideration.
Circumstances are infinite, are infinitely combined; are
variable and transient ; he, who does not take them into
consideration is not erroneous, but stark mad — dat qperam
ut cum ratione insaniat — he is metaphysically mad. A
statesman, never losing sight of principles,. is to be guided
by circumstances ; and judging contrary to the exigencies
of the moment he may ruin his country for ever.
I go on this ground, that government, representing the
-society, has a general superintending controul over all the
actions, and over all the publicly propagated doctrines of
men, without which it never could provide adequately for
all the wants of society ; but then it is to use this power
•with an equitable discretion, the only bond of sovereign
authority. For it is not, perhaps, so much by the assump
tion of unlawful powers, as by the unwise or unwarrantable
use of those, which are most legal, that governments op
pose their true end and object ; for there is such a thing as
tyranny as well as usurpation. You can hardly state to me
a case, to which legislature is the most confessedly com
petent, in which, if the rules of benignity and prudence
are not observed, the most mischievous and oppressive
things may not be done. So that after all, it is a moral
e 4

$6 MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR THE REPEAL [May II.
and virtuous discretion, and not any abstract theory of
right, which keeps governments faithful to their ends.
Crude unconnected truths are in the world of practice what
falsehoods are in theory.
A reasonable, prudent, provident, and moderate coercion,
may be a means of preventing acts of extreme ferocity and
rigour ; for , by propagating excessive and extravagant
doctrines, such extravagant disorders take place, as require
the most perilous and fierce corrections to oppose them.
It is not morally true, that we are bound to establish in
every country that form of religion, which in our minds is
most agreeable to truth, and conduces most to the eternal
happiness of mankind. In the same manner it is not true
that we are, against the conviction of our own judgment,
to establish a system of opinions and practices directly con
trary to those ends, only because some majority of the
people, told by the head, may prefer it. No conscientious
man would willingly establish what he knew to be false
and mischievous in religion, or in any thing else. No wise
man, on the contrary, would tyrannically set up his own
sense so as to reprobate that of the great prevailing body
of the community, and pay no regard to the established
opinions and prejudices of mankind, or refuse to them the
means of securing a religious instruction suitable to these
prejudices. A great deal depends on the state, in which
you find men. * * * * *
An alliance between church and state in a Christian com
monwealth is, in my opinion, an idle and a fanciful specula
tion. An alliance is between two things that are in their
nature distinct and independent, such as between two sove
reign states. But in a Christian commonwealth the church
and the state are one and the same thing, being different
integral parts of the same whole. For the church has
been always divided into two parts, the clergy and the
laity; of which the laity is as much an essential integral
part, and has as much its duties and privileges, as the
clerical member; and in the rule, order, and government of
the church, has its share. Religion is so far, in my opinion

I7920 °F CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES.

57

from being out of the province or the duty of a Christian
magistrate, that it is, and it ought to be, not only his care,
but the principal thing in his care ; because it is one of the
great bonds of human society ; and its object the supreme
good, the ultimate end and object of man himself. The
magistrate, who is a man, and charged with the concerns
of men, and to whom, very specially, nothing human is re
mote and indifferent, has a right and a- duty to watch over
it with an unceasing vigilance, to protect, to promote, to
forward it by every rational, just, and prudent means. It
is principally his duty to prevent the abuses, which grow
out of every strong and efficient principle, that afe-tuates
the human mind. As religion is one of the bonds of
society, he ought not to suffer it to be made the pretext of
destroying its peace, order, liberty, and its security. Above
all, he ought strictly to look to it when men begin to form
new combinations, to be distinguished by new names, and
especially when they mingle a political system with their
religious opinions, true or false, plausible or implausible.
It is the interest, and it is the duty, and because it is
the interest and the duty, it is the right of government to
attend much to opinions; because, as opinions soon com
bine with passions, even when they do not produce them,
they have much influence on actions. Factions are formed
upon opinions ; which factions become in effect bodies cor
porate in the state ; — nay factions generate opinions in
order to become a center of union, and to furnish watch
words to parties; and this may make it expedient for
government to forbid things in themselves innocent and
neutral. I am not fond of defining with precision what
the ultimate rights of the sovereign supreme power in pro
viding for the safety of the commonwealth may be, or may
not extend to. It will signify very little what my notions,
or what their own notions on the suhject may be ; because,
according to the exigence, they will take, in fact, the steps,
which seem to them necessary for the preservation of the
whole ; for as self-preservation in the individuals is the first
lawof nature, thesame will prevail in societies, who will, right

58 MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR THE REPEAL [May 1 1.
or wrong, make that an object paramount to all other rights
whatsoever. There are ways and means, by which a good
man would not even save the commonwealth. * *
All things founded on the idea of danger ought in a great
degree to be temporary. All policy is very suspicious, that
sacrifices any part to the ideal good of the whole. The
object of the state is (as far as may be) the happiness of
the whole. Whatever makes multitudes of men utterly
miserable can never answer that object ; indeed it contra
dicts it wholly and entirely ; and the happiness or misery
of mankind, estimated by their feelings and sentiments, and
not by-any theories of their rights, is, and ought to be, the
standard for the conduct of legislators towards the people.
This naturally and necessarily conducts us to the peculiar
and characteristic situation of a people, and to a know
ledge of their opinions, prejudices, habits, and all the cir
cumstances that diversify and colour life. The first ques
tion a good statesmen would ask himself, therefore, would
be, how and in what circumstances do you find the society ?
and to act upon them".
To the other laws relating to other sects I have nothing
to say. I only look to the petition, which has given rise
to this proceeding. I confine myself to that, because in
my opinion its merits have little or no relation to that of
the other laws, which the right honourable gentleman has
with so much ability blended with it. With the Catholics,
with the Presbyterians, with the Anabaptists, with the In
dependents, with the Quakers, I have nothing at all to do.
They are in possession, a great title in all human affairs.
The tenour and spirit of our laws, whether they were re
straining, or whether they were relaxing, have hitherto
taken another course. The spirit of our laws has applied
their penalty or their relief to the supposed abuse to be
repressed, or the grievance to be relieved ; and the pro
vision for a Catholic and a Quaker has been totally dif
ferent, according to his exigence; you did not give a
Catholic liberty to be freed from an oath, or a Quaker
power of saying mass with impunity. You have done this,
because you never have laid it down as an universal pro-

I792'] °F CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. $g
position, as a maxim, that nothing relative to religion was
your concern, but the direct contrary ; and therefore you
have always examined whether there was a grievance. It
has been so at all times ; the legislature, whether right
or wrong, went no other way to work but by circum
stances, times, and necessities. My mind marches the same
road ; my school is the practice and usage of parliament.
Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out ; on the
lava and ashes, and squalid scoriae of old eruptions grow
the peaceful olive, the cheering vine, and the sustaining
corn. Such was the first, such was the second condition
of Vesuvius. But when a new fire bursts out, a face of
desolations comes on, not to be rectified in ages. There
fore, when men come before us, and rise up like an exhal
ation from the ground, they come in a questionable shape,
and we must exorcise them, and try whether their intents be
wicked or charitable; whether they bring airs from Heaven,
or blasts from Hell. This is the first time that our records
of parliament have heard, or our experience or history given
us an account of any religious congregation or association
known by the name which these petitioners have assumed.
We are now to see by what people, of what character,
and under what temporary circumstances, this business is
brought before you. We are to see whether there be any,
and what mixture of political dogmas and pohtical practices
with their rehgious tenets, of what nature they are, and
how far they are at present practically separable from
them. This faction (the authors of the petition) are not
confined to a theological sect, but are dso -apolitical fac
tion, ist. As theological, we are to show that they do not
aim at the quiet enjoyment of their own liberty, but are
associated for the express purpose of proselytism. • — In
proof of this first proposition read their primary associ
ation, 2d. That their purpose of proselytism is to collect
" a multitude sufficient by force and violence to overturn the
church ; in proof of the second proposition, see the letter
of Priestley to Mr. Pitt, and extracts- from his works.
3d. That the designs against the church are concurrent with

€b mr. fox's motion For the repeal [May if.
a design to subvert the state. In proof of the third propo
sition, read the advertisement of the Unitarian Society for
celebrating the 14th of July. 4th. On what model they
intend to build, that it is the French. In proof of the
fourth proposition, read the correspondence of the Revolu
tion Society with the clubs of France ; read Priestley's ad
herence to their opinions. 5th. What the French is with
regard to religious toleration, and with regard to, 1. Re
ligion — 2. Civil happiness— 3. Virtue, order, and real
liberty — 4. Commercial opulence — 5. National defence.
In proof of the fifth proposition, read the representation of
the French minister of the home department, and the re- ¦
port of the committee upon it.
Formerly, when the superiority of two parties contend
ing for dogmas and an establishment was the question, we
knew in such a contest the whole of the evil. We knew,
for instance, that calvanism would prevail according to the
Westminster Catechism with regard to tenets. We knew
that presbytery would prevail in church-government. But
we do not know what opinions would prevail if the pre
sent dissenters should become masters. They will not tell
us their present opinions; and one principle of modern
dissent is not to discover them. Next, as their religion is
in a continual fluctuation, and is so by principle, and in
profession, it is impossible for us to know what it will be.
If religion only related to the individual, and was a ques
tion between God and the conscience, it would not be
Wise, nor in my opinion equitable, for human authority to
step in. But when religion is embodied into faction, and
factions have objects to pursue, it will, and must, more or
less, become a question of power between them. If even
when embodied into congregations, they limited their prin
ciple to their own congregations, and were satisfied themselves
to abstain from what they thought unlawful, it would be
cruel, in my opinion, to molest them in that tenet, and a
consequent practice. But we know that they not only en
tertain these opinions, but entertain them with a zeal for
propagating them by force, and employing the power of
law and place to destroy establishments, if ever they should

*792'3 OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. fjj
come to power sufficient to effect their purpose : that is, in
other words, they declare they would persecute the heads
of our church ; and the question is, whether you should
keep them within the bounds of toleration, or subject
yourself to their persecution.
A bad and very censurable practice it is to warp doubtful
and ambiguous expressions to a perverted sense, which
makes the charge not the crime of others, but the con
struction of your own malice ; nor is it allowed to draw
conclusions from allowed premises, which those, who lay
down the premises, utterly deny, and disown as their con
clusions. For this, though it may possibly be good logic,
cannot by any possibility whatsoever be a fair or charitable
representation of any man, or any set of men. It may
show the erroneous nature of principles, but it argues
nothing as to dispositions and intentions. Far be such a
mode from me. A mean and unworthy jealousy it would
be to do any thing upon the mere speculative apprehension
of what men will do. But let us pass by our opinions
concerning the danger of the church. What do the gen
tlemen themselves think of that danger ? They, from
whom the danger is apprehended, what do they declare to
be their own designs ? > What do they conceive to be their
own forces? and what do they proclaim to be their means?
Their designs they declare to be to destroy the established
church, and not to set up a new one of their own. See
Priestley. If they should find the state stick to the church,
the question is, whether they love the constitution in state
so well, as that they would not destroy the constitution of
the state in order to destroy that of the church. Most
certainly they do not.
The foundations, on which obedience to governments is
founded, are not to be constantly discussed. That we are
here, supposes the discussion already made and the dispute
settled. We must assume the rights of what represents
the public to controul the individual, to make his will and
his acts to submit to their will, until some intolerable
grievance shall make us know that it does not answer its

6% MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR THE REPEAL f.May 1 1.
end, and will submit neither to reformation nor restraint.
Otherwise we should dispute all the points of morality,
before we can punish a murderer, robber, and adulterer ;
we should analyze all society. Dangers by being despised
grow great ; so they do by absurd provision against them.
Stulti est dixisse non putdram. Whether an early discovery
of evil designs, an early declaration, and an early precau
tion against them, be more wise than to stifle all inquiry
about them, for fear they should declare themselves more
early than otherwise they would, and therefore precipitate
the evil — all this depends on the reality of the danger.
Is it only an unbookish jealousy, as Shakespeare calls it ?
It is a question of fact. Does a design against the consti
tution of this country exist ? If it does, and if it is carried
on with increasing vigour and activity by a restless faction,
and if it receives countenance by the most ardent and en-
thusisastic applauses of its object, in the great council of
this kingdom, by men of the first parts, which this king
dom produces, perhaps by the first it has ever produced,
can I think that there is no danger ? If there be danger,
must there be no precaution at all against it ? If you ask
Whether I think the danger urgent and immediate, I answer
thank God, I do not. The body of the people is yet
sound, the constitution is in their hearts, while wicked men
are endeavouring to put another into their heads. But if
I see the very same beginnings, which have commonly
ended in great calamities, I ought to act as if they might
produce the very same effects. Early and provident fear is
the mother of safety; because in that state of things the mind
is firm and collected, and the judgment unembarrassed.
But when the fear, and the evil feared, come on together,
and press at once upon us, deliberation itself is ruinous,
which saves upon all other occasions ; because when perils
are instant, it delays decision ; the man is in a flutter, and
in a hurry, and his judgment is gone, as the judgment of
the deposed king of France and his ministers was gone, if
the latter did not premeditately betray him. He was just
come from his usual amusement of hunting, when the head
10

I792-] OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. 63
of the column of treason and assassination was arrived at
his house. Let not the king, let not the Prince of Wales, be
surprised in this manner. Let not both Houses of Parlia
ment be led in triumph along with him, and have law dic
tated to them by the constitutional, the revolution, and
the Unitarian Societies. These insect reptiles, whilst they
go on only caballing and toasting, only fill us with disgust;
if they get above their natural size, and increase the quan
tity, whilst they keep the quality, of their venom, they
become objects of the greatest terror. A spider in his
natural size is only a spider, ugly and loathsome; and his
flimsy net is only fit for catching flies. But, good God !
suppose a spider as large as an ox, and that he spread
cables about us, all the wilds of Africa would not produce
any thing so dreadful —
Quale portentum neque militaris
Daunia in latis alit esculetis,
Nee Juba? tellus generat leonum
Arida nutrix.
Think of them, who dare menace in the way they do in
their present state, what would they do if they had power
commensurate to their malice. God forbid I ever should
have a despotic master ¦ — but if I must, my choice is made,
I will have Louis the XVIth rather than Monsieur Bailly,
or Brissot, or Chabot ; rather George the Hid, or George
the IVth, than Dr. Priestley or Dr. Kippis, persons, who
would not load a tyrannous power by the poisoned taunts
of a vulgar low-bred insolence. I hope we have still spirit
enough to keep us from the one or the other. The con
tumelies of tyranny are the worst parts of it.
But if the danger be existing in reality, and silently ma
turing itself to our destruction, what, is it not better to
take treason unprepared, than that treason should come by
surprise upon us, and take us unprepared ? If we must
have a conflict, let us have it with all our forces fresh about
us, with our government in full function and full strength,
ouv troops uncorrupted, our revenues in the legal hands,
our arsenals tilled and possessed by government ; and not

64 MR- fox's motion for the repeal [May II.
wait till the conspirators, met to commemorate the 14th of
July, shall seize on the Tower of London and the maga
zines it contains, murder the governor, and the Mayor of
London, seize upon the king's person, drive out the House
of Lords, occupy your gallery, and thence, as from an
high tribunal, dictate to you. The degree of danger is
not only from the circumstances, which threaten, but from
the value of the objects, which are threatened. A small
danger menacing an inestimable object is of more impor
tance than the greatest perils, which regard one, that, is
indifferent to us. The whole question of the danger de
pends upon facts. The first fact is, whether those, who
sway in France at present, confine themselves to the regu
lation of their internal affairs, or whether upon system they
nourish cabals in all other countries, to extend theii* power
by producing revolutions similar to their own. 2. The next
is, whether we have any cabals formed or forming within
these kingdoms, to. co-operate with them for the destruction
of our constitution. On the solution of these two questions,
joined with our opinion of the value of the object to be
affected by their machinations, the justness of our alarm,
and the necessity of our viligance must depend. Every
private consphacy, every open attack upon the laws is
dangerous. One robbery is an alarm to all property; else
I am sure we exceed measure in our punishment. As rob
beries increase in number and audacity, the alarm increases.
These wretches are at war with us upon principle. They
hold this government to be an usurpation. See the lan
guage of the department.
The whole question is on the reality of the danger. Is
it such a danger as would justify that fear, qui cadere potest
in hominem constantem et non meluentem ? This is the fear
which the principles of jurisprudence declare to be a lawful
and justifiable, fear. When a man threatens my life openly
and publicly, I may demand from him securities of the
peace. When every act of a man's life manifests such a
design stronger than by words, even though he does not
make such a declaration, I am justified in being on my

I792'] OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. 65
guard. They are of opinion, that they are already one-
fifth of the kingdom. If so, their force is naturally not
contemptible. To say that in all contests the decision will
of course be in favour of the greater number, is by no
means true in fact. For, first, the greater number is gene
rally composed of men of sluggish tempers, slow to act,
and unwilling to attempt ; and, by being in possession, are
so disposed to peace that they are unwilling to take early
and vigorous measures for their defence, and they are
almost always caught unprepared.
Nee coiere pares : alter vergentibus annis
In senium, longoque togae tranquillior usu,
Dedidicit jam pace ducem ; 
Nee reparare novas vires, multumque priori
Credere fortunae. Stat magni nominis umbra. *
A smaller number, more expedite, awakened, active,
vigorous and courageous, who make amends for what they
want in weight by their superabundance of velocity, will
create an acting power of the greatest possible strength.
When men are furiously and fanatically fond of- an object,
they will prefer it, as is well known, to their own peace, to
their own property, and to their own lives ; and can there
be a doubt in such a case that they would prefer it to the
peace of their country ? Is it to be doubted that, if they
have not strength enough at home, they will call in foreign
force to aid them ? Would you deny them what is reason
able for fear they should? Certainly not. It would be
barbarous to pretend to look into the minds of men. I
would go further, it would not be just even to trace conse
quences from principles, which, though evident to me,
were denied by them. Let them disband as a faction, and
let them act as individuals ; and when I see them with no
other views than to enjoy their own conscience' in peace, I
for one shall most cheerfully vote for their relief.
* Lucan, 1. 129 to 135.
VOL. IV. F

66 mr. fox's motion For the repeal [May 1 1.
A tender conscience, of all things, ought to be tenderly
handled ; for if you do not, you injure not only the con
science, but the whole moral frame and constitution is
injured, recurring at times to remorse, and seeking refuge
only in making the conscience callous. But the conscience
of faction, the conscience of sedition, the conscience of
conspiracy, war, and confusion *****
Whether any thing be proper to be denied, which is
right in itself, because it may lead to the demand of others,
which it is improper to. grant; — abstractedly speaking,
there can be no doubt that this question ought to be de
cided in the negative. But as no moral questions are ever
abstract questions, this, before I judge upon any abstract
proposition, must be embodied in circumstances ; for since
things are right or wrong, morally speaking, only by their
relation and connexion with other things, this very question
of what it is politically right to grant depends upon this
relation to its effects. It is the. direct office of wisdom to
look to the consequences of the acts we do ; if it be not
this, it is worth nothing, it is out of place and of function ;
and a downright fool is as capable of government as Charles
Fox. A man desires a sword ; why should he be refused ?
a sword is a means of defence, and defence is the natural
right of man, — nay, the first of all his rights, and which
comprehends them all. But if I know that the sword de
sired is to be employed to cut my own throat, common
sense, and my own self-defence, dictate to me, to keep out
of his hands this natural right of the sword. But whether
this denial be wise or foolish, just or unjust, prudent or
cowardly, depends entirely on the state of the man's means.
A man may have very ill-dispositions, and yet be so very
weak as to make all precaution foolish. See whether this
be the case of these dissenters, as to their designs, as to
their means, numbers, activity, zeal, foreign assistance.
The first question to be decided, when we talk of the
church's being in danger from any particular' measure is,
whether the danger to the church is a public evil ; for to
those, who think that the national church establishment is

I792-] OF CERTAIN PENAL STATUTES. 6f
itself a national grievance, to desire them to forward or to
resist any measure upon account of its conducing to the
safety of the church, or averting its danger, would be to
the last degree absurd. If you have reason to think thus
of it, take the reformation instantly into your own hands
whilst you are yet cool, and can do it in measure and pro
portion, and not under the influence of election tests and
popular fury. But here I assume that by far the greater
number of those, who compose the House, are of opinion,
that this national church establishment is a great national
benefit, a great public blessing, and that its existence or
its non-existence of course is a thing by no means indif
ferent to the public welfare : then, to them its danger or its
safety must enter deeply into every question, which has a
relation to it. It is not, because ungrounded alarms have
been given, that there never can exist a real danger; per
haps the worst effect of an ungrounded alarm is to make
people insensible to the approach of a real peril. Quakerism
is strict, methodical, in its nature highly aristocratical, ajnd
so regular, that it has brought the whole community to the
condition of one family ; but it does not actually interfere
with the government. The principle of your petitioners
is no passive conscientious dissent on account of an over
scrupulous habit of mind ; the dissent on their part is
fundamental, goes to the very root ; and it is at issue not
upon this rite or that ceremony, on this or that school opi
nion, but upon this one question of an establishment, as
unchristian, unlawful, contrary to the Gospel, and to
natural right, popish and idolatrous. These are the prin
ciples violently and fanatically held and pursued — 'taught
to their children, who are sworn at the altar like Flannibal,
The waT is with the establishment itself, no quarter, no
compromise. As a party, they are infinitely mischievous;
see the declarations of Priestley and Price — declarations,
you will say, of hot men. Likely enough — but who are
the cool men, who have disclaimed them ? not one, — no,
not one. Which of them has ever told you, that they do
not mean to destroy ihe church, if ever jt should b* in their
F 2

68 mr. fox's amendments to the [Dec. 13.
power ? Which of them has told you, that this would not
be the first and favourite use of any power they should get?
not one, — no, not one. Declarations of hot men ! The
danger is thence that they are under the conduct of hot
men ; falsos in amore odia non finger e.
They say, they are well affected to the state, and mean
only to destroy the church. If this be the utmost of their
meaning, you must first consider whether you wish your
church establishment to be destroyed ; if you do, you had
much better do it now in temper, in a grave, moderate,
and parliamentary way. But if you think otherwise, and
that you think it to be an invaluable blessing, a way fully
sufficient to nourish a manly, rational, solid, and at the
same time humble piety ; if you find it well fitted to the
frame and pattern of your civil constitution ; if you find it
a barrier against fanaticism, infidelity, and atheism; if you
find that it furnishes support to the human mind in the af
flictions and distresses of the world, consolation in sickness,
pain, poverty, and death ; if it dignifies our nature with the
hope of immortality, leaves inquiry free, whilst it preserves
an authority to teach, where authority only can teach, cotn-
munia altar ia, ceque ac patriam, diligite, colite, fovete * * *
The House divided on Mr. Fox's motion : Yeas 63. Noes
142 . So it passed in the negative.

Mr. Fox's' Amendments to the Address on the King's
Speech at the Opening of the Session.

December 13.

T

HE session was this day opened with a speech from the
throne. An address, in approbation thereof, having been
moved by Sir James Saunderson, the Lord Mayor of London,
and seconded by Mr. Wallace, Mr. Fox, after some general obser-

I7920 address on the king's speech. 69
vations, and the usual apology of considering the king's speech
as that of the ministers, declared it to be his firm opinion, that
every fact asserted in the speech was false, and all its insinu
ations unfounded ; that no insurrection existed ; and that the
alarm, whatever it might be, was not occasioned by any actual
circumstances that could justify reasonable apprehension, but
by the artful designs and practices of ministers. He concluded
with moving, that the following words be substituted in the room
of those moved by Sir James Saunderson — " To express to his
majesty our most zealous attachment to the excellent constitu
tion of this free country, our sense of the invaluable blessings
which we derive from it, and our unshaken determination to
maintain and preserve it : to assure his majesty that, uniting
with all his majesty's faithful subjects in these sentiments of
loyalty to the throne, and attachment to the constitution, we
feel in common with them the deepest anxiety and concern,
when we see those measures adopted by the executive govern
ment, which the law authorises only in cases of insurrection
within this realm : that his majesty's faithful Commons assem
bled in a manner new and alarming to the country, think it
their first duty, and will make it their first business, to inform
themselves of the causes of this measure, being equally zealous
to enforce a due obedience to the laws on the one hand, and a
faithful execution of them on the other." * After the amend
ment had been supported by Mr. Grey, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr.
Thomas Grenville, and opposed by Mr. Windham and Mr.
Dundas, Mr. Burke rose. He said, that this was indeed a day
of trial of the constitution. He agreed with an honour
able gentleman in regarding the present as a most momen
tous crisis, but for different reasons from those which that
honourable gentleman had assigned. He congratulated
the House on the chief magistrate of the city of London
havins come forward in a manner so honourable to himself,
and could not let slip that occasion of paying a just tribute
to the services which the city of London had at different
times rendered to the constitution, under whose auspices it

# See Fox's Speeches, Vol. iv. p. 44*.
F 3

70 mr. fox's amendments to the [Dec. 13.
had risen to its present opulence and grandeur. It had
distinguished itself by the part which it had acted both at
the Restoration and the Revolution. It was sensible how
closely liberty and monarchy were connected in this coun
try — that they were never to be found asunder/- that
they had' flourished together for a thousand years — and
that from this union had resulted the glory and prosperity
of the nation.
While he did justice to the talents and eloquence of a
right honourable gentleman, (Mr.Fox,) whom nobody could
more highly respect and admire than himself, and whom
he should rejoice to see occupying an important situation
in the administration of the country, for which he was so
Well qualified, he could not help remarking, that on the
present occasion the right honourable gentleman had taken
up a great many invidious points, which might have been
spared, without any injury to his argument. He had
asserted, that the statement of the existence of an insur
rection was a calumny on the country. But did the
proclamation say that the whole country was in a state of
insurrection ? He would ask the right honourable gentle
man — whom he could only compare to Cicero — whe
ther, when Cicero affirmed in the senate, that there existed
within the walls of Rome itself a conspiracy for burning
and destroying that great city, he was guilty of a libel
upon the people of Rome, or only upon Catiline ? The
charge of insurrection made in the proclamation, was not
a charge upon the country, but only -upon some people in
it. But the alarm which had been excited, had been said
to be artificial, and had been ranked among the number of
false plots. The Popish plot had been brought forward,
as affording an instance of a device for the purpose of
creating alarm similar to what had been employed on this
occasion. But were there no instances of real plots to be
found in this country? What was become of the gun
powder plot, and the different plots which were formed
against Queen Elizabeth ? False plots would never have
been believed, if there had not sometimes been true ones.
*5

I792'] address on the king's speech. 71
This reasoning, therefore, against the reality of the alarm
which had taken place, was by no means conclusive.
He had been not a little surprised at the violent declam
ation in favour of liberty, which had fallen from the right
honourable gentleman — as if, on the present occasion,
liberty was placed on the one hand, and despotism on the.
other. He, for his own part, declared himself to be, not
a defender of ministry or of opposition, but of the country.
In France he would affirm there existed no true liberty.
As a proof that liberty was enjoyed by us, he would ask, was
not life, was not property secure? Was this the case in
France, where both were every moment exposed to dan
ger, and where, instead of one Bastile, a Bastile was now
erected in every parish? He was one of those who la
mented the retreat of the Duke of Brunswick ; and he
must own, that he thought even a despotism, where life
and property were secure, preferable to that state of liberty,
where both were continually liable to be invaded. What
he dreaded, should French principles be introduced into
this country, was, the destruction of the whole order of
civil life ; not only that we should lose king, lords, and
commons, but our property, our wives, every thing that
was dear and sacred. Who would wish the morals of the
present legislators of France to be introduced into this
country? What parent would wish his son to resemble a
Marat, a Danton, a Robespierre? Or would he wish
him to copy the example of a Petion ? Or should he
search the deepest recesses of hell, where could he find a
more complete model of depravity than Monsieur Egalite ?
He would affirm, that there was a faction in this- country,
who wished to subject it to France, in order that our go
vernment might be reformed upon the French system. He
would likewise affirm, that the French cherished designs
upon this country ; that they encouraged this faction, and
were disposed to aid them in their views of overturning our
constitution. As a proof of this, he would translate from
their own gazette the following account pf their pro
ceedings :
f 4

72 MR. fox's amendments to the [Dec. 13.
" The president — " You decreed yesterday, that two
deputations of Englishmen should be admitted to the bar.
I am going to order it to be opened for them." — The first
deputation being admitted, the spokesman addressed the
convention as follows :• — " Citizens, Legislators ! the
British and Irish citizens resident at Paris, constantly
animated by those principles which have given rise and
success to the French revolution, met last Sunday to cele
brate the success of your arms , and agreed to present to
you their sentiments, and to congratulate you on those
events which are so favourable an omen for all people who
wish to become free. Receive, then, that pure and fra
ternal- homage of men who bear in their hearts all the
principles of that constitution which you are going to give
to your country. Hitherto wars have been only undertaken
to gratify the ambition and pride of despots. You have
taken up arms only to make reason and liberty triumph.
We hope the troops of liberty will not lay them down until
there shall be no more tyrants or slaves."
The president answered the deputation as republicans.
He said, " that royalty in Europe was in the agonies of
death ; that the declaration of rights now placed by the
side of thrones, was a fire which in the end would consume
them ; and he even hoped that the time was not far distant
when France, England, Scotland, and Ireland — all
Europe ! all mankind ! would form but one peaceful fa
mily." The second deputation was from the constitu
tional society of London, and consisted of Joel Barlow
and J. Frost, who presented an address, congratulating the
French on the revolution they had accomplished, and the
success that had attended their arms ; expressing a hope at
the same time, that other nations would soon follow their
example. The deputies added, that they had sent a
thousand pair of shoes as a patriotic gift to the soldiers of
liberty. The address was signed by Lord Sempill, presi
dent, and D. Adams, secretary.
Mr. Burke accompanied the reading of this detail with
many remarks. These proceedings, he said, had taken.

I792'] ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH. 73
place on the same day, in which there had been a discus
sion in the convention respecting the union of Savoy to
France. On that occasion, the president had observed,
" that nature pointed out this union ; that France and
Savoy- were already connected by physical and moral ties."
This gentle people, in adding the country of their neigh
bours to their own dominions, only follow the mild laws of
nature ; whenever they have a mind to make an acquisition
of territory, they discover their claim to it to be established
by physical and moral ties ; no doubt they will soon find
out the physical and moral connection subsisting between
them and this country, though we unfortunately have been
separated from them by a violent convulsion. Of those
persons who had signed the address from the society for
constitutional information, he knew little or nothing, ex
cepting Mr. John Frost. He was notorious; his cha
racter, he believed, was pretty well known to both sides of
the House ; the gentlemen of the treasury particularly had
reason to be acquainted with it. If Englishmen had in
this manner applied to Louis XVI. to reform our govern
ment, and had been favourably received by him, would
not this have been considered as an aggression by this
country ? It was, indeed, a portent and prodigy that Eng
lishmen should not be able to find liberty at home, but
should be obliged to seek it elsewhere. WTiat rendered
the factious in this country particularly dangerous, was
their connection with the band of French robbers and as
sassins. The French had declared war against all kings,
and of consequence against this country, if it had a king.
The question now was, not whether we should carry an
address to the throne, but whether we should have a throne
at all? Mr. Burke concluded with recommending the
unanimity so desirable upon this occasion, and with repre
senting the clanger which might arise from the progress of
French arms, if not speedily resisted. Their power had
already become formidable to the whole of Europe, and if
we would not have Europe torn from us, it was necessary
that we should interpose by the most effectual means to stop
their farther career.

74 MR. FOX'S AMENDMENTS TO THE [Dec. 1 3.
The address moved by the Lord Mayor was agreed to, upon
a division, by 290 against jo. On the following day, when
the report of the address was brought up, Mr. Fox warmly op
posed it, and moved an amendment thereto, by inserting these
words : " Trusting that your majesty will employ every means
of negociation, consistent with the honour and safety of this
country, to avert the calamities of war." After Mr. Sheridan
had seconded the amendment,
Mr. Burke rose. He said, that considering it as ad
mitted, that France must not' be allowed to open the
Scheldt, and that she must also be either induced by nego
ciation, or compelled by arms, to restore the conquests
she had made, he thought it a very extraordinary way of
effecting either purpose, to represent our internal situation
as rotten, and our allies not to be depended on. With
regard to our internal situation, he esteemed it far from
being rotten, though the constitution was certainly assailed
by persons whose activity, if not checked in time, might
be likely to endanger it. As to the fidelity of our allies,
if it was not now to be relied on, surely the right honour
able gentleman who moved the amendment did not take
the best mode of confirming it, by acknowledging the
sovereignty of, and entering into negociations with, the new
republic of France, their most inveterate enemy. But
admitting the policy of such negociation, were we sure
that the French would come to any reasonable terms with
us ? And yet this was the contingency for which we were
to renounce our present friends, the ancient and established
governments in Europe. This would indeed be reducing
ourselves to a curious dilemma, and leaving ourselves en
tirely at the mercy of France, from which country, if any
ever expected mercy, they were sure to be disappointed.
This abominable government had not yet been recognised
by any other power. And what was the peculiar time
when we were desired to dispatch an ambassador to them ?
At the very moment, perhaps, when the merciless savages
had their hands red with the blood of a murdered kino-:
thus giving sanction to an act which barbarians would con-

1792'3 ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH. 75
demn, giving currency to the crime of regicide, and af
fording a preliminary to the murder of our own excellent
sovereign. At present it was only decreed that France was a re
public, but of what kind had not been yet certainly deter
mined, nor could any conjecture be formed on it. If he
had any merit at all, it was that of having read industriously
and attentively ; and of course the origin and composition
of republics had not escaped him. It was observed, that
all dogs went by the same name, though no species of ani
mal contained a greater diversity. Thus it might be said
of republics. Those of Holland, Venice, Genoa, &c. differ
widely in their governments, yet they were such as ambas
sadors might be sent to ; for they were not regicidal re-r
publics, nor republics of confraternity with the seditious
and disaffected in every state. France stood alone in the
list of republics, and was the only one since the creation
that maintained fundamental principles of universal union,
seduction, and confraternity. To some it appeared a go
vernment of universal conquest, to others of universal
anarchy, but to all of universal influence and sway, It bore
no resemblance whatever to any of its contemporaries or
predecessors — " Jam nova pestis adest " and the right
honourable gentleman, in comparing it to other republics,
was in the situation of a law serjeant, who pleading in one
of the courts, was told by the judge, " Brother, your case
does not apply:" to which the serjeant answered, " I
know that, my lord, and I wish to heaven it did."
It had for some time been the fashion in that House to
quote him as an author, from a book which he had written
upon the revolution in France ; and in doing so that even
ing, the right honourable gentleman had fallen into a prac
tice that had been pursued before him by Mr. Mackintosh,
and other writers of less eminence — namely, taking a de
tached passage without explaining it by what followed or
went before it. The practical form of a free government,
as quoted, did not express fully his ideas of liberty. Defi
nitions might and often had been given, but it would per-

76 MR. FOX'S AMENDMENTS TO THE [Dec. 1 3.
haps be better expressed by a description. What he meant,
then, by liberty was, that he should be suffered to enjoy
life as long as the Almighty permitted him — that his per
son should be free while he conformed to the laws of his
country — that he should not be disturbed in the exercise
of his religion — and that he should be left at the full en
joyment and disposal of his property, whether inherited,
or acquired by his industry. If he was protected in the
free exercise of all these, as was the case in England, he
must think himself in the possession of rational freedom ;
and this, though not a definition, was at least an inventory
of freedom. The Rights of Man, however, were not con
fined to this, but were founded upon plausible deductions
and metaphysical abstractions — true in some parts, and
equally false in others. They were like the neck of a
drake, blue on one side and black on the other. When
the knowledge of these rights was diffused amongst the
multitude, he could not but tremble for the consequence ;
nor indeed could he hear, without emotions of horror, the
application made of them to property in frequent discus
sions on the French revolution. It was this kind of appli
cation which caused most of the horrors of the French re
volution. [Hear, hear !] He pereeived that the House
not only approved his sentiments on this subject, but re
ceived them with acclamations ; yet he could not augur the
same success, if he were to preach these doctrines to a
beggar. Were he to say to a man, " I have a good house,
excellent cattle, fine furniture, pictures, tapestry, laces,
plate, and delicious fare, but — you want your dinner;"
he was apprehensive that he should find some difficulty in
convincing him, that the superfluities recounted ought not
to be employed in the relief of his necessities. The times
would be truly alarming indeed, when these French no
tions should prevail in this country, and property suffer the
same transfer that it had done in that miserable nation.
On this idea of equality contained in the French system
of the Rights of Man might it be accounted for, that in the
last and present National Assemblies was not to be found a

I792-] ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH. 77
man worth a single shilling ; or if there happened to be
two or three exceptions, they only proved his rule. In
the course of frequent conversations with persons of dis
cernment, he had heard it argued, that a government
formed of such fellows could have no energy, He, on the
contrary, was of a different opinion, and attributed to that
indigent condition of their rulers, the successes lately ob
tained by the French, and the vigour of their proceedings.
He appealed to the House, whether their reluctance to a
war did not proceed, in some degree, from the care they
had for the preservation of their riches. The legislators of
France, on the contrary, as they had nothing to lose, so
they. had little to fear; and had no objection to go to war
with the whole world. When the King of Prussia was
marching to Paris they were little concerned, and were
preparing to escape with the treasures of which they had
plundered the people. When threatened with an English
war, the cry was nearly the same: " Let them come on,"
said they ; " they have riches and commerce, and we have
neither : we may gain something, and can lose nothing."
Such were the men who had the power of levying what
taxes they pleased upon the people, and of converting the
produce to what purposes they pleased.
The extravagance of Anacharsis Cloots, in. wishing to
embrace China, Quebec, Bulam, and in short all the
world, in the confraternity of France, was not peculiar
to him, but was also entertained by all the members of
the Assembly. This Cloots, he said, was an old acquaint
ance- and correspondent of his, being very respectably in
troduced to him, and had no small share in producing the
French revolution. He was a Prussian by birth, highly
conversant in every branch of literature, and much better
qualified to act the part of a philosopher than John Frost
as a deputy from the people of Great Britain. In June
1 790 this man appeared at the bar of the National As
sembly, accompanied by men of all nations, Asiatic, Af
rican, and European, of which latter the English made no

78 MR. FOX'S AMENDMENTS TO THE [Dec. 1 3.
inconsiderable part. There, as orator of the human race,
he invoked for them all the protection and confraternity of
France ; and this happened on the very day when the As
sembly demolished, by a decree, the nobility of France.
Mr. Burke said, that the French republic was sui generis,
and bore no analogy to any other that ever existed in the
world. It therefore did not follow that we ought to recog
nise it, merely because different powers in Europe had
recognised the republic of England under Oliver Crom
well. England did not at that time attempt to turn all the
states of Christendom into republics ; it did not wage war
with sovereigns ; it professed no principle of proselytism ;
and therefore, whatever neighbouring nations might have
to expect from her friendship, they had nothing to fear for
the existence of thrones. The same might be said of Ame
rica. But France wanted to make proselytes to her opi
nions, and turn every government in the world into a
republic. If every government was against her,, it was be
cause she had declared herself hostile to every government.
He knew of nothing to which this strange republic could
be compared, but to the system of Mahomet, who with the
koran in one hand, and a sword in the other, held out the
former to the acceptance of mankind, and with the latter
compelled them to adopt it as their creed. The koran
which France held out, was the declaration of the rights
of man and universal fraternity ; and with the sword she
was determined to propagate her doctrines, and conquer
those whom she could not convince.
He by no means wished to hurry the nation into a war.
He wanted to make the people see that France had really
declared war against them, and that the two states might
be considered as actually engaged in it. France had
passed a variety of decrees, every one of which might
fairly be considered as a declaration of war against every
government. She had resolved to wage an eternal war
against kings and kingly government; and had actually
received Englishmen at the bar of the convention, whom,
in contempt of the king and parliament, she professed to

I792-] ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH. 79
consider as the representatives of the people of England.
Was this no provocation ? Was this no attack upon the
government of Great Britain ? He entreated gentlemen,
who were disposed to countenance new doctrines in Eng
land, to take warning by the fate of the virtuous Duke de
la Rochefoucault. That nobleman of antient lineage, and
princely fortune, who was adorned by every virtue, wa9
seduced by the arts of Condorcet to countenance the re
volution. He was vested with a high office of magistracy,
under the new constitution ; and because he was not dis
posed to go all the lengths of the wicked men who found
means to raise themselves to power, he was obliged to fly for
his life ; he was pursued, and, in the midst of his own tenants,
who had experienced the bounty and munificence of his-
family, was forced from his carriage, from between his
mother and his wife, and in their presence inhumanly
butchered. To all the well-meaning advocates for new
doctrines, he would hold up the bleeding head of the Duke
de la Rochefoucault, whom all his virtues could not rescue
from the hands of murderers, who feared neither God nor
man. " Perish the heart that never learn'd to glow
" For others good, or melt at others woe.''
Mr. Burke next touched upon Ireland. He said he was
attached to that country, because it had given him birth.
To England he was bound by the strongest ties of gratitude
and love ; and should so great a calamity ever happen as a dis
pute between the two countries, it was with the latter, which
was the country of his adoption, that he would take part.
But he feared no such event ; the wisdom of the parliament
of Ireland would point out the necessity of freeing a great
majority of that kingdom from grievances under which they
were made to labour, not only without any good to the
country, but to its general detriment. In the province of
Ulster, he said, the people were chiefly descend uiits of
Scotch and English colonists ; they were for the most part
protestants, it was true, but at the same time they were

80 MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR SENDING [Dec. 1 5.
dissenters. In two counties there they were superior in
nnmbers to the catholics ; but in the other provinces, the
latter were ten to one. Upon an average ol the whole, the
catholics were at least four -fifths of the nation. They were
now come forward to demand, not an innovation in the con
stitution, but a restoration of it ; the removal of an inno
vation. They called for a repeal of two acts of parliament,
one of which passed in the beginning of the late reign,
which deprived them of the right of voting for members
of parliament, which they had enjoyed up to that period ;
the other in the preceding reign, which deprived them of
the right of serving upon juries. These people proceeded
in the best possible way to their emancipation, by peti
tions, and by degrees ; they did not ground their de
mands on the rights of man ; "if they did, he would Cer
tainly resist them ; but simply on the right which they had
as citizens, to share in the blessings of the existing con
stitution of their country ; and in that light their claims
appeared so well founded, as to be, in his mind, irresistible.
Mr. Fox's amendment was negatived without a division.

Mr. Fox's Motion for sending a Minister to Paris,
TO TREAT WITH THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
France.
December 15.
QN Saturday, the 15th of December, as soon as the House
had returned from presenting their address to his majesty,
Mr. Fox rose to make his promised motion ; by which, he said
he did not mean to imply any approbation of the conduct of the
existing French government, or of the proceedings which had
led to the present state of things in France. His object was
simply to declare and record his opinion, that it was the true

*792'] A MINISTER TO PARIS. 8 1
policy of every nation to treat with the existing government of
every other nation with which it had relative interests, without
inquiring or regarding how that government was constituted,
or by what means those who exercised it came into power.
This was not only the policy, but frequently the practice. If
we objected to the existing form of government in France, we
had as strong objections to the form of government at Algiers ;
3'et at Algiers we had a consul. If we abhorred the crimes
committed in France, we equally abhorred the crimes com
mitted in Morocco ; yet to Morocco we had sent a consul. By
these acts we were neither supposed to approve of the form of
government at Algiers, nor of the crimes committed in Morocco.
From this motion no opinion was to be implied, but the opinion
he had stated. It would have been better, if what he proposed
had been done sooner, and there were circumstances that made
it less proper now than at an earlier period. But this was not
imputable to him. The earliest period was now the best : and
this was the earliest opportunity that the meeting of parliament
afforded him. It would have been still better, if the British
minister had not been recalled from Paris ; but had continued
there as the ministers of some other courts had done. He
concluded with moving, " That an humble address be pre
sented to his majesty, that his majesty will be graciously
pleased to give direction, that a minister may be sent to Paris,
to treat with those persons who exercise provisionally the func
tions of executive government in France, touching such points
as may be in discussion between his majesty and his allies, and
the French nation *." The motion was opposed by Lord Shef- ,
field, Mr. Stanley, Mr. Loveden, Mr. Frederick North, Mr. Jen
kinson, the Master of the Rolls, Mr. Windham, Mr. Grant,
Sir William Young, Mr. Burke, Sir James Murray, and Mr.
Drake ; and supported by Mr. M. A. Taylor, Mr. Grey, Co
lonel Tarleton, Mr. Francis, Mr. Erskine, Mr. Whitbread, Mr.
Courtenay, and Mr. Sheridan.
Mr. Burke bestowed the warmest panegyric on Mr. Jen
kinson, Mr.FrederickNorth,and otheryounggentlemen who,
he sajd, had gloriously stood forward to resist the growing
evils. They inherited all the talents and virtues of their

* See Fox's Speeches, vol. iy. p. 473-
VOL. IV. G

82 MR. fox's motion for sending [Dec. 15.
illustrious fathers, whose eloquence had often attracted the,
admiration of the House. In them he was happy to see that
the new doctrines, which menaced destruction to all lovers
of peace and order, would find powerful opponents. While
they remained in the field of action, armed at all points for
the combat, while the patriotism of their fathers animated
them in defence of the constitution, while they were em
boldened and invigorated by the growing danger, the people
need not tremble for the pernicious consequences of the
new system of France, accompanied by the threatened
argument of the sword. In the formidable phalanx which
now appeared the country might repose the greatest con
fidence. They would dash forward and repel the impend
ing storm. So might it always be ! Might there be an
eternal succession of talents and principles adverse to these
new French doctrines !
Tumvos, O Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum
Exercete odiis ; cinerique hsec mittite nostro
Munera : nullus amor populis nee foedera sunto.
Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas
Imprecor, arma armis : pugnent ipsique nepotes.
If called upon in defence of our liberties, the friends of the
constitution would enter the lists in battle array : they would
oppose the enemy man to man, foot to foot, and shield to
shield. He then proceeded to remark on Mr. Erskine's
speech, who, he said, always instructed that House, as the
ancient philosophers did their pupils, by proposing himself
as their example. Concerning the law, the constitution, or
the government of France, the learned gentleman, indeed,
had said nothing : he was right, for France had no law, no
government, no constitution, and therefore he was very
properly silent ; but, although the French had none, the
learned gentleman had a great deal of law, a great deal of
government of himself, and an excellent constitution. In
his speech there was a great deal of his own, and a great
deal from Dr. Johnson, which was a good common place
against war. In calling in the aid of Dr. Johnson to en-

I7920 A MINISTER TO PARIS. 83
force his arguments against a foreign war, the learned gen
tleman produced a very formidable champion indeed. He
Was a great and a good man : his virtues were equal to his
transcendant talents, and his friendship he valued as the
greatest consolation and happiness of his life. It might, "
however, escape the learned gentleman's memory, that this
eminent author, who wrote with such energy against a fo
reign war, had afterwards, on the memorable rupture be
tween this country and America, summoned all his vigour
and eloquence in vindication of a civil war.
Mr. Burke said, that he wished sincerely that hostilities
might be avoided ; but if our just resentment were fulmi
nated against the assassins who offered us the comforts of
fire and sword, a civil war might be prevented in England,
The French agents were remarkably active in exciting com
motions. The arm of power ought to crush them — a
criminal suspension might entail upon our fellow subjects
most dreadful disasters. In the mad, wicked, and abomi
nable career of the French, he had fondly hoped that ere
now the hand of power would have arrested them; that
they would have been brought to condign punishment for
their manifold and unparalleled iniquities, and precipitated
with a tenfold fury to that place so happily congenial with
their horrid dispositions. But it had not as yet pleased
Providence to check their progress. They had inundated
Savoy and Brabant with their murderous myrmidons;
had perhaps before this time commenced hostilities against
our allies the Dutch, proudly anticipated a conquest of the
whole continent, and menaced Great Britain with their
doctrine and their arms. These were serious facts, and
demanded immediately the most active exertions. In this
dreadful dilemma were we to abandon government? No;
let us strengthen their hands ; let us teach a gang of ho
micides and regicides what they have to expect from a
dignified people, emulous of each other in the cause of
true liberty.
Mr. Burke lamented, that whenever the subject of
France came under discussion, he was annoyed and singled
g 2

84 mr. fox's motion eor sending [Dec. 15.
out for acrimony and invective. He defended government
from principle, not interest. " Strange as it may-appear
to some gentlemen with whom I formerly acted, I affirm,'
(said he) " in the face of the House and of the country,
that I retain, and ever will retain, my independence. I
have made no provision for myself or family. We are not
in the possession of any office ; neither cajoled by the re
version of place, nor by the promise of pension ; and yet,
because I have warmly expressed my abhorrence of the
French doctrines, I am pursued and reviled with all the
force of rancour and hostility." But sometimes the best
effects had arisen from the worst causes ; the evil designs
now manifested by a certain description of men assumed fea
tures too bold to be mistaken, or passed over in silent con
tempt. There were assailants of eminence with whom it
was no disgrace to grapple. Whenever invited to the
combat, he would collect ah his fortitude, and obey the
summons. His hardihood might, perhaps, be eclipsed in
the conflict; but he would convince the world that he
possessed resolution. By whom were we annoyed ? By
Frost, whom we all knew ; by Sempill, whom he had not
the honour of knowing; perhaps the opposite gentlemen
were well acquainted with him; by Joel — Joel (the
prophet) of whom he had heard. These were the respect
able gentlemen — the gods — the dii minorum gentium —
who threatened to lay our capital and constitution in the
same ruin.
Why have the French, who cherish and protect the
traitors, offered to aid and abet the downfalof our govern
ment ? Because the unfledged republicans have determined
to wage war against every monarchy. Having a king who
commands the affections of his people, the criminahty on
our part is unpardonable in their eyes. Kings are anointed
with oil — the new sovereignty of the people with blood !
The recent massacres, at which all Europe revolted,
heightened this striking likeness ; and none but the mur
derers themselves could help deploring the shocking bar
barities,' which exceeded all ancient and modern flagitious-

1792.] A MINISTER TO PARIS. 85
ness. Those who were advocates for sending an ambassador
to Paris ought seriously to reflect in what an aukward
predicament they placed such a gentleman. They ap
pointed an ambassador to a people who had no govern
ment, no administration, and who had denounced the most
implacable hatred against all kings ! But, say they, am
bassadors have been sent thither from other potentates.
Be it so. Let them receive ambassadors from all quarters
of the globe; from Capadocia, from Pergamus, from
America, from Abyssinia. Let all these congratulate each
other on their agreeable and enviable residence. But let
no ambassador go thither from Great Britain. If we con
descended to acknowledge them by sending an ambassador,
might they not insult him by saying, Who sent you ? The
king or the people of England? The king, most certainly,
answers the ambassador. The king ! Return from whence
you came : we never sent for you : we have passed an
irrevocable declaration against all tyranny. And thus,
if the motion were agreed to, we should jostle in the dark,
and expose ourselves to the insolence of the basest of man
kind — monsters who outraged every law, human and
divine.
. The right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) had justi
fied the incursion of Dumourier into Brabant, on the
principle of retaliation for the invasion of the combined ar
mies. Admirable reasoning ! Thus we were not only to
guarantee their new liberty by an ambassador, but allow
them the peaceable possession of the Austrian Netherlands,
and acknowledge their right to open the Scheldt. All these
acquisitions — Holland, the whole continent, and much
more — were we to grant them, by way of costs and da
mages ! Thus the laws of nature superseded the laws of
nations; and Great Britam, in her turn, would be left to
the mercy of the honest and innocent republicans of
France ! If a treaty opposed their ambition, they imme
diately affirmed, that it was contrary to the laws of nature;
and reduced every moral obligation to the same levelling
principle. Mr. Burke made the following ludicrous ob-
G 3

8<5 mr. fox's motion for sending [Dec. i;+
jection to the proposed negociation : — -If, when the British
ambasador appears at the bar of the convention, his com
mission, among other things, happened to state, " George
the Third, by the grace of God," would not that pious
assembly be instantly convulsed with laughter ? The presi
dent, Robespierre, and Marat, sworn enemies to kings,
would scarcely be able to keep their indignation within
bounds. On the one side, citizen Frost would inflame
their resentment ; and on the other, citizen Paine would
proceed to denounce us. But, say some of the supporters
of the motion, what right have we to enter upon a crusade
in the cause of kings ? We are safe in this country, and
our king reigns in the hearts of his people. The French
malady complained of can never disturb our tranquillity —
Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. Our insular si
tuation, they affirm, is proof against every innovation.
They talk as if England were not in Europe. The French
savages having so horribly stained Europe, he, for one,
should have no objection if they could prove the truth of
their assertion ; and persuade us to the belief that Eng
land was in another quarter of the globe. At the confer
ence with the British ambassador, the members of the
convention might ask ¦ — ¦ Are you the representative of a
routed faction who have murdered your king ? No ! Then
we can have no transaction with you. Fill up the measure
of our laudable principles, and then we will treat with
you. Shocking to think ! Perhaps even now the barba
rians were embruing their hands in the blood of the un
happy prisoners ! Let us look around, and observe their
judges. Among others who reflected honour on human
nature, were citizen Frost and citizen Paine — men of the
most unblemished characters ! Bemg a general lover of
new constitutions, and enthusiastically fond of projectors
he was not surprised, that Mr. Erskine had undertaken to
plead Paine's cause.
But by whom was the unfortunate king accused ? By-
citizen Paine on the one hand, and citizen Frost on the
other. Were these Frenchmen? No. They were not

1792.] A MINISTER TO PARIS. 87
Frenchmen by birth, but Frenchmen by merit. Thus,
France adopted citizens from all nations, and such a group
of abandoned and unprincipled citizens as no other nation
on the face of the earth would receive. Instead of navi
gating the Scheldt, these wretches navigated the Styx only ;
and announced slaughter and destruction to all mankind.
Were these the men to whom we purposed to send an am
bassador ? Were we to petition them for peace? Were we to
humble ourselves before Judge Paine ? It might perhaps be
sarcastically asked, how citizen Franklin, with whom citizen
Paine was formerly intimate, came to be acknowledged as
an ambassador, and why he (Mr. Burke) connived at such a
degradation ? The answer was obvious : citizen Franklin
had never advised the extirpation of all kings. When the
independence of America was acknowledged, all Franklin's
crimes were absolved. The difference between these two
was great in other respects. Franklin was a native of Ame
rica : Paine was born in England, and lived under the pro
tection of our laws ; but instigated by his evil genius, he
conspired against the very country which gave him birth ;
by attempting to introduce the new and pernicious doc
trines of republicanism. During the American war, we
heard of no acts of barbarity, no deliberate murders, no
dethronement and decapitation of kings. There had ap
peared more atrocious guilt in France in orte day than in
America and England in seven years. How could we pos
sibly avoid war, when France had denounced destruction
against all the kings of Europe. We were forced, on
principles of self-defence, into a confederacy with all the
sovereigns of Europe. I say, we are now engaged in
actual war. The question consequently is— Will you
tamely surrender yourselves to citizen Frost and Paine?
Forbid it, Heaven ! Forbid it, justice ! forbid it, huma
nity ! Yield to traitors to their king ? To a nation of
murderers ? Stain the illustrious pages of our history with
such profanation and impiety ? May God, in his infinite
mercy, add vigour to our arm, and enable us to check the
encroachments of those monsters of society !
g 4

88 " ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec. 28.
Mr. Burke concluded a very eloquent but desultory
speech with reading, from a slip of paper, a declaration,
which he wished to be avowed as the grounds of the con
duct of the executive power, in order that the people of
England might know, that, if there must be a war, it had
arisen from the proceedings of those among themselves,
who, by their seditious practices, had provoked it; and
that a war with France was necessary for the security of
the liberties of England, the interests of Europe, and the
happiness of mankind.
The motion was negatived without a division.

Alien Bill — French Revolution.
December 28.
IN the month of December a bill was brought in " for estab
lishing regulations respecting Aliens, arriving in this king
dom, or resident therein, in certain cases." On the second
reading, upon the 28th, Mr. Secretary Dundas stated the ob
jects of it. All foreigners arriving in the kingdom were to ex
plain their reasons for coming into this country, to give up all
arms, except those commonly used for defence or dress. In
their several removals through the country, they were to use
passports, by which their actual residence or occasional move
ments might be manifest, and their conduct easily observed.
Those who received eleemosynary support were to be distri
buted in districts, where they would be more liable to the vigi
lance of the civil power. Particular attention was to be paid to
foreigners who had visited this kingdom within the present year,
who should hereafter come without' obvious reasons, and be
thus more obnoxious to prudent suspicion. The bill was
strongly opposed by Mr. Fox*, in reply to whose speech,
Mr. Burke said, that although, party connections were
extremely proper for mutual arrangement in private, and
* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. v. p. %.

I792-] ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. .89
convenience of public business, they were seldom fit to be
come the subject of public debate. No man was more
unfit than he was to enter into any discussion of the state
of parties. To talk of parties was, he remarked, a matter
of particular delicacy, as the confidence of private friend
ship was often so much intermixed with public duty, that
the transaction of parties required a sort of sanctity which
precluded any disclosure. This delicacy was particularly
increased, when friends, who loved and esteemed one an
other, were compelled, in consequence of a difference of
opinion, to pull different ways, and felt all the distraction
natural to virtuous minds in such a situation. If he might
be allowed to talk of himself, he might state, that ever
since he came into parliament, his doors had been open to
all ; none had been refused admittance, though the prac
tice had been attended with much inconvenience to himself.
To the allusion about Sinope, he had nothing to answer.
The phalanx had sent him, not to Sinope, but in the com
mon phrase, to Coventry. What endeavours had been
used to make him odious to the public, and to his private
friends, all the world knew. Yet this Sinopian, this dog
of Athens, had not barked from his tub. Fie had violated
no principle, he had betrayed no secret, he had not at
tempted to come between the resolution and the act ; and
farther he had not to say. With regard to the noble per
son (the Duke of Portland), in whom the public had a
great interest, he should say nothing of his just character.
, The right honourable gentleman said he had known him
for sixteen years : he had known him for twenty-seven ;
and if, for obvious reasons, they had not lately acted much
together, he could say, that their friendship, if not im
proved, was not impaired. The public had a very great
interest in the character of that noble person; his public
virtues, the moderation of his sentiments, and the tem
perance of his private life, had made an impression which
.would not easily be obliterated.
To the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) he owed
much for instruction, for improvement, and example ; but

90 ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec. 28.
the moment he saw him countenancing the proceedings in
France, and approving their principles, no public con
nection could subsist between them, because they differed
systematically and fundamentally. He must say, that any
person who had seen the French business in the bud, and
who now saw it full blown and nurtured, and yet still
wished to maintain any connection between France and
this country, must, in every respect, meet with his eDtire
disapprobation. On the present occasion, those who
wished to support government, must support it systema
tically. If it should be requisite to carry on a war, where
could a systematical support be more necessary ? War was
itself a system, and for his part he had made up his mind
not to give to ministers a layer of support and a layer of
opposition, but to support them systematically. Any other
support would be treacherous, as it would only be given
to a particular measure by those who, at the same time,
were endeavouring to undermine the general credit and
character of ministry. If the present state of affairs was
such as to threaten not only this country but Europe, with
most serious dangers, it was necessary, in order to avert
those dangers, to adopt a system. The present bill was
itself a strong proof of such a state of affairs, as it origi
nated from circumstances which rendered it necessary to
give additional power to the executive government. The
strong measure which ministers had been obliged to adopt
sufficiently proved the exigence of the crisis ; and the bill
itself formed part of a systematical support. For his part,
he gave credit to ministers for not meaning to betray their
master, for not joining with foreign and domestic factions
to subvert the constitution. Fie gave them credit for
knowing more facts, from the opportunities afforded by
their official situation, than those who had not the same
advantage ; and therefore, he believed, that in the inform
ation which they had given of the danger of the country,
they had not put upon the House a designed imposition.
Fie would not say that he could not find other ministers
more agreeable to his inclination ; he should wish to see

I792-] ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. 91
that noble personage whom he had mentioned occupy a
distinguished situation in the ministry; but he doubted
whether any minister could be found more in the confi
dence of the crown ; which, in the present moment, he
considered as a very material point. In a time of war, it
was likewise very necessary that ministers should be sup
ported by the House of Commons, and possess the confi
dence of the people; two advantages which the present
ministry enjoyed in a very eminent degree. In speaking
of the necessity of pursuing a system upon the present oc
casion, he would remark, that no country had ever acted
so much upon a system as that which we were now called
npon to oppose. He would here speak of two great cha
racters, both of the most distinguished abilities, one of
whom (Mr. Fox), as having been twice secretary of state
for foreign affairs, had a claim to the character of a states
man, and would certainly have proved himself a great one,
even if he had never been placed in any official situation.
The subject upon which that right honourable gentleman
had said much, was France, whieh had lately appeared in
a new and dangerous light ; and on this subject he had
certainly made use of a language very different from the
policy of our forefathers. France had always been consi
dered as the natural enemy of this country ; it was the only
nation from which we had any thing to fear, and in this
point of view was always to be considered as an object of
jealousy and precaution. It was the former policy of this
country to maintain a balance of power in opposition to
France." With this view it was that they made the old
alliance with the House of Burgundy, to which formerly
belonged the seventeen provinces, which at present form
the republic of the United Provinces, and the Austrian
Netherlands. With these provinces, in whatever hands
they were, it had been invariably the policy of England to
be connected, as furnishing the means of an effectual re
sistance to the power of France ; and for this reason we had
always made it a point to prevent even the Emperor to dis
pose of such of them as belonged to him tetany other state.

92 ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec. 28.
Since the extinction of the house of Burgundy in the male
line, and the dismemberment of its possessions, the house
of Austria had always been considered as the natural ally
of England, because it was the only one capable of making
head against the enormous power of France. During the
reign of Joseph the Second, whose unaccountable disposi
tion was not favourable to England, an alliance was formed
with Prussia. ¦„.
How much, then, musfhe be surprised, when he heard
a great statesman declare that he rejoiced in the defeat of
the Emperor and the King of Prussia — the Emperor, th.e
ally of this country — the King of Prussia, connected with
it by marriage and by treaty. This, indeed, was a total
deviation from the policy of our ancestors — nay, when
this great statesman required ministers to interfere to pre
vent the Duke of Brunswick from entering France, and to
join with our natural enemies against our allies and friends.
There never were more solid, more substantial, more con
vincing reasons given for attacking any country, than those
given in the manifesto which preceded the attack of the
combined armies. The battle of Jamappe the right ho
nourable gentleman had stiled " a glorious victory" — that
victory by which France had become mistress of Holland !
by which she had obtained possession of the Scheldt, which
might now be the occasion of going to war ! this glorious
victory, in his opinion, was a calamitous defeat to this
country. And why was all this exultation expressed?
Because those, truly, who were combined against France
were despots, and because France itself was a republic.
It was indeed a new language, to call the friends and allies
of this country despots. But here he begged leave to tell
a short story : A very singular parrot was brought to
Prince Maurice, which had acquired the gift of language.
The prince asked where it lived — it mentioned the place.
What was its business — it replied, to call together the
chickens, and I do it very well — chuck, chuck, chuck
(imitating the cry employed to call chickens.) Now, he
must own he considered the parrot that could call together

I792'] ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. 93
the chickens, as a much greater statesman than the parrot
that could only call out, fool, cuckold, and knave. As to
the rejoicing at the success of the French republic, the li
berty with which it was attended afforded certainly no great
ground for exultation. It was a liberty without property^
without honour, without morals, without order, without
government, without security of life. In order to gain
liberty they had forfeited order, and had thus forfeited
every degeee of freedom. They had violated the law of
nations by a decree, declaring war against all govern
ments, and forcing those countries, into which their armies
should enter, to form a constitution similar to their own.
In talking of the English nation, they talked of the sove
reignty of the people : the constitution of this country
knew no such sovereignty ; the king was sovereign of the '
. Lords and of the Commons : the King, Lords, and Com
mons, were the representatives of the country at home;
the king was its only representative abroad. They talked
of the nation t we knew of no nation as a distinct body
from the representative powers. We talked indeed of the
people, but the sovereignty of the people was a phrase not
recognised by law, and inconsistent with our constitution.
Mr. Burke then animadverted at some length on the de
cree made by the National Convention upon the report of
M. Cambon. The decree was preceded by a curious de
claration. " The National Convention, after having
heard the report of the United Committees of finance,
war, and diplomacy, faithful to the principles of the so
vereignty of the people, which will not permit them to
acknowledge any institution derogatory from it," &c. —
Here, Mr. Burke insisted, was a direct denunciation of
war against Great Britain. The National Convention will
not acknowledge any institution derogatory from the so
vereignty of the people. The decree contained twelve ar-
ticlesj the first evinced the intentions of the National Con-
Tention, " to abolish all taxes, nobility, and every privi-:
lege; to declare to the inhabitants of all countries, that
.they bring with them peace, succour, fraternity." The

94 ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec 28.
system of fraternizing was to be propagated by the sword,
and if any nation wished to adhere to its old maxims, these
regenerators were to cram this fraternity down their throats,
and to force them to swallow the dose, however nauseous it
might be to them. The fourth article authorised the re
public to seize all goods belonging to the treasury, the
prince, his favourers, adherents, or satellites. A pretty
ample word of confiscation the last was ! The sixth article
appointed commissioners to fraternize the conquered na
tion. The seventh provided for the payment of the
expences incurred by the republic, in giving fraternity to
any nation. This sufficiently evinced the resolution of the
French not to fraternize mankind gratis. Under the pre
text of giving full liberty to those people, they sent their
commissioners to take care that the decree should be ful
filled; and authorised the levying of contributions, in
order to defray their own expences ; thus exhibiting a more
arbitrary and oppressive conduct, even than those whom
they affected to call despots, who had on several occasions
respected the constitution of those cities which they had in
vaded, and who had left the different classes of citizens in
possession of their privileges.
But he should now read to the House, a paper in which
this country was still more deeply interested. Mr. Burke
then proceeded to read a translation of the report of the
French minister, on the situation of France with respect
to England. Upon that passage which mentions the reci
procity of good dispositions between the people of the two
nations, he remarked that this was a serious fact which de
served to be attended to. This report, he observed,
mentions agents not acknowledged by the court, whom
they kept in England : there was one minister whom he
knew, M. Chauvelin, who had been minister from the
King of France, but who consequently was not now acknow
ledged. With respect to the ministers having had com
munications with any such agents, it might be necessary,
from political causes, for ministers to have communications
with the worst characters ; but surely that these agents were

I792'] ALIEN BILL — .FRENCH REVOLUTION. 95
numerous, was matter of serious alarm, as long as the na
ture of their mission, and the purposes for which they were
employed, remained unknown. What answer does the
French minister give to the arguments employed by our
court against the opening of the Scheldt ? Their answer is
founded on the rights of nature and on the principles of
justice and liberty, which the French nation have conse
crated : the only consecration, he remarked, which they
had made. When our ministers alleged the positive en
gagements of treaty, it was replied, that treaties extorted
by avarice and consented to by despotism, were no longer
binding. So, by this means they got rid of the law of na
tions, and the obligation of treaties. . On the passage
which relates to their intention of making a solemn appeal
to the English nation, he remarked that they passed by
the king, the only representative which this country knew
in its transactions with foreign powers. This was exactly
conformable to the spirit of their decree of the 19th of
December, which had a direct tendency to excite rebellion
among the subjects of every government. The conduct of
the French, he remarked, in levying contributions on
those people whom they had deprived of all their privileges,
under pretext of defraying their own expences, resembled
that of an attorney who should bring in a bill of costs
after he had stripped his client of all his property. From
this account of expences, he trusted they would deduct the
thousand pair of shoes which had been sent them from
England as a first subsidy, from those who wished to adopt
their constitution in this country. The French when they
were slaves had wooden shoes — now that they were free
they had no shoes at all. The liberality of their English
friends however promised to supply the defect. He defied
any one to mention instances of such excesses under any
despotism in so short a space of time, as had taken place
under this new government of French freedom. During
thirty years of the reign of the Empress of Russia, there
had not been committed so many cruelties as had been per
petrated in France within one week. No such instances
¦ 16

p6 ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec. 28.
of arbitrary imprisonment had occurred under the reign of
the King of Prussia, as might be found in the transactions
of every French municipality. Every man's house was his
bastile, and nothing in the old government could be found
to equal the atrocity of those proceedings, which had
taken place under the sanction of the new government of
French freedom.
Mr. Burke next adverted to the system of atheism, as
now avowed in France. To prove this, he quoted several
passages from a speech of one Jacob Dupont, to the na
tional convention, in which he denied athe existence of a
God, and declared that the people would never be tho
roughly ripe for the " holy doctrine of insurrection and op
position to tyranny, if in the primary schools the rising
generation should be taught any thing about God. He
concluded, that the Christian religion being a monarchical
one, preaching subjection and obedience to God, ought not
to be suffered in a republic ; and that all the altars raised
to religion, and to the Almighty, ought to be overturned,
and none suffered to exist in France, but the sacred altar
of liberty." Some murmurs being heard in the assembly,
on account of this abominable doctrine, they were drowaied
by the loud applauses of the majority of the members. This
daring man observed, that some people might imagine that
a priest was useful to a man in his last moments; this however
he denied ; and to such he pointed out the example of Con-
dorcet closing the eyes of d'Alembert ; in other words, one
atheist closing the eyes of another. He said that the brave
Marseillois would not have been so well qualified for the
glorious deeds of the ioth of 'August, if they had had the
weakness to believe in the existence of a God. The man
who had. uttered these blasphemies, so far from having
been disavowed by the assembly, was appointed one of a
committee instituted for the purpose of drawing up a
plan of national education ; and the only difference of opi
nion among the members was, which plan would be most
economical, that which proscribed the existence of a God,
or that which admitted it. Mr. Burke described the be-

I7920 ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. 97
nefits which society in general derived from the morality
founded upon the belief of the existence of a God, and
the comforts which individuals felt in leaving this world,
in the hope of enjoying happiness in the next. He men
tioned the church of St. Genevieve at Paris, one of the
finest buildings in the world, which was now called the
French Pantheon, because all the statues of the ancient
gods and heroes of antiquity were to be taken from Rome,
and deposited in that famous temple ; there strangers from
all quarters were to be instructed in the best mode of de
stroying the government and religion of their respective
countries ; there they were to be taught how to lead men on
imperceptibly from crime to crime, from murder to mur
der. The philosophers of old used to apply the origin of
every thing to God — a Jove principium. But the modern
French philosophers would begin by saying, that every
thing had been made by nothing ; and that the idea of a
God was weak, childllh, and absurd, and unbecoming a
true republican. The trees of liberty were to be the only
altars before which the nations were to kneel.
" And all about old stockes and stubs of trees,
Whereon nor fruit nor leaf was ever seen,
Did hang upon the ragged rocky knees,
On which had many wretches hanged beene,
Whose carcases were scattered on the greene,
And throwne about the cliffs.
These trees of liberty, he doubted not, would soon be
without fruit or leaf; and it would be said, that on them
"" Had many wretches hanged beene." Thus, after having
brought so many calamities on individuals, they wished to
deprive them of their last consolation ; they wished to de
prive the pious and penitent of their sole refuge, and,, if
possible, to extinguish the idea, that there is a God who
will punish tyrants and oppressors, and who will reward
and comfort suffering virtue. Thus, after having made
men miserable in life, they wished also to make them des
pair in death, and consign them to all the horrors of a
vol. IV. H

98 ALIEN BILE  FRENCH REVOLUTION. [Dec. 28,
gloomy annihilation. Such were the principles upon
which they were to form their youth, and train them to
the commission of crimes, by taking away from them the
salutary restraints of religion ! For his part, he was de
termined to wage eternal war with such abominable prin
ciples, which would drive morality out of the world, and
cut asunder the bonds which unite man to man, and the
creature to his Creator.
Adverting, lastly, to the bill immediately before the
House, he said, he would give it his most cordial support,
as being calculated to keep out of England those murderous
atheists, who would pull down church and state ; religion
and God; morality and happiness. The extraordinary
power which it would give ministers was necessary, and
even proved that the people who gave it were free ; for if
the crown possessed such power in time of peace, it would
be too great for liberty ; and if they had not more in time
of war than was necessary in time <t>f peace, they would
not have enough for the public safety. Where the crown
had its power enlarged or diminished by the people,
according to times and circumstances, there the people
could not be justly said to live under despotism, but to
be perfectly free. It had been said, on a former occa
sion, that there were only nineteen persons at present in
the kingdom likely to be affected by the bill ; but when it
was considered that they were murderers and atheists, the
number might be said to be very great ; they exceeded by
many the whole of the royal family, whom they might
perhaps be commissioned to murder. Besides, they might
take apprentices to the trade of blood ; and then God only
could tell where their numbers would end ! The persons
by whom so many murders had been committed in France
never exceeded two hundred ; though their assistants and
abettors amounted to many thousands ; but those believed
that there was no God ; and therefore people ought not to
be at their ease because we had at present only nineteen of
them among us. He mentioned the circumstance of three
thousand daggers. having been bespoke at Birmingham by

I792-] ALIEN BILL — FRENCH REVOLUTION. gg
an Englishman, of wh^ch seventy had been delivered. It was
not ascertained how many of these were to be exported, and
how many were intended for home consumption [Here Mr.
Burke drew out a dagger which he had kept concealed, and
with much vehemence of action threw it on the floor.] This,
said he, pointing to the dagger, is what you are to gain by
an alliance with France : wherever their principles are in
troduced, their practice must follow. You must guard
against their principles ; you must proscribe their persons.
He then held the dagger up to public view, which he said
never could have been intended for fair and open war, but
solely for murderous purposes. It is my object, said he, to
keep the French infection from this country; their prin
ciples from our minds, and their daggers from our hearts.
I vote for this bill, because I consider it the means of saving
my hfe and all our lives, from the hands of assassins. I
vote for it, because it will break the abominable system
of the modern Pantheon, and prevent the introduction
of French principles and French daggers. When they
smile, I see blood trickling down their faces ; I see their
insidious purposes; I see that the object of all their ca
joling is — blood ! I now warn my countrymen to beware
of these execrable philosophers, whose only object it is to
destroy every thing that is good here, and to establish im
morality and murder by precept and example —
" Hie niger est hunc tu Romane caveto."

H 2

i oo king's message respecting thj£ [Feb. 1 2.

King's Message respecting the Declaration of
War by France,
February 12. 179.V
/"YN the nth of February, Mr. Secretary Dundas presented
^^^ the following Message from his majesty :
" G. R.
" His majesty thinks proper to acquaint the House of Com
mons, that the assembly now exercising the powers of govern
ment in France, have, without previous notice, directed acts
of hostility to be committed against the persons and property
of his majesty's subjects, in breach of the law of nations, and
of the most positive stipulations of treaty ; and have since, on
the most groundless pretences, actually declared war against
his majesty and the United Provinces. Under the circum
stances of this wanton and unprovoked aggression, his majesty
has taken the necessary steps to maintain the honour of his
crown, and to vindicate the rights of his people ; and his ma
jesty relies with confidence on the firm and effectual support of
the House of Commons, and on the zealous exertions of a
brave and loyal people, in prosecuting a just and necessary
war ; and in endeavouring, under the blessing of Providence,
to oppose an effectual barrier to the farther progress of a system
which .strikes at the security and peace of all independent na
tions, and is pursued in open defiance of every principle of mo
deration, good faith, humanity, and justice. — Tn a cause of
such general concern, his majesty has every reason to hope
for the cordial co-operation of those powers who are united
with his majesty by the ties of alliance, or who feel an interest
in preventing the extension of anarchy and confusion, and in
contributing to the security and tranquillity of Europe."
On the following day, Mr. Pitt entered into an examination
of the French declaration, and moved an address in answer to
his majesty's message. Mr. Fox opposed the address, and
moved the following amendment: — " That we learn, with the
utmost concern, that the assembly, who now exercise the pow
ers of government in France, have directed the commission of

*7930 declaration of war by france. ioi
acts of hostility against the persons and property of his majesty's
subjects, and that they have actually declared war against his
majesty and the United Provinces : that we humbly beg leave
to assure his majesty, that his majesty's faithful Commons will
exert themselves with the utmost zeal in tbe maintenance of
the honour of his majesty's crown, and the vindication of the
rights of his people ; and nothing shall be wanting on their part
that can contribute to that firm and effectual support which his
majesty has so much reason to expect from a brave and loyal
people, in repelling every hostile attempt against this country,
and in such other exertions as may be necessary to induce
France to consent to such terms of pacification as may be con
sistent with the honour of his majesty's crown, the security of
his allies, and the interests of his people *." After the amend
ment had been opposed by Mr. Secretary Dundas, and supported
by the Hon. P. C. Wyndham,
Mr. Burke rose. He began with declaring, that, in
his opinion, bis majesty's ministers had so clearly, so sa
tisfactorily, and so completely justified their conduct in
regard to the war, that he thought it unnecessary to add
any thing in vindication of that measure. So much, how
ever, had been thrown out, in the course of the speech of
the right honourable gentleman touching the acknowledged
policy and fundamental principles of that House, that,
notwithstanding the lateness of the hour and his own want
of strength, he had to request the attention of the House.
It must have occurred to a gentleman possessing such
clear, perceptive powers, as the right honourable gentle
man who moved the amendment, that an attempt to recon
cile discordant parts, and connect contradictory opinions,
served only to confound them.
The right honourable gentleman had, on a former occa
sion, lamented the smallness of his party, and it now
seemed as if that party endeavoured to make amends for
the smallness of their numbers by the discordancy of their

* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. v. p.* 7.
H 3

102 king's message respecting the [Feb. 12.
voices. He imagined some of them would find it difficult
to account for their conduct in opposing the measures of
ministers on the present critical occasion. In their cen
sures on France gentlemen had shewn a great deal of dex
terity; but it certainly had too much the appearance of
stratagem. The right honourable gentleman had com
plained bitterly of the misrepresentation of his expressions
in that Flouse. To him it appeared very extraordinary
how a person of talents, so clear, so powerful, and so per
spicuous, could possibly be misunderstood — how a person
who took so much pains by repetition, and going over the
same grounds again and again, to bring his superior pow
ers to the low level of the vulgar eye, could possibly be
subject to misrepresentation — how a gentleman, whose
friends out of doors neglected no human art to display his
talents to their utmost advantage, and to detail his speeches
to the public in such a manner, that he, though a close ob
server of the right honourable gentleman, had never been
able to recollect a single idea of his that had escaped the
industrious attention of his friends, while those of a rij>ht
honourable friend of his (Mr. Windham), whose abilities
were equal to his virtues, were so mangled and so confused,
in the reports that were made of them, as to be utterly un
intelligible to the public. That the right honourable gen
tleman should be misrepresented or misunderstood, under
such circumstances, was hard indeed. The ripht honour
able gentleman had said, that he hoped he was not reputed
an advocate for France. To this he would say, that if the
cause of France was an honest cause, it was justice to
this country, and to mankind, to undertake her defence.
The true skill of an advocate was, to put forward the
strong part of his client's case, and gloss over or hide the
weak; to exhibit all its right in the brightest point of view,
and palliate the wrong ; when he could no longer palliate,
to contrive that the punishment should be as slight as pos-
-sible, or to bring his writ of error, and by every quirk
evade it as well as he could ; and no man possessed that
power in a greater degree than the right honourable gen-
16

I793>] declaration of war by France. J03
tleman. To his speeches he always attended with admir
ation and respect. That which he had just heard he could
not help estimating less highly, seeing that he had read
every part of it in Brissot's speeches in the National Con
vention, one part only excepted, and that was the part
in which the right honourable gentleman had asserted,
" that France had used every means to conciliate the re
gards and good will of Great Britain."
The right honourable gentleman had taken great pains
to acquit himself, and apologise for his vehement en
deavours to exculpate France from the charge of aggression.
He professed that he was almost at a loss to see what it was
that made him so prompt to exculpation. If France meant
nothing but what was right, and England nothing but what
was wrong, he certainly owed no apology for the part he
had taken in her cause. But to take the right honourable
gentleman's speech in a serious view, it insinuated that the
charge of the French was, that the king of Great Britain
had determined on war against the sense of his ministers,
against the sense of the parliament, and against the sense
of the people, in order to augment his own povi«er. If
this was the case, ministers had betrayed their country by
their acquiescence, and it was the duty of the House to ad
dress the king to remove them, and put into their places
those whom they thought more fit for advice, more fit to
do the duty of a minister, and more likely to possess the
confidence of the nation, if such there were.
The right honourable gentleman had contended, that
when ministers brought the nation into a war, they should
declare how they intended to prosecute it, to what length
they intended to carry it, and what the object of it was.
For his part, he had never heard or read of any such prin
ciple, or of any such practice. The first question he
conceived to be, *was, whether there was just cause or foun
dation for the war ? The second, how it should it be carried
on to the greatest effect? He said, that in no instance
whatever had any power, at the commencement of a war,
declared what period was intended to end it, what means
H 4

104 king's message respecting the [Feb, it-
to carry it on, or what the object of it was. It was con
trary to the policy of this and every other country ; it was
never heard of. In this, and in every case of the kind,
the common object of the alliance should be pursued to
gain the grand end. War had been declared by the
French ; but they had not declared that they did not in
tend the ruin, the destruction, and total subversion of this
country and every establishment in it. Was it pretended
that they had done, in declaring war, that which gentle
men had prescribed as the duty of this country ? No ; they
declared war with the professed intention to bring it, in the
most formidable shape, attended with insurrection and
anarchy, into the bowels of this country, to strike at the
head of the Stadtholder, and to put no limits to their views
in the war; while gentlemen would have Britain cramped
and tied by a premature declaration of her object.
As to the sentiments of the right honourable gentleman
respecting the declaration of a specific object of the war,
as well as the delicacy of interfering in the internal go
vernment of France, were they adopted by the House,
this should be their language — " France ! you have en
deavoured to destroy the repose of all the countries of
Europe, and particularly of England : you have reduced
your own country to anarchy and ruin, and murdered your
king ; nevertheless, you may be assured, that, however
horrible your crimes, though to the murder of your king
you should add that of his infant son, his unfortunate
queen and sister, and the whole remains of his family, not
one hair of your heads shall be hurt. You may war against
us, threaten us with destruction, and bring ruin to our
very doors ; yet shall you not be injured." Was ever, he
exclaimed, such a declaration made in such circumstances ?
Much pains had been taken by the right honourable gen
tleman to make light of the power of France, and to
persuade the House that there was nothing to be feared from
it. He would answer this by shewing what the right ho
nourable gentleman had said on a former occasion. Here
Mr. Burke began to read a part of a speech spoken hy

1 793.] DECLARATION OF WAR BY FRANCE. 10$
Mr. Fox on the commercial treaty, strongly demonstrative
of the necessity of keeping down the overgrown power of
France — [The Speaker called Mr. Burke to order; it be
ing disorderly to read any debate on a former occasion.
Mr. Burke said he would beg leave to read from a pamph
let in his hand. The House called Read ! read ! Here
he read from a speech of Mr. Fox, that the effect of all
our wars had been carried on with a view to repress the
power of France, and to support all the other powers of
Europe against her ; that France only changed her means,
but that her ends were ever the same. — The Speaker
again interrepted Mr. Burke, and requested that he would
abstain from reading, as he knew it was against the orders
of the House.] Mr. Burke said he could not but lament
that the rules of the House sometimes weakened the force
of argument ; but he considered order to be so far more
necessary than argument, that he would willingly forego
the latter to maintain the former. To return, therefore,
to his argument, without the conclusive aid he should de
rive from the right honourable gentleman's own language,
in the book in his hand, he contended, that the whole
body of policy of this country for ages was, that whatever
country was the enemy of France was naturally the ally
of Great Britain. If that opinion was founded in true
policy before the Revolution, what reason was there to
alter that opinion since ? If the new Republic has shewn
no disposition to increase her dominions, if she has not
annexed Savoy, Avignon, Liege, Nice, &c, to her ter
ritorial possessions, if she has not declared war against all
subsisting governments, and confiscated the properties of
all corporations, if she has not held out the mask of con
fraternity as a signal and temptation to rebellion in all
countries, but particularly in England, then statesman have
a right to change their opinions and systems of policy with
respect to her.
Unlimited monarchy, the right honourable gentleman
had said, was the object against which France directed the
shafts of her enmity. But he would be glad to know
whether gentlemen would pretend to say that she was a

106 king's message respecting the [Feb. 12.
friend to limited monarchy. No ; she was an enemy to
limited monarchy, as monarchy, and to the limitation, as
limitation. The aristocracy of this country, all corpor
ations, all bodies, whether civil or ecclesiastic, were the
objects of her .enmity. She shewed the most determinate
malice, in the most express terms, against all parts of the
British government, equally to those that limit as those
that would extend monarchy ; not to this or to that, but
to the whole. If conquered by Louis XVI., we might be
sure of our established forms being unmolested ; but if by
republican France, of total extinction. Gentlemen had,
with much pertinacity, asked, " Have you demanded satis
faction for this ?" This, he contended, was all an error,
either of misconception or of will. The acts of France
were acts of hostility to this country ; her whole system,
every speech, every decree, every act, bespoke an inten
tion preclusive of accommodation. No man, he would
venture to say, had a more lively sense of the importance
of the question before the House, or of the evils of war,
than himself. A war with France, under such circum
stances as now governed her conduct, must be terrible, but
peace much more so. A nation that had abandoned all
its valuable distinctions, arts, sciences, religion, law, order,
every thing but the sword, was most formidable and dread
ful to all nations composed of citizens who only used sol
diers as a defence ; as such, France should be resisted with
spirit and temper, without fear or scruple. In a case of
such importance to this country and to mankind, as the
present was, gentlemen should examine whether they had
any sinister motive, as if in the Divine presence, and act
upon the pure result of such examination.
He declared he had no hesitation to pronounce, as if
before that presence, that ministers had not precipitated
the nation into a war, but were brought into it by over
ruling necessity. I possess, said he, as deep a sense of the
severe inflictions of war as any man can possibly do 
" Trembling I touch it, but with honest zeal."
I always held it as one of the last of evils, and wish only to

1 793-] DECLARATION OF WAR BY FRANCE. 1 07
adopt it now from the conviction that at no distant period
we shall be obliged to encounter it at much greater disad
vantage. For four years past it has grieved me to the soul,
it has almost reduced me to death, when I observed how
things were going on, and felt my utmost exertions unable
to produce upon the government of the country, or in the
public mind, a conviction of the danger that approached
them. At length the infatuation was removed — ministers
awoke to the peril that menaced them\ere it was too late ;
and our enemies, finding those arts fail in which they so
much confided, are reduced to attack us -in open war, and
have declared against us. He should therefore give ministers
his clear, steady, uniform, unequivocal support; not as
some gentlemen did, pretend support on one day, to lessen
their authority, impair tlieir power, and obstruct their plans
. on another, but in the fullest manner he could. If any
blame was to be laid to the share of ministers, it was that
of too long delay ; but if from that delay any accident should
arise from want of timely precaution, he would acquit them
of it ; knowing, as he did, that it was not possible for them,
with prudence, to do otherwise ; for had they done it at an
earlier period they would not have been supported. In his
opposition to the views and proceedings of France, for two
years, he was convinced he had not the feelings of the na
tion ; nor was it till full-blown mischief had alarmed the
people and roused the king, that the government could have
a proper support. For his part, he thought himself bound
in honour to support ministers; and, if bound to support
them, certainly to oppose those who acted adversely to them.
From such men — men who could neither vindicate the
principles nor deny the power of France, yet impeded the
measures taken to secure us against that power — he dif
fered fundamentally and essentially, in every principle of
morals, in every principle of manners, in sentiment, in
disposition, and in taste.
France, he said, had for some time been guilty of a con
tinued series of hostile acts against this country, both ex
ternal and internal : first, she directed her pursuits to uni-

108 KING'S MESSAGE RESPECTING THE [Feb.I2»
versal empire, under the name of fraternity, in order to
overturn the fabric of our laws and government ; next, she
invented a new law of nations, subsidiary to that intention;
then she acted on that law. Next, she had directed the
principal operations of that law to Great Britain; and
lastly, she had established a horrible tyranny within her
self, chased every honest person out of her territory, held
out temptations the most seductive to the unenlightened
lower orders of all countries, and furnished instruments
for the overthrow of their government. The putting the
King of France to death was done, not as an example to
France, not to extinguish the race, not to put an end to
monarchy, but as a terror to monarchs, and particularly
to the monarch of Great Britain. This newly-created em
pire of theirs, Mr. Burke said, was only secondary to the
accomplishment of their plans for the overthrow of all go
vernments. This had been professed out of the mouth of
their minister Cambon. He had declared, that the limits
of their empire should be those that nature had set, not
those of justice and reason ; that was to say, the sea on
one side, and the Alps and the Rhine on the other, to
gether with a large cut of the Appenines — and all for the
benefit of mankind, of liberty and equality ! Should we be
deterred by our wealth from resisting these outrages ? They
directed their invectives and reproaches more at England
than any other country. They executed their unhappy,
innocent monarch, whom they well knew to be no tyrant,
principally, as they 'alleged, by way of warning to all
other tyrants, and an example to all other nations. Even
a few hours after the execution of Louis XVI. their mi
nister of justice, Garat, addressing the Convention, said,
" We have now thrown down the gauntlet to all tyrants 
wliich gauntlet is the head of a tyrant." Mr. Burke next
read the declaration of the members who voted for the death
of the king, some saying, " the tree of liberty could not
flourish till sprinkled with the blood of tyrants;" others
declaring, « that kings were no longer useful but in thek
deaths," &c

1793*] DECLARATION OF WAR BY FRANCE. 109
Some gentlemen had asserted, that if Lord Gower had
been left at Paris, or another ambassador had been sent in
his place, the unhappy fate of the King of France might
have been prevented. This, he said, was answered by the
fate of the King /of Spain's ambassador, who had made, at
the desire of his court, a requisition, but was refused. The
murder of the king was intended only as a step to the
murder of the other kings of Europe ; for they had declared,
that no monarchical country could have alliance with them :
this, too, at the very moment that they were affecting to
conciliate and explain away the decree of the 19th of No
vember. War to the palace, and peace to the cottage,
was the plan of their new system : wherever their power
extended, they put the poor to judge upon the life and
property of the rich ; they formed a corps of desertion, a
corps of assassination, and gave a pension to the wife and
children of the assassin that was put to death for attempting
to murder the King of Prussia. They declared all treaties
with despots void ; they were outlaws of humanity, an un-
communicable people, who acknowledged no God but the
sacred right of insurrection, no law but the sovereignty
of the people ; nor had they any judges but sans culottes,
whom they made arbiters of the lives and properties of
all. As to the rights of the poor, he hoped he understood
them as well as the right honourable gentleman ; the riches
of the rich were held in trust for the poor ; this the com
mon people little understood, nor could they be made to
understand it, if people held out false communications to
corrupt them. Here he read a part of a letter from Du-
mourier, general of the bare-breeched corps, to Anacharsis
Cloots, orator of the naked posteriors. In this letter, after
describing the blessings of atheism, and that which he
called liberty, he says, " these are the sweets of philo
sophy ! What pity it is that bayonets and cannon are the
necessary means of propagating it !" Atheism, Mr. Burke
said, was the center from which ray emanated their mis
chiefs and villanies, and they proceeded to establish it with
the sword.

no king's MESSAGE, &c. [Feb. 12.
He readily allowed that this was the most dangerous war
we were ever engao-ed in ; that we had to contend with a
set of men now enured to warfare, and led on by enthu
siasm and the ardour of conquest to such a degree, that
they bartered the arts, commerce, industry, manufactures,
and civilization itself, for the sword. The alliances we
had it in our power to form, gave us, however, a good
prospect of subduing them ; whereas, were they allowed to
proceed, we might singly and in tbe end become their easy
prey. He then recited a variety of instances in which the
French manifested the most envious and malignant dispo
sition towards this country, and left no effort untried to do
it every possible mischief. He read from the Moniteur an
account of the meeting of the English Friends of the People
in Paris ; their address to the National Convention ; with
then fraternal reception, and their toasts after dinner. Of
the latter, one was, the health of Citizens Fox, Mackin
tosh, Sheridan, Paine, Barlow, and the other friends of
liberty who have enlightened the people of England.
Should we be deterred by our wealth from resisting these
outrages ? What ! exclaimed Mr. Burke, shall we live in
a temporary, abject state of timid ease, to fatten ourselves
like swine to be killed to-morrow, and to become the easier
prey to our enemies ? No ; God forbid ! If we have the
spirit that has ever distinguished Britons, that very wealth
will be our strength — with it we shall be more than a
match for their blind fury. With regard to the means
the French have of carrying on the war, the plan of supply
they had proposed was worthy of attention. Their mi
nister stated that the country had been purged of 70,000
men of property, all whose effects were to be confiscated,
to the amount of 200 million sterling. Thus, like a band
of robbers in a cave, they were reckoning the strength of
their plunder. He said that they had two terms for raising
supplies — confiscation and loan. The common people
were relieved by confiscation of the property of the rich ;
and they reckoned on the confiscation of property in every
country they entered, with the brotherly intent of frater-

1 793*3 MR. FOX'S RESOLUTIONS, &C Ill
nizing, as a sufficient supply for their exigencies in that
country, and their resource for making war; thus they
made war supply them with plunder, and plunder with the
means of war.
The right honourable gentleman had spoken with some
asperity of an intention in ministers to restore the ancient
government of France. He would not compare that go
vernment with the government of Great Britain ; but certain
it was, that it would be felicity and comfort, compared to the
present state of tyranny exercised in France ; for the very
same papers out of which he had read the preceding ex
tracts; contained the melancholy account, that thirty thou
sand manufacturers were perishing for want in Lyons alone.
Thus their enormities had produced misery ; their misery
would drive them to despair; and out of that despair they
would look for a remedy in the destruction of all other
countries, and particularly that of Great Britain.
Mr. Fox's amendment was negatived, and the original ad
dress agreed to.

Mr. Fox's Resolutions against the War with
France.
February 18.
'""PHIS day Mr. Fox called the attention of tbe House to the
subject of the war with France, and concluded his speech
upon this occasion *, with moving the following Resolutions :
i. " That it is not for the honour or interest of Great Britain
to make war upon France on account of the internal circum
stances of that country, for the purpose either of suppressing
or punishing any opinions and principles, however pernicious in
their tendency, which may prevail there, or of establishing
among the French people any particular form of government.
* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. v. p. 38.

112 MR. fox's resolutions against [Feb. 1 8.
z. That the particular complaints which have been stated
against the conduct of the French government are not of a na
ture to justify -war in the first instance, without having at
tempted to obtain redress by negociation. 3. That it appears
to this House, that in the late negociation between his ma
jesty's ministers and the agents of the French government, the
said ministers did not take such measures as were likely to
procure redress, without a rupture, for the grievances of which
they complained ; and particularly that they never stated dis
tinctly to the French government any terms and conditions,
the accession to which, on the part of France, would induce his
majesty to persevere in a system of neutrality. 4. That it does
not appear that tbe security of Europe, and the rights of inde
pendent nations, which had been stated as grounds of war
against France, have been attended to by his majesty's mini
sters in the case of Poland, in the invasion of which unhappy
country, both in the last year, and more recently, the most
open contempt of the law of nations, and the most unjustifiable
spirit of aggrandizement has been manifested, without- having
produced, as far as appears to this House, any remonstrance
from his majesty's ministers. 5. That it is the duty of his ma
jesty's ministers, in the present crisis, to advise his majesty
against entering into engagements which may prevent Great
Britain from making a separate peace, whenever the interests
of his majesty and his people may render such a measure ad
visable, or which may countenante an opinion in Europe, that
his majesty is acting in concert with other powers for the un
justifiable purpose of compelling the people of France to sub
mit to a form of government not approved by that nation."
As soon as the Resolutions had been read,
Mr. Burke rose. He said, that he thought no apology
was due by the right honourable gentleman who pre
ceded him, either to the House or to him, for fatiguing
them. For himself, he never was one of those who felt
pain in hearing the right honourable gentleman upon any
subject but One, and that was, the business now before the
House — French politics and French principles. Upon
any other topic, however disposed the right honourable gen
tleman might be to repeat what he had said before, being

1793*1 THE WAR WITH FRANCE. II3
a repetition of such excellent matter as always fell from the
right honourable gentleman, he should be delighted to hear
it — decies repetita placebit. The copy of such an excellent
original, though made for the hundredth time, must be re
ceived with pleasure. But when the right honourable gentle
man stooped to imitate wretched French daubers, he could
not receive such imitations, he confessed, with satisfaction.
He would rather see the copy of the right honourable gentle
man himself, though a thousand times repeated, than a
copy of such an original as Brissot ; and he would aver,
that there had not been an argument used, or a proposition
made that night, that had not been in the French papers de
clared to be such arguments and such propositions as would
be offered to that House. Whether this strange coinci
dence arose from accident, or whether the opinions he al
luded to were taken by Brissot and the right honourable
gentleman, one from the other, or grew out of one common
stock, he could not pronounce — the Flouse must judge.
The House, he said, had been that night treated by the
right honourable gentleman with much new matter. It
was the first time he had ever heard any gentleman, while
he was endeavouring to procure an address to his majesty
deprecating one war as an unjust one, offer grounds to the
House to induce them to enter upon a fresh war, on behalf of
a place in another and a remote part of the world. For his
part, he never thought Poland, nor did he conceive that she
was ever before considered, of sufficient consequence, or so
intimately connected with the interests of Great Britain, as
to induce us to undertake a war on her account. People, he
insisted, in all situations, but particularly nations, must, and
ever would have a predilection for their own safety. What
though the King of Prussia took Thorn aud Dantzic —
a circumstance that he by no means approved of —
and what though the Empress of Russia overturned the
government of Poland — which he declared he as little
approved of — yet those were not so near nor such pressing
concerns as that of France getting possession of the coun
tries she had done, and daily augmenting her power. Na.
VOL. iv. 1

114 mil fox's resolutions against [Feb. 1 8.
tions, he said, were not to sit like judges, to act with per
fect impartiality, to the exclusion of all ideas of self. Their
first duty was to take care of themselves ; and that of Eng
land particularly, was to have a watchful and jealous care
of the aggrandizement and encroaching movements of
France. France was near ; Prussia and Poland were dis
tant; and unless there were apprehensions of the injury to
Poland ultimately reaching England, there was nothing
that rendered it expedient for her to interfere. England
saw Sweden overturn the constitution of Poland ; she after
wards saw the Czar depose Stanislaus, and put Augustus
on the throne of that kingdom. In short, she saw various
revolutions in Poland, and ultimately a partition of it, and
never stirred a hand : nor did the right honourable gentle
man himself ever propose any interference, till the moment
that the hostile and dangerous proceedings in France called
for the whole force and energy of the country to be di
rected against her. This mode of acting, he said, was new
and unprecedented. When war was declared by France,
and every multiplied offence offered against Great Britain,
when every principle she adopted, and every act she did,
should be condemned and resisted ; to censure that resist
ance, to turn the attention of the House to a remote part
of the world, and neglect the balance of power at and near
home, was to him conduct most inexplicable.
The tendency of the resolutions proposed by the right
honourable gentleman, was, he thought, the most extraor
dinary ; it was to declare, that Great Britain was, through
out the whole transaction, wrong — and France in every
respect in the right. But that right honourable gentleman
seemed of late to have adopted a systematic way of thinking
upon this subject, and every act of France was, in his opi
nion, right and just — just when they overturned their
ancient government — just when they declared war against
Austria — just when they declared war against Prussia 
just when they entered Brabant as friends, and treated the
people as enemies — just when they planted the steril tree
of liberty in the steril soil of Savoy, and annexed it to their

1 7930 THE WAR WITH FRANCE. IIJ
dominions — just when, by getting possession of Geneva,
they controuled the power of Switzerland — just when they
took Liege and annexed it to their dominions ; and, lastly,
just when they insulted this country.
When gentlemen attempted to impress on the House an
idea, that England should not interfere with the internal
government of France, it would naturally occur, he said,
that reciprocity should be looked for : that is to say, that
France should not interfere in the internal government of
England. Was this the case ? No. Could any one read
the proceedings of the French convention, without seeing
that they granted indemnities for murder, lest the punish
ment for murder and assassination there should discou
rage a spirit of revolt in this country ? Did this, he asked,
look like intermeddling with the internal government of
England or not ? But the other day Danton had declared
in the convention, that they had thrown down a king's head
as a gauntlet to the kings of Europe ; and that the scaffolds
erected in Westminster-hall for the eternal trial of Mr,
Hastings, would serve for the ministers, and even — he
felt, he said, an almost insuperable objection to express it —
even for George himself ! If the punishment of ministers
was necessary, France should leave that punishment to our
selves ; and, by not presuming to interfere with us, teach us
not to interfere with her. When they passed the sentence
for the sacrilegious murder of the best of kings, some few
objected to the policy of the murder, and gave as their rea
son, that possibly it might put their friends in England
and Ireland out of humour with them, and prevent their
views on this country. Did not this look like an intention
of interfering with the internal policy of this country ?
Did this deserve the encomium lavished upon them by the
right honourable gentleman ? If he did not know the pu
rity of the right honourable gentleman's intentions, he
^should consider what he had said to be an encouragement
to France to proceed in her designs to promote insurrec
tion and anarchy in this country. 1 2

1 1 5 mr. fox's resolutions against [Feb. 1 8.
The right honourable gentleman had remarked, that in
supporting the ministers in this war, there were two parties,
each having a separate ground of reasoning ; one the malus
animus of France and the general internal disorder in that
country ; and the second, the actual aggressions, without
reference to' the other. He declared, that whatever opinion
he broached, or whatever he said or did, committed no one
but himself; he spoke only his own sentiments ; he took
from no one but himself; he acted on his own single
opinion. If he had stated the internal policy of France as
a ground for war, it did not preclude him from the right of
taking the aggression as a ground also. The House might
at one time reject that which necessity might afterwards
oblige it to adopt ; and it might yet be found expedient to
interfere in the internal government of France, by way of
retaliation. For his part, he considered them to be a gang
of robbers, and that they ought to be treated as such.
Gentlemen might cavil at the word ; but he still would re
peat it. As the pirate told Alexander, that it was only be
cause he had a greater army that he was not called a pirate
too, so they, he said, were robbers, but, under cover of
their numbers, lost their true distinguishing appellation.
His reasons he had given on many occasions, and he would
now give them again. His principal objection to France
was her internal situation, and her disposition to pull down
and destroy all states about her. So far from settling
a constitution, they had put all locality of constitution out
of the question ; and, instead of confining their views to
settle that of their own country, were for giving a constitu
tion of fraternity to all the world.
The right honourable gentleman had said, that the French
might perhaps be got by negociation to repeal the decree
of the 19th of November. But would the right honourable
gentleman presume to say, or could the House expect, that
they would repeal all the decrees and acts they had passed
since that time, every one of them confirming and following
up, in express terms, the spirit of that decree ? If they did,

1793'] THE WAR WITH FRANCE. 117
they must abrogate all their proceedings. The right hon
ourable gentleman had taken no notice of the decree of the
1 5th of December — not a word of that ! He, for his part,
conceived it to be a thousand times worse than the former
one ; for it went to subvert the whole state of onankind.
For this they had not even offered any satisfaction ; and
though they had declared war, and had pretended to assign
reasons for it, they had not declared any end they had in
view. For England, therefore, to declare hers, would be
to fight upon unequal terms — as if a man were to fight
with single rapier, or rather with shield alone, against
sword and shield. This doctrine, he insisted, though re
peated an hundred times, was still new, unprecedented,
and irrational.
For the right honourable gentleman to call the King of
Prussia a swindler, was, he thought, highly improper and
disrespectful, seeing that he was an ally of Great Britain.
France was in a different predicament, and, exclusive of her
enormities, was an enemy : besides, she had vilified the
king and constitution of England, and was therefore a fit
object for opprobrium. But to abuse the King of Prussia
was neither pohtic nor decorous. Indeed, the sans culottes
language seemed now to have become the bon ton. The
word despot was a new epithet in diplomatic language.
He reminded gentlemen, however, that this country had
made alliances with some of the greatest despots on the
earth : in treating, they never inquired what the characters
of the princes were with whom they treated : the only ques
tion they considered was, whether that prince could be use
ful in a confederacy against France? And this was the policy,
in order to keep down the aspiring ambition of that country.
The grand aUiance was formed to interfere with the internal
government of France, and to force Louis XIV. to call the
states general. In short, the arguments used by the right
honourable gentleman were such as, had they come from
any other person, he would not have troubled himself, or
taken up the time of the House, with answering. The
whole of them, with which the House had been surfeited,
1 3

1 1 8 MR. fox's resolutions against [Feb. 1 8.
were hashed up in a variety of ways, in every form that the
right honourable cook could think of, and crammed down
their throats. For his part, however skilfully they were
dressed, he wished rather to resort to plain British food,
and to go back to the grand alliance. He confessed, that
his taste was either too coarse or too refined for the medley
dished up of such diversified materials. He would prefer
infinitely a solid English dish ; a slice of good roast beef to
all the kick-shaws of France. Ministers, he wished it to
be considered, were not bound by what he said, he having
no connection with them. However, he trusted that he
could not be justly accused of rashness in any thing he had
offered. Of all men, an old man who had seen the vicissi
tudes of life should be most cautious of giving rash counsel.
It could not well be thought that a man so old as he was,
could have any personal gratification or interest in plung
ing his country into a war, merely to oppose " that Moun
tain Nymph, sweet Liberty." This Mr. Burke quoted in
allusion to the galleries of the National Convention, gene
rally called the Mountain.
This House, he said, had already, by a solemn vote,
given its fiat to the war ; and now the right honourable
gentleman called upon it to disavow the principles upon
which it had grounded that vote. For his part, he still
voted for war, and was insuperably averse to treating, and
he would give his reasons for it. In doing so he trusted
that the House would give him credit for the proofs which
he could, and would, if called upon, bring in confirmation
of what he should advance. And first, he contended, that
France was not at present in a communicable or nego-
ciable situation. She was in a state of anarchy ; for he
held it to be the very essence of anarchy, that no man
could answer for another, nor any race of men bind their
successors. Who, then, could we negociate with ? Not
with the provisionary executive council of France : their
very title shewed that they had not power to treat : they
had no power, either by delegation or usage. Like the
decemvirs of Rome, they were delegated to form a consti-
16

*793'-l THE WAR WITH FRANCE. I 19
tution, and refer the result of their proceedings to the
forty-eight thousand republics of France. He strongly
contended that there was no power constituted in France
that could treat, for they declared themselves to be un
alienable with other states. In every country in the world
there was some one man or body of men that were known
to have powers to treat — in France there was none.
Roland he had once before described as a factious traitor,
who had deceived the confidence of his king, and led him
on to ruin. Le Brun had risen to the rank of a minister
of state from being an obscure scribe at Liege ; afterwards
a journalist; from which station he was promoted to a
higher department in a newspaper. From Liege he was
driven with ignominy, to grace the senate and executive
administration of the French government. Roland was
surely not of consequence enough to take the whole go
vernment of France on himself. Le Brun was the son of a
Swiss porter, and he should conceive, not of that imposing
dignity to supply the place of all government. Condorcet,
though the most humane of all murderers, and Brissot,
the most virtuous of all pickpockets, were not of weight
enough, he thought, to assume the power. " We, there
fore," said Mr. Burke, " come to Citizen Egalite, alias
Orleans, and if you chose to treat with him, with all my
heart !" As to Dumourier, he could not answer for the
obedience of his army, relaxed and weakened as all go
vernment was ; therefore he was out of the question.
With regard to Chauvelin, his being received here was
the greatest instance of compassion to the unfortunate King
of France. The black ingratitude that marked the cha
racter of that man must procure for him the abhorrence of
every honest person living. His father was a servant of
the king's, and died one day suddenly while in attendance :
the king took the son, then only five years old, under his
protection, put him in his father's place, and reared him
up; and the return he had made him was to join the band of
wretches that afterwards murdered him. In short, upon a
minute examination of the conduct of the whole National
I 4

120 mr. fox's resolutions, &c. [Feb. 18.
Convention, he could not see one 'that was not stained by
the most infamous crimes. In the whole groupe, taking
Robespierre, Santerre, and all, the only man of any de
gree of honour among them was the hangman. This poor
fellow had some degree of feeling, from which his col
leagues were exempt : he had the spirit to refuse to execute
the king, though he was at no loss for deputies. Mr. Burke
then described the marked indignity offered to the King of
Naples in sending a common grenadier to demand an in
terview with him in his own palace, and the cavalier man
ner in which the low republican domineered over him.
This proceeding he represented as a marked insult upon all
the kings in Europe.
While gentlemen talked of negociation, he should be
glad to know which of them would go to France as am
bassador. He was sure the right honourable gentleman
would not ; he had too great a concern for his personal
feeling : but statesmen were often willing to send others on
a forlorn hope, on which they would not go themselves.
The right honourable gentleman had, with much flip
pancy, talked of the law of nations. He wished to know
on what law the French could be expected to treat ; they
had made a new law of nations of their own, and had pro
nounced all treaties between kings — or, as they called
them, despots — void.
Gentlemen, he said, who were so charmed with the
lights of this new philosophy, might say that age had ren
dered his eyes too dim to perceive the glorious blaze. But
old though he was, he saw well enough to distinguish that
it was not the light of heaven, but the light of rotten wood
and stinking fish — the gloomy sparkling of collected filth,
corruption, and putrefaction.
So have I seen, in larder dark,
Of veal a sparkling loin,
Replete with many a brilliant spark,
As sage philosophers remark,
At once both stink and shine.

i. 793-] ME- sheridan's motions &c. 121
Mr. Burke concluded with declaring it to be his fixed
opinion, that if we continued at peace with France, there
would not be ten years of stability in the government of
this country."
Mr. Fox's Resolutions were negatived on a division, by 279
against 44.

Mr. Sheridan's Motion rrlative to the Existence
of Seditious Practices in this Country.
March 4.
""THIS day Mr. Sheridan brought forward his promised mo
tion ; the object of which was, " That this House will,
upon this day sen'night, resolve itself into a committee of the
whole House, to consider of the seditious practices and insur
rections referred to in his majesty's speech at the opening of
the present session of parliament." After the motion had been
seconded by Mr. Lambton, opposed by Mr. Windham and the
Lord Mayor, and supported at considerable length by Mr. Fox,
Mr. Burke rose. He said, that as they were divided
into the alarmed and the alarmists, it was a great addition
to his alarm, to hear a great statesman advance principles,
which our government, and every rational society, totally
disclaimed. The right honourable gentleman had said, in
substance, that if a domestic faction was combined with a
foreign enemy, we must not declare war against the foreign
enemy, for fear of strengthening the domestic faction.
Very differently had our ancestors thought and acted at
the Revolution, in the reign of Queen Anne, of George
the First, and George the Second; at each of those pe
riods there were many persons at home dissatisfied with
the government, but that did not deter ministers from de-

122 mr. Sheridan's motion relative to [March 4.
daring war against France. To be deterred by any such
motive, would be to declare faction triumphant. To the
reverse of such policy was it owing that we had been able
to preserve our monarchy, our peers, and our commons.
Were we to wait till France could turn against us the force
of the countries she had conquered and pillaged ? for that
was her mode of making war. Till Dumourier had plun
dered the bank of Amsterdam, so intimately connected
with the bank of England, that they might be said to be
the same?
The honourable gentleman had opened his motion in a
style of gaiety which, in another person, might have been
thought to savour of malignity; but his arguments were
not very conclusive. If it was said that the ministers had
excited a false alarm, from their terrors of a parliamentary
reform, it might be asked, whence came those terrors?
Neither the honourable mover, nor his honourable friend
near him (Mr. Grey), though they were always talking of
reform, had ever made any motion on the subject. The
right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) had always declared,
that he had never seen any plan of reform of which he
thought so well as to propose it to the House ; and it was
not very candid in any man, who saw the subject in that
point of view, to be goading others to undertake it. The
minister had done more on the subject than any man in the
House — more than he thought it wise for any man to do.
He had twice moved it in parliament, and once got it re
commended from the throne ; the latter was a measure of
which he most pointedly disapproved, as tending to make
the people believe that they were not properly represented.
He had heard many motions for these reforms, and had
always opposed, but never dreaded them, while previous
steps were not taken to infuse into the people distrust and
contempt of their representatives. He said, he had ever
been and continued to be an enemy to a parliamentary re
form, because he thought that a proposition of the kind
was a mode of telling the people that they were not repre
sented, at a time when that House effected every object of

1 793-] THE EXISTENCE OF SEDITIOUS PRACTICES. I 23
representation, and answered all the purposes of good go
vernment; and he therefore conceived it to be a measure
that would endanger a main and essential part of the con
stitution of the country. Mr. Burke expressed a hope that
Mr. Grey had given up his intention of making a motion
respecting a reform in parliament, and presuming that either
that was the case, or that the honourable gentleman meant
to delay it for a while, he commended his prudence.
Whether something might not be done to correct unim
portant defects here or there, he neither knew nor cared,
while the general system was preserved entire ; and to that
he feared no danger from sober discussion in that House,
independent of factious combinations abroad.
The war, Mr. Burke said, gave no solid increase of
power to the minister.* By it he hazarded much more than
he could gain. He risked that which was the basis of his
popularity, his system of finance; and consequently had no
motives of personal interest for doing that late which he
ought to have done early. The victorious enemy whom
we had to engage (and sorry he was to say that they were
victorious) had long been connected with a faction at home,
whose object was to force us into an alliance with the
French, for the purpose of jointly propagating tlieir mis
chievous principles. To prove this, he read extracts from
the correspondence of the Revolution Society in 1791 with
twenty-seven Jacobin societies in France, and the names
of the members of the committee of correspondence for
that year, to shew that they were not men of mean station
or inconsiderable influence. Of the sentiments contained
in this correspondence, all adverse to the constitution, two
persons, not members of the society, had put their names
in testimony of approbation. These were Mr. Paine and
Dr. Priestley ; the former now a member of the French
Convention, and the latter, (his great services to philosophy,
politics, and religion not having been sufficiently rewarded
in this country,) had been honoured with the citizenship of
France, because he had declared hostility to the constitu
tion of England. When he knew that this had been going

1 24 MR. sheridan's motion relative to [March 4.
on for four years, was his alarm to be called a vain alarm ?
On the 1 8 th of November, a set of Englishmen at Paris
had presented an address to the Convention, imploring
their good offices in new modelling the British constitu
tion; and on the next day was passed the famous decree
for encouraging rebellion in every country. Another so
ciety had made a donation for carrying on the crusade of
French liberty, which the Convention was graciously pleased
to accept, and promise in return aid and protection to its
new subjects. He begged to disclaim such protection.
He would not have Dumourier, powerful as he thought
him, to protect the British constitution. He would trust
rather to our own ministers, were his opinion of them ten
times worse than it was. Messrs. Cooper and Watt had
presented an address, and carried the British colours in a
procession ; and on what occasion ? the most infamous that
ever disgraced the name of government. A set of soldiers
had been tried by a court martial, and condemned to the
gallies. These were fit men for the republicans of Paris.
They might be useful — though bad soldiers, they might
be good murderers. They were released in contempt of
the assembly then sitting, brought to Paris, and paraded
in triumph through the hall. On this detestable occasion,
Mr. Cooper and Mr. Watt carried the British colours.
They were locked in the fraternizing embrace. They re
ceived the fraternizing kiss. They went from the hall of
the assembly to the hall of the Jacobins, where they kissed
the bloody cheek of Marat, the iron cheek of Pluto in
stead of Proserpine.
What ardent transports through their bosoms ran,
Clasp'd in th' embraces of the godlike man !
At Manchester a subscription was opened for the widows
of the Marseillois who fell on the 10th of August. The
massacre of the 10th of August was never called by its
proper name ; the murders committed on that day which
murdered the constitution, were not murders, but acts of
national justice, of which all were emulous to share the

I793-] THE EXISTENCE OF SEDITIOUS PRACTICES. 12$
glory. When Brissot, Petion, and their party, had mur
dered or filled the prisons with their opponents, and ob
tained power for themselves, they became all of a sudden
great lovers of order ; but when another party that wished
to supplant them murdered these very prisoners, which
they were suffered to do unopposed, and were preparing to
remove the new men in power, as they had removed their
predecessors, then, and not till then, they exclaimed against
the massacre of September as a thing totally different from
the massacre of August, and in which the nation had no
part. What was murder in one month was not murder in
another. They reminded him of the directions in old al
manacks — in such a month let blood — in such another
take cooling physic. But the people were not quite so
nice in their distinctions as the Convention. When the
latter ordered that the murderers of September should be
prosecuted, the forty-eight sections came with an address,
and said " these murders were our act; they too were na
tional murders: we were all engaged in them: will you
prosecute eight hundred thousand people ?" They did not
ascribe these murders to the invasion of the Austrian and
Prussian armies, an excuse first invented for them in that
House; they said, that the persons murdered were aristo
crats, who had contrived to get themselves crowded into all
the prisons, from which, as from so many forts, they might
sally forth on the Jacobins, the first convenient opportu
nity. What would the honourable gentleman, who was
such a critic in plots, say to so well-devised a plot as this ?
Mr. Burke dwelt upon this topic for a considerable time,
enumerating the priests and the women that were mur
dered. Among these was the Princess of Lamballe. It
happened that her head was cut off, and it happened, that
next day M. Egalite got her jointure. [Mr. Fox, by
some gesture, expressed his disbelief of this. Mr. Burke
hastily asked, if it was untrue ? Mr. Fox said, certainly ;
but not more untrue than much of what he had stated be
sides. Mr. Burke said, he had stated nothing but on ac
curate inquiry, and with the proofs in his possession ; and

126 mr. sheridan's motion relative to [March 4.
any man that said his assertions were untrue, without con
futing them, and shewing how they were so, was a calum
niator. Mr. Fox called to order, and said, if the right
honourable gentleman meant to affront him personally, he
should do that elsewhere. With respect to his assertions,
six of them had been confuted in one day. Mr. Burke was
again going on with the same subject, when the Speaker
reminded him that it had no relation to the question before
the House.]
Mr. Burke continued. He said, the subject was not in
troduced into the debate by him. He could not bear
patiently attempts to pervert the English character by
apologies for murders. A newspaper, the Morning
Chronicle, in the month of November, attempted to apo
logize for those murders, as acts of substantial justice,
though shocking to humanity. Mr. Burke pursued his
subject in the way of question to Mr. Fox, and being again
called to order, adverted to Mr. Sheridan's charge of bad
taste for introducing the trick of a dagger on a former de
bate; whose manner, he said, seemed rather to be bor
rowed from his new connections, than to be the natural
growth of his old principles. He read a long letter from a
manufacturer at Birmingham, giving an account of the
order given by Dr. Maxwell for making daggers there, and
said, the only error he had committed in mentioning the
business before, was in stating that three thousand were
ordered, and seventy-two made ; whereas in fact ten thou
sand were ordered, and four thousand had been made.
He remarked on some publication by a Mr. Oswald, now
in Paris, who expressed his hopes that all government by
representation would soon be at an end, and that France
would be freed from the iron yoke of property. This
was now in agitation all over France. The old proprietors
were pretty well got rid of by murder or confiscation.
Those who had shared in the plunder were endeavouring
to make a stand, but they would soon be overpowered.
The sovereignty of the people was the most false, wicked,
and mischievous doctrine that ever could be preached to

1 793.] THE EXISTENCE OF SEDITIOUS PRACTICES. 1 27
them. It was false, because they had no means of exer
cising their sovereignty. And why was it broached?
Under a delusion, to strip them of their natural guardians,
to kill the shepherd and his dogs, and make way for the
wolves. If the majority of the public was to be taken not
by weight, but by tale, the most ignorant would elect, and
none but the crafty and the wicked would be elected. It
was said to be dangerous to introduce an opposition of in
terest between the rich and the poor. Was not this very
opposition now the question all over France and Flanders ?
The right honourable gentleman who warned the House of
this danger, said, the man who possessed no property had
as much interest in the constitution and good order of so
ciety as the man who did. True, an interest visible to
every well-informed man, but by no means so to the ig
norant. The moment that equality and the sovereignty of
the people was adopted as the rule of government, property
Would be at an end, and religion, morality, and law, which
grew out of property, would fall with it.
The right honourable gentleman had talked of deser
tions from the party of which he was the leader, from
weariness of travelling so long in the barren track of oppo
sition. The deserts of Arabia had no charms for these
deserters: but perhaps, if a caravan travelling through
these deserts should find that their leader, from passion or
obstinacy, had wandered from the right road, and that by.
following him they were in danger of being attacked by
some plundering sheik, they might be allowed to think a
little of their own safety, and take measures for securing
it, independent of the caravan bashaw. He could say for
himself, that he had deserted no party, and that of those
with whom he had been accustomed to act there was not
one that differed from him in opinion on the present state
of affairs, or disapproved of a single vote he had given in
the course of the present session. Those who had inci
dentally joined that party by the way had no claim upon
him. He had a high opinion of the right honourable
gentleman's abilities, but he could not submit his judgment

128 mr. sheridan's motion, &c. [March 4.
implicitly to the abilities of any man. The right honour
able gentleman had learned from Dr. Price that kings
might be cashiered, but seemed to forget that the leaders
of parties could do wrong. Yet if the leader should seem
to consider the party as made only for him, instead of con
sidering himself as but a part of it ; if he should adopt a
line of conduct without consent or consultation; if he
should make speeches and motions, as if he meant to say,
" you dislike what I did to day, I will do more to-morrow ;
if you disapprove of what I do to-morrow, worse awaits
you for the day after that ;" it might then be supposed that
the party was at liberty to leave him. Mr. Burke pursued
this allusion to a considerable length, tending to convey an
idea that Mr. Fox had acted during the present session
without consulting with his friends. Fears, the right ho
nourable gentleman said, had made a chancellor. In times
of difficulty and danger, those who saw the danger were
meritorious in accepting offices of trust and responsibility.
In such times every sacrifice to the public good must be
made by every good citizen. The right honourable gentle
man himself had sacrificed no interest to the value of a
cat's whisker. He was only sacrificing to the vilest idol
that ever was set up. Mr. Burke concluded with discussing
the difference between party and faction, and expressing
his entire disapprobation of the present motion.
The motion was negatived without a division.

*793<J traiterous correspondence bill. 129
Traiterous Correspondence Bill.
March 22.
TTIE House being this day in a committee on the " Bill for
more effectually preventing, during the war, all traiterous
correspondence with, or aid and assistance being given to, his
majesty's enemies,"
Mr. Burke rose in defence of the bill. He said he re
joiced that, in times of public emergency, the ministers and
the legislators of this country reverted to the salutary prin
ciples of our ancestors.. This was undoubtedly the best
mode of discharging their duty to the country ; and while
they adhered to this maxim, no person need apprehend
that the constitution would not be taken care of. The
present bill had, he said, been condemned with much acri
mony by the gentlemen who led the opposition phalanx ;
but although he had listened with the greatest attention,
he had not heard one argument which could prevail upon
him to alter his opinion, that the regulation now intro
duced was neither unwise nor unconstitutional. They had
been lavish of their censure, because they asserted that the
measure wanted precedent ; but, when they made this as
sertion, they did not recollect, or, what was almost the same
thing, they did not chuse to recollect, that in several periods
of our history similar precautions had been adopted by the
government for the time being. He would not overcharge
their memories with instances from remote times, but con
tent himself with producing one which occurred in the year
1688, when a happy Revolution took place in this country —
not a revolution stained with blood and infamy, as that lately
adopted in a neighbouring kingdom. To convince them
of what he now advanced, he affirmed, that the very next
chapter to the Bill of Rights contained an act empowering
King William to take up and imprison all suspected per-
VOL. IV. K

130 traiterous correspondence bill. [March 22.
sons. The people of those days, who were jealous of their
rights and liberties, were not heard to murmur against the
proceedings of government, but suffered the whole to pass
in silence, fully persuaded that they acted for the security
of the nation at large. The same policy was afterwards
adopted by the ministry who followed ; and their political
sagacity was much applauded. With regard to Whig and
Tory, if properly understood, he hoped that neither of
them could be considered as an enemy to the country. A
Whig was, in his opinion, a person who agreed to the
constitution of King, Lords, and Commons ; but who, on
any public misunderstanding, would adhere to the aristo
cracy and democracy of the country, rather than yield
to the monarchy. A Tory was a person who acted upon
a contrary principle, by favouring, on all occasions.
the prerogative of the crown. Those who believed that
the constitution was amply secure without the present bill,
argued on false principles. The constitution alone could
not defend itself. It required all the manly efforts of those
who were its guardians to repel every storm which menaced
its overthrow. No period had occurred in history more de
trimental to its vital principles than the present ; and go
vernment merited applause and gratitude in proportion to
their vigilance and activity.
Some gentlemen had condemned administration for their
remiss conduct ; but they ought to recollect, that a little
rest from the fatigues of business was at times requisite.
Sleep, the sister of death, was as necessary to the body po
litic as to the body natural. Sleep was a cessation of all
our faculties. It was a relaxation which infused into the
vital stamina a new portion of health and vigour, and
enabled all the members to exert their various functions
with a greater impulse and effect. I therefore rejoice, said
Mr. Burke, that ministers are aroused, and predict the
happiest consequences from their energy. From their re
solution and activity I anticipate the overthrow and hu
miliation of the enemy ; and have no doubt but that the
warmest congratulations will follow their enterprize and

1793'] TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. I3I
success. You are now at war with an enemy who lias
waged war with your constitution, and who has been but too
successful in establishing among you a dangerous domestic
faction. [Here there was an interruption of No ! no !]
Gentlemen may now deny the assertion, but at a future
period I will name them, to their confusion, though" not
to their shame. — Every kind of government, whatever
may be its organization or structure, implied and required
that a man should surrender part of his natural rights to
obtain those that belong to society ; in a word, that he
should forego part of his liberty for the security of the re
mainder. It was this social principle that induced men
to unite, and frequently to deprive themselves voluntarily
of their freedom, that made them submit to a temporary
inconvenience with the view of making it afterwards per
manent. Thus it was that in a siege it was found necessary
to stop all intercourse between the besieged and the be
siegers, to prevent all opportunity of desertion, and modes
of injurious communication. Under the pressure of certain
difficulties, it was usual to raise the draw-bridges, let
down the portcullises, and actually to imprison themselves
— their object being the ultimate preservation of their li
berties. The enemy of England appeared now at our
gate; and however contention may at times prevail be
tween parties aiming at power, or influenced by different
political opinions, this was a situation which admitted of
no disunion. Duinourier, in advancing into Holland at
the head of his barbarians, considered his acquisition in
complete, without carrying his constitution along with him.
Every civil or political restriction whatever that was new,
must appear a hardship upon an Englishman ; but those
restrictions were imposed to secure advantages of the great
est possible magnitude and importance. We had nothing
less to apprehend than slavery and submission to a foreign
yoke — the last of all calamities. He would wish Brutus
to submit to Caesar, or Cassar to yield to Brutus, rather
than that Rome should be subdued by any foreign con
queror. So it was with England. Any internal inconve-
k 2

132 TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. [March 22.
nience which might result from granting unusual power
to the ministers of the crown, even if badly exercised, was
infinitely preferable to the situation we must be in if Du-
mourier and his barbarians were to come amongst us, and,
with an appeal to the sans culottes, convoke primary assem
blies, to rob, and at the same time to legislate for the nation.
The present bill was neither contrary to reason, nor re
pugnant to law. A variety of instances might be adduced
to prove this assertion. It was no greater hardship on the
subject to say, you shall not aid or assist the common
enemy, than to say, you shall not keep tools or instruments
for coining in your possession. An act had been passed
prohibiting men from wearing publicly black masks, be
cause, under that disguise, many acts of outrage had been
committed. It might, Mr. Burke ludicrously observed,
be thought a scandalous act of oppression to prevent the
subjects from the enjoyment of a public masquerade — but
the state of the times rendered it necessary. It was need
less to go into a detail of the various prohibitory laws.
The whole history of the police contained explanations on
the subject.
Mr. Burke then took the opportunity of denouncing the
several clubs of France that had bestowed upon him such
marks of obloquy. This denunciation he considered as
an act of reciprocity, because they had been particularly
attentive to him. I should not, said he, be very glad to
see in this country the Visite Domiciliare. It is a very pretty
expression, but I confess I am not over zealous for its
practice. There again is the Tribunal Revolutionnaire,
which I never wish to see introduced here, however highly
the French republicans may extol the system. And last,
though not least, the Douce Fraternite. All which happy
assemblies I hope will be confined to France, and that no
attempt will be made to force them on the people of this
country. Mr. Burke proceeded to read from the Moniteur of the
1 7 th instant, the following extract from the speech of ci
tizen Ldsource in the Convention — « The moment is not

1 793.] TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. I33
yet arrived in which may be seen at the bar of the Revolu
tionary Tribunal, that Orestes of the British parliament,
the madman Burke, that insolent Lord Grenville, or that
plotter Pitt. But the moment is arrived, in which the
public have summoned them to the bar of their opinion.
The moment is arrived in which they are consigned to the
detestation of all nations, whose execrations and anathemas
they so richly deserve — Scourges of the earth, and vul
tures preying upon the vitals of the people, they have
failed not to scatter their crimes, and their gold, to distract
a nation which they despaired of being able to conquer.
Contented with her own liberties, France felt no wish of
carrying her arms beyond her frontiers, till she was pro
voked by unnecessary acts of aggression. Her anger is
now roused, and those against, whom it is directed, shall
feel the tremendous effects of it. The machinations of
these men are discovered. Their gold and their infamy
are scattered in vain. Let these conspirators against the
human race know this and tremble. We have swords, and
we have men to wield them. They have misrepresented
the independence of the French nation. They have inva
riably represented us as robbers and as cannibals. Soon
shall they be laid prostrate before the statue of Liberty,
from which they shall rise only to mount the scaffold that
awaits them, and to expiate, by their death, the evils iii
which they have involved the human race."
Mr. Burke made various comments on. this passage, and1
went on to observe, tfiat there was a considerable difference
between a well-tempered vigilance and watchfulness, which
calmly pointed out to an administration the errors of
their plans and the necessity of changing them, and the
frivolous, cavilling, vexatious, petulant opposition, which
thwarted every thing from obstinacy, peevishness, and
envy. Whether the conduct of certain gentlemen bore
a greater resemblance to the one or the other of these,
he would leave it to the country to judge. For his own
part, he would soberly, rationally, and firmly support a
war, which involved in its event the safety of the constitu-
* 3

I34 TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. [April 9.
tion ; conscious, that by entrusting a portion of discre
tionary power in his majesty's ministers — which he would
not withdraw till he saw it abused — security might be ob
tained ; which by with-holding it, would be lost.

April 9.
The bill was strongly opposed in all its stages by Mr. Fox,
and particularly this day, on the motion for the third reading.*
As soon as he had concluded,
Mr. Burke rose. He said that he was not surprised
the right honourable gentleman who spoke last should pre
dict a reply to what he had said, as he must think too well
of the House, as well as of himself, to suppose that he
should remain unanswered. What sort of answer he would
receive from others he could not take upon him to say ;
but for himself he would assert, that thpugh his answer
might be the weakest, it should certainly be the fairest.-
Infirmity might call for pity ; but his candour, he trusted,
would claim approbation. The right honourable gentle
man had confined his objections to two points ; the one
dilatory, the other peremptory. And first, as to the
dilatory, or the absence of a certain learned gentleman
(Mr. Erskine), he regretted, and the House must regret,
that the conflicting duties of that learned gentleman to
that House on the one hand, and bis clients on the other,
should have prevented him from affording assistance so
very material as his was to the present discussion. A loss
of such magnitude, he said, demanded something by way
of comfort, and that he would endeavour to afford them.
It must then, in the first place, comfort the House and
the right honourable gentleman, to reflect, that whatever
the discussion lost by the learned gentleman's absence his
clients gained, and he himself was proportionably in-
* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. v. p. 79.

£793'] TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. 1 35
demnified in his profits. Another comfort he offered them
was, that though the learned gentleman had been so
churlish as not to communicate his rich ideas to his right
honourable friend, that gentleman did not stand much in
need of his assistance, either in substantial eloquence,
splendid declamation, virulence, or acrimony; and while
the right honourable gentleman was present, he thought
the House would hardly be inconsolable for the loss of
his absent friend — though. Atlas was gone, Hercules re
mained to lend his shoulders to 'the falling globe of the
constitution. Mr. Burke ridiculed Mr. Fox's lamentation
for the absence of Mr. Erskine. If, however, he said, the
House was to defer its business till the learned absentee had.
discharged his duty to all his clients, it would find itself in
the predicament of the peasant of old — Expectat rusticus
dum defluat amnis. The House, in that case, must wait
long enough, and, in doing so, gratify the right honourable
gentleman,- who, like Eabius, wished to fight all his adver
saries by delay — a particular mode of generalship that
never was carried, to such a pitch in ancient or modern
times as by the right honourable gentleman.. As to the pe
remptory objection, he admitted, that, if there was a sub
ject more serious in its nature than any other for the
contemplation of parliament,, it was that of meddling with
the laws at all.. When the House touched' jurisprudence,
it should do it with a tender hand; the criminal part still
more tenderly; and the law of treason most. of. all; for~
they were those in which power might be the most effectu
ally employed' to hurt persons obnoxious to it; it should,
therefore, be watched most carefully : - when the constitu
tion was concerned, there could not be too much caution.
There were, Mr. Burke said, but two points, on which
the bill could be considered ; one, whether it was conform
able to law ; the other, whether it Was consistent with
policy ; and in considering the matter, the House must
throughout take along with them, as the grounds of their
reasoning and the very foundation of the bill, that we were
at war with France upon its present bottom and system as.
K 4.

136" TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. [April 9.
it related to the other powers of Europe. The charges of
being unconstitutional and hostile to liberty had been le
velled at the bill. These, he said, seemed to be the
common-place expressions of gentlemen on all occasions :
they were used too frequently ; but, in his opinion, they
should not be used so lightly. The whole of the right ho
nourable gentleman's speech on the present occasion re
sembled more a prize declamation at a university than the
substantial arguments of a statesman; but, coming from
a person of abilities so truly respectable — and no man
respected the right honourable gentleman's talents more
than he did — they required attention. Our constitu
tion, Mr. Burke said, was a provident system, formed of
several bodies, for securing the rights, the liberties, the
persons and the properties of the people. The constitution
was composed of the King, Lords, and Commons ; and in
the judicial power, the King was represented by the judges,
the Lords by the writ of error, and the Commons of Eng
land by the juries. Now let us, said he, get out of the
torrent of declamation, and see what part of this constitu
tion is touched or affected by the present bill. Is the King's
prerogative touched? Are the Lords touched by it in their
legislative or judicial capacity ? Are the Commons touched
by it ? Are the judges or juries touched by it ? No — none
of these : the constitution remains sacred and inviolate ;
arid the whole torrent of declamation on the subject,
ad captandum wdgus, melts into air.
The question, then, was, did the bill touch those things
for the protection of which the constitution existed ? Was
it asked, whether it infringed on liberty ? He would say,
yes, it did. It was a law ; and laws always infringed in
some respect on natural liberty, as commanding something
to be done, or something to be avoided. Every law that
was made took away something from the portion of liberty.
It was, then, to be considered, whether the present mea
sure was such as took away -more than was necessary of that
liberty ? If so, he thought it ought not to pass. And next,
whether it -took away such a liberty as, if it remained,
could do no mischief?

r793*l TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. I37
In a constitutional view, all acts done by that House
were to be considered as either 'peace or war acts. There
must be a peace police, and a war police ; the latter of
which was to secure the blessings enjoyed in the former,
and each different from the other, the necessities of war
calling for an increase of the prerogative of the crown, in
progressive proportion to the difficulties that occured in
it ; and this made a part of the body of the common law.
If this, then, was the case, the first thing to be considered
was, whether the general matter of the bill harmonized with
the general principles of the constitution, and was justified
by the example of our ancestors ? Convenience, he said,
was the ground of all law ; and hence the present bill was
consistent with the general principles of jurisprudence.
The juridical power of punishing as traitors those who
aided and comforted the king's enemies, could be traced to
Edward III., and, if necessary, even farther. Aiding, in
the strict legal sense of the word, was assisting and com-
fortingj^ was making stronger; and the present act went
exactly to that object, following the principles of the law of
the 25th of Edward III., and only drew out into a detail
of specific acts the generality of that statute. And though
the provision of that law went in general terms, to make
aiding and comforting the king's enemies treason, yet it
directed the king, by the advice of his judges, to specify
those particular things which were to be considered as overt
acts ; and he hoped it would be considered as no disparage
ment of the gentlemen of the present day to say, that those
of that time were as competent to judge. Lord Coke
said, that the law was as well understood then as it ever
was since; and though the fashionable jargon now was, that
those of the present day had got all the wisdom in the
world to themselves, there were as great men then as any
now in law and church and state. The legislators who
made the act of Edward III., he said, gave that direction,
as they did not wish to leave to the subtlety of judges, or
the simplicity of juries, so very material a point. In the
present case, the bill followed the spirit, but not the letter

138 TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. [April. 9.,-
of that of Edward III., as well as those of Charles IL,
King William, and Queen Anne; all of which did the
same thing that is done in this: so that the House might
consider themselves as not acting worse than their ancestors.
Here Mr. Burke read an act of Queen Anne, containing
provisions similar to those before the House. This, he said,
he had read for the purpose of shewing that our ancestors
had entered into an enumeration of the specific things
that constituted the offences, not as overt acts, but as acts
treasonable in themselves, following exactly that of King
William, all of which went on the principle, that it was not
safe for the subject to have the construction of overt acts
left to the caprice of judges : and the last statute, namely,
that of Queen Anne, was not only prospective, but retro
spective ; as it declared those who had been abroad before it,
and returned without license, traitors — and, prospective,
as it declared those who transported, or went on board a
ship with intent to transport themselves to France, guilty of
high treason. So that this was not the first attempt to
make an intent high treason. That statute had an energy
and a harshness in it far greater than the present, although
it was made in the very session that the queen received an
account of the glorious victory of Blenheim, although the
Houses of parliament were full of Whigs, and although
there was not a single division in the Commons on it, from
the 1 2th of January to the 8th of March, the time it was
going through the House. Nay, it was carried triumph
antly through, though the Commons were as wise and vir
tuous then as at any time.
Here Mr. Burke quoted a sentence from the Lex Julia
Majestatis, in order to shew that all nations agreed in the
principle, that he who aided the enemy was guilty of high
treason. But gentlemen had asked, was a bare intent to
commit an act sufficient ground for punishment? To this
he would answer, Yes ! the law pronounced it. Not, in
deed, that intent which lay concealed in the bosom, but
that which was conceived with a resolution to execute it ;
not the cogitation, but the determination. And for this he-
14

1 7930 TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. 1 39
gave the authority of Serjeant Hawkins, who says, that by
law an intent to commit a felony is a felony itself, as a man
shooting at another with intention to kill him : and he put
the question, whether, if there were bravoes in this country,
as there were in others, the House would hesitate to make
their laying a plan to kill a man felony ?
As to the word " agree," to which so many objections
had been made, Mr. Burke answered with great force of
argument, that an agreement implied an intention of two
people ; it was, in fact, a contract — not a nudum pactum,
but such as a man might recover on at law. As to the ar
gument of the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox), from
the statute of frauds and perjuries, that a sum above ten
pounds cannot be recovered under a verbal agreement, that
right honourable gentleman, he said, was acquainted with
the laws well enough to know, that the criminal law pu
nished an offence on a sum far below that on which a civil
action could be maintained ; for instance, if a man put a
twopenny stamp upon paper, it was felony. In short, the
smallest pecuniary frauds were held by the law highly cri
minal — and for this plain reason, that if, in criminal cases,
a loose was given in small matters, it would be impossible
to know where the mischief would end : so that from cri
minal and civil law it was impossible to argue h minore ad
majorum, or vice versa. When gentlemen objected to the
provisions of the bill on the score of possible perjury, they
should reflect, that it was the condition of human law and
human nature to be ruled by the oaths of men in trials for
their life and property, there being no other means to be
resorted to. That objection, therefore, was at an end : so
that the bill introduced no new matter, no anomaly what
soever ; and if it differed from the statute of Anne in any
thing, it was in being infinitely more lenient.
The next matter for the consideration of the House was,
whether there were any new occasions that demanded this
measure? And if there were, whether they came within
the meaning of the words, aiding and comforting ? For
the laws, he said, were bending to occasions while they

I40 TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. [April Cfr-
followed principles, as the rays of light acting under a ge
neral law are refracted by a particular modification of glass
through which they would, under the same laws, otherwise
pass in a direct line. What was the particular occasion
that governed the present case ? France had endeavoured,
under the specious pretext of an enlarged benevolence,, to
sow the seeds of enmity among nations, and destroy all
local attachments, calling them narrow and illiberal —
thereby to dissever the people from their governors. Let
any one read the proceedings of that mother of mischief
the Revolution Society, and be convinced. In consequence
of this, he said, the House was called upon to give every
fair advantage and every parental advice to the country, and'
preserve that moral relation, the destruction of which was
the great aim of its enemies..
As to the injury commerce might be supposed to receive^
he would say a few words. England was a commercial na
tion — so was every other, as far as it could. But if,
by commercial nation, it was implied that commerce was
her ultimate, her only end, he would deny it; her com
merce was a subservient instrument to her greater in
terests, her security, her honour, and her religion. If the
commercial spirit tended to break those, he insisted that
it should be lowered. Gentlemen had said, that if we re
fused to supply the French, Holland would ; and eluci
dated their argument by an old observation, that if the
devil was carrying a Dutchman to hell, he' would contract
¦ with him to supply the coals. To this he could only say,
that our supplying the French would be exactly a parallel
case', and full as despicable; and he would answer for the
liberal and patriotic spirit of the British merchants, that.
they would willingly dispense with the profits of that trade
for the benefit of their country. As to the insuring of our
enemy's ships, he objected to it, chiefly on account of the
moral effect it must have on the minds of the people. In a
state of warfare, it must be the wish of every good mind to
disarm the enemy rather by despoiling than killing them, as
well from motives of humanity as personal interest. When,

1 793-] TRAITEROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL. 141
therefore, a prize was taken, and an English insurer was to
pay the loss, exclusive of the increased litigation, it either
gave the captor the pain to deplore the loss of a fellow sub
ject, or rendered him callous to the consideration and feel
ings he should have on such an account, and inspired an
habitual delight in the plunder of his fellow citizens, and an
indifference to the welfare of his country, perhaps worse.
The clause for preventing British subjects purchasing in
the funds of France, he observed, and with infinite regret
observed, was left out. It was, indeed, he said, Hiatus
valde deflendus : but as it had been abandoned, he would
make no farther remarks on it. ,
On the whole, conceiving, as he did, that it was the duty
¦of the House to concentrate and fortify the country — con
ceiving that it was their duty to keep their subjects at home,
and prevent an adulterous communication with the French
— and conceiving that a man was as likely to be a better
husband for having two wives, as a better subject for hav
ing two countries — he would give the bill his most hearty
concurrence. And when the House considered that France
could only be enabled to carry on war out of resources
drawn from the bowels of Great Britam, it could not but
approve of a measure which only went to prevent English
men from fighting against their own country, and making
contracts to its ruin. " Let us not," said Mr. Burke, " turn
our every thing, the love of our country, our honour, our
virtue, our religion, and our security, to traffic — and esti
mate them by the scale of pecuniary or commercial reckon
ing. The nation that goes to that calculation destroys
itself." Here Mr. Burke drew an animated picture of a con-
•tractor dealing with the French, and put into his mouth
the following expressions: " Should our sovereign, impelled
by parental feelings for his people, hazard his august per
son, and take the field against you, behold, here is powder
of the first quality, and here are bullets that shall do his
business. I do not cheat you ; believe me, they are good.
Or should his children, stimulated by an hereditary thirst

142 LIBEL ON THE MANAGERS OF THE [June 12.
for glory, take the field, their avarice shall defeat their
courage ; those bullets and this bayonet shall go to their
hearts, and Great Britain and her commerce be the gainer."
He then turned to the subscription set on foot for a pro
vision for the widows of men killed in battle, pronounced a
warm eulogium on the subscribers, and said, " But then
comes Mr. Contractor, and tells them, if I don't supply,
you have no occasion to subscribe — and while they find
charity, his avarice finds objects for it." Mr. Burke con
cluded by declaring, that all he desired was, that England
would be true to herself, and not carry on an adulterous
intercourse with the prostitute outcasts of mankind.
The bill was passed, on a division, by 154 to 53.

Complaint of a Libel on the Managers of the
Impeachment against Mr. Hastings.
June 12.
T^HIS day Mr. Whitbread called the attention of the House
to a paper, called " The World," dated the 27th of May,
containing a scandalous reflection on the managers appointed
by that House to conduct the impeachment against Mr. Hast
ings. It was there stated, that a right reverend prelate (the
Archbishop of York) had said, " that it was impossible for him
to sit silent, to listen to the illiberal conduct of the managers ;
that they- examined a witness as if he was not a witness, but a
pickpocket ; and that if Marat or Robespierre were there, they
could not conduct the impeachment in a more scandalous man
ner, &c." This, Mr. Whitbread said, was highly indecorous,
and an insult not only on the managers, but also on the House
of Commons itself. — The said newspaper was then delivered
in at the table, and the paragraphs complained of therein be
ing read, Mr. Whitbread moved, « That the said paragraphs
contain matter of a scandalous and libellous nature, reflecting

¦T793-] IMPEACHMENT AGAINST MR. HASTINGS. 143
•on the conduct of the members appointed by this House to
manage the impeachment against Warren Hastings, Esq." The
motion being seconded by Mr. Francis, was opposed by Mr. Se
cretary Dundas, who concluded his speech with moving, " That
the House do now adjourn." — Mr. Windham felt so strongly
the necessity of supporting tbe managers, that if the honourable
gentleman who made the first motion should think fit to per
sist in it, he should vote with him, though he could wish for an
adjournment. Both Mr. Dundas and Mr. Windham took occa
sion to express their satisfaction, that Mr. Burke, who was in
the managers' box when these unhandsome expressions were ut
tered, had behaved with such uncommon moderation. His
conduct, they said, was very noble. He had put on, as it were,
a> deafness upon the occasion, which had formed an admirable
-contrast with the intemperance of the other party.
Mr. Burke said it was not his intention when he came
into the House to take -any part in the present ques
tion. The honourable gentleman who made the motion
would, he was sure, do him the justice to say, that it was
not at his desire, but in obedience to the impulse of his
own feelings, that he had brought forward the business. He
had two motives for rising at present ; one was to say, that
after what had passed in the court of King's Bench, on the
trial of Stockdale, he never would consent to order another
prosecution in that court for any libel upon the House of
Commons. The House was constitutionally empowered to
punish by attachment every breach of its own privileges,
and ought never to suffer that power to be taken out of its
own hands, nor delegate the exercise of it to any court
whatever. The other was, to declare that the ends of
justice must necessarily be defeated, if, whilst a public pro
secution was depending in a court of law competent to de
cide upon it, another tribunal was suffered to be erected in
a newspaper, to try the prosecutors, mislead the judgment
of the nation, and poison the public mind against those
•who were labouring to bring offenders to justice. He ex
pressed the pleasure it gave him to find that the forbearance
which marked his conduct when the words complained of

144 LIBEL ON THE MANAGERS, &C. [Julie 12.
were used, appeared to meet the approbation of the House.
Forbearance, he said, was a virtue which he hoped he
should always be able to practise, when he himself was
alone concerned ; but when the injuries which were to be
avenged, had been sustained by others, when he had to
plead the cause of oppressed millions against their op
pressors, he trusted he never should show the smallest de
gree of forbearance ; but that he should be found to give
full scope to the passions and resentments which belong to
the prosecutors of wrongs done to the public. Such pas
sions and resentments were held in trust for great public
purposes ; and for these, but for no other, would he ever
suffer them to sway. Against the right reverend prelate in
question, he had not the least personal resentment, on the
contrary he could find excuses for him in his age, and in
the impatience generally attendant upon it. As to the ad
vice given him by an honourable friend not to put his trust
in princes or bishops, he would assure his honourable friend,
that he never would put trust in princes or in people, in
the high or in the low, but in Him alone, by whose autho
rity he was desired to put no trust in either. He said he
should not vote at all upon the subject, and came to the
House chiefly for the purpose of repeating his protest
against committing the privileges of that House to any tri
bunal under Heaven, except its own.
The motion of adjournment was carried by a majority of 60
against 18.

1 793*3 MR. fox's motion, &c. 145

Mr. Fox's Motion for the Re-establishment of
Peace with France.

June 17.
l^HIS day Mr. Fox, in pursuance of the notice he had pre
viously given, called the attention of the House to the
subject of the war with France, and concluded his speech *
with moving, " That an humble address be presented to his
majesty, to lay before his majesty the humble representations
of his faithful Commons on the present awful aud momentous
crisis ; a duty which they feel themselves the more especially
called upon to perform at this juncture, as a long and eventful
period may probably elapse before his majesty can again have
an opportunity of collecting, through their representations, the
real sentiments and wishes of his people : In the name of the
people of Great Britain, his majesty's faithful Commons are
bound to declare, that they concurred in the measures neces
sary to carry on the present war, for the objects of defence and
security, and for those objects only: That any plan of aggran
dizement, founded on the present distressed situation of France,
much less any purpose of establishing among the French people
any particular form of government, never would have had their
concurrence or support : In expressing these their sentiments
and opinions, on entering into the present war, his majesty'-g
faithful Commons are sensible that they are only repeating those
benevolent declarations which true policy, and a careful attention
to the real interests of the British nation, induced his majesty
to use in his most gracious speech from the throne at the be
ginning of the present session of parliament, and in repeated
messages to this House :
" To represent to his majesty, that though his faithful Com
mons have the most perfect reliance on his majesty's sacred
word and promise, solemnly pledged to this country and to
Europe, not to interfere in the internal affairs of France, or
to enter into the views and projects of other powers who, in
* See Fox's Speeches, Vol. v. p. 156.
VOL. IV. L

146" MR. fox's motion for the [June 17.
the present war, may be actuated by motives far different from
those which govern the conduct of his majesty, yet they feel it
to be their indispensable duty to call his majesty's most serious
attention to some of the circumstances which have occurred
since the commencement of the present unfortunate contest:
" The French arms, which after a successful invasion of Bra
bant, had threatened the security of his majesty's allies, the
States General, have since been confined within their own ter
ritory, and are now occupied in defence of their frontier towns
against the united forces of his majesty and his allies : the
danger apprehended from the former conquests and aggran
dizement of the French nation appears therefore to be no
longer a subject of just uneasiness and alarm:
" Some of the powers engaged in the confederacy against
France have, on the other hand, openly avowed, and success
fully executed, plans of domination and conquest, not less
formidable to the general liberties of Europe. The rapacious
and faithless dismemberment of the unhappy kingdom of Po
land, without having produced, as far as it appears to this
House, any remonstrance from his majesty's ministers, has ex
cited in his majesty's faithful Commons the highest indignation
at so daring an outrage on the rights of independent nations,
and the keenest solicitude to rescue the honour of the British
government from the suspicion of having concurred or ac
quiesced in measures so odious in their principle, and so
dangerous in their example, to the peace and happiness of
mankind. " The severe calamities which, since the commencement of
the present war, this nation has already experienced, the shock
given to commercial credit, and the alarming consequences
which the failure of the mercantile and manufacturing interests
threatens to the public reveuue, and to the general prosperity
of the country, cannot have failed to attract his majesty's atten
tion, and to excite in his benevolent mind a sincere desire to
relieve his subjects from distresses, a termination of which
they cannot hope for but in the speedy re-establishment of
peace :
" His majesty's faithful Commons make it, therefore, their
most earnest and solemn request, that his majesty, taking into
his consideration all the above circumstances, will not fail to
employ the earliest measures for procuring peace on such
terms as are consistent with the professed objects of the war,

17930 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE WITH FRANCE. I47
and with that good faith, strict justice, and liberal and en
lightened policy, which have hitherto so peculiarly distinguished
the British nation."
After the motion had been opposed by Mr. Windham, and
supported by Mr. Jekyll,
Mr. Burke rose. Fie said he was desirous, on so great
an occasion, to give his clear and decided, though he hoped
not a pertinacious and obstinate, opinion. He conceived
it to involve a question wliich would decide for ever our
connections with the continent — the question, whether we
should make war with all the powers of Europe, in order
to make peace with France ? That House was called upon
to send up an address to the throne, containing a most
bitter invective against three great powers of Europe ; and
what was to be the consequence? Did we mean to provoke
them without an object ? If so, it was an idle invective,
without meaning. He would not enter into the business
of Poland, though he had certainly formed his own opinion
upon it; but he must say, that it was a womanish pro
ceeding at best, to rail without doing more ; and, if we do
more, we are at war with all Europe. He must suppose,
however, that the right honourable gentleman, whom he
would suspect of any thing rather than of weak designs,
did really propose the making an attack in order to restore
Poland. On this subject of Poland, whatever might be
his sentiments, he should think it wise to hold his tongue;
for was it possible for Great Britain to go to war with
Austria, Russia, and Prussia, with all the great powers of
Europe, with no ally but France ? and what government
was there in France with which we could form an alliance?
He remembered, in history, when Charles the Twelfth
disposed of Poland, and gave it another king. But did
we, on that, or on other similar occasions, call upon
France to assist us in rescuing Poland? No. France, in
deed, would have been sufficiently desirous of assisting us,
but Great Britain and France could not then attempt it;
the situation of Poland rendered any such attempt imprac-
L 2 '

148 MR. fox's motion for the [June 17.
ticable ; for, with respect to us, Poland might be, in fact,
considered as a country in the moon.
But what is the line of conduct we are now desired to
follow with respect to those powers with whom we have
hitherto acted in this war? Shall we begin to desert them
in the first moment of our being called upon to attack ?
Shall we totally forget what they have done, and how they
fought for us in defence of Holland, a country in which
we have so great an interest? The danger which then
threatened Holland was formidable indeed, when attacked
by M. Dumourier, no mean man, whom he was rather
glad to see as a guest here in London. Of him and his
hundred thousand sans culottes the Austrians had cleared
Holland, and, in doing so, had shed torrents of their
blood. Shall we, then, now say that we are tired of the
war, at the very instant when we have got a glimpse of
hope, and before we have taken any one fortress ? For his
part, he reprobated such shameful perfidy. But when we
shall have excommunicated ourselves from the whole band
of European sovereigns, in order to treat with France, we
can have no security whatever for the performance of any
treaty on their part, which can be equal even to the con
stancy or consistency of a single individual. He did not
deny the ambition of the sovereign powers of Europe ; but
the question, in his opinion, came to be, which was that
power whose ambition was most likely to press on Great
Britain ? The partition of Poland might possibly be made
so as not to destroy, or even to affect, in any great degree,
the balance of power in Europe. The King of Prussia had,
indeed, taken Dantzick, and he was sorry for it ; but had
he taken the lives or the property of any individuals ? He
hoped it would not be conceived that he approved of this ;
but he must consider the different conduct of France, and
oppose to it the detestable principles of their infamous de
cree of the 15 th of December. He had not heard that,
either in Poland or in Dantzick, any one clergyman had
lost his living, or that any man had lost his life or property.
The beginning of a war must always be the most expen-

I793*] re-establishment of peace with france. 149
sive part ; and yet, after having incurred all this enormous
expence, we are now called upon to put an end to the war,
before it has been possible to derive any fruits from it. On
two former occasions the right honourable gentleman had
censured, in strong terms, the conduct of the chancellor
of the exchequer in preparing armaments, without doing
any thing more; and shall we now desire him to do so a
third time? The right honourable gentleman had said,
that if we wait till there shall be a settled government in
France, we may wait for ever. But, in direct contradic
tion to this, the right honourable gentleman himself has
all along urged this proposition, that anarchy cannot last
long, while despotism generally reigns for a considerable
length of time. He was acquainted with the uncommon
powers of the right honourable gentleman's mind, and
could not without shame and concern observe, that he
descended to such degrading proposals, and was reduced
to such idle, paltry, and frivolous arguments.
Supposing, however, it were deemed prudent to break
off' all other connections for the sake of espousing the in
terests of France, let us consider, said Mr. Burke, the
possibility of negociation. Supposing that England was
to send an ambassador to the sans culottes convention to
make the amende honorable, in a white sheet at the bar of
the meeting, and by way of approximating to fheir*-system
of equality, confer that agreeable and honourable office on
some nobleman of high lank, how were we sure that, in
stead of a respectful reception, he would not be saluted a-la-
mode de Santerre, holding the bloody head of Louis XVI.
as an example to all sovereigns ? Would you next have
him apply to the minister Le Brun ? Unfortunately, the
poor fellow is in gaol, and it may be very uncertain whether
they would consent to grant him a day-rule. Would you
apply to the minister Claviere? You then would have
rum est inventus returned upon the back of the writ, for it
seems he is not to be found. Would you have recourse to
Roland? Why, he is not only in gaol but also his wife
along with him, who is said to be the real minister. The
l 3

150 mr. fox's motion for the [June 17.
wife, too, may be inaccessible ; for as Roland is known to
be uxorious, he is the more likely to be jealous, and would
not perhaps readily- admit the visit of your ambassador.
Apply to Brissot, who has so many friends in this country,
and let your ambassador take care that he leaves his watch
behind him. But, alas ! here again, Brissot is likewise
in gaol, bearing a repetition of that sort of misfortune to
which it is hoped that habit may reconcile him. Pay your
addresses to Egalite, and you will find him in his dungeon
at Marseilles, sighing at the reflection of those hopes he
once entertained of being lieutenant-general of the crown
of France. There then only remains (continued Mr. Burke)
my celebrated friend, the mild and merciful Marat, whom
a negociator might address with very excellent effect, if he
carried credentials or recommendations from me. Such is
the list of sovereigns who are to receive the submission and
amende honorable of the British nation ! To shew how
little reliance could be placed on the faith of those rulers,
supposing we had entered into a treaty with them, he read
a long extract of a report made by. Brissot from the diplo
matic committee, wherein it is stated as disgraceful to a
free people to have any treaties whatever, especially with
sovereigns, whom they compliment with the name of ty
rants. It was in vain to say, after all, that the power of
these people was not formidable. They had already evinced
it, and were at one time so flushed with their successes, as
to order one of their generals to advance into Italy, and de
pose the poor pope, who had not the power, if he possessed
the inclination, of doing them any injury. The truth was,
that a government such as theirs, assisted by enthusiasm,
though it produced nothing but misery, anarchy, and dis
order at home, had still the malignant power of great of
fensive operations abroad.
It had been said, shall we interfere for the purpose of ob
truding on the French whatever form of government we shall
think fitting for them? He was of opinion, that no country
could force a particular form of government upon another,
but that all received such a one as was, under all the cir-

1 793-] RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE WITH FRANCE. 15I
cumstances of the case, most adapted to their situations.
Governments were, in this instance, like individuals; no
one had a right officiously to obtrude with his advice, or
undertake the management of another's affairs; but if a
man were guilty of the most indecent outrages, if he were
to attempt to murder his wife, to starve his children, or to
burn his habitation, should we not interfere to prevent at
tacks upon our feelings and our safety ? He remarked, that
there was one grand sophistry that ran through the whole
of the right honourable gentleman's speeches, namely, that
we made war on France, while in fact she made war upon
us, and that, too, at a time when Dumourier was affecting
to treat with us. He insisted that it was a travelling delu
sion, that nations were not to interfere with each other ; for
if any nation endeavoured to confuse, to trample upon,
violate, or despise the rights of others, the interests of
human society required that all should join against them-
If, by the subversion of all law and religion, a nation
adopts a malignant spirit to produce anarchy and mischief
in other countries, it is the right of nations to go to war
with them. In support of this doctrine, he quoted th«
authority of Vattel, who lays it down, that if one nation
adopt principles injurious to all government and order,
such a nation is to be opposed from principles of common
safety. This, he insisted, was the spirit of France ; and
what was to keep the effects of it from England ? War,
and nothing else. Until, therefore, we could find that
security in their principles and practices which could alone
make peace permanent, he would never agree to prostrate
the throne of Great Britain at the foot of any National
Convention or Jacobin club whatever. He again drew a
picture of a British ambassador making the amende honor
able before the National Convention. To this end he would
have the -first blood in the land sent, to make the amende
more complete: there he should stand with a white sheet
on, and a torch in his hand, all the ghastly regicides in
rows about him, the president shaking the bloody head of
Louis XVI. to make the amende more horrible; which
l 4

152 GENERAL FITZPATRICK'S MOTION RELATIVE [Mar. 1 7.
being accomplished, Danton, with his bloody jaws, would
give him a civic kiss in token of adoption. To such a
ceremony he could never agree, and therefore he must
resist the present motion.
The House divided on Mr. Fox's motion : Yeas 47 : Noes
187. So it passed in the negative.

General Fitzpatrick's Motion relative to the De
tention of M. De la Fayette.
March 17. 1794.
*~FHIS day, General Fitzpatrick moved, " That an humble
address be presented to his majesty, to represent to his
majesty, that the detention of the General La Fayette, Mes
sieurs Alexander Lameth, La Tour Maubourg, and Bureau de
Pusy, in the prisons of his majesty's ally the King of Prussia,
is highly injurious to the cause of his majesty and his allies ;
and most humbly to beseech his majesty to intercede with the
court of- Berlin, in such manner as to his royal wisdom shall
seem most proper for the deliverance of these unfortunate per
sons." General Fitzpatrick insisted, that La Fayette had
suffered for his attachment to the constitutional monarchy
which we now professedly wished to restore, and enlarged on
the merits and services of that unfortunate person, as far over
balancing any errors with which he might be chargeable. The
motion was seconded by General Tarleton. After it had been
opposed by Mr. Pitt and supported by Mr. Fox,
Mr. Burke rose. He said that as there were no pre
cedents on the books, no circumstance similar to the pre
sent, the House ought to be extremely cautious in departing
from the policy of their ancestors. They saw before them,
within a short space of time, the fall of a great monarchy,
the destruction of numbers, and the imprisonment of two

1 794.] TO THE DETENTION OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. 1 53
hundred thousand persons. He was glad to remark, from
what had fallen from some gentlemen in the course of the
present debate, that they were now convinced of the
danger of those principles of universal but fictitious be
nevolence which forbad any interference in the affairs of a
foreign state, or the conduct of a sovereign independent
power. As he, however, had never adopted those princi
ples, he had no difficulty of declaring, that if a proper
case of interposition were established, it would be perfectly
consistent with the honour and dignity of this country to
interpose ; but it could not be contended that the case of
M. La Fayette was of that complexion, when we had not
deemed it requisite so to do for the purpose of preventing
the numberless massacres, murders, and revolutions, by
which France had been desolated and destroyed. Fie con
sidered the honourable gentleman who brought forward
the motion, as actuated by generous motives : Tantum in-
felicem nimium dilexit amicum. That House, Mr. Burke
said, would he stepping out of its way to pay attention to
such a person as M. La Fayette, at a time when so many
other objects of pity passed before their view : when Priam
was left naked on the shore ; when Hecuba was dragged
from prison to prison, treated with unparalleled cruelty
and baseness, and at length barbarously murdered ; when
we were to look at the calamitous situations of virtuous and
respectable characters, and of matrons, in whose houses
we had once been hospitably treated; and, above all, when
La Fayette might be considered the origin and the author
of all these calamities, he thought that " illustrious exile,"
as he was called, though, in fact, the outcast of the world,
deserved the fate he had met with. Only one example of
any such interference had been adduced — the case of the
interposition of the late court of France, which was now so
frequently denominated despotic and tyrannical, in favour
of Sir Charles Asgill ; an interposition which was chiefly
rendered effectual by the exertions of the late unfortunate
queen, who, in the exercise of her power, had ever dis
played the utmost behevolen and benignity, and whose

154 GENERAL FITZPATRICK'S MOTION RELATIVE [Mar. 1 7.
firmness, intrepidity, and resolution, in meeting her fate,
would form an everlasting contrast to the tyranny, cruelty,
and baseness of those by whom she was murdered.
Mr. Burke adverted to the state of the prisons in France,
and particularly at Paris ; and observed that there were
upwards of six thousand prisoners, men, women, and
children, lying on straw, and perishing for want of the
necessaries of life. These unfortunate persons had been
guilty of no crime. La Fayette, he contended, was the
principal author of all their misfortunes, and of all the
misfortunes that had befallen France ; and, therefore, how
ever much other gentlemen might pity him, Mr. Burke
said, he certainly was not the object of his compassion.
Instead of lamenting the condition of that man, he
mourned over those crowds of truly illustrious exiles who
were wandering over Europe, and to support whom the
charity of the public was every where taxed ; exiles, who,
deprived by him, in the first instance, of their titles, were
robbed of " that which not enriched him, and left them
poor indeed !" While these nobles were in this situation,
stripped of that consciousness of rank which was the last
consolation of the unfortunate, they were called upon to
pass all these over with neglect, and turn their whole at
tention to citizen Fayette ! This extraordinary affectation
of sorrow for the lot of one culpable individual was ill-
placed, ridiculous, and preposterous. It surely was not
the business of this country to set up for a general arbiter
of the law of nations. Every nation had a right to claim
her own citizens ; but if she did not do so, no foreign state
had a right to interfere and officiously make any such de
mand . Did France claim him ? Yes, as a traitor, whom
the rabble that he had been the instrument in elevating to
power were desirous of sacrificing. No other nation in
Europe claimed him. His conduct in our contest with the
Americans we were required to forget ; and he was very
much disposed to do so ; because, if a contrary principle
were pursued, wars would be eternal. La Fayette's beha
viour, however, in entering as a volunteer into the Ame-

1 794.] TO THE DETENTION OF M. DE LA FAYETTE. 1 55
rican service, before any hostility had taken place between
this kingdom and France, was not surely of such a nature
as tolRititle him to any extraordinary favour; and as to
his fondness for military glory, what could be said, but
that he who wishes to live by the sword, must likewise run
the risk of perishing by the sword ?
With regard to the right this man had to rebel against
his lawful sovereign, he would say nothing, but that the
ruin of which he^had been the promoter had at length
overwhelmed himself; and he trusted that his downfall
would be a lesson to mankind, how any of them attempted
to overturn the fabric of civilized society, lest they should
also become the victims of their own rashness.
The honourable General had admitted, that the consti
tution of 1789 could not exist, and yet he had praised
Fayette for pulling down a building which had remained
for fourteen hundred years ; and had spoken of the purity
of his intentions, when it could not but be recollected, that
he had brought back the king and queen from Varennes,
had imprisoned them at Paris, and had thus sown the
seeds of republicanism which Were to ripen to his own de
struction. Under these circumstances, Lord Malmesbury,
at the court of Berlin, seizing upon one of the mottia
tempora fundi, which, as an able negociator, he must be
supposed to be well acquainted with, was thus to address
the King of Prussia : " Thou dark and sanguinary tyrant I
thou diabolical monster ! give up M. La Fayette to the
king my master, and there is a subsidy to you by way of
ransom for so doing." But if he should refuse to do so,
we must console ourselves with reflecting, that while, in
one city in the halcyon land of liberty, six thousand pri
soners are confined, it required all the tyrants in Europe
to club their power together to make out four prisoners.
Kings, indeed, ought to be cautious how they let such
birds out of their cages. Louis the Sixteenth had let
Fayette fly to America, and he had returned and im
prisoned the master who had given him his liberty. It
might be our interest, not only to forgive injuries, but to

156 general fitzpatrick's motion, &c. [Mar. 17.
bestow favours ; but with this individual we had done ; and
as we shewed no enmity, as little were we obliged to bestow
any friendship. •¦?¦
M. La Fayette, Mr. Burke said, never supported roy
alty. He was the first who led an army of sans culottes
against that king who had released him from a prison, and
sent him to America to command his armies. Not a man
in France would join in the cause for releasing him now.
He was not graceful to any party. He would not have
been received, even had he been sent to Toulon. The
Toulonese had no idea of the constitution of 1789; they
consisted of many descriptions of persons, some royalists,
some republicans, and others who had no idea of a go
vernment at all. It was absurd, then, to say that these
persons, inhabiting a sea-port town, with no respectability,
and dreading a guillotine, which they had been expecting
every day, could be supposed capable of settling the con
stitution of France. It might as well be said, that the
bawdy-houses on the Point at Portsmouth were capable of
forming a constitution and government for England. It
was wise, then, to leave matters as they stood when Lord
Hood went there, and let the King of France, after he
should be established, settle the constitution. The Tou
lonese did not at that time demand Fayette, but they
demanded Monsieur, the brother of the king, as regent.
England had done La Fayette no injury, and was not
obliged to do him any service, but to leave him where he was.
Like another Sampson he had pulled down the great fabric
which protected him, but had not strength to raise it up
again ; and that circumstance, he trusted, would serve as a
lesson to all persons in future, who should attempt to rebel
against their lawful sovereign. That which he had raised
up in the room of the fabric he had levelled, was pregnant
with the seeds of republicanism and ruin. And this was the
man now to be released !
The present, Mr. Burke said, was the most extraor
dinary application he had ever heard made. It was made
in behalf of the author of numerous horrors, which seemed

1 794.] MOTION FOR TAXING PLACEMEN, &C I57
to be a summary of all that had ever taken place before in.
the world ! And of all those horrors, there was no circum
stance of barbarity — excepting the murder of the king
and queen — more atrocious than the massacre of M.
Foulon and M. Berthier. The Abbe Foulon, son to that
person, was now in London, and he had often declared his
anguish in these words : " I will be revenged of La Fayette ;
it was he that had my father murdered ; it was he who tore
out and devoured his heart." I would not, concluded Mr.
Burke, debauch my humanity by supporting an application
like the present, in behalf of such a horrid ruffian.
The House divided on General Fitzpatrick's motion : Yeas
46 : Noes 153. So it passed in the negative.

Motion for Taxing Placemen and Pensioners
during the continuance of the war.
April 8.
""THIS day Mr. Harrison moved, " That leave be given to
bring in a bill for the purpose of appropriating a certain
part of the emoluments arising from certain pensions and sine
cure places, for the service' of the public, during the continu
ance of the war, at the disposal of parliament ; and also for
the purpose of appropriating a part of the emoluments arising
from certain efficient places, amounting to more than a specified
sum, to be applied to the same purpose." After the motion
had been supported by Mr. Coke of Norfolk and Mr. Curwen ;
and opposed by Mr. Hawkins Browne and Mr. Montagu,
Mr. Burke rose. He said, the present proposition was
of so singular and unprecedented a nature, that he could
hardly believe the honourable mover was serious in his mode
of treating it. Undoubtedly, the great merit of a jest was

158 MOTION FOR TAXING PLACEMEN, &C. [April 8.
the serious carriage and deportment of him who was the
author of it, who, while he made every one around him
laugh, preserved himself a grave aspect. The honourable
gentleman who had brought forward the present motion
seemed to possess this talent in an eminent degree ; for he
had, in the most grave and serious language, brought for
ward a proposition at which he must not only laugh in
wardly himself, but must know that others would laugh
openly. The motion seemed to be of a twofold nature,
and might be considered in two points of view : first, as a
question of charity, and, secondly, as a question of po
licy. It was held out as the charity to relieve the distressed
manufacturers of the country, but the policy was to relieve
the distressed manufacturers of acts of parliament. He
had supposed, that when the honourable gentleman brought
such a motion forward, which was to be an object of re
venue, and was to go in aid of the resources of his country
that some calculation would have been produced to shew
how much would be saved to the country by the proposed
retrenchment. But no such thing had been done. The
charity was to be applied, he supposed, to the manufac
turers and their friends out of parliament, some of whom
might be members of parliament, for ought he knew, in
want of employ. " Materiam superabit ojms." Having
hunted this varying Proteus in every shape, they now pur
sued it to Norwich. Why was Norwich the particular
object? What had become of the poor Spitalfields weavers,
for whom they had so lately raised subscriptions ? What
had they done ? Or why had all the kingdom so sunk in
consideration, that Norwich only drew compassion ? The
gentlemen were very compassionate indeed, especially to
the poor : but their compassion reminded him of the late
queen-mother, who, when Somerset House was building,
used to look at the prospect on the Surry- side of the water,
and think of their poor inhabitants,
Whose dwellings lie

" First in her care, and always in her eye."
l5

1 794-3 DURING THE CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 1 59
Mr. Burke asked what benefit could, on a reasonable
calculation, be expected from this new system of finance ?
He conceived the whole to be a mockery, and that the
money raised by it would not even purchase small beer
enough* for the poor of Norwich for the supper of a single
night. The proposition in itself he considered to be of
the most dangerous kind, as it went to a direct invasion of
the rights and properties of individuals ; for the emolu
ments of places held under the crown were possessions as
sacred as that of any landed property in the country, and
a motion might as well be made for taking a certain part of
the property of a man who possessed ten or twenty thousand
a year, which might be considered as a sinecure, as he
had done nothing for it ; in fact, every man who held any
place of profit, by a legal title from the crown, had as
good a tenure as that by wliich the honourable gentleman
and his friends dared to bring forward and maintain such
a motion — [Mr. M. A. Taylor appealed to the Speaker.
He said he thought every member had a right to make a
motion in that House ; and parliament had then the right
to dispose of it. When such language was used as that
they had dared to make a motion, he certainly would call
to order, and by his legal information he knew that he was
authorised to do so. The chancellor of the exchequer
said, that when his right honourable friend had used the
word that appeared so obnoxious, it seemed to him that
he meant nothing more than the rashness and indiscretion
of the honourable gentleman who made the motion. The -
Speaker said, he was himself in doubt whether he should
have called the right honourable gentleman to order when
he used the term ; but an idea »that it was used as the
chancellor of the exchequer h'ad explained it, prevented
him.] Mr. Burke thanked the Speaker for his candour, and
proceeded. Since the word dare was so exceptionable, he
said, and as he was not that great Mr. Dare of whom every
body had heard so much, he would not dare to provoke
those daring and courageous gentlemen again to call to

l60 MOTION FOR TAXING, PLACEMEN, &C. [April 8.
order. He would call, then, their wisdom andjdinoderr
ation of relieving the poor (words to which ^ey WM^l not
have objections) a more dangerous and ruinous propp-
sition than he had ever heard of. He not only avowed h^s
contempt, but abhorrence, of this dreadful beginning, which
opened to a more fatal issue. These gentlemen, in their
wisdom and moderation, and through compassion for th,e
poor, were beginning the same plan for the destruction pf
all property as had been begun in France. There the fir^
steps began on the pretext of relieving the poor, by the
abolition of places, and the robbery of the clergy; next
after that came on the seizure of landed, and afterwards ojf
monied, property; so that at length things were come to
such a miserable pass in that unhappy country, that a
peasant could not call a basket of eggs, nor a pail of milk,
his own. He would, therefore, always negative every be
ginning that had a tendency to shake the settled order of
things. The present appeared to him to be a dreadful be
ginning. It was also a useless one. It was beggary
assisting beggary, and perfectly ridiculous. He compared
it to an egg, which was, indeed, but a paltry thing, but
no one could tell precisely what an egg might produce.
He wished gentlemen to state what the places were that,
were to be thus taxed, and what the sums would amour^t
to. He was sure that if the government had no better re
sources than these, they must soon put an end to the^war..
When he considered the efficient offices, he considered also
the dignity of necessity attached to them. Ministers were
fugitive beings ; here to-day, and gone to-morrow. Man
kind itself was so, and therefore efficient offices must have
efficient means, or the business would be neglected. A
state must be supported by abilities, and abilities by rank
and appearance. There was an old-fashioned author,
whom he supposed the honourable gentleman who made the
motion would treat as a strange, dogmatical, contemptible
fellow — he meant Livy, the historian — who, speaking
of some foreign ambassadors that had arrived at Rome,
says, " Our nation may be the poorest upon earth, it is

i

1 794.] DURING THE CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. l6l
true; but what magistrates or ambassadors of any country
ever made a more noble or a more dignified appearance ?"
They were convinced that the dignity of the nation should
be maintained, whatever might be the poverty of the
people. Let any person reflect within himself, whether he
would give the same wages to his game-keeper as to his foot
man, to his footman as to his groom. Does any gentleman
give the same wages to a boy in his stable as to his cook,
who entertains his friends when they join in festivity with
him ? Men in office must support their rank ; they have
expences of a different nature to those of ordinary people ;
they have the condition, dignity, duties and importance
of their situation to attend to. " Thus, then, a first lord
of the treasury, the chief and most important office be
longing to his majesty, was to receive no more than 2000*
a-year. For his part, he believed the salaries of the ser
vants of the crown were far from being adequate to their
services ; the crown had no mode of providing for them as
formerly, as Lord Salisbury and other great ministers bad
been. He instanced Lord Somers having at one time re
ceived 35,000/. for his services, and deservedly. He was
not able to set any precise value upon the abilities of any
man. What could any man think would be an adequate
compensation for the entire application of such talents as
Mr. Erskine's, which he (Mr. Burke) certainly rated very
high ? He could not form any judgment upon the matter.
He, therefore, that would hold out such a dangerous doc
trine as the present, only robbed the poor, and unhinged
that structure which protected them. If those gentlemen,
who pretended to be such friends to the poor, would club
together, they could raise more from their own private
fortunes than could be gained by the proposed bill.
He contended, that as a matter of resource, the measure
was trifling and inadequate ; as a matter of policy, mistaken.
It had not even the merit of being original : one similar to
it had been formerly proposed, and he opposed it, as he
would the present, which was vain and futile, tending to
injure the poor ; since it could have no other effect than
VOL. IV. M

1 62 MOTION FOR TAXING PLACEMEN, &C. [April 8.
that of making them believe that government was doing
every thing to plunge them into misery for its own ends.
If the poor were to be relieved in no other manner, then
let them submit to the will of God. No persons were more
deserving of rewards than labourers for the public. To
take from the present labourers, he thought, would be a
great injustice ; and he verily believed, that were the pro
posed bill to be adopted, the printing and paper would cost
more than every thing that could be gained by it. He
also considered the motion as delusive to the people ; and
supposed, that, if, Russia should again give orders for the
importation of Norwich manufactures into her dominions,
ministers were to have their salaries back again. It was
curious to observe, that the accidental and fluctuating
circumstances of manufactures and of commerce were al
ways made a ground of imputation on the executive go
vernment. Must the constitution, and the regulation of
the state, be suspended every time that any foreign power
chose to prohibit the importation of any manufacture,
which might occasion a temporary distress ? Money was
not the means whereby distressed manufacturers were to be
relieved ; to give them money would be to make them idle}
and prevent their return to industry. If they chanced, by
misfortune, to fall into poverty or distress, their sole relief
must be from Heaven.
Mr. Burke in the course of his speech said, in answer to
a sarcasm thrown upon the minister's mode of coming into
power, that it mattered not how he came in, or how he
would go out, as far as related to the present subject. It
was the peculiar province of the crown to measure and
distribute the proportion of rewards to the merits of its
servants, and he was astonished that the House should be
called upon to interfere in a matter not within the scope of
their ordinary functions. In his time he had seen many
great men leave the stage with lean and inadequate fortunes.
Perhaps it was expected that great men should serve the
public as they are commanded to serve God Almighty,
" with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their

1794-] RILL TO ENABLE SUBJECTS OF FRANCE, &C 163
soul, and with all their strength." He concluded by ob
serving, that he came down to that House as it suited his
hwmour; that he gave his opinions backward and forward
without controul, pro consilio defensu, as well as se de-
fendendo ,• therefore he should reprobate the motion in toto.
1
Tfie House divided: Yeas 48 : Noes 117. So it passed in
the negative.

Bill to enable Subjects of France to enlist as
Soldiers, &c.
April 11.
/~"\N the 7th of April, Mr. Pitt moved " for leave to bring in
^~^ a bill to enable subjects of France to enlist as soldiers in
regiments to serve on the continent of Europe, and in certain
other places, and to enable his majesty to grant commissions to
subjects of France to serve and receive pay as officers in such
regiments, or as engineers under certain restrictions." Leave
was given to bring in the bill ; and on the motion for its second
reading on the 1 ith, it was most strongly opposed by Mr. Baker,
on account of its wanting a specific- statement of the numbers
to be enlisted, and its allowing them to be quartered on British
ground. Mr. Sheridan declared himself against the bill, and
among other motives, alleged the certain death awaiting these
men, if defeated ; asking, at the same time, whether in such
case we could venture to retaliate ? Mr. Burke immediately re
plying, " Yes," was vehemently reproved by Mr. Sheridan, for
letting fall an expression that might prove so fatal to our own
troops, and lead to scenes of reciprocal bloodshed, unprece
dented in the wars between Europeans. He strongly insisted
on the danger of committing to the disposal of the crown an
army of 50 or 60,000 men, all strangers and sworn enemies to
the very name of liberty.
M 2

r

164 bill To Enable subjects of france [April ii.
Mr. Burke, with great gravity, professed himself sorry for
the resentment which his having uttered the monosyllablfe
," Yes," had occasioned in the mind of the honourable gen
tleman who had just sat down ; he hoped, however, that
the monosyllable that gave the honourable gentlemen of
fence, contained little or nothing of the deleterious poison
imputed to it. With regard to passion, Mr. Burke said,
he was too old to entertain any upon the subject of France.
It had, for a considerable time, occupied much of his se
rious deliberation; and whatever he thought or felt upon
it, was a momentary impulse, but the result of calm, set
tled, and well-considered judgment. This passion, if he
felt any, might fairly be construed into malice prepense ;
and if he killed a man, under its influence, he was ready to
admit, that he should be guilty of murder.
The smile or laugh alluded to by an honourable gentle
man (Mr. Lambton), when he talked of the former des
potism of France, he could seriously assure him, was not a
smile of levity, but a smile of bitterness and sorrow, arising
from a conviction that France must pass through many se
vere trials, must swallow many a bitter pill, before she
could be restored to that happy despotism under whichhe
once saw her flourish. That mild, temperate, chastised
government which they experienced under the monarchy,
he was afraid, would be very long before it would return ;
if indeed it were probable that it would ever return again.
If he were indeed passionate, if he were inflamed byiin-
veterate antipathy and national animosity against that un
happy country, he could wish them no greater misery than
a lasting continuance of that under which they at present
laboured. The condition of France at this moment was
so frightful and horrible, that if a painter wished to pour-
tray a description of hell, he could not find so terrible a
model, or a subject so pregnant with horror, and fit for his
purpose. Milton, with all that genius which enabled him
to excel in descriptions of this nature, would have been
ashamed 4o have presented to his readers such a hell as
France now was, or such a devil as a modern jacobin i he
*3

,I794-tr •' ,- TQ ENLIST. AS SOLDIERS. l6<"
wOuld have thought his design revolting to the most unr-
limited imagination, and his colouring overcharged beyond
all allowance for the licence even of poetical painting. ^
The assertion that this was a war of freedom against
despotism, was equally fallacious and false. It ^was a war
of perfidious rebellion against honourable loyalty, of in
fidelity against religion, of robbery against property, of
murder against humanity, of barbarity against social order.
He wished, if possible, to rescue the deluded people of that
country from their infatuated freedom, a rescue, in the
earnest desire of which every well-disposed person remain
ing in France must devoutly join. We talked here of the
liberty of the Fleet, the liberty of the King's Bench, &c.
from which the French also seemed to have taken all
their ideas of freedom; for the liberty of France at this
moment centered in a gaol. There was not an inhabitant
who was certain of one moment in which he should not be
removed from his own house to one of those dens of free
dom; and how happy must they find themselves in a ge-
nerafgaol delivery !
Mf- Burke observed, that an honourable gentleman had
asked,, whether it was the intention of his majesty's mi-
. juisters tOj^e-establish the old despotism of France, by send-
vaiDg. French troops into that country? What were the Ob
jects of the emigrants who would enter into our service ?
-To? liberate their wives and their children, to be restored to
t their properties, to get possession of their vineyards, their
olive-4rees, and their fig-trees. This was the horrible old
-despotism of France. Despotism and liberty, as the hon
ourable gentleman made use of these terms, were mere
words. In the speeches of many gentlemen for some time
past, the words liberty and despotism formed a very consi
derable ingredient; so much so, indeed, that it reminded him
of a lawyer, who, while making a very laboured harangue,
was twirling a string from side to side with a great degree of
violence. Some person having found an opportunity, con
veyed away the string, whereupon his eloquence instantly
-¦ failed him, and he loudly exclaimed, that " they had cut short
m 3

1 66 BILL TO ENABLE SUBJECTS OF FRANCE, &C [April II-
the thread of his discourse." Thus it was with those gen
tlemen ; take away the words liberty and despotism, and
they could not get on a step farther. With them, if a man
wished to preserve his wife and children from the guillo
tine, and retire- into the bosom of his family — it was des
potism. If a man was desirous to recover the estates
transmitted to him by a long line of ancestors — it was
despotism. If a husbandman wished to repose in his own
farm under his fig-tree, his olive, or his vine — that was
despotism. If a farmer chose to keep five bushels of corn
for the use of himself and his family — that also was des
potism. In short, every thing was despotism which did
not partake of that hideous system which was now the basis
of what were termed the liberties of France.
It was not for any particular system of government that
he contended, but for some government. Let it be a pure
monarchy, a democracy, or an aristocracy, or all mixed, he
cared not, provided a government did exist, the first prin
ciple of which must necessarily be security to property, be
cause, for the protection of property, all governments were
instituted. First, therefore, restore property, and afterwards
let that property find a government for itself. The number
of its inhabitants constituted the strength of a nation, but
it was property alone on which government was formed.
If the formation of government was committed to the no-
property people, the first thing they would do, obviously
would be to plunder those who had property, and the next
thing would be to plunder and massacre each other. After
all, if it were asked, did he prefer property to virtue ? his
answer would be no. To honour ? — No. To morals ? 
No. To arts and literature? — No. But he respected
property in as much as it was the basis upon which they
were all erected — the soul that animated, the genius that
protected them. In France were the poor better treated
than the rich ? Were they not forced to rise en masse ?
To account for every bushel of corn in tlieir posses
sion? The shopkeeper was put in requisition to make
shoes for the armies. No labourer knew whether he should

1 794.] REPORT ON THE CAUSES, &C 167
enjoy for a day his earnings, or even his personal liberty or
his life. The original fault in the proceedings of the
French Revolution was, that property was not permitted to
have a vote. Every effort had been made to exclude it
from legislation.
Reverting to the precise question in debate, Mr. Burke
thanked the minister cordially for the wisdom and justice of
the measure, and made an appeal to Mr. Lambton and
other gentlemen, on the situation in which they, and men
of great property like themselves, must be placed, should
the system of jacobinism ever take place in this country ;
and that it would take place, there was real ground for
• apprehension, unless all those who had a stake to risk of
their own, as well as a general regard for the interests of
the British empire, took some pains by their influence to
preserve order, enforce due subordination, and maintain
quiet and tranquillity, by convincing the people that their
true happiness consisted in a continuance of that constitu
tion and that government, under which they daily expe
rienced so many blessings. Without wishing to be a pro
phet, Mr. Burke said, he had no difficulty in declaring,
that if French property was not restored, property in Eng
land would not be worth ten years purchase. He said he
was. sorry to find Mr. Sheridan determined to oppose this
bill. He admired and feared that gentleman's talents,
and regretted that he should meet with opposition from
him.

Report of the Committee of Managers on the
Causes of the Duration of Mr. Hastings's Trial.
April 30.
/"\N the 5th of March, upon the motion of Mr. Burke, it was
Ordered, " that a committee be appointed to inspect the
Lords' Journals, in relation to their proceedings on the trial of
M 4

168 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
Warren Hastings, Esq. and to report what they find therein to
the House ; and that the committee of managers be the said
committee." On the 17th, it was also ordered, on the motion of
Mr. Burke, " that the said Committee do report to the House
the several matters which have occurred since the commence
ment of the said prosecution, and which have, in their opinion,
contributed to the duration thereof to the present time, with
their observations thereupon." On the 17th of April, -Mr.
Burke presented the report of the committee to the House, by
Whom it was ordered to be printed for the use of the members.
On the 29th, Mr. Burke, the chairman of the committee, in
formed the House, that it would be proper to make some alter
ations in the said report, and some additions thereto,- in
consequence of which, the order for printing the report was
discharged. The question being then put, that the said report
be re-committed, the House divided : Yeas 52 : Noes 20.
On the 30th of April, Mr. Burke informed the House, that
the committee had made some alterations in the said Report,
and some additions thereto; and he read the report in his
place ; and afterwards delivered the same, together with an
Appendix thereunto, in at the clerk's table ; when the Report
was read, and is as followeth : viz. >'/
REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COM
MONS APPOINTED TO INSPECT THE LORDS' JOURNALS,
IN RELATION TO THEIR PROCEEDINGS ON THE TRIAL
OF WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. AND TO REPORT WHAT
THEY' FIND THEREIN TO THE HOUSE; WHICH cdtit-
MITTEE WERE THE MANAGERS APPOINTED* TO MAKE
GOOD THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST THE
SAID WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. AND WHO WERE AF
TERWARDS INSTRUCTED TO REPORT THE SEVERAL
MATTERS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED SINCE THE COM
MENCEMENT OF THE SAID PROSECUTION, AND WHICH
HAVE, IN THEIR OPINION, CONTRIBUTED TO THE
DURATION THEREOF TO THE PRESENT TIME, WITH
THEIR OBSERVATIONS THEREUPON.
YOUR committee has received two powers from the
House — the - first on the 5th of March 1 794, to in
spect the Lords journals, in relation to their proceedings
on the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. and to report what
they find therein to the House.

1 794*3 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 169
The second- is an instruction given on the 17th day of
the same month of March, to this effect: That your
committee do , report to this House the several matters
which have occurred since the commencement of the said
prosecution, and which have, in their opinion, contributed
to the duration thereof to the present time, with their ob
servations thereupon.
, Your committee is sensible, that the duration of the said
trial, and. the causes of that duration, as well as the mat
ters which have therein occurred, do well merit the attenr
tive consideration of this House; we have therefore
endeavoured, with all diligence, to employ the powers that
have been granted, and to execute the orders that have
been given to us, and to report thereof! as speedily as pos
sible, and as fully as the time would admit.
Your committee has considered, first, the mere fact of
the duration of the trial, which they find to have com
menced on the 13th day of February 1788, and to have
continued by various adjournments to the said 17th of
March. During that period, the sittings of the court have oc
cupied one hundred and eighteen days, or about one third
of a year.
The distribution of the sitting-days in each year is as
follows : Days
In the year 1788, the court sat 35
1789,  V7
1790,  T4
1791,  5
1792,  22
 22
1793*  „ , . . .
1794, to the ist of March, inclusive 3
Total 118
Your committee then proceeded, to consider the causes
of this duration with regard to time, .as measured by the

I70 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
calendar, and also as measured by the number of days oc
cupied in actual sitting.
They find, on examining the duration of the trial, with
reference to the number of years which it has lasted, that
it has been owing to several prorogations, and to one disso
lution of parliament; to discussions which are supposed to
have arisen in the House of Peers on the legality of the
continuance of impeachments from parliament to parlia
ment ; that it has been owing to the number and length of
the adjournments of the court, particularly the adjourn
ments on account of the circuit, which adjournments were
interposed in the middle of the session, and the most pro
per time for business ; that it has been owing to one ad
journment made in consequence of a complaint of the
prisoner against one of your managers, which took up a
space of ten days ; that two days adjournment were made
on account of the illness of certain of the managers ; and,
as far as your committee can judge, two sitting-days were
prevented by the sudden and unexpected dereliction of the
defence of the prisoner at the close of the last session, your
managers not having been then ready to produce their
evidence in reply, nor to make their observations on the
evidence produced by the prisoner's counsel, as they ex
pected the whole to have been gone through before they
were called on for their reply. In this session your com
mittee computes that the trial was delayed about a week
or ten days. The Lords waited for the recovery of the
Marquis Cornwallis, the prisoner wishing to avail himself
of the testimony of that noble person.
With regard to the one hundred and eighteen days em
ployed in actual sitting, the distribution of the business
was in the manner following : there were spent, Days
In reading the articles of impeachment and the de
fendant's answer, and in debate on the mode of
proceeding v-------.g
Opening speeches and summing up by the managers 19
Documentary and oral evidence by the managers 5 1

1 794-] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 171
Days
Brought forward - - - - 73
Opening speeches and summing-up by the defendant's
counsel, and defendant's addresses to the court 22
Documentary and oral evidence on the part of the
defendant ------- 23
118

The other head, namely, that the trial has occupied one
hundred and eighteen days, or nearly one third of a year,
— this your committee conceive to arise from the following
immediate causes :
First, the nature and extent of the matter to be tried.
Secondly, the general nature and quality of the evidence
produced. It was principally documentary evidence con
tained in papers of great length, the whole of which was
often required to be read, when brought to prove a single
short fact. Under the head of evidence must be taken
into consideration the number and description of the wit
nesses examined and cross-examined.
Thirdly, and principally, the duration of the trial is to
be attributed to objections taken by the prisoner's counsel
to the admissibility of several documents and persons of
fered as evidence on the part of the prosecution. These
objections amounted to sixty-two : they gave rise to several
debates, and to twelve references from the court to , the
judges. On the part of the managers the number of objections
was small; the debates upon them were short : there was
not upon them any reference to the judges ; and the Lords
did not even retire upon any of them to the chamber of
parliament. This last cause of the number of sitting-days your com
mittee considers as far more important than all the rest.
The questions upon the admissibility of evidence; the
manner in which these questions were stated and were de
cided ; the modes of proceeding ; the great uncertainty of
the principle upon which evidence in that court is to be

172 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30*
admitted or rejected ; all these appear to your committee
materially to affect the constitution of the House of Peers,
as a court of judicature, as well as its powers, and the pur
poses it was intended to answer in the state. The Peers
have a valuable interest in the conservation of their own
lawful privileges : but this interest is not confined to the
Lords. The Commons ought to partake in tbe advantage
of the judicial rights and privileges of that high court.
Courts are made for the suitors, and not the suitors for the
court. The conservation of all other parts of thev law,
the whole indeed of tlie rights and liberties of the subject,
ultimately depends upon the preservation of the law of
parfiament in its original force and authority.
Your committee had reason to entertain apprehensions,
that certain proceedings in this trial may possibly limit and
weaken the means of carrying on any future impeachment
of the Commons. As your committee felt these appre
hensions strongly, they thought it their duty to begin with
humbly submitting facts and observations, on the proceed
ings concerning evidence, to the consideration of this
House, before they proceed to state the other matters which
come within the scope of the directions which they have
received. To enable your committee the better to execute the task
imposed upon them in carrying on the impeachment of this
House, and to find some principle on which they were to
order and regulate their conduct* therein, they found it ne
cessary to look attentively to the jurisdiction of the court
in which they were to act for this House, and into its laws
and rules of proceeding, as well as into the rights and
powers of the House of Commons in their impeachments.
Relation of the Judges, Sfc. to the Court qf Parliament.
Upon examining into the course of proceedings in the
House of Lords,* and into the relation which exists be-

* 4 Inst. p. 4.

1 794* J DURATION OF MR. HASTINGs's TRIAL. I73
tween the Peers on the one hand, and their attendants
and assistants, the judges of the realm, barons of the ex
chequer of the coif, the king's learned counsel, and the
civilians masters of the chancery, on the other; it appears
to your committee, that these judges, and other persons
learned in the common and civil laws, are no integrant and
necessary part of that court. Their writs of summons are
essentially different ; and it does not appear that they or
any of them have, or of right ought to have, a delibera
tive voice, either actually or virtually, in the judgments
given in the high court of parliament. Their attendance
in that court is solely ministerial; and their answers to
questions put to them, are not to be regarded as declara
tory of the law of parliament, but are merely consultary
responses, in order to furnish such matter (to be submitted
to the judgment of the peers) as may be useful in reasoning
by analogy, so far as the nature of the rules, in the respec
tive courts of the learned persons consulted, shall appear
to the House to be applicable to the nature and circum
stances of the case before them, and no otherwise.

Jurisdiction of the Lords.
Your committee finds, that in all impeachments of the
Commons of Great Britain for high crimes and misde
meanors, before the peers in the high court of parliament,
the peers are not triers or jurors only, but by the ancient
laws and constitution of this kingdom, known by constant
usage, are judges both of law and fact; and we conceive
that the Lords are bound not to act in such a manner as
to give rise to an opinion that they have virtually submitted
to a division of their legal powers ; or that, putting them
selves into the situation of mere triers or jurors, they may
suffer the evidence in the cause to be produced or not
produced before them, according to the discretion of the
judges of the inferior courts.

174 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
Law of Parliament.
Your committee finds, that the Lords in matter of ap
peal or impeachment in parliament, are not of right
obliged to proceed according to the course or rules of the
Roman civil law, or by those of the law or usage of any
of the inferior courts in Westminster-hall; but by the law
and usage of parliament. And your committee finds, that
this has been declared in the most clear and explicit man
ner by the House of Lords, in the year of our Lord 1387
and 1388, in the eleventh year of king Richard the Second.
Upon an appeal in parliament then depending against
certain great persons, peers and commoners, the said ap
peal was referred to the justices and other learned persons
of the law : " At which time" (it is said in the record *)
" that the justices and Serjeants, and others the learned in
the law civil, were charged, by order of the king our sove
reign aforesaid, to give their faithful counsel to the lords
of the parliament, concerning the due proceedings in the
cause of the appeal aforesaid. The which justices, Ser
jeants, and the learned in the law of the kingdom, and also
the learned in the law civil, have taken the same into de
liberation ; and have answered to the said lords of par
liament, that they had seen and well considered the
tenour of the said appeal; and they say, that the same
appeal was neither made nor pleaded according to the
order which the one law or the other requires. Upon
which the said lords of parliament have taken the same into
deliberation and consultation, and by the assent of our said
lord the king, and of their common agreement, it was
declared, that in so high a crime as that which is charged
in this appeal, which touches the person of our lord the
king, and the state of the whole kingdom, perpetrated by
persons who are peers of the kingdom, alono- with others
the cause shall not be tried in any other place but in par
liament, nor by any other law than the law and course of

* Rolls Pari. Vol. iii. p, 236.

I 794-] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 17J
parliament ; and that it belongeth to the lords of parlia
ment, and to their franchise and liberty by the ancient
custom of the parliament, to be judges in such cases; and
in these cases to judge by the assent of the king ; and thus
it shall be done in this case by the award of parliament :
because the realm of England has not been heretofore, nor
is it the intention of our said lord the king, and the lords
of parliament, that it ever should be governed by the law
civil : and also it is their resolution, not to rule or govern
so high a cause as this appeal is, which cannot be tried
any where but in parfiament, as hath been said before, by
the course, process, and order used in any courts or place
inferior, in the same kingdom; which courts and places are
not more than the executors of the antient laws and
customs of the kingdom, and of the ordinances and estab
lishments of parfiament — It was determined by the said
lords of parliament, by the assent of our said lord the
king, that this appeal was made and pleaded well and
sufficiently, and that the process upon it is good and ef
fectual, according to the law and course of parliament,
and for such they decree and adjudge it."
And your committee finds, that toward the close of the
same parliament, the same right was again claimed and ad
mitted as the special privilege of the peers, in the following
manner : — "In this parliament, all the lords then pre
sent, spiritual as well as temporal, claimed as their
franchise that the weighty matters moved in this parliament,
and which shall be moved in other parliaments in future
times, touching the peers of the land, shall be managed,
adjudged, and discussed by the course of parliament, and
in no sort by the law civil, or by the common law of the
land, used in the other lower courts of the kingdom, which
claim, liberty, and franchise, the king graciously allowed
and granted to them in full parliament." *
Your committee finds, that the commons, having at that
time considered the appeal above-mentioned, approved" the
* Rol. Pari. Vol iii. p. 344- § 7-

176 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30*
proceedings in it; and, as far as in them lay, added the
sanction of their accusation against the persons who were
the objects of the appeal. They also, immediately after
wards, impeached all the judges of the common pleas,
the chief baron of the exchequer, and other learned and
eminent persons, both peers and commoners; upon the
conclusion of which impeachment it was that the second
claim was entered. In all the transactions aforesaid, the
commons were acting parties ; yet neither then, nor ever
since, have they made any objection or protestation that
the rule laid down by the lords, in the beginning of the
session of 1388, ought not to be applied to the impeach
ments of commoners as well as peers. In many cases
they have claimed the benefit of this rule ; and in all cases
they have acted and the peers have determined upon the
same general principles. The peers have always supported
the same franchises ; nor are there any precedents upon
the records of parliament subverting either the general rule
or the particular privilege, so far as the same relates
either to the course of proceeding or to the rule of law,
by which the lords are to judge.
Your committee observes also, that in the commissions
to the several lords high stewards who have been appointed
on the trials of peers impeached by the commons, the
' proceedings are directed to be had according to the law
and custom of the kingdom, and the custom of parliament ,-
which words are not to be found in the commissions for
trying upon indictments.
" As every court of justice," (says Lord Coke *) " hath
laws and customs for its direction, some by the common law,
some by the civil and canon law, some by peculiar laws
and customs, &c. So the high court of parliament, suis
propriis legibus Sr consuetudinibus subsistit, it is by the lex
8$ constietudo parliamenti that all weighty matters in any
parliament moved, concerning the peers of the realm, or
commons in parliament assembled, ought to be determined,
* 4 Inst. p. ij.

1 794-] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 77
adjudged, and , discussed by the course of the paEhament,
and not by the civil law, nor yet by the common laws of
this realm used in more inferior courts." — And after
founding himself on this very precedent of the nth of
Richard II. he adds, " This is the reason that judges ought
not to give any opinion of a matter of parliament, because it
is not to be decided by the common laws, but secundum legem
$¦ consuetudi?iem parliamenti : and so the Judges in divers
parliaments have confessed." Ride of Pleading.
Your committee do not find, that any .rules of pleading,
as observed in the inferior courts, have ever obtained in the
proceedings of the high court of parliament, in a cause or
matter in which the whole procedure has been within their
original jurisdiction. Nor does your committee find, that *
any demurrer or exception, as of false or erroneous plead- -
ings hath been ever admitted to any impeachment in par- -
liament, as not coming within the form of the pleading;
and although a reservation or protest is made by the de
fendant (matter of form, as 'we conceive) ' to the gene
rality, uncertainty, and insufficiency of the articles of
impeachment;' yet no objections have, in fact, been ever
made in any part of the record ; and when verbally they
have been made (until this trial), they have constantly been
over-ruled. The trial of Lord Strafforde is one of the most important
seras in the history of parliamentary judicature. * In that
trial, and in the dispositions made preparatory to it, the
process on impeachments was, on great consideration, ref-
search, and selection of precedents, brought very nearly
to.the form which it retains at this day ; and great and im->
portant parts of parliamentary law were then laid down.
The Commons at that time made new charges, or amended
the old, as they saw occasion. Upon an application from

* 16 Ch. 1. 1640.
VOL. IV. N

I78 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE LAPr» 3°-
the Commons to the Lords, that the examinations taken
by their lordships, at their request, might be delivered to
them, for the purpose of a more exact specification of the
charge they had made, on delivering the message of the
Commons, Mr. Pim, amongst other things, said, as it is
entered in the Lords' Journals *, " According to the clause
of reservation in the conclusion of their charge, they (the
Commons) will add to the charges, not to the matter in
respect of comprehension, extent, or kind, but only to re
duce them to more particularities, that the Earl of Straf-
forde might answer with the more clearness and expedition
— not that they are bound by this way of SPECIAL charge;
and therefore they have taken care in their House, upon
protestation, that this shall be no prejudice to bind them from
proceeding in GENERAL and other cases, and that they
are not to be ruled by proceedings in other courts, which
protestation they have made for the preservation of the power
of parliament ; and they desire that the like care may be had
in your Lordships House."
This protestation is entered on the Lords' Journals.
Thus careful were the Commons that no exactness used by
them for a temporary accommodation, should become an
example derogatory to the larger rights of parliamentary
process. At length the question of their being obliged to conform
to any of the rules below came to a formal judgment f. In
the trial of Dr. Sacheverell, March 10th, 1709, the Lord
Nottingham " desired their Lordships opinion, whether he
might propose a question to the judges hei-e [in West
minster-hall]. Thereupon the Lords being moved to ad
journ, adjourned to the House of Lords, and on debate
[as appears by a note] it was agreed, that the question
should be proposed in Westminster-hall." Accordingly,
when the Lords returned the same day into the hall, the

* Lords' Journals, Vol. iv. p. 133.
f Lords' Journals, Vol. xix. p. 98.

f

1794.] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 79
question was put by Lord Nottingham, and stated to the
judges by the lord chancellor.
" Whether by the law of England, and constant practice
in all prosecutions by indictment and information, for
crimes and misdemeanors, by writing or speaking, the
particular words supposed to be written or spoken must not
be expressly specified in the indictment or information."
On this question, the judges, seriatim, and in open
court, delivered their opinion: the substance of which
was, " That by the laws of England, and the constant
practice in Westminster-hall, the words ought to be ex
pressly specified in the indictment or information."
Then the Lords adjourned, and did not come into the
Hall until the 20th. In the intermediate time they came to
resolutions on the matter of the question put to the judges.
Dr. Sacheverell, being found guilty, moved in arrest of
judgment upon two points : — The first, which he grounded
on the opinion of the judges, and which your committee
thinks most, to the present purpose, was, " That no intire
clause, or sentence, or expression, in either of his sermons
or dedications, is particularly set forth in his impeachment,
which he has already heard the judges declare to be ne
cessary in all cases of indictments or informations."
On this head of objection, the lord chancellor, on the
23d of March, agreeably to the resolutions of the Lords of
the 14th and 16th of March, acquainted Dr. Sacheverell:
" That on occasion of the question before put to the
judges in Westminister-hall, and their answer thereto,
their lordships had fully debated and considered of that
matter, and had come to the following resolution :
" That this House will proceed to the determination of
the impeachment of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, according to
the law of the land, and the law and usage of parliament.
" And afterwards to this resolution :
" That by the law and usage of parliament in prosecutions
for high crimes and misdemeanors, by writing or speaking,
the particular words, supposed to be criminal, are not ne
cessary to be expressly specified in such impeachment.
N 2

l8o REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
" So that, in their lordships opinion, the law and usage of
the high court of parliament, being apart of the law of the
land, and that usage not requiring that words should be
exactly specified in impeachments, the answer of the judges,
which related only to the course of indictments and inform
ations, does not in the least affect your case."
On this solemn judgment concerning the law and usage
of parliament, it is to be remarked ; first, that the impeach
ment itself is not to be presumed inartificially drawn. It
appears to have been the work of some of the greatest
lawyers of the time, who were perfectly versed in the manner
of pleading in the courts below ; and would naturally have
imitated their course, if they had not been justly fearful of
setting an example, which might hereafter subject the plain
ness and simplicity of a parliamentary proceeding to the
technical subtilties of the inferior courts: secondly, that
the question put to the judges, and their answer, were
strictly confined to the law and practice below; and that
nothing in either had a tendency to their delivering an
opinion concerning parliament, its laws, its usages, its course
of proceeding, or its powers : thirdly, that the motion in
arrest of judgment, grounded on the opinion of the judges,
was made onby by Dr. Sacheverell himself, and not by his
counsel, men of great skill and learning, who, if they
thought the objections had any weight, would undoubtedly
have made and argued them.
Here, as in the case of the nth of King Pucbard IL,
the judges declared unanimously, that such an objection
would be fatal to such a pleading in any indictment or in
formation : but the lords, as on the former occasion, over
ruled this objection, and held the article to be good and
valid, notwithstanding the report of tho judges concerning
the mode of proceeding in the courts below.
Your committee finds, that a protest, with reasons at
large, was entered by several lords against this determin
ation of tlieir court *. It is always an advantao-e to those

* Lords' Journals, Vol. xix. p. 106.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS' S TRIAL. iS I
who protest, that their reasons appear upon record,' whilst
the reasons of the majority who determine the question
do not appear. This would. be a disadvantage of such im
portance, as greatly to impair, if not totally to destroy, the
effect-of precedent as authority, if the reasons which pre
vailed were not justly presumed to be more valid than those
which have been obliged to give way; the former having
governed the final and conclusive decision of a competent
court. But your committee, combining the fact of this de
cision with the early decision just quoted, and with the total
absence of any precedent of an objection, before that time
or since, allowed to pleading, or what has any relation to
the rules and principles of pleading as used in Westminster-
hall, has no doubt that the House of Lords was governed
in the 9th of Anne by the very same principles which it had
solemnly declared in the 1 ith of Richard II.
But besides tbe presumption in favour of the reasons
which must be supposed to have produced this solemn
judgment of the peers, contrary to the practice of the
courts below, as declared by all the judges — it is probable,
that the lords were unwilling to take a step, which might
admit that any thing in that practice should be received as
their rule. ,
It must be observed, however, that the reasons against
the article,' alleged in the protest, were by no means solely
bottomed in the practice of the courts below, as if the main
reliance of the protestors was upon that usage. The pro
testing minority, maintained, that it was not agreeable to
several precedents in parliament; of which they cited many
in favour of their opinion. — It appears by the Journals,
that the clerks were ordered to search for precedents, and
a committee of peers was appointed to inspect the said pre-
precedents, and to report upon them — and that they did
inspect and report accordingly. But the report is not
entered on the Journals. It is, however, to be presumed
that the greater number and the better precedents sup
ported the judgment.
Allowing, however, their utmost force to the precedents
N 3

1 82 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O.
there cited, they could serve only to prove, that in the case
of words (to which alone, and not the case of a Written libel,
the precedents extended) such a special averment, accord
ing to the tenor of the words, had been used ; but not that
it was necessary, or that ever any plea had been rejected.
upon such an objection.
As to the course of parliament resorted to for authority
in this part of the protest, the argument seems rather to
affirm than to deny the general proposition, that its own
course, and not that of the inferior courts had been the rule
and law of parliament.
As to the objection taken in the protest, drawn from
natural right, the lords knew, and it appears in the course
of the proceeding *, that the whole of the libel had been
read at length, as appears from p. 65$. to p. 666. So that
Dr. Sacheverell had substantially the same benefit of any
thing which could, be alleged in the extenuation or excul
pation, as if his libellous sermons had been entered verbatim
upon the recorded impeachment. It was adjudged suffi
cient to state the crime generally in the impeachment. The
libels were given in evidence; and it was not then thought
of, that nothing should be given in evidence which was not
specially charged in the impeachment.
But whatever their reasons were, (great and grave they
were, no doubt,) such, as your committee has stated it, is
Xhejudgment of the peers on the law of parliament, as a part
of the law of the land. It is the more forcible, as con
curring with the judgment in the nth of Richard IL,
and with the total silence of the Rolls and Journals con
cerning any objection to pleading ever being suffered to
vitiate an impeachment, or to prevent evidence being given
upon it on account of its generality, or any other failure.
Your committee do not think it probable that, even be
fore this adjudication, the rules of pleading below could
ever have been adopted in a parliamentary proceeding,
when it is considered that the several statutes of jeofails,
* State Trials, Vol. v.

1 7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 83
not less than twelve in number, have been made for the
correction of an over-strictness in pleading to the prejudice
of substantial justice * ; yet in no one of these is to be dis
covered the least mention of any proceeding in parliament.
There is no doubt, that the legislature would have applied
its remedy to that grievance in parliamentary proceedings,
if it had found those proceedings embarrassed with what
Lord Mansfield, from the Bench, and speaking of the
matter of these statutes, very justly calls " disgraceful sub-
tilties." What is still more strong to the point, your committee
finds, that in the 7th of William III., ch. 3. § 12., an
act was made for the regulating of trials for treason and
misprision of treason3 containing several regulations for
reformation of proceedings at law, both as to matters of
form and substance, as well as relative to evidence. It is
an act thought most essential to the liberty of the subject;
yet in this high and critical matter, so deeply affecting the
lives, properties, honours, and even the inheritable blood of
the subject, the legislature was so tender of the high powers
of this high court, deemed so necessary for the attainment
of the great objects of its justice, so fearful of enervating
any of its means, or circumscribing any of its capacities,
even by rules and restraints the most necessary for the in
ferior courts, that they guarded against it by an express
proviso, " that neither this act, nor any thing therein con
tained, shall any ways extend to any impeachment or other
proceedings in parliament in any land whatsoever."
Conduct of the Commons in Pleading.
This point being thus solemnly adjudged in the case of
Dr. Sacheverell, and the principles of the judgment being
in agreement with the whole course of parliamentary pro
ceedings, the managers for this House have ever since
considered it as an indispensable duty, to assert the same
* Statutes at large, from xi Ed. I. to 16 and 17 Ch. II.
N 4

I84 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O.
principle in all its latitude upon all occasions on which it
could come in question — and to assert it with an energy,
zeal, and earnestness, proportioned to the magnitude and
importance of the interest of the Commons of Great Britain
in the religious observation of the rule, that the law of
parliament, and the law of parliament only, should prevail
in the' trial of their impeachments.
In the year 17 15, (1 Geo. I.) the Commons thought
proper to impeach of high treason the lords, who had
entered into the rebellion of that period *. This was
about six years after the decision in the case of Sacheverell.
On the trial of one of these lords (the Lord Wintoun) after
verdict, the prisoner moved in arrest of judgment, and ex
cepted against the impeachment for error, on account of
the treason therein laid " not being described with suffi
cient certainty — the day on which the treason was com
mitted not having been alleged." His council was heard
to this point. They contended, ' that the forfeitures in
cases of treason are very great ; and therefore they humbly
conceived,; that the accusation ought to contain all the cer-
tainty it is capable of; that the prisoner may not by ge
neral allegations be rendered incapable to defend himself
in a case which may prove fatal to him. That they would
not trouble their lordships with citing authorities; for
they believed there is not one gentleman of the long robe
but will agree that an indictment for any capital offence to
be erroneous, if the offence be not alleged to be committed
on a certain day.' — " That this impeachment set forth only
that in or about the months of September, October or
November 17 15" — < the offence charged in the impeach
ment had been committed. The counsel argued that a
proceeding by impeachment, is a proceeding at the com
mon law, for lex parliamentaria is a part of common law,
and they submitted whether there is not the same certainty
required in one method of proceeding at common law as in
another.'

* State Trials, Vol. vi. p. 1 7.

1 7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 8^
The matter was argued elaborately and learnedly, not
only on the general principles of the proceedings below,
but on the inconvenience and possible hardships attending
this uncertainty. They quoted Sacheverell's case, in whose
impeachment '; the precise days were laid when the doctor
preached each of these two sermons : and that by a like
reason a certain day ought to be laid in the impeachment
when this treason was committed ; and that the authority of
Dr. Sacheverell's case seemed so much stronger than the
case in question, as the crime of treason is higher than
that of a misdemeanor."
Here the managers for the Commons brought the point
a second time to an issue, and that on the highest of capital
cases ; an issue, the event of which was to determine for
ever, whether their impeachments were to be regulated by
the law, as understood and observed in the inferior courts.
— Upon the usage below there was no doubt ; the indict
ment would unquesti6nably have been quashed: but the
managers for the Commons stood forth upon this occasion
with a determined resolution, and no less than four of
them seriatim rejected the doctrine contended for by Lord
Wintoun's counsel. They were all eminent members of
parliament, and three of them great and eminent lawyers,
namely, the then attorney-general, Sir William Thompson,
and Mr. Cowper.
Mr. Walpole said, " those learned gentlemen (Lord
Wintoun's counsel) seem to forget in what court they are.
" They have taken up so much of your lordships' time in
quoting of authorities, and using arguments to show your
lordships what would quash an indictment in the courts be
low, that they seemed to forget they are now in a court of
parliament, and on an impeachment of the Commons of Great
Britain. For, should the Commons admit all that they
have offered, it will not follow that the impeachment of the
Commons is insufficient ; and I must observe to your lord
ships, that neither of the learned gentlemen have offered
to produce one instance relative to an impeachment; I
mean to shew that the sufficiency of an impeachment was

1 86 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O.
never called in question for the generality of the charge,
or that any instance of that nature was offered at before.
The Commons don't conceive, that, if this exception
would quash an indictment, it would therefore make the
impeachment insufficient. I hope it never will be allowed
here as a reason, that what quashes an indictment in the
courts below, will make insufficient an impeachment brought
by the Commons of Great Britain."
The Attorney-general supported Mr. Walpole in affirm
ance of this principle. He said, " I would follow the steps
of the learned gentleman who spoke before me, and I think
he has given a good answer to these objections. I would
take notice that we are upon an impeachment, not upon an
indictment. The courts below have set forms to them
selves, which have prevailed for a long course of time, and
thereby are become the forms by which those courts are to
govern themselves ; but it never was thought that the forms
of those courts had any influence on the proceedings of
parliament. In Richard II. 's time, it is said in the re
cords of parliament, that proceedings in parliament are net
to be governed by the forms of Westminster-hall. We
are in the case of an impeachment, and in the court of
parliament. Your lordships have already given judgment
against six upon this impeachment, and it is warranted by
the precedents in parliament ; therefore we insist that the
articles are good in substance."
Mr. Cowper. — " They (the counsel) cannot but know
that the usages of parliaments are part of the laws of the
land, although they differ in many instances from the com
mon law, as practised in the inferior courts, in point of form.
" My Lords, if the Commons, in preparing articles of
impeachment, should govern themselves by precedents of
indictments, in my humble opinion they would depart from
the ancient, nay, the constant' usage and practice of parfia
ment. It is well known that the form of an impeachment
has very little resemblance to that of an indictment : and I
believe the Commons will endeavour .to preserve the differ
ence, by adhering to their own precedents."
1 15

1 794.] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 87
Sir William Thompson. — " We must refer to the forms
and proceedings in the court of parliament, and which
must be owned to be part of the law of the land. , It has
been mentioned already to your lordships, that the pre
cedents in impeachments are not so nice and precise in form
as in the inferior courts ; and we presume your lordships
will be governed by the forms of your own court (especially
forms that are not essential to justice) as the courts below
are by theirs; which courts differ one from the other in
many respects as to their forms of proceedings, and the
practice of each court is esteemed as the law of that court."
The attorney-general, in reply, maintained his first doc
trine — " There is no uncertainty in it that can be to the
prejudice of the prisoner ; we insist it is according to the
forms of parliament ; he has pleaded to it, and your lord
ships have found him guilty."
The opinions of the judges were taken in the House of
Lords on the 19th of March 17 15, upon two questions
which had been argued in arrest of judgment, grounded
chiefly on the practice of the courts below.
To the first the judges answered : " It is necessary that
there be a certain day laid in such indictments on which the
fact is alledged to be committed; and that all edging in
such indictments that the fact was committed at or about a
certain day, would not be sufficient."
To the second they answered :
" That although a day certain, when the fact is sup
posed to be done, be alledged in such indictments, yet it
is not necessary upon the trial to prove the fact to be com
mitted upon that day ; but it is sufficient if proved to te
done on any other day before the indictment found."
Then it was " agreed by the House, and ordered, that
the lord high steward be directed to acquaint the prisoner
at the bar in Westminster-hall,
" That the Lords have considered of the matters moved
in arrest of judgment, and are of opinion, that they are not
sufficient to arrest the same, but that the impeachment is

1 88 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
¦sufficiently certain in point of time according to the form of
impeachments in parliament." *
On this final adjudication (given after solemn argument,
and after taking the opinion of the judges) in affirmance
of the law of parliament against the undisputed usage of
the courts below, your committee has to remark, ist, The
preference of the custom of parliament to the usage below.
By the very latitude of the charge, the parliamentary accu
sation gives the prisoner fair notice to prepare himself upon
all points ; whereas there seems something ensnaring in
the proceedings upon indictment, which fixing the specifi
cation of a day certain for the treason or felony as abso
lutely necessary in the charge, gives notice for preparation
only on that day ; whilst the prosecutor has the whole
range of time antecedent to the indictment to alledge, and
give evidence of facts against the prisoner. It has been
usual, particularly in later indictments, to add, " at se
veral other limes." But the strictness of naming one day
is still necessary, and the want of the larger words would
not quash the indictment. 2dly, A comparison of the ex
treme rigour and exactness required in the more formal
part of the proceeding, (the indictment,) with the extreme
laxity used in the substantial part, (that is to say, the evi
dence received to prove the fact,) fully demonstrates that
the partizans of those forms would put shackles on the
high court of parliament with which they are not willing,
or find it wholly impracticable, to bind themselves.
3dly, That the latitude of departure from tbe letter of the
indictment (which holds in other matters besides this) is in
appearance much more contrary to natural justice than any
thing which has been objected against the evidence offered
by your managers, under a pretence that it exceeded the
limits of pleading. For in the case of indictments below,
it must be admitted that the prisoner may be unprovided
with proof of an alibi, and other material means of de-

* Lords' Journals, Vol. xx. p. 316.,

,17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 89
fence, or may find some matters unlookcd for produced
against him, by witnesses utterly unknown to him : whereas
nothing was offered to be given in evidence under any of
the articles of this impeachment, except such as the pri
soner must have had perfect knowledge of, the whole con
sisting of matters sent over by himself to the court of
directors, and authenticated under his own hand. No
substantial injustice or hardship of any kind could arise
from our evidence under our pleading; whereas in theirs,
very great and serious inconveniencies might well happen.
Your committee has further to observe, that in the case
of Lord Wintoun, as in the case of Dr. Sacheverell, the
Commons had in their managers persons abundantly prac
tised in the law as used in the inferior jurisdictions, who
could easily have followed the precedents of indictments,
if they had not purposely, and for the best reasons, avoided
such precedents.
A great writer on the criminal law, Justice Foster, in
one of his discourses *, fully recognizes those principles for
which your managers have contended, and which have to
this time been uniformly observed in parliament. In a
very elaborate reasoning on the case of a trial in parlia
ment, (the trial of those who had murdered Edward the
Second,) he observes thus: " It is well known, that in
parliamentary proceedings of this kind, it is, and ever was,
sufficient that matters appear with proper light and cer
tainty to a common understanding, without that minute
exactness which is required in criminal proceedings in
Westminster-hall. In these cases the rule has always been
loquendum ut vulgus." And in a note he says, " In the
proceeding against Mortimer in this parliament, so little
regard was had to the forms used in legal proceedings, that
he who had been frequently summoned to parliament as a
baron, and had lately been created Earl of March, is stiled
through the whole record merely Roger de Mortimer."

* Discourse iv. p. 389.

190 RERORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 0.
The departure from the common forms in the first case
alluded to by Foster, viz. the trial of Berkley, Mautravers,
&c. for treason, in the murder of * Edward the Second,
might be more plausibly attacked, because they were tried,
though in parliament, by a jury of freeholders ; which cir
cumstance might have given occasion to justify a nearer
approach to the forms of indictments below. But no such
forms were observed, nor in the opinion of this able judge
ought they to have been observed.
Publicity of the Judges' Opinions.
It appears to your committee, that from the 30th year
of King Charles the Second, until the trial of Warren
Hastings, Esq. in all trials in parliament, as well upon
impeachments of the Commons as on indictments brought
up by certiorari, when any matter of law hath been agi
tated at the bar, or in the course of trial hath been stated
by any lord in the court, itjhath been the prevalent custom
to state the same in open court. Your committee has been
able to find, since that period, no more than one prece
dent (and that a precedent rather in form than in sub
stance) of the opinions of the judges being taken privately,
except when the case on both sides has been closed, and
the lords have retired to consider of their verdict, or of
their judgment thereon. Upon the soundest and best pre
cedents, the lords have improved on the principles of
publicity and equality, and have called upon the parties
severally to argue the matter of law, previously to a refe
rence to the judges, who, on their parts, have afterwards,
in open court, delivered their opinions, often by the mouth
of one of the judges, speaking for himself and the rest,
and in their presence : and sometimes all the judges have
delivered their opinion seriatim, (even when they have been
unanimous in it,) together with their reasons upon which
their opinion had been founded. This, from the most

* Pari. Rolls, Vol. ii. p. S 7. 4 Ed. III. A. D. 1330.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 10 1
early times, has been the course in all judgments in the
House of Peers. Formerly even the record contained the
reasons of the decision. " The reason wherefore (said
Lord Coke*) the records of parliaments have been so highly
extolled is, that therein is set down, in cases of difficulty,
not only the judgment and resolution, but the reasons and
causes of the same by so great advice."
In the 30th of Charles the Second, during the trial of'
Lord Cornwallis, on the suggestion of a question in law to
the judges, Lord Danby demanded of the lord high
steward, the Earl of Nottingham, " Whether it would be
proper here (in open court) to ask the question of vour
grace, or to propose it to the judges ?"f
The lord high steward answered, " If your lordships
doubt of any thing whereon a question in law ariseth, the
latter opinion, and the better for the prisoner is, that it
must be stated in the presence of the prisoner, that he may
know whether the question be truly put." It hath sometimes
been practised otherwise; and the peers have sent for the
judges, and have asked their opinion in private, and have
come back and have given their verdict according to that
opinion, and there is scarcely a precedent of its being
otherwise done. There is a later' authority in print that
doth settle the point so as I tell you, and I do conceive it
ought to be followed; and it being safer for the prisoner,
my humble opinion to your lordship is, that he ought to
be present at the stating of the question. Call the prisoner."
The prisoner, who had withdrawn, again appearing, he
said, " My Lord Cornwallis, and my Lords the Peers, since
they have withdrawn, have conceived a doubt in some
matter of fact in your case ; and they have that tender re
gard of a prisoner at the bar, that they will nop suffer a case
to be put up in his absence, lest it should chance to preju
dice him by being wrong stated." Accordingly the ques-

* Coke, Inst. 4. p. 3. f State Trials, Vol. ii. p. 745. A. D. 1678.

ipi REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
tion was both put, and the judges' answer given publicly
and in his presence.
Very soon after the trial of Lord Cornwallis, the im
peachment against Lord Stafford was brought to a hearing,
that is, in the 3 2d of Charles the Second. In that case
the lord at the bar having stated a point of law, " touch
ing the necessity of two witnesses to an overt act in case of
treason; the lord high steward told Lord Stafford, that
" all the judges that assist them, and are here in your lord
ship's presence and hearing, should deliver their opinions,
whether it be doubtful and disputable or not." Accord
ingly the judges delivered their opinion, and each argued
it (though they were all agreed) seriatim and in open court.
Another abstract point of law was also proposed from the
bar on the same trial, concerning the legal sentence in
high treason ; and in the same manner the judges on re
ference delivered their opinion in open court ; and no ob
jection was taken to it, as any thing new or irregular.*
In the 1st of James the Second, came on a remarkable
trial of a peer ; the trial of Lord Delamere. On that oc
casion a question of law was stated. There also, in con
formity to the precedents and principles given on the trial
of Lord Cornwallis, and the precedent in the impeachment
of Lord Stafford, the then lord high steward took care
that the opinion of the judges should be given in open
court. Precedents grounded on principles so favourable to the
fairness and equity of judicial proceedings, given in the
reigns of Charles the Second and James the Second, were
not likely to be abandoned after the Revolution. The first
trial of a peer which we find after the Revolution, was that
of the Earl of Warwick.
In the case of the Earl of Warwick, 1 1 Will. IILf a
question in law upon evidence was put to the judges ; the
statement .of the question was made in open court by the

State Trials, Vol. iii. . 212. f State Trials, Vol. v. p. 169.

1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. I93
lord high steward, Lord Somers : " If there be six in
company, and one of them is killed, the other five are
afterwards indicted, and three are tried and found guilty
of manslaughter, and upon tlieir prayers have their clergy
allowed, and the burning in the hand is respited, but not
pardoned, whether any of the three can be a witness on the
trial of the other two." Lord Flalifax — "I suppose your
lordships will have the opinion of the judges upon this
point ; and that must be in the presence of ihe prisoner"
Lord high steward (Lord Somers), " It must certainly be
in the presence of ihe prisoner, if you ask the judges' opi
nions." In the same year, Lord Mohun was brought to trial
upon an indictment for murder. In this single trial a
greater number of questions was put to the judges in matter
of law, than probably was ever referred to the judges in
all the collective body of trials before or since that period.
That trial, therefore, furnishes the largest body of au
thentic precedents in this point to be found in the records
of parliament. The number of questions put to the judges
in this trial was twenty-three *, They all originated from
the peers themselves ; yet the court called upon the party's
counsel, as often as questions were proposed to be referred
to the judges, as well as on the counsel for the crown, to
argue every one of them before they went to those learned
persons. Many of the questions accordingly were argued
at the bar at great length. The opinions were given and
argued in open court. Peers frequently insisted that the
judges should give their opinions seriatim, which they did
always publicly in the court, with great gravity and dig
nity, and greatly to the illustration of the law, as they held
and acted upon it in th<?ir own courts.
In Sacheverell's case (just cited for another purpose) the
Earl of Nottingham demanded whether he might not pro
pose a question of law to the judges in open court. It was

* State Trials, Vol. iv. from p. 538. to 551.
VOL. IV. O

I94 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3O.
agreed to; and the judges gave their answer in open court,
though this was after verdict given : and in consequence of
the advantage afforded to the prisoner in hearing the opinion
of the judges, he was thereupon enabled to move in arrest
of judgment The next precedent which your committee finds of a
question put by the Lords, sitting as a court of judicature,
to the judges pending the trial, was in the 20th of George
the Second; when Lord Balmerino*, who was tried on an
indictment for high treason, having raised a doubt, whether
the evidence proved him to be at the place assigned for the
overt act of treason on the day laid in the indictment.
The point was argued at the bar by the counsel for the
•crown in the prisoner's presence, and for his satisfaction.
The prisoner, on hearing the argument,, waived his ob
jection, but the then lord president moving their lord
ships to adjourn to the chamber of parliament, the lords
adjourned accordingly; and after some time, returning
into Westminster-hall, the lord high steward (Lord Hard-
wicke) said, " Your lordships were pleased, in the
•chamber of parliament, to come to a resolution, that the
opinion of the learned and reverend judges should be taken
on the following question, namely, Whether it is necessary
.that an overt act of high treason should be proved to have
been committed on the particular day laid in the indict
ment? Is it your lordships pleasure that the judges do
now give their opinion on that question ?
'¦ Lords — Aye, aye.
" Lord high steward — My lord chief justice !
" Lord chief justice, f,
" The question proposed by your lordships is, Whether
it be necessary that an overt act of high treason should be
proved to be committed on the particular day laid in the
indictment ?
*' We are all of opinion, that it is not necessary to
* Lords' Journals, Vol. ix. p. 606. Die Luna: 28 July 1746.
f Lord Chief Justice Lee.

!7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 19$
prove the overt act to be committed on the particular day
laid in the indictment ; but as evidence may be given of an
overt act before the day, so it may be after the day spe
cified in the indictment ; for the day laid is circumstance
and form only, and not material in point of proof, this is
the known constant course of proceeding in trials."
Here the case was made for the judges, for the satisfac
tion of one of the peers, after the prisoner had waived his
objection. Yet it was thought proper, as a matter of course
and of right, that the judges should state the question put
to them in the open court, and in presence of the prisoner ;
and that, in the same open, manner, and in the same,
presence, their answer should be delivered.
Your committee concludes their precedents begun under
Lord Nottingham and ended under Lord Hardwicke.
They are of opinion, that a body of precedents so uniform,
so accordant with principle, made in such times, and un
der the authority of a succession of such great men, ought
not to have been departed from. The single precedent to
the contrary, to which your committee has alluded above,
was on the trial of the Dutchess of Kingston *, in the reign
of his present majesty. But in that instance the reasons of
the judges were, by order of the House, delivered in
writing, and entered at length on the journals ; so that
the legal principle of the decision is equally to be found,
which is not the case in any one instance of the present
impeachment. The Earl of Nottingham, in Lord Cornwallis's case,
eonceived, though it was proper and agreeable to justice,
that this mode of putting questions to the judges, and re
ceiving their answer in public, was not supported by for
mer precedents : but, he thought, a book of authority had
declared in favour of this course.
Your committee is very sensible, that antecedent to the
great period to which they refer, there are instances of

* State Trials, Vol. ii. p. 263.
o 2

196" REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
questions having been put to the judges privately. But we
find the principle of publicity (whatever variations from it
there might be in practice) to have been so clearly esta
blished at a more early period, that all the judges of Eng
land resolved, in Lord Morley's trial, in the year 1666,
(about twelve years before the observation of Lord Not
tingham,) on a supposition that the trial should be ac
tually concluded, and the lords retired to the chamber of
parliament to consult on their verdict, that even in that
case (much stronger than the observation of your com
mittee requires for its support), if their opinions should
then be demanded by the peers, for the information of
their private conscience, yet they determined that they
should be given in public. This resolution is in itself so
solemn, and is so bottomed on constitutional principle and
legal policy, that your committee have thought fit to in
sert it verbatim in their report, as they relied upon it
at the bar of the court, when they contended for the same
publicity. " It was resolved, that in case the peers who are triers,
after the evidence given, and the prisoner withdrawn, and
they gone to consult of ihe verdict, should desire to speak
-with any of the judges, to have their opinion upon any
point of law, that if the lord Steward spoke to us to go,
we should go to them. But when the lords asked us any
question, we should not deliver any private opinion, but
let them know we were not to deliver any private opinion
nsoifhout conference with the rest of the judges, and that to be
done openly in court ; and this {notwithstanding the prece
dent in the case of the Earl of Castlehaven) was thought
prudent in regard of ourselves, as well as for the avoiding
suspicion which might grow by private opinions, ALL reso
lutions qf judges being ALWAYS done in public."*
The judges in this resolution over-ruled the authority of
the precedent, which militated against the whole spirit of

* Kelynge's Reports, p. 54,
14

1 7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. I97
their place and profession. Their declaration was without
reserve or exception, that " all resolutions of the judges
are always done in public." — These judges (as should be
remembered to their lasting honour) did not think it de
rogatory from their dignity, nor from their duty to the
House of Lords, to take such measures concerning the
publicity of their resolutions, as should secure them from
suspicion. They knew that the mere circumstance of pri
vacy in a judicature, where any publicity is in use, tends
to beget suspicion and jealousy. — Your committee is of
opinion, that the honourable policy of avoiding suspicion,
by avoiding privacy, is not lessened by any thing which
exists in th-e present time, and in the present trial.
Your committee has here to remark, that this learned
judge seemed to think the case of Lord Audley (Castle-
haven) to be more against him than in truth it was. The
precedents were as follow : The opinions of the judges were
taken three times. The first time by the attorney-general,-
at Serjeant's Inn, antecedent to the trial. The last time,
after the peers had retired to consult on their verdict.
The middle time, was during the trial itself* ; and here
the opinion was taken in open court, agreeably to what
your committee contends to have been the usage ever since
this resolution of the judges. What was done before
seemed to have passed sub silentio, and possibly through
mere inadvertence.
Your committee observes, that the precedents by them
relied on, were furnished from times in which the judicial
proceedings in parliament, and in all our courts, had ob
tained a very regular form. They were furnished at a pe
riod in which, Justice Blackstone remarks, that more laws
were passed, of importance to the rights and liberties of
the subject, than in any other. These precedents lean all
one way, and carry no marks of accommodation to the
variable spirit of the times and of political occasions. They

• Rushworth, Vol. ii. p. 93, 94, 95. 100.
o 3

*oS* report On the causes of the [April 30,
are the same before and after the Revolution. They are
the same through five reigns. The great men who pre
sided in the tribunals which furnished these examples were
in opposite political interests, but all distinguished for their
ability, integrity, and learning.
The Earl of Nottingham, who was the first on the
bench to promulgate this publicity as a rule, has not left
us to seek the principle in the case : that very learned man
considers the publicity of the questions and answers as a
matter of justice, and. of justice favourable to the prisoner.
In the case of Mr. Hastings, the prisoner's counsel did not
join your committee in their endeavours to obtain the pub
licity we demanded. Their reasons we can only conjec
ture. But your managers, acting for this House, were
not the less bound to see that the due parliamentary course
should be pursued, even when it is most favourable to those
whom they impeach. If it should answer the purposes of
one prisoner to waive the rights which belong to all pri
soners, it was the duty of your managers to protect those
general rights against that particular prisoner. It was
still more their duty to endeavour, that their own questions
should not be erroneously stated, or cases put which varied
from those which they argued, or opinipns given in a man
ner not supported by the spirit of our laws and institutions,
or by analogy with the practice of all our courts.
Your committee, much in the dark about a matter in
which it was so necessary that they should receive every
light, have heard, that in debating this matter abroad, it
has been objected, that many of the precedents on which
we most relied were furnished in the courts of the lord
high steward, and not in trials where the peers were
judges ; and that the lord high steward not having it in
his power to retire with the juror peers, the judges' opi
nions, from necessity, not from equity to the parties, were
given before that magistrate.
Your committee thinks it scarcely possible that the lords
could be influenced by such a feeble argument. For, ad
mitting the fact to have been as supposed, there is no sort

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 1 99
of reason why so uniform a course of precedents, in a legal
court, composed of a peer for judge, and peers for triers
— a course so favourable to all parties and to equal justice
— a course in concurrence with the procedure of all our
other courts, should not have the greatest authority over
their practice in every trial before the whole body of the
peerage. The Earl of Nottingham, who acted as high steward in
one of these commissions, certainly knew what he was say
ing. He gave no such reason. His argument for the
publicity of the judges' opinions did not turn at all on the
nature of his court, or of his office in that court. It rested
on the equity of the principle, and on the fair deahng due
to the prisoner.
Lord Somers was in no such court ; yet his declaration
is full as strong. He does not indeed argue the point, as
the Earl of Nottingham did when he considered it as a
new case. Lord Somers considers it as a point quite settled,
and no longer standing in need of being supported by
reason or precedent.
But it is a mistake that the precedents stated in this re
port are wholly drawn from proceedings in that kind of
court. Only two are cited, which are furnished from a
court constituted in the manner supposed. The rest were
in trials by all the peers, and not by a jury of peers with
an high steward.
After long discussions with the peers on this subject^
" The lords committees in a conference told them [the
committee of this House, appointed to a conference on the
matter,] that the high steward is but speaker pro tempore,
and giveth his vote as well as the other lords : this chang-
eth not the nature of the court. And the lords declared,
that they have power enough to proceed to trial, though
the hing should not name an high steward *." On the
same day, " It is declared and ordered, by the lords

* Foster's Crown Laws, p. 145.
O 4

200 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3<">
spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that the
office of high steward on trials of peers upon impeach
ments is not necessary to the House of peers — but that
the lords may proceed in such trials, if an high steward
is not appointed, according to their humble desire."
To put the matter out of all doubt, and to remove all
jealousy on the part of the Commons, the commission of
the lord high steward was then altered.
These rights, contended for by the Commons in their
impeachments, and admitted by the peers, were asserted
in the proceedings preparatory to the trial of Lord Staf
ford, in which that long chain of uniform precedents,
with regard to the publicity of the judges' opinions in trials,
begins. For these last citations, and some of the remarks, your
committee are indebted to the learned and upright justice
Foster. They have compared them with the journals, and
find them correct. The same excellent author proceeds to
demonstrate that whatever he says of trials by impeach
ment is equally applicable to trials before the high stew
ard on indictment ; and consequently, that there is no
ground for a distinction, with regard to the public decla
ration of the judges' opinions, founded on the inapplica
bility of either of these cases to the other. The argument
on this whole matter is so satisfactory, that your committee
has annexed it at large to their report *. As there is no
difference, in fact, between these trials (especially since the
act which provides that all the peers shall be summoned
to the trial of a peer) so there is no difference in the reason
and principle of the publicity, let the matter of the stew
ard's jurisdiction be as it may.
Publicity General.
Your committee do not find any positive law which binds
the judges of the courts in Westminster-hall publicly to

* See the Appendix, No. i.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 201
give a reasoned opinion from the bench, in support of
their judgment upon matters that are stated before them.
But the course hath prevailed from the oldest times. It
hath been so general and so uniform, that it must be con
sidered as the law of the land. It has prevailed, so far as
we can discover, not only in all the courts which now exist,
whether of law or equity, but in those which have been
suppressed or disused, such as the court of wards and the
star-chamber. An author quoted by Rushworth, speaking
of the constitution of that chamber, " And so it was re
solved, by the judges, on reference made to them ,- and their
opinion, after deliberate hearing, and view of former pre
cedents, was published in open court *." It appears else
where in the same compiler, that all their proceedings
were public, even in deliberating previous to judgment.
The judges in their reasonings have always been used to
observe on the arguments employed by the counsel on
either side ; and on the authorities cited by them, assign
ing the grounds for rejecting the authorities which they re
ject, or for adopting those to which they adhere, or for a
different construction of law, according to the occasion.
This publicity, not only of decision but of deliberation, is
not confined to their several courts, whether of law or
equity, whether above, or at Nisi Prius, but it prevails
where they are assembled in the Exchequer Chamber,
or at Serjeant's Inn, or wherever matters come before the
judges collectively for consultation and revision. — It seems
to your committee to be moulded in the essential frame and
constitution of British judicature.
Your committee conceives, that the English jurispru
dence has not any other sure foundation, nor consequently
the lives and properties of the subject any sure hold, but
in the maxims, rules, and principles, and juridical tradi
tionary line of decisions contained in the notes taken, and
from time to time published (mostly under the sanction of
the judges), called reports.
* Rushworth, Vol. ii. p. 475- & passim.

202 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3a.
In the early periods of the law it appears to your com
mittee, that a course still better had been pursued, but
grounded on the same principles ; and that no other cause
than the multiplicity of business prevented its continuance^
" Of ancient time (says Lord Coke) in cases of difficul
ties, either criminal or civil, the reasons and causes of the
judgment were set down upon the record, and so continued
in the reigns of Ed. I. and Ed. IL, and then there was no
need of reports; but in the reign of Ed. III. (when the
law was in its height) the causes and reasons of judgments,.
in respect of the multitude of them, are not set down in
the record, but then the great casuists and reporters of casesr
(certain grave and sad men) published the cases, and ihe
reasons and causes of the judgments or resolutions, whiclv
from the beginning of the reign of Ed. III. and since, we
have in print. But these also, though of great credit and*
excellent use in their kind, yet far underneath the authority
of the parliament rolls, reporting the acts, judgments, and
resolutions of that highest court'' *
Reports, though of a kind less authentic than the Year
Books to which Coke alludes, have continued without in
terruption to the time in which we live. It is well known,
that the elementary treatises of law, and the dogmatical
treatises of English jurisprudence, whether they appear
under the names of institutes, digests, or commentaries,
do not rest on the authority of the supreme power, like the
books called the Institute, Digest, Code, and authentic
Collations in the Roman Law. With us, doctrinal books of
that description have little or no authority, other than as
they are supported by the adjudged cases and reasons given
at one time or other from the bench ; and to these they
constantly refer. This appears in Coke's Institutes, in
Comyns's Digest, and in all books of that nature. To
give judgment privately is to put an end to reports; and to
put an end to reports, is to put an end to the law of Eng-

* Cote, 4 Inst. p. 5^

1794O duration of mr. hastings's trial. 203
land. It was fortunate for the constitution of this kingdom,
that in the judicial proceedings in the case of ship-money*
the judges did not then venture to depart from the ancient
course. They gave and they argued their judgment in
open court *. Their reasons were publicly given ; and the
reasons assigned for their judgment took away all its au
thority. The great historian Lord Clarendon, at that period a
young lawyer, has told us, that the judges gave as law
from the bench what every man in the hall knew not to be
law. This publicity, and this mode of attending the decision
with its grounds, is not observed only in the tribunals
where the judges preside in a judicial capacity individually
or collectively, but where they are consulted by the peers,
on the law in all writs of error brought from below. In
the opinion they give of the matter assigned as error, one
at least of the judges argues the questions at large. He
argues them publicly, though in the chamber of par
liament ; and in such a manner that every professor, practi
tioner, or student of the law, as well as the parties to the
suit, may learn the opinions of all the judges of all the
courts upon those points, in which the judges in one court
might be mistaken.
Your committee is of opinion that nothing better could
be devised by human wisdom than argued judgments pub
licly delivered for preserving unbroken the great tradi
tionary body of the law, and for marking, whilst that great
body remained unaltered, every variation in the applica
tion and the construction of particular parts ; for pointing
out the ground of each variation; and for enabling the
learned of the bar and all intelligent laymen to distinguish
those changes made for the advancement of a more solid,
equitable, and substantial justice, according to the variable

* This is confined to the judicial opinions in Hambden's case. It
does not take in all the extra-judicial opinions.

204 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3<?>
nature of human affairs, a progressive experience, and
the improvement of moral philosophy, from those hazar
dous changes in any of the ancient opinions and decisions,
which may arise from ignorance, from levity, from false re
finement, from a spirit of innovation, or from other
motives, of a nature not more justifiable.
Your committee, finding this course of proceeding to be
concordant with the character and spirit of our judicial
proceeding, continued from time immemorial, supported
by arguments of sound theory, and confirmed by effects
highly beneficial, could not see without uneasiness, in this
great trial for Indian offences, a marked innovation.
Against their reiterated requests, remonstrances, and pro
testations, the opinions of the judges were always taken
secretly. Not only the constitutional publicity for which we con
tend was refused to the request and entreaty of your
committee; but when a noble peer, on the 24th day of
June 1789, did in open court declare, that he would then
propose some questions to the judges in that place, and
hoped to receive their answer openly, according to the ap
proved good customs of that and of other courts, the
lords instantly put a stop to the further proceeding by an
immediate adjournment to the chamber of parliament,
Upon this adjournment we find by the Lords' Journals,
that the House, on being resumed, ordered, that " it should
resolve itself into a committee of the whole House on
Monday next, to take into consideration what is the proper
manner of putting questions by the lords to the judges,
and of their answering the same in judicial proceedings."
The House did thereon resolve itself into a committee,
from which the Earl of Galloway, on the 29th of the same
month, reported as follows : " That the House has, in the
trial of Warren Hastings, Esquire, proceeded in a regular
course in the manner of propounding their questions to the
judges in the chamber of parliament, and in receiving
their answers to them in the same place."
The resolution was agreed to by the lords ; but the.

"1794O duration of mr. hastings's trial. 205
protest (as below) * was entered thereupon, and supported,
by strong arguments.
Your committee remark, that this resolution states only,
that the House had proceeded in this secret manner of
propounding questions to the judges, and of receiving
their answers during the trial, and on matters of debate
between the parties, " in a regular course." It does not
assert that another course would not have been as regular.
It does not state either judicial convenience, principle, or

* Dissentient.
ist. Because, by consulting the judges out of court in the absence of
the parties, and with shut doors, we have deviated from the most ap
proved, and almost uninterrupted, practice of above a century and a
half, and established a precedent not only destructive of the justice
due to the parties at our bar, but materially injurious to the rights of
the community at large, who in cases of impeachments are more pecu
liarly interested that all proceedings of this high court of parliament
should be open and exposed, like all other courts of justice, to public
observation and comment, in order that no covert and private practices
should defeat the great ends of public justice.
2dly. Because, from private opinions of the judges, upon private
statements, which the parties have neither heard nor seen, grounds of
a decision will be obtained, which must inevitably affect the cause at
issue at our bar; this mode of proceeding seems to be a violation of
the first principle of justice, inasmuch as we thereby force and con-
fin^ the opinions of the judges to our private statement ; and through
the medium of our subsequent decision we transfer the effect of those
opinions to the parties, who have been deprived of the right and ad
vantage of being heard by such private, though unintended, transmut
ation of the point at if sue.
3dly. Because the prisoners who may hereafter have the misfortung
to stand at our bar will be deprived of that consolation which the Lord
High Steward Nottingham conveyed tp the prisoner, Lord Cornwallis,
viz. "That the lords have that tender regard of a prisoner at the bar,
that they will not suffer a case to be put in his absence, lest, it should
prejudice him by being wrong stated."
4thly. Because unusual mystery and secrecy in our judicial proceed
ings must tend either to discredit the acquittal of the prisoner, or
render the justice of his condemnation doubtful. Porchester.Suffolk and Berkshire.
Loughborough.

2o6 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
body of precedents for that regular course. No such body
of precedents appear on the journal that we could discover.
Seven-and-twjenty at least, in a regular series, are directly
contrary to this regular course. Since the asra of the 29th
of June 1789, no one question has been admitted to go
publicly to the judges.
This determined and systematic privacy was the more
alarming to your committee, because the questions did not
(except in that case) originate from the lords for the di
rection of their own conscience. These questions, in some
material instances, were not made or allowed by the par
ties at the bar, nor settled in open court, but differed ma
terially from what your managers contended was the true
state of the question, as put and argued by them. They
were such as the lords thought proper to state for them.
Strong remonstrances produced some alteration in this par
ticular ; but even after these remonstrances, several ques
tions were made, on statements which the managers never
made nor admitted.
Your committee does not know of any precedent before
this, in which the Peers, on a proposal of the Commons,
or of a less weighty person before, their court, to have the
cases publicly referred to the judges, and their arguments
and resolutions delivered in their presence, absolutely re
fused. The very few precedents of such private reference
on trials, have been made, as we have observed already,
sub silentio, and without any observation from the parties.
In the precedents we produce, the determination is ac
companied with its reasons, and the publicity is considered
as the clear undoubted right of the parties.
Your committee, using their best diligence, have never
been able to form a clear opinion upon the ground and
principle of these decisions. The mere result upon each
case decided by the lords furnished them with no light
from any principle, precedent, or foregone authority of
law or reason, to guide them with regard to the next
matter of evidence which they had to offer, or to discrimi--
nate what matter ought to be urged, or to be set aside ;

"1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 207
jrour committee not being able to divine, whether the par
ticular evidence, which, upon a conjectural principle, they
•might choose to abandon, would not appear to this House,
•and to the judging world at large, to be admissible, and
possibly decisive proof In these straights they had and
have no choice, but either wholly to abandon the prosecu
tion, and of consequence to betray the trust reposed in
them by this House, or to bring forward such matter of
evidence as they are furnished with from sure sources of
authenticity, and which in their judgment, aided by the
best advice they could obtain, is possessed of a moral apti
tude juridically to prove or to illustrate the case which the
House had given them in charge.
Mode of putting the Questions.
When your committee came to examine into those pri
vate opinions of the judges, they found, to their no small
concern, that the mode both of putting the questions to
ihe judges, and their answers, was still more unusual and
unprecedented than the privacy with which those questions
were given and resolved.
This mode strikes, as we apprehend, at the vital pri
vileges of the House. For, with the single exception of
the first question put to the judges in 1788, the case being
stated, the questions are raised directly, specifically, and,
by name, ou those privileges; that is, what evidence is it
competent for the managers of the House of Commons to
produce ?
We conceive, that it was not proper, nor justified by a
single precedent, to refer to the judges of the inferior courts
?any question, and still less for them to decide in their
answer, of what is or is not competent for the House of
Commons, or for any committee acting under their autho
rity, to do, or not to do, in any instance or respect what
soever. This new and unheard of course can have no other
effect than to subject to the discretion of the judges the law
of parliament and tbe privileges of the House of Commons,

208 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
and in a great measure the judicial privileges of the peers
themselves; any intermeddling in which on their part, we
conceive to be a dangerous and unwarrantable assumption
of power. It is contrary to what has been declared by
Lord Coke himself, in a passage before quoted, to be the
duty of the judges; and to what the judges of former times
have confessed to be their duty; on occasions to which he
refers, in the time of Henry the Sixth. And we are of
opinion that the conduct of those sages of the law, and
others their successors, who have been thus diffident and
cautious in giving their opinions upon matters concerning
parliament, and particularly on the privileges of the House
of Commons, was laudable in the example, and ought to
be followed; particularly the principles upon which the
judges declined to give their opinions in the year 1614. It
appears by tlie Journals of the Lords, that a question con
cerning the law relative to impositions having been put to
the judges, the proceeding was as follows :
" Whether the lords, the judges, shall be heard deliver
their opinion touching the point of impositions before
further consideration be had of answer to be returned to
the Lower House, concerning the message from them
lately received."
" Whereupon the number of the lords, requiring to hear
the judges' opinions by saying " Content," exceeding the
others which said " Non Content," the lords, the judges so
desiring were permitted to withdraw themselves into the lord
chancellor's private rooms ; where having remained awhile,
and advised together, they returned into the House, and
having taken their places, and standing discovered, did bv the
mouth of the lord chief justice of the King's Bench, humbly
desire to be forborne at this time, in this place, to deliver
any opinion in this case, for many weighty and important
reasons, which his lordship delivered with great gravity and
eloquence; concluding, that himself and his brethren are
upon particulars in judicical course to speak and judo-e be
tween the king's majesty and his people, and likewise be-

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 209
tween his highness's subjects, and in no case to be disputants
on any side."
Your committee do not find any thing which, through
inadvertence or design, had a tendency to subject the law
and course of parliament to the opinions of the judges of
the inferior courts, from that period until the 1 st of James II.
The trial of Lord Delamere for high treason was had by
special commission before the lord high steward : it was
before the act which directs that all peers should be sum
moned to such trials. This was not a trial in full parfia
ment, in which case it was then contended for, that the
lord high steward was the judge of the law, presiding in the
court, but had no vote in the verdict; and that the lords
were triers only, and had no vote in the judgment of law.
This was looked on as the course, where the trial was not
in full parliament, in which latter case, there was no doubt
but that the lord high steward made a part of the body of
the triers, and that the whole House was the judge. *
. In this cause, after the evidence for the crown had been
closed, the prisoner prayed the court to adjourn. The lord
high steward doubted his power to take that step in that
stage of the trial ; and the question was, " Whether, the
trial not being in full parliament, when the prisoner is upon
his trial, and evidence for the king is given, the lords being
(as it may be termed) charged with the prisoner, the peers
may separate for a time, which is the consequence of an
adjournment ?"
The lord high steward doubted of his power to adjourn
tbe court. The case was evidently new, and his grace pro
posed to have the opinion of the judges upon it. The
judges, in consequence, offering to withdraw into the ex-.
chequer chamber, Lord Falconberg " insisted that the
question concerning the privilege of the peerage only, and
conceived that the judges are not concerned to make any
determination in that matter ; and being such a point of

* See the lord high steward's speech on that head, ist Ja, II,
TOL. IV. P

210 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30*
privilege, certainly the inferior courts have no right to de
termine it." It was insisted, therefore, that the lords triers
should retire with the judges. The lord high steward
thought differently, and opposed this motion ; but, find-
iug the other opinion generally prevalent, he gave way,
and the lords triers retired, taking the judges to their
consult. When the judges returned, they delivered their opinion
in open court.
Lord Chief Justice Herbert spoke for himself, and the
rest of the judges. After observing on the novelty of the
case, with a temperate and becoming reserve with regard to
the rights of parliaments, he marked out the limits of the
offices of the inferior judges on such occasions, and declared,
" All that we, the judges, can do, is to acquaint your grace and
the noble lords what the law is in the inferiour courts in cases
of the like nature, and the reason of the law in those points,
and then leave the jurisdiction of tlie court to its proper
judgment." The chief justice concluded his statement of
the usage below, and his observations on the difference of
the cases of a peer tried in full parliament, and by a special
commission, in this manner :
" Upon the whole matter, my lords, whether the peers,
being judges in the one and not in the other instance, alters
the case, or whether the reason of the law in inferior
courts, why the jury are not permitted to separate until
they have discharged themselves of their verdict, may have
any influence on this case, where that reason seems to fail,
the prisoner being to be tried by men of unquestionable
honour, we cannot presume so far as to make any deter
mination, in a case which is both new to us, and of great
consequence in itself; but think it the proper way for us,
having laid matters as we conceive them before your grace
and my lords, to submit the jurisdiction of your own court
to your own determination."
It appears to your committee, that the lords, who stood
against submitting the course of their high court to the
Inferior judges, and that the judges, who, with a legal and

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 211
constitutional discretion, declined giving any opinion in
this matter, acted as became them ; and your committee
sees no reason why the peers, at this day, should be less
attentive to the rights of their court, with regard to an
exclusive judgment on their own proceedings, or to the
rights of the Commons acting as accusers for the whole
Commons of Great Britain in that court, or why the judges
should be less reserved in deciding upon any of these points
of high parliamentary privilege, than the judges of that
and the preceding periods. This present case is a proceed
ing in full parliament, and not like the case under the com
mission in the time of James IL, and still more evidently
out of the province of judges in the inferior courts.
All the precedents previous to the trial of Warren Hast
ings, Esq. seem to your committee to be uniform. The
judges had constantly refused to give an opinion on any of
the powers, privileges, or competencies of either House.
But in the present instance your committee has found, with
^great concern, a further matter of innovation.
Hitherto the constant practice has been to put questions
to the judges but in the three following ways ; as,
ist, A question of pure abstract law, without reference
to any case, or merely upon an A. B. case stated to them.
2dly, To the legal construction of some act of parlia
ment. 3dly, To report the course of proceeding in the courts
below, upon an abstract case.
Besides these three, your committee knows not of a single
example of any sort, during the course of any judicial pro
ceeding at the bar of tbe House of Lords, whether the pro«>
secution has been by indictment, by information from the
attorney-general, or by impeachment of the House of
Commons. In the present' trial, the judges appear to your com
mittee not to have given theh judgment on points of law,
stated as such, but to have in effect tried the cause, in the
whole course of it, with one instance to the contrary.
The lords have stated no question of general law; no
p 2

212 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [ApTl 30.
question on the construction of an act of parliament ; no
question concerning the practice of the courts below. They
put the whole gross case, and matter in question, with all its
circumstances, to ihe judges. They have, for the frst time,
demanded of them what particular person, paper, or do
cument ought, or ought not, to be produced before them
by the managers for the Commons of Great Britain. — For
instance, whether, under such an article, the Bengal con
sultations of such a day, the examination of Rajah Nund-
comar, and the like.
The operation of this method is in substance not only
to make the judges masters of the whole process and
conduct of the trial, but through that medium to transfer
to them the ultimate judgment on the cause itself, and its
.merits. The judges attendant on the court of peers hitherto
have not been supposed to know the particulars and mi
nute circumstances of the cause, and must therefore be
incompetent to determine upon those circumstances. The
evidence taken is not, of course, that we can find, delivered
to them — nor do we find, that in fact any order has been
made for that purpose, even supposing that the evidence
could at all regularly be put before them. They are pre
sent in court, not to hear the trial, but solely to advise in
matter of law — they cannot take upon themselves to say
any thing about the Bengal consultations, or to know any
thing of Rajah Nundcomar, of Kelleram, or of Mr. Francis,
or Sir John Clavering.
That the House may be the more fully enabled to judo-e
of the nature and tendency of thus putting the question
specifically, and on the gross case, your committee thinks fit
here to insert one of those questions, reserving a discussion
gf its particular merits to another place. It was stated on
the 22d of April 1790, " On that day the managers pro
posed to shew that Kelleram fell into great balances with
the East India Company, in consequence of his appoint
ment." — It is so stated in the printed minutes. (P. 1206.)
But the real tendency and gist of the proposition is not

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGs's TRIAL. 213
shewn. However the question was put, " Whether it be or
be not competent to the managers for the Comm,ons to give
evidence upon the charge in the 6th article, to prove that
the rent which the defendant Warren Hastings, Esq. let
the lands mentioned in the said 6th article of charge to
Kelleram, fell into arrear and was deficient; and whether,
if proof were offered that the rent fell into arrear imme
diately after the letting, the evidence in that case would be
competent ?
" The judges answered on the 27th of the said month, as
follows : It is not competent for the managers for the House
of Commons to give evidence upon the charge in the 6th
article, to prove that the rent at which the defendant, War
ren Hastings, let the lands in the said 6th article of charge
to Kelleram, fell into arrear and was deficient."
The House will observe, that on the question two cases
of competence were put — The first on the competence of
managers for the House of Commons to give the evidence
supposed to be offered by them, but which we deny to have
been offered in the manner and for the purpose assumed in
this question : the second is in a shape apparently more
abstracted, and more nearly approaching to parliamentary
regularity — on the competence of the evidence itself, in
the case of a supposed circumstance being supperadded.
The judges answered only the first, denying flatly the
competence of the managers. As to the second, the com
petence - of the supposed evidence, they are profoundly
silent. Having given this blow to our competence, about
the other question (which was more within their province),
namely the competence of evidence on a case hypotheti-
cally stated, they give themselves no trouble. The lords
on that occasion rejected the whole evidence. On the face
of the judges' opinion, it is a determination, on a case,
the trial of which was not with them, but it contains no
rule or principle of law, to which alone it was their duty to
speak. *
 •-
* All the resolutions of the judges, to the time of the reference to
the committee, are in the Appendix, No. 2.
F.3

i 14 Report on the causes of the [April 36,
These essential innovations tend, as your committee
conceives, to make an entire alteration in the constitution,
and in the purposes of the high court of parliament, and
even to reverse the ancient relations between the lords and
the judges.
It tends wholly to take away from the Commons the
benefit of making good their case before the proper judges,
and submits this high inquest to the inferior courts.
Your committee sees no reason why, on the same prin
ciples and precedents the Lords may not terminate their
proceedings in this, and in all future trials, by sending the
whole body of evidence taken before them in the shape of
a special verdict, to the judges, and may not demand of
them, whether they ought, on the whole matter, to acquit
or condemn the prisoner ; nor can we discover any cause
that should hinder them from deciding on the accumulative
body of the evidence, as hitherto they have done in its
parts, . and from dictating the existence or non-existence
of a misdemeanor or other crime in the prisoner, as they
think fit ; — without any more reference to principle, or
precedent of law, than hitherto they have thought proper
to apply in determining on the several parcels of this
cause. Your committee apprehends, that very serious incon-
Veniencies and mischiefs may hereafter arise from a prac
tice in the House of Lords, of considering itself as unable
to act without the judges of the inferior courts, of im
plicitly following their dictates, of adhering with a literal
precision to the very words of their responses, and putting
them to decide on the competence of the managers for the
Commons — the competence of the evidence to be pro
duced — who are to be permitted to appear — what ques
tions are to be asked of witnesses — and, indeed, parcel by
parcel, on the whole of the gross case before them ; as well
as to determine upon the order, method, and process of
every part of their proceedings. The judges of the inferior
courts are by law rendered independent of the crown.
But this, instead of a benefit to the subject, would be a

17940 duration of mr. hastings's trial. 215
grievance, if no way was left of producing a responsibility.
If the lords cannot Or will not act without the judges, and
if (which God forbid !) the Commons should find it at any
time hereafter necessary to impeach them before the Lords ;
this House would find the Lords disabled in their func
tions, fearful of giving any judgment on matter of law, or
admitting any proof of fact without them ; and having
once assumed the rule of proceeding and practice below as
their rule, they must at every instant resort, for their
means of judging, to the authority of those whom they are
appointed to judge.
Your committee must always act with regard to men as
they are. There are no privileges or exemptions from the
infirmities of our common nature. We are sensible, that
all men, and without any evil intentions, will naturally wish
to extend their own jurisdiction, and to weaken all the
power by which they may be fimited and controlled. It is
the business of the House of Commons to counteract this
tendency. This House had given to its managers no
power to abandon its privileges, and the rights of its con
stituents. They were themselves as little disposed, as au
thorized, to make this surrender. They are members of
this House, not only charged with the management of this
impeachment, but partaking of a general trust, inseparable
from the Commons of Great Britain in parliament assem
bled, one of whose principal functions and duties it is, to
be observant of the courts of justice, and to take due care
that hone of them, from the lowest to the highest, shall
pursue new courses unknown to the laws and constitution
of this kingdom, or to equity, sound legal policy, or sub
stantial justice.
Your committee were not sent into Westminster-hall for
the purpose of contributing in their persons, and under
the authority of the House, to change the course or law
of parliament, which had continued unquestioned for at
least four hundred years. Neither was it any part of their
mission to suffer precedents to be established, with relation
to the law and rule of evidence, which tended in then*
* 4

2l6 REPORT ON THE 'CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
opinion to shut up for ever all the avenues to justice.
They were not to consider a rule of evidence as a means of
concealment. They were not, without a struggle, to suffer
any subtleties to prevail, which would render a process in
parliament, not the terror, but the protection of all the
fraud and violence arising from the abuse of British power
in the'East. Accordingly, your managers contended with
all their might, as their predecessors in the same place had
^contended with more ability and learning, but not with
more zeal and more firmness, against those dangerous in
novations as they were successively introduced : they held
themselves'bound constantly to protest, and in one or two
instances they did protest, in discourses of considerable
length, against those private, and for what they could
find, unargued judicial opinions, which must, as they fear,
introduce by degrees the miserable servitude which exists
where the law is uncertain or unknown.
Debates on Evidence.
The chief debates at the bar, and the decisions of the
judges (which we find in all cases implicitly adopted, in all
their extent, and without qualification, by the lords)
turned upon evidence. Your committee, before the trial
began, were apprized, by discourses which prudence did
not permit them to neglect, that endeavours would be used
to embarrass them in their proceedings by exceptions
against evidence ; that the judgments and opinions of the
courts below would be resorted to on this subject ; that
there the rules of evidence were precise, rigorous, and in
flexible; and that the counsel for the criminal would
endeavour to introduce the same rules, with the same se
verity and exactness, into this trial.
Your committee were fully assured, and were resolved
strenuously to contend, that no doctrine or rule of law,
much less the practice of any court, ought to have weight
or authority in parliament, further than as such doctrine,
rule, or practice, is agreeable to the proceedings in. par-

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 217
liament, or hath received the sanction of approved precedent
there ; or is founded on the immutable principles of sub
stantial justice, without which, your committee readily
agrees, no practice, in any court, high or low, is proper
or fit to be maintained.
In this preference of the rules observed in the high court
of parliament, pre-eminently superior to all the rest, there
is no claim made, which the inferior courts do not make,
each with regard to itself. It is well known, that the rules
of proceedings in these courts vary, and some of them very
essentially ; yet the usage of each court is the law of the
court, and it would be vain to object to any rule in any
court, that is not the rule of another court. For instance*
as a general rule, the Court of King's Bench, on trials by
jury, cannot receive depositions, but must judge by testi
mony viva voce. The rule of the Court of Chancery is not
only not the same, but it is the reverse, and' Lord Hard-
wicke ruled accordingly: " The constant and established
proceedings of this court," said this great magistrate,
" are on written evidence, like the proceedings on the
civil and canon law. This is the course of, the court, and
the course of the court is the law of the court." — Atkyns,
Vol. i. p. 446.
Your managers were convinced that one of the principal
reasons for which this cause was brought into parliament,
was the danger that in inferior courts their rule would be
formed naturally upon their ordinary experience, and the
exigencies of the cases which in ordinary course came be
fore them. This experience, and the exigencies of these
cases, extend little further than the concerns of a people
comparatively in a narrow vicinage — a people of the same
or nearly the same language, religion, manners, laws, and
habits — : with them an intercourse of every kind was easy.
These rules of law in most cases, and the practice of
the courts in all, could not be easily applicable to a people
separated from Great Britain by a very great part of the
globe; separated by manners, by principles of religion,
and of inveterate habits as strong as nature itself, still more

21 8 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 (3.
than by the circumstance of local distance. Such confined
and inapplicable rules would be convenient indeed to op
pression, to extortion, bribery, and corruption, but
ruinous to the people, whose protection is the true object
of all tribunals, and of all their rules. Even English
judges in India, who have been sufficiently tenacious of
what they considered as the rules of English courts, were
obliged, in many points, and particularly with regard to
evidence, to relax very considerably, as the civil and politic
government has been obliged to do in several other cases,
on account of insuperable difficulties arising from a great
diversity of manners, and from what may be considered as
a diversity even in the very constitution of their minds : in
stances of which your committee will subjoin in a future
appendix. Another great cause, why your committee conceived
this House had chosen to proceed, in the high court of
parliament, was because the inferior courts were habituated,
with very few exceptions, to try men for the abuse only
of their individual and natural powers, which can extend
but a little way. Before them, offences, whether of fraud
or violence, or both, are, for much the greater part,
charged upon persons of mean and obscure condition.
Those unhappy persons are so far from being supported by
men of rank and influence, that the whole weight and
force of the community is directed against them. In this
case, they are, in general, objects of protection as well as
of punishment; and the course perhaps ought, as it is
commonly said to be, not to suffer any thing to be applied
to their conviction beyond what the strictest rules will
permit *. But in the cause which your managers have in
charge, the circumstances are the very reverse to what
happens in the cases of mere personal delinquency, which
come before the courts. These courts have not before
them persons who act, and who justify their acts, by the
nature of a despotical and arbitrary power. The abuses,
* Blackstone's Commentaries, Book iv. p. aj8.

*7940 duration of Mr. hastings's trial. 219
stated in our impeachment, are not those of mere indi
vidual, natural faculties, but the abuses of civil and poli
tical authority. The offence is that of one, who has
carried with him, in the perpetration of his crimes, whether
of violence or of fraud, the whole force of the state ; — who,
in the perpetration and concealment of offences, has had
the advantage of all the means and powers given to go
vernment for the detection and punishment of guilt, and
for the protection of the people. The people themselves,
on whose behalf the Commons of Great Britain take up
this remedial and protecting prosecution, are naturally
timid. Their spirits are broken by the arbitrary power
usurped over them, and claimed by the delinquent as
his law. They are ready to flatter the power which
they dread. They are apt to look for favour by covering
those vices in the predecessor, which they fear the suc
cessor may be disposed to imitate. They have reason to
consider complaints as means not of redress, but of ag
gravation to their sufferings ; and when they shall ulti
mately hear that the nature of the British laws, and the
rules of its tribunals, are such as by no care or study either
they, or even the Commons of Great Britain, who take
up their cause, can comprehend, but which in effect and
operation leave them unprotected, and render those who
oppress them secure in their spoils, they must think still
worse of British justice than of the arbitrary power of the
Company's servants, which hath been exercised to their
destruction. They will be for ever, what, for the greater
part, they have hitherto been, inclined to compromise with
the corruption of the magistrates, as a screen against that
Violence, from which the laws afford them no redress.
For these reasons, your committee did, and do,
strongly contend, that the court of parliament ought to be
open with great facility to the production of all evidence,
except that which the precedents of parliament teach
them authoritatively to reject, or which hath no sort of na
tural aptitude directly or circumstantially to prove the case.
They have been and are invariably of opinion, that the

210 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 6*
lords ought to enlarge, and not to contract, the rides of
evidence, according to the nature and difficulties of the case,
for redress to the injured, for the punishment of oppres
sion, for the detection of fraud, and, above all, to prevent
what is the greatest dishonour to all laws, and to all tri
bunals — the failure of justice. To prevent the last of
these evils all courts in this and all countries have con
stantly made all their maxims and principles concerning
testimony to conform; although such courts have been
bound undoubtedly by stricter rules, both of form and
of prescript cases, than the sovereign jurisdiction exercised
by the Lords on the impeachment of the Commons ever
has been, or ever ought to be. Therefore your committee
doth totally reject any rules by which the practice of any
inferior court is affirmed as a directory guide to an higher,
especially where the forms and the powers of the judicature
are different, and the objects of judicial enquiry are not
the same.
Your committee conceives that the trial of a cause is not
in the arguments or disputations of the prosecutors and
the counsel, but in the evidence ; and that to refuse evi
dence is to refuse to hear the cause : nothing, therefore,
but the most clear and weighty reasons, ought to preclude
its production. Your committee conceives that, when
evidence, on the face of it relevant, that is connected with
the party and the charge, was denied to be competent,
the burthen lay upon those who opposed it, to set forth
the authorities, whether of positive statute, known recog
nized maxims and principles of law, passages in an accre
dited institute, code, digest, or systematic treatise of
laws, or some adjudged1 cases, wherein the courts have re
jected evidence of that nature. No such thing ever (except
in one instance, to which we shall hereafter speak) was
produced at the bar, nor (that we know of) produced by
the lords in their debates, or by the judges in the opinions
by them delivered. Therefore, for any thing which as yet
appears to your committee to the contrary, these responses
and decisions were, in many of the points, not the deter-
J5

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS' S TRIAL. 221
minations of any law whatsoever, but mere arbitrary
decrees, to which we could not without solemn protest
ation submit.
Your committee, .at an early period, and frequently
since the commencement of this trial, have neglected no
means of research, which might afford them information
concerning these supposed strict and inflexible rules of
proceeding, and of evidence, which appeared to them de
structive of all the means and ends of justice.
And, first, tliey examined carefully the Rolls and Jour
nals of the House of Lords, as also the printed trials "of
cases before that court.
Your committee finds but one instance, in the whole
course of parliamentary impeachments, in which evidence
offered by the Commons has been rejected on the plea of
inadmissibility or incompetence. This was in the case of
Lord Strafforde's trial * ; when the copy of a warrant (the
same not having any attestation to authenticate it as a true
copy) was, on deliberation, not admitted ; and your com
mittee thinks, as the case stood, with reason. — But even
in this one instance, the Lords seemed to shew a marked
anxiety not to narrow too much the inadmissibility of evi
dence, for they confined their determination " to this
individual case," as the lord steward reported their resolu
tion, and, he adds, " they conceive this could be no
impediment or failure in the proceeding, because the truth
and verity of it would depend on the first general power
given to execute it, which they who manage the evidence
for the Commons say they could prove f." — Neither have
objections to evidence offered by the prisoner been very
frequently made, nor often allowed when made. — In the
same case with Lord Strafforde %, two books produced by
his lordship, without proof by whom they were written,
were rejected (and on a clear principle) " as being private

* Lords' Journals, Vol.iy. p. 404. An. 1641.
f Rush. Trial of Lord Strafforde, p. 430.
% Lords' Journals, Vol. iv. p. a 10,

222 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30,
books, and no records." On both these occasions, the
questions were determined by the Lords alone, without any
resort to the opinions of the judges. In the impeachments
of Lord Stafford, Dr. Sacheverell, and. Lord Wintoun,
no objection to evidence appears in the Lords' Journals to
have been pressed, and not above one taken, which was on
the part of the managers.
Several objections were indeed taken to evidence in Lord
Macclesfield's trial *. They were made on the part of the
managers, except in two instances, where the objections
were made by the witnesses themselves. They were all de
termined (those started by the managers in their favour) by
the lords themselves, without any reference to the judges.
In the discussion of one of them, a question was stated
for the judges concerning the law in a similar case upon an
information in the court below ; but it was set aside by
the previous question, j-
On the impeachment of Lord Lovat, f no more than
one objection to evidence was taken by the managers,
against which Lord Lovat's counsel were not permitted to
argue. Three objections on the part of the prisoner were
made to the evidence offered by the managers, but all
without success. The instances of similar objections in
parliamentary trials of peers on indictments, are too few
and too unimportant to require being particularized ; —
one, that in the case of Lord Warwick, has been already
stated. The principles of these precedents do not in the least
affect any case of evidence M'hich your managers had to
support. The paucity and inapplicability of instances of
this kind, convince your committee that the lords have
ever used some latitude and liberality in all the means of
bringing information before them — nor is it easy to con
ceive, that, as the lords are, and of right ought to be,

* Lords' Journals, Vol. xxii. p. 536. to 546. An. 1735.
f lb. p. 541-
J Lords' Journals, Vol, xxvii. p. 63. 65. An. 1746.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 22J
judges of law and fact, many cases should occur (except
those where a personal vivd voce witness is denied to be
competent) in which a judge, possessing an entire judicial
capacity, can determine by anticipation what is good evi
dence, and what not, before he has heard it. When he
has heard it, of course he will judge what weight it is to
have upon his mind, or whether it ought not entirely to be
struck out of the proceedings;
Your committee, always protesting, as before, against
the admission of any law, foreign or domestic, as of au
thority in parliament, further than as written reason, and
the opinion of wise and informed men, has examined into
the writers on the civil law, ancient and more recent, in
order to discover what those rules of evidence, in any sort
applicable to criminal cases, were, which were supposed to
stand in the way of the trial of offences committed in
India. They find that the term evidence, cvidentia, from whence
our's is taken, has a sense different in the Roman law,
from what it is understood to bear in the English juris
prudence. The term most nearly answering to it in the
Roman, being probatio, proof; which, like the term
evidence, is a generic term, including every thing by
which a doubtful matter may be rendered more certain to
the judge ; or, as Gilbert expresses it *, every matter is
evidence which amounts to the proof of the point in
question. On the general head of evidence or proof, your com
mittee finds, that much has been written by persons learned
in the Roman law, particularly in modern times ; and that
many attempts have been made to reduce to rules the prin
ciples of evidence or proof, a matter which by its very
nature seems incapable of that simplicity, precision, and
generality, which are necessary to supply the matter, or to
give the form to a rule of law. Much learning has been
employed on the doctrine of indications and presumptions,
* Gilbert's Law of Evidence, p. 23.

224 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE - [April 3.CV
in their books ; far more than is to be found in our law. — ¦
Very subtle disquisitions were made, on all matters of ju
risprudence in the times of the classical civil law, by the
followers of the stoick school *. In the modern school of
the same law, the same course was taken by Bartolus,
Baldus, and the civilians ,$ho followed them, before the
complete revival of literature f . All the discussions to be
found in those voluminous writings furnish undoubtedly
an useful exercise to the mind, by methodizing the various
forms in which one set of facts, or collection of facts, or
the qualities or demeanour of persons, reciprocally influ
ence each other ; and, by this course of juridical discipline,
they add to the readiness and sagacity of those who are
called to plead or to judge. But as human affairs and human
actions are not of a metaphysical nature, but the subject is
concrete, complex, and moral, they cannot be subjected
(without exceptions which reduce it almost to nothing) to
any certain rule. Their rules with regard to competence
were many and strict, and our lawyers have mentioned it
to their reproach. " The civilians (it has been observed)
differ in nothing more than admitting evidence ,¦ for they re
ject Histriones, &c. and whole tribes of people J." But
this extreme rigour as to competency, rejected by our law,
is not found to extend to the genus of evidence, but only
to a particular species — personal witnesses. Indeed, after
all their efforts to fix these things by positive and inflexible
maxims, the best Roman lawyers in their best ages were
obliged to confess, that every case of evidence rather
formed its own rule, than that any rule could be adapted
to every case , the best opinions however seem to have re
duced the admissibility of witnesses to a few heads. — " For
if," said Callistratus, in a passage preserved to us in the
digest, " the testimony is free from suspicion, either on
account of the quality of ihe person, namely, that he is in

* Gravina, 84, 85. f Id. 90. usque ad 100.
J AtkynsRep. Omichund versus Barker, Vol. i. p. 37.

37940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 225
a reputable situation ; or for cause," that is to say, that the
testimony given is not for reward, nor favour, nor for enmity,
such a witness is admissible. This first description goes to
competence; between which and credit, Lord Hardwicke
justly says the discrimination is very nice : the other part
of the text shews their anxiety to reduce credibility itself to
a fixed rule. It proceeds therefore, " His sacred majesty,
Hadrian, issued a rescript to Vivius Varus, lieutenant of
Cilicia, to this effect, That he who sits in judgment is the
most capable of determining what credit is to be given to
witnesses." The words of the letter of rescript are as
follow: "You ought best to know what credit is to be.
given to witnesses,' — who, and of what dignity, and of
what estimation they are, whether they seem to deliver
their evidence with simplicity and candour ¦ — whether they
seem to bring a formed and premeditated discourse — or
whether on the spot they give probable matter in answer to
the questions that are put to them." And there remains a
rescript of the same prince to Valerius Varus on the bring
ing out the credit of witnesses. This appears to go more
to the general principles of evidence. It is in these words :
" What evidence, and in what measure or degree, shall
amount to proof in each case, can be defined in no manner
whatsoever that is sufficiently certain. For though not
always, yet frequently, the truth of the affair may appear
without any matter of public record. — In some cases, the
number of the witnesses, in others their dignity and au
thority, is to be weighed; in others concurring public
fame tends to confirm the credit of the evidence in question.
This alone I am able, and in a few words, to give you as
my determination, that you ought not too readily to bind
yourself to try the cause upon any one description of
evidence ; but you are to estimate,, by your own discretion
what you ought to credit, or what appears to you not to
be established by proof sufficient." *
The modern writers on the civil law have likewise much,
* Digest. L. xxii. Tit. 5.
VOL. IV. g

22fj REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
much matter on this subject, and have introduced a strict
ness, with regard to personal testimony, which our parti
cular jurisprudence has not thought jt at all proper to adopt.
In others we have copied them more closely. They divide
evidence into two parts, in which they do not differ from
the ancients, ist, What is evidence, or proof by itself?
2dly, What is presumption, " which is a probable conjec
ture from a reference to something which, coming from
marks and tokens ascertained, shall be taken for truth,
until some other shall be adduced ? Again, they have la
boured particularly to fix rales for presumptions, which
they divide into, i . Violent and necessary. — 2. Probable.
— 3. and lastly, slight and rash. But, finding that this
head of presumptive evidence (which makes so large a part
with them and with us in the trial of all causes, and parti
cularly criminal causes) extremely difficult to ascertain,
either with regard to what shall be considered as exclusively
creating any of these three degrees of presumption, or
what facts, and how proved, — and what marks and tokens
may serve to establish them, — even those civilians, whose
character it is to be subtle to a fault, have been obliged to
abandon the task — and have fairly confessed, that the la
bours of writers to fix rules for these matters have been
vain and fruitless *. One of the most able of them has
said, " That the doctors of the law have written nothing
of value concerning presumptions, — nor is the subject-
matter such as to be reduced within the prescribed limit
of any certain rules. In truth, it is from the actual existing
case, and from the circumstances of the persons, and of
the business, that we ought (under the guidance of an in
corrupt judgment of the mind, which is called an equitable
discretion) to determine what presumptions or conjectural
proofs are to be admitted as rational, or rejected as false,
or on which the understanding can pronounce nothing
either the one way or the other." f
It is certain, that whatever over- strictness is to be found
* Calvinus Voce " Praesumptio." f Bartolus.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 227
in the older writers on this law, with regard to evidence,
it chiefly related to the mere competency of witnesses ; yet
even here the rigour of the Roman lawyers relaxed on
the necessity of the case. Persons who kept houses of ill
fame were with them incompetent witnesses ; yet among
the maxims of that law, the rule is well known of, " Testes
Lupanares in re Lupanari."
In ordinary cases, they require two witnesses to prove a
fact ; and therefore they held, " that if there be but one
witness, and no probable grounds of presumption of some
kind (nulla argumenta) that one witness is by no means to
be heard;" and it is not inelegantly said in that case,
" the failure is not in the law but in the proof." Non jus
deficit sed Probatio. But if other grounds of presumption
appear, one witness is to be heard ; " for it is not necessary
that one crime should be establislied by one sort of proof
only, as by witnesses, or by documents, or by presump
tions ; all the modes of evidence may be so conjoined, that
where none of them alone would affect the prisoner, all
the various concurrent proofs should overpower him, like a
storm of hail."
This is held particularly true, in cases where crimes are
secret, and detection difficult.
The necessity of detecting and punishing such crimes
superseded, in the soundest authors, this theoretic aim at
perfection, and obliged technical science to submit to
practical expedience. In re Criminali, said the rigourists,
Probationes debent esse evidentes et Luce meridiand clariores ;
and so undoubtedly it is in offences which admit such proof.
But reflection taught them, that even their favourite rules
of incompetence must give way to the exigencies of dis-
tributivejustice. One of the best modern writers on the
imperial criminal law, particularly as practised in Saxony
(Carpzovius), says, " This alone I think it proper to re
mark, that even incompetent witnesses are sometimes
admitted, if otherwise the truth cannot be got at ; and this
particularly in facts and crimes which are of 'difficult proof '/'
— and for this doctrine, he cites Farinacius, Mascardus,
P, 2

228 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3<?*
and other eminent civilians who had written on evidence.
— He proceeds afterwards; " however, this is to be taken
with a caution, that the impossibility of otherwise dis
covering the truth, is not construed from hence, that other
witnesses were not actually concerned, but that from the
nature of the crime, or from regard had to the place and
time, other witnesses could not be present."
Many other passages from the same authority, and from
Others to a similar effect, might be added : we shall only
remark shortly that Gaill*, a writer on the practice of that
law, the most frequently cited in our own courts, gives the
rule more in the form of a maxim : ". That the law is con
tented with such proof as can be made, if the subject in its
nature is difficult of proof." And the same writer, in
another passage, refers to another still more general maxim
(and a sound maxim it is) that the power and means of
proof ought not ta be narrowed but enlarged, that the truth
may not be concealed .- — Probationumfacultasnonangustari,
sed ampliari debeat, ne Veritas occultetur. f
On the whole, your committee can find nothing in the
writings of the learned in this law, any more than they
could discover any thing in the law of parliament to sup
port any one of the determinations given by the judges,
and adopted by the Lords, against the evidence which your
committee offered, whether direct and positive, or merely
(as for the greater part it was) circumstantial, and pro
duced as a ground to form legitimate presumption against
the defendant : nor, if they were to admit (which they do
not) this civil law to be of authority in furnishing any rule
in an impeachment of the Commons, more than as it may
occasionally furnish a principle of reason on a new or un
determined point, do they find any rule or any principle
derived from that law, which could or ought to have made
us keep back the evidence which we offered. On the con
trary, we rather think those rules and principles to be in
agreement with our conduct.
* Lib. ii. Obs, 149. § 9. f Lib. i. Obs. 91. $ 7.

1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 229
As to the canon law, your committee, finding it to have
adopted the civil law with no very essential variation, does
not feel it necessary to make any particular statement on
that subject.
Your committee then came to examine into the autho
rities in the English law, both as it has prevailed for many
years back, and as it has been recently received in our
courts below. They found on the whole the rules rather
less strict, more liberal, and less loaded with positive limi
tations than in the Roman law. The origin of this lati
tude may perhaps be sought in this circumstance, which
we know to have relaxed the rigour of the Roman law —
courts in England do not judge upon evidence, secundum
allegata et probata, as in other countries, and under other
laws they do, but upon verdict. By a fiction of law, they
consider the jury as supplying in some sense the place of
testimony. One witness (and for that reason) is allowed
sufficient to convict, in cases of felony, which in other
laws is not permitted.
In ancient times it has happened to the law of England,
(as in pleading, so in matter of evidence,) that a rigid
strictness in the application of technical rules has been
more observed than at present it is. In the more early
ages, as the minds of the judges were in general less con
versant in the affairs of the world, as the sphere of their
jurisdiction was less extensive, and as the matters which
came before them were of less variety and complexity, the
rule being in general right, not so much inconvenience on
the whole was found from a literal adherence to it, than
from an endeavour towards a liberal and equitable depar
ture, for which further experience, and a more continued
cultivation of equity as a science, had not then so fully
prepared them. In those times, that judicial policy was
not to be condemned. We find too that, probably from
the same cause, most of their doctrine leaned towards the
restriction ; and the old lawyers being bred, according to
the then philosophy of the schools, in habits of great
subtlety and refinement of distinction, and having once
8 3

23O REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 0-
taken that bent, very great acuteness of mind was displayed
in maintaining every rule, every maxim, every presump
tion of law creation, and every fiction of law, with a punc
tilious exactness ; and this seems to have been the course
which laws have taken in every nation. *
It was probably from this rigour, and from a sense of
its pressure, that, at an early period of our law, far more
causes of criminal jurisdiction were carried into the House
of Lords, and the council board, where laymen were
judges, than can or ought to be at present.
As the business of courts of equity became more en
larged and more methodical; as magistrates, for a long
series of years, presided in the court of chancery, who were
not bred to the common law ; as commerce, with its ad
vantages and its necessities, opened a communication more
largely with other countries ; as the law of nature and na
tions (always a part of the law of England) came to be cul
tivated; as an increasing empire; as new views and new
combinations of things were opened, this antique rigour
and over-done severity gave way to the accommodation of
human concerns, for which rules were made, and not
human concerns to bend to them.
At length, Lord Hardwicke, in one of the cases f the
most solemnly argued that has been in man's memory, with
the aid of the greatest learning at the bar, and with the
aid of all the learning on the bench, both bench and bar
being then supplied with men of the first form, declared
from the bench, and in concurrence with the rest of the
judges, and with the most learned of the long robe, the able
council on the side of the old restrictive principles making
no reclamation —

* Antiquajurisprudentia aspera quidem ilia, tenebricosa, et tristis,
non tam in aequitate, quam in verborum superstitione fundata, eaque
Ciceronis setatem fere attigit, mansitque annos circiter 350. Qua? hanc
txcepit, viguitque annos fere 79, superiori longe humanior; quippe
quae magis utilitate communi, quam potestate verborum, negotia mo-
deraretur. Gravina, p. 86.
f Omichund v. Barker, Atk. i.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 23 1
" That the judges and sages of the law have laid it down,
that there is but ONE general rule of evidence — the best
that the nature of the case will admit."
This, then, the master rule, that governs all the sub
ordinate rules, does in reality subject itself and its own
virtue and authority to the nature of the case ; and leaves
no rule at all of an independent, abstract, and substantive
quality. Sir Dudley Ryder, (then attorney-general, afterwards
chief justice,) in his learned argument, observed, that
¦¦• It is extremely proper that there should be some ge
neral rules in relation to evidence ; but, if exceptions were
not allowed to them, it would be better to demolish all the
general rules.
" There is no general rule without exception that we
know of, but this, that the best evidence shall be admitted
which the nature of the. case will afford.
" I will shew that rules, as general as this, are broke
in upon, for the sake of allowing evidence.
" There is no rule that seems more binding, than that
a man shall not be admitted an evidence in his own case, and
yet the statute of hue and cry is an exception.
" A man's books are allowed to be evidence, or, which
is in substance the same, his servant's books, because the
nature of the case requires it ; as in the case of a brewer's
servants. " Another general rule, that a wife cannot be witness
against her husband, has been broken in upon in cases of
treason. " Another exception to the general rule, that a man
may not be examined without oath .- the last words of a dying
man are given in evidence in the case of murder." Such
are the doctrines of this great lawyer.
Chief Justice Willes concurs with Lord Hardwicke as
to dispensing with strict rules of evidence. " Such evi
dence is to be admitted as the necessity of the case will allow
of; as, for instance, a marriage at Utrecht, certified under
the seal of the minister there, and of the said town, and
ft 4

232 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O.
that they cohabited together as man and wife, was held to
"be sufficient proof that they were married."
This learned judge (commenting upon Lord Coke's doc
trine, and Serjeant Hawkins after him, that the oaths of
Jews and Pagans were not to be taken,) says, " That this
notion, though advanced by so great a man, is contrary to
religion, common sense, and common humanity; and I
think the devils, to whom he has dehvered them, could
not have suggested any thing worse."
Chief Justice Willes, admitting Lord Coke to be a great
lawyer, then proceeds in very strong terms, and with
marks of contempt, to condemn " his narrow notions ,-"
and he treats with as little respect or decorum the ancient
authorities referred to in defence of such notions.
The principle of the departure from those rules is clearly
fixed by Lord Hardwicke ; he lays it down as follows :
" The first ground judges have gone upon in departing
from strict rules, is absolute strict necessity. 2dly, A pre
sumed necessity." Of the first he gives these instances :
" In the case of writings subscribed by witnesses, if all are
dead, the proof of one of their hands is sufficient to estab
lish the deed. Where an original is lost, a copy may be
admitted ; if no copy, then a proof by witnesses who have
heard the deed ; and yet it is a thing the law abhors, to admit
the memory of man for evidence."
This enlargement through too stages of proof, both of
them contrary to the rule of law, and both abhorrent from
its principles, are by this great judge accumulated upon
one another, and are admitted, from ^necessity, to accom-
modate human affairs, and to prevent that which courts
are, by every possible means, instituted to prevent — A
FAILURE OF JUSTICE.
And this necessity is not confined within the striet limits
of physical causes, but is more lax, and takes in moral,
and even presumed and argumentative necessity ; a necessity
which is, in fact, nothing more than a great degree of ex
pediency. The law creates a fictitious necessity against the
rules of evidence in favour of the convenience of trade : an

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 233
exception which, on a similar principle, had before been
admitted in the civil law, as to mercantile causes, in which
the books of the party were received, to give full effect to
an insufficient degree of proof, called, in the nicety of their
distinctions, a semiplena probatio. *
But to proceed with Lord Hardwicke ; — he observes,
that " a tradesman's books (that is, the acts of the party
interested himself) are admitted as evidence, though no
absolute necessity, but by reason of a presumption of necessity
only inferred from the nature of commerce.
" No rule," continued Lord Hardwicke, " can be more
settled, than that testimony is not to be received but upon
oath ;" but he lays it down, that an oath itself may be dis
pensed with. " There is another instance," says he,
" where the lawful oath may be dispensed with, where our
courts admit evidence for the crown without oath."
In the same discussion the chief baron (Parker) cited
cases, in which all the rules of evidence had given way.
'* There is not a more general rule," says he, " than that
hearsay cannot be admitted, nor husband and wife as wit
nesses against each other ; and yet it is notorious, that from
necessity they havejbeen allowed ; not an absolute necessity,
but a moral one. _'
It is further remarkable, in this judicial argument, that
exceptions are allowed not only to rules of evidence, but
that the rules of evidence themselves are not altogether the
same, where the subject-matter varies. The judges have,
to facilitate justice, and to favour commerce, even adopted
the rules ,pf foreign laws. — They have taken for granted,
and would not suffer to be questioned, the regularity and
justice of.the proceedings of foreign courts, and they have
admitted them as evidence, not only of the fact of the de
cision, but of the right as to its legality — where there are
foreign parties interested, and in " commercial matters, the
rules of evidence are not quite the same as in other instances

* Gaill. Lib. ii. Obs. 30. §s.

234 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 0.
in courts of justice. The case of hue and cry, Brown-
low, 47., a feme covert is not a lawful witness against her
husband, except in cases of treason, but has been admitted
in civil cases *. The testimony of a public notary is evi
dence by the law of France ; contracts are made before a
public notary, and no other witness necessary. I should
think it would be no doubt at all, if it came in question
here, whether this would be a valid contract ; but a testi
mony from persons of that credit and reputation would be
received as a very good proof in foreign transactions, and
would authenticate the contract." Cro. Charl. 365.
These cases shew, that courts always govern themselves
by these rules in cases of foreign transactions. To this
principle Lord Hardwicke accords ; and enlarging the
rule of evidence by the nature of the subject, and the
exigencies of the case, he lays it down, " that it is a com
mon and natural presumption, that persons of the Gentoo
religion should be principally apprized of facts and trans
actions in their own country. As the English have only a
factory in this country, for it is in the empire of the Great
Mogul, if we should admit this evidence, (Gentoo evidence
on a Gentoo oath,) it would be agreeable to the genius of
the law of England." For this he cites the proceedings
of our court of admiralty, and adopts the author, who
states the precedent, " That this court will give credit to
the sentence of the court of admiralty in France, and take
it to be according to right, and will not examine their pro
ceedings ; for it would be found very inconvenient if one
kingdom should, hy peculiar laws, correct the judgments
and proceedings of another kingdom."
Such is the genius of the law of England, that these two
principles of the general moral necessities of things, and

* N. B. In some criminal cases also, though not of treason, husband
is admitted to prove an assault upon his wife, for the king, ruled by
Raymond, chief justice, Trin. nth Geo. King v. Azire. And for va
rious other exceptions. See Buller's Nisi Prius, 286, a??.
*5

1794O d'uration of mr. Hastings' s trial. 235
the nature of the case, over-rule every other principle,
even those rules which seem the very strongest.
Chief Baron Parker, in answer to an objection made
against the infidel deponent, " That the plaintiff ought to
have shewn that he could not have the evidence of Chris
tians." " I answer (said the chief baron), that, repug
nant to natural justice, in the statute of hue and cry, the
robbed is admitted to be witness of the robbery, as a moral
or presumed necessity is sufficient."
The same learned magistrate, pursuing his argument in
favour of liberality in opening and enlarging the avenues
to justice, does not admit " that the authority of one or
two cases" is valid against reason, equity, and convenience,
the vital principles of the law. He cites Wells versus
Williams, 1 Raymond, 282., to shew that the necessity of
trade has mollified the too rigorous rules of the old law, in
their restraint and discouragement of aliens. " A Jew
may sue at this day, but heretofore he could not, for then
they were looked upon as enemies, but now commerce has
taught the world more humanity ; and therefore held that an
alien enemy, commorant here by the licence of the king,
and under his protection, may maintain a debt upon a
bond, though he did not come with safe conduct."
So far Parker, concurring with Raymond. — He pro
ceeds, ** It was objected by the defendant's counsel, that
this is a novelty, and that what never has been done ought
not to be done. The answer is, the law of England is not
confined to particular cases, but is much more governed by
reason than by any one case whatever. The true rule is laid
down by Lord Vaughan, fol. 37, 38., where the law, saith
he, is known and clear, the judges must determine as the
law is, without regard to the inequitableness or inconve-
niency. These defects, if they happen in the law, can
only be remedied by parliament; but where the law is
doubtful and not clear, the judges ought to interpret the
law to be as is most consonant to equity, and what is least
inconvenient." These principles of equity, convenience, and natural

236 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
reason, Lord Chief Justice Lee considered in the same
ruling light, not only as guides in matter of interpretation
concerning law in general, but, in particular, as control
lers of the whole law of evidence, which being artificial, and
made for convenience, is to be governed by that convenience
for which it is made, and is to be wholly subservient to
the stable principles of substantial justice. " I do appre
hend," said that chief justice, " that the rules of evidence
are to be considered as artificial rules, framed by men for
convenience in courts of justice. This is a case that ought
to be looked upon in that light ; and I take it, that con
sidering evidence in this way, (viz. according to natural
justice,) is agreeable to the genius of the law of England"
The sentiments of Murray, then solicitor-general, after
wards Lord Mansfield, are of no small weight in them
selves, and they are authority by being judicially adopted.
His ideas go to the growing melioration of the law, by
making its liberality keep pace with the demands of justice,
and the actual concerns of the world; not restricting the
infinitely diversified occasions of men, and the rules of na
tural justice, within artificial circumscriptions, but con
forming our jurisprudence to the growth of our commerce
and of our empire. This enlargement of our concerns, in
the year 1744, he appears almost to have foreseen, and he
lived to behold it. " The arguments on the other side,"
said that great light of the law, (that is, arguments against
admitting the testimony in question from the novelty of the
case,) " prove nothing. Does it follow from thence, that
no witnesses can be examined in a case that never specifically
existed before ? or that an action cannot be brought in a
case that never happened before ? Reason (being stated to
.be the first ground of all laws, by the author of the book
called Doctor and Student,) must determine the case.
Therefore the only question is, whether upon principles of
reason, justice, and convenience, this witness be admissible ?
" Cases in law depend upon the occasions which gave
rise to them. All occasions do not arise at once : now a
particular species of Indians appears; hereafter another

1 7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 237
species of Indians may arise *. A statute can seldom take
in all cases ; therefore the common law, that works itself
pure, by rules drawn from the fountain of justice, is for this
reason superior to an act of parliament."
From the period of this great judgment to the trial of
Warren Hastings, Esq. the law has gone on continually
working itself pure (to use Lord Mansfield's expression),
by rides drawn from the fountain of justice. " General
rules," said the same person when he sat upon the -j- bench,
" are wisely established for attaining justice with ease, cer
tainty, and dispatch. But the great end of them being
to do justice, the court will see that it be really obtained.
The courts have been more liberal of late years in their
determinations, and have more endeavoured to attend to
the real justice of the case than formerly."
On another occasion, of a proposition for setting aside a
verdict, he said, " This seems to be the true way to come
at justice, and what we therefore ought to do ; for the true
text is, Boni judicis est ampliari justitiam (not jurisdictionem,
as has been often cited)." In conformity to this principle;
the supposed rules of evidence have, in late times and judg
ments, instead of being drawn to a greater degree of strict
ness, been greatly relaxed. %
" All evidence is according to the subject-matter to which it
is applied. There is a great deal of difference between
length of time that operates as a bar to a claim, and that
which is used only by way of evidence. — Length of time,
used merely by way of evidence, may be left to the con
sideration of the jury, to be credited or not, or to draw
their inferences one way or the other, according to circum
stances. — / do not know an instance in which proof may not
be supplied." ||
In all cases of evidence Lord Mansfield's maxim was to

* Omichund versus Barker, 1 Atkyns, ut supra.
¦J- Burrow, vol. i. p. 301. Rex v. Philips, p. 303. 304. 306.
-f Wyndhamv. Chetwynd, 1 Burrow, 414.
|| Cowper's Reports, 109. Mayor of Hull v. Horner.

238 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
lean to admissibility, leaving the objections, which were
made to competency, to go to credit, and to be weighed
in the minds of the jury, after they had heard it. — In ob
jections to wills, and to the testimony of witnesses to them,
he thought " it clear that the judges ought to lean against
objections to the formality." *
Lord Hardwicke had before declared, with great truth,
" that the boundaries of what goes to the credit, and what
to the competency, are very nice, and the latter carried too
far ; and in the same case he said, " that unless the ob
jection appeared to him to carry a strong danger of perjury,
and some apparent advantage might accrue to the witness,
he was always inclined to let it go to his credit, only in
order to let in a proper light to the case, which would other
wise be shut out ¦, and in a doubtful case, he said, it was
generally his custom to admit the evidence, and give such
directions to the jury as the nature of the case might
require." j-
It is a known rule of evidence, that an interest in the
matter to be supported by testimony disqualifies a witness ;
yet Lord Mansfield held, " that nice objections to a re
mote interest, which could not be paid or released, (though
they held in other cases,) were not allowed to disqualify a
witness to a will, as parishioners might have a devise to
the use of the poor of the parish for ever." He went still
nearer, and his doctrine tends so fully to settle the prin
ciples of departure from, or adherence to, rules of evi
dence, that your committee inserts part of the argument at
large. " The disability of a witness from interest is very dif
ferent from a positive incapacity. If a deed must be ac
knowledged before a judge or notary public, every other
person is under a positive incapacity to authenticate it ; but
pbjections of interest are deductions from natural reason,

* Abrahams v. Bunn, p. 8854. The whole case is well worth reading.
<\ King v. Bray.

1 794*1 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGs's TRIAL. 239
and proceed upon a presumption of too great a bias in the
mind of the witness, and the public utility of rejecting par
tial testimony. Presumptions stand no longer than till the
contrary is proved. The presumption of bias may be
taken off by shewing the witness has a great or a greater
interest the other way, or that he has given it up. The
presumption of public utility may be answered, by shewing
that it would be ve?y inconvenient, under the particular cir
cumstances, not to receive such testimony.
" Therefore, from the course of business, necessity, and
©ther reasons of expedience, numberless exceptions are al
lowed to the general rule." *
These being the principles of the latter jurisprudence,
the judges have suffered no positive rule of evidence to
counteract those principles f. They have even suffered
subscribing witnesses to a will, wliich recites the soundness
of mind in the testator, to be examined to prove his in
sanity, and then the court received evidence to overturn
that testimony, and to destroy the credit of those witnesses.
They were five in number, who attested to a will and
codicil. They were admitted to annul the will they had
themselves attested. Objections were taken to the compe
tency of one of the witnesses in support of the will against
its subscribing witnesses, ist, That the witness was an
executor in trust, and so liable to actions. 2dly, As having
acted under the trust, whereby, if the will were set aside,
he would be liable to answer for damages incurred by the
sale of the deceased's chambers to a Mr. Frederick. Mr.
Frederick offered to submit to a rule to release for the sake
of public justice. Those who maintained the objection
cited Siderfin, a reporter of much authority, 51. 115. and
1 Keble, 134. Lord Mansfield, chief justice, did not
controvert those authorities ; but in the course of obtaining.
substantial justice, he treated both of them with equal con-

* Wyndham v. Chetwynd.
f Lowe v. Joliffe. 1 Black, J. p. 366.

24° REPORT ON fHE CAUSES OP THE [April 36.
tempt, though determined by judges of high reputation.
His words are remarkable : " We do not now sit here
to take our rules of evidence from Siderfin and Keble."
He over-ruled the objection upon more recent authorities,
which, though not in similar circumstances, he considered
as within the reason. The court did not think it necessary
that the witness should release, as he had offered to do.
" It appeared on this trial (says Justice Blackstone),
that a black conspiracy was formed to set aside the gentle
man's will, without any foundation whatever." A prose
cution against three of the testamentary witnesses was re
commended, who were afterwards convicted of perjury.
Had strict formalities, with regard to evidence, been ad
hered to in any part of this proceeding, that very black
conspiracy would have succeeded, and those black con
spirators, instead of receiving the punishment of their
crimes, would have enjoyed the reward of their perjury.
Lord Mansfield, it seems, had been misled in a certain
case with regard to precedents *. His opinion was against
the reason and equity of the supposed practice, but he sup
posed himself not at liberty to give way to his own wishes
and opinions. On discovering his error, he considered
himself as freed from an intolerable burthen, and hastened
to undo his former determination. " There are no pre
cedents," said, he, with some exultation, " which stand in
tlie way of our determining liberally, equitably, and accord
ing to the tme intention of the parties." In the same case,
his learned assessor, Justice Wilmot/ felt the same senti
ments. His expressions are remarkable : " Courts of law
ought to concur with courts of equity in the execution of
those powers which are very convenient to be inserted in
settlements ; and they ought not to listen to nice distinctions
that savour of the schools, but to be guided by true good
sense and manly reason. After the statute of uses, it is
much to be lamented that the courts of common law had

* Burrow, 1 147. Zouch ex dimiss. Woolston v. Woolston.

1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 24 S
not adopted all the rules and maxims of courts of equity.
This would have prevented the absurdity of receiving costs
in one court, and paying ' them in another." Your com
mittee does not produce the doctrine of this particular case
as directly applicable to their charge, no more than several
of the others here cited. We do not know on what pre
cedents or principles the evidence proposed by us has been
deemed inadmissible by the judges ; therefore against the
grounds of this rejection we find it difficult directly to op
pose any thing. These precedents, and these doctrines, are
brought to shew the general temper of the courts, their
growing liberality, and the general tendency of all their
reasonings and all their determinations to set aside all such
technical subtleties or formal rules, which might stand in
the way of the discovery of truth, and the attainment of
justice. — The cases are adduced for the principles they
contain. The period of the cases and arguments we have cited
was that in wliich large and liberal principles of evidence
were more declared, and more regularly brought into
system. But they had been gradually improving; and
there are few principles of the later decisions which are
not to be found in determinations on cases prior to the
time we refer to. Not to overdo this matter, and yet to
bring it with some degree of clearness before the Housed
your committee will refer but to a few authorities, and
those which seem most immediately to relate to the nature
of the cause entrusted to them. In Michaelmas, 1 1 W. III."
The king v. the Warden of the Fleet,— a witness, who
had really been a prisoner and voluntarily suffered to
escape, was produced to prove the escape. To the witness
it was objected, that he had given a bond to be a true
prisoner, which he had forfeited by escaping : besides, he
had been retaken. His testimony was allowed ; and by
the court, among other things, it was said, in secret tran
sactions, if any of the parties concerned are not to be, for
the necessity of the third, admitted as evidence, it will be
VOL. IV. R

*42 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
impossible to detect the practice ; as in cases of the statute
of hue and cry the party robbed shall be a witness to
charge the hundred ; and in the case of Cooke v. Watti
in the Exchequer, where one who had been prejudiced by
the will was admitted an evidence to prove it forged *. So
in the case of King v. Harris f , where a feme cove/t was
admitted as a witness for fraudulently drawing her in,
when sole, to give a warrant of attorney for confessing a
judgment on an unlawful consideration, whereby execution
was sued out against her husband ; and Holt, chief justice,
held, that a feme covert could not, by law, be a witness to
convict one on an information ; yet, in Lord Audley's case,
it being a rape on her person, she was received to give
evidence against him, and the court concurred with him,
because it was the best evidence the nature of the thing
would allow.
This decision of Holt refers to others more early, and
all on the same principle ; and it is not of this day that
this one great principle of eminent public expedience, this
moral necessity $, " that crimes should not escape with im
punity," has in all cases overborne all the common juri
dical rules of evidence — it has even prevailed over the
first and most natural construction of acts of parliament,
and that in matters of so penal a nature as high treason.
It is known that statutes made, not to open and enlarge,
but on fair grounds to straiten proofs, require two wit
nesses in cases of high treason. So it was understood
without dispute, and without distinction, until the argu
ment of a case in the high court of justice, during the
usurpation : it was the case of the presbyterian minister,
Love, tried for high treason, against the commonwealth,
in an attempt to restore the king. In this trial, it was
contended for and admitted, that one witness to one overt

* In this single point Holt did not concur with the rest of the judges.
•J- ist Siderfin, p. 431.
J Interest Reipublicas ut maleficia ne remaneant impunita.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 243
act, and one to another overt act of the same treason,
ought to be deemed sufficient. *
That precedent, though furnished in times from which
precedents were cautiously drawn, was received as autho
rity throughout the whole reign of Charles the Second.
It was equally followed after the Revolution ; and at this
day it is undoubted law. It is not so from the natural or
technical rules of construction of the act of parliament,
but from the principles of juridical policy. All the judges
who have ruled it, all the writers of credit who have writ-t
ten upon it, assign this reason, and this only — That
treasons being plotted in secrecy, could in few cases be other
wise brought to punishment.
The same principle of policy has dictated a principle
of relaxation, with regard to severe rules of evidence, in
all cases similar, though of a lower order in the scale of
criminality. It is against fundamental maxims that an ac
complice should be admitted as a witness; but accom
plices are admitted from the policy of justice, otherwise
confederacies of crime could not be dissolved.
There is no rule more solid than that a man shall not
entitle himself to profit by his own testimony. But an in
former, in case of highway robbery, may obtain forty
pounds to his own profit by his own evidence : this is not
in consequence of positive provision in the act of par«
liament, — it is a provision of policy, lest the purpose of
the act should be defeated.
Now, if policy has dictated this very large construction
of an act of parliament, concerning high treason; if the
same policy has dictated exceptions to the clearest and
broadest rules of evidence, in other highly penal causes ;
and if all this latitude is taken concerning matters for the
greater part within our insular bounds ; your committee
could not, with safety to the larger and more remedial

* Love's Trial, State Trials, Vol. S. p. 144. 171. to 173. and 177. j
»nd Foster's Crown Law, p. 235.
R 2

244 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3O.
justice 01 the law of parliament, admit any rules, or pre
tended rules, uncorrected and uncontrolled by circum
stances, to prevail in a trial, which regarded offences of a
nature as difficult of detection, and committed far from
the sphere of the ordinary practice of our courts.
If any thing of an over-formal strictness is introduced
into the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. it does not
seem to be copied from the decisions of these tribunals.
It is with great satisfaction vour committee has found,
that the reproach of " disgraceful subtleties," inferior rules
of evidence, which prevent the discovery of truth, of
forms, and modes of proceeding, which stand in the
way of that justice, the forwarding of which is the sole
rational object of their invention, cannot fairly be imputed
to the common law of England, or to the ordinary prac
tice of the courts below.
Circumstantial Evidence, fyc.
The rules of evidence in civil and in criminal cases, in
law and in equity, being only rcison methodized, are cer
tainly the same. Your committee however finds, that the
far greater part of the law of evidence to be found in our
books turns upon questions relative to civil concerns.
Civil cases regard property : now, although property itself
is not, yet almost every thing concerning property, and all
its modifications, is of artificial contrivance. The rules
concerning it become more positive, as connected with po
sitive institution. The legislator therefore always, the
jurist frequently, may ordain certain methods, by which
alone they will suffer such matters to be known and
established, because, their very essence, for the greater
part, depends on the arbitrary conventions of men. Men
act on them with all the power of a creator over his crea
ture. They make fictions of law, and presumptions of
law (presumptiones juris et de jure) according to their ideas
of utility — and against those fictions and against presump
tions so created, they do and may reject all evidence.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 245
However, even in these cases, there is some restraint.
Lord Mansfield has let in a liberal spirit, against the fic
tions of law themselves ; and he declared, that he would
do what in one case he actually did, and most wisely —
that he would admit evidence against a fiction of law, when
the fiction militated against the policy on which it was
made. *
Thus it is with things which owe their existence to men:
but, where the subject is of a physical nature, or of a moral
nature independent of their conventions, men have no other
reasonable authority, than to register and digest the results
of experience and observation. Crimes are the actions of
physical beings, with an evil intention abusing their phy
sical powers against justice, and to the detriment of society.
In this case fictions of law and artificial presumptions
(juris et de jure) have little or no place. The presump
tions which belong to criminal cases are those natural and
popular presumptions which are only observations turned
into maxims, like adages and . apothegms, and are ad
mitted (when their grounds are established) in the place of
proof, where better is wanting, but are to be always over
turned by counter proof.
These presumptions mostly go to the intention. In all
criminal cases, the crime (except where the law itself im
plies malice) consists rather in the intention than the action.
Now, the intention is proved but by two ways ; either, 1st,
by confession — this first case is rare but simple ; — 2dly,
by circumstantial proof. This is difficult, and requires
care and pains : the connection of the intention and the
circumstances is plainly of such a nature as more to depend
on the sagacity of the observer, than on the excellence of
any rule. The pains taken by the civilians on that sub
ject have not been very fruitful; and the English law
writers have, perhaps, as wisely, in a manner abandoned
the pursuit.
In truth, it seems a wild attempt to lay down any rule
* Burrow, 815. Copendal v. Bridgen.
* 3

44<5 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3<3.
for the proof of intention by circumstantial evidence 5 all
the acts of the party ; all things that explain or throw light
on these acts; all the acts of others relative to the affair,
that come to his knowledge, and may influence him ; his
friendships and enmities, his promises, his threats, the
truth of his discourses, the falsehood of his apologies, pre
tences, and explanations, his looks, his speech ; his si
lence where he was called to speak ; every thing which tends
to establish the connection between all these particulars ; —
every circumstance, precedent, concomitant, and subse
quent, become parts of circumstantial evidence. These
are in their nature infinite, and cannot be comprehended
within any rule, or brought under any classification.
Now, as the force of that presumptive and conjectural
proof, rarely, if ever, depends on one fact only, but is
collected from the number and accumulation of circum
stances concurrent in one point, we do not find an instance,
until this trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. (which has
produced many novelties) that attempts have been made
by any court to call on the prosecutor for an account of
the purpose for which he means to produce each particle
of this circumstantial evidence, to take up the circum
stances one by one, to prejudge the efficacy of each matter
separately in proving the point ; and thus to break to pieces
and to garble those facts, upon the multitude of which,
their combination, and the relation of all their component
parts to each other and to the culprit, the whole force and
virtue of this evidence depends. To do any thing which
can destroy this collective effect is to deny circumstantial
evidence. Your committee too cannot but express their surprize,
at the particular period of the present trial, when the at
tempts to which we have alluded first began to be made.
The two first great branches of the accusation of this
House against Warren Hastings, Esq. relate to public
and notorious acts, capable of direct proof; such as the
expulsion of Cheit Sing, with its consequences on the
province of Benares, and the seizure of the treasures and
'5

IJ>74*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 847
jaghires of the begums of Oude. Yet, in the proof of
those crimes, your committee cannot justly complain, that
we were very narrowly circumscribed in the produc
tion of much circumstantial as well as positive evidence.
We did not find any serious resistance on this head, till
we came to make good our charges of secret crimes ; crimes
of a class and description, in the proof of which all
judges of all countries have found it necessary to relax al
most all their rules of competency ; such crimes as pecula
tion, pecuniary frauds, extortion, and bribery. Eight
out of nine of the questions put to the judges by the
lords, in the first stage of the prosecution, related to cir
cumstances offered in proof of these secret crimes.
Much industry and art have been used, among the il
literate and unexperienced, to throw imputations on this
prosecution, and its conduct, because so great a propor
tion of the evidence offered on this trial (especially on the
latter charges) has been circumstantial. Against the pre
judices of the ignorant, your committee opposes the judg
ment of the learned. It is known to them that, when
this proof is in its greatest perfection, that is when it is.
most abundant in circumstances, it is much superior to po
sitive proof; and for this we have the authority of the
learned judge who presided at the trial of Captain Do-
nellan :
" On the part of the prosecution, a great deal of evi
dence has been laid before you. It is all circumstantial
evidence, and in its nature it must be so ; for, in cases of
this sort, no man is weak enough to commit the act in the
presence of other persons, or to suffer them to see what he
does at the time ; and therefore it can only be made out
by circumstances, either before the committing of the act,
at the time when it was committed, or subsequent to it j
and a presumption, which necessarily arises from circum
stances, is very often more convincing and more satisfactory
than any other kind of evidence, because it is not within
the reach and compass of human abilities to invent a train
of circumstances which shall be so connected together as to
a 4

248 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3©v
amount to a proof of guilt, without affording opportuni
ties of contradicting a great part, if not all, of these
circumstances. But if the circumstances are such as, when
laid together, bring conviction to your minds, it is then
fully equal, if not, as I told you before, more convincing
than positive evidence."
In the trial of Donellan no such selection was used as
we have lately experienced; no limitation to the produc
tion of every matter, before, at, and after the fact charged.
The trial was (as we conceive) rightly conducted by the
learned judge- — because secret crimes, such as secret as
sassination, poisoning, bribery, peculation, and extortion,
(the three last of which this House has charged upon Mr.
Flastings) can very rarely be proved in any Other way.
That way of proof is made to give satisfaction to a search
ing, equitable, and intelligent mind ; and there must not
be a failure of justice. Lord Mansfield has said that he
did not know a case, in which proof might not be sup
plied. *
Your committee has resorted to the trial of Donellan ;
and they have, and do much rely upon it, first, on ac
count of the known learning and ability of the judge who
tried the cause, and the particular attention he has paid to
the subject of evidence, which forms a book in his treatise
on Nisi Prius. Next, because, as the trial went wholly on
circumstantial evidence, the proceedings in it furnish some
of the most complete and the fullest examples on that sub
ject. 3dly, Because "the case is recent; and the law cannot
be supposed to be materially altered since the time of that
event. Comparing the proceedings on that trial, and the doc
trines from the bench, with the doctrines we have heard
from the woolsack, your committee cannot comprehend
how they can be reconciled.
* For, the lords compelled the managers to declare for

* Vide supra.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 249
what, purpose they produced each separate member of
their circumstantial evidence ; a thing, as we conceive,
not usual, and particularly not observed in the trial of
Donellan. We have observed in that trial, and in most
others which we have had occasion to resort to, that the
prosecutor is suffered to proceed narratively and histori
cally, without interruption. If indeed it appears on the
face of the narration, that what is represented to have
been said, written, or done, did not come to the know
ledge of the prisoner, a question sometimes, but rarely,
has been asked, whether the prisoner could be affected
with the knowledge of it. When a connection with the
person of the prisoner has been in any way shewn, or even
promised to be shewn, the evidence is allowed to go on
without further opposition. The sending of a sealed
letter, the receipt of a sealed letter inferred from the de
livery to the prisoner's servant, the bare possession of a
paper written by any other person, on the presumption
that the contents of such letters, or such paper, were
known to the prisoner; and the being present when any
thing was said or done, on the presumption of his seeing
or hearing what passed, have been respectively ruled to be
sufficient. If, on the other hand, no circumstance of
connection has been proved, the judge, in summing up,
has directed the jury to pay no regard to a letter or con
versation, the proof of which has so failed, — a course
much less liable to inconvenience, where the same persons
decide both the law and the fact.*
To illustrate the difficulties to which your committee
was subjected on this head, we think it sufficient to submit
to the House (reserving a more full discussion of this im-

* Girdwood's Case, Leach, p. u8. Gordon's Case, Ibid. p. 245.
Lord Preston's Case, St. Tr. iv. p. 439- Layer's Case, St. Tr. vi.
p. 479. Foster's Crown Law, p. 198. Canning's Trial, St. Tr. x. p. 263.
270. Trial of the Duchess of Kingston, St. Tr. xi. p. 444. Trial of
Huggins, St. Tr. ix. p. 119. isso. 135.

2f9 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 Or
portant point to another occasion) the following short
statement of an incident which occurred in this trial:
By an express order of the court of directors (to which
by the express words of the act of parliament under which
he held his office he was ordered to yield obedience) Mr.
Hastings and his colleagues were directed to make an in
quiry into all offences of bribery and corruption in office.
— On the i ith of March a charge, in writing, of bribery
and corruption in office was brought against himself. On
the 13 th of the same month, the accuser, a man of high
rank, the rajah Nundcomar, appears personally before the
council to make good his charge against Mr. Hastings be
fore his own face. Mr. Hastings thereon fell into a very
intemperate heat, obstinately refused to be present at the
examination, attempted to dissolve the council, and con
tumaciously retired from it. Three of the other members,
a majority of the council, in execution of their duty, and
in obedience to the orders received under the act of par
liament, proceeded to take the evidence, which is very
minute and particular, and was entered in the records of
the council by the regular official secretary. It was after
wards read in Mr. Hastings's own presence, and by him
transmitted, under his own signature, to the court of di
rectors. A separate letter was also written by him, about
the same time, desiring, on his part, that in any inquiry
into his conduct " not a single word should escape ob»
servation." This proceeding in the council, your committee, in its
natural order, and in a narrative chain of circumstantial
proof, offered in evidence. — It was not permitted to be
read — and on the 20th and 2 ist of May 1789, we were
told from the woolsack, " that when a paper is not evi
dence by itself" (such this part of the consultation it seems
was reputed) " a party who wishes to introduce a paper of
that kind, is called upon not only to state, but to make
out on proof, the whole of the grounds upon which lie pro
ceeds to make that paper proper evidence. — That the
evidence that is produced must be the demeanour of th*

•t 794*3 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 2J I
party respecting that paper ; and it is the connection be
tween them, as material to the charge depending, that will
enable them to be produced."
Your committee observes, that this was not a paper
foreign to the prisoner, and sent to him as a letter, the
receipt of which, and his conduct thereon, were to be
brought home to him, to infer his guilt from his de
meanour. It was an office document of his own depart
ment, concerning himself, and kept by officers of his own,
and by himself transmitted, as we have said, to the court
of directors. Its proof was in the record. The charge
made against him, and his demeanour on being acquainted
with it, were not in separate evidence. They all lay to
gether, and composed a connected narrative of the business,
authenticated by himself.
In that case it seems to your committee extremely irre
gular and preposterous to demand previous and extraneous
proofs of the demeanour of the party respecting the paper,
and the connection between them, as material to the charge
depending; for this would be to try what the effect and
operation of the evidence would be on the issue of the
cause, before its production.
The doctrine so laid down, demands that every several
circumstance should in itself be conclusive, or at least
should afford a violent presumption; it must, we were
told, without question, be material to the charge depend
ing : but, as we conceive, its materiality, more or less, is
not in the first instance to be established. To make it ad
missible, it is enough to give proof, or to raise a legal
inference of its connection both with the charge depending,
and the person of the party charged, where it does not
appear on the face of the evidence offered. Besides, by
this new doctrine, the materiality required to be shewn
must be decided from a consideration, not of the whole
circumstance, but in truth of one half of the circumstance
of a demeanour, unconnected with, and unexplained by
that on which it arose, though the connection between the
demeanour of the party and the^iaper is that which must

252 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30*
be shewn to be material. Your committee, after all they
have heard, is yet to learn how the full force and effect of
any demeanour, as evidence of guilt or innocence, can be
known, unless it be also fully known to what that demeanour
applied ; unless when a person did or said any thing, it be
known, not generally and abstractedly, that a paper was
read to him, but particularly and specifically what were
the contents of that paper : whether they were matters
lightly or weightily alleged ; within the power of the
party accused to have confuted on the spot, if false ; or
such as, though he might have denied, he could not in
stantly have disproved. The doctrine appeared, and still
appears, to your committee to be totally abhorrent from
the genius of circumstantial evidence, and mischievously
subversive of its use. We did, however, offer that extra
neous proof which was demanded of us, but it was re
fused, as well as the office document.
Your committee thought themselves the more bound to
contend for every mode of evidence to the intention ; be
cause in many of the cases the gross fact was admitted, and
the prisoner and his counsel set up pretences of public
necessity and public service for his justification. No way
lay open for rebutting this justification, but by bringing out
all the circumstances attendant on the transaction.
Order and Time of Producing Evidence.
Your committee found great impediment in' the pro
duction of evidence, not only on account of the general
doctrines supposed to exist concerning its inadmissibility
drawn from its own alleged natural incompetency, or from
its inapplicability under the pleading of the impeachment
of this House ; but also from the mode of proceeding in
bringing it forward. Here evidence which we thought
necessary to the elucidation of the cause was not suffered,
upon the supposed rules of examination in chief, and cross
examination — and on supposed rules, forming a distinc
tion between evidence originally produced on the charge,
and evidence offered on the reply.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 253
On all these, your committee observes in general, that if
the rules which respect the substance of the evidence are
(as'the great lawyers qn whose authority we stand assert they
are) no more than rules of convenience, much more are
those subordinate rules which regard the order, the man
ner, and the time of the arrangement. These are purely
arbitrary ; without the least reference to any fixed prin
ciple in the nature of things, or to any settled maxim of
jurisprudence, and consequently are variable at every in
stant, as the conveniences of the cause may require.
We admit that in the order of mere arrangement, there
is a difference between examination of witnesses in chief
and cross examination, and that in general these several
parts are properly cast, according to the situation of the
parties in the cause ; but there neither is nor can be any
precise rule to discriminate the exact bounds between ex
amination and cross examination. So as to time, there is
necessarily some limit, but a limit hard to fix : the only one
which can be fixed with any tolerable degree of precision
is, when the judge, after fully hearing all parties, is to
consider of his verdict or his sentence. Whilst the cause
continues under hearing in any shape, or in any stage of
the process, it is the duty of the judge to receive every
offer of evidence, apparently material, suggested to him,
though the parties themselves, through negligence, igno
rance, or corrupt collusion, should not bring it forward.
A judge is not placed in that high situation merely as a
passive instrument of parties : he has a duty of his own, in
dependent of them, and that duty is to investigate the truth.
There maybe no prosecutor. — In our law a permanent
prosecutor is not of necessity. The crown prosecutor in
criminal cases is a grand jury; and this is dissolved in
stantly on its findings and its presentments. But if no pro
secutor appears (and it has happened more than once) the
court is obliged through its officer, the clerk of the arraigns,
to examine and cross-examine every witness who presents
himself; and the judge is to see it done effectually, and to
act his own part in it ; and this as long as evidence shall

254 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
be offered within the time which the mode of trial will
admit. Your committee is of opinion, that if it has happened,
that witnesses or other kinds of evidence have not been fre
quently produced after the closing of the prisoner's defence,
or such evidence has not been in reply given, it has hap
pened from the peculiar nature of our common judicial
proceedings, in which all the matter of evidence must be
presented, whilst the bodily force and the memory, or other
mental faculties of men, can hold out. This does not ex
ceed the compass of one natural day, or thereabouts ; dur
ing that short space of time, new evidence very rarely
occurs for production by any of the parties ; because the
nature of men, joined to the nature of the tribunals, and
of the mode of trial at common law (good and useful on
the whole) prescribe limits which the mere principles of
justice would of themselves never fix.
But in other courts, such as the court of chancery, the
courts of admiralty jurisdiction (except in prize causes un
der the act of parfiament) and in the ecclesiastical courts
wherein the trial is not by an inclosed jury in those courts,
such strait limits are not of course necessary : the cause * is
continued by many adjournments ; as long as the trial lasts,
new witnesses are examined, even after the regular stage
for each party, on a special application, under the circum
stances, to the sound discretion of the court, where the
evidence offered is newly come to the knowledge or power
of the party, and appears on the face of it to be material
in the cause. Even after hearing, new witnesses have been
examined, or former witnesses re-examined, not as the right
of the parties, but ad informandam conscientiam judicis.
All these things are not unfrequent in some, if not in all
of these courts, and perfectly known to the judges of West
minster-hall, who cannot be supposed ignorant of the prac-

* Harrison's Practice of Chancery, Vol. ii. p. 46. 1. Ch. Ca. 228.
i.Ch.Ca.25. Oughton,tit. 81, 82, 83. Do. tit. 116.; Viner, tit. Evi
dence, (P. a.)

1794*3 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 255
tice of the court of chancery; and who sit to try appeals from
the admiralty and ecclesiastical courts as delegates.
But as criminal prosecutions, according to the forms
of the civil and canon law, are neither many nor im
portant in any court of this part of the kingdom, your
committee thinks it right to state the undisputed principle
of the imperial law, from the great writer on this subject
before cited by us ; • — from Carpzovius. Fie says, " that
a doubt has arisen whether evidence being once given in a
trial on a public prosecution (in processu inquisitorio) and
the witnesses being examined, it may be allowed to form
other and new articles, and to produce new witnesses*."
Your committee must here observe, that the processus in-
quisitorius is that proceeding in which the prosecution is
carried on in the name of the judge acting ex officio; from
that duty of his office, which is called the nobile qffkium
judicis. For the judge under the imperial law possesses
both those powers, the inquisitorial and the judicial, which
in the high court of parliament are more aptly divided and
exercised by the different Houses ; and in this kind of pro
cess the House will see that Carpzovius couples the pro
duction of new witnesses and the forming of new articles
(the undoubted privilege of the Commons) as intimately
and necessarily connected. He then proceeds to solve the
doubt : " Certainly" (says he) " there are authors who
deny, that after publication of the depositions, any new
witnesses and proofs, that can affect the prisoner, ought to
be received, which" (says he) " is true in a case where a
private prosecutor has intervened who produces the wit
nesses. But if the judge proceeds by way of inquisition
ex officio, then, even after the completion of the examination
of witnesses against the prisoner, new witnesses may be re
ceived and examined; and on new grounds of suspicion
arising, new articles may be formed according to the com
mon opinion of the doctors ; and as it is the most gene
rally received, so it is most agreeable to reason."
Carpz, Pract. Saxon. Crimin. Part iii. Quest. 114. No. 13.

256 REPORT OF THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
And in another chapter, relative to the ordinary cri
minal process by a private prosecutor, he lays it down on
the authority of Angelus, Bartolus, and others, that after
the right of the party prosecuting is expired the judge
taking up the matter ex officio may direct new witnesses
and new proofs, even after publication *. Other passages
from the same writer, and from others, might be added ;
but your committee trusts that what they have produced is
sufficient to shew the general principles of the imperial cri
minal lavv.
The high court of parliament bears in its modes of pro
ceeding a much greater resemblance to the course of the
court of chancery, the admiralty, and ecclesiastical courts
(which are the king's courts too, and their law the law of
the bind) than to those of the common law.
The accusation is brought into parliament at this very
day by exhibiting articles; which your committee is informed
is the regular mode of commencing a criminal prosecutionj
where the office of the judge is promoted in the civil and
canon law courts of this country. The answer again is
usually specific, both to the fact and the law alleged in
each particular article, which is agreeable to the proceeding
of the civil law, and not of the common law.
Anciently the resemblance was much nearer and stronger.
Selden, who was himself a great ornament of the common
law, and who was personally engaged in most of the im
peachments of his time, has written expressly on the judi
cature in parliament. In his fourth chapter, intituled, Of
Witnesses, he lays down the practice of his time, as well as
of ancient times, with respect to the proof by examination ;
and it is clearly a practice more similar to that of the civil
than the common law.
" The practice at this day" (says he)' " is to swear the
witnesses in open house, and then to examine them there,
or at a committee, either upon interrogatories agreed upon
in the House, or such as the committee in tlieir discretion

* Carpz. Pract. Saxon. Crimin. Part iii. Quest. iq6. No.

1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 257
shall demand : — thus it was in ancient times, as shall ap
pear by the precedents, so many as they are, they being
very sparing to record those . ceremonies, which I shall
briefly recite, I then add those of later times."
Accordingly, in times so late as those of the trial of
Lord Middlesex, (22 Jac. I. 1624.), upon an impeachment
of the Commons, the whole course of the proceeding, espe
cially in the mode of adducing the evidence, was in a man
ner the same as in the civil law : depositions were taken,
and publication regularly passed ; and on the trial of Lord
Strafforde, both modes pointed out by Selden seem to have
been indifferently used.
It follows, therefore, that this high court (bound by
none of their rules) has a liberty to adopt the methods
of any of the legal courts of the kingdom at its discretion ;
and in sound discretion it ought to adopt those which bear
the nearest resemblance to its own constitution, to its own
procedure, and to its exigencies in the promotion of justice.
There are conveniencies and inconveniencies both in the
shorter and the longer mode of trial. But to bring the me
thods observed (if such are in fact observed) in the former,
only from necessity, into the latter by choice, is to load
it with the inconveniency of both, without the advantages
of either. The chief benefit of any process which admits
of adjournments, is that it may afford means of fuller in
formation and more mature deliberation. — If neither of the
parties have a strict right to it, yet the court or the jury, as
the case may be, ought to demand it.
Your committee is of opinion, that all rules relative to
laches or neglects in a party to the suit, which may cause
nonsuit on the one hand, or judgment by default in the
other, all things which cause the party cadere injure, ought
not to be adhered to in the utmost rigour, even in civil
cases ; but still less ought that spirit, which takes advantage
of the lapses and failures on either part to be suffered to
govern in causes criminal. " Judges ought to lean against
every attempt to nonsuit a plaintaiff on objections which
have no relation to the real merits. It is unconscionable
vol. iv. s

258 / REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30,
in a defendant to take advantage of the apices litigandi —
against such objections, every possible presumption ought to
be made which ingenuity can suggest. How disgraceful
would it be to the administration of justice to allow chicane
to obstruct right* !" This observation of Lord Mansfield
applies equally to every means by which, indirectly as well
as directly, the cause may fail upon any other principles
than those of its merits. He thinks, that all the resources
of ingenuity ought to be employed to baffle chicane, not to
support it. The case in which Lord Mansfield has delivered
this sentiment is merely a civil one. In civil causes of
meum fy tuum, it imports little to the commonwealth,
whether Titus or Maevius profits of a legacy ; or whether
John a Nokes or John a Stiles is seised of the manor of
Dale. For which reason, in many cases, the private hi-
terests of men are left by courts to suffer by their own ne
glects, and their own want of vigilance, as their fortunes
are permitted to suffer from the same causes in all the con
cerns of common life. But in crimes, where the prose
cution is on the part of the public (as all criminal prose
cutions are, except appeals,) the public prosecutor ought not
to be considered as a plaintiff in a cause of meum # tuum ,¦
hor the prisoner, in such a caused as a common defendant.
In such a cause the state itself is highly concerned in the
event : on the other hand, the prisoner may lose life,
which all the wealth and power of all the states in the world
cannot restore to him, Undoubtedly the state ought not
to be weighed against justice ; but it would be dreadful in
deed if causes of such importance should be sacrificed to
petty regulations, of mere secondary convenience, not at
all adapted to such concerns, nor even made with a view to
their existence. Your committee readily adopts the opinion
of the learned Ryder, that it would be better if there were
no such rules, than that there should be no exceptions to
* Morris v. Pugh and others, Burrow, p. 1243. See also Burrow, 4.
Dickson v. Fisher. Alder v. Chip. Grey v. Smythies. Blackstone's Re
ports. N. B. AU from^the same judge, and proceeding on the same
principles-.'

f 704.] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL, 259
them. Lord Hardwicke declared very properly, in the
case of the Earl of Chesterfield against Sir Abraham Jan-
son, " That political arguments, in the fullest sense of the
word, as they concerned the government of a nation, must
be, aud always have been, of great weight in the .consider
ation of this court. Though there be no dolus mains in
contracts, with regard to other persons, yet if the rest of
mankind are concerned as well as the parties, it may be
properly said, it regards the public utility '*." Lord Hard
wicke laid this down in a cause of meum fy tuum, between
party and party, where the public was concerned only re-?
motely, and in the example ; not as in this prosecution,
when the political arguments are infinitely stronger, the
.crime relating, and in the most eminent degree relating, to
the publi.c.
One case has happened since the time which is limited
by the order of the House for this report ; it is so very im
portant, that we think ourselves justified in submitting it
to the House without delay. Your committee, on the sup*
posed rules here alluded to, has been prevented (as of right)
from examining a witness of importance in the case, and
one on whose supposed knowledge of his most hidden.
transactions, the prisoner had himself, in all stages of this
business, as the House well knows, endeavoured to raise
presumptions in favour of his cause. Indeed it was his
principal if not only justification, as to the intention, in
many different acts of corruption charged upon him. Tbe
witness to whom we allude, is Mr. Larkins. *
This witness came from India after your .committee had
/closed the evidence of this House, in .chief; and could no}:
be produced before the time of the reply. Your. committee
was not suffered to examine hun ; not, as they could find,
on objections to the particular question, as improper, but
upon some or other of the general grounds (as they be
lieve) on which Mr. Hastings resisted any evidence from
him. The party, after haying resisted his production, o$

Atykns's Reports, Vol,, i, Chesterfield v.Janspn.
s 2

260 REPORT OF THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
the next sitting day admitted him ; and by consent he was
examined : your committee entered a protest on the mi
nutes in favour of their right.
Your committee contended, and do contend, that by the
law of parliament, whilst the trial lasts, they have full right
to call new evidence, as the circumstances may afford,
and the posture of the cause may demand it. This right
seems to have been asserted by the managers for the Com
mons in the case of Lord Stafford — 32 Cha. II. *
The managers, in that case, claimed it as the right of the
Commons tp produce witnesses for the purpose of fortify
ing their former evidence. — Their claim was admitted by
the court. It is an adjudged case in the law of parliament.
Your committee is well aware, that the notorious per
jury and infamy of the witnesses in the trial of Lord Staf
ford has been used to throw a shade of doubt and suspicion
on all that was transacted on that occasion. But there is
no force in such an objection. Your committee has no
concern in the defence of these witnesses ; nor of the Lords
who found their verdict on such testimony ; nor of the
morality of those who produced it. Much may be said
to palliate errors on the part of the prosecutors and judges,
from the heat of the times, arising from the great interests
then agitated. But it is plain, there may be perjury in wit
nesses, or even conspiracy unjustly to prosecute, without
the least doubt of the legality and regularity of the proceed
ings in any part. This is too obvious and too common to
need argument or illustration.
The proceeding in Lord Stafford's case never has, now
for an hundred and fourteen years, either in the warm con
troversies of parties, or in the cool disquisitions of lawyers
or historians, ever been questioned. The perjury of the
witnesses has been more doubted at some periods, than the
regularity of the process has been at any period.
The learned lawyer who led for the Commons in that
impeachment (Serjeant Maynard) had, near forty years be-
* State Trials, Vol. iii. p. 1 70.

1^94*3 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 26 1
fore, taken a forward part in the great cause of the impeach
ment of Lord Strafforde ; and was, perhaps, of all men then
in England, the most conversant in the law and usage of
parliament. Jones was one of the ablest lawyers of his age.
His colleagues were eminent men.
In the trial of Lord Strafforde (which has attracted the
attention of history more than any other, on account of the
importance of the cause itself,' the skill and learning of the
prosecutors, and the eminent abilities of the prisoner) after
the prosecutors for the Commons had gone throughtheir
evidence On the articles ; after the prisoner had also made
his defence, either upon each severally, or upon each
body of articles, as they had been collected into one;
and the managers had, in the same manner, replied;
when, previous to the general concluding reply of the pro
secutors, the time of the general summing up (or recollec
tion as it was called) of the whole evidence on the part of
Lord Strafforde arrived, the managers produced new evi
dence. Your committee wishes to call the particular at
tention of the Flouse to this case, as the contest between
the parties did very nearly resemble the present;, but,
principally, because the sense of the lords on the law of
parliament, in its proceedings with regard to the reception
of evidence, is there distinctly laid down : so is the report
of the judges relative to the usage of the courts below, full
of equity and reason, and in perfect conformity with the
right for which we contended in favour of the public, and
in favour of the court of peers itself. The matter is as
follows *. Your committee gives it at large:
" After this, the lord steward adjourned this House to
Westminster-haM ; and the peers heing all set there in
their places, the lord steward commanded the lieutenant of
the Tower to bring forth the Earl of Strafforde to the bar ;
which being done, the lord steward signified, that both
sides might make a recollection of their evidence, and the
Earl of Strafforde to begin first.
* Lords' Journals, 17 Ch. I. Die Sabhati, videlicet,, 10 Aprilis..
8 3

H6 fcEPORT ON TkE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
" Hereupon Mr. Glynn desired, that before the Earl
of Strafforde began, that the Commons might produce two
fvitnesses to the fifteenth and twenty-third articles, to prove
that there be two men whose names are Berne ; and so a
mistake will be made clear*
" The Earl of Strafforde desired, that no new witnesses
may be admitted against him, unless he might be permitted
to produce witnesses on his part likewise ; which the' Com
mons consented to, so the Earl of Strafforde would con
fine himself to those articles upon which he made reserva
tions, but, he not agreeing to that, and the Commons in
sisting upon it ;
" The House was adjourned to the usual place above, to
consider of it; and after some debate, their lordships
thought it fit, that the members of the Commons go on in
producing new witnesses, as they shall think fit, to the fifr
teenth and twenty-third articles ; and that the Earl of Straf
forde may presently produce such witnesses as are present;
and such as are not, to name them presently ; and to pro
ceed on Monday next ; and also, if the Commons and Earl
of Strafforde would proceed upOn any other articles, upon
new matter, they are to name the witnesses and articles on
both sides presently, and to proceed on Monday next ; but
both sides may waive it if they will.
" The lord steward adjourned this House to West
minster-hall; and, being returned thither* signified what
the lords had thought fit for the better proceeding in the
business. " The Earl of Strafforde,- upon this, desiring not to be
limited to any reservation, but to be at liberty for what
articles are convenient for him to fortify with new wit
nesses ; to which the Commons not assenting, andfor other
scruples which did arise in the case, one Of the peers did
desire that the House might be adjourned, to consider fur
ther of the particulars. Hereupon the lord steward ad-»
journed the House to the usual place above.
" The lords, being come up into the House, fell into
debate of the business; and, for the better informing of

1 7940 Duration of mr. hastings's trial* 263
their judgments what was the course and common justice"
of the kingdom, propounded this question to the judges ;
" Whether it be according to the course of prac
tice, and common justice, before the judges in their
several courts, for the prosecutors in behalf of the
king during the time qf trial, to produce 'witnesses to
discover the truth, and whether the prisoner may not
do the like ?
" The lord chief justice delivered this, as the unanimous
opinions of himself and all the rest of the judges :
" That, according to the course of practice, and com
mon justice, before them in their several courts,
upon trial by jury, as long as the prisoner is at the
bar, and the jury not sent away, either side may give
their evidence, and examine witnesses to discover
truth ; and this is all the opinion as we can give
concerning the proceedings before us.
u Upon some consideration after this the House ap
pointed the
Earl of Bath,
Earl of South'tonj
Earl of Hartford,
Earl of Essex,
Earl of Bristoll, and
The Lord Viscount Say et Seale,
" To draw up some reasons upon which the former
order was made; which being read as followeth,
were approved of, as the order of the Flouse :
" The gentlemen of the House of Commons did de
clare, that they challenge to themselvess by the common
justice of the kingdom, that they, being prosecutors for the
king, may bring any new proofs by witnesses during the
time of the evidence being not fully concluded. The
lords, being judges, and so equal to them and the pri
soner, conceived this their desire to be just and reasonable;
and also that, by the same common justice, the prisoner
may use the same liberty ; and that, to avoid any occasions
of delay, the lords thought fit that the articles and wit-
s_4

264 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
nesses be presently named, and such as may be presently
produced to be used presently ; and no further time to be'
given. " The lord steward was to let them know, that if they
will on both sides waive the use of new witnesses, they may
proceed to the recollection of their evidence on both sides;
if both sides will not waive it, then the lord steward is to
read the precedent order ; and, if they will not proceed
then, this House is to adjourn and rise."
By this it will appear to the House, how much this ex
clusion of evidence, brought for the discovery of truth, is
unsupported either by parliamentary precedent, or by the
rule as understood in the common law courts below ; and
your committee (protesting however against being bound
by any of the technical rules of inferior courts ,1 thought
and think they had a right to see such a body of prece
dents and arguments for the rejection of evidence during
trial, in some court or other, before they were in this
matter stopped and concluded.
Your committee has not been able to examine every cri
minal trial in the voluminous collection of the State Trials,
or elsewhere : but having referred to the most laborious
compiler of law and equity, Mr. Viner, who has allotted a
whole volume to the title of evidence, we find but one ruled
case in a trial at common law, before or since, where new
evidence for the discovery of truth has been rejected as not
being in due time. " A privy verdict had been given in
B. R. 1 4EHZ. for ihe defendant, but afterwards before the
inquest gave their verdict openly, the plaintiff prayed that
he might give more evidence to the jury, he having (as it
seemed) discovered that the jury had found against him, but
the justices would not admit him to do so: but after that
Southcote, J, had been in C. B. to ask the opinion of the
justices there, they took the verdict."*
In this case, the offer of new evidence was not during the

* Dal. 8a. PI. 18. Anno 24 Eliz. apud Viner Evid. p. 60.

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL.. 26$
trial. The trial was over. The verdict was actually de
livered to the judge. There was also an appearance that
the discovery of the actual finding had suggested to the
plaintiff the production of new evidence — yet it ap
peared to the judges so strong a measure to refuse evi
dence, whilst any, even formal appearance remained, that
the trial was not closed, that they sent a judge from the
bench into the common pleas, to obtain the opinion of their
brethren there before they could venture to take upon them
to consider the time for production of evidence as elapsed.
The case of refusal, taken with its circumstances, is full
* as strong an example in favour of the report of the judges
in Lord Strafforde's case, as any precedent of admittance
can be.
The researches of your committee not having furnished
them with any cases in which evidence has been rejected
during the trial, as being out of time, we have found some
instances in which it has been actually received ; and re
ceived not to repel any new matter in the prisoner's defence
— but when the prisoner had called all his witnesses, and
thereby closed his defence. A remarkable instance oc
curred, on the trial of Harrison for the murder of Dr.
Clenche *- The justices who tried the cause (viz.) Lord
Chief Justice Holt, and the Justices Atkins and Nevil,
admitted the prosecutor to call new evidence, for no other
reason but that a new witness was then come into court,
who had not been in court before. — These justices ap
parently were of the same opinion on this point with the
justices who gave their opinion in the case of Lord Straf
forde. Your committee on this point, as on the former, cannot
discover any authority for the decision of the House of
Lords in the law of parliament, or in the law practice of
any court in this kingdom.

* State Trials, Vol. iv. p. 501.

266 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April JO/

Practice Below.
Your committee not having learned that the resolutions
of the judges (by which the lords have been guided) were
supported by any authority in law to which they could have
access, have heard by rumour, that they have been justified
upon the practice of the courts, in ordinary trials by com
mission of oyer and terminer.
To give any legal precision to this term of practice, as
thus applied, your committee apprehends it must mean
— that the judge in those criminal trials has so re
gularly rejected a certain kind of evidence when offered
there, that it is to be regarded in the light of a case fre -
quently determined by legal authority. If such had been
discovered, though your committee never could have al
lowed these precedents as rules for the guidance of tbe high
court of parliament, yet they should not be surprized to see
the inferior judges forming their opinions on their own con
fined practice!
Your committee, in their inquiry, has found compara
tively few reports of criminal trials, except the collection
under the title of State Trials, a book compiled from ma
terials of very various authority ; and in none of those
which we have seen is there, as appears to us, a single ex
ample of the rejection of evidence, similar to that rejected by
the advice of the judges in the House of Lords. Neither,
if such examples did exist, could your committee allow
them to apply directly and necessarily as a measure of
reason to the proceedings of a court constituted so very
differently from those in which the common law is ad
ministered. In the trials below, the judges decide on the competency
of the evidence before it goes to the jury, and (under the
correctives in the use of their discretion stated before in
this report) with great propriety and wisdom. Juries are
taken promiscuously from the mass of the people; they are
composed of men who in many instances, in most perhaps-
'5

$7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS^ TRIAL. 2<>7
never were concerned in any causes, judicially or otherwise,
before the time of their service. They have generally no
previous preparation or possible knowledge of the matters to
be tried, or what is applicable or inapplicable to them, and
they decide in a space of time too short for any nice or cri
tical disquisition. The judges, therefore, of necessity must
forestall the evidence where there is a doubt on its compe
tence, and indeed observe much on its Credibility, or the
most dreadful consequences might follow. — The institu
tion of juries, if not thus qualified, could not exist. Lord
Mansfield makes the same observation with regard to
another corrective of the short mode of trial — that of a
new trial.
This is the law, and this its policy. The jury are not to
decide on the competency of witnesses, or of any other
kind of evidence, in any way whatsoever. Nothing of that
kind can come before them. But the lords in the high
court of parliament are not, either actually or virtually, a
jury. No legal power is interposed between them and evi*
dence; they are themselves by law fully and exclusively
equal to it. They are persons of high rank, generally of
the best education, and of sufficient knowledge of the
world ; and they are a permanent, a settled, a corporate^
and not an occasional and transitory judicature. But it is
to be feared, that the authority of the judges (in the case
of juries legal) may, from that example, weigh with the
lords further than its reason, or its applicability to the
judicial capacity of the peers, can support. It is to be
feared, that if the lords should think themselves bound
implicitly to submit to this authority, that at length they may
come to think themselves to be no better than jurors, and
may virtually consent to a partition of that judicature,
Which the law has left to them whole, supreme, uncon-
trouled, and final.
This final and independent judicature, because it is final
and independent, ought to be very cautious with regard to
the rejection of evidence. — If incompetent evidence is
received by them, there is nothing to hinder their judging

268 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
upon it afterwards according to its value. It may have no
weight in their judgment ; but if, upon advice of others,
they previously reject information necessary to their proper
judgment, they have no intermediate means of setting them
selves right, and they injure the cause of justice without
any remedy. Against errors of juries there is remedy by a
new trial. Against errors of judges, there is remedy, in
civil causes, by demurrer and bills of exceptions ; against
their final mistake, there is remedy by writ of error, in
courts of common law. In chancery, there is a remedy by
appeal. If they wilfully err in the rejection of evidence,
there was formerly the terror existing of punishment by
impeachment of the Commons; — but with regard to the
lords, there is no remedy for error, no punishment for a
wilful wrong.
Your committee conceives it not improbable, that this
apparently total and unreserved submission of the lords
to the dictates of the judges of the inferior courts (no pro
per judges in any light, or in any degree, of the law of
parliament) may be owing to the very few causes of original
jurisdiction, and the great multitude of those Of appellate ju
risdiction which come before them. In cases of appeal, or
of error (which is in the nature of an appeal), the court of
appeal is obliged to judge, not by its own rules, acting in
another capacity, or by those which it shall choose pro re
nata to make, but by the rules of the inferior court from
whence the appeal comes, for the fault or the mistake of the
inferior judge is, that he has not proceeded as he ought to
do, according to the law which he was to administer; and
the correction, if such shall take place, is to compel the
court from whence the appeal comes, to act as originally it
ought to have acted according to law, as the law ought to
have been understood and practised in that tribunal.
The lords, in such cases of necessity, judge on the
grounds of the law and practice of the courts below ; and
this they can very rarely learn with precision, but from the
body of the judges. Of course much deference is, and
ought to be had to their opinions. But by this means a

1794*3 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 209
confusion may arise (if not well guarded against) between
what they do in their appellate jurisdiction which is fre
quent, and what they ought to do in their original juris
diction, which is rare; and by this the whole original
jurisdiction of the peers, and the whole law and usage of
parliament, at least in their virtue and spirit, may be con
siderably impaired.
After having thus submitted to the Flouse the general
tenor of the proceedings in this trial, your committee will,
with all convenient speed, lay before the House the pro
ceedings on each head of evidence separately, which has
been rejected ; and this they hope will put the House
more perfectly in possession of the principal causes of the
length of this trial, as well as of the injury which par
liamentary justice may, in their opinion, suffer from those
proceedings.

Appendix, No. I.
In the Case of Earl Ferrers.
April I'jth, 1760.*
The House of Peers unanimously found Earl Ferrers guilty
-of the felony and murder whereof he stood indicted ; and the
earl being brought to the bar, the high steward acquainted him
therewith ; and the House immediately adjourned to the cham
ber of parliament : and having put the following question to the
judges, adjourned to the next day:
" Supposing a peer, so indicted and convicted, ought by
law to receive such judgment as aforesaid, and the day ap
pointed by the judgment for execution should lapse before such
execution done, whether a new time may be appointed for the
execution, and by whom ?"
On the 1 8th, the House then sitting in the chamber of par
liament, the lord chief baron, in the absence of the chief justice
* Foster's Crown Law, p. 138. Fo. edit.

270 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O,
of the common pleas, delivered in writing the opinion of the
judges, which they had agreed on and reduced into form that
morning. His lordship added many weighty reasons in support of the
opinion ; which he urged with great strength and propriety, and
delivered with a becoming dignity.
To the Second Question.
" Supposing the day appointed by the judgment for exe»
eution should lapse before such execution done (which how
ever the law will not presume), we are all of opinion, that a new
time may be appointed for the execution, either by the high
court of parliament, before which such peer shall have been at
tainted, or by the court of king's bench, the parliament not
then sitting ; the record of the attainder being properly re
moved into that court."
The reasons upon which the judges founded their answer to
the question relating to the further proceedings of the House
after the high steward's commission dissolved, which is usually
done upon pronouncing judgment, may possibly require some
further discussion. I will, therefore, before I conclude, men
tion those which weighed with me, and, I believe, with many
pthers of the judges. Reasons, &>c.
Every proceeding in the House of Peers acting in its judi
cial capacity, whether upon writ of error, impeachment, or
indictment, removed thither by certiorari, is in judgment of law
a proceeding before the king in parliament : and therefore the
House, in all those cases, may not improperly be styled, the
court of our lord the king in parliament.
This court is founded upon immemorial usage, upon the law
and custom of parliament, and is part of the original system of
our constitution.
It is open for all the purposes of judicature during the con?
tinuance of the parliament : it opene.th at the beginning and
shutteth at the end of every session ; just as the court of king's
bench, which is likewise in judgment of law held before the
king himself, openeth and shutteth with the term.
The authority of this court, or, if I may use the expression,

*7940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. S7 1
its constant activity for the ends of public justice, independent
of any special powers derived from the crown, is not doubted
in the case of writs of error from those courts of law whence
error lieth in parliament, and of impeachments for misde
meanors. It was formerly doubted, whether, in the case of an im
peachment for treason, and in the case of an indictment against
a peer for any capital crime, removed into parliament by cer
tiorari, whether in these cases the court can proceed to trial
and judgment_wjthout an high steward, appointed by special
commission from the crown.
This doubt seemeth to have arisen from the not distinguishing
between a proceeding in the court of the high steward, and that
before the king in parliament. The name, style, and title of office
is the same in both cases ; but the office, the powers, and pre-
heminencies annexed to it, differ very widely ; and so doth the
constitution of the courts where the offices are executed. The
identity of the name may have confounded our ideas, as equi
vocal words often do, if the nature of things is not attended to ;
but the nature of the offices, properly stated, will I hope remove
every doubt on these points.
In the court of the high steward, he alone is judge' in all
points of law and practice ; the peers triers are merely judges of
fact, and are summoned by virtue of a precept from the high
steward, to appear before him on the day appointed by him for
the trial, ut rei Veritas melius sciri poterit.
The high steward's commission, after reciting that an in
dictment hath been found against the peer by the grand jury
of the proper county, impowereth him to send for the indict
ment, to convene the- prisoner before him, at such day and
•place as he shall appoint, then and there to hear and determine
the matter of such indictment ; to cause the peers triers tot Sf
tales, per quos rei Veritas melius sciri poterit, at the same day <
and place to appear before him, veritateque inde compertd, to
proceed to judgment according to the law and custom of Eng
land, and thereupon to award execution. *
By this it is plain that the sole right of judicature is in
cases of this kind vested in the high steward ; that it resideth

* See Lord Clarendon's commission as high steward, and the writs
and precepts preparatory to the trial, in Lord Morley's case. vii,.St,Tri.

272 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
solely in his person ; and consequently without this commission,
which is but in nature of a commission of oyer and terminer,
no one step can be taken in order to a trial ; and that when his
commission is dissolved, which he declareth by breaking his
staff, the court no longer existeth.
But in a trial of a peer in full parliament, or to speak with
legal precision, before the king in parliament, for a capital of
fence, whether upon impeachment or indictment, the case is
quite otherwise ; every peer present at the trial, and every tem
poral peer, hath a right to be present in every part of the pro
ceeding ; voteth upon every question of law and fact ; and the
question is carried by the major vote, the high steward himself
voting merely as a peer and member of that court, in common
with the rest of the peers, and in no other right.
It hath indeed been usual, and very expedient it is, in point
of order and regularity, and for the solemnity of the proceed
ing, to appoint an officer for presiding during the time of the
trial, and until judgment, and to give him the style and title
of Steward of England ; but this maketh no sort of alteration
in the constitution of the court ; it is the same court, founded
in immemorial usage, in the law and custom of parliament,
whether such appointment be made or not.
It acteth in its judicial capacity in every order made touch
ing the time and place of the trial, the postponing the trial from
time to time upon petition, according to the nature and circum
stances of the case, the allowance or non-allowance of council
to the prisoner, and other matters relative to the trial * ; and
all this before an high steward hath been appointed. And so
little was it apprehended, in some cases which I shall mention
presently, that the existence of the court depended on the ap
pointment of an high steward, that the court itself directed in
what manner, and by what form of words, he should be ap
pointed. It hath likewise received and recorded the prisoner's
confession, which amounteth to a conviction, before the ap
pointment of an high steward ; and hath allowed to prisoners
the benefit of acts of general pardon, where they appeared en
titled to it, as well without the appointment of an high steward,
as after his commission dissolved.
And when, in the case of impeachments, the Commons have
* See the orders previous to the trial, in the cases of Lords I&1-
uarnock, &c. and Lord Lovat, and many other modern cases.

1794O duration of mr. Hastings's trial. 273
sometimes, at conferences between the Houses, attempted to
interpose in matters preparatory to the trial, the general answer
hath been, " This is a point of judicature upon which the
Lords will not confer ; they impose silence upon themselves,"
or to that effect. I need not here cite instances ; every man
who hath consulted the journals of either House hath met with
many of them.
I will now cite a few cases, applicable, in my opinion, to the
present question. And I shall confine myself to such as have
happened since the Restoration. Because, in questions of this
kind, modern cases, settled with deliberation, and upon a
view of former precedents, give more light and satisfaction
than the deepest search into antiquity can afford. And also
because the prerogatives of the crown, the privileges of par
liament, and the rights of the subject in general, appear to me
to have been more studied, and better understood, at and for
some years before that period, than in former ages.
In the case of the Earl of Danby, and the popish lords
then under impeachments, the Lords, on the 6th of May 1679,
appointed time and place for hearing the Earl of Danby, by
his counsel, upon the validity of his plea of pardon, and for the
trials of the other Lords ; and voted an address to his majesty,
praying that he would be pleased to appoint an high steward
for those purposes.
These votes were, on the next day, communicated to the
Commons by message in the usual manner.
On the 8th, at a conference between the Houses, upon the
subject-matter of that message, the Commons expressed them
selves to the following effect: «¦• They cannot apprehend what
should induce your Lordships to address his majesty for an
high steward, for determining the validity of the pardon which
hath been pleaded by the Earl of Danby, as also for the trial
of the other five lords, because they conceive the constituting
an high steward is not necessary, but that judgment may be
given in parliament upon impeachment without an high stew
ard;" and. concluded with a proposition, that for avoiding any
interruption or delay, a committee of both Houses might be
nominated to consider of the most proper ways and methods of
proceeding. '
This proposition the House of Peers, after a long debate,
rejected. ''
vol. iv.. T

274 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
Dissentientibus, Finch *, chancellor, and many other Lords.
However, on the nth the Commons' proposition of the 8th
was, upon a second debate, agreed to ; and the lord chancellor,
lord president, and ten other Lords, were named of the com
mittee, to meet and confer with a committee of the Commons.
TheSnext day the lord president reported, that the committees
of both Houses met that morning, and made an entrance into
the business referred to them : that the Commons desired to see
the commissions that are prepared for an high steward at these
trials, and also the commissions in the Lord Pembroke's and
the Lord Morley's cases.
That to this the Lords' committees said, " The high steward
is but speaker 'pro tempore, and giveth his vote us well as the other
Lords. This changeth not the nature of the court. And the
Lords declared they have power enough to proceed to trial,
though the king should not name an high steward, f
" That this seemed to be a satisfaction to the Commons,
provided it was entered in the Lords' Journals, which are
records.'' Accordingly on the same day, " It is declared and ordered, by
ihe Lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that the
office of an high steward upon trials of peers upon impeachments
is not necessary to the House of Peers ; but that the Lords may
proceed in such trials if an high steward be not appointed, ac
cording to their humble desire. J
On the 13 th the- lord president reported, that the committees
of both Houses had met that morning, and discoursed in the
first place on the matter of a lord high steward, and had pe
rused former commissions for the office of high steward ; and

- * Afterwards Earl of Nottingham.
•j- In the Commons' Journal of the 15 th of May it standeth thus:
Their lordships further declare to the committee, that a lord high
steward was made hoc vice only. That notwithstanding the making of",,,
a lord high steward the court remained the.same, and was not thereby
altered, but still remained the court of peers in parliament. That the
lord high steward was but a speaker or chairman, for the more orderly
proceeding at the trials.
J This resolution my lord chief baron referred to and cited in his
argument upon the second question proposed to the judges, which is
before stated.

1 794.] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 275
then, putting the House in mind of the order and resolution
of the preceding day, proposed from the committees that a new
commission might issue, so as the words in the commission
may be thus changed, viz. Instead of Ac pro eo quod ojficium
seneschalli Anglice (cujus presentia in hac parte requiritur)
utaccepimus jam vacat, maybe inserted, Ac pro eo quod proceres
Sf magnates in parliamento nostro assemblati, nobis humiliter
supplicaverunt ut seneschallum Anglice pro hac vice constituere
dignaremur ; to which the House agreed. *
It must be admitted, that precedents drawn from times of
ferment and jealousy, as these were, lose much of their weight,
since passion and party prejudice generally mingle in the con
test ; yet let it be remembered, that these are resolutions in
which both Houses concurred, and in which the rights of both
were thought to be very nearly concerned ; the Commons' right
of impeaching with effect, and the whole judicature of the
Lords in capital cases. For if the appointment of an high
steward was admitted to be of absolute necessity, (however ne
cessary it may be for the regularity and solemnity of the pro
ceeding during the trial, and until judgment, which I do not
dispute, ) every impeachment may, for a reason too obvious to
be mentioned, be rendered ineffectual. And the judicature of
the Lords, in all capital cases, nugatory.
It was from a jealousy of this kind, not at that juncture alto
gether groundless, and to guard against every thing from
whence the necessity of an high steward in the case of an im
peachment might be inferred, that the Commons proposed, and
the Lords readily agreed to, the amendment in the steward's
commission, which I have already stated. And it hath, I con
fess, great weight with me, that this amendment, which was
at the same time directed in the cases of the five popish lords,
when commissions should pass for their trials, hath taken place
in every commission upon impeachments for treason since that

* This amendment arose from an exception taken to the commission
by the committee for the Commons, which as it then stood did in
their opinion imply that the constituting of a lord high steward was
necessary. Whereupon it was agreed by the whole committee of Lords
and Commons, that the commission should be recalled, and, a new
commission, according to the said amendment, issue,, to bear date
after the order and resolution of the 12th (Commons' Journal of the,
15th of May). T 2

276 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
time *. And I cannot help remarking, that in the case of
Lord Lovat, when neither the heat of the times, nor the jea
lousy of parties, had any share in the proceeding, the House
ordered, " That the commission for appointing a lord high
steward shall be in the like form as that for the trial of the
Lord Viscount Stafford, as entered in the journal of this House,
on the 30th of November 1680, except that the same shall be
in the English language." f
I will make a short observation on this matter.
The order, on the 13th of May 1679, for varying the form
of the commission, was, as appeareth by the journal, plainly
made in consequence of the resolution of the 12th, and was
founded on it ; and consequently the constant unvarying prac
tice with regard to the new form goeth, in my opinion, a great
way towards shewing, that in the sense of all succeeding times,
that resolution was not the result of faction, or a blameable
jealousy, but was founded in sound reason and true policy.
It may be objected, that the resolution of the 12th of May
1679 goeth no further than to a proceeding upon impeachment.
The letter of the resolution, it is admitted, goeth no further ;
but this is easily accounted for : a proceeding by impeachment
was the subject-matter of the -conference, and the Commons
had no pretence to interpose in any other. But what say the
Lords ? The high steward is but as a speaker or chairman, pro
tempore, for the more orderly proceeding at the trials ; the ap
pointment of him doth not alter the nature of the court, which
still remaineth the court of the Peers in parliament. From
these premises they draw the conclusion I have mentioned.
Are not these premises equally true in the case of a proceeding
upon indictment ? — They undoubtedly are.
It must likewise be admitted, that in the proceeding upon in
dictment the high steward's commission hath never varied from
the ancient form in such cases ; the words objected to by the
Commons, Ac pro eo quod officium seneschalli Anglice (cujus
prcesentia in hac parte requiritur) ut accepimusjam vacat, are still

* See, in the state trials, the commissions in the cases of the Earl
of Oxford, Earl of Derwentwater, and others — Lord Winton and
Lord Lovat.
f See the proceedings, printed by order of the House of Lords
(4th February 1746).

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 277
retained. But this proveth no more than that the great seal
having no authority to vary in point of form, hath from time to
time very prudently followed ancient precedents.
I have already stated the substance of the commission, in a
proceeding in the court of the high steward. I will now state
the substance of that in a proceeding in the court of the peers
in parliament. And shall make use of that in the case of the
Earl of Kilmarnock and others, as being the latest, and, in
point of form, agreeing with the former precedents.
The commission, after reciting that William Earl of Kil
marnock, &c. stand indicted before commissioners of gaol de
livery, in the county of Surrey, for high- treason in levying
war against the king ; and that the king intendeth that the said
William Earl of Kilmarnock, &c. shall be heard, examined,
sentenced, and adjudged before himself in this present par
liament, touching the said treason, and for that the office of
steward of Great Britain (whose presence is required upon this
occasion) is now vacant as we are informed, appointeth the
then lord chancellor steward of Great Britain, tobear, execute,
and exercise (for this time) the said office, with all things due
and belonging to the same office, in that behalf.
What, therefore, are the things due and belonging to the
office in a case of this kind ? Not, as in the court of the high
steward, a right of judicature. For the commission itself sup
posed! that right to reside in a court then subsisting before the
king in parliament. The parties are to be there heard, sen
tenced, and adjudged. What share in the proceeding doth the
high steward then take ? By the practice and usage of the court
of the Peers in parliament, he giveth his vote as a member
thereof with the rest of the Peers ; but for the sake of regu
larity and order, he presideth, during the trial, and until
judgment, as chairman, or speaker, pro tempore. In that
respect, therefore, it may be properly enough said, that his
presence is required during the trial, and until judgment, and
in no other. Herein I see no difference between the case of an
impeachment, and of an indictment.
I say during the time of the trial, and until judgment, be
cause the court hath, as I observed before, from time to time,
done various acts, plainly judicial, before the appointment of
an high steward, and where no high steward hath ever been
appointed, and even after the commission dissolved-
T 3

278 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30
I will to this purpose cite a few cases.
I begin with the latest, because they are the latest, and were
ruled with great deliberation, and for the most part upon a
view of former precedents.
In the case of the Earl of Kilmarnock and others, the Lords,
on the 24th of June 1746, ordered, that a writ or writs of
certiorari be issued for removing the indictments before the
House. And on the 26th the writ, which is made returnable
before the king in parliament, with the return and indictments,
was received and read. On the next day, upon the report of
the Lords' committees, that they had been attended by the two
chief justices, and chief baron, and had heard them touching
the construction of the act of the seventh and eighth of King
William, " For regulating trials in cases of high treason, and
misprision of treason," the House, upon reading the report,
came to several resolutions, founded for the most part on the
construction of that act. What that construction was, ap-
peareth from the lord high steward's address to the prisoners,
just before their arraignment. Having mentioned that act, as
one happy consequence of the Revolution, he addeth, " How
ever injuriously that revolution hath been traduced, whatever
attempts have been made to subvert this happy establishment
founded on it, your Lordships will now have the benefit of
that law in its full extent."
I need not after this mention any other judicial acts done by
the House in this case, before the appointment of the high
steward — many there are. For, the putting a construction
upon an act relative to the conduct of the court, and the right
of the subject at the trial, and in the proceedings preparatory
to it, and this in a case entirely new, and upon a point, to say
no more in this place, not extremely clear, was undoubtedly
an exercise of authority proper only for a court having full
cognizance of the cause.
I will not minutely enumerate the several orders made-pre
paratory to the trial of Lord Lovat, and in the several cases I
shall' have occasion to mention, touching the time and place of
the trial, the allowance or non-allowance of counsel, and other
matters of the like kind, all plainly judicial, because the like
orders occur in all the cases where a journal of the preparatory
steps hath been published by order of the Peers. With regard
to Lord Lovat's case, I think the order directing the form of

1 794-3 DURATION OT MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 279
the high steward's commission, which I have already taken no
tice of, is not very consistent with the idea of a court, whose
powers can be supposed to depend, at any point of time, upon
the existence or dissolution of that commission.
In the case of the Earl of Derwentwater, and the other
Lords impeached at the same time, the House received and
recorded the confessions of those of them who pleaded guilty,
long before the test of the high steward's commission, which
issued merely for the solemnity of giving judgment against
them upon their conviction.
This appeareth by the commission itself: it reciteth that the
Earl of Derwentwater, and others, Coram nobis in prcesenti
parliamento, had been impeached by the Commons for high
treason, and had, Coram nobis in prcesenti parliamento, pleaded
guilty to that impeachment ; and tha6 the kingi, intending that
the said Earl of Derwentwater and others, de <§¦ pro proditione
unde ipsi ut prcefertur impetif, accusif, fy convict' existunt coram
nobis in prcesenti parliamento, secundem legem fy consuetudinem
hujics regni nostri Magnce Britannice, audientur, sententientur,
8; adjudicentur, constituted! the then lord chancellor high-
steward (hac vice) to do and execute all things which to the
office of high steward in that behalf" do belong.
The receiving and recording the confession of the prisoners,
which amounted to a conviction, so that nothing remained but
proceeding to judgment, was certainly an exercise o fjudiciaL
authority, which no assembly, how great soever, not having
full cognizance of the cause, could exercise.
In the case of Lord Salisbury *, who had been impeached
by the Commons for high . treason, the Lords, upon his peti
tion, allowed him the benefit of the act of general pardon
passed in the second year of 'Vv'illiam and Mary, so far as to
discharge him from his imprisonment upon a construction they
put upon that act, no high steward ever having been appointed
in that case.
On the 2d of October 1690, upon reading the Earl's peti
tion, setting forth, that he had been a prisoner for a year and
nine months, in the Tower, notwithstanding the late act of
free and general pardon, and praying to be discharged, the

* See the Journals of the Lords.
T 4

280 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 C
Lords ordered the judges to attend on the Monday following,
to give their opinions, whether the said Earl be pardoned by
the act. On the 6th the judges delivered their opinions, that
if his offence was committed before the 13th of February 1688,
and not in Ireland, or beyond the seas, he is pardoned.
Whereupon it was ordered, that he be admitted to bail, and
the next day he and his sureties entered into a recognizance of
bail, himself in 10,000?. and two sureties in 5,000^. each ; and
on the 30th he and his sureties were, after a long debate, dis
charged from their recognizance.
It will hot, be material to inquire, whether the House did
right in discharging the Earl without giving the Commons an
opportunity of being heard ; since, in fact, they claimed and
exercised a right of judicature without an high steward — which
is the only use I make of this case.
They did the same in the case of the Earl of Carnwarth, the
Lords Widdrington and Nairn, long after the high steward's
commission dissolved.
These lords had judgment passed on them at the same time
that judgment was given against the Lords Derwentwater,
Nithsdale, and Kenmure ; and judgment being given, the high
steward immediately broke his staff, and declared the commis
sion dissolved. They continued prisoners in the Tower under
reprieves, till the passing of the act of general pardon, in the
third of King George the First.
On the 2 ist of November 17 17*, the House being informed
that these lords had severally entered into recognizances before
one of the judges of the court of king's bench, for their ap
pearance in the House in this sessions of parliament ; and that
the Lords Carnwarth and Widdrington were attending ac
cordingly ; and that the Lord Nairn was ill at Bath, and could
not then attend ; the Lords Carnwarth and Widdrington were
called in ;, and severally, at the bar, prayed that their appear
ance might be recorded ; and likewise prayed the benefit of the
act for his majesty's general and free pardon, f
Whereupon the House ordered that their appearance be re
corded, and that they attend again to-morrow, in order to
plead the pardon. And the recognizance of the Lord Nairn
was respited till that day fortnight.

* Lords' Journals f 3 G. I. c. 19.
14

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 28 1
On the morrow the Lords Carnwarth and Widdrington, then
attending, were called in ; and the lord chancellor acquainted
them severally, that it appeared by the records of the House,
that they severally stood attainted of high treason • and asked
them severally, what they had to say, why they should not be
remanded to the Tower of London ?
Thereupon they severally, upon their knees, prayed the be
nefit of the act, and that they might have their lives and liberty
pursuant thereunto.
And the attorney-general, who then attended for that pur
pose, declaring that he had no objection, on his majesty's be
half, to what was prayed, conceiving that those Lords, not
having made any escape since their conviction, were entitled
to the benefit of the act * ; the House, after reading the clause
in the act relating to that matter, agreed that they should be
allowed the benefit of the pardon, as to their lives and liber
ties ; and discharged their recognizances, and gave them leave
to depart without further day given for their appearance.
On the 6th of December following the like proceedings were
had, and the like orders made, in the case of Lord Nairn.
I observe that the lord chancellor did not ask these lords
what they had to say why execution should not be awarded.
There was,, it is probable, some little delicacy as to that point.
But since the allowance of the benefit of the act, as to life and
liberty, which was all that was prayed, was an effectual bar to
any future imprisonment on that account, and also to execu
tion, and might have been pleaded as such in any court what
soever ; the whole proceeding must be admitted to have been
in a court having complete jurisdiction in the case, notwith
standing the high steward's commission had been long dissolved
— which is all the use I intended to make of this case.
I will not recapitulate; the cases I have cited, and the con
clusions drawn from them, are brought into a very narrow
compass. I will only add, it would sound extremely harsh to>
say, that a court of criminal jurisdiction, founded in immemo
rial usage, and held in judgment of law before the king himself,
can in any event whatever be under an utter incapacity of
proceeding to trial and judgment, either of condemnation or

* See sect. 45. of the 3, G. I.

2'82 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
acquittal, the ultimate objects of every criminal proceeding,
without certain supplemental powers derived from the crown.
These cases, with the observations I have made on them, I
hope sufficiently warrant the opinion of the judges upon that
part of the second question in the case of the late Earl Ferrers,
which I have already mentioned. And also what was advanced
by the lord chief baron in his argument on that question,
" That though the office of high steward should happen to de
termine before execution done according to the judgment, yet
the court of the Peers in parliament, where that judgment was
given, would subsist for all the purposes of justice during the
sitting of the parliament." And consequently that in the case
supposed by the question, that court might appoint a new day
for the execution.

Appendix, No. 2.
QUESTIONS referred by the Lords to the judges, 'in
the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esquire ; and
the ANSWERS of the judges. — Extracted from the
Lords' Journals and Minutes.
ist.
Question. — Whether, when a witness produced and ex
amined in a criminal proceeding by a prosecutor disclaims all
knowledge of any matter so interrogated, it be competent for
such prosecutor to pursue such examination, by proposing a
question containing the particulars of an answer supposed to
have been made by such witness, before a committee pf the
House of Commons, or in any other place, and by demanding
of him whether the particulars so suggested were not the
answer he had so made ? 1788, Febry. 29. Pa. 418.

Answer. — The lord chief baron of the courtof exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the ques
tion of law put to them on Friday the 29th of February last,
as follows — " That when a witness produced and examined in
a criminal proceeding by a prosecutor disclaims all knowledge
of any matter so interrogated, it is not competent for such

1 794.] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 283
prosecutor to pursue such examination, by proposing a question
containing the particulars of an answer supposed to have been
made by such witness before a committee of the House of
Commons, or in any other place ; and by demanding of him
whether the particulars so suggested were not the answer he
had so made." 1788, April 10. Pa. 592.
2d.
Question. — Whether it be competent for the managers to
produce an examination taken without oath by the rest of the
council, in the absence of Mr. Hastings the governor-general,
charging Mr. Hastings with corruptly receiving three lacks
54,105 rupees, which examination came to his knowledge, and
was by him transmitted to the court of directors as a proceed
ing of the said counsellors, in order to introduce the proof of his
demeanor thereupon ; — it being alleged by the managers for
the Commons, that he took no steps to clear himself, in the
opinion of the said directors, of the guilt thereby imputed, but
that he took active means to prevent the examination by the
said counsellors of his servant Cantoo Baboo ?
1789, May 14. Pa. 677.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the said
question, in the negative — and gave his reasons.
1789, May 20. Pa. 718.
3^
Question. — Whether the instructions from the court of di
rectors of the United Company of Merchants of England trad
ing to the East Indies, to Warren Hastings, Esquire, Governor-
general ; Lieutenant-general John Clavering, the Honourable
George Monson, Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis,
Esquire, counsellors, constituted and appointed the governor-
general and council of the said United Company's presidency
of Fort William in Bengal, by an act of parliament passed in
the last session, intituled, " Ah act for establishing certain re
gulations for the bettei* management of the affairs of the East
India Company; as well in India as in Europe;" of the 29th of
March 1774, par. 31, 32. and 35.; the consultation of the nth
of March 1775 ; the consultation of the. 13th of March 1775,

284 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 30.
up to the time that Mr. Hastings left the council ; the consul
tation of the 20th of March 1775; the letter written by Mr.
Hastings to the court of directors on the 25th of March 1775
— it being alleged that Mr. Hastings took no steps to explain
or defend his conduct — are sufficient to introduce the ex
amination of Nundcomar, or the proceedings of the rest of the
counsellors on said 13 th of March, after Mr. Hastings left the
council, such examination and proceedings charging Mr.
Hastings with corruptly receiving three lacks 54,105 rupees?
1789, May 21. Pa. 730.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the said
question, in the negative — and gave his reasons.
1789, May 27. Pa. 771.
4th.
Question. — Whether the public accounts of the Nizamut
and Bhela, under the seal of the Begum, attested also by the
Nabob, and transmitted by Mr. Goring to the board of council
at Calcutta, in a letter bearing date the 29th June 1775, re
ceived by them, recorded without objection on the part of Mr.
Hastings, and transmitted by him likewise without objection to
the court of directors, and alleged to contain accounts of mo
ney received by Mr. Hastings ; and it being in proof that Mr.
Hastings, on the nth of May 1778, moved the board to com
ply with the requisitions of the nabob Mobarek ul Dowla, to re
appoint the munny Begum, and rajah Goordass (who made up
those accounts) to the respective offices they before filled —
and which was accordingly resolved by the board — ought to be
read? 1789, June 17. Pa. 855.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the said
question, in the negative — and gave his reasons.
1789, June 24. Pa. 922.
5 th.
Question. — Whether the paper delivered by Sir Elijah
Impey, on the 7th of July 1775, in the supreme court, to the
secretary of the supreme council, in order to be transmitted

1 794.] duration of mr. hastings's trial. 285
to the council as the resolution of the court in respect to the
claim made for Roy Radachurn, on account of his being vakeel
of the nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah — and which paper was the
subject of the deliberation of the council on the 31st July 1775,
Mr. Hastings being then present, and was by them transmitted
to the court of directors, as a ground for such instructions.
from the court of directors as the occasion might seem to re
quire — may be admitted as evidence of the actual state and
situation of the nabob, with reference to the English govern
ment? 1789, July 2. Pa. 1001.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the said
question, in the affirmative — and gave his reasons.
1789, July 7. Pa. 1030.

6th.
Question  Whether it be or be not competent to the
managers for the Commons to give evidence upon the charge in
the sixth article, to prove that the rent at which the defendant,
Warren Hastings, let the lands mentioned in the said sixth ar
ticle of charge, to Kelleram, fell into arrear and was deficient
— and whether, if proof were offered that the rent fell in ar
rear immediately after the letting, the evidence would in that
case be competent ? 1790, April 22. Pa. 364.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges, upon the said
question — " That it is not competent to the managers for the
Commons to give evidence upon the charge in the sixth article,
to prove that the rent at which the defendant, Warren Hastings,
let the lands mentioned in the said sixth article of charge to
Kelleram, fell into arrear, and was deficient" — and gave his
reasons. 1790, April 27. Pa. 388.

7th.
Question. — Whether it be competent for the managers for
the Commons to put the following question to the witness,
upon the sixth article of charge, viz. " What impression the

286 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3 O.
letting of the lands to Kelleram and Cullian Sing made on the
minds of the inhabitants of that country ?"
1790, April 27. Pa. 391.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of ex
chequer delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges upon
the said question — " That it is not competent to the managers
for the Commons to put the following question to the witness,
-upon the sixth article of charge, viz. What impression the
letting of the lands to Kelleram and Cullian Sing made on
the minds of the inhabitans of that country" — and gave his
reasons. 1790, April 29. Pa. 413.

8th.
Question. — Whether it be competent to the managers for
the Commons to put the following question to the witness, upon
the seventh article of charge, viz. " Whether more oppressions
did actually exist under the new institution than the old ?"
1790, April 29. Pa. 415.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges upon the said
question — " That it is not competent to the managers for the
Commons to put the following question to the witness, upon the
seventh article of charge, viz. Whether more oppressions did
actually exist under the new institution than under the old" —
and gave his reasons. !79°, May 4. Pa. 428.

9th.
Question. — Whether the letter of the 13th of April 1781,
can be given in evidence by the managers for the Commons, to
prove that the letter of the 5th of May 1781, already given in
evidence, relative to the abolition of the provincial council, and
"the subsequent appointment of the committee of revenue, was
false in any other particular than that which is charged in the
7th article of charge? 1790, May 20. Pa. 557.
Answer. — The lord chief baron of the court of exchequer
delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges upon tlie said

17940 DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 287
question — " That it is not competent for the managers on the
part of the Commons to give any evidence on the seventh ar
ticle of impeachment, to prove that the letter of the 5th of May
1781 is false in any other particular than that wherein it is ex
pressly charged to be false" — and gave his reasons.
1790, June 2. Pa. 634.
10th.
Question  Whether it be competent to the managers for
the Commons to examine the witness, to any account of the
debate which was had on the 9th day of July 1778, previous to
the written minutes that appear upon the consultation of that
date? I794> Feb. 25. Lords' Minutes.
Answer. — The lord chief justice of the court of common
pleas delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges upon the
said question — " That it is not competent to the managers for
the Commons to examine the witness, Philip Francis, Esq. to
any account of the debate which was had on the 9th day of
July 1778, previous to the written minutes that appear upon
the consultation of that date" — and gave his reasons.
1794, Feb. 27. Lords''Minutes.

'nth.
Question. — Whether it is competent for the managers for
the Commons, in reply, to ask the witness, whether, be
tween the time of the ..original demand being made upon Cheit
Sing, and the period of the witness's leaving Bengal, it was at
any time in his power to have reversed or put a stop to the de
mand upon Cheit Sing — the same not being relative to any
matter originally given in evidence by the defendant ?
1794, Feb. 27. Lords' Minutes.
Answer. — The lord chief justice of the court of common
pleas delivered the unanimous opinion of the judges upon the
said question— " That it is not competent for the managers for
the Commons to ask the witness, whether, between the time of-
the original demand being made upon Cheit Sing and the period
of his leaving Bengal, it was at any time in his power to have
reversed or put a stop to the demand upon Cheit Sing, the same

288 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [May 23.
not being relative to any matter originally given in evidence by
the defendant" — and gave his reasons.
1 794, March 1 . Lords' Minutes.
1 2 th.
Question. — Whether a paper read in the court of directors,
on the 4th of November 1783, and then referred by them to
the consideration of the committee of the whole court ; and
again read in the court of directors on the 19th of November
1783, and amended, and ordered by them to be published for
the information of the proprietors, can be received in evidence,
in reply, to rebut the evidence given by tbe defendant, of the
thanks of the court of directors, signified to him on the 28th of
June 1785. I794> March 1. Lords' Minutes.
Answer. — Whereupon the lord chief justice of the court
of common pleas, having conferred with the rest of the judges
present, delivered their unanimous opinion, upon the said
question, in the negative — and gave his reasons.
1794, March i. L6rds' Minutes.

May 23.
The preceding Report of the. committee of manager* wa»
ordered to be printed for the use of the members of the House
of Commons, and was shortly after reprinted and published in
the shape of a pamphlet by Mr. Debrett of Piccadilly. In con
sequence of which, in the course of a debate which took place
in the House of Lords, on Thursday the 22d of May, on the
treason and sedition bills, Lord Thurlow took occasion to men
tion " a pamphlet which his lordship said was published by one
Debrett in Piccadilly, and which had that day been put into his
hands, reflecting highly upon the judges and many members of
that House : it was disgraceful and indecent ; such as he
thought never ought to pass unpunished. He considered that
vilifying and misrepresenting the conduct of judges and ma
gistrates entrusted with the administration of justice and the
laws of the country, was a crime of a very heinous nature, most
destructive-in its consequences, because it tended to lower them

1794*] DURATION OF MR. HASTINGS'S TRIAL. 289
in the opinion of those who ought to feel a proper reverence
and respect for their high and important stations ; and when it
was stated to the ignorant and the wicked, that their judges and
magistrates were ignorant and corrupt, it tended to lessen their
respect for, and obedience to the laws of the country, because
they were taught to think ill of those who administered them."
On the next day Mr. Burke called the attention of the House of
Commons to the above circumstance in the following speech.
Mr. Burke said : Mr. Speaker, the licence of the pre
sent times makes it very difficult to talk upon certain sub
jects in which parliamentary order is involved. It is
difficult to speak of them with regularity, or to be silent
with dignity or wisdom. All our proceedings have been
constantly published, according to the discretion and abi
lity of individuals, with impunity, almost ever since I came
into parliament. By prescription the people have ob
tained something like a right to this abuse. I do not justify
it. The abuse is now grown so inveterate, that to punish
it without a previous notice, would have an appearance
of hardship, if not injustice. These publications are
frequently erroneous as well as irregular, but not always
so: what they give as reports and resolutions of this
House, have sometimes been fairly given.
It has not been uncommon to attack the proceedings of
the House itself, under colour of attacking these irregular
publications; and the House, notwithstanding this co
lourable plea, has, in some instances, proceeded to punish
the persons who have thus insulted it. When a complaint
is made of a piratical edition of a work, the author admits
that it is his work that is thus piratically published ; and
whoever attacks the work itself in these unathorized publi
cations, does not attack it less than if he had attacked it in
an edition authorized by the writer.
I understand, Sir, that in a place which I greatly respect,
and by a person for whom I have likewise great respect, a
pamphlet published by a Mr. Debrett, has been very heavily
censured. That pamphlet, I hear, (for I have not read it,)
vol. iv. u

290 REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF THE [April 3a.
purports to be a Report made by one of your committees to
this House. It has been censured (as I am told) by the
person, and in the place I have mentioned, in very harsh
and very unqualified terms. It has been said, and so far
very truly, that at all times, and particularly at this time, it
is necessary for the preservation of order and the execution
of the law, that the characters and reputation of the judges
of the courts in Westminster-hall should be kept in the
highest degree of respect and reverence ; and that in this
pamphlet, described by the name of a libel, the characters
and conduct of those judges upon a late occasion have been
aspersed, as arising from ignorance or corruption.
Sir,. I think it impossible, combining all the circum
stances, not to suppose, that this speech does not reflect .
upon a report which, by an order of the committee on which
I served, I had the honour of presenting to this House.
For any thing improper in that report I am responsible,
as well as the other members of the committee, to this
House, and to this House only. The matters contained in
It, and the observations upon them, are submitted lo the wis
dom of the House, that you may act upon both in the time
and manner that to your judgment may seem most expe
dient* or that you may not act upon them at all, if you
should think it most useful to the public good. Your commit
tee has obeyed your orders ; it has done its duty in making
that report. I am of opinion, with the eminent person by
whom that report is censured, that it is necessary, at this
time very particularly, to preserve the authority of the
judges. This, however, does not depend on us, but upon
themselves. It is necessary to preserve the dignity and respect
of all the constitutional authorities. This, too, depends upon
ourselves. It is necessary to preserve the respect due to
the House of Lords : it is full as necesary to preserve the
respect due to the House of Commons ; upon which (what
ever may be thought of us by some persons) the weight
and force of all other authorities within this kingdom essen
tially depend. If the power of the House of Commons is
degraded or enervated, no other can stand. We must be

1794O duration of mr. hastings's trial. 291
true to ourselves ; we ought to animadvert upon any of our
members who abuse the trust we place in them : we must
support those who, without regard to consequences, perform
their duty.
For your committee of ma'nagers, and for myself, I must
say, that the Report was deliberately made, and does not,
as I conceive, contain any very material error, nor any un
due or indecent reflection upon any person. It does not
accuse the judges of ignorance or corruption. Whatever
it says, it does not say calUmniously. This kind of lan
guage belongs to persons whose eloquence entitles them to
a free use of epithets. The Report states, that the judge?
had given their opinions secretly, contrary Jo the almost
uninterrupted tenor of parliamentary usage on such occa
sions. It states, that the opinions were given, not upon
the law, but upon the case. It states, /that the mode of
giving the opinions were unprecedented, and contrary to
the privileges of the House of Commons. It states, that
the committee did not know upon what rules and principles
the judges had decided upon those cases, as they neither
heard them, nor are they entered upon the Journals. It
is very true, that we were and are extremely dissatisfied
with those opinions, and the consequent determinations of
the Lords ; and we do not think such a mode of proceed
ing at all justified by the most numerous, and the best
precedents. None of these sentiments are the committee,
as I conceive, (and I full as little as any of them,) disposed
to retract, or to soften in the smallest degree.
The Report speaks for itself. Whenever an occasion
«hall be regularly given to maintain every thing of sub
stance in that paper, I shall be ready to meet the proudest
name, for ability, learning, or rank, that this kingdom
contains, upon that subject. Do I say this from any con
fidence in myself? Far from it ! It is from my confidence
in our cause, and in the ability, the learning, and the con
stitutional principles, which this House contains within
itself, and which, I hope, it will ever contain ; and in th©
assistance, which it will not fail to afford to those, wh$
u %

292 vote of thanks to the managers of [June 20.
with good intention do their best to* maintain the essential
privileges of the House, the antient law of parliament,
and the public justice of the kingdom.
No reply or observation was made on the subject by any
other member.

Vote of Thanks to the Managers of the Impeach
ment against Mr. Hastings.
June 20.
""THIS day, on the motion of Mr. Pitt, the House resolved,.
" That the thanks of this House be given to the members,
Who were appointed the managers of the impeachment against
Warren Hastings, Esq. for their faithful management in their
discharge of the trust reposed in them." The Speaker having.
given them the thanks of the House accordingly,
Mr. Burke said, that by the orders of the House, when
the thanks were given, he and his brother managers were
tongue-tyed, and had no means whereby to express their
gratitude but by their submission to those orders. But he
thought he should be wanting in gratitude if he did not,
the moment the penalty of silence was removed, seize the
first opportunity to express his own satisfaction, and that
of his fellow-managers, on the occasion. They had la
boured to discharge their duty, they had completed the
task, and they were paid by the thanks of that House, the
first reward men could receive. Next to the thanks he
must notice the very dignified and elegant manner in which
the Speaker had discharged that task, in which he con
sulted not only the grandeur and dignity of that House,
l)ut at the same time politeness and attention to them. Mr.

1794*] the impeachment against mr. Hastings. 293
Burke then entered into a short defence of the conduct of
the impeachment. He assured the House, that no asperity
of remark should provoke him to say a word ; that preju
dices arising from .personal friendship, or from a sense of
personal obligations, were too laudable for him to be dis
composed at : he would only assure the House, that he had
thrown no general reflections on the Company's servants,
having merely repeated what Mr. Hastings himself had said
of the troops serving in Oude ; and it would be found by
referring to the twelfth and thirteenth articles of impeach
ment, that the House had marked their opinion of the
officers serving in Oude, in the very terms that he had
used ; and as for the other expressions, they had been very
much misrepresented.
This was the last time that Mr. Burke ever appeared in the
House of Commons. The impeachment against Mr. Hastings
„ having been brought to a conclusion, he immediately retired
from parliament, by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds.

0 3

SPEECHES

IN

WESTMINSTER-HALL,

ON THE

IMPEACHMENT

OF

WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ,

V 4

SPEECHES

IN

WESTMINSTER-HALL, &c. &&

/~)N Wednesday, the 13th of February 1788, the Proceed-
v^ ings upon the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq.
commenced in Westminster-hall, with the usual formalities."
The counsel who appeared for the defendant were Messrs. Law,
Plumer, and Dallas. The assistant counsel for the Commons
were Dr. Scott and Dr. Lawrence, Messrs. Mansfield, Pigott,
Burke, and Douglas. The two first days were consumed in
reading the articles of impeachment and the answers of Mr.
Hastings. THIRD DAY.
Friday, February ij. 1788.
On the third day, the anxiety of the public to hear Mr.
Burke was so great, that the galleries of the hall were full be
fore nine o'clock. About twelve, the peers were seated to the
number of one hundred and sixty-four, and proclamation
being made,
Mr. Burke addressed their lordships as follows :
My lords, the gentlemen who have it in command to sup*
port the impeachment against Mr. Hastings, late governor-
general of Bengal, have directed me to open a general
view of the grounds upon which the Commons have pro
ceeded in their charge against him, to open a general view
of the extent, the magnitude, the nature, the tendency,
and effect of the crimes of which they have charged him •

298 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
and they have also directed me to give such explanation as
I may be enabled to give of such circumstances, preceding
or concomitant with the crimes with which they charge
him, as may tend to explain whatever may be found ob
scure in the charges as they stand; and they have further
commanded me and enabled me to give to your lordships
such explanation of any thing in the laws, customs, and
manners of the people concerned, and who are'the subjects
of the crimes which they charge him with, tending to re-
remove all doubt and ambiguity. The several articles as
they appear will be opened by the other gentlemen with
more accuracy, and without doubt with infinitely more par
ticularity, when they come to apply the evidence that they
adduce to each charge.
This is the plan, my lords, that we mean to pursue.
My lords, I confess that in this business I come before
your lordships with a considerable degree of animation,
because I think it is a most auspicious circumstance, in
a. prosecution like this in which the honour of this king
dom and that of many nations is involved, that from the
commencement of our preliminary process to the hour of
this solemn trial, not the smallest difference of opinion has
arisen among Us. My lords, there were persons who de
pended on what was not to be expected from the justice of
parliament, but there were persons in this kingdom who
entertained hopes highly consolatory to them ; there were
persons who entertained hopes that the corruptions of
India would have escaped during the dissentions of par
liament, but they are disappointed in all the rest of their
¦expectations which they had formed upon every thing ex
cept the merits of the cause. The Commons will not have
the melancholy glory of having acted a right part in an
imperfect work. What the greatest inquest of the nation
has begun, its highest tribunal will accomplish. Justice will
be done to India. It is true, your lordships will have
your full share in this great and glorious work. We shall
always consider that any honour that is divided with your
lordships will be more than double to ourselves-,

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 299
Notwithstanding all these encouraging pretensions, the
Commons do not approach your lordships bar without
some considerable degree of anxiety. I hope and trust
that the magnitude and the nature of the case will reconcile
that solicitude with the undoubted confidence which we
repose in your lordships' justice, for we are so made, that
it is not only the greatness of the interest, but the value
that excites our concern in every undertaking ; and I assure
you (for I am authorized to say), no standard is sufficient
to ascertain the value the Commons set on the case they
now bring before you ; for, my lords, it cannot be con
ceived (God forbid it could be conceived !) that the busi
ness of this day is the business of this man. It is not
solely whether the prisoner at the bar be found innocent or
guilty, but whether millions of mankind shall be miserable
or happy. You do not decide the case only; you fix a
rule. For your lordships will undoubtedly see in the
course of this case, that there is not only a long connected
systematic treatise of misdemeanors, but an equally con
nected system of maxims and principles invented to justify
them, upon which your lordships must judge. It is ac
cording to the judgment you shall pronounce on the past
transactions of India, connected with those principles,
that the whole rule, tendency, and character of future
governors in India, is to be finally decided. It will have
its whole impression from the business -of this hour. My
lords, it is not only the subjects of this great empire that
are concerned, but the credit and honour of the British
nation will itself be decided by this decision. My lords,
they will stand or fall thereby. We are to decide, by this
gentleman, whether the crimes of individuals are to be
turned into public guilt and national ignominy, or whether
this nation will convert these offences, which have thrown
a transient shade on its glory, into a judgment that will
reflect permanent lustre on the honour, justice, and hu
manity of this kingdom. And there is another consider-
, ation, which is, in the judgment of the House of Commons,
equal ; I mean the interest of the national character —

300 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. t£.
something that, if possible, comes more home to the hearts
and feelings of every Englishman, I mean the nature of
our constitution itself; for the consequence and purport of
an Impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors be
fore the Peers of this kingdom, upon a charge of the
Commons, will very much be decided by your decision.
For if this tribunal should be found, as I hope it will al
ways be found, too great for trifling and petty causes ; if
it should at the same time be found incompetent to one of
the greatest that can come before it ; if the lesser from their
smallness, and the greatest from their magnitude of pres
sure, should escape you, it is impossible the high end of
this judicature can be answered.
My lords, I do not know whether it is owing to the
polish of our times, less fertile in crimes, perhaps; or from
a sluggish apathy ; but whatever the cause is, it is now
sixty-three years since any impeachment, grounded on an
abuse of authority in office, has been brought forward ;
the last is that of Lord Macclesfield in the year 1725. So
that the oldest process known to the constitution of this
country is now on its revival introduced by some appear
ance of novelty; and at this time, when all Europe is,
perhaps, in a state of great agitation, when antiquity has
lost all its effect on the minds of men, and when novelty
still retains its power to please, we have been very anxious
in such a business so to conduct ourselves, that nothing in
the revival of this great parliamentary process should af
ford an excuse for its future disuse. What does not stand
with credit cannot stand long; and if the constitution
should be deprived of this great parliamentary process —
I mean not in form, but virtually — if we should be de
prived of this resource, we should certainly be deprived of
all its other valuable parts ; because, this is the cement
that binds it all together, its individuating principle, that
makes England what it is ; this it is, by which the ma
gistracy, and all other things, are directed and controuled.
It is by this, that statesmen, who abuse their power are
tried before statesmen, and by statesmen, upon solid prin-

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 30I
ciples of state policy. It is here, that those, who by abuse
of power, have polluted the spirit of all laws can never
hope for any protection from any of those forms : it is here,
that those who have refused to conform themselves to the
protection of law can never hope to escape through any
of its effects. You have great and preliminary powers ;
you do not supersede any auxiliary jurisdiction; on the
contrary, you are auxiliary to them all. Here, no part of
the empire can be refused justice ; here it is that we pro
vide for that which is the great, substantial excellence of
our constitution. I mean that great calculation of respon
sibility by which, excepting the supreme power, no man^
in any condition, can escape his responsibility to the laws of
his country.
My lords, interested thus — resolving to lay hold on
this great security — we have (I mean the Commons) have
conducted themselves with such care; without losing the
spirit and zeal of a public prosecution, they have comported
themselves in such prosecution with such spirit, with such
temper and decorum, as would not ill become the filial
judgment of this court. We say that, with very few inter
ruptions indeed, the affairs of India have constantly en
gaged the attention of the House of Commons more than
fourteen years. We say, that we tried every method of
legislative provision, before we had recourse to any thing
that was a mode of punishment : we say we came forward
in 1774, and passed an act of parliament for putting an
end to these disorders — finding that act of parliament did
not answer all the ends expected from it ; finding that that
act of parliament fell short of our expectations, we had, in
1782, recourse to the body of monitory resolutions. But
when we found that our laws; when we found that our ad
monitions were despised; that enormities were increased in
proportion to what was to be effected ; when we found that
legal authority seemed to sculk and hide its head like out
lawed guilt ; when we found that those who were appointed!
by parliament for the maintenance of the laws of this king
dom were the most forward in their opposition to them — ¦

302 speeches in westminster-hall. [Feb. i<*v
then it was time for the justice of the nation to exert itself.
To have forborne any longer would not have been patience,
but collusion, a participation of guilt. When we found
ourselves in that situation, we raised heaven and earth on
the occasion — we attempted every thing, in order to know
whether we could find and feel our way — if possible, to
avoid a painful duty without betraying a sacred trust,
We found it impossible.
Having, therefore, resolved on the mode of appeal and
proceeding, it was our next business to find something that
was worthy of long deliberation. We have proceeded ac
cordingly. We have proceeded with calm selection, and
we have chosen such a crime, such a criminal, such a body
of evidence, such a mode of process, that would have re
commended this proceeding to posterity, if it had not been
supported by the example of our ancestors. First, the
process we use. Besides that long previous deliberation
of fourteen years, when we examined every circumstance
that could prove favourable to the delinquent whom we
resolved to prosecute, there was no precedent to be found in
the Journals favourable to him that was not apphed to.
This and a number of things utterly unknown to parlia
mentary proceedings, which seemed in some degree to
favour him, were resorted to on that occasion. My lords,
in the early part of the proceedings, the criminal desired to
be heard. My lords, he was heard, and he produced be
fore the bar of the House of Commons that indecent and
unbecoming paper which lies on our table ; deliberately
given in by his own hand, and signed with his own name-
But the Commons passed by every thing in that paper
with a magnanimity that became them : they considered
that the facts he alluded to must be maintained, and having
used all manner of previous preparation, having given a
large scope, even beyond former proceedings of parliament,
to every thing that could be said in his favour, then we
proceeded, and proceeded with confidence, to your lord-*
ships' bar.
My lords, in the next place, I observe, with respect to

1788:0 SPEECHES in westminster-hall, - 303
the Crime which we chose. We chose one which we con
templated in its nature with all its circumstances, with all
its extensions, and with all its aggravations ; and, on that
review, we are bold to say, that the crimes with which we
charge the prisoner are substantial crimes ; that they are no
errors or mistakes, such as wise and good men might possibly
fall into — they are crimes — truly, and properly, and em
phatically crimes. The Commons are too liberal not to
allow for the difficulties of a great and arduous public situ
ation. They know too well that domineering necessities will
occur in particular situations. They know that particular
situations will not give the mind time to have recourse to
fixed principles, but that it is made frequently to decide in a
manner that calmer reason would certainly have rejected.
We know, that as we are to be served by men, the persons
who serve us must be tried as men ; and that there is a very
large allowance indeed due to human infirmity and human-
error. This we know and have weighed before we came.
to your lordships' bar. But the crimes we charge are not
the crimes and effects of common human nature and frailty,
such as we know and feel and can allow for ; they are
crimes which have their rise in the wicked dispositions of
men ; they are crimes which have their rise in avarice, ra
pacity, pride, cruelty, feropity, malignity of temper, haugh
tiness, insolence ; in short, in every thing that manifest a
heart blackened to the very blackest, a heart dyed deep in
blackness, a heart gangreened to the very core. If we do
pot plant our crimes in those vices which the breast of man
is made to abhor, we desire no longer to be heard on this
occasion. Let every thing be pleaded that can be pleaded
on the score of error and infirmity ; we give up the whole :
we stand on crimes of deliberation ; we charge him with
nothing that he did not commit against remonstrances;
we charge him with nothing that he did not commit against
command ; we charge him with nothing that he did not
commit contrary to the advice, contrary to the admonition
and reprimand of those who were authorized by the laws
to reprove and reprimand him. They were crimes not

304 SPEECHES IN -flTESTMINSTER-HAEL. [Feb. 1 5.
against morals, but against those eternal laws of justice
which you are assembled here to assert. They were not in
formal and technical language, but in real and absolute
effect, High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
So far as to the Crime. Now, as to the Criminal. We
have not chosen to bring before you a poor, puny, trem
bling delinquent, misled perhaps by the faction of those
that ought to have kept him in awe, and oppressed after
wards by their power in order to make his punishment the
means of screening higher delinquents. We have not
chosen to bring before your lordships one of those ob
scure offenders in other situations, whose insignificance
and weakness weighed against the public prosecution,
give it something like the nature of oppression ; but we
have brought before your lordships the first man in pro
perty and power ; we have brought before you the head,
the chief, the captain-general in iniquity — one in whom all
the frauds, all the peculations, all the tyranny in India are
embodied, disciplined, and arrayed. Then, if we have
brought before you such a person, if you strike at him, you
will not have need of a great many more examples — you
strike at the whole corps, if you strike at the head.
Now, my lords, a few words relative to the Evidence
that we have brought to support such a charge, which, we
think, will be equal to the charge itself. It is evidence of
record — of weighty, official, authentic record, that is,
made up of papers signed by the hand of the criminal
himself: it is made up of his own letters, authenticated by
his own hands ; it is made up of numbers of witnesses, oral,
living witnesses, competent to speak to the points to which
they are brought ; and, I trust, that the evidence will be
found such as cannot give you the least doubt in your
minds of the facts ; and when you consider them, when the
facts are proved, I believe, from their nature and effects, you
can have no doubt of their criminality.
My Lords, when we consider the late enormous power of
the prisoner; when we consider his criminality, indefati
gable, in the destruction of evidence; when we consider
10

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 305
the power he had over all testimony, I believe you and the
world will be astonished that so much, so clear, and so solid
a body of evidence should appear against him. My lords,
this 1 say, that I have no doubt that in nine instances out
of ten, it would satisfy the narrow precision which is sup
posed to prevail in all subordinate powers and delegated
jurisdictions. But your lordships will maintain, what we
assert and claim as the right of the subjects of Great
Britain, that you are not bound by any rules whatever, ex
cept those of nature, immutable, and substantial justice. God
forbid the Commons should come before your lordships,
and desire that alone should be proof produced by them
which is admitted to be proof by inferior jurisdictions.
They then would overturn the very principles of that justice
which they resort to your lordships to give to their con
stituents and to the people of India. God forbid that you
should reject evidence, on any pretended nicety ; which I am
sure you will not. I have too much confidence in the
learning with which you will be advised, and the liberality
and nobleness of the sentiments on which you have been
formed, to suppose, for a moment, that your lordships
would, by any abuse of the forms and technical course of
proceedings, deny justice to those claimants ; for you al
ways had a boundless power; I mean always within the
limits of justice, you had a boundless power and unlimited
jurisdiction. You have now a boundless object. It is not
from this county or the other parish, but whole climes, and
differing nations ; various descriptions of men, differing in
language, in manners, and in rights; men separated by
every means from you. However, by the providence of
God, they are come here to supplicate your assistance, and
I hope and trust no rule formed on municipal maxims will
prevent the interior justice that you owe to all parts of the
empire. Situated as we are, subjects, thank God, of envy, for that
grandeur to which we are arrived, it is well known that
great wealth is poured from India into this kingdom, and
it is no degradation to us to suppose the possibility of be-
vol. iv. x

366 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
ing corrupted by that which great empires have been
corrupted by, and by which assemblies and senates have
been corrupted. My lords, when I say that forty thou
sand millions of money have come from India to England,
we ought to take care that corruption does not follow ; we
ought to see that ; for the best way of securing a man's re
putation is not by a proud defiance of public opinion, but
by governing himself in such a way that it may not be
defied. I think there is nothing in your lordships' pro
ceedings that appears to have the slightest trace, the faintest
- odour, of chicane. God forbid, that when you try the cause
of Asia in the presence of Europe there should be a sus
picion, that the cause of India is not as good with you, as
the abuse committed by a British subject has been great !
that British subjects in power should have rights which are
denied to those who, at such a distance, depend on the
breath of British subjects* and have deprived themselves of
every other resource ! My lords, I do not say this from
any fear, doubt, or hesitation as to what you will do : none
in the world ; God forbid I should ! but you all know what
is disseminated abroad among the public, that those who
cannot defend themselves on the merits of their transactions,
may defend themselves behind those fences and entrench
ments that were made to secure the liberty of the subject.
God forbid that should be the case ; that the laws of Eng
land should be for the rich, the powerful, and the protected,
but not for the poor, the miserable, the oppressed, and the
defenceless ; that for them they should afford no resource
at all ! God forbid, that we in this kingdom should know how
to confer the most extraordinary and exorbitant powers on
public ministers, but that we should be poor, helpless, and de
ficient in calling them to account for it ! God forbid, that, as
no nation under Heaven equals the British nation in sub
stantial justice, this should be the case ! I trust this cause
will put an end to all conjectures of this kind so dissemi-»
nating throughout this kingdom and foreign nations, that in
order to cover and shelter the riches of the East, we have
invented a system by which we are to deny a great part of

I788.O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 307
what all the world knows, and a great part both knows and
feels. I do not deprecate it, from a suspicion that such
will be the case, but from knowing that, hitherto, we have
moved within the circle of municipal justice, and after mov
ing within that circle, it may be suspected we have endea
voured to force nature into that, and not endeavoured to
enlarge the circle of justice into the liberties we have ob
tained. If such a thing should happen, it will be best
to give the short answer of the Dey of Algiers : " My
friends, do you not know that my subjects are a band of
robbers, and that I am their captain !" Better far, my
lords, and a thousand times more manly, than an hypocri
tical process, which, under a pretended reverence for the
law, abandons mankind to all the consequences of arbitrary
power. I trust no such thing can prevail in this House,
but that your lordships will exercise the great plenary
powers with which you are invested, in a manner that will
do honour to your justice, and shew the justice of this king
dom, by perfecting the exercise of that law which binds
them to us and us to them. I do not think that such opi
nions have been spread abroad with any foundation, but
because many persons have observed, that in the Old Bailey
and many subordinate tribunals, great criminals have some
times escaped and been acquitted, though dishonourably,
who had no hope to escape, if their case had come before
the court ; but they founded their hope in some subtilty of
form, in some mode of pleading — they may prevail in
subordinate courts, but will not prevail here. My lords,
you are acquainted with those reports which have been
spread abroad, which have only got abroad to be lashed
home again, and to be entirely overturned by the sacred
simplicity and nobleness of your justice.
Now, my lords, having said all that I mean to say con
cerning the process of the House of Commons, concerning
the Crime and the Criminal to whom they attach that
crime, and concerning the Evidence, I am now directed
tp proceed to open to your lordships a view of the pro
ceedings, in explanation of those powers which Mr. Hast-
x 2

308 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. IJ.
ings is charged to have abused. My lords, I hope that
this business which falls to my share, is rather an explan
ation of a circumstance, than an inforcement of the crime.
I hope and I trust you will be so good as to suppose that
this business is not a thing that occurs every day in the or
dinary round of municipal affairs, and that it is a relation
of many things, that it -touches many points in many cases.
In other affairs in the orbit of our English business ; in
other affairs every allusion immediately meets its point of re
ference : there is something in our own laws which you meet
with every day ; but here you are carried as it were into
another world; here you are to have the world cleared
and pioneered in every part of it. You see the necessity
there is of having an explanation, and now that business
must be explained as it is introduced. The explanation
can be but comparatively short ; therefore, knowing your
lordships to be possessed, along with all other judicial
virtues, with that of patience, I hope and trust you will not
grudge a few hours to the explanation of that which has
cost the Commons near fourteen years of assiduous applica
tion ; that you will not disdain a few hours to what has cost
the people of India upwards of thirty years of their innate
inveterate patience to endure.
The powers which Mr. Hastings is charged to have
abused, are the powers delegated to him by the East India
Company, and which they bind inclusively all their servants
to perform, according to the duties belonging to their new
office. They are bound to preserve and protect the people
the same as if the Mogul's empire had existed, to observe
the laws, rights, usages, and customs of the natives, and to
pursue their benefit in all things. This was the express in
stitution and purport of the office they received of the so
vereign from whence they derived those powers, which,
from any misfortune in human affairs, are not annihilated
and suspended: the charter which they derived is not an
nihilated, but remains in all its force, and therefore they
are thrown back to that center from which they originally
preceded; for when the great Company acquired that

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 309
office in India it became an English combination, it be
came an integral part of the Mogul empire. When Great
Britain assented to that grant virtually, and afterwards took
advantage of it, Great Britain made a_ similar union with
that country to preserve the people in all their rights, laws,
and liberties which their natural sovereign was bound to im
pose, if he was in a condition to do so ; which two duties,
flowing from two original sources, are now united in one at
the bar of this House, from whence originally their powers
were derived.
It may be a little necessary when we are stating the
powers they derived from their charters, to state in as short
and comprehensive words as we can — for the matter is large
indeed — that the East India Company act under two sorts
of powers, the first is under the charter which the crown
is authorized by act of parliament to grant ; the next is from
several charters, indeed several grants and charters, de
rived from the Emperor of Mogul, (the person in whose do
minions they are chiefly,) particularly the great charter in
1765. Under those two charters they act. As to the first,
it is from that charter they derive their capacity, and can
be considered as a public body at all ; it is from thence
they acquire their capacity to grant any other charter, to
hold any other offices and professions. This makes them
responsible to the party from whence that power is derived ;
they are responsible themselves, their body as a corporate
body, themselves as individuals ; and the whole body as a
"train of servants are responsible to the public of this king
dom. This kingdom has not released this sovereignty;
on the contrary, the responsibility is increased with the
greatness of the powers. I hope- this day you will shew,
that this nation never did give a power without giving a
proportionable degree of responsibility.
Having settled the point of responsibility, Mr.Burkebriefly
stated the several powers granted to the East India Com
pany ; what the constitution of the East India Company is,
and particularly what its constitution is in reference to this .
Indian service. Where the great theatre of abuse was spread,
x 3

310 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
is Veil known. I shall therefore spare you a long his
tory, and request you will remember, that the East India
Company received this constitution originally about the
latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth — a period of
time when all sorts of monopolies were the fashion. At that
time they were sent out with a very large and ample charter,
for extending the commerce and for increasing the honour
and reputation of the country : and it would have been
thought then, and will be thought now, a very bad bargain
indeed, but that the powers of that charter were confined
merely to controul affairs. By degrees, a^ necessities re
quired, as the theatre of operations became enlarged, it was
found necessary to enlarge the powers of the Company.
The first power they obtained was a power of naval dis
cipline for their ships, a power which has since been dropt.
The next was a power of law marshall ; the- next was a
power of civil, and, to a certain degree, of criminal jurisdic
tion within their own settlements, and among their own
people and servants. The next was the power — and there
was a stretch indeed ! — the power of peace and war. These
great and high privileges, privileges which never were known
before to be due to any subject, were given to the East India
Company at a period when they required them all. About
Charles II. 's time, the delegation of the whole power and so
vereignty of this kingdom was sent into the East. In that
light the Company began undoubtedly to be considered, and
ought to be considered, as a subordinate sovereign power,
that power subordinate with respect to the persons from
whence it was derived. When the Company once appeared
in this light, things appeared to be totally different ; for, in all
other countries, the political capacity of every body of what
ever nature, that acts as a commonwealth, is first settled ;
the trade follows as a general consequence. But here the
order was reversed. The constitution of the East India
Company began in commerce and ended in empire; and it
was natural where the first great, high, and leading powers
of peace and war were given, and wanted the leading cir
cumstances to carry on their situation. Accordingly so it
12

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 3 1 1
did happen. The existence of the East India Company
coincided with the improved state of Europe, coincided
with the rights, coincided with the laws, and, what is much
more material, with the improved state of modern discipline.
The existence of the East India Company coincided with the
wealth of nations, and the total disuse of almost all the mi
litary parts of discipline. They became what the East
India Company is ; they became a great empire carrying-
on an extensive trade, subordinately, under the public au
thority. It still preserves traces of its original mercantile
character, and the whole exterior order of the service is car
ried on upon a mercantile plan. It is carried on upon mer
cantile principles : it is a state in the disguise of a merchant :
it is a great public office in the disguise of a counting-house.
Accordingly, the whole order of proceeding which I have
the honour of remarking to your lordships, is commercial ;
the principal, inward, real part of the Company is entirely
mercantile. My lords, the Company's service, the order
and discipline of which it will be necessary for me to ex
plain, is commercial. First, all persons who go abroad
in the Company's service are entered as clerks in a count
ing-house, and are called by a name correspondent thereto,
namely, writers : they are articled for five years : the next
step they become factors : they serve three years more, after
which they become junior merchants ; then they serve
three years more, when they become senior merchants, and
have pretensions to be members of council and to whatever
other honours arise : for the Company had originally esta
blished factories which grew by degrees into the name of
council, and as the power and influence increased, the same
order continued till 1773, when the legislature (for proper
reasons urging them to it) broke in upon that order of the
service, and appointed to the superior stations, persons
who were not, in this mode, entitled to them. Some thus
appointed, as Mr. Hastings was, might be entitled by the
course and order of service, but the title they derived by
express act of parliament. In all other respects the bu
siness did and still does continue on a commercial footing,
x 4

312 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5V
Now, your lordships observe, here is a regular system, a
regular order, a progressive gradation, which requires eleven
years before the persons concerned in it can possibly arrive
at the highest trust and situation in the Company's service,
and you will therefore be naturally astonished when you
know, after so long a service, after so long a continuance,
that things very different have been introduced. In a short
time you see persons return to England with great and
ample fortunes. It will be necessary to know how that
order came to be broken in upon, so completely so, that
scarce a trace is remaining; because, though I will not
deny that any regular order of state may be superseded by
the supreme authority, whenever the public good requires
it, yet the order of that service was formed on wise and
salutary principles ; it afforded the individuals great oppor
tunities of acquiring experience, and gave those who watched
them a constant inspection of them in all their progress.
But scarce a trace of it remains to be discovered ; for
Mr. Hastings, by making offices which had no reference
to gradation, first broke through that regulation; he
next formed new offices, and invented such as had no
respect to rank and gradation ; and lastly, he established
a whole system of offices, particularly in 1781, to which
being new, none of the rules of gradation applied. The
consequence was, that persons in the most immature state
have been placed over the conduct of affairs, which re
quired the greatest possible judgment and self-command.
So far with respect to the order of the Company's ser
vice, though there is something peculiar in the case of the
East India Company, and different from that of any other
conqueror that has ever extended his power over any other
country — namely, that the Company- in India is not the
British nation ; for when the Tartars entered into China,
when they entered into Hindostan, when the Gauls and Van
dals entered into Europe, they came as a nation. But it is
not the English nation in India, it is nothing but a semi
nary for the occupation of offices. It is a nation of place
men ; it is a republic, a body of people, a state, made

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 313
up of magistrates ; there is no one to watch the powers
of office; so far as the English nation is concerned, there is
no corrective whatever. The consequence is, that being a
kingdom of merchants, they are actuated by the spirit of the
body — in other words, they consider themselves as having
a common interest separate from that of the country which
sent them, and of the country in which they are, where
there is no controul of the persons that understand the
language, and manners, and customs of the, country.
Therefore confederacy is easy, and has been general among
them. Therefore you are not to expect that that should
happen in this body which never happened in any body in
the world — that they should be a check upon themselves.
But the circumstance I state, of having no other office in
the world, as a check upon them, as it is a thing that has
not happened, neither can it happen elsewhere; therefore
out of it has arisen the system of offices of wliich Mr.
Hastings has thought proper to put himself at the head, in
opposition to the power that sent him out, and to all other
authority. My lords, we next come to consider the emoluments of
office. Do those emoluments in the smallest degree corre
spond with the trust attached to it ? Under the name of
writers, of junior merchants, of senior merchants, you have
the ministers of revenue ; you have judges civil, and in a
great degree criminal, who prey on the greatest properties of
the country; and the emoluments that belong to them are so
inadequate to the dignity and force of the character, that
the rule is reversed which is observed in other countries.
Glory, fame, reputation, the love, the tears, and the applauses
of our country, pay those arduous situations of labour, which
in great commonwealths are required. The reverse is the
state of affairs in the country which Mr. Hastings has
abused. Instead of fixing honest and honourable rewards
for those who serve the state, he has left them to prey upon
it without any degree of controul ; he has not provided for
them honest emoluments, but has left them at liberty to
prey on the country, and to find out emoluments for them-

314 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
selves in the best manner they can. These are the defects
of that service : there is no honest emolument in much the
greater part of it, answerable to (the demands and wants of
the people that serve : as one of the most honest and able
pf their servants, once said to me, the civil service of the
East India Company resembles the military service of the
Mahrattas < — very little profit, but unbounded licence to
plunder — open to all dishonest emolument, but shut
against all just claims. The next circumstance is the ex
treme youth of the persons employed in this service. They
have generally been sent out to India at that period of life
which in all places is usually devoted to education. They
have been sent there at an inordinate expence, in contem
plation of the boundless power they would receive in the
gradation, into which, of course, they would enter. School
boys without tutors, minors without guardians. The world
is thus let loose upon them with all its temptations, and
they are let loose upon the world. And there is in it this
one thing that is remarkable. They are to exercise, what
you, my lords, are now exercising, high judicial powers,
without the smallest knowledge of any law, either general
or municipal. It is a known rule in the service, that the ju
dicial character, which is the last in study, which is the last
in professional experience, is the first experimental situation
in the service of the Company. It is expressly said, that
the offices and places of the judges are to be filled by the
juniors of the Company ; the judicial services being taken as
itwfere in transitu. As soon as a man has supplied the defects
of his education, by the medium of experience, he is im
mediately transferred, and another young man is sent, at
the expence of the property of the people of India, to
finish his education and form his character. The other
Stations are those of Statesmen, which undoubtedly require
great talents to fill up, and much study. We know that
in the habits of civilized life, in cultivated society, there is
imbibed by men an infinite deal of morality, of maxims of
state, of every thing that fits them to serve their country :
but these persons are sent over without judgment, without

1 788O" SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 315
knowledge, without experience, to exercise functions at
which any statesman here would tremble, and to which
few indeed are equal. Mr. Hastings has, in his Defence, la
mented his situation in this particular ; and it is much to
be lamented indeed. How far it will operate in the Way
of justification, or palliation of his conduct, when we
come to examine it, remains to be seen hereafter. But the
fact is, that the servants of the Company are sent out
young; that they are sent out with incompetent emolu
ments ; that they are sent into a body that forms them, to
an esprit du corps without discipline. And thus it is, that
the laws which have been made for the Company have
proved mischievous to the Company. Their servants are
obliged when they enter into the service to enter into it not
only with the good character generally required of ser
vants, but with a stipulation to perform all the duties,
under heavy penalties, and renunciation of the offices.
The law is clear; the engagements positive, having no
exceptions in them ; but any one who offends against the
law is liable to the law. The consequence is, that all the
little systems are to screen all the enormous offences ; for
every one knows, if he has taken but one penny of unlawful
emolument (and they have all taken many pennies), that
the most cruel oppression awaits him. He who may have
taken only a present to do a good act is obliged to wink ;
he dare not stir ; the poor man is not able to prove his
case; the superior offender, the great man, is always able;
in consequence of which Mr. Hastings is not only benefited
by this grand defect in the Company's service, by making
it impossible for any man to rise in situation and fortune ;
but he is favoured by having such a hold in the weakness
and corruption, above, below, and on all sides, by one
common participation and connivance, that the whole is
complete, and accordingly he has had no complaint from
the service ; and he states it as one of the proofs of his
merits. Now, my lords, I say, no such complaint can
exist. An informer is hunted down, and has always been
hunted down as a common enemy to the common profits of

316 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
great offenders. No one dared to move against him ; and
he threatened them if they did. We can prove to you,
that when the Company were anxious to proceed against
their particular servants, Mr. Hastings directly contra
dicted it — directly contradicted the direct and positive
law of the court of directors. Not satisfied with this, be
fore he went away he passed a general pardon, which
he was not authorized to do, and at once ordered
the whole complaint of the Company to be discharged.
My lords, I have given your lordships an account of
writers, of merchants, who take upon themselves to exercise
the office of judges; and having so done, I must now
inform your lordships, that there is another description
of men, whether in the Company's service or not,
that are of more importance than all — a description of
men under a character which you have often heard of, but
which has not yet been explained,, I mean the character of
Banyan. The Company's servants, my lords, use the in
tervention of certain factors among the natives who are
called banyans. The banyan, as he is called, is the
steward of the house ; he has the care of hiring and or
dering the servants : these are his domestic functions ; he is
a domestic servant ; and is generally chosen out of that
class of the natives, who, by being habituated to misery
and subjection themselves, can submit to any orders, and
are fit for any of the basest offices. Having been them
selves the subjects of oppression, they understand perfectly
how to oppress others ; having served an apprenticeship to
servitude, they have qualified themselves for the trade of
tyranny. They are persons without whom a European
can do nothing; they know all the little frauds, all the
defensive armour, all the artjfices and counter-works
by which abject slavery secures itself against the violence
of power: they know all the lurking holes, and they
hunt out distress and misery in all their labyrinths : with
out them Europeans with all their pompous names are
nothing: these persons represent the Europeans. These
people immediately make application to the. gentle-

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 317
men who come to India ; they take possession of them as if
they were their inheritance; they have a perfect knowledge
of the country ; they have money, and the art of making
money. The gentlemen that come from home have no
thing; they have no money; they have no knowledge;
they have nothing but the disposition to enrich themselves :
and it is to be lamented that the banyans exercise their
tyranny, not alone over the master, who does nothing, but
who gives them the ticket of his name to spread the know
ledge that the banyan is supported by an European ; and
from that moment it is not the Englishman, it is the black
man that is the master of the people. We well know, my
lords, how young men are sent out, and we also know
equally well how soon they are in a hopeful way of thriv
ing : the banyan knows it too : he knows the force and
use of his master's name and power ; with this he goes into
the country with a commission in his hand, which nothing
can resist : this banyan thus armed, thus empowered, has
not only the people under his subjection, but his master
also; he has the power over him — that dreadful power
which every creditor has over his debtor. The master is
no longer a master ; he is a tool in the hands of this man ;
and actions the most abhorrent to his nature must be com
mitted before his eyes, besides numberless ones that never
come to his knowledge. The banyan glories in this. The
very best things being liable to be perverted when put into
a system of oppression and tyranny, the very^aws of Eng
land give ten times more power to the banyan ; they be
come unintentionally an additional security to that banyan ;
so that the Company's servants are, in reality, in half the
service at least, nay, in more than half, nothing but the
tools of the miserable tyranny which the lower part of the
natives exercise, to the disgrace of the English power, and
to the ruin of all their countrymen. The Company's ser
vants, in order to free themselves from this horrid and de
grading servitude, are obliged to become the tools of men
in power ; they are obliged to become the servile tools of
Mr. Hastings, and to leave themselves neither honour,

3I8 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. t$.
pewer, nor reputation ; and this is owing to that servitude
they have under the banyan.
Now, my lords, this system of banyaning, which it was
Mr. Hastings's business to keep down, he has both encou
raged and established, and has formed it into and made it
an iniquitous system of extortion. Nay more, my lords,
Mr. Hastings has brought forward his own banyan ; he
has seated him in the houses of the principal nobility ; he
has invested him with revenues, given him emoluments,
put him over the heads of nobility, who really for their
grandeur, antiquity, and dignity, might almost be matched
with your lordships ; he has put him over their heads, and
he has made him supreme judge, and has acted under him,
and by him, and by banyans of various kinds, Your
lordships will see hereafter the necessity of my opening this
circumstance respecting the banyans. No Englishman,
properly speaking, acts by himself; he must be made re
sponsible for that person, whom he calls his banyan *. for
the power he has, that power the banyan uses over him ;
these are the persons who escape, on account of their situ
ation, the inquiries that another man dares not stand.
'Through them Mr. Hastings has decided against the titles of
the people of the country ; through them he has exercised a
discretion which he never dared — and he is the most daring
criminal that ever existed — but which yet he never would
have dared to exercise in person ; therefore we shall shew
you, that most of his iniquities have been done by banyans,
and not satisfied with one, that he has employed two, three,
or four, each of them not knowing the other. This, my
lords, is the system which Mr. Hastings, instead of eradi
cating, has propagated by example, by authority, and by
abuse. Here you have the description of the constitution
of the Company's service from beginning to end.
My lords, I now come to mention one grand mercantile
institution; an institution so extraordinary, so excellent,
and so perfeet, that I will venture to say human wisdom
has never exceeded it, and that it was worthy of the
guardianship not only of the East India Company, but of

€788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 3 10
all the powers in the world. The counting-hbuse has here
given lessons to the state ; and, my lords, it will always
happen, that if you can apply the regulations which private
wisdom makes for private interest, to the concerns of the
state, you will have from that active, awakened, and enr
lightened system of self-interest, a better constitution of
things than ever has sprung from the wisdom of statesmen ;
or than they, looking for good out of themselves, ever can
devise. Therefore I repeat it, that the mercantile interests
of men, wherever applied to the discipline and order of the
state, have produced a discipline and order which no state
would be ashamed to copy, and without which no state can
exist. The institution I speak of is the best contrivance
ever devised by the wit of man for a remote extensive em
pire. Merchants having obliged themselves, from the re
moteness of their correspondence, to a strictness in that
correspondence, not used by any other men ; accordingly,
the Company have made it a fundamental part of their
constitution, that the whole government should be a written
government. Your lordships will observe from the papers
the propriety of my opening this point : the strictest court
of justice in its strictest proceedings is not more a court of
record than the East India Company is in all their trans
actions. First, they oblige their servants to keep a diary of
all their transactions ; next, they oblige them to keep a
letter-book in which all their letters are entered ; and that
diary and that letter-book they are bound to produce on
requisition, although it should be mixed with affairs con
cerning their own connections, in commerce, or their dearest
concerns in private life. These books are to be produced;
and, as a grand connective, they have ordered that every
proceeding in public council should be written j all writ
ten, all record. All other public bodies, the House of
Lords, the House of Commons, the Secretaries of State,
enter only resolves ; but the argument, the decision, the
dissent, does not appear. The East India Company have
proceeded much further, and done much more wisely, be>
jcause they have proceeded on mercantile principles; they

320 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 5.
have ordered the whole to be written, not in their great
council only, but they have ordered the same course to be
pursued in every provincial council, to the minutest ramifi
cation of their servants ; and the writings to be transmitted
by every ship that comes into England. Therefore it was
well said by an able servant of the Company, how sacred
this rule ought to be held. It should be remembered,
that it is the accuracy and simplicity of mercantile methods
which make every transaction in the service and every ex
penditure a matter of record. This affords the Company the
opportunity not only of discovering what the nature, cha
racter, and capacity of their servants are, but furnishes
them with the means of detecting their malversations, by
affording evidence and testimony under their own hands.
For your lordships will observe that, for the successful
completion of all evil practices, no uniform mode of pro
ceeding will ever serve. Innocence is plain, direct, and
simple. Guilt is a covered thing ; accordingly, however
the guilt and iniquity of to-day may be covered by specious
reasons, yet when the iniquity of to-morrow comes to ex
pose the iniquity of to-day, the man falls into prevarication
and confusion, and thereby hastens his detection. Besides,
my lords, the servants of the Company have not time to
corrupt the records; they are torn out of their hands, and
are perhaps before parliament ere they have time to invent
an excuse for their conduct. This is a great and material
part of the constitution of the Company, and is, as I said,
(and I do not think it necessary to apologize for saying it,)
the best contrivance that ever was devised by the wit of
man. This is the fundamental point of the Company's
service, and this, if persevered in as it ought to be, would
afford such an example of the mode in which a foreign
empire ought to be governed, as, I will venture to say, very
few governments possess. But this leading point of the
Company's service Mr. Hastings has perverted ; first, by
sending out agents, to whom he gave directions, that their
correspondence upon the most momentous and important
affairs should be dehvered to him, for the purpose of being

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 321
suppressed and destroyed; secondly, by making a most
mischievous and fatal distinction between public and pri
vate correspondence, in which the Company made none.
As to private correspondence, there are many occasions on
which it is not necessary for you to communicate your cor
respondence to those that are above you, and to whom you
are accountable. These were the inventions of Mr. Hast
ings. The next way — without entering into all the ways
in which he has attempted to do it — is by appointing spies
and under agents, who should carry on a secret business ;
and thus there remains nothing but the shell and husk of
a dry and official correspondence, which neither leaves any
thing, nor has any thing to leave. Mr. Hastings has
adopted a mode to defeat the benefit all at once, by placing
the whole administration of the country in hands which
are not bound to record their deliberations, which are
not bound to record their assent or dissent unless they chose
so to do. There he has ingulphed the most important part
of the whole Company's administration. Some parts, how
ever, remain, some precious fragments of infinite value —
for highly will the nation have reason to value them, and
to regret the loss of what is gone. Were it not for these
precious fragments, all the shameful enormities that have
disgraced a government or vexed a people, would only be
known in this country through the medium of unauthentic
whispers and unauthentic anecdotes ; and its honours, the
highest distinctions and rewards which this country has to
bestow, might be given to the authors of those enormities.
Avowed barbarity,, base peculation, wretched extortion,
and cruel tyranny might be invested with those sacred
robes of justice before which the people of India and the
Commons of England have now cause to come. Mr.
Hastings refused, by letter to the counsel, the various acts
and muniments ; he tefiises to be tried by his various acts
and declarations .delivered uiider his own hand ; he knows
that what .remains of that written constitution that he has
destroyed, is enough to destroy him ; and therefore he
vol. iv. y.

322 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb". 1 5.
rejects it in toto. He desires to maintain the privilege of
prevarication, of contradiction, of changing not only his
conduct, but the very principles of his conduct, whenever
there is any occasion for his so doing. He knows that
he and that record cannot exist together. My lords, I
hope you will shew that destroyers of those muniments
are not to accomplish • their purpose with impunity. I
hope you will say to him what was said to another person
on a less occasion, but with greater authority, " Out of
thine own mouth will I condemn thee." You shall have
his own words, his own account of his own conduct, to
prove to you what he is by greater and better authority
than any record.
Having gone through what I think necessary concern
ing the oriental part of the constitution ; having done this,
and stated to your lordships the abuses that existed, and
how Mr. Hastings endeavoured toperpetuate and increase
them, and made use of his authority for that purpose ; if
I have strength, and if I have not already wasted your
lordships' time [Hear ! hear ! hear !] I shah next beg leave to
state to your lordships the abuse which he has made of the
other part of the public authority which the Company had
acquired over the natives, in virtue of the royal charter of
the present Mogul empire in 1 765. It is necessary to state to
your lordships who the people are over whom- Mr. Hastings
has abused this power. This may be a little out of order,
but it will be necessary for me to explain it ; and I shall do
so with as much brevity as the distinctness which I mean
to use, and the preparatory matter necessary to explain
the matter that is next to come before you in regular
charges, will permit. I shall hold myself bound to explain
always by evidence; though I know it is allowed to advo
cates when they are opening private cases, to indulge
themselves in a display of matter leading to the charges
that they are to bring ; and they are not always called to
the strictest account for it. But, with the high opinion I
have of your lordships' judgment, (and it is impossible to
conceive a higher opinion than I have of this tribunal,)

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 323
and sensible of the weight of those I represent in this
place, I should be sorry that any one substantial fact, or
even colourable thing, should be alleged by me, which
I was not able to make good to your lordships by proof.
I shall hold myself bound to account to your lordships for
the preliminary observations as much as for the charges
themselves. I am then to state to your lordships, that there are in
India two sorts of people, totally distinct from each other
in knowledge, character, rights, laws, and manners. The
first set of people, I am bold to say, are the original in
habitants of Hindostan, who have, in all times and beyond
all aeras that we know of, been proprietors and inhabitants
of that country, with manners, customs, and rules, ap
propriate to themselves. These people are commonly
called Gentoos ; the system and principle of their govern
ment is local ; their laws, their manners, their religion are
local. These people, who are the most benevolent of mor
tals, who extend their benevolence to the whole animal
creation • — ¦ these people are inaccessible to the whole hu
man race. They cannot, without pollution, touch men
of another race. That bond which is the bond of life, of
conviviality, and which unites the species in other coun
tries, cannot hold these people. The very element which
unites mankind — I mean the sea — is forbidden to them ;
none of their high classes can ever pass the sea. If it
could ever be truly said, that a great gulph is fixed be
tween you and any people, it is the great gulph which the
manners, opinions, and laws of these people have formed.
And this, my lords, makes it ten times more necessary for
us to keep a strict eye on all persons that go thither,
to see that they conduct their own affairs in a manner that
may be conformable to the system of this singular people.
We must not force them into our narrow ideas, but extend
our sphere to take in theirs. We know that the impres
sion of opinion is — I was going to say stronger than
human nature — but it is the strongest part of it? and that
much of the happiness and unhappiness of mankind con-
v 2

324 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. I J.
sists in opinion. Sometimes our laws of religion differ
from the laws of the land ; sometimes the laws of our land
differ from our other laws ; but in India they are all con
tained in one, and bind a man eternally to the rules of
what they call the cast. These people, my lords, from
the oldest time, have been distributed into various orders,
all hereditary, which are called casts, of which four are
the most remarkable, the Brahmins, the Khetteree*s, the
Vaysias, and the Sudras; the first the priests, to whom
honours almost divine are paid ; the second the military
order ; the third, husbandmen and merchants ; the last, the
menial or servile class, or cast. The higher kind cannot pass
into the lower — the lower kind cannot pass into the higher.
They have all their appropriate rank and situation ; and
their appropriate religion too, different in many of its
rites, ceremonies, and institutions, in each of those classes.
A man who is of Braminical character, when he forfeits
his rank does not fall into the next order, but he falls out
of all rank in society ; he is excommunicated. These
people are bound, by all laws, human and divine, to the
principles of their cast ; they are affected in their cast not
only by voluntary crimes, by which they may lose it,
but likewise by certain involuntary sufferings, by disgraces
utterly out of their own power. When they lose their
cast they lose every thing. 
Having given a concise account of this people, their pe
culiarities, customs, mangers, and religion, and of the
beneficial moral and civil effects arising therefrom, as
they appeared in the first period of their history — - ad
verting, as he proceeded, to the just policy which these
circumstances should have dictated to our government,
and pointing out the new sources of tyranny and oppres
sion with which they had furnished Mr. Hastings, — Mr.
Burke proceeded to state the happy and flourishing con
dition of India under the original native government, and
continued their history through the several revolutions that
took place, from the irruption of the Arabians, soon after
the time of Mahomet, to the usurpation of Ah Verdi

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 325
Khan, and the establishment of the English power in
1 756: and he proved, in opposition to the argument urged
by Mr. Hastings, in his Defence, namely, " that the native
princes held their dominions as mere vassals under their
conquerors," that neither under the government of the
Arabian, or Tartarian invaders, nor of the usurping sou-
bahs and nabobs, were the native princes and zemindars
dispossessed of their estates, and the jurisdictions annexed
to them; but that, up to the last unfortunate period, they
preserved their independence, rank and dignity; their
forts, their seignories, and always the right, sometimes
also the means, of protecting the people under them. — Here
Mr. Burke closed his first day's speech, which lasted up
wards of three hours.

FOURTH 0AY.
Saturday, February \6.
Mr. Burke proceeded thus :
My lords, in what I had the honour of laying before
your lordships yesterday, and in what I . may have further
to trouble you with to-day, . I trust and hope your
lordships will observe a distinction, which if I did not
lay down so perfectly as I ought yesterday, I hope I shall
be able to mark out particularly and distinctly this day.
My lords, whatever I may think necessary to state as
matter of explanation, in order to give your lordships a
true idea of the scene of action, the instruments Mr.
Hastings employed, and the effects they produced, that I
wish to be distinguished from the matter brought to crimi
nate. The first is only illustrative in a great measure of
the last ; and your lordships are to look for the substantial
part of the crimination at the moment when the evidence
is going to be produced to you. For instance, my lords,,
if I state history to your lordships, as I did when I stated,
y 3

3 2d SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6.
that tyranny, cruelty, iniquity, and oppression, exercised
by one of the usurping viceroys, led the way to our power
in India; it is not that I charge Mr. Hastings with that
guilt, but with having avowedly looked up to that ruler as
his example, and followed him with servile fidelity. When
I have spoken to your lordships of any thing abusive or
leading to abuse, from its defects, in the Company's ser
vice, I have not meant to criminate Mr. Hastings with any
part of that, any further than as he used the weakness of
the institution to let in his abuse of power : for instance,
if 1 have stated that the East India Company, as to its
general service, was weak in general emolument and full of
temptation to illegal gains, I do not state that effect as
owing to Mr. Hastings, but I state it as leading to that
which we shall more particularly bring before you, that
Mr. Hastings, taking advantage of that infirmity, did
fraudulently, corruptly, and for the purposes of his own
ambition, make, under a pretended reformation ; an illegal,
partial, corrupt increase of emoluments to certain persons ;
thereby increasing the disorders of the service, and load
ing the Company with heavy expences.
Intreating your lordships to bear in mind this distinc
tion, I shall beg leave to proceed to that period at which I
closed ; that great and memorable period which has given
occasion to the proceedings of this day, and which I hope
will shine for the honour of British justice, in the future-
annals of Great Britain. To obtain empire has been a
common thing ; to govern well more rare ; to chastise the-
guilt of those who have abused the power of their country
is, I hope, a glory more particularly reserved to this na
tion, this time, and this high court. The year 1756, my
lords, is a memorable asra in the history of the world :
it introduced new manners, new customs, new opinions,
and new laws into India ; and a brilliant page would that
sera have formed in the history of this country, if we had
shewn, upon that occasion, our virtue to have been equal
to our fortune. If in that part of Asia that had had its
native government broken up, and had fallen into confu-

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 327
sion from the petty, internal ambition of its own grandee*,
a star had arisen in the west, it would have prognosticated
peace and happiness to the natives of that kingdom.
Great and godlike would it have been to have realized that
peace and that happiness : and indeed it was to be ex
pected, seeing that dominion came from ihe most en
lightened quarter of the globe — seeing that it came from a
nation the most enlightened of that quarter. My lords,
if such had been the result, the business of this day would
have been spared ; but it has happened otherwise, and it
now remains for us to repair, by every means in our
power, the injuries and evils that have ensued.
Therefore, my lords, resuming where I broke off, from
your indulgence to my weakness, yesterday, I shall beg
leave to restate to you, that Suraja Dowlah was bf adop
tion the grandson of Ali Verdi CaWn, a cruel ferocious
tyrant. The manner of his accession to power I will take
the liberty of stating to you. He came young and inex
perienced to that throne of usurpation ; for it was an usurp
ation ; but it was yet green, and the country felt uneasy
under it. It had not the advantage of that prescriptive
usage, that inveterate habit and opinion, which a long
system of any government secures to it. The only security
it had was, the security of an army. A prince of the
country had endeavoured to supply the weakness of his go
vernment by the greatness of his purse and his amassed
treasures ; but the more treasure he amassed, the more he
felt the effects of his poverty ; for putting money in the
place of force, the consequence was the armies were unpaid,
or being but scantily paid were undisciplined, disorderly,
and unfaithful. In this situation, the young prince, con
fiding more in appearances than the reality of things, un
dertook (from motives which the House of Commons, not
withstanding all their industry to discover the circum
stances, found some difficulty in making out) to attack a
little miserable trading fort that we had erected at Calcutta.
My lords, he succeeded in that attempt ; his success in this
was easy ; there happened in consequence of it a cruel im-
T 4

328 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb; l6".
prisonment, not owing I believe to the direct will of the
prince ; but whenever the will of the prince is too much the
law, there will always be an abuse of power by the lowest
of his subjects. In consequence of that imprisonment one
hundred and more of our countrymen-perished miserably
in a dungeon. But that is a story loo tragical for me to
tell, and too well known for me to mention. There hap
pened at the same time a concurrence of other events,
which, in the midst of that weakness at Calcutta, displayed
the strength of Great Britain in another part of Asia.
For some years before, upon the coast of Coromandel, there
were a number of French troops, and as we looked for a
war with France, the country was armed there; and ac
cordingly Lord Pigot, the preserver of the British do
minions in Asia, detached as strong a force from his
majesty's troops as could be collected, together with the
ships on that station, to the assistance of the English at
Calcutta. Accordingly, to make short of this history, the
daring and commanding genius of Lord Clive, the patient
and firm conduct and great ability of Watson, the treachery
of Meer Jaffier, and the battle of Plassey, gained the com
mand of the kingdom, and all its treasures : and we nego-
ciated with Meer Jaffier for the throne of his master, upon
which throne we seated him, and obtained immediately one
million sterling for the Company, and upwards of 1,230,000/.
for individuals. In the whole, the sum collected was, I be
lieve, near 2,230,000/. From the prince of the country we
obtained the town of Calcutta more completely than we had
it before, and twenty-four districts adjoining ; which was
the beginning of the great territorial acquisitions which we
have made in India. Many circumstances of this acqui
sition I pass by. There is a sacred veil to be thrown over
the beginning of all governments. They have had tlieir
origin in some matters that might as well be covered
by obscurity. Time has thrown its mysterious veil over
them. Prudence and discretion make it necessary to throw
something of a veil over the business in question, where

17880 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 329
the genius, military talents, and the fortune of this nation
shone with a lustre never surpassed.
The first step of a revolution is to give power; the
next, good laws and good orders, to give it stability. I
am sorry to say the principle upon which the gentlemen in
India acted at that time was such, as tended to make their
new government as unstable as possible ; for, by the vast
sums of money acquired by individuals upon this oc
casion, prodigious fortunes were suddenly made; and it
was discovered, that a revolution in Bengal was a mine
much easier worked and more productive than the mines
of Potosi and Mexico. My lords, they found that the
work was not only very lucrative, but not at all difficult.
Where Lord Clive forded a deep water with an unknown
bottom, he left a bridge for his successors, over which the
lame might hobble, and the blind might grope their way.
There was not at that time any of the clerks, not a captain
of a ragged band of topasses that looked for any thing less
than the deposition of soubahs and the sale of kingdoms.
Unfortunately, this revolution became fruitful, and when
Lord Clive returned to Europe to enjoy his fame and honour
in this country, there arose another set of people who
thought a revolution upon that revolution might be made
as lucrative to them as that was to its first projectors ; and,
accordingly, scarcely was Meer Jaffier seated upon his
throne, than they immediately, or in a short time, projected
another revolution, which was to unsettle all the former
revolutions, to make way for new wars and disturbances,
and for that train of peculation which ever since has vexed
and oppressed that country.
My lords, there was in the house of Meer Jaffier, in his
court and family, a man of a daring, interested, ferocious,
subtle, bloody character, called Cossim Ali Khan, the son-
in-law of Meer Jaffier, and who made no other use of his
approximation to the father and his nearness of consan
guinity, than to endeavour to dethrone and to murder
him. The question was, where to find instruments. He

330 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. \6.
was an instrument that was fit for the persons that under
took this second mercenary revolution, which could not be
covered by the smallest degree of that necessity, which was
the general plea. This wicked man was not long in find
ing persons who observed his talents with admiration, and
thought fit to employ them. After the departure of Lord
Clive, Mr. Holwell, at the head of affairs, waiting for Mr.
Vansittart, was considered to be only a temporary presi
dent ; but he had resolved to make the best use of his time.
The terrible example of the black hole had not cured him of
his ambition. Mr. Holwell had determined upon another
revolution ; he had in his council a Mr. Sumner and a
Mr. M'Guire; and the business was divided into tw6
parts ; one, a council in general ; the other a select com
mittee, which they had arranged for the better carrying on
of their political affairs; but (as far as I can conceive at
least) at that time the select committee had no power of
acting without the council. Finally andconclusively, this
party thought otherwise; but respecting these litigant par
ties I shall not, in this stage of the business, trouble your
lordships with any thing, but the use which was made of this
select committee, who did, without communicating with
the rest of the council, form a plan for a new and entirely
mercenary revolution.
General Calliaud, then Major Calliaud, who com
manded in the field the British troops, was a person high
in station, and by his station might naturally hope for a
seat in the council. There was also a young gentleman,
Mr. Warren Hastings, at that time resident at the city of
Moorshedabad, at the Durbar of Jaffier Ali Khan, then the
acknowledged and recognized prince, under the most solemn
treaties of this country that can bind men, and for which
he had paid immense sums of money, and was then paying.
This Mr. Hastings was a pledge in his hands for the ho
nour of the British nation, and the fidelity of their engage
ments; the resident at his court. My lords, these are the
parties concerned in this second revolution. Mr. Holwell
seems to have been the first suggester, mover, and most
16

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 33 1
active person in it. Mr. Sumner followed him in the
council. Mr. M'Guire co-operated ; but they could do
nothing by themselves. General Calliaud was neces
sary, for force and treachery were necessary ; and the re
turn of Mr. Hastings was necessary to accomplish that
treachery. General Calliaud was the general in the field ;
Mr. Holwell the governor, who considered himself as only
in the temporary possession of power, and waited for Mr.
Vansittart, but urged the revolution strongly ; for if Mr.
Vansittart should arrive before his plot could be finally put
in execution, he would have all the advantage of it, and
Mr. Holwell be considered as the secondary instrument.
So far as the House of Commons have been able to dis
cover, Mr Holwell, conceiving this plan, wished to carry
it into execution before the arrival of Mr. Vansittart.
There was some obscurity as to Mr. Hastings in this
point ; but General Calliaud wished to keep it back He
concurred inwardly in the principles, propriety, and ne
cessity of this revolution, but did not choose to carry it
into execution until Mr. Vansittart arrived to give character,
weight, and effect to the whole. Mr. Holwell endeavouring
to stimulate him forward to the enterprize, which, without
him, could not be undertaken at all, General Calliaud
gave him such reasons, not for postponing, but for totally
abandoning it, shewing the inutility, injustice, and danger
of it, as must have damned it in the minds of all good men,
and ought to have damned it in his ; but your lordships
will see that they persevered in this plan, and that General
Calliaud endeavoured to delude the nabob hy the most
direct and positive assurances of friendship and protection
that it was possible to give. I enter into the circum
stances of this revolution the more fully, because it exposes
the mischievous licence taken by the servants of the Com
pany in shaking off the most permanent treaty guaranteed
by the Company's faith, and shews at the same time the
art and treachery by which this revolution was accom
plished. While the event stood pending; while Mr. Hol
well urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was every day

332 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. \6.
expected, there happened an event which throws much
light upon the whole proceeding. Your lordships will not,
when you have heard it, blame me for dilating upon it
fully and particularly, and bringing it before you, from the
beginning to the end; seeing that from this transaction
alone you will be enabled to form a correct judgment of
the state of things in that country, when Mr. Hastings was
sent for the purpose of reforming that state. My lords*
the business is commonly known by the name of the story
of the three seals. " An account of it is to be found in
the Appendix, No. i o. to the first report of the committee
of 1772- The name seems a little equivocal. It points
to what is not reported. It was an event in obscurity to
most people; arid amongst them perhaps I may say of my
self, that satisfied with the report, I have not examined to
the end all the appendix; and it is not till within the pre
sent year that I have been made acquainted with this me
morable history of the three seals. The plan was for the
destruction of the nabob's son Meeran, a youth in the
flower of his age, bold, vigorous, active, full of those po
litics, which men who deal in. usurpation are never wanting
in; commanding the army at that time, about the 15th
of April 1 760. The nabob himself, exactly at what time
before I cannot say, was at the camp, in which his son
acted as commander-in-chief, and General Calliaud under
him as commander of the auxiliary forces, of the Company.
Upon the 15th of April, (I am to tell it from the parties
themselves, I. wish I had other and better authority,) the
nabob came into the tent of General Calliaud, and with
looks of the utmost embarrassment, big with something
that was too large and burthensome to conceal, and too
difficult to be told, appeared to be in great distraction
of mind. The general, seeing him under this embar
rassment, kindjy and generously, as became a fast and sure
friend, employed (to use his own words) " some of those
kind of assurances which often open the hearts of men.''
Accordingly, fortified by these assurances, and willing to un
burden himself of this secret that oppressed him, he opened

1 78S..1 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 333
his heart to this new commander of his new allies, friends,
and protectors. I ought to have mentioned before, that
the present emperor of the Moguls, then the prince royal,
or shah zada, escaping the confinement of his father, had
put himself at the head of sundry chiefs, and finding Ben
gal broke down by various revolutions, penetrated into
the province of Bahar with considerable force; and there
the parties were in a state of war ; whether justly or not is
not .now the question. The nabob informed General
Calliaud he had received a message from the prince, in
forming him he had an intention, as well he might, sup
posing we were as well disposed to him as we shewed
ourselves afterwards, to surrender himself into the hands
of him the nabob, but at the same time wished for a
guarantee, that the commander-in-chief of the English
forces should give him security for his life and honour,
when he had surrendered himself in that manner. The
nabob stated that he had a further view — when the prince
had dehvered himself into his hands, his intention was to
¦murder him, which could not be done without the assist
ance of the general. In the first place, the prince, without
.the security of the general, would not deliver himself up
into his hands, and without his concurrence he could hot
he murdered. This. difficulty pressed upon the mind of
the nabob. The general heard this astonishing proposi--
tion without any considerable emotion. The general was
.a man habituated to great affairs, versed in revolutions,
and had a mind fortified for great events. He heard it
without shewing the least degree of abhorrence, by no
means at the same time accepting the proposition. He was
ready to do every thing for his service, but said, it should be
upon such terms. " as were consistent with the honour of
his country, and the sacred regard we paid to. our word ;"
and told him the assurance would not be given to the
prince by him until he had consulted Mr. Holwell who
governed. This happened in the morning of the 15th of
April, and on that morning General Calliaud, writes to
Mr. Holwell, an, account of; this conversation and propo
sition.

334 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l6.
In the evening, General Calliaud, Mr. Lushington,
Captain Knox, and Warren Hastings ; and upon the part
of the nabob, himself, his son, and the Persian Moonshy,
a sort of spy in that country, having assembled, the nabob
revived the proposition, and in a cool manner. Another
thing happened of a more extraordinary kind ; a person
called Conderry Dewan, or principal steward to the prince,
now the grand mogul and sovereign under whom the
Company hold their charter, had made a proposition,
that if the command of a very large and considerable ter
ritory that was held by his master, was assured to him,
together with the payment of a lack of rupees, he for
those considerations would deliver the mogul alive into
their hands, if he could ; if not, he would murder him.
This proposition was made to the English commander :
what discourse took place upon it is a little uncertain. Mr.
Hastings is stated to have acted as interpreter. General
Calliaud agreed to it without any difficulty. The instru
ment was drawn by the Persian Moonshy in the place, for
securing to the party the reward of this perfidious and
murderous act. Accordingly, first the nabob put his own
seal to it ; the nabob's son Meeran put his seal to it ; the
third was wanting, and Mr. Lushington was sent for near
half a mile to apply it j the three seals were thus put to
it ; and the transaction is known as the business or affair
of the three seals.
My lords, this business of the three seals did, by some
means or other, come to light. It is not quite fully ex
plained ; but suspicion was bred~in the minds of some per
sons by means of Mr. Holwell that came home. The story
was conveyed to the ears of the court of directors, and they
wrote a letter, under the date of the 7th of October 1761,
which was a little more than a year after this extraordi
nary transaction, stating that, in conjunction with the fu
ture nabob, General Calliaud had signed a paper, offering
the reward of a lack of rupees for the assassination of the
Shah Zada, which paper was offered to the chief at Patna
for him to sign, but which he refused doing. Accordingly,

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 335
the East India Company ordered a strict inquiry to be
made into this, which was considered as a most infamous
transaction ; but the East India Company, who did their
duty with great manliness of conduct, did it in a manner
that could not produce any serious mischief to the parties
who were guilty. They directed the very persons con
cerned in these transactions to do the best they could to
try one another. I entreat your lordships' attention to the
manner in- which this collusive business was conducted.
This matter came to be examined before the council upon
the 4th of October 1762. The council then consisted of
Peter Amyatt, William M'Guire, Warren Hastings, Wil
liam Hay, and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings having ac
complished his business as resident had taken the seat
to which his seniority entitled him in the council. But
here the difficulty arose, that Mr. Hastings, who is repre
sented to have acted as interpreter in this business, was not
a fit person to sit as judge in this affair. It likewise ap
peared, that there might be objections to some of the wit*
nesses; for Mr. Lushington had put his seal to the trans
action, and had made an affidavit at Patna that he
had so done, and that Warren Hastings was interpreter
upon that occasion. The question was, how to get the
interpreter out of his interpretation, and put him upon
the .seat of justice. The manner in which it was effected
is curious; it was thus: Mr. Lushington, who by this
time was got completely over, as he himself tells you, was,
by conferences with General Calliaud and Captain Knox,
and by arguments and reasons by them delivered, per
suaded to unsay his swearing, and declare he believed
that the affidavit which he had made before, and while the
transactions were recent, or nearly so, must have been
made by mistake — that he believed it was not Mr. Hast
ings' but he himself that interpreted. Mr. Lushington,
therefore, completely loses his memory, and accepts of a
memory given to him by persons who were a party in the
transaction; and Mr. Hastings is put into the condition of
a judge, and declared not to have been the interpreter upon

336 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l6.
that occasion. Mr. Hastings is examined; but, what is
most extraordinary, — and your lordships will look at it at
your leisure, and consider it as a pattern in cases of this
kind, — he does not recollect ; he thinks he was not there; he
thinks if he was there as interpreter he could not forget it.
And, upon this inaccurate memory of his, not venturing to
say positively he was not the interpreter and not there, Mr.
Hastings is discharged from being an accomplice ; removes
from the bar, and takes his place upon the seat of justice I
General Calliaud comes forward to make his defence.
Mr. Lushington was taken off his back ; but one person
remained troublesome to him ; and that was Captain Knox ;
but Captain Knox was made to say before Mr. Lushington
or some other witness, " that it was a pity so fine a young
fellow should fall in that manner," meaning by that " fine
young fellow," the prince royal, the descendant of Tamer
lane, from whom the East India Company derive their
charter. He was dissenting, and therefore some use is
made of his evidence. The defence of General Calliaud
was this, that he was apprehensive the nabob was alarmed
at the violent, designs formed against him by Mr. Hol
well, and therefore to quiet his mind with an opiate, made
up of murder and treason, (it must be an odd kind of mind
to be quieted by such means,) to quiet his mind, and to
shew how ready he was to go all kind of lengths with him,
and to give up body and soul to him, he put his seal to this
extraordinary act ; he put his seal to this wonderful paper.
He stated he was of opinion that nothing at all would hap
pen from it ; that no such murder would be committed,
whatsoever the intention of the parties were ; that such a
thing was not likely to take place; and that in effect he,
had said so in a letter which it happens very unluckily was
written the day after the. business of the seals. In that
letter he says, " I think nothing will come of this matter,
but there could be no harm in trying." He found this
leaning against him — this experimental treachery ; and he
says the object of the murder appeared to him good enough
to make a trial of; at the same time he was afraid nothing

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 337
would come of it ; and in general the whole point of it
was, that his mind was clear — " my hands are guilty,
but my heart is free." He conceived it was very improper,
undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected any
thing would happen from it. He let the paper out of his
hands, and put it into the hands of murderers. This was
brought forward as the extenuation. It was all done in
the purity of his heart ! This is the perpetual plea that
your lordships are to hear of, and will hear of for ever.
He thought it necessary to quiet the mind of the nabob ;
to give him perfect ease from the fears of Mr. Holwell.
From these motives he did the act so abhorrent from his
nature, and of which he says he expressed such abhorrence
upon the morning of the 15th. Mr. Hastings is then
called upon to state, whether the nabob was not informed
of the design. Mr. Hastings does not, however, recollect
any thing of the matter ; he certainly seems not to think he
ever mentioned it to the nabob, or the nabob to him ; but
he recollects speaking to some confidential secretaries of
the nabob, and making some inquiries of them, but oppo
site inquiry upon the subject he does not recollect that he
made. And further this deponent sayeth not. Now come
the court of directors that instituted this prosecution with
such vigour. I beg leave to state, that the nabob, one of
the parties to the design, was at that time a sort of pri
soner, or an exile, at Calcutta. His moonshey was there,
or might have been there; who, though a party to this
. transaction, was never called to an account for it, in any
sense or degree ; but the court of directors, (who are so
easily satisfied though so ready to condemn,) at the first
proposition, were ready afterwards to acquit, and not only
to acquit, but to approve the measure ; they at the same
time honourably acquit the party accused, and upon the
same grounds commend his fidelity and zeal for their
service. Such, my lords, is the whole story of this campaign
of the three seals. The great use and end of this exposi
tion is to shew your lordships that there were other trials
and other acquittals than those made by the collusive plan
vol. iv. 2

338 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6".
of the directors. Those are the proceedings upon which
I meant to illustrate and shew the horrible condition of
India; to let you see in one point of view in what a dread
ful and horrible condition that country stood in 1761, when
Mr. Hastings began his political campaign.
My lords, the second revolution the story of the three
seals interrupted for a while; though there was a con
tinuity of the business, the affair of the seals being intended
to accomplish one very necessary part of the plot, which
was to lull the nabob into a perfect security with regard to
the designs that were carrying on against him. Now, my
lords, the plan proceeds. There was another demurrer:
business of this kind is not easily got through : there was
the nabob's son to remove ; and to carry that revolution
was not very easy. Houses are strong that have eldest sons
grown up fit to command armies. The plan about the
month of July began to get into very great ripeness and
forwardness : General Calliaud urged it forward, and Mr.
Vansittart being hourly expected, a bargain was to be made
with that bold, desperate, designing man Cossim Ali Cawn,
a man who aimed at every thing, and scrupled at nothing
to obtain what he aimed at. His point was to be ap
pointed during the life of Jaffier Ali Cawn (with a design
of murdering him too) his lieutenant; which lieutenant,
according to the usage of that country, totally supersedes
the authority of the chief magistrate, and renders him a
cypher in the lieutenant's hands. The command of his
troops, and the whole administration of the country, is
given to the lieutenant. This was a part of the plan of
Cossim- AK. He was, after the succession to the lieu
tenancy, to be named successor to the nabob. There were,
however, several children in the way of that succession.
At this period the most extraordinary event happened that
I believe is recorded in history. The eldest son of the na
bob, the Prince Meeran, laying asleep in his tent, suddenly,
without any one knowing it, without any alarm or menace
even in the heavens being heard, without any one being
hurt or alarmed in the camp, is killed with a flash of

1 788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 339
lightning ! Thus, the gordian knot is broken. This prince
dies of this flash of lightning", and Mr. Lushington comes
in frightened, with his hair erect, to General Calliaud, and
tells him, in the utmost alarm, of the circumstance that
was afterwards to give so much pleasure ! The general was
seized with the fright, fearing the army should mutiny upon
the death of their chief. It was contrived as never any
thing was contrived before. The prince was killed ; none
of his attendants were alarmed ; not the least omrah knew
it. The fact was concealed by the ability, good conduct,
and dexterity of Colonel Calliaud, for seven ^ays together,
till he had led the army out of danger. It was a lucky,
providential, and most useful flash of lightening ! My
lords, there were at that time some of the East India Com-*
pany's people at Calcutta who were very schismatical in
this business. I do not mean to charge or prove that fact
as criminal, though there were those who did raise and
disseminate such notions.
As soon as this affair is over, then there happens
another interposition of Heaven. Mr. Vansittart comes
upon the scene ; he was rather debauched by the amazing
flood of difficulty. In a few days they send for Colonel
Calliaud; Mr. Vansittart's objections vanish in an instant;
every thing is easy; the general agrees to take the part they
saved for Cossim Ali Cawn ; and Mr. Hastings and they
open a treaty with him, conclude it, and leave the manage-*
ment to two persons, Mr. Holwell, and a person whom we
have heard of so often called Coja Petruse, or the respectable
Peter. Mr. Holwell and the nabob settled the prelimina
ries first ; and the whole is afterwards conducted by him.
An effective plan is laid, and the revolution is accom
plished. Cosim Ali Cawn was to have the succession and
the present lieutenancy ; every thing is put into his hands,
and he is to make large concessions, which you shall hear
of presently, to the Company. Cosim Ali Cawn proposed
a good supplement to the lightning flash ; he proposed to
Mr. Holwell to murder the nabob ; but Mr. Holwell was
a man of too much honour to suffer that; he flew out in a
z 2

340 SPEECHES IN WEStMlNSTER-HAEL. [Feb. \6'
minute ; and declared the whole business should stop, un
less the affair of the murder was given up, but, at the
same time, if he gave the nabob over to him, and put his
person, his treasures, and every thing else into his hands,
he might have had no great reason to complain, if he was
to be left to the execution of his own projects in his own
way. My lords, you will have an opportunity of observing the
progress of these plots. There is one thing that has con
stantly and uniformly pervaded the whole policy of the
Company's servants ; and which they declared to be the
principle of their actions at that time — first to take care
of the public interest ; next of their own : first to take care
the Company got an enormous bribe, and, under the
shadow of that enormous bribe, to secure all the little
paltry presents and emoluments to themselves. And, ac
cordingly, there were three rich maritime provinces, or
nearly so, Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, to be
severed from the soubaship, and given to the Company.
The manner of the stipulations it is not necessary to trouble
you with. The treaty was signed, sealed, and executed by
these parties at Calcutta, with the greatest possible secrecy.
The lieutenancy was secured to him ; and he was likewise,
as a secret article, to give the sum of 2oo,aooJ. as a re
ward to the gentlemen for serving him so effectually, and
their country as well. Upon these stipulations, Mr. Van
sittart (Mr. Hastings being then at the durbar, and having
everything prepared and smooth,) went up : there was a
commission of delegation, consisting of Mr. Vansittart
and General Calliaud. They went up to the seat of go
vernment of the country, to congratulate and to pay their
devotions to the nabob, upon the coming of a new go
vernor into the place, and to give assurances of mu
tual friendship. They went up into the country, after
securing the country below ;. and they first persuaded the
nabob to deliver over his power, so negociated for, into
the hands of Cossim Ali Cawn. They proposed this, but
the man was frightened out of his wits at it, and asked,

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 341
" What is it he has bid for me ? I will give half as much
again to save myself as he has offered ; pray let me know
what my price is." This he desired in vain. They were
too firm and faithful to their engagement. They resolved
he should be put into the-hands of Cossim Ali Cawn. The
nabob thought that more dangerous than giving up the
whole : he surrenders up the whole — they grasped at it ;
he throws himself into a boat ; he would not stay an hour ;
but goes down to Calcutta, to leave his blood there if we
would take it. The present, then, was a sum of 200,000/.
or thereabouts. The expence of the revolution is stated
somewhere about that sum ; a little more or less ; it is no
matter. This money seems to be the leading principle :
though a little, low principle, as it is, it seems to be the
most active. The heart is not the largest part of the body,
but it sets the rest of the machine a going. Here, my
lords, ended the second revolution in that country, effected,
indeed, without bloodshed* but with infinite treachery,
and with infinite expence to the Company.
Cossim Ali Cawn had scarce got upon the throne,
which he had mounted by our public spirit and his iniquity,
when he began to fortify himself against those who
were or could be the donors of such fatal gifts: he re
moved from Moorshedabad higher up the country, to
Mongheer, in order to be more out of our view : he kept
his word pretty faithfully to the Company ; and though he
had no money, he gave obligations, by the name of teeps,
a term with which your lordships will become intimate in
the progress of these transactions. By this means was the
whole of this business conducted. He began directly to
rack and tear the provinces left to him, to get as much fronr
those provinces as should compensate him for the revenue
of the great provinces he had lost. Accordingly, he began
a scene of extortion, horrid, nefarious, and without ex
ample, upon that country: he is one of the precedents
which Mr. Hastings, in his defence at the bar of the House
of Commons, thought- fit to adduce as those that would
justify him in the conduct he pursued. This Cossim Ali
2 3

342 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb-ld.
Cawn, after he had -racked and acted like a tyrant, fell
upon the country. My lords, there was a person called
Juggut Seet, a banker, such a one as was never heard of
in the world before ; his house was similar to the Bank of
England; their correspondence extended all over India,
and it is believed they were not worth less than seven or
eight millions of money. This house was a prey fit. for a
tyrant ; but Mr. Holwell, who ought to have been security
for all the property delivered over to that man, said of this
house, that its receipts were to be delivered over to Satan
to be buffeted. He predicted it, and frequently men
tioned it, and this it was that caused the misfortunes
to fall upon them. He had chosen a Satan to buffet them,
who did indeed buffet them, both by robbery and by
the murder of the principal persons of that house. There
was such a scene of ferocious tyranny, such a destruction and
cutting up by the roots of public credit in that country, as
was never before exhibited. There was, my lords, another
great person called Ramnaram, who had received from
the English the most positive assurances of friendship and
good faith ; notwithstanding which, Mr. M'Guire dehvered
him up for five thousand gold mohurs, something more
than 8000Z. sterling — delivered him up to be imprisoned,
to be robbed, to be tortured, and finally, to be murdered
by Cossim Ali Cawn, our government looking on at
the scene, I had almost omitted to mention a Mr.
Motte, who was then a friend of Mr. Hastings. There
was a person there, a Vackeel, in the greatest confi
dence with him ; he strove for his house and property.
There was some scuffle between them ; one attempted to
seize, the other to retain. They made a complaint to the
nabob, and he ordered this man, for this very scuffle about
his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a cannon.
I am not to tell you all the villainies of tins tyrant that sat
upon the throne of Bengal. The government never en
deavoured to correct him in the exercise of any one of
his tyrannies.
My lords, there is. one circumstance that comes across

1 788. J SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 343
me here, which will tend to shew another grievance that
afflicted that country, and afflicted it long, and was
one of the causes of these chief disasters. And I doubt
whether it is so completely extirpated, .that some parts of
its roots may not remain in the ground at this moment ;
that is, commerce. In order to possess themselves of its
riches, every country in the world was bringing that coun
try to ruin. The Company's servants used their dustuck.
The Company had large privileges under the dustuck, or
permit, for their goods to pass without duties in the coun
try. The servants of the Company used it for their private
trade. Whilst the natives of the country were powerful
thpy used it with moderation ; but as soon as the power
came into their hands, their trade was what you would ex
pect of the trade of a man who is an emperor ; it was an
imperial trade ; it was more like robbery than trade : they
appeared every where, they sold at their own prices to
others, and they forced people to sell to them at their
prices ; they appeared like an army going to pillage people
under the pretence of commerce, rather than any thing
else. They superseded the magistracy, that disappeared
every where before them; in vain the people applied for
protection from the. English merchants going through the.
country, and ravaging them worse than Tartar conquerors.
My lords, Mr. Hastings did the best he could to prevent it.
He was afraid if this went on, there would be little left to
him for confiscation or extortion, in that country which was
governed by Cossim Ali Cawn, was ravaged by dustucks
in the upper provinces, was torn to pieces by his rapacity
in the lower. This brought on the treaty of Mongheer,
which was to give them some relief against this cruel,
cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse than the
ravages of the sovereign. Mr. Vansittart made a treaty,
known by the title of the treaty of Mongheer, which tended
very much to repair the trade and put it in a just and proper ;
way. As it ever was believed in. that country, that rapacity
and trade could never be superseded by any thing but
bribery, and nothing but corruption, could be superseded
2 4

344 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. \6.
by oppression, in that way the select committee made a
treaty without the rest of the council — some of the parties
were advocates for the treaty ; others were advocates for the
trade as it is called. It was the universal opinion that the
trade was bought by a great sum of money, and there are
evidences of that sum of money which was stated to be paid
for it ; but it never has been investigated to the bottom,
as it ought. We have upon our records the sum of seventy
thousand pounds that was paid to the persons concerned in
that negociation. The rest were exceedingly hurt, seeing
they were not benefited by the negociation, and were
losing by the trade. We have it on our journals. At the
same time their trade was prescribed, but the negociators
were not proscribed ; and Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Hastings
were not subject to those general regulations.
In the disputes which this settlement produced, un
doubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. Vansittart were upon the
right side — I put the motives and the secret history out of
the case — they were perfectly upon the right side ; and
they shewed to a demonstration the mischiefs of this trade.
However, as the other party were strong, and did not
directly let go their hold of this great advantage, first
there were dissentions, then murders ; various complaints
arose at Illahabad, and Cossim Ali Cawn was driven to
the wall ; at the same time having made what he could of
his situation ; and war broke out at last between us. How
did it break out? This Cossim AU Cawn, whom Mr.
Hastings had put upon the throne of Bengal, signalized
his first acts of hostilities against the faith of treaties,
the rules of war, and every principle of honour. This
pretended emperor, that was put upon the throne, by Mr.
Hastings, knowing his character and disposition, and
knowing very well what such a man was capable of doing ;
this man, my lords, massacred the English wherever he
met them. There were about two hundred of the Com
pany's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered with every
circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their limbs
were cut in pieces. That tyrant whom Mr. Hastings had

1 788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 345
set up, cut, and hacked the limbs of the British subjects
in the most cruel and perfidious manner. He threw them
into wells, and polluted the waters of the country with
British blood. Immediately war was declared against him
in form. That war set the whole country in aflame, and
then first began to appear other persons upon the scene,
with whose business your lordships will find yourselves
deeply concerned. It was necessary then for another nabob
to be put up. Another revolution and war was resorted to.
But the man who had been dethroned for his tyranny, for
his incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he was said to
have committed, and for his total unfitness and disinclina
tion to all government, this very man they look up to again to
put him upon the throne, from which two years before they
had deposed him. This revolution was not made without
being brought forward according to the usual order of pro
cession, in which the youngest walks first. First came the
Company. And the Company had secured to it those
provinces that Cossim Ali Cawn had given, rather by way
of mortgage than any thing else, in perpetuity, or rather
by way of donation, to the army and navy, that had little
to do in this affair. They taxed him — what sum do you
think ? They taxed him no less, with that empty and un
done treasury, in that harassed country, than 500,000/. for
their "private emolument. For the consideration of this
iniquitous trade and its abuses, that sum was given to in
dividuals in this revolution. Now come the Company in
properly. Upon hearing this they were all in a flame.
The directors were all on fire at this donation to the army ;
and declared they would give it no support or countenance
whatever. You will see in the course of this affair, what
countenance and support they did give it. In the mean
time, the gentlemen did not trouble their heads much about
the Company; but .went on to exact, and got this 500,000/.
as soon as they could. This was the third revolution. But,
for this amazing sum, this poor miserable prince was
dragged from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, and back again
from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, the sport of fortune, and

34<5 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l6.
the plaything of avarice. This poor man was again put
upon the musnud. He was put up as a pageant upon
his throne, and no authority was left him but to give gifts
and. donations ; that is the primum vivens, and the ultimum
moriens of these unhappy princes ; that is the only thing
left. One would have imagined, my lords, that the Eng
lish council would have been satisfied with what they had
accomplished ; that they would have remained quiet from
war; and that the money that was extorted upon this
occasion would have been sufficient. But no — they wished
to have something more ; they did not like the restitution ;
and therefore the)' set about deposing the monarch they
had put upon the throne. Cossim Ali Cawn was car
rying on a fierce war against him. They could not, with a
good grace, depose the man they had so recently set up ;
— but what did they do?
My lords, there were at this time, at the court of the
soubah, two persons of great consideration in Bengal, of
whose names you will hear ; the principal was Mahomed
Reza Cawn, a man of great rank, much authority, under
stood piety in his own religion, great learning in the law,
of the first class of nobility in the country, at the same
time dreaded, abhorred, and feared beyond any thing else.;
by the nabob, who thought him much better entitled to the
soubaship, for his qualifications, than himself: though
upon the other side there was another of the natives, a
chief man among the Gentoos, known by the name of the
great rajah Nundcomar. He was of the same rank among
the Gentoos as Mahomed Reza Cawn was among the Ma
homedans. Being a Gentoo, the nabob knew that he
could not aspire to the office of soubahdar ; for that reason
he appointed him to be his naib, or deputy ; whilst he was
naturally inimical to Mahomed Reza Cawn, whom he
dreaded, fearing that he might find a flaw in his title. Qf
this competition the English council, in whom all the
efficient power resided, were resolved to profit. The office
was put up to auction. Mahomed Reza Cawn bid largely j
Nundcomar bid largely; it was not money but the merit?

1 788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 347
of Mahomed Reza Cawn, who was deemed more likely to
keep the nabob in a fitter condition for future exactions ;
but with a bribe of 220,000/. (a large sum of money,) he
tempted them to invest him with the naibship. Nundco
mar fell below his price; he fought the battle as fast as he
could ; it was eagle to eagle ; as fast as he bid upon one side,
Nundcomar bid upon the other ; but Nundcomar was
pushed to the wall; some received his money, others re
ceived the other's money, and a deputation was sent to
the miserable nabob to dethrone him ; they force Nund
comar, his only support, from his side, for the purpose of
putting Mahomed Reza Cawn there. This split the coun
cil into factions ; the smallestparty adhered to Nundcomar.
Jaffier Ali Cawn clung, as to the last pillar of his support,
to Nundcomar; finding there was a deputation going on to
sell him again, he strove to hold Nundcomar, and died in
the struggle... His gjgantic form, overwhelmed with disap
pointments,-; wa% driven into the jaws of death ; he fell at
once the miserable"victim of the successive changes and re
volutions, which had been brought about through versatile
rapacity. Thus fell that man of gigantic form. The same
deputation continued. They would not prefer the son ;
but a son of a harlot they preferred to another child, be
cause, "not having, a good title, he wonld be in a state of
greater dependance upon them. My lords, I know of no
other reason for , it, but they would never completely re
cognize him until he was obliged, clinging to them as his
father did, to renounce Nundcomar, whom they tore from
his side and carried dovvT* to Calcutta. That man having
the weakness to become the first informer, was the first in
point of person ; whom they fell upon, and he was after
wards charged, with having been guilty of forgery, and
hanged by corrupt judges. After Cossim Ali Cawn had
been defeated hy.the very great merit of our commanders,
Who shewed as much military conduct as ever was known,
he fought every inch of his way,, and carried with him out
of the couniry three millions sterling, in money or in
jewels. Cossim Ali. Cawn, like a Hon, turned his face

348 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l6.
upon his pursuers, till he went along the frontiers, and
drew with him the soubah of Oude. The Mogul entered
on one side ; Bulvant Sing, the rajah of Benares, entered
at the other. After various changes of fortune, that which
began in the treachery of the civil service was redeemed
out of it by the hands of military merit.
My lords, there are many examples of the same sort ;
but the Company hearing of all these changes ; hearing and
knowing such an incredible body of perfidy ; that there
was a general market made of the country, and of the
people of the country ; that the flames of war were spread
from country to country; and that the rapacity which
originally gave rise to it was following it in its progress ;
the Company, foreseeing that unless a stop was speedily put
to the mal-practices of their servants, their own existence
would be endangered, and feeling themselves sinking by
the conquests obtained, found it necessary to come to some
settlement. Having had disputes with Lord Clive, they
came to a compromise with him, and sent him out to that
country in the year 1765, in order, that by his name,
credit, authority, and weight, he might rectify the in
numerable abuses that had prevailed, particularly that
fundamental one, the abuse of presents; for all those
bribes and rewards had not the name of condition or stipu
lation, but came in the shape of presents, or gratuities
given afterwards. The parties might give them what
names they pleased, but they were the donations of misery
to power, the generosity of wretchedness to oppressors,
and left neither property nor security to any person in
the country. Lord Clive went out with new covenants.
And this makes the great part of the history of Mr.
Hastings's crimes, which were the origin of the whole.
Lord Clive went out to put an end to them, though he him
self was a large receiver of them. I think they choose well.
His name and authority would necessarily have great
weight. They sent him out with amazing powers, such as
no servant of the Company ever had before. I do not
pretend to uphold the totality of his conduct; some mea~

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 349
sures he took cannot be defended; but I do say, that the
plans he laid down, and the course he pursued, were in
general good and well imagined, and that he settled great
foundations if they had been adhered to. For, my lords,
he first took strong measures, being to put an end to a great
many abuses that prevailed in that country : then he went
up into it, and did for a military man an act that will ever
have great military merit ; he put a boundary to the aspiring
spirit of the rulers of the country ; he circumscribed them
in their limits, and said, here at the river Cawumassa is
the period of the British dominions. He secured this to
the quiet of the country. He first settled the soubah of
Oude, who had been driven from his dominions by the
ability of this commander. He did as he pleased, and he
astonished all Asia, He reinstated this enemy of the coun
try after having defeated his arms ; by which he did more
to quiet the minds of the people of Asia than by any thing
that had been done before. The Mogul was at the head
of the Mussulman religion — the head likewise of the em
pire ; a name honoured and esteemed even in the midst of
those ruins. He caused him to be recognized by all the
parties concerned; he obtained the dewanny, which is
the grand period of the constitutional interest of the Com
pany in the affairs of India; he quieted the minds of the
people ; he gave to the settlement of Bengal a constitu
tional form, and a legal right, acknowledged and recog
nized now for the first time by all the princes of the
country. He had the care, and he took care, of Bulvant
Sing, the rajah of Benares, who took our part in that
war. As the country had before granted the superiority
of that province to Bulvant Sing, which the Company or
dered to be re-settled, he secured to him the quiet inde
pendence given by his former masters in that part of the
world. For the rents which ought to be paid to the
vizairrut, Bulvant Sing paid various sums to the amount
of 150,000/. From the beginning we have been great
gainers, This was secured by. Bulvant Sing. All our
enemies were quieted by the restitution of the .nabob of

350 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1*5.
Oude, and all Asia was conciliated by our settlement of
the king to whom we gave it. The unhappy fugitive prince
was now deposed, and was flying about, the sport of for
tune. He gave him a place of residence in an honourable
way, and a revenue able to support him ; and he received
the various powers, which made a considerable share of
regal authority. They gave the country peace ; and as to
the Company, they took the business exactly in the way it
was best for them : they took not the vice-royalty, as Mr.
Holwell would have forced them to do; they left the go
vernment of the countryXr the hands of the soubah, a
vice-roy, to administer justice under the forms of royalty.
The Company took a much less invidious thing — the
Dewanny, the. great stewardship, which gave them the
whole management of the revenue, and made them appear
not the oppressorsj but the protectors of the people. This
was the-office they took. It had all the real power without
the invidious oppression of it; it gave them every thing —
as the nabob was now falling into the mere state of royalty,
or vice-royalty, stript of the power of -maintaining any
troops : but we maintain them for him by contract, to pre
serve the dignity of the court, the prejudices of the Ma
hometans, and particularly for their great nobility, that
suffered more by the loss of all employments : but the re
venue that was left him was only four or five hundred
thousand a year. On these happy foundations the Com
pany claim and enjoy more securely the benefit of the reve
nues. They put the collection of them into the hands of
Mahomed Reza Khan, who filled the office of deputy-
soubah when Lord Clive arrived, and whom he did not
displace. Lord Clive did not stay long enough in that country to
give consistency and stability to the settlement he made ;
and, accordingly, the man that followed, though I believe
he was the honestest man that ever served the country, I
mean Governor Vereist^ had not weight enough given him
to poise the Country, though there were not such grievances
as entirely subverted the estates of great and ancient fami-

17880 SPEECP^? IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 35 1
liesj and entirely changed the settlements of the people.
But this made it necessary for the Company to send out a
commission in 1769, of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and
Mr. Scrafton. The unfortunate fate of these gentlemen is
known to all the world. The grand thing the Company
ordered these supervisors to do, was to give directions to
the servants of the Company, that they should none of
them, upon any account whatever, take presents. As soon
as it was known that the commissioners unfortunately pe
rished, as every one knows they did, the Company were
preparing to send out another commission, for the rectifi
cation of those grievances, when the parliament thought it
necessary, from the full sense they had of the magnitude
of the evils, to take the subject into their hands; to ap
point another commission in a parliamentary way, of which
Mr. Hastings was one, for the better government of that
country. Whether Mr. Hastings was appointed upon ac
count of his local knowledge, and the number of friends
he had there, I cannot say ; but soon after the deputation
for the restoration of Jaffier Ali Cawn, and before Lord
Clive arrived, he came to England ; and here he staid at
tending to his own interests ; and he negociated so suc
cessfully, that he went out to India with great powers.
Indeed, when this government was settled, Moorshedabad
still continued the seat of the native government, and of all
the collections. The Company were satisfied with putting
a resident at the durbar, or court of the nabob, as a con
troul over the native collector.
My lords, I should not have given you this trouble, if
it had not been necessary, to possess you clearly with the
progressive steps by which the Company's government
was established, and superseded the native government.
The first step that was taken was the appointing super
visors in every province, as a controul over the native col
lectors. The next was to establish a general council of
revenue at Moorshedabad, to superintend the deputy great
steward, Mahomed Reza Cawn ; and lastly, in the year
i775>, that council was by Mr. Hastings overturned; the

352 SPEECHES IN WESTMIlN£l*^.HALL. [Feb. I (Si
whole controul was brought down to Calcutta ; Mahomed
Reza Cawn, by order of the Company, was suspended,
turned out, in fact, from all his offices ; and turned out for
.reasons and upon principles which you will hereafter see ;
and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of the na
tives' hands in the first instance, and settled in the supreme
council of presidency at Calcutta. And so it remained
until the year 178 1, when Mr. Hastings made another re
volution, and took it out of the hands . of . the council-
general, which the acts of parliament and the acts of the
Company had invested with it, and put it in a subordinate
council, entirely dependant upon himself, and separate
from the public authority.
Thus, my lords, you have before you the whole of
these revolutions. I have stated them with perspicuity,
and the grounds and principles upon which they were
made, and the abuses that grew out of them one by one, as
they happened ; as every revolution produced these abuses.
You see the native government vanishing away, until it
was reduced to such a situation, as to be fit for nothing
but to become a private perquisite in the hands of Mr.
Hastings, to be granted to whatever peculators he pleased.
That government having vanished, the English govern
ment succeeded, in which Mr. Hastings, first as president,
appointed by the Company, and afterwards as governor-
general, nominated by act of parliament, had the prin
cipal share. It is for crimes committed in these two stations
that he now stands before your lordships.
My lords, after passing over that vast period, that
troubled period, between the year 1760 and the settle
ment made in 1774, and having placed the government in
Mr. Hastings's hands, we are to consider how he com
ported himself in that situation : and the first thing for us
to have will be some test by which to try his conduct ; for
Mr. Hastings will conceive that a British governor, sent
abroad, is sent to provide for the good of the people as
much as possible, in the spirit of the laws of this country, on
which, in all respects, their conservation, their happiness,
l3

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 353
and their prosperity depend. These are the principles on
which he is to account for his conduct. The rule by which
your lordships are to try him is this : — What a British
governor, acting upon British principles, in such a situ
ation should do, or forbear — whether he has done, or whe
ther he has forborne, in the manner a British governor
ought to do and to forbear. If he- has done his duty he
will be honourably acquitted. From this country he
goes to another for principles and examples. But this
country will force him to be tried by its laws. In this
country the law is not acquainted with that known crime
called misconduct in office. It may not be tried in inferior
courts. Here. you are competent to any thing. If you
are competent to proceed, you are competent to the know
ledge, of the offence. And here, my lords, I am directed
to state to you the principles on which Mr. Hastings de
clares he has conducted his government, which he has as
serted, first in several of his letters to the East India
Company, and next in a paper called his Defence, de
livered to the House of Commons. I am desired to say, that
if those grounds of defence are good, undoubtedly there
is a great alleviation of his guilt, if not a taking of it en
tirely away. If those grounds are not good, we claim to
contend, that Mr. Hastings, being a British governor, ought
to govern as a British governor, not by British forms ; for if
there . ever was a case in which " the letter killeth but
the. spirit giveth life," it is this case: we call for the
spirit of equity, of justice, of protection, of lenity, which
ought to characterize every British subject in the exercise
of power ; and you know no other principles. And should
he be tried, which he has desired to be in his Defence,
and should say, that actions, if tried in Asia, do not bear
the same moral qualities that they would do if tried in
Europe, I am called upon positively to deny the position.
By saying so we are to let you know, that this gentleman
has formed a geographical morality, by which the duties of
men in public and private stations are not to be governed
by their relation to the great Governor of the universe, and
VOL. IV. A A

354 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb, 1 6.
by their relation to one another, but by climates. After
you have crossed the equinoxial line, all the virtues die, as
certain animals do. Against this geographical morality I
do protest, and declare therefore, that Mr. Hastings shall
not screen himself under it, because I trust that not a great
many words will be necessary to shew your lordships, that
the laws of morality are the same every where ; and that
actions that are stamped with the character of peculation,
extortion, oppression, and barbarity in England, are so in
Asia, and all the world over. This I contend for, not in
terms, but in substance. Mr. Hastings comes before you,
he says, not as a British governor ; he says he comes as a
subah, a bashaw with three tails ; he says, " I had arbitrary
power to exercise, and I exercised it. Slaves I found the
people, slaves they are ; they are so by their constitution ;
I did not make it for them ; I was unfortunately bound to
exercise it, and I did exercise it." This, my lords, is the
plea in bar : but I trust and hope you will not judge him by
laws and institutions which you do not know, but by
those you do know and understand, and under whose
power and authority Mr. Hastings went from England.
When your lordships shall hear what we have heard, and
know what we have known, I am confident that you will
join with the Commons in their detestation of such
doctrine as that of an English governor desiring to be tried
as a British subject, and yet declaring that he governed
upon the principles of arbitrary power. As this is boldly
maintained, and as, no doubt, his conduct was corres
pondent to those principles, those principles and his con
duct are to be tried together. My lords, will you receive
this basis of all his defence? It falls to my lot to shew,
whether or not a power, or powers, of that nature, ever
were delegated to him by any acts of parliament. " I know,"
(says he,) " that the acceptance of the sovereignty of Be
nares, &c. is not acknowledged or admitted by any act of
parliament; and yet, by the particular interference of the ma
jority of the council, the Company is clearly and indisputably
seized of that sovereignty. That if, therefore,t he sovereignty

S788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 3^5
of Benares, as ceded to us by the vizier, have any rights what
ever annexed to it, (and be not a mere empty word without
meaning,) those rights must be such as are held, counte
nanced, and established by the law, custom, and usage of
the Mogul empire, and not by the provisions of any British
act of parliatment hitherto enacted." I trust, my lords,
that you will assert your power over British subjects, as
serting or exercising any authorities under any man what
ever, whenever he does not exercise them under the sanction
of the law. He then proceeds with his Defence, and says,
" Those rights (and none other) I have been the involun
tary instrument of enforcing. And if any future act of
parliament shall positively, or by implication, tend to an
nihilate those very rights, or their exertion, as I have ex
erted them, I much fear, that the boasted sovereignty of
Benares, which was held up as an acquisition almost ob
truded upon the Company, against my consent and
opinion, (for I acknowledge that even then I foresaw many'
difficulties and inconveniencies in its future exercise,) I fear,
I say, that this sovereignty will be found a burthen instead
of a benefit ; a heavy clog rather than a precious gem to
its present possessors. I mean, unless the whole of our
territory in that quarter shall be rounded, and made an
uniform compact body, by one grand and systematic ar
rangement ; such an arrangement as shall do away all the
mischiefs, doubts^ and inconveniences (both to the go
vernors and the governed) arising from the variety of te
nures, rights, and claims, in all cases of landed property
and feudal jurisdiction in India ; from the informality, in
validity, and instability of all engagements in so divided
and unsettled a state of society ; and from the unavoidable
anarchy and confusion of different laws, religions, and
prejudices, moral, civil, and political, all jumbled toge
ther in one unnatural and discordant mass. Every part of
Hindostan has' been constantly exposed to these and similar
disadvantages ever since the, Mahomedan conquests. The
Hindoos, who never incorporated with their conquerors,
were kept in order only by the strong hand of power. The
A A 2

35<5 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6.
constant necessity of similar exertions would increase at
once their energy and extent, so that rebellion itself is the
parent and promoter of despotism. Sovereignty in India
implies nothing else; for I know not how we can form an
estimate of its powers but from its visible effects — arid
those are every where the same, from Cabool to Assam.
The whole history of Asia is nothing more than precedents
to prove the invariable exercise of arbitrary power. To all
this I strongly alluded in the minutes I delivered in coun
cil, when the treaty with the new vizier was on foot in
1775 ; and I wished to make Cheyt Sing independent, be
cause in India dependance included a thousand evils, many
of wliich I enumerated at that time, and they are entered
in the 9th clause of the first section of this charge. I
knew the powers with which an Indian sovereignty is armed,
and the dangers to which tributaries are exposed. I knew,
that from the history of Asia, and from the very nature of
mankind, the subjects of a despotic empire are always vi
gilant for the moment to rebel, and the sovereign is ever
jealous of rebellious intentions. A zemindar is an Indian
subject, and as such exposed to the common lot of his
fellows. " The mean and depraved state of a mere zemin
dar" is, therefore, this very dependance above mentioned
on a despotic government — this very proneness to shake
off his allegiance, and this very exposure to continual
danger from his sovereign's jealousy, which are conse
quent on the political state of Hindostanic governments.
Bulwant Sing if he had been, and Cheyt Sing as long as
he was a zemindar, stood exactly in this " mean and de
praved state," by the constitution of his country. I did
not make it for him, but would have secured him from it.
Those who made him a zemindar entailed upon him the
consequences of so mean and depraved a tenure. Ally Verdy
Khaun and Cossim Ally fined all their zemindars, on the
necessities of war, and on every pretence, either of court
necessity, or court extravagance."
My lords, you have now heard the principles upon
which Mr- Hastings governed that part of Asia which is

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-H ALL. 357
subject to the British empire. You have heard the
opinion x>f the man, as to the depraved state of those
that are subject to it. You have heard his lecture
on arbitrary power, which he states the constitution of
Asia to be founded upon. You have heard the appeal he
makes to it, and the practice he employs to justify it. My
lords, do you really think the nation will endure — that
any human creature would bear — to hear an English go
vernor defend himself on such principles — that no man
has any security for any thing but by being totally inde
pendent of the British government? You may, if you
please, (God forbid you should, but I believe you will
have little disposition,) believe him, when he asserts that
he was a despotic prince ; that he could use arbitrary power ;
and, of course, that all his actions are covered with a shield.
Suppose we had been allied with Russia; that we had
made conquests in Crete, or Peloponnesus ; and that a go
vernor coming from that country, should say, " such a
bashaw with three tails did so before me — such a bashaw
took bribes with both his hands — I know nothing of the
constitution of Asia but from its practice." Will you ever
hear the rights of mankind made subvervient to the practice
of government? It will be your lordships' duty and joy —
it will be your pride and triumph, to teach men, that they
are to conform their practice to principles, and not to de
rive their principles from the wicked, corrupt, and abomi
nable practice of any man whatever. Where is the man
that ever before dared to mention the practice of all the
villains, of all the notorious depredators, as his justifica
tion ? To gather up, and put it all into one code, and call
it the duty of a British governor ? I believe so audacious a
thing was never before attempted by man. " He had arbi
trary power !" My lords, the East India Company have not
arbitrary power to give him. The king has no arbitrary
power to -give. Neither your lordships, nor the Commons,
nor the whole legislature, have arbitrary power to give. Ar
bitrary power is a thing which no man can give. My lords,
no man can govern himself by his own will ; much less can
A a 3.

358 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6=
he be governed by the will of others. We are all born —
high as well as low — governors as well as governed — in
subjection to one great, immutable, pre-existing law, a
law prior to all our devices and all our conspiracies, para--
mount to our feelings, by which we are connected in the
eternal frame of the universe, and out of which we cannot
stir..- This great law does not arise from our combi
nations and compacts ; on the contrary, it gives to them
all the sanction they can have. Every good and perfect
gift is of God : all power is of God ; and He who has
given the power, and from whom alone it originates, will
never suffer it to be corrupted. Therefore, my lords, if
this be true — if this great gift of government be the
greatest and best that was ever given by God to mankind,
will he suffer it to be the play-thing of man, who would
place his own feeble and ridiculous will on the throne of
divine justice? It is not to be overturned by conquest;
for by conquest, which is the more immediate designation
of the hand of God, the conqueror succeeds to that alone
which belonged to the sovereign before him. He cannot
have absolute power by succession ; he cannot have it by
compact ; for the people cannot covenant themselves out of
their duty to their rights. If any, by conquest, by com
pact, or by succession, exercise power which, for the
good of mankind, ought never to exist, those who gave
that power, and those who receive it, are alike criminal ;
and there is no man that is not bound to resist it, and who
ought not so to do. Nothing but the fear of greater mis
chief, and the apprehension of absolute destruction, can
justify men in the usurpation, or endurance of it, much less
justify those that sit in the seat of justice. For law and
arbitrary power are at eternal hostility.- Name me a ma
gistrate, and 1 will name property ; name me power, and
I will name protection. To speak otherwise is blasphemy
to religion ; it is contradiction in terms. We should be
brought back to our original situation ; we should be made
to know ourselves, as men born under law. He that
would substitute will in the place of law is a public enemy
to the world; therefore, my lords, against law, no power

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 359
can be set up. I know from whence this idea of arbitrary
power has come. It comes from a gross fountain. It does
happen that the supreme power in every country is not
subject to prosecution. It is so in all governments. The
king of this country is undoubtedly unaccountable for his
actions. If the House of Lords should abuse their power,
and give the most iniquitous judgment, for the sake of ob
taining popular favour, or of avoiding sovereign displea
sure, there is no way of calling them to account for it.
If the House of Commons had been guilty of so scanda
lous an iniquity as not to have prosecuted those crimes and
those principles which we now stand forward to accuse,
they would not be accountable for their conduct in any
ordinary way ; because it is one of the perogatives of the
supreme power. But are they less criminal ? Is it less re
beUion against the Divine Majesty ? Are they less hateful
to men ? My lords, they are not.
My lords, Mr. Hastings claims an acquittal at your
hands ; Mr. Hastings is to have the advantage of council.
God forbid he should not have them ! but, then, the people
under him are to have none of those advantages. How
can any man dare te say, that the people below are to have
no laws, no rights ? I now declare, that as no government
ever had arbitrary power, it cannot delegate that power to
any person under it, so as not to leave him accountable
upon the principles on which it was given. Would not this
be a contradiction in terms ? Let me say, for the honour
of human nature and for the glory of England, that we
have better institutions for the preservation of the rights of
man than any other country in the world. Yet I may
boldly assert, that no nation on the face of the earth has ever
meant to delegate this power. The oriental governments
know nothing of this arbitrary power. My duty has led me
to a minute inspection of the subject, and I challenge
the whole race of man to shew me, that any oriental go
vernors have a right to act upon arbitrary principles. The
Mahomedan government includes the greater part of Asia
—¦the Mahomedan government is a government bylaw; it
A A 4

360 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6.
is a law enforced by! stronger power than any law that can
bind an European sovereign. The law is given by God, and
it has the double sanction of law and religion, with which
the prince cannot dispense. If any man will produce the
Koran to me, and shew me one text in it to the contrary, I
will give up my point. I have read those books, and am
conversant with the decrees of Asia, in which there is not
a word or syllable against it. As the Mahometans have
this law, so they have their interpreters and expounders of
this law, whom they call men of the law. These men are.
conservators of the law ; and, to secure it against arbitrary
power, they are themselves made secure against the oppres
sion of the sovereign, who has no power over them ; he can
neither touch their rights nor their property. The first thing
that a man of the law has, he is secured from and made
independent of the sovereign, supreme, executive power.
My lords, to bring the thing nearer home ; since we are
challenged, since we; are brought into Asia,, and wrapped
up as Mr. Hastings is with his supposed instruments of
despotism in Asia, let us look at the government of
the Grand Seignior. Is this an arbitrary power ? Every
one knows, that great, high, and exalted as this abstract
sovereign has been made by our prerogative lawyers, (and
they cannot exalt him too highly,) he cannot impose a tax,
he cannot dispose of the life, of the property, of the li
berty, of any of his subjects, without what is called a
festa — that he cannot make peace, that he cannot declare
war, without the same sentence of the law — so much is
he, more than European sovereigns, a subject of strict
law. If then, he neither can touch life, nor property; if
he cannot lay a tax on his subjects, I leave it to your lord
ships whether he can be called an arbitrary power. When
the gentleman talks of the affairs of Asia, of the first
Asiatic sovereign, Mahomet, he is to be told, that that ma
gistrate who has the greatest executive power amongst
them, is the person who, by the constitution of his coun
try, has the most restraint upon him by law. How far
Asiatic sovereigns have crept out of this — how far corrup
tion has increased, it is not for me to say. The gentleman

I788.O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 361
says, the practice of Asia he abides by. My lords, there
is much blood, there is much murder, there is much false
imprisonment, general extortion, peculation, and robbery,
to be found in Asia. If the gentleman chuses to go to the
iniquitous practice of it — that practice, authorized only
by public tumult, contention, war, and violence — he may
find as much condemnation in the constitution as violence
in the practice. If he disputes the act of parliament, let
him quote to me that law to which he means to be subject.
And, if any law that he knows can justify his actions, I am
not authorized to say I shall give up the cause, but I shall
for myself confess, that I have been brought to public
shame, and am not fit to bring this charge before your
lordships. I therefore say, that strict government consists
in obedience to the laws ; and that government, by this
constitution, more than any other, cannot exercise arbitrary
power. — The next question is, whether the constitution of
India is composed of arbitrary power, as the gentleman at
the bar has thought proper to say. It will be happy for
India (though a happiness, he tells you, they never can
enjoy,) when the despotic inclinations of the princes
shall give way to the milder spirit of the law. Do not you
think it, my lords, a most extraordinary thing, that a
British subject, exercising authority, should quote the very
names of those men who exercised the power which they
held by mere force? With regard to the institutes of
Genghis Khan, which Mr. Hastings calls arbitrary insti
tutes, it is a book I never saw ; he will produce it ; it is
with him ; I have it not ; I can say nothing about it. But
if we may judge by those institutes that we have, of a de
scendant of Genghis Khan, there is not a shadow to be
found in any part of the book savouring of arbitrary
power. I have carefully read every part of these insti
tutes; and if any one can shew me a single word in them
in which the prince himself lays claim to arbitary power, I
will confess that I have brought myself to shame. My lords,
there is no book that contains more noble, more just, more
manly, more pious principles, than this book called the

36"2 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. \6-
Institutes of Tamerlane. So far are they from promoting
this fraudulent doctrine of arbitrary power, that I will ven
ture to say, the chief thing by which they have recom
mended themselves to posterity, has been a direct declaration
against it. The book, my lords, is a legacy left to pos
terity, by the great Tamerlane. It begins :
" Be it known to my fortunate sons, the conquerors of
kingdoms; to my mighty descendants, the lords of the
earth; that since I have hope in Almighty God, that
many of my children, descendants, and posterity, shall sit
upon the throne of power and regal authority ; upon this
account, having established laws and regulations for the well
governing of my dominions, I have collected together those
regulations and laws as a model. for others; to the end,
that every one of my children, descendants, and posterity,
acting agreeably thereto, my power and empire, which I
acquired through hardships, and difficulties, and perils,
and bloodshed, (by the Divine favour, and by the influence
of the holy religion of Mahommed, (God's peace be upon
him ! ) and with the assistance of the powerful descendants,
and illustrious followers of that prophet,) may be by them
preserved. And let them make these regulations the rule
of their conduct in the affairs of their empire, that the
fortune, and the power, which shall descend from me to
them, may be safe from discord and dissolution."
After mentioning many of the maxims, by which he had
established the rules of his conduct, he says:
" By justice and equity I gained the affections of the
people of God, and I extended my clemency to the guilty
as well as to the innocent ; and I passed that sentence
which truth required: and by benevolence I gained a place
in the hearts of men ; and by .rewards and punishments I
kept both my troops and my subjects divided between hope
and fear. And I compassionated the lower ranks of my
people, and those who were distressed."
I find nothing of arbitrary power, and your lordships,
thank God ! find nothing of arbitrary power in this
book. 14

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 3*13
" I inquired, (he continues,) of learned men into the laws
and regulations of ancient princes, from thedays of Adam to
those of the prophet, and from the days of the prophet down
to this time. And I weighed their institutions, and then-
actions, and their opinions, one by one. And from their
approved manners, and their good qualities, I selected
models. And I inquired into die causes of the subversion
of their power ; and I shunned those actions which tend to
the destruction and overthrow of regal authority; and
from cruelty, and from oppression, which are the destroy
ers of posterity, and the bringers of famine and of plagues,
I found it was good to abstain. And by laws, and by re
gulations, I executed every business and every transaction
that came before me in the course of my government." *
My lords, I need not enter more fully, I hope, to shew
the noble principles of morality, the manly maxims,
the resolution to abstain from oppression, and the recom
mendation to every governor to abstain from it too — .
all contained in this book, which Mr. Hastings has re
ferred to, and called < arbitrary institutes. The morality
of the East, my lords, as far as respects governors, is as
pure as bur own ; and I challenge any man to shew me,
in any political book, more sound morality than that of this
Asiatic governor.
My lords, I am now to shew you what followed when
the princes of India deviated into cruelty, when they de
parted from those maxims of Tamerlane which ought to
have guided their conduct. And here I have to relate a
matter of fact, attested by a traveller of credit and conse
quence, which is material to my purpose, since it shews
what took place on an occasion when one of the
princes of the country had resource to one of those
cruel and arbitrary executions, which make us execrate
them. God forbid, we should not depend as much on
reason, in the manner of our punishments, as in any other

* White's Institutes of Timour. 4to. Oxford, A. D. 1783.

354 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6.
thing ; for the unequal punishment of a crime of a mode
rate nature, is a crime as bad as the instance it punishes.
As these anecdotes are curious, and as they go directly to
the principles laid down in Mr. Hastings's defence, I beg
leave to mention them. The first is the instance of a
governor who was punished for venturing to levy a tax
without the consent of his master.
" This kan, or governor", (says Tavernier *,) " appeared
to me so brave and generous a person, that I was very
much troubled afterwards for his being in disfavour with
the king, and his death, which ensued. For this kan,
finding the walls of the city of Kom, which were only of
earth, and the bridge over the river to be out of repair,
without writing to the king, of his own head, laid a slight
imposition upon every basket of fruit that was brought into
the city. Now there are in all the cities of Persia per
sons who are hired to take an account, every week, what
the commodities may be worth, and to take care that no
more than such a toll be laid upon any thing ; which they
tax among themselves, and when they have set the rate,
they cause it to be cried at the beginning of every week.
Sha Sefi then reigned, it being the year 1632. The king
being informed by these people of the impost which the
kan had set upon fruit, without his knowledge, was so en
raged against him, that he caused him to be brought in
chains to Ispahan, where he used him with a strange se
verity ; for at that time the son of the kan stood at the
king's elbow, it being his office to give him his pipe and
his tobacco, which is a very honourable employment in
Persia. When the kan came, the king caused him to be
carried to the gate of the palace, in the presence of all the
people, and then commanded his son to pull the hair of
his father's mustaches by the roots from his skin. After
that he commanded him to cut off his nose and his ears ;
after that to put out his eyes ; and lastly, to cut off his

* See Tavernier's Travels into Persia and the East Indies, p. 30.
A. D. 1677.

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 365
head. When he had done the execution according* to the
king's pleasure, he commanded him to go and take
possession of his father's government, and allowing him an
experienced old man for his lieutenant, he sent him to
Kom, with these words : ¦ If thou governest no better than
this dead dog has done, I will put thee to a more
cruel death than this.'" I quote this passage to prove to
your lordships, that whoever were the princes of that
country, they were zealous that justice should be admi
nistered, even in the levying of the most insignificant tax.
This is enough forme. I do not justify the severity of
the punishment. My lords, there is another case from the
same author — the case of the nazar, or grand master, re
ceiving presents of the people : —
" The people cried out against the nazar, who being a
person of low extraction, and advanced to that high dig
nity in a short time, grew so proud that he contemned all
the lords of the court. There was no dealing with him
about any business, unless he were first presented ; and he
paid nobody without making some advantage of it. Every
body had reason, to comjllain; yet no person knew how to
come at the king to make their complaints. At length they
bethought themselves of making their application to two
black eunuchs, who had the king's ear in the night.
These two eunuchs seeing the king in a good humour one
night, let fall certain words concerning the nazar, and his
management of affairs, and thence slid into a discourse of
his injustice, that caused the people to cry out against him,
and speak evil of his government. Now it happened
one morning, that the king intending to go a hunting,, the
grand master, who had always a large train attending him,
coming to the king's tent, the meter denied him entrance.
About the same time the king came forth, and seeing the
nazar, commanded his officers to take off the bonnet from
the head of that dog that took gifts from his people; and
that he should sit three days bare-headed in the heat of
the sun, and as many nights in the air. Afterwards he
caused him to be chained about the neck and arms, and

366 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. \6>
condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, with a ma
in oudy a day for his maintenance."
My lords, in quoting these passages, it is not that I
approve either of one or the other. I do it in order to
prove to your lordships the horror in which that govern
ment is held, where the governor shall presume to receive
presents, or to raise money from the people in a manner
contrary to law ; and to shew that no eastern governor acts
thus upon any principle of the constitution. The doctrine,
that in the East there are no laws, no rights, no liberties,
is a doctrine which has not only been stated by the prisoner
at the bar, but has been disseminated with a wicked ac
tivity throughout this country. My lords, as I told you
before, every Mahomedan government is a government by
law — it does not nor cannot delegate the whole of its
power and authority — the Mahometans live under law, as
clear, as explicit, as learned, and as well founded as our
own. The dewan, or high steward, has the business of
all the exchequer causes, to be decided under him accord
ing to law : the law of inheritance is under the jurisdiction
of the causee, who cannot adjullge without having two
muftis along with him ; and although there is no appeal,
properly, in the Mahomedan law, yet if these two judges
do not agree, the cause is sent to what they call the elos.
The whole is independent of the governor of the province.
All these officers, the causee as well as the muftis, hold their
situations, not during the pleasure of the prince, but during
the pleasure of the people. This much, I say, for the sake of
the principles of law and the constitution of the Mahomedan
government. My lords, I say, that Mr. Hastings has no
refuge — let him run from law to law ; let him fly from
common law, and the sacred institutions of the country in
which he was born; let him fly from acts of parliament;
let him do all this, still the Mahomedan law condemns him ;
the high magistrates of Asia condemn him, for receiving
presents ; they condemn him for levying arbitrary fines and
impositions. No, let him fly where'he will — from law to
law — law, thank God, meets him every where — arbitrary

1 788-] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 367
power cannot secure him against law ; and I would as soon
have him tried on the Koran, or any other eastern code of
laws, as on the common law of this kingdom.
My lords, the next thing is, does the Gentoo law save
him ? The Gentoos have a system of law, accurately written,
suited to all the occasions of that people, comprehending
a body of equity : they are governed by laws and institu
tions, having that which makes law good for any thing, a
substantial body of equity, I venture to say, that Mr.
Hastings finds no authority for his practice, either in the
Koran or in the Gentoo law. In short, let him have east
ern, or let him have western law, he will find every where
arbitrary power,' and oppression, and peculation, pro
scribed more than he wishes them to be. My lords, if it
appears, as I hope and trust it will, that there are laws in
this country for the regulation of the conduct of govern
ors of distant dependencies, then I say, at any rate, that
a British governor is to answer for his conduct, not ac
cording to the examples and practice of Asia, but by the*
laws of England. There is another point, my lords. Mr.
Hastings says, he was left to form his rule of conduct on
his own practice : when he had taken one bribe, he
thought he might take another : when he had imprisoned
one man, he thought he might imprison ten others. He
justifies himself by the examples and practice of others.
But who, my lords, are they? Tyrants and usurpers. He
makes the corrupt practices of mankind the principles of
his government ; he collects together the vicious examples
of all the robbers and plunderers of Asia, forms the mass
of their abuses into a code, and calls it the duty of a
British governor. He first brings to our notice the prac
tice of former usurpers, and at last he comes to his own.
He says, " the minister of this empire had, in the various
emergencies of his administration, the learned judges of
the land, general officers of the first authority and experi
ence, and the merchants of the greatest commercial city in
the world, to whom he might apply, and whose opinion
he might command, , on every doubtful occasion, whether

368 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 6.
of law, military operation, trade, or finance. He could not
err ; whereas I, poor man ! sent out while yet but a school
boy, to India, possessed no such professional aids, but had
only my own mind for my resources, and minds as little
instructed as my own to assist me, and to be the instru
ments of my measures."
My lords, I venture to say, that such a declaration
might, in some measure, suit persons who have displayed
a conduct correspondent to this ignorance — humble,
modest, unassuming, and hence, possibly, lax and smooth
in the exercise of their duty. But bold, presuming, dog
matic, ferocious, active ignorance, is a crime of itself,
and aggravates every other crime. Mr. Hastings might
well say, I was an ignorant man, and I left some of the
commands of the directors unobeyed through ignorance.
When he says he never decides better, than when he dis
obeys an act out of defiance, as he calls it, this is not the
language of an ignorant man. But I beg your pardons,
my lords, it is the language of an ignorant man ; for no
man who is not full of bold, determined, wicked igno
rance, would ever think of bringing such an example of
fraud before you. He tells us that he left Westminster-
school while yet a boy. My lords, we have to regret that
he did not stay in that school which has been so prolific,
in- lights, both of the church and the law — greatly have
we to lament that he did not go to those universities
where the doctrine of "arbitrary law is never to be heard of
— where the true principles of religion and law are taught
and practised. We have to lament that this was not the
case, instead of going to the school of Cossim Ally. Cawn.
If he had remained with us he might have made the ex
amples of Cicero, and others, the rule of his actions ;
but he now quotes to us every name in Asia, notorious for
tyranny, barbarity, usurpation, and murder, as examples
fit for the imitation of a British governor. But your
lordships keep here that great school for the discipline
of kingdoms, which teaches governors, if they are ig
norant, not to be assuming; if they are assuming, not

I ) 880 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 3<?9
to be cruel, barbarous, and ferocious : so that when Mr.
Hastings says, that there. are such and such examples, he
will be shewn that the same laws, the same sacredness of
principle, however they may be disobeyed, both in Europe
and in Asia, are held and strictly maintained ; and that if
all Asia were combined in a league of cruelty, usurpation,
and murder, the British nation would nevertheless send out
a governor to teach it better manners, better customs, and
better principles; and if he did not so act, he would be
called upon to defend his conduct, upon the pure doctrines
of England, and not the barbarous customs of Asia. My
lords, I will go further, and say, that there is not a boy in
the fourth form of Westminster-school, who has learned
our catechism, and the first. elements of morality, who, if
these articles of charge were read to him, would not know
that such conduct is not to be justified.
My lords, there is another point ; and Mr. Hastings
takes it. up as a. general rebutter : — Says he, " as to a great
many of these practices that I am charged with, parliament
re-appointed me to my trust, and if I am guilty they are
so." My lords, I boldly say, that the' Commons of Eng^-
land ai*e wholly, guiltless of this charge : if they had re
appointed him to a great public trust, after they had
known of his guilt, they would have been participators
with him — the public would have reason to reprobate their
conduct, and there would have been great indecorum in the
present prosecution. Perhaps, if we had examined as
strictly into the conduct of Mr. Hastings as we ought to
have done, he would not have been re-appointed. If any
one will shew any of those actions with which he is
charged to have been known to, the House of Commons,
we will then take our part of the shame.. Since we have
known- them, we.bave never ceased toreprobate them — we
called him home to answer for them. But, my lords, the
plea would not avail him,, if the fact were as he alleges;
since the .greater part of the enormities charged have been
committed, since .his last appointment. But to think of
the audacity of a governor to throw in the face of his
vol. iv. * B

370 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l6-
country, " You trusted me when you ought not ; you are
obliged to carry me through ; it is your own act !" We
reply : " The wickedness was yours ; the trust was ours ; and
if we, in the moment of inadvertency, appointed you when
we ought not to have appointed such a criminal, that
should have been a lesson to you ; but, instead of this, you
redoubled all those crimes : you ceased not from the mo
ment of your re-appointment to be guilty of them."
My lords, there remains but one point more on the part
of the East India Company. We know, and I trust all the
world well knows, that the pardon from the crown cannot bar
an impeachment of the Commons : much less can a pardon
of the East India Company ; though it might involve them
in guilt, which might induce us to punish them for such
pardon. The East India Company, it is true, have par
doned him, and they ought not to have done it. But as
to his acts, they have all been condemned by them, one by
one, as they arose, with the utmost severity. There is not
one in which the East India Company have not most se
verely censured him. They have said, We thank you, in
the gross, for your good and faithful services. I answer,
Yes ; if he has performed any, I thank him too ; but I
do not know them. The Easf^ India Company have
thanked him for services, and not for crimes. I answer,
let them thank him for those services. I am directed
to prosecute him for crimes : and when your lordships
shall come to examine into the means he has taken with
the East India Company to procure those thanks, when
their records are every where filled with censures of his ac
tions, I believe you will think it some addition to his guilt,
that he has succeeded in the attainment of those thanks.
My lords, Mr. Hastings tells us, that there is also the tes
timony, in his behalf, of the princes and rulers of India. As
suredly, we might be inclined to receive the testimony of those
Indian princes, if we had not unfortunately seen how seals
are obtained in that country; if we did not know how
those princes are imposed on ; if we did not know the ab-
jectness with which they are obliged to suffer, and to give
to

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 371
thanks for their sufferings. I believe your lordships will
admit, that there is not, with respect to some of those
princes, a more miserable thing, than to say that he has
obtained their thanks. I understand he has obtained the
thanks of the miserable princesses of Oude; they thank
him for leaving them the smallest trifle of existence ; and I
will venture to say if he wanted a hundred more pane
gyrics, provided he never again came amongst them, he
might have them by dozens. I understand that Rajah
Cheyt Sing has made his panegyric too. But, my lords>
the Commons of England attack Mr. Hastings neither
with panegyrics nor with satire.; we attack him with sub
stantial crimes; and when we shall have proved. them, you
will be induced to think the panegyrics he has procured,
either gross forgeries, or most miserable aggravations of his
cruelties. My lords, these are, as I conceive, the general grounds
of the case. I have now closed completely, I hope, the
wholy body of history, with which, when I wished to put
your lordships in possession, I did not mean to insinuate
that many of you were not perfectly acquainted, by pre*
yious inquiries ; but merely so to open the subject, that your
lordships might know the characters against whom the
gentleman at the bar acte'd, and with whom he acted; the
particular nature of the circumstances ; then the principles
and practices which he quotes ; the laws and authorities
which he refuses, and those on which he relies for his ac
quittal. Having refuted all these pleas in bar, I here
close this part of my labour ; trusting that, when I open
to your lordships more fully the several crimes with which
we charge the prisoner, you will hear me with the same
patient indulgence. It was from the sense I felti that it was
a cause of the greatest consequence — a cause the most
difficult, the most complicated, that ever was brought before
any judicature, that I resolved (perhaps to trouble you,
but as it appeared to me) to bring the whole into order.
And now I will state briefly the mode of proceeding which
the managers, on the part of the Commons purpose to
E B 2

372 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
adopt. I mean, first, to bring before your lordships the
crimes, as they are classed, as they arise out of one an
other, and are of the same species of guilt. I shall first shew
your lordships, that the crimes of Mr. Hastings had their
foundation in that which is the root of all evil, I mean
avarice — that avarice and rapacity were the ground-work
and foundation of all his other propensities; that he
shewed it in putting up to sale the native government of
India, in putting up to sale the whole landed interest, in
setting up a British governor in the person of his own ser
vant. I shall then shew, that when, from the notoriety of
his corruptions, he dreaded the just vengeance of the laws
of his country, in order to form a faction, he by means the
most abandoned, obtained for himself a party. Next I
shall shew you, that he has looked to what he calls his
external resources ; that he has gone up into the country
after having visited Bengal. I shall shew how he has plun
dered, or attempted to plunder, every one. I shall shew
what infinite mischief arose from the treaty of Benares —
what was his conduct to the Begums of Oude — what to
the landed interest of Oude, first by residents, next by
spies, next by British officers ; and, lastly, I shall shew you,
that he found out one miserable chief, whose Only crime was
the prosperity of his country, and that him he endeavoured
to torture in a manner, the recital of which is revolting to
humanity. Here Mr. Burke concluded his second day's speech,
which lasted upwards of four hours.

FIFTH HAY.

Monday, February 18.
Mr. Burke continued:
My lords, the gentlemen who are appointed by the
Commons to manage this prosecution, have directed me to

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 373
inform your lordships, that they have carefully and atten
tively weighed the magnitude of the subject which they
bring before you, with the time which the nature and cir
cumstances of affairs allow for conducting it. On the com
parison they are apprehensive, that if I should go very
largely into the preliminary explanation of the several mat
ters of charge, it might prejudice the trial of the substantial
matters in question. We have weighed and considered
them maturely; we have compared them exactly, the
time with the matter ; and we are obliged to do as all men
must do, to conform our opinion to the business — to sub
mit affairs to time, and not think of making time conform
to our wishes. Therefore I very willingly fajl in with what
is the wish of the gentlemen, and what I believe the nature
of affairs will require; and am ready to come as soon as
possible to close fighting; to grapple immediately and
directly with the corruptions in India ; to bring before you
the direct articles ; to apply this evidence to the articles.
These are the opinions of the gentlemen with whom I act;
at the same time they do most perfectly concur with my
own : for I am far from desirous of wasting any part of
your lordships' time on a matter, merely from an opinion I
have of the nature of the business, when at the same time
that opinion must militate with the giving to that business
its full, proper, and immediate effect ; because we are to
take care that, on our part at least, no justice may be lost.
Therefore, though I originally intended to class the several
crimes with which the defendant is charged, to shew their
several bearings, and how they mutually aided and grew
out of each other, I think I shall be obliged in some mea
sure to abridge this plan, and bring it within a narrower
compass. The first thing, therefore, that I propose to
shew is, that the whole of the crimes charged upon Mr.
Hastings, have their root and origin in avarice and rapa
city ; that avarice and rapacity led to prodigality of the
public money ; and that that wasting of the treasures of the
East India Company did, by necessity, or pretended ne
cessity, furnish excuse for the government to break its faithj
b b 3

374 SPEECHES TN "WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. iJL
to violate all its most solemn engagements, and to casta
ferocious aspect on all the natives. I am, therefore,
directed only to state to you this day the root of all those
misdemeanors, namely, pecuniary corruption and avarice %
which was the great material head, and gave rise and pri
mary motion to all the rest of the crimes which we
charge him with- This head of pecuniary corruption per
vades so entirely the whole of his conduct, that there is net
an article of the impeachment, in which tyranny, malice,
cruelty, and oppression are charged, which does not at the
same time carry evident marks of this corruption. On
Saturday last I stated to your lordships the principles on
which Mr. Hastings governed his conduct in India, and
upon which he grounds his defence ; which may be all re
duced to one short word, arbitrary power. If that gentle
man had contended, as all the rest- of the men in the world
contend, that the system of government which he professed
and upon which he acted, was a good system, tending to
benefit mankind, something might be said to colour so
wicked a scheme ; something might be said to qualify the
acts. It is something singular that he takes care to inform
you that he was not blind to the consequences ; and in his
defence before the House of Commons, that very system
that appears to himself a system pregnant with a thousand
evils and a thousand mischiefs, he lays down as the found
ation on which his administration was conducted. The
next thing that is material in his principles, is, that when
he is engaged in a wicked system, a system which abso
lutely leads to evil consequences, he thinks himself bound
to realize all the evil consequences that spring from that
system. Any other man would say, I have been engaged
in such a system, but I have taken care to qualify, by my
own virtues, the evils of the constitution ; but Mr. Hast
ings foresees the evil, considers not only the necessary and
proper, but the abusive consequences of it, the corrupt con
sequences of it, and then he conforms his conduct to that
system. Now, one thing in the charge respecting banyans,
is corruption. Mr. Hastings foresaw it. An arbitrary
system must always be a corrupt one. There never was a

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 375
man who thought he had no law but his own will, who did
not also find that he had no ends but his own profit. We
say that Mr. Hastings governed corruptly ; that is . to say,
that he gave and received bribes, and formed a system for that
purpose. We say that he did not only receive and give bribes
accidentally without any scheme or design, merely as the op
portunity or the importunity of temptation incited, but that
he formed schemes and plans of government for that very
purpose. This system is such a one, I believe, as the British
nation, in particular, will disown ; for if anyone thing distin*
guishes this nation eminently above another, it is the dig-.
nity attached to its offices, from this, that there is less taint
of corruption in them ; so that he who would, in any part
of these dominions, set up a system of corruption, and
attempts to justify it on the score of utility, that man is
staining, not only the general nature and character of
office, but he is staining the peculiar and distinguishing
glory of this country. My lords, I shall shew that in bis-
judicial and official character, Mr. Hastings has stained it.
There are undoubtedly many things in governments that
make them fearful and odious ; but bribery, peculation, and
guilty hands are things that have always been denominated
low, base, and contemptible. It is certain, that even tyi
ranny itself may find some specious colour, and may
appear even as a more secure and rigid execution of
justice: rehgious persecution may shade itself under the
guise of a mistaken and over zealous piety : conquest may
cover itself with its own laurels, and induce a man to im
agine that future benefits will make amends for the pre
sent exigency: but nothing can excuse money; there is
pollution in the touch. There is pollution in that govern
ment which makes nothing but money its object. What
are the merits which Mr. Hastings has pleaded ? That
he corrected the abuses, or prevented the evils of an arbi
trary government ? No such thing. What he contends
for is, that he squeezed more money out of the inhabi
tants of the country than any other man could by any
other means have done. These, my lords, are his merits }
b b 4

376 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb»l8.
his very merits are nothing but merits of money ; money
got by. oppression ; money got by extortion ; money got
by violence, from the poor or from the rich., There is
breach of faith, cruelty, perfidy; yet the great ruling
principle of the whole is money. His acts are acts, and
his government a government, of money. It is base avarice,
which never can look, by any prejudice of mankind, any
thing, like virtue. To his employers, the Company, he
says, You have got a large sum of money from the people,
and you may leave them to be governed as they can. If
he has at any time taken any money from the inhabitants
of the country, he does not pretend he has increased their
zeal and their affection for your cause, or made their sub
jection more complete. Very far from it. In short, money
is the beginning, money is the middle, and money is the
end of his government.
Having said thus much as to the origin and first prin
ciple of what Mr. Hastings considers as his merits, but
what I call his demerits, the next step will be for me to lay
open to your lordships, as clearly as I can, what the sense of
his employers, the East India Company, and what the sense
of the legislature itself, has been upon those merits or de
merits. My lords, the Company, knowing that these
money transactions were likely to subvert that empire
which was first established upon them, did, in the year
1765, send out a body of the strongest and most solemn
covenants to tlieir servants, that they should take no pre
sents from the country under any description, except those
which were publicly and openly taken for the use of the
East India Company, namely, territories or sums of money
which might be taken by treaty ; and they distinguished the
sums, because undoubtedly in that state, and in every state,.
there may be subsidy treaties, there may be sums of money
to.be taken; but they forbad their servants ever to re
ceive, under any name or pretence whatever, any sum of
money, without the consent of the Company, and in other
cases, without the knowledge of the governor.
( My lords, to shew you how radical an evil this of bribery

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 377
and presents is, when these covenants went out to India,
the Company's servants there refused to execute them;
they suspended the execution of the covenants until they
had enriched themselves by means of these presents.
Whether Mr. Hastings had or had not the example of
others to justify his reception of bribes, it is clear that he
was sent out to destroy the whole system of bribery ; it is
clear that the Company expressly charged him so to do,
and that they not only reposed a trust in the integrity of
Mr. Hastings, but reposed a trust in his remarkable fru
gality, in the regularity and order with which he con
ducted his affairs, and which they considered as distinctive
traits in his character. But now we behold him quite in
another character; no longer the frugal, attentive servant,
bred to business, bred to book-keeping ; he now knows
nothing about his affairs ; nay, there are people who tell
us they know better than he does what his affairs were.
He may be a Newton or a Herschel in affairs of astronomy,
but of the knowledge of the affairs of this world he is quite
ignorant. It was from the idea of his incorrupt integrity that
the East India Company appointed him. Since that he has
thought proper to justify himself, not by clearing himself
from the charge of receiving the bribes, but by saying,
that no grave consequences can arise from his having so
done. These, my lords, are pretexts which I leave to
others to reconcile as they please, and pass on to what the
act of parliament did. My lords, the East India Com-r,
pany not only sent out instructions, very severely repre
hending, their servants for a moment's delay in executing
the covenants ; but they went a step farther, and got a
commission to inforce that doctrine. Still stronger; that
commission had this necessary charge given them, never
to receive presents. The Company never sent out a person to
India without commanding presents not to be received;
arid recognizing this as an essential principle. How any
one can encourage that by example, which by precept heis
bound to restrain, it is not for me to determine. Another
commission was preparing to be sent out with the same

378 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
powers which you see the act of parliament gave Mr.
Hastings. My lords, every office of trust in its very na
ture forbids the receipt of bribes. Mr. Hastings was for
bidden it, first by official acts, then by covenant, and,
lastly, by act of parliament. This has formed, as it were,
the sphere of the practice of his government. Mr. Hast
ings did consider that indirect ways of taking presents, the
taking them by others, directly in the same manner as if
they had been taken by himself. This, indeed, is more
dangerous, because it adds to the crime the false mode
of conceiving it, and makes it more mischievous by ad
mitting others into a participation of it. And one of Mr.
Hastings's general complaints is this, that he is made an
swerable for the acts of other men. My lords, all those
who enjoy a great trust, all those who undertake to regulate
the affairs of an empire, are, and must be, responsible for
the conduct of other men, so far as they have any thing to
do either with appointing them, or retaining them in their
situations. Mr. Hastings was not only bound to prevent
it, but there was a special order given him to inspect cer
tain great departments of the state, to watch them narrowly,
and observe that they did not transgress the line of their
duty. He took upon himself to remove persons from their
situations, and place others of his own recommendation in
their stead, and thus became doubly responsible. We
shall, however, prove to your lordships, that the persons
he so appointed were persons of notoriously evil cha
racters and principles, and that their characters and prin
ciples were perfectly well known to him as well as to the
rest of the world.
My lords, governors cannot, by their own single pair of
hands, receive the bribes ; they must have as many hands"
as one of the idols in the Indian temples, to receive all the
bribes that eastern governors have to receive. Mr. Hast
ings has had various white agents ; but he has had many
more black agents ; for, be it remembered, that white men
are more licentious with their tongues than black men ;
that black men are very secret as to mischief; that they

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 379
are not apt to have very quick resentments ; that they
have not the same liberality, the same bluntness of lan
guage which characterizes Europeans. Therefore Mr.
Hastings, who will not, he says, be responsible for the
acts of other men, has had his black agents — not one,
nor two, nor three, but many — disseminated through the
country ; no two of them acquainted with the secrets of
each other. He had his white agents also, one of them is
Mr. Larkin, who was accountant-general, and Mr. Croftes,
who was sub-treasurer ; these were the last persons in the
world to be agents, where there was to be any receipt of
bribes. The instances were few, where two men were in
the secret of the same bribery; but there is one part of
a single bribery committed to one black secretary, and
another to another; so that it is almost impossible to
make up a complete body of the scattered limbs of all his
briberies; but you may pursue them, and may find the
scattered limbs, some here and some there ; and by that
means he hopes to escape the prosecution of them all.
My lords, when Mr. Hastings went to Bengal, in the
year 1772, the first of his acts was the most bold and ex
traordinary that, I believe, ever entered the head of any
man ; I will say of any tyrant. It was nothing less than
a general exceptionless confiscation of the property of
the ancient nobility and freeholders of Bengal ; he put it
up to a pretended public, but in reality to a private cor-
rupt auction ; landholders were obliged to consider them
selves as not any longer proprietors of the estates, but were
recognized as mere farmers under government, those few
that were permitted to stay.
I shall say nothing either of the circumstances of the
purchase, or of the rights of the people to their property,
till that great question, the greatest of all which we shall
bring before your lordships, shall be brought before you
particularly as an article of charge. I only take it in now
as a part of the great system of corruption. When the
ancient nobility, (a nobility, perhaps as ancient as that of
your lordship:**, and a more truly noble body never existed

380 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
in that character,) all the gentlemen, all the landed free
holders of the country, had their estates in that manner
confiscated, or dehvered over to the farmers. Undoubtedly,
certain public good was pretended for this dreadful act of
tyranny. The pretence was, the augmentation of the re
venues of the Company. It had been found that the op
pression and violence of the Tartars did not take money
enough from the landed interests of the country ; and
therefore the mode was discovered of confiscating estates,
and of letting them to the farmers, for the purpose of
making an estimate how much it was possible to let them
for, and then put them up to this private corrupt auction.
The first consequence was, that these farms fell, for the
most part, into the hands of the banyans of the Company's
servants, and their delegates ; the banyan of Mr. Hastings
himself, Cantoo Baboo, obtaining, contrary to an express
regulation, farms which paid a revenue of 150,000/. a
year to government. The second consequence was, that
at the end of five years there was a defalcation of this ex
acted revenue, amounting to no less a sum than 2,056,000?.
Hence arose a new source of corruption, in the remission
and compositions that were necessary to be -made of that
immense debt ; for every man who had engaged in these
transactions was a debtor to the public, and dependant
upon the mercy of the lieutenant-governor, who by that
means was able to exact the last shilling, and there never
was a doubt raised in the minds of mankind, but that im
mense fortunes were made. This will account to your
lordships for the manner in which these stupendous fortunes
have been made so fast by a tyrannous exaction, by a sale
of the people ; by either offering them to continue in pos
session of their land, under the appellation of farmers, or
afterwards faking other sums for the relaxation of their
debts. But when I tell you that these miserable exac
tions were performed through the agency of the farmers
of the revenue, your lordships will be so good as distin
guish them from the farmers of land. Undoubtedly, you
would naturally expect to find the men in the several coun-

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL, 38 1
tries, who had the most interest, the most competence, the
greatest wealth, and the greatest revenue, put in the place
in which they were. No such thing, my lords; they
were almost all of them Calcutta banyans: they received
their allotments, they next delegated them to others, and
they again to others, ad infinitum. Many of them never
saw the farms ; and thus, various gradations and succes
sions of black tyrants were scattered throughout the
country. Your lordships are too wise, too grave, too
discerning, to make it necessary for me to say any thing
more on this subject. I need not say more. There is,
however, one character to whom I have slightly alluded,
whom it is impossible for me to pass by without a few
words. My lords, every one has heard the name of this
banyan, Cantoo Baboo, a name well known in the records
of the Company, for receiving gifts, gratifications, and
presents. One would imagine that Mr. Hastings would at
least have kept him out. To give a colour to the public,
and the East India Company, that his whole system of
pecuniary corruption and oppression was carried on solely
for the benefit of the Company, an express order was
made, that no person in office should have a share. But
notwithstanding this order, Mr. Hastings gave farms to
his own banyans. You will find this Cantoo Baboo the
farmer of great, vast, and extensive estates. My lords,
there was another regulation, that no farmer should have,
except in circumstances particularly marked and described,
a greater farm than that of 10,000 acres to govern. Mr.
Hastings, who had broken the first regulation, by giving
any farm at all to his banyans, finding himself bolder,
broke the second, and gave to his own servant, farms to
the amount of 13,000 acres. Great men have been un
der the dominion of their servants, as we all know, some
times ; but never justifiably ; always weakly. We know
enough of the weakness of human nature, to know that a
domestic who has served you long, and in your opinion
faithfully, contracts an intimate relation, which makes
him dear to you. Was this the case of Cantoo Baboo ? My

382 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1&.
lords, he had not been above twelve months in the'service of
Mr. Hastings ; so that he never could have contracted any
esteem for him, any kind of particular friendship, connec
tion, or attachment ; if any man could do so for such a
character as a banyan ; for these people do not live in your
houses ; they are not near you in those very rational en
gagements in which your servants are useful ; they cannot
five with you ; they cannot eat with your servants ; they
have no second table : they are not a part of yourselves;
they all live at other places, and come at stated hours ;
their whole connection with you is business. Judge then,
my lords, whether it be probable, that two positive regu
lations were broken, that these outrageous violations of all
principles took place, merely for the benefit of this old,
grateful, affectionate servant, of one year's standing.
And now, my lords, I come to a scene of peculation of
another kind, namely, a peculation by the direct sale of
the whole Mahomedan government of Bengal, by the di
rect sale of the offices of justice, by the direct sale of all
the successions of families, by the direct sale of guardian
ships, or whatever trusts are most sacred among the
people : by a sale of them, not as you might imagine, to
near relations of their families, but to unfaithful servants
of those families,- to perfidious servants, who were the
means of all their debts. They were put in power over
the estates, and over the families, by Mr. Hastings, who
will be proved to you to have violated another of the most
sacred trusts reposed in him. Those agents, or attornies,
who had been sent, and paid to set to rights the affairs of
their miserable masters, before the accountant-general,
were, by Mr. Hastings, as the reward of their corruptions,-
put into possession of the very estates of those masters
whom they were sent to Calcutta to defend from wrong
an4 violence. My lords, the directors of the East India
Company knowing the exceedingly corrupt state of their
servants in India, when Mr. Hastings was appointed in
1773 governor-general of Bengal, sent out Mr. Barwell)
General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis,

1 7 7,80 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 383
and gave to them a sacred charge* that, in execution of
the spirit of the act of parliament, they should make in
quiry into all manner qf corruptions and malversations in
office My lords, the gentlemen so sent out executed the
trust committed to them in a manner the most exemplary
— in a manner that serves as a shield to cover the fair fame
.of England, whenever the conduct of England, towards
India, is called in question. As soon as they arrived, they
found that a great murmur was abroad. Shortly after,
when the council was put in a state to receive the com
plaints of the people, they* found such a body of corrup
tion, of peculation, in every walk, in every department,
in every situation, in the sale of the most sacred trusts, in
the destruction of the great families of the country, as ne
ver before was unveiled. Upon this occasion one would
imagine that Mr. Hastings would have acted with some
little management ; but there is no part of those general
acts of corruption in which the principal figure of the
piece, Mr. Hastings, has so acted. All the departments
were corrupt. Mr. Hastings was at this time gone upon a
voyage; you do not see Mr. Hastings, you see only.Cantoo
Baboo ; you either see the black or the white side of Mr.
-Hastings. There were other gentlemen visible, too, with
whom I have at present no dealings. Mr. Hastings, in
stead of using any management upon this occasion, in
stantly set up his own power and authority directly
against the authority of the council ; against the authority
of the East India Company ; and against the authority of
the act of parliament. He put a dead, stop to all these
inquiries. He broke up the council whenever they at
tempted to call it. His daring power increased continually.
There was no act of violence that he was not suspected of,
in order to put an end to inquiry. My lords, you have1
all heard, that amongst the accusers of his crimes, there was
a prjncipalperson. called Nundcomar ; but Mr. Hastings has
himself given, upon the records of the Company, a cha-.
racter of this person. I have . not the least inclination to
-defend either his conduct or his memory. This man, if he

384 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
was an accuser of Mr. Hastings, if he was a fraudulent ac
cuser, and a man of bad character, there was this great
advantage, that there was no likelihood of any attention
being paid to him without caution. But, it seems, he had
been an informer before ; he had made some discoveries ;
he had been guilty of that great sin against the Holy Ghost}
the discovery of peculation. But he stated facts, and cir
cumstances; the sums of money paid; by whom, and
through whom, this species of peculation was transacted :
detection, therefore, was easy, and Mr. Hastings would
have flown to detection, and would have been glad to have
shewn this accuser to be a man of bad character, by bring
ing proofs of the same. But, instead of doing this, Mr.
Hastings broke up the Company's council, by adjourning
it. I will not say whether legally or illegally ; whether he
left no circumstance whereby to apologize for his conduct ;
but that it was done from a consciousness of guilt, no one
can doubt. But this man, this Nundcomar, whom Mr.
Hastings dared not meet at the council, he proceeded
against in another place. There he thought it necessary to
make a charge against him. The British legislature, not
trusting solely to the institutions of the governor-general,
had sent out a court of justice, for the detection and pu
nishment of any kind of misdemeanor that might appear.
Before this court Nundcomar was accused by Mr- Hastings.
Instead of meeting the man front to front, he endeavoured
to flank him, to go round him ; to come on his flank and
his rear, but never to meet him in front. On his accusa
tion, h dis obeyed his instructions ; and if it was no more
than for that act of rebellion, it was contended that, he
ought to be brought to account. Long before Nundcomar
preferred this charge, he knew that Mr. Hastings was
plotting his ruin, and caused a man to be the instrument of
his destruction ; and Mr. Hastings proved these papers,
charging Nundcomar with this previous plot. By close
confederacy between him and the chief justice, we find
that the witnesses who appeared there were nearly all
persons connected with Mr. Hastings ; that they were per-

1788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 385
sons who were employed for him ; all the persons who ap
peared as witnesses and parties had been, both before and
since, the particular friends of Mr. Hastings. In short,
there was a person there, who, with tears in his eyes,
begged of Mr. Hastings to receive 300,000/. himself; but
the law takes its course. I have nothing further to say;
the man is gone — justly, if you please; however it so
happened, luckily for Mr. Hastings. Things were all in
exact concurrence : Mr. Hastings is accused : his accuser
is' subsequently accused; but first condemned; and his
condemnation saves Mr. Hastings from farther trial. All
happened luckily to meet together. His accuser was sup
posed to - be, what he might possibly be, an accomplice in
guilty acts. All I can say is, that he was in the situation
of giving bribes, and Mr. Hastings was" afterwards proved
to have received bribes. I shew the criminal tendency and
mischievous nature of those acts, and the means of
eluding punishment for them. I am now giving you that
general view which may serve to characterize Mr. Hastings's
administration in all its parts. Such was the nature of the
people of that country, that, not knowing how to distin
guish the limits of exact justice, they, some how or other,
conceived that the attempt to accuse Mr. Hastings was de
stroyed with Nundcomar. But, my lords, if Mr. Hastipgs
intended to have made a proper and a decent use of the
transaction, would he not have said, " The man has been
justly taken away who accused me of these crimes and
enormities, but as there are other Witnesses, let the inquiry
proceed ?" Was it fit, my lords, that a governor should
stand with recorded bribery upon him, when it was in his
power to do it away? Therefore, I charge upon him,
that not only did he suppress the inquiry to the utmost of
his power, whilst the witness lived, but that afterwards, in
no one instance, did he endeavour to wipe off that shame.
I charge upon him, that he went further; that he never
denied any one of these charges.
My lords, Mr. Hastings, when he had got rid of this
business, by the providential execution of Nundcomar, one
vol. iv. c c

386 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
of his accusers only, (I wish that to be understood,) he
promised the court of directors a full explanation of the
whole transaction ; which explanation he never gave them.
Says a man, I am threatened with a suit in a court, the
explanation required may hurt me in my defence; this
may be a very good excuse in a common cause, but a man
accused of bribery, who, instead of defending himself,
says, I will adjourn it over for seven or eight years, joins
his promise to his employers, with what is tantamount to a
denial of his promise. Mr. Hastings was providentially
freed from Nundcomar, one of his accusers, and as fortu
nate events do not come alone, it so happened, that all the
rest, or a great many of them, ran away; no new ones
Came in, and Mr. Hastings enjoyed the happy repose
which branded peculation must leave on the mind con
scious of its own guilt. It is, undoubtedly, the duty of a
great, a virtuous, and a firm mind, to despise vulgar ca
lumnies; but there is no case in which it becomes an
honest man, much less a great man, to leave on record
specific charges against him, without taking any steps to
refute them.
Soon afterwards very serious inquiries commenced,
in the House of Commons, into the peculations of the
East India Company's servants. Mr. Hastings knowing
this, and having reason to apprehend that these inquiries
which had begun on the coast of Coromandel, would
at last reach Bengal, determined to change his whole
plan, and attempted to conceal the enotrmous bribes he had
been in the habit of receiving. Accordingly we find him
paying large sums of money into the public treasury,
through the means of his deputy treasurer and accountant,
and taking bonds for them as money of his own, for which
he was intitled to receive interest. This, my lords, was
his first mode of endeavouring to conceal the bribes he had
taken ; but at length, when he found that further con
cealment was impossible, he wrote home to the court ofdi^
rectors, stating that there were certain sums of money which
he had received that were not his own, and that he had
16

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 387
received them for the use of the Company. My lordsj
Mr. Hastings is a very ingenious man ; but I believe
there is a little defect here. Before he was considered as
a peculator, he did not pretend to apply these sums to the
public service : he stood on the defensive, and used all the
means in his power to prevent inquiry. The first was a
bold, ferocious, direct attempt to use his power for pur-*-
poses of peculation ; but as soon as he is detected, he
holds himself with a firm, dignified, and steady counte
nance, and says, I am not here as a delinquent, as a re
ceiver of bribes, deserving of punishment ; no, I am a
great inventive genius ; I have gone out of all the ordinary
modes of finance; I have received bribes, it is true; but I
have received them for your benefit. This bold, inventive,
daring genius, this patriotic briber, this public peculator,
does in this way, as he would have you believe, contribute
his private mite towards the public benefit. It is said, my
lords, that ambassadors are persons sent abroad to tell lies
for the benefit of the country. Mr. Hastings, it -seems, has
taken bribes for that purpose. The moment any person
begins to discover a bribe, " go about your business," sayS
Mr. Hastings ; " do not inquire about my actions." That
man is ruined for being informer; that man is brought to
distress ; he loses the favour of the governor-general ; he
loses the favour of the East India Company too. The go
vernor received bribes and extorted money ; but then it
was all for the good of the Company !
Now, my lords, what I am about to state may appear
very singular, rash, absurd, and wild; but, thank God,
guilt is never rational ; it disturbs all the faculties of the
mind, and leaves a man no longer the free use of his
reason. It puts him into that condition, which, as all
those who are used to our courts know, has been the cause
of the detection of half the criminals in the world. My
lords, God forbid that prudence, which is the supreme
guide, and indeed stands the first, of all the virtues,
should ever be the guide of vices. I am to tell you, that
•when Mr. Hastings makes this sort of discovery to the
c c 2

2"8& SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8
court of directors, he never tells them who gave him the
money, nor on what occasion, or by what hands it was
given, except in one instance. First, I am to remark,
that the accounts given of this money are totally false and
contradictory. There wanted nothing more than this to
enable us to judge of the transaction, whether it was frau
dulent or not. That was enough ; there is a strong pre
sumption that the transaction is bad, when the account
given of it is false. Mr. Hastings being called to an ac
count by the court of directors, was asked, how he came
to take bonds for this money, if it was not his own ? How
he came to vitiate and corrupt the records of the Company?
Says he, " I really cannot tell; I forget" — the distance
of time not so long as two years — " It might be to pre
vent the curious at Calcutta from being acquainted with
-the proceedings of the state. I ought not to be pressed
now for an account of motives which 1 no longer re-
. member, and of which I cannot give any account, as
my papers are in India." It is somewhat remarkable, that
Mr. Hastings's answers on this head varied with his situ-,
.ation. When in India, he could give the court of di
rectors no satisfaction on this business because he was not
in Europe. When he came to England, without entering
into all his contradictions, (that will be another day's bu
siness,) he tells us, he had left all his notes and references
behind him. He sends a letter to Mr. Larkins, the bribe
agent and broker on this occasion, to give that account
of this affair which he was not able to give himself. "Thus
he endeavoured to charge the treachery of his administra
tion to the treachery of his memory.
Now observe, my lords, here is a man taking money
corruptly; here is a man committing bribery; giving false
security for it to cover it; called upon to tell where he got it
from, and on what views and occasions : he neither, will
tell in India, nor can tell in England ; but sends you over
such an account as has been never heard o£ And here
begin the effects of these bribes, corruptions, and pecu
lations. I am first to state to you the great instruments,

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 389
the great engine, wliich he used, to lay all the people in
the country under contribution, to bring the whole into
subjection, and to put himself as much as possible out of
the way of the discoverers of bribes. Peculation, my
lords, slept for some time, whilst Mr. Hastings had a ma
jority of the council against him. But General Clavering
and Colonel Monson having been removed by death, and
Mr. Francis, harassed and tired of his situation, having
resigned, the whole council then consisted of himself and
Mr. Wheler. Mr. Hastings had the casting vote, and
therefore there was no need of introducing this gentleman
— Mr. Wheler was, however, gained over, perfectly com
pliant. I enter not into the causes of it — the man is dead
— the business is over; but from him Mr. Hastings met
with no opposition, and if he had, such opposition would
have been vain.
My lords, six provincial councils were established by-
the governor-general, for the collection and management
of the revenues. These councils had, in the opinion
even of Mr. Hastings himself, so well answered the end
of their institution, that though they had been con
stituted only for a time, and for the purpose of expe
riment, he thought they ought to be made permanent.
These councils had been established in November 1773.
In the year 1774, Mr. Hastings earnestly offered his ad
vice to the governor-general and council, (then newly
established, by act of parliament) for the continuance of
the system of provincial councils in all its parts. In April
1775, he transmitted to the directors a formal plan for the
future settlement of the revenues, and declared at the same
time, that " with respect to the mode of managing the col
lection of the revenue, and the administration of justice,
none occurred to him so good as the system which was al
ready established of provincial councils." On the 1 8th of
January 1776, he dispatched to the court of directors "a
plan for the better administration of justice; and in that
plan he had specially provided for the permanent establish
ment of these provincial councils; and he not only recom-
c c 3

390 SPEECHES IN> WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8
mended it to the directors to confirm that establishment,
but also to apply to parliament, and procure for it the
sanction of the legislature; nay, he went so far as to trans
mit to the court of directors, on the 30th of April, the
draught of an act of parliament for the better administra
tion of justice in the provinces belonging to the Company,
in which there was a special provision for the establish
ment of provincial councils, and special jurisdiction was
assigned to each of them. My lords, one might have im
agined, from all that Mr. Hastings had said and written
upon this subject, that the establishment of these councils,
as far at least as depended upon him, would have been
made permanent ; but on a sudden he changed his mind,
and in a letter to the court of directors, dated the 5 th of
May 1 78 1, he affirmed, " that the plan of superintending
and collecting the public revenue of the provinces, through
the agency of provincial councils, had been instituted for
the temporary and declared purpose of introducing another
more permanent mode by an easy and gradual change."
Here Mr. Hastings had completely abandoned in one mo
ment an opinion which he had recommended to the court
of directors for near eight years successively; and though
he himself had drawn up the plan of an act of parliament
to confirm in perpetuity the establishment of these pro
vincial councils, yet he had- the face afterwards to tell the
Company, that " it h/4 at first been adopted for the tem
porary and declared purpose of introducing another more
permanent mode by an easy and gradual change." Here
again the prisoner shewed that he never could adhere to
one opinion ; for instead of introducing a change by de
grees, he suddenly abolished all the provincial councils,
without having found any fault with them ; nay, just after
he had himself pronounced a panegyric upon them ; and
in their room he established one single council, under whose
management was placed the administration of the whole
revenue of the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar,- and Orixa:
this council was to be supreme in points relating to the

1788.3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 39I
revenue, and consequently independent of the governor-
general and his council.
My lords, it seems very odd, that a man like Mr.
Hastings, who loved power and patronage, should thus
place both beyond his own reach ; and so it would, if he
had done so in reality : but this was not his object ; he
wanted to make this council independent of the supreme
council in future, and dependent solely upon himself: he
did not wish to trust to another thwarting majority in his
own conncil; and therefore he was determined that there
should be no connection between the one and the other.
This new council he composed entirely of his own crea
tures and favourites; but as it was necessary that these
gentiemen should have for their dewan or secretary some
native acquainted with the laws and customs of the coun
try, a person who could communicate between them and
the country government, such an agent was given to them
by Mr. Hastings — a man that you will often hear of — a
name at the sound of which all India turns pale — the
most wicked, the most atrocious, the boldest and most
dexterous villain that that country ever produced. There
never was a friend - — there never was a foe of Mr. Hast
ings ¦ — there never was a human being that differed in
their opinion of Gunga Govind Sing, the friend of Mr.
Hastings, to whom all the authority below and all the
authority above was delegated.. I hope and trust your
lordships will allow me to state, from the report of the
council themselves, the nature and importance of this
office of secretary. My lords, they assert that the whole
power — a power of the most alarming and terrible
nature — centred in this man, and that the council, with
the best abilities and intentions, were, after all, little better
than tools in the hands of their dewan. He pried into the
secrets of families ; he availed himself of the knowledge of
those secrets ; and he thereby had it in his power to lay
the whole country under contribution. Now, my lords,
you have here the opinion of the council itself; you see
what they are made for ; you see- the executive power was
c c 4

392 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
destroyed; you see that the delegation by Mr. Hastings,
of all the English authority, both above and below, judi
cial and civil, was given to this Gunga Govind Sing. The
Screen he put before the public, the veil, was thrown open,
and Mr. Hastings uses the names and authority of the
English to make them tools in the hands of the basest,
wickedest, corruptest, the most atrocious villain that ever
was heard of. My lords, you have heard that the pro
vincial councils were destroyed. Did Mr. Hastings pre
tend to say that he destroyed them for their corruption or
insufficiency ? No such- thing. He declares he has no
objection to their competency, no charge to make against
their conduct. The provincial councils were then de
stroyed; forty English gentlemen were removed; the whole
administration of the country was overturned ; the East
India Company were burdened with pensions for the per
sons dismissed, and with 62,000/. per annum, for the newly
appointed council, and all for the purpose of establishing
Mr. Hastings's friend Gunga Govind Sing.
My lords, the character of Gunga Govind Sing was known
to Mr. Hastings before he appointed him secretary to the
new council. Mr. Hastings knew the public opinion ¦ of
the man. " It is true," he said, " this Gunga Govind
Sing is generally spoken ill of; but nothing particular that
I know of is laid to his charge ; no body denies him to be
a man of abilities, and for that reason I employed him."
Now, my lords, if any thing ought to have hindered Mr.
Hastings from putting any, much less the whole trust
of the government of Bengal, in one man, it was that
he was not a man of integrity, or reputed so to ' be.
Mr. Hastings, however, does not mind the general esti
mation in which Gunga Govind Sing was held : he knew
he had been turned out of office by others : he knew he had
been turned out, for reasons assigned on the record and
approved by the court of directors, for malversations : he
had, nevertheless, crept in again, and for malversations
they were on the point of turning him out again, when Mr.
Hastings saved them the trouble, by turning him- but: so

I788.] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 393
that he was known to be a man of notoriously bad character.
Permit me, my lords, for one moment to drop my repre
sentative character here, and to speak to you as a man
much conversant in the world, as a man much acquainted
with men and manners, in active life, and amidst occu
pations the most various ; and, from that experience, I now
profess, that I never knew a man that was bad, fit for any
service that was good. It is not in their nature. Their minds
are distorted, by following the corrupt artificial means of
accomplishing their own selfish ends. Out of that track,
they are poor, dull, helpless, resourceless creatures. Their
faculties are benumbed on that side. They are quite para
lytic. There is always soma disqualifying ingredient mix
ing with the compound and spoiling it. Their muscles
have lost their very tone and character : they cannot move.
In short, the accomplishment of any thing good is a phy
sical impossibility in such a man. There is decrepitude as
well as distortion. He could not if he would, is not more
certain than that he would not if he could. These men
know nothing but how to pursue selfish ends by bad
means. Therefore I say, my lords, no one ever employed
a bad man but for bad ends. Mr. Hastings knew the man
intimately. There may be situations, perhaps, in which
such a man might be employed; but who, except Mr.
Hastings, would have dreamt of putting the whole king
dom and the whole council into such hands? If the idea
of a virtuous discharge of the duties of his office had
iii any. degree entered into the plan or intention of ; the
prisoner, he never would have placed such a man in a
situation, in which the natural disposition of his mind to
wickedness would have full scope for action and gratifica
tion. My lords, the council, that had been appointed to
act as the tools of Gunga Govind Sing, or rather of Mr.
Hastings, formed no inconsiderable branch of the civil
establishment of Bengal ; for the salaries of the members
amounted to 62,000/. a year; a sum nearly equal to the
united salaries of the governor-general and the members
of the whole supreme council of Bengal. It was not for the

394 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
service they did the country, that the members of this new
board of revenue received so profuse an allowance ; for it
was not intended that they should do any thing ; their sa
laries were intended rather as douceurs to bribe them to
silence, than to stimulate them to activity in their depart
ment : — they were to enjoy repose ; and all that was
expected of them was, that they should not interfere
with the plans that Gunga Govind Sing might occa
sionally adopt in the collection of the revenue. These
gentlemen did not actually receive such instructions when
they were appointed members of the council; but they soon
perceived that they were only the dignified tools of the go
vernor-general's confidential agent. All they could do was
to remonstrate ; and in this they acted like men of honour ;
they fairly stated, and their report, as I before observed to
your lordships, is upon record, that they were mere cyphers,
and that all the powers of the board were, in effect, vested
in Gunga Govind Sing ; who, from the nature of his situ
ation, had it in his power to lay the provinces under contribu
tion ; and whose inclination to do so was equal to his power.
My lords, we soon find him employed in the way in
which he was meant to be employed ; that is, in taking
bribes and corrupt presents for Mr. Hastings. He had
constant, uniform, and, as we shall prove, close communi
cation with the prisoner; and, indeed, we may here be
saved a good deal of trouble in proofs, since Mr. Hastings
himself, by acknowledging that Gunga Govind Sing was
his broker, has pretty clearly revealed the secret. My
lords, Mr. Hastings writes to Mr. Larkins, the Company's
treasurer at Calcutta, who, in consequence, sends over an
account, which comes directly in evidence before you on
the subject of these presents. My lords, there are in it a
number of presents, which, when they come to be summed
up, will appear enormous. It appears that a cabooleat, or
agreement, to pay four lacks of rupees had been received,
three of which had been actually paid, and one remained on
account. We are told that Mr. Hastings received all this.
We are told that he received these three lacks through

17880 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 395
the hands of Guuga Govirid Sing. We are further told,
that Mr. Hastings was extremely angry with him for hav
ing kept back, or defrauded him of, a sum of 10,000/. out
of 40,000/. Certainly, my lords, it was very extraordinary
and very reprehensible in this Gunga Govind Sing, and
unworthy of the great and high trust which Mr. Hastings
reposed in his integrity, to keep back from him the fourth
part of his whole bribe ! My lords, we have found the pro
vince, we have found the sum of money given, we have
found the agent employed, we have found the receiver —
The province is Dinagepore, the agent is Gunga Govind
Sing, the sum is 40,000/., the receiver is Mr. Hastings. —
But who gave this sum to him, or on what account it was
given, no where appears.
My lords, as the above-mentioned sum of 40,000/. was
not an ordinary article of revenue, as it was acknowledged
to be a present, without any account being given of the
person from whom, or the cause for which it was given, the
only way of coming to any conclusion on the subject, will
be for me to shew your lordships what was the state of
transactions at Dinagepore at that period ; an inquiry
which will tend greatly to develope the dreadful consequences
of that system of bribery and corruption- which had been
established by Mr. Hastings. My lords, the country of
Dinagepore, with its dependant territories, are nearly
equal to all the northern counties in England, Yorkshire
included, and has a prince at the head, called the rajah
or zemindar of Dinagepore. I find that about July 1780,
the rajah died : he died, leaving a half brother and an
adopted son. A litigation instantly arose in the family,
and this litigation was referred to, and was finally to be
decided by, the governor-general in council, that being the
ultimate authority for all revenue questions. The cause
came before Mr. Hastings, who decided the question in
favour of Sudermund Sing, the adopted son of the ra
jah, against his half brother. I find on that decision a
rent settled, and a fine paid ; so that all this transaction is
fair and above board ; and I find, along with it, many ex-

396 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
traordinary acts; for I find Mr. Hastings taking a- part in
favour, of: that minister, Hyder Beg, agreeably to the
principles of others, and contrary to his own ; and, on his
establishing the authority of the minister, Hyder Beg, I
find he gave the guardianship of this son to the brother of
the wife of the late rajah ; and when the steward of the pro
vince was coming down to represent his case to Mr. Hast
ings, Mr. Hastings not only sent him back, (so far from
hearing. him fully,) but ordered him actually to be turned
out of his office. If the present of four lacks of rupees was
given in consideration of the judgment in favour of the
adopted son, whether the decision was right or wrong, true
or false, the bribe was corruptly taken by Mr. Hastings as a
judge in a litigation of inheritance between two parties.
And what, my lords, on such a supposition, renders the case
more flagrant, is, that the present came through the hands
of Gunga Govind Sing. He was the person that was to
receive it by monthly instalments, and to pay it to Mr.
Hastings. The son, too, of Gunga Govind Sing was at
this time register-general of the province, and had in his
care all the documents upon- which the legal merits of the
case depended; so that Mr. Hastings takes a bribe from
an infant of five or six years old, through the hands of the
registrar, whose opinion was to have the whole weight in
settling that share that was not a public tribute or fine. —
So that,, in fact, through the registrar of the country, the
keeper of the records, he receives a bribe from a family on
a point of judgment disinheriting the brother. . I do not
say whether the decision was proper or not. : I know these
questions of adoption are the most curious in the Gentoo
law. , This I know, that he succeeded in obtaining a bribe
through the hands of a man who was registrar-general of
the province ; and, soon after this, we find other parties
concerned. Soon after this we find the, man who save
the. bribe, and all the officers under him, turned out of their
employments, and the guardianship of the infant given to
the brother of the wife of the late rajah. Soon after, with
out any proof, that appears upon record, of mismanagement

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 397
or neglect, the guardian was displaced by Gunga Govind
Sirg, and the rajah put into the hands of a perfect stranger.
My lords, I will do Mr. Hastings the justice to say, that if
he had known that there was another man more accom
plished in iniquity than Gunga Govind Sing, he would
have given him the first place in his confidence; but there
was another next to him, a person called Debi Sing.
He ranked under Gunga Govind Sing. This man, al
though he had in the transaction of the 10,000/. for
sook the very shape, rules, and name of virtue, yet Mr.
Hastings is to acquit him of this — they were reconciled on
this occasion — Debi Sing came into office, superseding
all the others. There is an English gentleman, one Mr.
Goodlad, whom your lordships will hear of presently. They
appointed him , and the first act they do is to cut off a
1000/. a month from his allowance, because he is stated
to be extravagant, and have a great number of , de
pendants to maintain. In short, all is flutter and bustle :
there never was such a tender guardianship and super
intendence as that of Debi Sing (always with the know
ledge of Mr. Hastings) towards this poor rajah, who. had
justgiven 40,000/. (if he did give 40,000/.) for his nomi
nation to Mr. Hastings.
We now put Debi Sing in possession of the rajah's fa
mily, together with the management of his household.
.The very next step, in the course of ten years, is to give
him the farming of the revenues of all the rajah's pro
vinces. It may be said, that the peshcush was not,re-
ceived as a bribe for the nomination of the rajah, but, was
received as a bribe in office. Which is the best, or which
is the worst, I shall not pretend to determine ; but it ap-
. pears most probable, that Mr, Hastings got it from Debi
Sing in. consideration of this appointment. Thus were
the. revenues of the rajah given in farm to a man, who, in
ihe universal opinion of all Bengal, was second only to
Gunga Govind Sing,, a man with whose character Mr.
_ Hastings was perfectly well acquainted, and of whom he
has since recorded, that he knew Debi Sing to be com-

398 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. rfl.
pletely capable of the most atrocious iniquities that were
ever charged upon man. Now, my lords, though this is
a large field, and though it is a thing that I must confess
I feel reluctance in mentioning, exhausted as I am at pre
sent; yet such is the magnitude of the topic, such the
hurtful consequences of superseding all the persons em
ployed, in order to give the country into the hands of
Gunga Govind Sing and Debi Sing, that I must go on.
As Mr. Hastings avows his knowledge of the character of
this Debi Sing ; as he tells us that he accepted him as a
person against whom no possible objection could be made ;
it will be necessary for me to state to your lordships who
the man was to whom those great trusts and profits
were given. My lords, Debi Sing was a person of the
tribe of banyans, that is to say, the trading and merchant
class of India, and was employed in all those little arts
and frauds to get money, which is their business. While
Mahomed Reza Cawn, that great man, had the manage
ment of all the affairs of state and revenue in his hands,
under the Company, Debi Sing paid his court' to him
with all the assiduity and subtleness which those who have
no principle, are very apt to use. When the Cawn was
brought down to Mr. Hastings, and ordered, on a strange
charge, to Calcutta, Debi Sing lent him considerable sums
of money. For this great man was accused of great crimes,
and acquitted — 250,000/. in debt; that is to say, as soon
as he was a great debtor, he ceased to be a great criminal.
Debi Sing obtained his interest, and one of the first great
concerns intrusted to him was the collection of the pro
vince of Purneath. How did he conduct himself in that
situation ? My lords, he so well acquitted himself in that
place, that the province was totally ruined and half de
solated. The revenues of this province, under his ma
nagement, fell, in the first year, from r6o,ooo/. to
90,000/., and in the next year to 60,000/.; and it was
finally so completely ruined and desolated, that a Com
pany of Indian merchants, who had taken it at a re
duced rent, when they came to view it, fled in affright out

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL.

399

of the country, and gave ten thousand pounds to be re
leased from their bargain. This, my lords, was the first
opportunity he had of shewing how deserving he was of
greater trusts. His corruptions and oppressions were too
abominable to escape notice, and, accordingly, in 1783,
Mr. Hastings removed this man from his employments,
but not from his profits, which he was allowed to retain.
Thus stigmatized, he had still the influence to procure the
office of high dewan, or deputy steward, .to the council of
Moorshedabad, the principal of the six provincial coun
cils. This council consisted of young men, who, like
other young men of pleasurable dispositions* and espe
cially like young men in India, were willing to reconcile,
if they could, the means of acquiring a good fortune with
the effects of ruin. Debi Sing- took compassion upon
them, and undertook to lead them, at one and the same
time, through the paths of profit and pleasure. This man
possessed, in an eminent degree, the art of pleasing those
whom it was his interest to conciliate. It was his study to
provide so quick a succession of pleasures, diversions, and
entertainments, for the gentlemen who had seats at the
council board, that they should not have much leisure to
attend to business, or inquire minutely into his conduct.
There is, my lords, in that country, a tax much more
productive than honourable — a tax upon dancing girls,
and other females, who make a profession in India of con
tributing to the pleasure of the men, without any scruples
on the score of modesty. This tax Debi Sing formed ";
and from among the ladies who were the subjects of the
tax, he singled out, with that care and with that ability
for which he has been so much commended, those who had
the greatest personal merit. The ladies were called " good
pearls of price;" " rubies of pure blood," and all those fine
names that tended to heighten the general harmony.
Debi Sing made frequent visits. He always carried this
nioving seraglio about with him wherever he went. With
them he concerted the plans of new enter tainmentsj which
were executed with all the refinements upon pleasure that

400 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8,
Asiatic luxury could devise. His guests were supplied
liberally with the choicest music, the finest dancing, the
most delicious French wines, the most costly perfumes of
India, in short, with every thing that could by possibility
add to the luxury of such a scene. This great magician
— chaste in the midst of dissoluteness — sober in the midst
.of drunkenness — active in the lap of drowsiness —
watched the favourable moment for the accomplishment
of his purposes, and contrived, as if, by accident, and not
by design, to have papers of the utmost consequence
brought to the gentlemen who composed the council, to be
signed. * Young men, my lords, who are honest them
selves, seldom suspect others of dishonest practices or arts ;
but still less so when their spirits are raised by wine, and the
blandishments of women : at such a moment they unsus
pectingly signed whatever paper was offered for that pur
pose; and thus the great ends of these expensive enter
tainments were fully accomplished; and thus did this
keeper of a legal brothel obtain the superintendence of a
number of districts, all of which, as he had done before,
he grievously oppressed and desolated, incurred large ar
rears of payments, and in one of these places, for his pe
culations, he was publicly whipped by proxy. Having thus
proved himself a kind protector of- the people, a prudent
farmer of the revenue, and a sober guardian of the morals
of youth, he was chosen by Mr. Hastings as a proper man
to superintend the young rajah, to lead him in the paths
of piety and virtue, and to have the whole administration
of his territories, the collection of the revenues of the
great countries of Dinagepore and Rumpore committed
into his hands.
My. lords, the consequences were such as might in
evitably be expected. Debi Sing lost not a momeniX One-
part of his instructions was, that he should not raise the'
rents, or impose new taxes upon the inhabitants ; but such
instructions did not weigh much with a man, who knew
that if he broke through them, he was sure of impunity.
He therefore resolved, by plunder and rapine c*f*W'eTy

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTERfHALL. 40!
sort, to make the most of his situation. The first thing
he did was to seize on all the gentry of the country,
as well as others, throw them into prison, keep them in
irons, and oblige them to sign papers, consenting to an
increase of their rents. The next step he tookj was to
lay on them a number of new taxes, whichj by his cove
nant, he was not to have laid. Being thus in prison, he
obliged them to give bonds to what amount he pleased, as
the price of their liberty. His next step was to seize and
sequester the lands that pay no taxes. The demesne
lands were accordingly put up to auction and knocked
down at one year's purchase} though . the usual price of
land in that country was ten. Whom were they sold to?
Your lordships will anticipate me — they were sold to Debi
Sing himself, through the means of one of his agents.
They amounted in all to the sum of 70,000/. sterling a
year ; but, according to the value of money in that coun
try, they were worth 300,000/. a year.. These lands so
sequestered were purchased so much under their valuer
that the fee simple of an acre of land sold for about
seven or eight shillings, and the miserable wretches re
ceived the payment for their lands out of the money that
was Collected from them. The money was put into a se
parate collection, and the moment it was paid the rents
were raised again, and it was put by as a sacred deposit for
himself, or some other person, whom Mr. Hastings should
appoint. Next was the sale of their goods. These they
were obliged to carry, to market ; and there is here a cir
cumstance that will call loudly, for your pity — most of the
principal landholders, or zemindars, happened at that time
to be women. The sex, my lords, in India, are kept in
a constant state of imprisonment ; nevertheless, from the
sanctity in which they are held, they are guarded with all
possible attention and respect. No hand of the law can
tpuch them; but they have a custom of sending family
baifliffs, and, family Serjeants into their houses; and ac
cordingly such persons came into the houses of these ze
mindars, ariifflSde themselves masters of them. The «aeri
vol. iV. n d

402 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8.
and women all fled. All the charity lands were sold at
the same market : all that the affections of their ancestors
had provided to maintain the poor and helpless, was sold
before their faces at that same market. But this, my
lords, is not all ; there were things yet dearer to them —
the poor consolations of imagination at death, for all the
substantial miseries of life. There were lands set apart
and destined for the burial grounds of the owners.
How dear these grounds are to all the people of India,
it is needless for me to say. But, by the tyranny of
Debi Sing — a tyranny more consuming than fire, more
greedy than the grave — these lands were sold also. This
was to them, from the nature of their education and re
ligion, the most heart-rending of all their losses. But,
my lords, this was not all. This was the manner in which
-all the principal gentry, all the secondary gentry, all the
women, and all the minors were disposed of. What was
'the situation of the poor men, of the yeomen ? I say their
situation is ten thousand times worse, if "possible — if
there are degrees of utter ruin. They were driven like
horned cattle into the common prison, and there they
were obliged to sign, as the principal zemindars had done
before — they were obliged to sign recognitions of their
ruin — they were let out only to their destruction. There
were such an incredible variety of new taxes every day,
that they were obliged to sell almost all the corn of the
country at once. It happening to be a year of fulness,
and the markets overloaded, their crops did not sell for
above one-fourth of their value ; so that being overloaded
with taxes they came to the next resource; they were
•obliged to sell every where, and hurry to market all the
cattle. Of Cattle that were worth twenty shillings, or
twenty-five shillings a piece, five were known to sell for
ten shillings. The next thing that they were forced to part
with was the ornaments of their women. The women of
India do not decorate themselves according to our mode:
their decorations serve as a resource in cases of emergency.
These were all forced to be brought to market along*^ with

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 403
the cattle ; so that gold and silver sold for twenty per cent.
under their value. Some will say, Gold and silver sold
under its value ! Certainly, my lords, where there is an
overloaded market and wicked purchasers.
Permit me now, my lords, to set before you the state of
the people that remain victims of this oppression. It is
notorious that poverty generally prevails among the poor
ryots, or husbandmen ; that the poor are seldom possessed
of any substance, except at the time they reap their harvest ;
and this is the reason that such numbers of them were
swept away by famine. Their effects are only a little earth
enware, and their houses a handful of straw, the sale of
which was not worth a few rupees; but it is still incredible
that there should not be a want of purchasers. My lords,
I produce this strange testimony from the person himself
who was concerned in racking diese people, and I produce
it to shew what a country it is. The people, while they
were harassed in this manner, sought that dreadful re
source which misery is apt to fly to ; they fell into the
hands of usurers. Usurers, my lords, are a bad resource at
any time ; and at that time those usurers, to the accus
tomed hardness of that description of people, added
another that makes such men ten times wOrse, that is, their
own necessities. Such was the determination of the in
fernal fiend, Debi Sing, to have those bonds discharged,
that the wretched husbandmen were obliged to borrow
money, not at 20, or 30, or 40, or 50, but at six hundred
per cent, in order to satisfy him !
My lords, I am here obliged to offer some apology for
the horrid scenes I am about to open. Permit me to
make the same apology to your lordships, that was made
by Mr.1 Patterson — a man with whose name I wish mine
to be handed down to posterity. His apology is this —
and it is mine — that the punishments inflicted upon the
ryots of Rumpore and of Dinagepore, were, in many
instances, of such a nature, that I would rather wish to
draw'a veil over them, than shock your feelings by a detail.
But it is necessary for the substantial ends of justice-and
D D 2

404 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. l8*y
humanity, and for the honour of government, that they
should be exposed, that they should be recorded, and
handed down to after ages : let this be my apology. My
lords, when the people had been stript of every thing, it
was, in some cases, suspected, and justly, that they had
hid some share of the grain. Their bodies were then ap
plied to the fiercest mode of torture, which was this : they
began with winding cords about their fingers, till the flesh on:
each hand clung and was actually incorporated. Then they
hammered wedges of wood and iron between those fingers,
until they crushed and maimed those poor, honest, and
laborious hands, which were never lifted up to their mouths
but with a scanty supply of provision. My lords, these
acts of unparalleled cruelty, began with the poor ryots ;
but if they began there, there they did not stop. The
heads of the villages, the leading yeomen of the country,
respectable for their virtues, respectable for their age, were
tied together, two and two, the unoffending and helpless,
thrown across a bar, upon which they were hung with
their feet uppermost, and there beat with bamboo canes
on the soles of those feet, until the nails started from
their toes, and then with the cudgels of their blind fury
these poor wretches were afterwards beat about the head,
until the blood gushed out at their mouth, nose, and ears.
My lords, they did not stop here. Bamboos, wangees,
rattans, canes, common whips, and scourges were not
sufficient. They found a tree in the. country which bears
strong and sharp thorns — not satisfied with those other
cruelties, they scourged them with these. Not satisfied with
this, but searching every thing through the deepest parts of
nature, where she seems to have forgot her usual bene
volence, they found a poisonous plant, a deadly caustic,
that inflames the part that is bruised, and often occasions
death. This they applied to those wounds. My lords,
we know that there are men (for so we are made) whom
bodily pains cannot subdue. The mind of some men
strengthens in proportion as the body suffers. But people
who can bear up against their own tortures, cannot bear

1788.3 Speeches in westminster-hall. 405
up against those of their children and their friends. To
add, therefore, to their suff'erings, the innocent children
were brought forth, and cruelly scourged before the faces
of their parents. They frequently bound the father and
the son, face to face, arm to arm, body to body, and then
flogged till the skin was torn from the flesh : and thus they
had the devilish satisfaction of knowing, that every blow
must wound the body or the mind ; for if one escaped the
son, his sensibility was wounded by the knowledge he
had that the blow had fallen upon his father; the same
torture was felt by the father, when he knew that every
blow that missed him had fallen upon his unfortunate son.
My lords, this was not, this was not all ! The treat
ment of tlie females cannot be described. Virgins that
were kept from the sight of the sun, were dragged into
the public court — that court which was intended to be a
refuge against all oppression — and there, in the presence
of day, their delicacies were offended, and their persons
cruelly violated, by the basest of mankind. It did not end
there : the. wives of the men of the country only suffered
less by this : they lost their honour in the bottom of the
most cruel dungeons, in which they were confined. They
were then dragged out naked, and in that situation exposed
to public view, and scourged before all the people. My
lords, here is my authority — for otherwise you will not
believe it possible. My lords, what will you feel when I
tell you, that they put the nipples of the women into the
cleft notches of sharp bamboos, and tore them from their
bodies. What modesty in all nations most carefully con
ceals, these monsters revealed to view, and consumed by
burning tortures, and cruel slow fires ! My lords, I am
ashamed to open it — horrid to tell ! these infernal fiends,
these monstrous tools of this monster Debi Sing, in de
fiance of every thing divine or human, planted death in
the source of life !
[Here Mr. Burke dropt his head upon his hands, unable
to proceed, so greatly was he oppressed by the horror
which he felt at this relation. The effect of it was visible
D D 3

406 speeches in westminster-hall. [Feb. 18.
through the whole auditory. Mr. Burke having recovered
himself, continued :3
My lords, such are the cruelties that arose from the
giving power to Debi Sing, and to infernal villains of his
stamp. My lords, the people of India are patience itself:
their patience is proverbial. But gentle and inoffensive as
they are by nature, the wretched natives were at length
roused to resistance; for patience, like all other virtues, has
its boundaries, beyond which it cannot possibly be stretched.
Their common sufferings made large bodies of them com
bine, to revenge upon their tyrants the cruelties they had
been made to suffer. The first effects of their fury were
felt, as is usually the case, by the lowest instruments, and
consequently the least criminal, employed in oppressing ;
they soon sacrificed to their rage some inferior collectors of
the revenue : this Was instantly pronounced to be a proof
of an unprovoked, a wanton, and unnatural rebellion :
the army was ordered to march against an unarmed multi
tude, who had nothing but their despair to oppose to the
approach of the troops : they were of course soon broken
by a regular army; numbers were relieyed by violent deaths
from the miseries attendant upon the most absolute po
verty, and the memory both of happier days, and of friends
and relations, torn from them by the most unheard-of
cruelties that oppression could devise. The whole country,
after the suppression of this insurrection, wore the most
shocking appearance ; the face of it was blasted ; the vil
lages reduced to ashes, the former inhabitants either de
stroyed by the sword, or totally dispersed ; the fields were
over-run with brambles and thistles ; and the wild beasts
of the forest were left to enjoy the uncontrouled dominion
of those plains once so highly cultivated, and thick set
with populous villages.
My lords, such a revolution could not but rouse the at
tention of the council : it was resolved, therefore, that a
commissioner should be sent into the country to inquire
into the causes of the late rebellion^ with instructions to
make a report to the board, of the result of his inquiries.
ii

1788.] speeches in westminster-hall. 407
It was thought, that on such an occasion, no man ought to,
be employed who was not distinguished for an uncommon
degree of moderation. Such a man they found in Mr.
Patterson. This gentleman was totally unconnected with
any party in the government ; a lover of peace, and of the
most conciliating disposition. It was expected that he
would have shared the blame of the rebellion between the
oppressors and the oppressed ; that he would pronounce
both to be in some degree to blame; that he would soften
matters : and that his report would recommend that the
whole affair should be buried in oblivion. This gentleman
had prepared himself for the arduous undertaking of a fair
and impartial inquiry into the causes of the disturbances
that were to be the subject of it. He knew, that if he
should find the natives were innocent of any premeditated
design against government, and that they were driven to
resistance by provocations too great for human nature to
bear, he should draw upon himself the enmity and resent
ment of a powerful party, if he should make a faithful re
port of what he should have seen.
On the other hand, he felt that his conscience would be
torn, if he should conceal from those who had the power
of punishing the, gailty, the oppressions which he might
discover had driven the wretched natives to madness and
despair, and turned their country into a wilderness. He
was resolved, however, to do his duty, though at tbe
hazard of his fortune, and of all his future expectations.,
Before he set out upon his journey, he fortified himself, by
reading a letter from his father, which he constantly kept
by him, and which he never failed to read whenever he,
found himself in any situation that might expose him to the,
temptation of sacrificing his conscience to his interest. In
that letter his worthy and venerable father intreated him to
make it his constant study to do his duty to God and to
the Company, in whatever situation it might be his fortune
to be employed. He reminded him, that a quiet conscience,,
and a -spotless name, were more precious than all the
wealth of Asia: he warned him, therefore, never to do
dd 4

408 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 1 8*
any act that could excite remorse, or bring a blemish upon
his reputation. He,conjured him to look upon his interest
as but a secondary consideration ; and assured him, that
he would have infinitely more comfort in seeing him return
to, Europe, bankrupt in fortune, but rich in reputation,
than if he brought with him the wealth of India, acquired
by means that an honest man would blush to acknowledge.
¦ Fortified and confirmed by this letter in his just and ho
nourable resolution, Mr. Patterson set out for the place of
his destination, and began his inquiry. The discoveries
he made were such, that he said, in his report, he wished,
for the credit of human nature, he might have been at
liberty to draw a veil over them ; but as his duty had made
him enter upon the inquiry, so duty, truth, and justice,
compelled him fairly to state what he had discovered,
though his heart shrunk with horror at the idea of the, un
paralleled cruelties which he was about to lay open.
• My lords, the report fills two large volumes, which are
now in the India House. It fully acquits the natives of the
guilt of rebellion, and throws all the blame of it upon
those, who, by the most unheard-of cruelties, had made
the wretched inhabitants desperate. In what condition
Mr. Patterson found the country when he arrived there,
your lordships may form some idea, from the following ex
tract from one of his letters: — " In my two reports I have
set forth generally the manner in which oppression has pro
voked the husbandmen to part with their stock and goods.
I mean not to enumerate them now; every day my inquiries
serve to confirm the facts. The wonder would have been
if they had not, seeing it was not a collection of the re
venue, but a robbery, which, with criminal punishment,
and every instrument of disgrace, extended to every in
dividual. There is a period when oppression will rise to
resist — conceive the situation, of the husbandmen; every
thing they had in the world was dragged away, exposed to
every exaggerated demand, and sold at so low a price as
not to answer that demand. They themselves were* sub-
jectedtoc^iminal punishment, and the loss of their women

1788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 409
and casts.-*) You will allow the full effect of prejudice on
this subject." The consequences of the loss of their cast to
these persons, I have already stated to your lordships.
The loss of their cast amounts to more than a complete
excommunication, a complete outlawry, or attainder would
do in this country. The men or, women who have lost
their cast, are no longer esteemed the. children of their
parents. This, however, was not all. Debi Sing made
use of a species of pillory, which, in India, and particu
larly by the Brahmins, is considered more dreadful than
death. Those who have been disgraced by this pillory, no
matter whether with or without just cause, are, as it were,
excommunicated; they are disowned by their own tribe,
nay, by their nearest relations; and are considered as
the outcasts of all society. This pillory, my lords, is
a bullock, with a drum beating on each side. The person
who is once seated on it, is ever after disgraced and
degraded, he and all his posterity. Debi Sing had this
terrible bullock walking through the villages : at his ap
proach the inhabitants all fled ; and so general was the
desertion of their habitations, that an Englishman who had
travelled up the country, declared that he passed twelve
miles without seeing a light, and without finding the means
of making a fire to dress his necessary food.
My lords, all these direful calamities were the conse
quence of the government of Debi Sing. One would
imagine that they would have drawn down upon him the
severity of the governor-general ; that if ever Mr. Hastings
had a right to exercise arbitrary power, he would have exer
cised it on this occasion. My lords, we must not be too
hasty^ This report disappointed the council : a very dif
ferent one had been expected from Mr. Patterson. The
members of the council were greatly embarrassed ; — the
report ought naturally to have led- to the punishment of the
authors of the rebellion, and the cruelties that had occa
sioned it. But they stood not in fear of punishment; they
were beyond the reach of it: they were protected by those
whose duty it was to bring them to justice; and who", hy

410 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 19.
neglecting that duty, had abetted the barbarities that dis
graced the British government. No attempt, indeed, was
made to justify acts which in their nature were so brutal and
savage ; but the effects of the report were evaded, and ex
ceptions the most captious were taken to it. Instead of
proceeding to act upon the report, by calling the delinquent
to an account, Mr. Patterson was converted into a volun
tary accuser of Debi Sing, and directed to make good the
charges. They take an objection, that the depositions are
not all upon oath, although it was never ordered that they
should be upon oath. They thus throw, a doubt, a
shadow, upon them all — [Mr. Burke was here taken ill 3
but he soon recovered, and proceeded thus : 3
My lords, I am sorry to break your attention. It is a
subject that pains me very much ; it is long, difficult, ar
duous ; but, with the blessing of God, if I can, I will go
through it this day. The next step they took was this —
to put Debi Sing into the shape of an accuser 
Mr. Burke was here seized with a cramp in his stomach,
which obliged him to sit down : he was soon relieved from
his pain, but was too much exhausted to be able to pro
ceed. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales finding
Mr. Burke so unwell, immediately moved to adjourn;
which was agreed to. Mr. Burke had been speaking above
three hours and a quarter.

SIXTH DAY.
Tuesday, February 19.
Mr. Burke being sufficiently recovered from his indis
position of the preceding day, resumed his speech. He
began by recapitulating the objects he had in view in the
several matters that he submitted to the court the day
before ; viz. that Mr. Hastings, by destroying the pro*<
vincial councils, which formed the whole subordinate ad
ministration of the British government in Bengal; by

I788.3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 411
delegating their powers nominally to a committee of four
persons chosen by himself, but in fact to a secret agent of
his own, their deWan or secretary j. by making this board,
which had the whole management of the revenues, inde
pendent of, and unaccountable to, the supreme council ; and
by concurring in the appointment of persons of infamous
characters to offices of the highest trust, had made himself
responsible for all the mischiefs that flowed from those acts :
that the acts themselves had, from the circumstances attend
ing them, the strongest presumptive proofs that they were
in the first intention corrupt, and that this presumption was
strongly confirmed by the subsequent conduct of Mr.
Hastings, particularly in the case of Mr. Patterson, which
he proceeded to relate :
The report, with an immense body of evidence, being
transmitted to the committee, instead of giving that credit
to Mr. Patterson, which persons acting in a public trust,
and under the express orders of government, are entitled
to, they received it with great coldness and visible disgust ;
instead of proceeding to act upon the report, by calling
the delinquent to an account, Mr. Patterson was converted
into a voluntary accuser of Debi Sing, and directed to
make good the charges, which he had brought, by evidence
upon oath ; and finally, he was himself accused by Debi
Sing (whose boldness increased with the protection he ob
tained) of falsehood and forgery, and was put as a criminal
upon his defence. Under such circumstances, Mr. Pat
terson was sent back to that country, in which he had
before been received as carrying the whole power of a be
neficent government, to see whether, among a ruined, de
jected, undone people, he could find constancy enough to
^stand to their former accusations against the known power
of their former oppressor. In the mean time, Debi Sing
was sent in custody to Calcutta, not upon the charges con
tained in the report, but for other offences. Here he re
mained some time a prisoner at large, and at last, a new
commission being appointed to proceed to Rumpore, and
inquire into the charges against Mr, Patterson;, he y-fs sent

412 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 19.
for by the commissioners, and actually sat with them, whilst
Mr. Patterson was excluded from all their deliberations.
Four years had thus passed, during which Mr. Patterson
remained in a state of affliction and continual conflict.
Debi Sing remained a prisoner at large, with every mark
of protection and authority, and the people of Rumpore,
which, said Mr. Burke, is a consideration of much greater
importance than Debi Sing, or even than Mr. Patterson
himself, remained totally unredressed, remain so to this
day, and will remain so for ever, if your lordships do not
redress them.
After some farther observations upon the responsibility
of Mr. Hastings, as arising from the abolition of the pro
vincial councils, and the constitution of the new committee
of revenue, by which he destroyed every check and con
troul, and delivered the whole into the hands of his bribe
agent, Gunga Govind Sing, he adverted to the defence
set up by Mr. Hastings, that these presents were never re
ceived for his private emolument, but for the use of the
Company, and that it was the best method of supplying
the necessities of the Company in the pressing exigencies
of their affairs. With respect to this system of presents,
by which bribery was to be made a supplement to exac
tion, Mr. Burke first observed, that however promising it
might appear in theory, it had not answered in practice ;
and that he should prove, that wherever a bribe had been
received, the revenue had always in some proportion, and
often m a double proportion, fallen into arrears; and,
secondly, he called the attention of the court to all those
dreadful consequences which attended this clandestine mode
of supplying the Company's necessities, as it was practised
by Mr. Hastings.
Mr; Burke concluded this part of his speech with describ
ing the last parting scene between Mr. Hastings and Gunga
Govind Sing; a scene in which he appeared as an accom
plice in the most cruel, perfidious, and iniquitous transac
tion, that, he said, was ever held forth to the indignation of
mankind. When Mr. Hastings had quitted his office, and

I788O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 413
was now embarked upon the Gauges to sail for Europe, he
writes a letter to the council, in which he says, " the con
cern I canqot but feel, in relinquishing the service of my
honourable employers, would be much embittered, were it
accompanied by the reflection, that I have neglected the
merits of a man who deserves no less of them than of my
self, Gunga Govind Sing."
Upon this singular recommendation, Mr. Burke first ob
served, that with respect to the circumstances of the person
whose merits Mr. Hastings was so fearful of leaving unre
warded, he was notoriously known to have amassed up
wards of three millions sterling. With regard to his
public services, Mr. Hastings states, that he had served the
committee of revenue as dewan from its first institution to
that time, with a very short intermission. Of this office,
and of his services therein, Mr. Burke said he had already
given some account : with respect to the intermission, Mr.
Hastings had omitted a material circumstance, namely, that
it was occasioned by his having been turned out of his
office for a short tiriie, upon proof of peculation and em
bezzlement of the pubhc money. Other public services
Mr. Hastings had not mentioned, and the records of the
Company were equally silent. What his secret services
were, was a subject which, however it might leave
room for conjectures, was involved in the same silence and
obscurity. From services, Mr. Burke proceeded to consider the
reward proposed ; and this was, that a grant of certain do
mains, the property of the young rajah of Dinagepore, front
which country Mr. Hastings had received the present of
40,060/. should be confirmed to the son of Gunga Govind
Sing, through whom that present had been conveyed. The
circumstances of this case were briefly as follow : The son
of Govind Sing had been appointed registrar of the pro
vinces of Dinagepore, &c. by virtue of which office he had
the guardianship of all the temporalities of the rajah, and
the execution of the laws belonging thereto. In^this situ
ation, he had obtained a fraudulent grant of a part of the

414 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. 19.
rajah's zemindary to an immense amount, contrary to law,
which makes the acts of all minors void, the rajah being at
at this time but nine years old, and contrary to the custom
of the country, by which no zemindar can alienate any part
of his territory without the consent of the government under
which he holds. To cover this proceeding,^ the consent of
one of the nearest relations of the rajah was procured. Such
was the grant which Mr. Hastings, at his parting, recom
mended to the supreme council for confirmation. He was
no sooner gone than the other relations of the rajah took
courage, and apphed to the council to stop the grant. They
proceed to inquire. The person who had consented for
the rajah was brought down to Calcutta, and declared, that
he had been induced so to do by the threats of Gunga
Govind Sing. Being thus pressed, Gunga Govind gave
up the pbints of custom and law, and appealed to the arbi
trary authority of the council. In an address presented
to them, he states, that their power in all such cases was un
limited ; that they might act in it as they pleased ; that
they had frequently separated zemindaries from their law
ful proprietors, and given them to others, without right,
title, or purchase ; he cites the example of a zemindary given
in this way, by Mr. Hastings, to the son of Cantoo Baboo,
his banyan, and prays that he may have the same favour
shewn to him that had been shew to others.
After some observations upon this address, in which he
shewed, by other instances, that this practice had gone to a
very great length indeed, Mr. Burkegave a short account of
another transaction of Mr. Hastings, exactly similar in its
principles, operation, and consequences, to that of Dinage
pore — the settlement of the kingdom of Bahar. Here
was the same selection of the most notorious wicked men,
the same present taken, the like ruin of the country, and
defalcation of the revenue. The pretence was also the
same, namely, the increase of the public revenue. But I
hope and trust (said Mr. Burke) your lordships will con
sider this idea of a monstrous bribe given by men in des
perate situations, to men of desperate fortunes, and of

1788.3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 415
desperate characters, to be one of the grievances instead of
one of the advantages of this system. For where a just, na
tural, easy system of revenue is quitted in a country ; where
the limits which nature, justice, and reason prescribe are
broken down, there the consequence is, that the revenues are
shamefully neglected, and the worst men in the country
will be chosen, as Mr. Hastings has actually chosen the
worst, to effectuate this work ; because it is impossible for
any good man, by any honest means, to provide at once
for the exigencies of a severe public exaction, and a private
rapacious bribe given to the chief magistrate. He must
have profit both upon the revenue to be paid, and the bribe
to be given. Oppression, cruel exactions, rack and ruin on
the tenant, must be the consequences of that system.
My lords, none but wicked, bloody, and rapacious per
sons can be employed to execute such a task. Therefore,
I charge Mr. Hastings — and we shall charge him when
we come to bring it more home to him — I charge him
with having destroyed the whole system of government,
which he had no right to destroy, in the six provincial
councils — I charge him with having delegated away that
power, which the act of parliament had directed him to
preserve unalienably in himself — I charge him with having
formed an ostensible committee to be instruments and tools
at the enormous expence of 62,000/. a-year — I charge him
with having appointed a person dewan to whom those tools
were to be subservient, a man, whose name, to his own know
ledge, by his own general recorded official transactions, by
every thing that can make a man known, abhorred, and de
tested, was stamped with infamy; with giving him this whole
power, which he had thus separated from the council-
general,, and from the provincial councils — I charge him
with taking bribes of Gunga Govind Sing — I charge him
that he has not done that bribe-duty with fidelity; for
there is something like a fidelity in the transactions of the
very worst of men — I charge him with having robbed
those people of whom he took the bribes — I charge him
with having alienated the fortunes of widows — I charge

4l6 SPEECHES IN: WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Feb. t9<
him with having, without right, title, or purchase, taken away
the lands of orphans, and given them to . the very person
under whose protection those orphans were — I charge him
with giving those very zemindaries to the most wicked of per
sons, knowing his wickedness ; with having committed to
him that great country, and with having wasted the coun
try, destroyed the landed interest, cruelly harassed the
peasants, burnt their houses, and destroyed their crops —
I. charge him with having tortured and dishonoured their
persons, and destroyed the honour of the whole female
race of that country. This I charge upon him in the
name of the Commons of England.
Now, my lords, what is it in this last moment that we
want besides the cause of justice — the cause of oppressed
princes, of undone women of the first rank, of desolated
provinces, and of wasted kingdoms ? Do you want a
criminal, my lords ? When was there so much iniquity
applied to any one ? No, my lords, with respect to India,
you must not look to punish in India more; for Mr. Hast
ings has not left substance enough in Asia to punish such
another delinquent. My lords, if a prosecutor you want;
the Commons of Great Britain appear to prosecute. You
have before you the Commons of Great Britain as -pro
secutors ; and I believe, my lords, I may venture to say,
that the sun in his beneficent progress does not behold
a more glorious sight, than to see those that are sepa
rated by the material bounds and barriers of nature,
united by the bond of social and natural humanity ; and
all the Commons of England resenting as their own,
the indignities and cruelties that have been offered to
the people of India. My lords, permit me to add, neither
do we want a tribunal ; for a greater tribunal than the
present, no example of antiquity, nor any thing in the
world, can supply. My lords, here we see, virtually in
the mind's eye, the sacred minister of the crown, under
whose authority you sit, and whose power you exercise.
In that invisible authority, which we all feel theenergyand
life of, we see the protecting power of his majesty. We

1788,3 speeches in Westminster-hall. 417
¦ have also, my .lords, sitting in judgment, in this great
and august assembly, the Heir Apparent to the crown,
such as the fond wishes of the people of England
desire an heir apparent to be. We have here all the
nobles of England, offering themselves as a pledge for, the
support of the rights of the crown, and the liberties
of the people. We have here, my lords, a great
hereditary peerage ; we have those who have their own
honour, the honour of their ancestors, and the ho
nour of their posterity to guard; and who, while they in
herit the virtues of those ancestors, will be anxious to
transmit them to that posterity. My lords, we have also
here a new nobility, who have raised themselves by their
integrity, their virtue, and their magnanimity, and those
who, by their various talents and abilities, have been ex
alted to a situation, by the wisdom and bounty of; their
sovereign, which they well deserve, and which may justify
that favour, and secure to them the good opinion of
their fellow subjects. These will be equally careful not to
sully those honours. My lords, we have here persons
highly exalted in the practice of the law, who come to feit
in this tribunal, to enlighten it, and to strengthen and
promote those principles which they have maintained in
their respective courts below. These being ennobled for
their superior knowledge, will, no doubt, see that the law
is justly and impartially administered. My lords, you have
here also the lights of our holy religion, the bishops of our
church. Here we behold the true image of the most in-
corrupted religion, in its primitive and antient forms;
here you behold it in its primitive ordinances, purified from
the superstitions that are but too apt to disgrace the best
institutions in the world. You have here the representa
tives of that rehgion, which says, that God is a God of
love, that of their institutions the very vital spirit is cha
rity, and that it so much hates oppression, that when the
God whom we adore appeared in human form, he did
not appear in greatness of majesty, but in sympathy to the
lower people,- and made it- a firm principle, that in that
vol. iv. e e

41 8 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
government which he who is Master of nature and who
appeared in our humble form has established, of the flock
that feed and those that feed them, he who is called first
among them, is and ought to be the servant of the rest.
My lords, these are our securities ; we rest upon them ;
we reckon upon them ; and we commit, with confidence, the
interests of India and of humanity to your hands. There
fore it is, that, ordered by the House of Commons of Great
Britain, I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and
misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great
Britain in parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust
he has abused.
I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great
Britain, whose national character he has dishonoured.
I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose
laws, rights, and liberties, he has subverted.
I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose
properties he has destroyed, whose country he has laid
waste and desolate.
I impeach him the name of human nature itself, which
he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed, in both
sexes. And I impeach him in the name and by the virtue
of those eternal laws of justice, which ought equally to per
vade every age, condition, rank, and situation in the
world.

Speech on Opening the Presents Charge.
thirty-sixth day.
Tuesday, April 21. 1789.
/"\N the 20th of November 1788, the two Houses of parlia
ment met, in consequence of the last commission for their
prorogation having expired ; but were under the necessity of

17 89O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 4I9
postponing the business of Mr. Hastings's trial, from a severe
indisposition with which his majesty was then afflicted, and
which prevented the opening of the session in the usual regular
manner till the 10th of March 1789, when a commission having
issued under the great seal, appointing certain commissioners
to hold the parliament, the lord chancellor opened the business
of the same with a message from his majesty. On the 14th of
February, an order had been previously made by the House of
Lords for resuming the trial on the 6th of April ; this, however,
was afterwards discharged ; and on the 30th of March, another
message was sent to the Commons, intimating that they would
proceed on the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. on Tuesday the
2 1 st of April. Accordingly, this day the proceedings in this
Trial were resumed. At twelve o'clock the peers in their robes
took their seats in the court in Westminster-hall, and ordered
the serjeant at arms to summon Mr. Hastings to appear. That
gentleman was soon brought to the bar by the usher of the black
rod ; and the serjeant at arms having, by order of their lord
ships, called upon the Commons to proceed in support of the
Charges brought by them against the prisoner,
Mr. Burke rose, and addressed the court :
The melancholy event, he said, of his majesty's illness,
which had so deeply afflicted the nation, and suspended the
functions of government, had occasioned a delay in the pro
secution of the impeachment, which was to be regretted,
not only on account of the melancholy cause that had pro
duced it, but also of public justice; the course of which,
at least in the present case, had been unavoidably checked
for a considerable time. The cause of the delay was now
happily removed, and their lordships were again enabled to
proceed in the important trial which had already taken up
much of their attention.
He trusted, that in the tumult of joy occasioned by his
majesty's recovery, which now filled the breasts of all his
subjects with exultation equal to the depression which they
felt whilst his majesty was afflicted with sickness — he trusted,
he said, that in this tumult of joy, their lordships would not
forget, that justice was due of right to the injured, and that
E E 2

420 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2 T.
they could not voluntarily suspend it without a breach of
their public duty.
He said, he was just come from a place (the House of
Commons) where regulations had been made for seconding
his majesty's wishes, in giving solemnity to the public
thanksgiving that was to take place on Thursday, and
paying due homage to the Almighty for his happy re
covery. But it was not by prayer alone that becoming
homage was to be paid to Heaven. Courts of justice were
links of that great chain, of which the first and great link
was Divine Justice. This was an attribute essential to the
Deity ; and nian, by endeavouring to approach as nearly as
the nature of man would admit, to a resemblance to his
Maker, might be assured that in exercising representative
justice, he was performing a service and an homage not
less acceptable to Heaven, than the most fervent prayer.
Having premised this, he said, there were some difficul
ties under which the impeachment had of late begun to la
bour, which he would endeavour, with their lordships'
leave, to remove. Some persons, no doubt less friends to
public justice than to Mr. Hastings, had of late begun to
ask, when this trial would termniate ? To their question, he
would give this short answer — " As soon as the ends are
attained for which it was instituted."
It would be strange indeed, if, because a prisoner had
contrived to render it difficult for his prosecutors to dis
cover all the mazes of his corruption and crimes ; if, he-
cause he was watchful to seize every opportunity that might
occasion delay or trouble, and was ready to improve it, that
his prosecutors should abandon the duty they owed to the
public and to their conntry, and suffer a criminal to escape
punishment, merely because it was likely to be a work of
labour and of time to prosecute him to conviction. If a
prisoner was watchful, active, laborious, and persevering,
it would be shameful for those to whom the care of bringing
him to justice was committed, to be wanting in vigilance,
activity, labour, and perseverance.

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 42 1
If the length of time that a trial Was likely to last, was a
reason for putting an end to it, it Was equally a reason for
not beginning it. But as both houses of parliament had
entered upon this trial, which they knew before-hand must,
from its nature, run to great length, he made no doubt but
they would feel it to be a duty both to the nation, and to
the prisoner, not to drop it, but to carry it on until it
should terminate where alone it ought to end — in the ac
quittal or condemnation of the party accused.
He was well aware, he said, that their lordships must
find it a work of labour and fatigue to sit out so long a
trial ; but he would say at the same time, that the Com
mons would not -call upon their lordships to "undertake any
thing, of which they were not ready to set them an ex
ample. The committee appointed to decide upon the
nierits of the petitions complaining of an undue election for
Colchester, had been kept sitting, within a day or two, as
loRg as their lordships had hitherto been occupied in this
trial ; and yet the committee had to inquire into little more
than paltry acts of bribery, amounting only to odd pounds,
shillings, and pence, and into the conduct of a returning
officer, who was no more than a miller. But their lord
ships had before them a governor-general of Bengal, who
was charged with enormous crimes, and with having taken
bribes, and plundered the defenceless people of his govern
ment of sums amounting to millions .!
But the length of the trial was not the only objection
that he had heard urged against it ; he had been informed
that the prisoner had complained to their lordships of the
great expence to which it exposed him, and that it threat
ened him with the total ruin of his fortune, as his defence
had, even in this early stage, of it, cost him already near
30,000/. This was certainly a very large sum ; and it was
by no means his wish to exhaust any man's fortune merely
by his defence. How so great a sum could have been pos
sibly expended by him already, he could not comprehend ;
but this he would venture to say, that the fortune; of Mr.
Hastings was not likely to be exhausted by the expence to
ee 3

422 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
which he was subjected by his defence. The immense bribes
he had received whilst he was in office, had so swelled his
fortune, that he might consider the loss of 30,000/. as a
trifle. He had received from oue single zemindar, at
one time, a bribe to that very amount. And therefore, as
their lordships would find, that the immense fortune of the
prisoner had been acquired by peculation, they would not
think it very hard, that wealth so acquired should be di
minished; nor would they feel any compassion for the
losses of a person, who was obliged to take from the stores
which extortion and oppression had enabled him to ac
cumulate. Having made these preliminary observations, Mr. Burke
said, he hoped that notwithstanding all the difficulties which
had been thrown in the way of the trial, it was now going
to be resumed under auspices as favourable as those under
which it had begun.
He then informed their lordships, that the Charge which
he was about to open, was the one which related to Pre
sents, or in plain English, Bribes. But before he open
the charge, he begged leave to make a few remarks upon
something that had happened, since the last time he had had
the honour of addressing their lordships. Packets, he un
derstood, had been brought over from India, containing
attestations from persons, from whom Mr. Hastings was
charged with having taken or extorted money, the purport
of which attestations was to exculpate the accused, and to
declare that, with respect to them, he had not acted rigor
ously or unjustly, or despoiled them of any part of their
property, but had behaved to them with kindness, moder
ation, and justice.
At first sight, the Commons, he said, might appear in an
aukward light, by being thus disavowed by those very per
sons, on account of whose sufferings and wrongs occasioned
by the prisoner, they had brought him to their lordships'
bar to answer for his administration. It was odd that the
parties, in whose behalf the prosecution had been com
menced, should come forward and declare that they had

1789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 423
received no injuries from Mr. Hastings, that he had done
them no wrongs.
But so far were the managers for the Commons from be
ing disconcerted by these attestations, that they would be
themselves the first to offer them in evidence. Their lord
ships would then see what little dependance ought to be
placed upon attestations "signed by persons, whose fingers
were still shooting with the pain occasioned by thumb
screws, and who nevertheless could be prevailed upon to
declare under their hands, that the man who had wronged,
tortured, plundered them, was their benefactor. These
attestations, accompanied by the other evidence which the
Commons would produce, would serve to shew the de
plorable state to which the wretched natives of India were
reduced, who were so much in awe of their rulers, that
fearing to complain, they even bestowed praises upon their
undoers — Mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare not.
These attestations would serve at the same time to shew
the influence which Mr. Hastings still possessed in India,
through the means of his creatures, who fill all the subor
dinate offices of government in that country. This influ
ence was sufficient to procure signatures to any kind of
instruments framed by the friends of Mr. Hastings, in his
defence; instruments which, however, unfortunately for
the prisoner, would defeat the very purpose for which they
were procured ; for they actually denied some important
points which Mr. Hastings himself admitted ; and therefore
the^y might be said to mean this, " If Mr. Hastings ac
cuses himself of having taken any money from us, don't
believe him, though he speaks against himself; for he has
not plundered us, or behaved otherwise to us than kindly."
That this might not be thought a forced construction,
Mr. Burke read from one of these attestations a declar
ation made by a native of great rank in India, from whom
Mr. Hastings admitted he had received money, to this
e e 4

424 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. . [April 2 1 .
effect — "that the governor-general had never taken any
from him."
Mr. Burke remarked humorously upon the style of these
attestations, which, he said, all bore evident marks of Eu
ropean birth. It was clear, he said, they had been first
written in English, in all the simplicity of a western style ;
that they were afterwards translated into Persian, and
adorned with the lofty metaphors of the East ; and then
turned once more into English for the benefit of their lord
ships. The same ideas, the same arrangement, ran through
them all : the first that was seen was liked, and being .liked
was adopted by all; which shewed that they were extremely
well calculated to convey the ideas of the prisoner's friends,
and were therefore re-echoed from every part of India ;
and thus was verified what Voltaire had justly said, " Les
bons mots, sont toujours redits." He remarked, that though
attestations to character were admissible evidence in cri
minal prosecutions, they were a species of evidence which
ought to be received with great caution ; and their lord
ships should weigh well from whom, by whom, and under
what circumstances they were obtained. Attestations to
character in the English courts of law, were like the lau
dationes of the ancients, with which the advocates of per
sons under accusation filled their speeches, and on which
they relied much for the acquittal of their clients. — But
how little, (said Mr. Burke,) ought judges to trust to
these laudationes, when there scarcely ever was a criminal
yet brought to trial, who had not been able to produce them
in his defence. Your lordships know that even Caius
Verres plumed himself upon the laudationes, by means of
which he hoped not only to escape punishment, but to
overturn the accusation, and cover his accusers with con
fusion, by shewing that there was not even a shadow of
ground for the charges they had brought against him.
Your lordships know that even Caius Verres, whose name
for rapacity, peculation, and oppression, had passed into a
proverb, and who had nearly destroyed Sicily, was able to
procure attestations from that island, that he had made

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 425
moderation, equity, and justice, the rules of his. conduct,
whilst he was governor of that country. Is it, then, mat
ter of surprise that Mr. Hastings should procure attest
ations to his character, from a country, where his influence
is kept up by means of his numerous dependants, who fill
all the subordinate departments of government, and where
consequently the wretched natives dare not refuse any
thing which the partizans of Mr. Hastings may think proper
to ask?
, Mr. Hastings, in his defence, has thrown light upon
this subject, and proved that no one ought to rely on those
attestations. When ordered by the court of directors to
arrest Mahomed Reza Khan, Mr. Hastings dismissed
from their employments every native in Bengal who owed
his appointment to that person; and then assigned this
reason for his conduct — that if these people had been
suffered to remain in power, it would have been impossible
to bring their principal to justice. . If this was a good
reason, it would destroy the whole force of the attestations
in favour of Mr. Hastings ; for to adopt his own words, it
might be said that he could not be brought to justice while
his dependants remained in power in India ; and if the ex
ample of Mr. Hastings was such as might be followed in
any instance, the Commons might, as a preliminary to
trial, desire that all the dependants of the prisoner, holding
offices in India, should be removed from their situations,
for otherwise it would be impossible to bring him to justice.
But the Commons could not think of imitating the
arbitrary disposition of a man, who waged war against
even the friends or dependants of the person whom he
wanted to punish. So far, therefore, were the Commons
from wishing that these people should be dismissed, that
they would themselves produce in evidence against the
prisoner those very attestations procured by his friends,
and on which he seemed to rely so much for his defence ;
and from them they would corroborate the charges which
the prisoner hoped by means of them to overturn.
The production of these laudationes appears to me,

426 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
(said Mr. Burke,) to indicate that the prisoner has no
great dependance upon the merits of his cause ; and I
augur but badly of his defence, when I see him resort to
those means, to which persons standing at the bar of the
inferior courts of criminal law in this country, never fail
to have recourse, when they are not able to defend them
selves by evidence relating to the facts with which they are
charged. At the Old Bailey, persons who are indicted
for murder, burglary, robbery, &c. always call evidence
to character, when they have no defence with respect to
fact. Witnesses are then produced, who declare that they
have known the prisoner from a boy ; that he always bore a
good and honest character ; and that they would trust him
with untold gold. But, my lords, mark the consequence.
This admirable character is generally followed by the ver
dict — Guilty — Death. And this must always be the case,
wljen a man has nothing but character to oppose to irre
fragable proofs ; and when character is a commodity so
easily to be manufactured or procured.
Having thus far cleared his way, Mr. Burke went into
the consideration of the Charge.
To shew that the government of India was in a peculiar
manner exposed to temptation and corruption, he caused
to be read by Mr. Grey, one of the managers, a minute
entered in the council book of Calcutta, by the late Lord
Clive, which pointed out the existence of this evil, and the
necessity of opposing a barrier against it. His lordship
recommended it in strong terms to the court of directors,
to settle upon the governor-general and upon the council,
such salaries as might place them beyond the reach of
temptation; and strictly to forbid them to receive any
presents from the natives. ,
The court of directors felt the propriety of what was
thus recommended ; they saw the extent to which corrup
tion had prevailed among their servants, who to their own
private emolument had sacrificed the interests of the Com
pany and the character of their country. They therefore
resolved to form a new government, upon the plan recom-

1789*] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 427
mended to them ; and reposing in Mr. Hastings the highest
trust that had ever been placed by them before in any of
their servants, sent him to Calcutta, and granted him a
splendid support for his new dignity.
By the covenants into which he entered with the Com
pany, Mr. Hastings had bound himself never to receive any
present from the natives, above the value of 400I. In pro
portion as the trust thus reposed in Mr. Hastings, and the
confidence placed in him were great, so in proportion was
his guilt in violating them. He maintained the system of
corruption, which he was sent to destroy, and he took
bribes, though he was bound not to receive so much as
presents. With respect to his receiving money, he had admitted,
in his defence, that the fact had often happened ; but then
he justified his conduct in those cases, by saying, that mo
ney in India is often given as a tribute, &c. and that in that
light, and that only he had received it. But this defence
could not bear him out.
There were in India, Mr. Burke said, but two species
of payments, except for goods bought and sold, that could
be called legal. One was called a peshcush, and was the
consideration wliich was given for a grant of zemindaries,
lands, &c. The amount of this peshcush was always
specified in the grant, and was always paid into the
exchequer. The second species was called a nazir or na-
zirannah, and was given as a token or acknowledgment of
dependance, from an inferior to his superior. The nazir was
always trifling ; the highest he had ever heard of in India,
as given to a native, consisted of one hundred pieces of a
gold coin, worth about thirty-six shillings each, and this
nazir was to no less a man than the sovereign of Indostan,
the Great Mogul himself. But what might be a proper
present to the King of Delhi, would be too trifling for
Mr. Hastings, who took whole lacks of rupees at a time.
Of the first of these two species of payment, Mr.
Hastings could not pretend to avail himself in his defence,
because the peshcush formed a part of the public revenue:

/|28. SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
and the second could be no gratification to him, because
the money that could be fairly taken under the'denomin-
ation of a nazir must necessarily be only to a small
amount; and therefore when he took large sums from the
natives, for his own private use, they could be considered,
let them be coloured by what name they might, only in the
light of bribes.
As to the proofs which he intended to produce of the
receipt of bribes, Mr. Burke said they were of two kinds
— one presumptive, the other positive ; and both, he hoped,
would be found fully sufficient by their lordships. He
begged leave here to discriminate the parts of the charge to
which he intended to apply the presumptive evidence. Mr.
Hastings was directed by his superiors in Leadenhall-
street, to remove Mahomed Reza Khan from the offices
which he held under the nabob of Bengal, and to inquire
into his conduct during his administration, which Was 'sus
pected to be corrupt.
Mr. Hastings executed the order, but with a degree of
rigour not enjoined, and not warranted by. his instructions.
He caused Mahomed Reza Khan to be arrested, and car
ried under a military guard to Calcutta, where he was
kept a prisoner for near two years, under a severe' re
straint ; for he was not only not suffered to pay a visit, but
was not permitted even to receive one. This treatment of a
person of illustrious rank disgusted the natives, who beheld
with indignation a man confined under a military guard,
who had filled the highest offices in the state; who had
been a kind of viceroy of a great kingdom, under the na
bob of Bengal; and who, Mr. Burke said, if he could
compare situations in India with those which were in some
degree similar in England, united in his own person the
several high offices of first lord of the treasury, lord high
chancellor, lord chief justice, and lord archbishop of Can
terbury ; and who, for the support of his great dignity,
had a salary or income of 100,000/. a year.
Though it might have been proper to inquire into the
conduct of a man suspected of mal-administration, yet

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 429
Mahomed Reza Khan was not a person to be treated with
indginity ; all that could be necessary on the occasion was,
so to secure his person, that he might be forthcoming when
his judges were ready to try him. The rigour used by
Mr. Hastings was employed for corrupt purposes, namely,
to compel that minister to purchase the indulgence of the
governor-general. Mr. Hastings practised upon his fears in more ways than
one. He acted as if he was going to proceed against his
prisoner with unrelenting rigour ; and with this view he
did a most cruel thing, for, as had been already observed,
he turned out of office every native in the whole kingdom
of Bengal, who was indebted for his appointment to Ma
homed Reza Khan, and filled .up all the vacancies with
persons known to be enemies to that unfortunate minister.
In consequence of this measure, great numbers of poor
people were reduced to poverty by the loss of places which
they had long held, and which were their only support.
Mr. Hastings had justified this measure to the .court of
directors, by saying, that if it had not taken place, the in
fluence of- Mahomed Reza Khan would have stifled all
evidence of his guilt, through the means of his creatures
in office. Who would not think, said Mr. Burke, after
such steps as these, that Mahomed Reza Khan was going
to be put to a severe trial ? Who would not think that he
was to expect nothing but inexorable justice ? . But those
who might think so, knew little of Mr. Hastings. For in
fact, Mahomed was dismissed not only without punish
ment, but without trial. So that it might fairly be pre
sumed, all things considered, that as it was not the guilt
of this man which had caused him to be treated with so
much unjustifiable rigour at first, so it was not to his inno
cence that he was indebted for the restoration of his liberty,
and the end that was put to all proceedings against him.
It might be fairly inferred he had made his peace with Mr.
Hastings, and given proofs of his innocence, with which a
court of justice would not have been satisfied.
He trusted their lordships would agree with him, that- in

43° SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2t-
this whole proceeding there were strong presumptive proofs
that Mr. Hastings sold this mussulman his liberty, and that
the latter actually paid the price for it.
There was something in circumstances, which he con
sidered in evidence as infinitely stronger than the most
positive oath. And as accusations might fairly be repelled
in some situations by the characters of the parties accused,
so they might be supported by them and by circumstances.
For instance, said Mr. Burke, if a man was to swear to
me that he had seen the lord chancellor, the lord chief
justice, and the archbishop of Canterbury, in their robes,
robbing on the highway in open day, I would not believe
such an assertion, though upon oath, because the act so
sworn to would be contrary to all rules of probability, and
to the characters of the personages so accused, and conse~
quently incredible : but were I to see a man, whose cha
racter for corruption was generally known, take a rich
person into custody, threaten him with the vengeance of
the law, and the power of his enemies ; and afterwards not
only not punish that person, but enlarge him without hav
ing so much as tried him, I would instantly say to myself,
the rich man has bribed his prosecutor, and purchased im
punity with the sacrifice of a part of his wealth. And in
saying this, I should not fear that I was passing a rash
judgment, though I had no positive proof that the bribe
was actually given.
The next point to which Mr. Burke said he intended
to apply presumptive evidence, related to Munny Begum.
But he apprised their lordships that he did not mean to
confine himself entirely to presumptive proofs on this head.
When Mahomed Reza Khan was removed from his offices,
one of which was that of guardian and chief minister to
the then nabob of Bengal, who was at that time a minor,
Mr. Hastings was ordered by the court of directors to
supply his place with some man of known integrity and
ability. Did Mr. Hasthigs pay ready obedience to this
order ? No. On the contrary, he completely disregarded
it; and instead of a man, named a woman to fill the im-

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 431
portant office of guardian and minister to the young
prince. The circumstances attending this appointment, were of
a nature that strongly indicated corruption in the governor-
general. To make this appear clearly, Mr. Burke gave a
short history of Munny Begum. This woman, he said,
was born a slave, had been a dancing girl by trade, and
a prostitute by profession. Those who knew any thing of
India, knew that the dancing girls were the very outcasts
of society. Dancing in India was not considered as in
Europe; it was not that majestic and graceful movement
which gives ease and dignity to the carriage, which po
lishes the manners without corrupting the morals, and which
the most innocent .and virtuous of the fair sex very pro
perly study to acquire and improve. Dancing in India
consisted in immodest and lascivious gestures, and in ac
tions which could not be named in an assembly such as he
had the honour to address. This dancing girl, this Munny
Begum was employed, among others, to dance before the
present nabob's father, who taking a liking to her, for some
time carried on a commerce with her : she told him at last
she was pregnant, and made him believe she was so, by
him. Upon this he took her into the seraglio, where she
was delivered of a son, and where she was treated with the
same respect as the rest of the ladies of that place. Her
influence was so great, that she procured her bastard son to
succeed the nabob, to the prejudice of his legitimate chil
dren; and accordingly he ascended the throne after the
death of his supposed father. His mother had all the au
thority under him : but his reign was of short duration, for
he died a minor. The eldest legitimate son of the old nabob
was then raised to the throne, and his mother, a princess
of illustrious birth, was invested with the dominion of the
seraglio, from which Munny Begum had been removed at
the death of her son. Under this young nabob, Mahomed
Reza Khan governed the country. When Mr. Hastings
removed this minister, the uncle of the nabob requested the
governor-general would appoint him to fill the vacancy oc-
10

432 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
casioned by this removal : the uncle was a .prince whom
Mr. Hastings himself had described as a man without am
bition, and by no means dangerous; and therefore he
might have been appointed without danger to the Com
pany's interest. But this prince was poor ; he had nothing
to support himself and family but a pension from the
Company ; a person so situated had little chance of suc
ceeding with a man of the character of Mr. Hastings.
¦ The person most fit for the government of the seraglio
was the respectable mother of the nabob; but Munny Be
gum, the dancing girl, who knew the world, gained the
favour of Mr. Hastings by means of irresistible arguments ;
and by him she was appointed ruler of the kingdom in the
name of her step-son, whose own mother was removed.
Instead of appointing a man to succeed Mahomed Reza
Khan, according to the Company's orders, Mr. Hastings
appointed a woman, who, according to the manners of Asia,
could not be seen, and to whom no one could speak but on
a different side of a curtain from her ; and a woman so
situated was to preside over the administration of all affairs,
civil, judicial, religious, and military ! By order of the
Company, Mr. Hastings was to appoint to this situation a
person of integrity : the way in which he obeyed his supe
riors was by trusting the government of the country, and
the education of the young prince, . to a person who, having
been a dancing girl, had been, of course, a prostitute by
profession. To account for this strange conduct in the governor-
general, Mr. Burke said, Munny Begum offered two lacks
of rupees, or about 22,000/. sterling for the situation. Mr.
Hastings accepted the offer, touched the money ; and she,
to the disgrace of the British government, was placed at
the head of affairs.
But the disobedience of orders did not stop here. The
court of directors ordered Mr. Hastings to make reduc
tions in the nabob's establishments, and cause the savings
to be paid into the Company's treasury. They ordered
him, at the same, time, to cause regular accounts of those

I789.3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL.' 433.
sayings to be kept, and transmitted, from time to time, to
England. But though the reductions were made, no ac
counts of the savings were kept, at least none were ever
transmitted to England. The savings, however, were
known to amount to about 90,000/. a year, the whole of
which, it was extremely probable, Mr. Hastings had con
verted to his own private use ; for, what was remarkably
suspicious in all these transactions relative to Mahomed
Reza Khan and Munny Begum, the governor-general
acted without the concurrence, or so much as the knowledge
of his colleagues in the council.
Thus, all the pains which the Company had taken to
place their servants beyond the reach of temptation, or at
least of corruption, were entirely lost — in vain had they set
tled upon the governor-general an income of near 30,000/.
sterling a-year, which had been thought sufficient for that
purpose, not merely by the court of directors, but by the:
council of Bengal itself. If Mr. Hastings himself was to
be believed,, it was sufficient, not only to support in spjen-.
dour "the office of governor-general, but. to enable him,
•* m a few years," (the prisoner's own words,) " to lay by
" enough to -make him comfortable and independent all
" the rest of his life." The prisoner had enjoyed that
situation near fourteen years, and yet it had been trumpeted
abroad by Ills friends, that he was comparatively poor.
In his minutes in council, he boasted that fame, and the
good opinion of his country, were his great objects, before
which all consideration of fortune or wealth died away.
The desire of fame for services done to one's country,
though not virtue, was certainly the best counterfeit of it,
the best substitute for it, and was truly laudable. The
man who felt an ardent passion for honest, fame, would be
found superior' to every groveling passion ; all his actions
would partake of the ruling passion,, and bear the impres
sion of nobleness; But nothing of this was to be found, in
Mb. Hastings :. lie affected to disregard a brilliant fortune,
merely to look for a competent one, arid to court only the
good opinion of his country. What was now his situation ?
vol. iv. f F

4J4 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
He had failed in every thing. By his own declaration, he
who wanted a competency only, was a bankrupt in for
tune, and he who had constantly in view the good opinion
of his country, which he considered as the great reward of
all his labours and services, was now a prisoner at their
lordships' bar, and his country was his accuser !
The accusations which stood against him were not for
acts of direful desolation and slaughter. Such acts in ge
neral were privileged crimes, the effects of superior wicked
ness, and consequently were not likely to be often repeated.
But the crimes which were laid to the charge of Mr. Hast
ings, were of the groveling kind, which did not usually
grow upon a throne, but were hatched in dunghills.
However, when they were carried to the throne, and sanc
tioned by the highest authority, then they became not the
effects of a momentary passion, but the consequences of a
systematic plan, which originating in a sordid soul, could
never give way to a noble and generous impulse. The
fountain-head being corrupt and impure, the whole stream
must partake of the corruption; the chief ruler himself
being the example of corruption, must necessarily en
courage, instead of repressing and destroying it ; and thus
a general system of bribery and peculation must take place
through the whole government. This, Mr. Burke said,
was a true picture of the- public service in Bengal, from
one end of it to the other.
Having dwelt long upon this point, Mr. Burke next ad
verted to those acts of corruption, of which Nundcomar had
given information to the council.
The charges brought by Nundcomar against the go
vernor-general depended upon many circumstances, and
he had named so many witnesses who were to support
them, that if they were false, he afforded the very best
means that Mr. Hastings could wish to refute them. But
without ever declaring that they were false, he refused to
meet them ; he vilified the accuser, and repeatedly dis
solved the council, that his colleagues might not be able to
proceed in their inquiries into these charges. They made

!7#90 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 435
some progress, however, and Nundcomar's evidence, toge
ther with that of his son Rajah Gourdass, was taken ; in
which they mentioned the sums which they themselves had
paid Mr. Hastings in the name of Munny Begum; the
very species of coin in which diey were paid ; the bags in
which the money was tied up ; and the exchange that was
paid and to whom, for giving the current coin of Calcutta
in its stead. This was corroborated by a letter from
Munny Begum herself: and to crown all, Nundcomar
desired that Cantoo Baboo, Mr. Hastings's own banyan,
might be examined to all these points. The governor-
general, however, who was bound by a regard for his own
honour, who was bound by the orders of the Company to
inquire into acts of peculation and corruption, and by an
act of parliament, under the authority of which commis
sioners had been sent to India for that purpose, not only
disobeyed the comparty and the legislature, but would not
suffer his own servant to obey either. He did not so much
as attempt to deny the charges ; certainly he never under
took to disprove them. He contented himself with vilify
ing his accuser, and Saying, that a man, at the head of a
great government as he was, was not boUrid to answer
accusations brought by, what he was pleased to call, so
vile a person as Nundcomar.
It might, perhaps, be proper, Mr. Burke said, for a
man bold in conscious rectitude to oppose his general cha
racter to general accusation ; but it was a mark of weak
ness, not to say of guilt, to oppose general character to
specific accusations, such as were the charges brought
against him by Nundcomar. He had, indeed, reviled that
rajah, called him wretch, and described him as the most
contemptible of his country. But Nundcomar was in his
own country, by his birth equal in dignity to any peer
among their lordships; in sacredness of character, to any
bishop; in gravity Of deportment, to any judge; and in
fortune, to most princes.
Here Mr. Burke said, that if the counsel should here
after be so injudicious as to attempt to bring forward &e
f f 3

436 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 21.
conviction of Nundcomar, for the purpose of destroying the
effect of these charges, he would open that scene of blood
to their lordships' view, and shew them, that Mr. Hastings-
had murdered that man by the hands of Sir Elijah Impey. -
The last point on which Mr. Burke touched, was the
lack and a half of rupees given to Mr. Hastings, as a
bribe, when he went to M°°rshedabad, the residence of
the nabob of Bengal. It appeared, that the treasurer of
that prince, not knowing under what head of accounts to
place the expenditure of that sum, consulted the prince,
who desired him to put it under the head of expences for
entertaining Mr. Hastings ! -
Now, such expences could not have been incurred on this
head ; for the entertainment must have been not only ex
travagant, but absolutely beyond the means of the nabob,
as their lordships should see, unless he was suffered to re
imburse himself by a fraud upon the East-India Company.
By order of the Company, the nabob's allowance for all
his expences had been reduced from 250,000/. a-year, to
160,000/. Now the entertainment of Mr. Hastings, at the
rate of a lack and a half of rupees, for less than three months
that he staid with the nabob, must cost 200/. per day, and
near 70,000/. a-year; and as Mr. Middleton had also a
similar allowance for entertainment, almost the whole of the
nabob's income must have been spent upon these two per
sons ; a degree of hospitality this would be, which no prince
in Asia, or Europe, could afford to exercise.
But what rendered it extremely shameful in 'the gover
nor-general, who admitted that he cost the nabob the lack.
and half of rupees, though he would not allow that he had
pocketed the money, to suffer such an article as this to
appear under the head of entertainment, was, that by the ,
reduction of the nabob's income, he had reduced to ab-,
solute beggary about fourteen hundred of the decayed.
nobility and gentry of Bengal, who by the introduction of
the English into their country, were driven from all
places, both civil and military, which were engrossed by
these foreigners ; and had nothing in the world to subsist

1789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 4^7
upon, but small pensions from the nabob, wliich were
taken from them when that prince's allowance was reduced.
Had the expence to which Mr. Hastings put the nabob
been allowed for the use of this body of gentry, it would
have fed them all, numerous as they were.
Thus it was that Mr. Hastings gorged his ravenous maw
with an allowance of two hundred pounds a day. He is
not satisfied without sucking the blood of fourteen hun
dred nobles. He is never corrupt without being cruel.
He never dines without creating a famine. He feeds on
the indigent, the decayed, and the ruined ; and them he
depresses together ; not like the generous -eagle, who preys
on a living, reluctant, equal prey : no, he is like the
ravenous vulture, who feeds on the dead and the enfeebled ;
who destroys and incapacitates nature in the destruction of
its objects, while devouring the carcases of the dead, and
then prides himself in his ignominious security; and
his cruelty is beyond his corruption. There is a mockery
of feeling in the account given by Mr. Hastings of the
situation of these decayed gentlemen. He said, that he
reduced, without reluctance, the nabob's elephants, mena
geries, and stables; but when he was obliged to cut off'
the pensions, which he knew to be the only support of
, these unfortunate families, he said " his heart was bleed
ing whilst he was doing it." Execrable hypocrisy ! cried
Mr. Burke; insulting pity ! I know not in which this
man was most cruel — in stripping these people of their
only support, or in pretending to feel for their distresses,
when the daily expence to which his table put the nabob,
would have removed them all !
«.,
It being now four o'clock their lordships adjourned..

FF 3

438 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 25.
THIRTY-EIGHTH DAY.
Saturday, April 25.
The Court being assembled,
Mr. Burke proceeded :
He reminded their lordships, that when he had last
the honour of addressing them, he shewed that from
various circumstances attending many acts of the prisoner's
administration, there was strong ground for presuming
him to be guilty of corruption, and that this presumption
of guilt was turned into certainty, by positive proofs ; so
that their lordships would have, in this case, the most
satisfactory evidence — presumptive evidence, arising from
the nature and circumstances of the measures on which
the charge then under consideration was founded — and
positive evidence, consisting either of written documents,
or the oral testimony of witnesses.
The presumption of guilt, arising out of circumstances
which attended the measures of the prisoner's government.
Was confirmed also by a variety of circumstances that fol
lowed those measures. On this ground he begged leave
to go a little at large into the conduct of the prisoner,
which, he contended, was of itself, and even without any
other proof, sufficient to fix upon him the guilt of pecu
lation and corruption.
When the -council of Bengal was new-modelled, and
Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis,
were appointed members of it, orders were sent out by the
court of directors to that council, to inquire into the acts
of peculation and oppression that might have been com
mitted upon the natives by any of the company's servants
in India. These three gentlemen, in obedience to the
Company's orders, proposed, and being a majority of the
council, carried their proposition, that such an inquiry as
was prescribed by their superiors, should be instituted.
In the course of it, charges of bribery and corruption were
exhibited to the council against the governor-general

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 43$)
himself. But that gentleman, instead of meeting the
charges with that confidence which became a man bold in
conscious innocence, refused to make any defence; nay, he
refused to meet the accusers, and resisted all inquiry to
the utmost of his power. With this view he dissolved
the meeting of the council; which measure, he hoped,
would prevent his colleagues from proceeding in the
charges brought against him; or would involve in irre
gularity the examination of witnesses upon those charges,
taken after a dissolution of the meeting, should his col
leagues resolve to sit and hear evidence, notwithstanding
such dissolution. In adopting such a line of conduct,
Mr. Hastings endeavoured, as far as in him lay, to frus
trate their researches, and to withstand the authority of
the Company, by opposing the execution of the orders
sent from the court of directors to the governor-general and
council, to set such inquiries on foot.
Such a line of conduct could not have been adopted by
the prisoner, but with a view to screen himself from the
consequences, which he well knew must follow inquiry.
The shifts to which he was driven to save appearances, at
the same time that he wished to escape detection and pu
nishment, served only to confirm and give additional
weight to the charges that had been brought against him.
Notwithstanding his desire to be thought innocent, he
never once attempted to deny the receipt of the money
which he was accused of having taken as a bribe; in
stead of attempting to defend himself, he began an attack
upon his colleagues at the council board, whom he charged
with partiality, and a kind of conspiracy to destroy his
character. Instead of shewing that the accusation which
had been recorded against him was unfounded, he endea
voured to prove, as far as bare assertions could prove it,
that Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Fran
cis, were at the bottom of this accusation, and that it was
on their suggestion that it was brought.
But even if that had been as true as it was false, and
these gentlemen had really encouraged others to stand for-
F F 4

440 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April It.
ward and accuse the governor-general, could it be said,
that it followed from such a circumstance, that the accu
sation was false, and that his colleagues had suborned or
countenanced false witnesses ? Might it not be inferred,
that the encouragement held out on such an occasion,
might be no more than this — that these gentlemen would
protect all persons, who, having any discovery to ; make
relative to acts of bribery, corruption, or peculation, com
mitted by any of the Company's servants, would stand for
ward, and communicate it to the board? As it was at
least possible that the motives of these gentlemen might be
good, what could -the world think of the only species of
defence made by Mr. Hastings, which consisted in nothing
but the vilifying and tra"ducing of the gentlemen, who, in
obedience to the orders of the court of directors, their
superiors, were endeavouring to discover whether any, and
what acts of peculation had been committed by the English
in India, and by whom ?
Even if these gentlemen had been animated in their in
quiry by a spirit of hostility to Mr. Hastings, and had
given evident marks of a determined resolution to re
present him to the court of directors as guilty of pecu
lation, still, as in pursuing the inquiry, no matter with
what motive, they were in point of fact acting in obedience
to the orders of their superiors, it was the duty of the
accused at least to declare that the accusation brought
against him was unfounded. Had Mr. Hastings; done this,
he might have availed himself afterwards of the advantage
which this supposed hostility of his colleagues would have
given him, and made it a collateral part of his defence.
But from the day on which the charges were first brought,
down to the present moment, Mr. Hastings had never
once ventured so much as to say that the grounds of the
charges were false, and that he had never received the
specific sums of money which he was accused^ of having
taken as bribes. , .,
But it was a much easier task to rail at his colleagues
than to disprove the charges. Unfortunately, ..however, for

I789O SPEECHES IN "WESTMINSTER-HALL. 44I
Mr. Hastings, the characters of those colleagues stood far
beyond the reach of his calumny. The gentleman amongst
them, against whom the governor-general levelled his
most bitter invectives, and whom he considered as most
hostile to him, was the late Sir John Clavering, whom
many of their lordships must have known. No one who had
ever been acquainted with that worthy man, or with his
character, but must feel that such a person was incapable
of acting under the impulse of the pitiful motives to which
Mr. Hastings had ascribed his conduct. The world knew
that he had passed through the different degrees of the
military profession with a character, which pointed him
out as a model for the whole army to imitate. His repu
tation for unimpeachable honour and inflexible integrity,
endeared him to all his acquaintance, and to the whole
army. His heart was as free from the meanness which
prompts some men to supplant others, or to injure them
in their good name, as his reputation was from stain or
blemish. In a word; Sir John Clavering was no less an
ornament to human nature, than to his profession; he was
as good a man, as he was an able officer.
What advantage, then, could Mr. Hastings expect to
derive from an attempt to impute base or dishonourable
motives to such a person ? This was a question to which
Mr. Burke said he would give rto other answer than this —
that the prisoner must have thought it safer to do or say
any thing rather than plead to the charges brought against
him, or suffer the inquiry to proceed, whilst the possibility
of crushing it was still in his power. In point of fact,
Mr. Hastings derived no advantage from this attack upon
Sir John Clavering and his colleagues. The court of
directors, to whom all the minutes that had been entered
in the council books by both parties, relative to the charges
brought against Mr. Hastings, had been sent, approved in
the most express and positive manner of the conduct of
Sir John Clavering, and censured Mr. Hastings, for
having resisted the inquiry ; which they themselves had
strictly- enjoined the council to institute arid puriue; and

442 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2$.
they further commanded -the governor-general to give
them satisfaction on those points which formed the heads
of the accusation against him. But the court of directors
could not make Mr. Hastings pay obedience to their orders.
He promised, indeed, that he would explain those points;
but he found means to evade the performance of his
promise. Here Mr. Burke observed^ that when a person accused
says he will explain the grounds of the charge, he must be
considered as admitting the facts upon which the charge is
founded, though he might afterwards deny the inferences
drawn from them: for none could be so absurd as to ex
plain what had no existence. But this explanation had
never yet been made. The excuse pleaded by the prisoner
whilst he was in India was, that as the charges might be
made the grounds of a prosecution, or a suit in a court of
law, he ought not to disclose his defence in the first in
stance ; but to reserve it till he should be called upon to
make it before a proper tribunal. Since his return to
England, his excuse was, that as no suit or prosecution
had been commenced against him, he considered tlie
business as dropt, and a defence consequently unnecessary.
Thus this excellent master of the science of defence was
able to parry off the necessity of explaining his conduct by
means the most singular and opposite. If the accusation
was to end in a trial, he Was not to explain before trial ;
and if the prosecution was suffered to sleep, then there
could be no necessity for an explanation : so that the charges
might remain unanswered for ever.
Mr. Burke begged leave to make a remark or two upon
the danger which the prisoner affectedly said might attend
him, if he was to explain the grounds of the charges,
whilst there was a possibility that they might terminate in
a trial, from the good fellowship in which it had appeared
to their lordships, that Mr. Hastings and Sir Elijah
Impey lived, whilst they were in Bengal, they would see
that the former could have no great occasion for much
anxiety about the event of any suit that might be instituted

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL.

443

against him in the court of the latter. Sir Elijah Impey
was not a man likely to strain the law to make it reach
Mr. Hastings, particularly when such a straining must be
to favour a false accusation against his friend. The
prisoner, therefore, could not be deterred by any appre
hension of danger in India, from an explanation of his
conduct. The next thing, then, to be considered was, whether
he had any thing to apprehend in a court of law in Eng
land, from such explanation. He certainly had not, if
Mr. Hastings himself might be believed : for in recom
mending to the court of directors a plan, which he him
self had proposed in the early part of his administration,
that would have left all the Company's servants in India
at the mercy of the governor-general, who might dismiss
them from the service without giving them a hearing, he
said, that " the forms of proceeding, and rules of evidence
laid down and established in the courts of law in England,
would rather facilitate the escape of an Oriental delinquent
from punishment, though the cries of the people should
call for vengeance on him, than enable the country to
bring him to punishment." Upon this principle, then, it
might be said, that Mr. Hastings had sheltered himself
from tlie necessity of explaining his conduct, under the
apprehension of a trial from which he had nothing to fear ;
not because he was innocent, but because the law could not
reach him,' on account of the particular circumstances of
places, persons, and distance.
The scruples and delicacy of Mr. Hastings might there->
fore be safely pronounced to be affected, or assumed only
for the purpose of evading the promise of an explanation,
because he knew he could not explain away the force of the
accusation, or establish his innocence. If it had been
from an idea that it would be lowering his dignity to defend
himself against charges which he conceived to be coun
tenanced by those whom he considered as his enemies in
the council, surely he would have availed himself of the
opportunity whieh the death of Sir John Clavering and

444 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2$.
Colonel. Monson gave, him, and by which he was reinstated
in the plenitude- of power, to prove that those gentlemen
had been actuated by malice against him, and that the
"- charges had not even a shadow of foundation in truth.
But had he, since their death, attempted to prove any
such thing? No; he had ever since observed a silence
upon those charges, which nothing could force him to
break. Innocence owed it to itself to plead - at least
"not guilty," and declare a false charge to be so. But
Mr. Hastings had not paid even this faint tribute to in
nocence. Why? Because he was not innocent. Guilt
had put a seal upon his lips, which nothing could break.
, Had there been in the breast of Mr. Hastings a spark
of that honest indignation which never fails to fire- the
breast of an innocent person wrongfully accused, the lan
guage and sentiments which Sir John Clavering had held
and entertained of him, and which he hado-ecorded in the
archives of the East-India Company, would have made
it blaze forth. In a minute entered by Sir John, and which
was read by Mr. Burke, that general declared, " that
Mr. Hastings had made himself a degraded .character in
the eyes both of India and of Europe, for his peculation,
his corruption, and oppressions." Even such language
as this had been unable to make Mr. Hastings vindicate
his innocence and his honour, by entering upon his defence.
He did not dare to defend himself, because he knew he
'cold not but disclose his guilt, if he was to attempt to an
swer the charges.
What, said Mr. Burke, could make this proud and
haughty ruler of India submit to such language, and bear
with such opprobrium ? Guilt, conscious guilt ! The
cursed, love of money had got possession of his soul ; and
in the contemplation of his detested wealth, he found suf
ficient consolation for the loss of character and of honour.
Under the lash of Sir John Clavering, and the execration
of all Asia, he seemed to say with the poet —
¦  Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo
Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in area. .

1 789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 445
It was this love of money that made him deaf to the calls
of glory, and callous to the feelings of honour. It was
this unbounded and insatiable passion for money that had
seared his conscience and his feelings ; and happy in the
accumulation of wealth, even by the foulest means, he
could bear, unmoved, the most cutting reproaches of
Sir John Clavering : He lay down in his stye of infamy,-
— wallowed in the filth of disgrace1 — and fattened upon
the offals and excrements of dishonour. He suffered his
name to be branded not only to cotemporaries, but to
posterity, by the charges and observations recorded by
Sir John Clavering against him in the archives of the
Company. Whilst that gentleman lived, Mr. Hastings
did not dare to meet those charges ; nor had he attempted
to give the least answer to them even after his death ; they
remained to this day unanswered, and -unrefined.
Posterity would not credit the aspersions to which
Mr. Hastings had had recourse, instead of a defence, and
which he dealt so liberally upon Sir John Clavering and
his colleagues. The records of the Company would shew
how little those aspersions were founded. The panegyrics
pronounced by the court of directors upon Sir John Cla
vering, and .recorded in their archives, bore a glorious
testimony to the honour, character, and merits of that
great man. When, tired out by the constant opposition
given by Mr. Hastings to the execution of every plan
either recommended or commanded by the Company, Sir
John Clavering sent home a resignation of his seat at the
council board, the court of directors refused to accept
it, and gave for reason, that his retreat from the council
would be an irreparable injury to the Compan/s service.
They, at tb-*fsame time, bestowed the most unequivocal
and unqualified approbation on the whole of his conduct
whilst *he<'had been in their service ; and intreated him, by
his love for his country,1 not to think of resigning a situation
in which he had already done so much good, and in which
so much more remained to be done.

446 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2$.
Sir John Clavering died soon after, and literally of a
broken heart. Mr. Burke read from one of the Company's
books part of a letter written on that occasion to the
governor and council by the court of directors, in which
they spoke in terms of the most warm panegyric of the
deceased, and expressed a deep concern for the heavy
loss which the Company had sustained by his death.
Here Mr. Burke asked, if such a man, so revered and
honoured, was capable of bringing unfounded accusations,
or countenancing false accusers ? He asked, whether there
was a man upon earth, how bold soever he might be in
conscious innocence, Mr. Hastings excepted, who would
have thought lightly of charges countenanced by such a
man as General Clavering? iHe said he was sure that
every mail, who had a character that could be injured by
an accusation, would have thought it necessary to defend
it, when the name of Sir John Clavering was in any
degree connected with the charge ; because such a name
would give a weight to it, in the opinion of the world,
even though the witnesses might not be the most unim
peachable men. Why then did not Mr. Hastings meet
the charges under such circumstances ? Because, said Mr.
Burke, he was guilty, and could not but expose his guilt,
by attempting to disprove it. This presumption against
the prisoner grew naturally out of his silence, which, in
the opinion of all impartial men, ought to be considered as
tantamount to an admission of the charges.
Mr. Burke next observed, that the prisoner had inva
riably mistaken his own situation; he considered the Com
pany, in the case of the charges alluded to, as plaintiffs
and prosecutors, and himself as a defendant; whereas the
true relation in which they stood to each other, was that of
masters and servant. When the directors required him
to explain the grounds of his conduct in this case, he
declined obedience to their requisition, and said he would
reserve his defence for a court of law. Mr. Burke asked
their lordships, what any one of them would think of
such language from his steward ? If a steward was sus-
14

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. .447
pected or accused of oppressing the tenants, dilapidating
the estate, and embezzling the rents, and his lord should
desire him to explain his conduct, and remove the grounds
of suspicion, what would be the astonishment of that lord,
if he should hear his steward reply, " I will give no ex
planation now; bring your action against me; I will
reserve my defence for a court of law !"
This was the precise language that Mr. Hastings held
to the court of directors, his masters, to whom, ^s their
servant, he owed obedience, and to whom he was of course
bound, when they required it, to explain his conduct. But
it was not very surprising that a man should pertinaciously
withhold explanation, however goaded he might be to give
it, when explanation could serve only to confirm the accu
sation. Mr. Hastings relied, however, for an excuse upon
one circumstance ; and that was, that the Company had
ordered a case to be made for the opinion of counsel, whe
ther there were grounds in the charges brought by, Nund
comar, upon which a prosecution against Mr. Hastings
might . be maintained by the Company. The prisoner
plumed himself upon the opinion given by the counsel,
which was against a prosecution.
But Mr. Burke said, that considering the manner in
which the case was stated, it was not possible for the coun
sel to recommend a prosecution. It was not wantonly that
he would bring in the names of other people into a
business, in which he meant to criminate Mr. Hastings
only; but he must say this of the case in question, which
was made out for counsel, that it was not fairly or truly
drawn. He charged it with misrepresentation, suppres
sion, and falsification. The Company's solicitor, Mr.
Smith, who drew the case, had not been long in his situation
as solicitor to the Company, when the case was drawn up ;
and probably many of the historical parts of it were sup
plied by some persons at the India-house, who were
friends to Mr. Hastings, and who consequently wished to
make out such a case as must make counsel advise the
Company not to bring a prosecution against the governor-

448 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2£/.
general. But though, injustice to Mr. Smith, he premised
this observation, he must add one other observation re
specting that gentleman, and say, that it appeared, and
was rather a singular circumstance, that the very man who
made out that case for the opinion of counsel, was at this
moment the solicitor of Mr. Hastings, and conducted his
defence. Having stated this, Mr. Burke made several remarks
upon the case made by Mr. Smith. Misrepresentation, he
said, was to be found in the very outset, where it informed
the counsel, that Mr. Hastings was accused of having im
properly received certain sums of money from the guar
dian of the nabob of Bengal. Now this was not all the
ground of the accusation. Mr. Hastings was not charged
with haying taken money from the nabob's guardian, but
for having removed that prince's own mother from the
guardianship of her son ; and for having sold that office
for a sum of money to the nabob's step-mother, who had
been a dancing girl, and consequently a prostitute.
After such a statement at the outset, their lordships
might naturally expect that the whole was calculated to
prevent a prosecution — which was precisely the fact. For
to the case was subjoined an appendix, consisting of all the
minutes entered by Mr. Hastings in the Company's books,
with a view to destroy the credit of the witnesses who
were to support the charges. But not a syllable was added
of the minutes entered by Sir John Clavering, Colonel
Monson, and Mr. Francis, in reply to the former, and
in vindication of the witnesses, and defence of the charges.
Who, then, could advise a prosecution, when the only. wit
nesses who were to support it were described to the coun
sel as infamous, and undeserving of any degree of credit? «
Having dwelt long upon this point, Mr. Burke reverted
to the case of Mahomed Reza Khan. This person, he said,
had been reinstated in his office of chief justice, by General
Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis; and the
dancing girl, Munny Begum, was removed from the ad
ministration of affairs. But no sooner were General Cla-

1789-] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 449
vering and Colonel Monson dead, than Mr. Hastings, who
by their death had acquired a majority in council, dismissed
Mahomed Reza Khan again, and resolved to restore the
dancing girl to her former power.
To give a colour to this proceeding, and so to blind the
public, as that they might not think he had any hand in
this latter part of the revolution, he procured a letter to be
sent to him by the nabob, in which his highness stated,
that being then arrived at an age of discretion, it was his
desire to take into his own hands the appointment of his
officers, and to commit to Munny Begum, of whose pru
dence he had the highest opinion, the management of his
affairs. Three days after, this letter was followed by an
other, in which the nabob complained that it had been
rumoured that the former letter had been procured from
him by the influence of Munny Begum, and without his
own approbation. This report, he said, was injurious to
his honour; and he called upon Mr. Hastings to name to
him the authors of the rumour, that they might be punished.
The whole of this proceeding, Mr. Burke said, was truly
farcical ; for Mr. Hastings himself had always described
this prince as a man of no parts, and incapable of directing
or superintending any affair of importance. This descrip
tion of him was confirmed by letters from Lord Cornwallis.
And yet this was the prince to whom Mr. Hastings affected
to think he was bound to commit the administration of the
Nizamud. Though it was well known that this prince was allowed
only the shadow of royalty, and was in reality no more than
a pensioner of the Company, Mr. Hastings said, that as he
was a sovereign prince, his rights, and particularly the ap
pointment of his own officers, could not be with-held from
him without injustice. But upon another occasion, Mr.
Hastings shewed he made light of those sovereign rights,
and disregarded them at pleasure. For when a reconcili
ation took place between him and Mr. Francis, the latter
stipulated as a condition of it, that the honest Mahomed
Reza Khan should be restored to the office of chief justice.
vol. iv. e G

45° SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [April 2J.
Mr. Hastings accordingly wrote to the nabob, desiring,
without any ceremony, that he would dismiss the chief
justice whom he had lately appointed, and take back Ma
homed Reza Khan. The sovereign prince, who had been
made to speak in a lofty tone of his right to appoint his
own officers, instantly obeyed the mandate, and Mahomed
was restored. But soon after, when Mr. Hastings thought
he could do without the support of Mr. Francis, who had
sacrificed his own opinion on many smaller points to a re
gard for the public service during the Mahratta war, he
once more removed Mahomed ; and Munny Begum was
restored to the full possession of the government.
Thus in the short space of two or three years, had four re
volutions been effected in the native government of Bengal,
by Mr. Hastings, and for corrupt purposes. In the first
instance, he had received three lacks and a half of rupees
for putting the government of the country into the hands
of a dancing girl : but it was not to be supposed that he
received no more ; there was reason to believe that he got
100,000/. but the receipt of the three lacks and a half could
be proved by something stronger than suspicion.
It could be proved also that he had received 16,000/.
more, which was charged under the head of entertainment :
but this was only a name given to conceal a bribe ; for
Mr. Hastings had charged the Company 3000/. for his
expences whilst he was at the place where this supposed
entertainment was given. This was a pretty round extra
sum for a man's table for three months, who, let him be
where he would, must eat ; and by charging for his table, he
saved those expences which he must have incurred had he
remained in Calcutta. An entertainment that might cost
200/. would not ruin or embarrass the nabob ; and Mr.
Hastings might have partaken of it without any impro
priety ; but when the nabob was charged with a like sum
daily, for three months, their lordships would see that the
revenues of that prince must be unequal to such an ex-
pence ; and the man could not be said to have any regard

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 451
for him, for the. Company, or for his own honour, who
would suffer such an expence to be incurred.
It was no excuse for Mr. Hastings to say that such en
tertainments to visitors were customary in India, and that
he ought to conform to what he found to be an established
custom. It was a maxim in law — malus usus abolcndus.
That must be a bad custom which ruined the fortunes of
individuals ; and Mr. Hastings, so far from thinking it was
his duty to conform to it, should have made it a point to
abolish it, if possible, by discountenancing it. Lord Coke,
speaking of the Brehon law in Ireland, and the coshering,
&c. that was countenanced by it, to the ruin of the te
nantry, called it " a lewd custom;" and blamed the English
settlers in Ireland for having conformed to it, instead of
abolishing what they saw was a grievous burden to the
people. The censure pronounced by that judge on the
English in Ireland was not less applicable to the English
in India. That it was usual in India to entertain visitors
in a stile of magnificence was not a good plea in the mouth
of Mr. Hastings. He was not at the time alluded to a vi-
sitor ; his journey to Moorshedabad had more of a visitation
in it than a visit, and was attended with lamentable effects
to those hundreds of nobles who were deprived by Mr.
Hastings of their daily bread.
There was a striking proof against Mr. Hastings, which
shewed that the money charged under the head of entertain
ment had not been expended in entertaining him, but had
actually found its way into his own pocket. And this proof
was, that no one in Moorshedabad had seen or heard of
these costly entertainments. Of all the virtues there was
only one which derived lustre from concealment ; and that
was charity : publicity was part of the splendour of all
others, particularly of hospitality. When an entertain
ment was given to great personages, preparations were
made, and numbers of guests were invited to do honour to
those for whom the feast was made: but when a prodigious,
sum, such as 16,000/. was said to have been expended in
an entertainment, which had made no noise, which had
G G 2

452 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 5.
not been heard of in the city where it was supposed to have
been given, it was natural for people to suspect that there
was a mystery in the business, calculated to conceal some
transaction which could not bear the day.
Mr. Burke having got thus far, informed their lordships,
that he would not take up any more of their time this day ;
but he should, he hoped, be able to conclude his opening the
next day he had the honour of addressing their lordships.
He observed that there were two grounds of evidence on
which he intended to support this charge ; the one arising
from concealment ; the other from detection, or confession
of the prisoner, who finding it impossible to conceal any
longer from the scrutinizing eye of parfiament his many and
enormous bribes, at last confessed that he had received
certain sums of money privately, and made a merit of dis
covering what he said he might have kept for ever from the
knowledge of the world. One of these two grounds of
evidence, Mr. Burke said, he had already opened to their
lordships ; the other he intended to open as briefly as pos1
Sible at the next sitting of the court.
Here Mr. Burke concluded for the day.

THIRTY-NINTH OAY.
Tuesday, May 5.
Mr. Hastings having been brought to the bar, and pro
clamation being made,
Mr. Burke rose. He said, that in obedience to their
lordships' proclamation, he would proceed to make good
the charges brought against the prisoner at the bar by
the Commons of Great Britain in parliament assembled ;
but before he should enter into the proofs of those charges
he begged leave to inform their lordships, that since he had
last had the honour of addressing them, an event had taken

J7890 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 453
place *, upon which it was extremely difficult for him to
speak, but which, at the same time, it was impossible for him
to pass over unnoticed. At the last sitting of the court he
had stated to their lordships, in the course of his speech,
that the prisoner had murdered Nundcomar by the hands of
Sir Elijah Impey. But this position he was no longer at
liberty to support ; for in what he had said upon it, he was
disavowed and disowned by his principals, the House of
Commons. Their lordships were not, therefore, to expect
that he would attempt to support by evidence an assertion
which, however it might appear to himself to be well-
founded, was discountenanced by those who had ordered
the prosecution, and had commissioned him to conduct it.
It was the province of the House to command those who
acted under its authority, and it was his duty to obey.
But at the same time that he professed his readiness to
obey the commands of his principals, their lordships, he
hoped, would suffer him to say a word or two by way of
apology for that part of his conduct which had brought
upon him the censure of those whose approbation it would
be his ambition to obtain, and his study to deserve. When
he said that Nundcomar had been murdered by Mr. Hast
ings, he never could have meant to accuse the prisoner of
the specific crime which the law called murder. He was a
little too well acquainted with the laws of his country to en
tertain an idea, that murder was a crime which was to
be tried by impeachment. What he meant, therefore, by
the word murder, in the sense in which he had used it,
was not the crime which the law distinguishes by that
name, but a crime which in reason and common sense must
be considered of at least as great atrocity.
From all that he had learned in the course of nine
years' inquiry into the administration of justice in Bengal,
he had been so clearly convinced in his own mind that
Nundcomar had been taken off solely for the purpose of

* See Vol. iii. p. 4*0.
G G 3

454 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 5.
throwing a discredit upon the charges brought by that un
fortunate person against Mr. Hastings, that as long as he
should speak his own private opinion, he would not hesitate
to say, that Nundcomar had been murdered by Mr. Hastings.
So deeply was this conviction rooted in his heart, after
nine, years' inquiry and deliberation upon the subject,
that it could be torn from him only with his life. And,
therefore, though he was willing to admit that the word
murder, applied to the case of Nundcomar, did not convey
the idea that he had conceived of that fatal event, still he
maintained, that as the poverty of our language did not afford
any other word more particularly descriptive of the crime
which he thought might fairly be brought home to the
prisoner, he had been reduced to the necessity of calling it
a murder. If he could have discovered any other word that
would more forcibly convey his idea of the atrocity of the
prisoner's guilt, he never would have used the word murder
— he had been driven to it only by his not having been
able to find a worse.
His private opinion, however, was not to stand in com
petition with the opinion of the House of Commons, but
to give way to it. It was not for him to consider how the
Commons could have learnt in some few days, that the re
sult of nine years' labour bestowed by him upon this subject,
did not furnish a ground for charging Mr. Hastings with
having conspired against the life of Nundcomar, as the only
way to destroy the accusation brought by that unfortunate
man against Mr. Hastings. It sufficed, that the House of
Commons had declared its opinion on that subject ; which
opinion should be a law to him. And therefore he would
not, in the course of the trial, say one word about the con
viction and execution of Nundcomar, let them be urged ever
so forcibly by the prisoner against the credit of that person,
unless the Commons should give him fresh instructions on
that head.
Indeed, it never was his intention to offer any proof to
their lordships respecting the circumstances of the con
demnation and execution of Nundcomar, except with a view

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 455
to rebut the discredit which Mr. Hastings might be ad
vised to endeavour to throw upon the accusation brought
against him by Nundcomar, by shewing that this man had
afterwards been condemned and executed for forgery.
That Mr. Hastings entertained an idea of discrediting the
accusation of Nundcomar by such means, appeared from his
own defence at the bar of the House of Commons, where
he actually declared it. It was very natural, therefore, for
him who was to manage the impeachment, to maintain
the credit of Nundcomar, whose testimony was one of the
chief supports of the present article of charge relating to
presents. However, as the Commons had been pleased to censure
him for having mentioned the death of Nundcomar as a
charge against Mr. Hastings, he would not attempt, in the
course of the trial, to shew that Mr. Hastings, had any
hand in that death. He would leave it to be supposed that
an execution, which at least for that time put an end to a
charge then pending against Mr. Hastings, and which was
consequently a most useful event to him, had been effected *
by a " fortuitous coincidence of circumstances," in which
Mr. Hastings had no concern, but from which, happening
so very opportunely, he derived the greatest advantage.
He would suppose even that it was one of those " strokes
of Providence which," as Mr. Hastings himself said in his
defence, " the people of India superstitiously imagined
always watched over his person, and conducted all his
measures to their destined end." He was willing to
suppose that this Providence had cut off Nundcomar just
at the moment when his death could be most serviceable to
Mr. Hastings.
Having made these preliminary observations, Mr. Burke
read the resolution which was passed the preceding night
by the House of Commons. From this resolution, he said,
it appeared, that he was restrained only from proving that
Nundcomar was taken off by Mr. Hastings. But he was
not restrained from defending the credit of Nundcomar by
any other way. Thus, though he was not left at liberty
g g 4

456 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May $.
to prove that a prime minister of a great kingdom, who had
had under his sole management a revenue of 1,500,000/.
a-year, and who had been tried for a paltry forgery, sup
posed to have been committed eleven years before his trial,
and under the authority of an English act of parliament,
passed after the pretended commission of the crime, was
prosecuted, not with a view to satisfy public justice, but to
stop the course of it ; still he was at liberty to repel the
attacks made by Mr. Hastings on the character of Nund
comar, when he charged that unfortunate man with other
forgeries, which had no connection with the pretended crime
for which he suffered death.
It was a maxim received in some of the revolutions of
philosophy, that when a limb was cut off from the human
body, the strength of the others was proportionably in
creased. And therefore, said Mr. Burke, to speak accord
ing to that maxim, this one limb of our charge being cut
off, the others will be proportionably strengthened ; and we
shall proceed, even in our maimed state, with more vigour
and energy than we displayed before.
He then begged their lordships would not impute to the
House of Commons, or to their cause, any part of that
weakness which belonged solely to him, their agent. What
ever was energetic, right, and regular, should be imputed
to the Commons ; what was feeble, wrong, or irregular,
should be laid exclusively at his door. The Commons, in
censuring him, did not mean to throw the least damp
upon the impeachment ; for though they had censured and
disavowed him, they had again sent him to prosecute the
same impeachment, with the same colleagues, against the
same defendant, and at the same bar at which he had ori
ginally opened it. They had raised a theatre to justice, on
which the eyes of all the world were fixed, and in which
the honour of the Commons, and of the British name, was
deeply concerned. It was for the Commons who had
brought the prosecution, because they were convinced of
the prisoner's guilt, to speak with confidence of it : but it

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 457
was the province of their lordships to believe nothing ad
vanced by them, that should not be made out in proof.
Having stated this, he observed that Mr. Hastings had,
in his defence at the bar of the House of Commons,
charged Nundcomar with having forged two letters, one
from Munny Begum, the other from the nabob Yetram ul
Dowlah. But it so happened, that Mr. Hastings defeated
tliose charges at the very moment he brought them. For
he shewed, that the pretended forgery of a letter from
Munny Begum was supported only by his own testimony. —
i( I have since been informed," said he, " that she (Munny
Begum) was totally unacquainted with the use that had
been made of her name, till I informed her of it." This
assertion, Mr. Burke said, rested solely upon the autho
rity of Mr. Hastings himself, unsupported by any one wit
ness. It was true, indeed, he referred to a witness, for he
said in his defence — " Mr. Middleton, whom she con
sulted on the occasion, can attest the truth of this story.'*
But Mr. Hastings ran no risk in referring to Mr. Middle-
ton, who could not contradict him — and for the very best
reason, because that Mr. Middleton was dead. *
The other charge, respecting the forgery of a letter in
the name of the nabob Yetram ul Dowlah, was still more
extraordinary ; for though Mr. Hastings did not hesitate to
call it a forgery, he admitted that he knew nothing of the
matter, as appeared from his defence, where he says —
" I have not yet had the curiosity to inquire of the nabob
Yetram ul Dowlah, whether his letter was of the same stamp ;
but I cannot doubt it."
Mr. Burke adverted next to the presents and bribes taken
by Mr. Hastings. To prove that to take presents in any
shape, or on any account, was made penal in every ser
vant of the East India Company, he read the act of par
fiament, by which the penalty was imposed; and he quoted
a minute, written by Mr. Hastings himself, in which,

* He was brother to Mr. Nathaniel Middleton, of famous memory.

458 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 5.
speaking of the bounty offered by Sujah ul Dowlah to the
Company's troops, that had assisted him in the extermin
ation of the Rohillas, he declared that the unlucky discovery
of this act of parliament convinced him, that the troops
could not accept of this bounty. He said he would be glad
to lay aside the act, but it was irresistible.
Mr. Burke remarked, that if troops could not accept of
a bounty from a prince, who by their bravery and blood
had acquired millions, a fortiori, the Company's civil ser
vants were precluded from taking presents.
But Mr. Hastings, it seemed, had made presents and
bribes a source of revenue, and had received them for the
benefit of the Company. But this, exclusive of the shame
ful idea of establishing an exchequer of bribes, was a weak
pretence ; for it was a maxim in law, that when a man
pays a sum of money, and gets no consideration for it, he
can recover it by action. Thus, Mr. Hastings could be
sued by any individual for a sum so paid to him ; and if it
had found its way into the Company's treasuty, Mr.
Hastings, after having been compelled to refund to the
original donor, could recover from the Company all the
monies that had been so lodged in their treasury. Of this
the court of directors were aware ; for they sent out or
ders to the prisoner to receive no private sum on their
account ; and they bound themselves to repay any that had
been so received already.
Mr. Burke took infinite pains to pursue through all
their mazes what he called the arts of the prisoner to con
ceal the sums he had privately received, and to disguise
them under false accounts. We cannot pretend to follow
him through all his statements, interspersed with various
references to letters written by the prisoner on the same
accounts, and all contradictory. He instanced the ac
counts of three lacks of rupees, which were described in
one account as the joint property of the Company and the
prisoner; two belonging to the former, and one to the
latter. In another account, the three lacks were described
as the sole property of the Company ; and in a third ae-

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 459
count, as the exclusive property of Mr. Hastings. Now, it
was pretty remarkable, that though at first the Company
was represented as the owner of two thirds of this sum,
Mr. Hastings took the Company's bonds for the whole.
And though in the third account he stated the money to
be his own, he said he afterwards indorsed the bonds to
the Company, meaning thereby to declare that they did
not belong to him. These, different prevaricating accounts
proved, he said, that the views of Mr. Hastings in taking
the money were originally corrupt.
Mr. Burke touched next upon the bribe of three lacks
of rupees received by Mr. Hastings from Rajah Nobkissen.
The prisoner's own account of the transaction was as fol
lows: — " In the year 1783, when I was actually in want
of a sum of money for my private expences, owing to the
Company not having at that time sufficient cash in their
treasury to pay my salary, I borrowed three lacks of ru
pees of Rajah Nobkissen, an inhabitant of Calcutta, whom
I desired to call upon me with a bond properly filled up ;
he did so ; but at the time I was going to execute it, he
entreated I would rather accept the money than execute
the bond. I neither accepted the offer nor refused it, and
my determination upon it remained suspended between the
alternative of keeping the money as a loan to be repaid,
and of taking it and applying it, as I had done other sums,
to the Company's use. And there the matter rested till I
undertook my journey to Lucknow, when I determined to
accept the money to the Company's use," &c.
Mr. Burke said, that the observation which was applied
to the fair sex, that " the woman who deliberates is lost,"
might be applied to a person to whom a bribe is offered ;
for whoever deliberates about taking, is sure to take it in
the end; as was the case with Mr. Hastings. The gene
rosity of the noble-minded Rajah Nobkissen overcame him.
This Nobkissen was a banyan; and if there was any thing
more flinty, more griping, more thrifty, or more careful to
improve the value of money than a Jew, it was a Gentoo
banyan, or money broker. And yet such a man refused

460 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. ' [May 5.
a bond for his money, and entreated it might be taken as a
present ! Their lordships would of course expect, after
such a transaction, to hear of this Nobkissen again ; and so
they would, for he had been appointed to the collection of
the revenue of a large district, and was behind-hand in his
payments to the Company, in at least as large a sum as was
that which, no doubt, for corrupt purposes, he had given
to the prisoner.
Mr. Burke next adverted to the present of 100,000/. re
ceived by the prisoner from the nabob of Oude, the re
ceipt of which he had disclosed, as he had said himself,
for no other reason, than that it was of a magnitude not to
be concealed, and which he desired the Company would
give to him as a reward for his services, or, as he should
have said, for his false, fraudulent, covetous, and prevari
cating accounts.
The last thing on which Mr. Burke touched was the
letter written by Mr. Hastings from Cheltenham, to the
court of directors, in which he endeavoured to avoid giving
the account which they pressed him to give, of all the sums
privately received by him for their use, together with the
names of the persons from whom he received them. This
letter Mr. Burke described as sui generis, as unique in its
kind, and not to be paralleled in the annals of mankind.
Mr. Burke said he would not detain their lordships any
longef that day. There remained, he ohserved, very little
more for him to say in the opening of this charge ; and he
assured them he should be able to say it in a very short
space of time the next day of meeting ; and then he would
proceed to give in evidence, irrefragable proofs of all that
he had alleged in the course of his speech.
Mr. Burke then sat down, and their lordships adjourned.

1789*] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 461
FORTIETH DAY.
Thursday, May 7.
Mr. Burke resumed the subject of the bribes taken by
Mr. Hastings. Some of these, he said, were, as he had
already observed, according to the prisoner's own words,
" of a magnitude that could not be concealed," and there
fore, as he knew that some account of them would reach
the ears of the directors, he thought he would have some
merit to plead to the court, by making the discovery him
self. But he resolved at the same time to make it in such
a way as would, in his opinion, baffle all inquiry, and
ultimately conceal what it appeared to be the object of the
discovery to reveal.
Accordingly, the account he gave of the presents was
so obscure, that the court of directors could not see their
way through it. If Mr. Hastings ever gave any explan
ation, it was to puzzle the first account, and to add obscu
rity to that wliich had but too much of it before.
His memory being weak, he was reduced to the necessity
Of guessing what might have been his motives for con
cealing at first the receipt of the sums in question, and
for making the Company debtor to him for its own money ;
and after having substituted guesses in the room of ac
counts, he confessed, in his famous letter from Chelten
ham, that he was not sure that the motives which he
guessed had influenced him, were those by which he had
actually been influenced.
Mr. Burke said, that when a mystery was thrown over
accounts, to conceal something from those who ought to
inspect them, he suspected that it was used for the sole
purpose of covering a fraud. He admitted that there
might be occasions, when the accounts of a nation might
with propriety be kept from the eyes even of persons
filling considerable offices under government; but there
could not occur any one case in which it would be proper
to keep accounts from the knowledge of those who were

462 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 7.
at the head of the executive government. And therefore
he presumed that Mr. Hastings was conscious of guilt,
when he with-held from the court of directors the account
of the receipt and expenditure of money which belonged
to the Company, and which it was their department to
direct and controul. Mr. Hastings might be said to with
hold the accounts in question from the knowledge of the
directors, when he gave them only such accounts as they
could not understand, and when he explained them only
in such a manner as to render them, if possible, still more
obscure. Concealment seemed to be the wish of his heart. When
he was called upon in India by the court of directors to
give those accounts, his answer was, that he would give
them satisfactorily on his return to England. But when
he did return, and the directors again pressed for the ac
counts, he referred them to India, where, he said, were
the only accounts of the presents that were in existence.
To his own memory he could not trust one moment ; but
he believed Mr. Larkins,- the Company's accountant-ge
neral, was possessed of all the particulars relating to those
presents. Thus did Mr. Hastings always set one half of
the globe between the questions put to him and his an
swers. For when he was in India, he always said that
it was in England he could satisfy the wishes of the di
rectors ; but when in England, he said it was only in India
they could procure the accounts they were so anxious to
obtain. The directors having been thus referred to Mr. Lar-
kins, sent him orders to transmit to them particular ac
counts of all the sums of money privately received by Mr.
Hastings for the use of the Company, and paid into the
hands of Mr. Larkins. The answer of Mr. Larkins was
to have dispelled the mystery which hung upon this busi
ness ; but unfortunately it left it involved in its original
obscurity. For it was any thing but satisfactory. The
account contained in this answer might be called geogra-'
phical and chronological, hut by no means satisfactory.

I789O SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 463
It stated the places where the money was paid, and the
times when it was received, but said not a syllable about
the persons by whom it was given, or the purpose for
which it was advanced.
Some things, however, were to be found in this answer,
which would lead their lordships to presume, that the ac
count given by Mr. Larkins, though it should be thought
to contain all that Mr. Larkins knew of the matter, was
very far from being a full account of all the bribes and
presents received by Mr. Hastings. Some part of the ac
count transmitted by Mr. Larkins, was stated by that gen
tleman to have been read to him out of a Persian paper,
by a Persian agent of Mr. Hastings ; but it did not state
that the sum mentioned in the part of the paper so read, wa.s
the only one of which that paper contained an account.
It was evident also, from the account sent over by Mr.
Larkins, that Mr. Hastings had not a superintendant-
general of bribes, to whom all the inferior agents, employed
in this business, gave particular accounts of the sums raised
by them for the use of Mr. Hastings, or, to adopt his own
idea, for that of the Company. Mr. Hastings was too
careful to trust too much to one man ; he had agents of
every country, complexion, and religion ; but no two of
them were acquainted with the business which their prin
cipal was carrying on : each thought himself the only one
trusted in money matters, though the number actually
trusted was very considerable.
It appeared also, from the account made up by Mr.
Larkins, that if it had not been for him, who had re
minded Mr. Hastings, that he had promised to send home
some accounts to the court of directors, even some of the
memorandums, out of which Mr. Larkins formed a part
of his answer, would never have been collected from some
of the prisoner's black agents.
Their lordships might well be surprised, that Mr. Lar
kins, into whose hands, as the Company's accountant-
general, Mr. Hastings boasted he had paid many of the
sums received by him for the Company's use, should have

464 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 7.
made no observation upon the very singular conduct of the
prisoner, who paying into the Company's treasury the
Company's own money, as he called it, took bonds for
that very money, payable to himself; thus making the
Company his debtor for their own money.
There was one circumstance more to be found in Mr.
Larkins's account, which must convince their lordships,
that the system of bribery was carried on in a manner which
shewed that it would be an herculean task to destroy it.
Mr. Larkins said, that even if he himself had been sus
pected of perjury, he would not have made out the account ;
because he conceived it would be contrary to his engage
ments to do so ; and therefore he could not have thought
himself warranted in doing it, if he had not had the per
mission of Mr. Hastings to reveal what he knew of the
business. Such was the bond of union by which all those
were engaged to each other, who had any share in the bu
siness of bribes and peculation, that the sense even of public
duty could not shake it ; and even the Company's account
ant-general would not transmit to his masters their own
accounts, if he had not first obtained the leave of Mr.
Hastings to obey the lawful orders of his superiors ! Thus
did these gentlemen couple a nice sense of honour with in
famous peculation, private fidelity with public treachery,
and patriotism with measures which tended to destroy the
character and honour of their country !
Mr. Burke entered into a minute detail of the pecula
tions in Dinagepore, from whose rajah 30,000/. had been
extorted. He touched upon the bribes received by Gunga
Govin Sing, and by Mr. Hastings's black agent, Cantoo
Baboo. The former was by contract to have raised a large
sum in another district, but did not pay above one half of
it ; so that between two different agents, who were to have
raised 90,000/. only 55,000/. were acknowledged to be paid
into the Company's treasury. The remaining 35,000/.
either found its way into the pocket of Mr. Hastings, or
into the pockets of his agents.
He next remarked upon the conduct of Mr. Hastings,

I789-3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 465
who had complained to the House of Commons, that the
enormities committed by Deby Sing had been ascribed to
him. But notwithstanding the complaints of the prisoner,
the guilt imputed to him in those transactions should be
brought home to liim. And this led him to speak of the
written testimonies to his character procured lately from
India by the prisoner. One of them was from the rajah
of Dinagepore, who bestowed the highest encomiums on
Mr. Hastings, and bore testimony to his honourable, just,
and equitable conduct towards the said rajah, during his
administration in India.
Mr. Burke begged their lordships would give him leave
to state briefly the history of that rajah. This noble per
son was the son of the late rajah of Dinagepore, who
having no legitimate male issue, and being on bad terms
with his brother, adopted this natural son, to exclude the
brother from the succession. This son, at the death of
his father, was scarcely six years old. It was not clear,
that by the Gentoo laws, the deceased rajah could have
adopted this child, whilst he himself had living a legiti
mate brother. However, the adoption was confirmed by
the English government, and Gunga Govind Sing was ap
pointed to administer the zemindary, during the noble
youth's minority. Under this minister, all the friends and
relations of the young rajah were removed from about his
person ; and the infamous monster, Deby Sing, was thought
a proper instrument to be appointed by Gunga Govind Sing,
the friend or creature of Mr. Hastings, governor to the
young lord, and to be intrusted with his education. It
was then, and in the country of his pupil, that Deby Sing
did those acts of barbarity, which should be given in evi
dence to their lordships. The rajah himself was plundered
of upwards of 30,000/. and yet it was from a person so
treated that Mr. Hastings had lately procured an honour
able testimony to his character !
But so far were the managers from being alarmed by
this testimony, that they would themselves produce it in
evidence. The rajah, as Mr. Burke had said before, was
VOL. iv. h H

466 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May "].
scarcely six years old when he succeeded to the zemindary ;
and he was little more than eleven when Mr. Hastings left
Bengal. Thus it was from a boy that this testimony was
procured, which related to the measures of government
that took place whilst he was a child. The other honour
able testimony, in favour of Mr. Hastings, was from a
person who, it should be made to appear lo their lordships,
had been robbed of one lack and a half of rupees.
But even though these testimonials had been obtained
from persons who could not be proved to have been plun
dered, still little dependence could be had upon testimonies
procured from natives of India, who scarcely dared to
think differently from their tyrannical rulers. This was
vouched by Sir Elijah Impey himself, who, in one of his
letters, which should be laid before their lordships, said,
that no attention ought to be paid to the letters, or peti
tions, or addresses of the natives of India in favour of their
rulers. " Addresses," said the letter, " are procured in
England through influence — in India, through force."
Having finished all his remarks upon the different heads
of the charge, Mr. Burke concluded with a handsome ad
dress to the court.
My lords, said he, this prosecution is not made merely
for the purpose of bringing down punishment upon
Warren Hastings, and preventing future peculations in
India: it ought to be considered as a great censorial
prosecution, instituted for the purpose of guarding Great
Britain from the vices of Asia. The people of this coun
try have often been represented as unsocial, cold, phleg
matic, and distant : their greatest enemies, however, have
always admitted that they were open, honest, candid, and
ingenuous. But should the subjects of Great Britain
who serve in India be suffered to pursue any longer the
maxims of Asia, they will bring home her vices as well as
her wealth, and both will over-run the land. Those vices,
if they are suffered to spread, will destroy the genius and
character of the people, who will become like the Asiatics,
reserved, dissembling, plotting, treacherous, and perfidious.

1794*] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 467
But, my lords, it is not for our manners only or our
morals that we have to fear, but also for our liberty. If
the vices of the East would corrupt the former, its wealth
would utterly destroy the latter. An intelligent poet has
said — — Opum metuenda potestas :
from the wealth of Asia our liberty may apprehend its
ruin — a deluge of Asiatic spoilers and delinquents may
pour into the senate, and corrupt the sources of our con
stitution. To-day the Commons are prosecuting Asiatic
delinquents — to-morrow tliose delinquents may be the
Commons of Great Britain. Do you, my lords, stand
forward the defenders of our constitution, and let the
liberty of the Commons be preserved by the justice of the
lords. My lords, I have done.

Speech at the Close of the Trial.
one hundred and thirty-seventh day, &c.
Wednesday, May 28. to Monday, June 16. 1794.
fXN the 28th of May, Mr. Burke commenced the final reply
^~^ on the part of the Commons. His speech upon this occa
sion continued nine days. For the sake of greater perspicuity,
the heads of what Mr. Burke said upon this occasion, are here
thrown into one uninterrupted and connected narrative.
Mr. Burke rose. He began by saying, that this great
and important business, which had so long engaged the
attention of the first councils of the nation, was drawing
to a close. When he considered how near the period was
when their lordships would be called upon to pronounce
H.H 2

468 speeches in westminster-hall. [May 28-
their judgment in this case — when he considered in how
great a degree the honour of the Commons of Great
Britain depended upon the conviction of the prisoner at
the bar, he could not think of the event of this long-pro
tracted trial without trembling. One of the counsel for the
defendant had stated to their lordships, that the Commons
had only brought Mr. Hastings before that court to clear
up some doubtful points, and that the}', the managers,
must feel themselves happy if he should be able to establish
his innocence before the world. Such an idea he begged
in the most pointed manner to disclaim. The Commons of
Great Britain did not come there to solve a problem : they
came there to convict guilt, and to assist the cause of
justice. The accusation of Mr. Hastings was not adopted
by the Commons in a hurry : it was not done in compli
ance with popular clamour, by which sometimes even the
gravest and most cautious popular assemblies may be
swayed ; but it was the result of long and laborious inquiry,
of minute and accurate investigation. Therefore, to ac
quit the prisoner, would be to convict the- Commons of
England of deliberate, systematic error. Before the Com
mons brought this impeachment to the bar of the House
of Lords, they had spent years in the examination of everv
paper, every document, which could throw light upon this
subject. In the year 1782, a string of resolutions were
proposed to the House of Commons by the then lord ad
vocate of Scotland, now one of his majesty's principal
secretaries of state * : those resolutions, arraigning the
conduct of the defendant, were agreed to by the House ;
they were then referred to a committee, and the report of
that committee corresponded with the former determin
ation of the House. Not content with this, by an un
paralleled instance of caution and circumspection, the
matter was referred to another committee, who made a re
port of a similar tendency. When, after such an investi-

* Mr. Dundas.

17940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 469
gation, the House of Commons felt itself bound, in order
to vindicate the honour of the British name in India, so
lemnly to accuse Mr. Hastings, he surely did not go too
far in saying, that the dignity, the character, nay, perhaps,
the very existence of that branch of the legislature would
depend upon his conviction. He therefore begged to dis
claim that false candour imputed to him by the counsel,
and to say, that if— (he could hardly bring his heart to
think of or his tongue to express the idea) — if their lord
ships should feel themselves justified in acquitting Mr.
Hastings — if it should appear to them, that instead of
prosecuting a great delinquent, the Commons had been
prosecuting not only an innocent but a meritorious man,
then he and his fellow-managers would retire from the
bar covered with shame and confusion. But, when he con
sidered the evidence adduced by the prisoner in answer to
the charges brought by the Commons, he could not help
looking upon such an acquittal as impossible.
It would now be necessary for him to state to their lord
ships the state of the prosecution. The Commons had,
out of an immense mass of criminality, selected a quantity of
matter, which they had arranged into twenty articles of ac
cusation against the prisoner. In making this selection,
he was not sure that they had not left behind a multitude
of facts of equal atrocity with those they had brought for
ward. But the managers, foreseeing the probable length
of the trial, and anxious to do every thing in their power
to shorten it, without injuring the cause of justice, went
to their constituents, and asked leave to make such a
further compression as they thought would tend to obtain
that object ; in consequence of which the charges were re
duced to four ; the two first, viz. the Benares and the Be
gum charges, tending to shew the violence and tyranny of
the defendant ; and the o|her two calculated to display his
insatiable avarice and corruption, and the scandalous means
he used to obtain his purpose, and to conceal his crime.
It was not his intention to trouble their lordships with any
observations upon those charges, which had been spoken to
H H 3

470 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 28.
with such infinite abilities by his brother-managers; of
those abilities he would say no more than that they were
equal to the task — more he could not say of them. In
deed, the consideration of the great talents requisite to ex
plain and enforce such an important subject, would have
deterred him from standing forward in this business; but
he had a duty paramount to any feelings of his own,
namely, his duty to the House of Commons, who had
commanded him to undertake the office. The House of
Commons thought, perhaps, that industry would make up
for the want of abilities, and therefore they had appointed
him a manager. Avoiding, therefore, every thing which
had already been discussed, he should confine his observa
tions to four points, viz. the demeanour of the prisoner
at the bar during the course of this trial — the principles
which he had laid down, and upon which he founded his
justification — the means by which his defence had been
supported — and the testimonies which had been brought
forward in support of those means.
With respect to the first of those four points, namely,
the demeanour of the prisoner during the course of the
trial, he thought it afforded ground for the most serious
observation. It was such a conduct as he was sure had
never been held by 'any person standing in the same awful
predicament with the prisoner : it was not the boldness of
conscious innocence, but the insolence of hardened guilt.
He wished their lordships to examine the conduct of every
person who had stood impeached before them, and to com
pare it with that of the prisoner — from that of the Duke of
Suffolk, Lord Bacon, LordMacclesfield, down to the smug
glers, who were impeached in the reign of William III.,
and they would find that such insolent and daring de
meanour had never before been displayed. Their lordships
would recollect the name of Lord Verulam — in knowledge.
to speak of every thing the most profound — in learning,
of every thing the most various and extensive — in dis
covery, of every thing the most enlightened and the most
penetrating, was to mention Lord Verulam. This man,

'7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 47 1
whose least distinction was, that he was a peer, a chan
cellor, and the son of a chief justice — this great man was
not exempt from frailty. The Commons discovered some
spots in this sun, and impeached him : how did he conduct
himself? With humility, with a consciousness of his situ
ation, with contrition ; notwithstanding which, the court
fined him 40,000/. — a sum equal to 100,000/. at the pre
sent day. It was not his wish that the defendant should be
abject, should be mean ; he only wished him to conduct
himself with decorum to the court who tried him, and to.
the body who prosecuted him. But instead of this, instead
of attempting to refute the charges brought against him,
his whole defence consisted of recriminatory accusations
against the Commons, and of testimony to his character.
The charge which he made against the managers for the
Commons was, that they had used the most harsh and
violent language against him. In answer to this he would
say, that the managers came there to maintain the cause of
truth, and were therefore obliged to use the language of
truth. The language of the Commons of Great Britain
was rustic, but intelligible: they had not learnt the refine
ment of Indian corruption. The managers were accused
of using language to Mr. Hastings as gross as that applied
to Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh was a man of
learning, a great soldier, and a great mariner : to apply the
epithet of " a spider of hell" to him was absurd, and well
suited to the pedantic eloquence of the man who used it.
But if Sir Walter Raleigh had been guilty of corruption,
of peculation, of the most mean and scandalous practices,
such as those imputed to Mr. Hastings, Sir Edward Coke
would have erred more against decorum than against truth
in giving him such an appellation. It Was the great mis
fortune of the present age, and nothing could more strongly
prove its degeneracy, that fine and emollient names were
applied to bad actions : a woman guilty of adultery, is
called " gallant ;" the man who committed it is always in
the French, and often in the English language, called " a
man of good fortune." But the managers for the Comt
H h 4

47^ SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 28.
mons would never shew such a false, dangerous, and novel
like sympathy. When they were describing atrocious
guilt, they would use adequate terms. To the charge of
delay brought against the managers by'the counsel, he
would say, that the managers were only responsible to the
body that tsent them, to whom they had explained their
conduct : but he defied the counsel to prove, that any delay
prejudicial to Mr. Hastings had been caused by the ma
nagers., Mr. Burke then adverted to a petition presented at an
early stage of the trial by Mr. Hastings to the House of
Lords, in which he stated the expences incurred by him
previous to the commencement of the trial to be 30,000/.
Comparing this with the expence incurred by the Com
mons, it appeared to him enormous; he had therefore
made very particular inquiries upon the subject, and was
prepared to say, that the assertion in that petition was
false. One item of the 30,000/. was 6000/. for copying
clerks. Upon investigating this circumstance, he found
that the directors of the East India Company had given
orders, that Mr. Hastings should have copies of whatever
papers he pleased gratis ; therefore, the pretended charge of
6000/. was utterly unfounded.
Mr. Burke, having argued these points much at length,
came to the second head which he had mentioned in the
beginning of his speech, namely, the principle Mr. Hast
ings had laid down, and upon which he founded his justi
fication. This principle was, that he wished their lord
ships to understand, that the people of India were a race
of beings so much below the rest of mankind, that they had
no sense of, honour, no notion of equity and justice ; that
they had always lived in the most abject state of slavery,
without property, real, personal, heritable, or of any kind
whatever ; that in India, to use the words of Mr. Hastings,
the power of the sovereign was every thing, the rights of
the people nothing. Such was the principle upon which
Mr. Hastings rested: his defence, and it was worthy of him ;
but he would shew to their lordships, by such a mass of

1794*] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 473
authority as must force conviction, that it was in every
particular unfounded. Instead of having no sense of ho
nour, their feelings upon that point were the most acute,
perhaps, of any people ; and innumerable instances might
be cited to prove it : he could mention cases in which
women in India, who had been accused and acquitted with
honour, had put an end to their existence, not being able
to survive the disgrace of having been accused. He could
shew instances even of common soldiers of that country, who
having been condemned for crimes, contended who should
first be blown from the mouth of the cannon, maintaining
their- honour in punishment. In short, the histories of that
country were full of cases, every one proving the direct ne
gative of Mr. Hastings's assertion. That they had no sense
of laws, no right of property, was an assertion equally dar
ing and equally false ; and upon this subject he would beg
to refer their lordships to Mr. Halhed's book, out of the
money paid for the translation of which Mr. Hastings had
cheated Nobkissen. This book, which contains a most ac
curate digest of the Gentoo laws, not only proves that they
have property, and laws to regulate it, but proves that those
laws are as much founded upon justice and reason, and
contain as many nice distinctions, even as our own boasted
code. Mr. Burke then cited passages from a variety of Oriental
authors, proving the right of property in India, and shew
ing that that property had been respected by the greatest
princes and conquerors, by Tamerlane, Gengis Khan,
Khouli Khan, and others. But, (said Mr. Burke) the
council have fancied that we compared Mr. Hastings to
Tamerlane and others, and they have told your lordships
of the thousands of men slaughtered by the ambition of
those princes. Good God ! have they lost their senses ?
Can they suppose that we meant to compare a fraudulent
maker of bullock-contracts with an illustrious conqueror?
We never compared Mr. Hastings to a lion or a tyger ; we
have compared him to a rat or a weasel. When we assi
milate him to such contemptible animals, we do not mean

474 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 30.
to convey an idea of their incapability of doing injury
When God punished Pharaoh and Egypt, it was not by
armies but by locusts and by lice , which though small and
contemptible, are capable of the greatest mischiefs.
Mr. Burke, on the 30th of May, proceeded. He said
that when he had the honour of last addressing their lord
ships, he had submitted to them such observations as he
thought necessary upon two important points, viz. the de
meanour of the prisoner during the course of this trial, and
the principles upon wliich his defence was founded. He
had shewn to their lordships, that this demeanour was of a
nature perfectly unusual and unknown in the annals of
parliament. He had shewn, that men the most distin
guished for rank and for abilities, had, when called before
this high court, conducted themselves with humility, re
spect, and decency ; and he had contrasted the conduct of
those men with the presumption and insolence of the pri
soner — -his presumption in making a recriminatory charge
upon the Commons —7 and his insolence, in accusing them
of malice and black ingratitude to him ; for the prisoner
had not attempted to defend himself by answering the
charges brought against him by the Commons, but on the
contrary rested his whole defence on recrimination, charg
ing the Commons with injustice in their impeachment, and,
on the other hand, both the Commons and their lordships
with delay in the trial. With respect to the imputation of
injustice, he hoped that accusation was already answered;
and as to the charge of delay, the managers for the Com
mons of Great Britain did not conceive themselves at li
berty to account for their conduct before any other body
than their constituents, before whom, if it should appear
that there had been any thing unnecessary in the course of
this trial, he had pledged himself to prove, that such delay
could not be imputed to the managers.
As to the charge of ingratitude which the prisoner had
thought proper to make against the Commons, Mr. Hast
ings had, towards the close of his defence, entered into a

J7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 475
copious detail of his own merits: it would be therefore pro
per for their lordships to take into their consideration what
was the nature of those boasted services, and how far they
could be taken into estimation as proofs of positive merit
on the one hand, or, on the other, how far they could be
used as a set-off or a mitigation of the crimes laid to his
charge. And here the demeanour of the prisoner came
properly in, as a strong indication of what must have been,
and a proof that the conduct of the defendant in India
could hardly have been governed by moderation ; for when
their lordships had witnessed the exuberant pride and dar
ing presumption of the prisoner when standing before the
most awful tribunal in the world, and accused by that body
of men it was most his duty to bow with reverence and
respect to, what might not their lordships conceive his
pride and cruelty to have been, when armed with almost
unlimited power over the weak and defenceless, when un
restrained, as he professed himself to be, by any law, and
when elated with the plenitude of usurped sovereignty ?
The prisoner therefore having, as he would shew in the
course of what he had to say to their lordships, rested his
defence, not on a denial of the charges brought against him,
but on a justification of the various acts upon which the
charges were founded, the question for the consideration of
their lordships' determination ceased to be an issue of fact,
and became an issue of law. Their lordships, he was sure,
-would concur with him, when he laid it down as a clear
and indisputable proposition, that all powers of sovereignty
were either discretionary and arbitrary, or limited. In the
first case, where the power vested in the sovereign was ar
bitrary, there being no positive written law to guide him,
the person exercising that power was bound to govern his
conduct by sound political morals: on the other hand,
where the power was limited, and law applied, he was bound
to keep within the exact limits of that power, and to be go
verned by the strict letter of that law. In applying this
general principle to the case of the prisoner, Mr. Burke
proceeded to demonstrate, that Mr. Hastings was bound,

476 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 30.
in the discharge of his important duty of governor-general
of India, to make the statutes of Great Britain the rule of
his conduct, as far as they applied; and where they were
deficient in their application, he was bound to adopt
the laws, rights, franchises, and privileges of the country
he governed, as the guide of his conduct; and where they
failed, to act upon the broad principles of the law of na
tions, as in all cases with foreign powers. These, Mr.
Burke said, made the grounds of the present inquiry.
To carry this reasoning home to the case of Mr. Hast
ings, he would remind their lordships of what he was sure
they very well knew, that Mr. Hastings, being the servant
of the East India Company, was bound by the statutes of
England which erected that Company, to obey the orders
of the court of directors, without presuming in the most
minute article to deviate from those orders upon his own
responsibility. But see, my lords, (said Mr. Burke) how
Mr. Hastings has thought proper to comply with those
laws : he not only resists them, but avows openly, that he
did not think himself bound to pay obedience to them.
He treats the acts of our parliament with contempt, and,
in the place of the wise and salutary regulations of our
laws, substitutes his own arbitrary and tyrannical will.
No, my lords, Mr. Hastings disdained to be bound by the
laws of this country, or even to be restrained by those of
Gengis Khan, Khouli Khan, or Tamerlane, who, though
tyrants, respected the laws and preserved the property of
those countries which they conquered, but takes for ex
ample those who had become traitors to their sovereigns,
that they might be the tyrants of the people — Cossim Aly
Khan, Sujah ul Dowlah, and all those usurpers and ty
rants, whose principles being more congenial to his own,
were deemed more worthy of imitation. These are the
laws which he followed, these are the laws which he would
preserve, by inducing your lordships to sanction them with
the fat of your approbation. [Here Mr. Burke read from
parts of the defence of Mr. Hastings, passages, stating, that
whenever he thought the laws of England militated against

1 794-] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 477
the interests of the Company, he was at liberty to violate
them.J And thus he endeavours to avail himself of his own
wrong, attempts to justify one breach of the law by another
breach of the law, and would vindicate his illegal accept
ance of corrupt presents, by alleging the distressed and ex
hausted state of the Company's finances, which had been
caused by his own unlawful prodigality and vicious applica
tion of the Company's treasures to his favourite system of
corruption. Mr. Burke next entered into a disquisition upon the na
ture of government, of which we lament our inability to
give an adequate idea; but we will endeavour, as nearly as
we can, to give the general scope of his reasoning. He ^'st
laid it down as a general principle, that all law and all
sovereignty were derived from Heaven ; for if the laws of
every nation, from the most simple and social of the most
barbarous people, up to the wisest and most salutary laws
of the most refined and enlightened societies, from the
Divine laws handed down to us in Holy Writ, down to the
meanest forms of earthly institution, were attentively ex
amined, they would be found to breathe but one spirit, one
principle, equal distributive justice between man and man,
and the protection of one individual from the encroachments
of the rest. The universality of this principle proved its
origin. Out of this principle laws arose, for the execution
of which sovereignty was established ; and all, viz. that
principle, those laws, and that sovereignty, were thus evi
dently derived from God.
If, then, laws and sovereignty were sacred, as being the
gift of God for the benefit of the people ; and if the laws
and sovereignty of India were, as. he contended them to be,
founded upon the same principle of universal justice, then
Mr. Hastings, as a British governor, sent, not to conquer
or extirpate, but to preserve and cherish, was bound to
protect the people of that country in the use of those laws,
and shield that sovereignty from encroachment or usurp
ation. How ignonfiniously he had acted, in direct contra
diction to that duty lay before their lordships, in evidence

478 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 30,
unrefuted by any contradictory proof, and, indeed, un-
denied. Mr. Hastings had asserted, that he had got the Gentoo
code of laws translated at his own expence ; if it were so,
'twere good, and he should have approved of such gene
rosity; but how did the fact really appear? So far' from
paying for the translation, this swindling Maecenas, like
the pious person who devoutly stole a Bible, that he might
read the scriptures, defrauded the Rajah Nobkissen of it :
and thus by a double stroke of ingenuity, he contrived to
acquire both reputation and money. If their lordships
were of opinion with him, and he thought they would
hardly disagree with him, that swindling of money was bad,
surely they must allow, that the swindling of glory and
fame to which he had no pretensions, was not only equally
atrocious, but infinitely more mean. Whether, however,
Mr. Hastings paid for the translation or not, they were
certainly dedicated to him : and here the charge becomes
heavier against him ; for it was probable he never read
them, or, if he had, had acted in direct violation of them ;
for their lordships would, perceive he was not borne out in
any one of his acts by the institutions contained in that
code : and if the learned council were as well skilled in the
Gentoo law (which he was sorry to perceive they were not)
as they were in the laws of their own Country, they would
find it equally difficult to defend their client in either. If,
however, the Indian laws contained within them principles
of august and arbitrary institution, which be by no means
admitted, those exceptions to their general tendency should
be produced as a justification for a person acting in the
situation of Mr. Hastings ; for he relied upon it, that no
example of violation or oppression, however sanctioned by
the great talents or usurped rank of any tyrant, should be
admitted as a justification of a British governor, though
that governor had the audacity to plead it as an excuse,
and to follow it as an example. All these facts, he said,
were in evidence before their lordships ; and in all these

1 794*0 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 479
crimes their lordships were called upon by the prisoner to
concur. Mr. Burke next said, that Mr. Hastings had, by rely in <*
upon the examples of those chiefs alluded to, seemed to
conceive himself invested with sovereign power, a propo
sition wliich he conceived utterly unfounded, because he
was only the servant of the East India Company, who
could not delegate to him sovereign power, because they did
not possess it themselves: their right was derived from,
and confined within the charter granted by parliament :
they therefore having no such right in them, could not de
legate it to Mr. Hastings. Sovereignty was of a nature,
taken in its abstract sense, that would not admit of dele
gation. In England it was placed solely in the hands of
the king, who was sovereign over the lords and over the
commons collectively and individually: the sovereign
power was entrusted to him for the public benefit, but it
was utterly impossible that he could delegate it wholly and
completely to any other person. But the prisoner, as if
conscious that his situation under the Company was that of
a servant, and not that of a sovereign, bound to obey their
commands, and to act in conformity to clear and positive
institutions, instead of disobeying the one, and substituting
his own arbitrary will in the place of the other, had re
course to another fountain, from which to draw his right
of -sovereign authority, and assumes to exercise the same
power as Sujah ul Dowlah had done before him • — a power
which extended to the property, liberty, and life of the
subject : but unfortunately this source also failed him, for
Sujah ul Dowlah was not a sovereign himself, but the re
presentative of a sovereign, and of course could not give
that to Mr. Hastings which he did not possess himself,
unless, like Mr. Hastings, he obtained it by an abuse of
the power entrusted to him, and acted the part of a tyrant
when he should have performed the duty of a servant.
He had now, he hoped, shewn that Mr. Hastings's as
sumption of sovereign power was as unfounded as it was
insolent, and this conduct was to be judged of by its con-

480 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [May 30.
formity to a violation of the rules prescribed for his guid
ance. If their lordships were to do that which he was
sure they never would — if they were to adopt the prin
ciples laid down by Mr. Hastings, by permitting a man to
escape punishment who had so daringly violated every rule
of government and every established law, they would do
what was even worse than destroying all principles, they
would establish false ones. Man, and every other animal
in their most savage state, may be ferocious, may be cruel ;
but when the appetite is satiated, they are harmless, nay
even docile. But man, when actuated by false principles
firmly fixed in his mind, is infinitely more dangerous, not
for temporary ferocity, but for systematic wickedness, de
liberate error, perennial vice.
Mr. Burke then proceeded to shew, that the whole of
the charge against Cheyt Sing was that of an unwilling
ness to pay a sum of money much beyond the regular
tribute which he was bound to pay; a conduct for which
that rajah was justifiable upon every principle of the laws
of nations, nature, and morality ; he being invested with all
the attributes of sovereignty, and exercising all its func
tions. The prisoner at the bar having thus not only vio
lated every principle of justice and general law, but having
acted in direct opposition to the positive laws of England,
and treated the source from which those laws were derived
with contempt, was guilty of contumacy and rebellion ; of
rebellion, not in its abstract, but in its strict sense, overt
acts of which were to be found upon their lordships'
minutes, proved under the sanction of an oath, and given
in as part of the prisoner's defence. But supposing any
subject were not in actual rebellion, but suspected of a con
spiracy against the government, how should Mr. Hastings
have acted? He should, as a British magistrate, have endea
voured to prevent the effects of such conspiracy ; he should
have convened the party suspected before him, and have
investigated the proofs of his guilt, before he proceeded to
conviction and punishment. Before Mr. Hastings had
proceeded to inflict any punishment, he should have con-

1794*] SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 48 1
sidered the principle of the Gentoo law, with respect to
apportioning the punishment to the rank and situation of
the offender, because it must be obvious to their lordships,
that the same punishment might operate much more se
verely upon one man than another. He should have con
sidered also, that it was a principle in the Gentoo law, that
although a magistrate might pass judgment upon a delin
quent in his own house, yet in such case his house must be
open to access, to prevent all suspicion of partiality or cor
ruption. Under the Mahomedan law, he was equally
bound to have informed the party of the crime laid to his
charge, and to have proceeded in an open and judicial
manner. Thus, under whatever law Mr. Hastings may
pretend to have acted, whether English, Mahomedan, or
Gentoo, he is equally guilty, because under all of them he
was bound to have called Cheyt Sing before him, previous
to his inflicting any punishment upon him.
Instead of acting upon these principles of law and justice,
he not only never accused Cheyt Sing of rebellion, but he
never mentioned to the council, to Lord Macartney, to
Mr. Wheler, or to any person to whom he communicated
his intention of going to Benares, any thing like a suspi
cion of that rajah being in a state of rebellion. In addition
to the circumstance of Mr. Hastings never having informed
any one person of his suspicion of Cheyt Sing's rebellion,
Mr. Burke begged of their lordships to consider the actual
impossibility of such an idea entering into the contempla
tion of that prince, as that of rebelling against the Com
pany : in the first place, he was a man by nature extremely
timid, and possessed of but a very inconsiderable district.
The whole of his conduct being under the vigilant inspec
tion of the vakeels, agents, and other creatures of Mr.
Hastings, immediately under the eye of an English resi
dent, and surrounded by a whole body of military — could
he, acting under such circumstances, and possessing his
sovereignty on moderate terms — could he, he demanded,
think of rebellion? Could it be believed ? Where could he
look for safety ? It could not be with Sujah Dowlah, it
vol. iv. J x

482 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [J/Mie J.
could not be with the Mahrattas, or any of the other In
dian powers, who he knew would reduce him to the most
abject servitude. He called upon Mr. Hastings to shew
that the resident in Benares, the vakeels, or any person
whatever, had ever expressed a suspicion of a rebel
lion; or to produce any evidence to convince their
lordships of a circumstance in every point of view so im
probable. " But," said Mr. Burke, " I will now produce
such damning proof that Mr. Hastings did not consider
Cheyt Sing in a state of rebellion, as it is impossible for
him to get over ; for I will read from Mr. Hastings's own
words the most unequivocal admission, that at the period
in which the prisoner would induce your lordships to be
lieve that Cheyt Sing was in actual rebellion, he was not
even so much as suspected of an intention towards it by
Mr. Hastings." Here Mr. Burke read several extracts
from Mr. Hastings's narrative from Benares, in which he
says that he does not believe Cheyt Sing guilty of a pre
meditated project for rebellion, when he punished him for
his former misconduct. Again, he declares positively, that
it was not for rebellion, but for personal contumacy, that
he fined him 500,000/., but that after his refusal to pay that
fine, he considered him as a rebel. " Here then," said
Mr. Burke, " it appears from the prisoner's confession, that
the only symptom of rebellion was the punishment and fine
laid on by himself, for an insult offered to himself. The
rebellion, therefore, as fixed by Mr. Hastings, appears to
be the consequence of that fine, and not the fine the con
sequence of the rebellion — so that Mr. Hastings went up
to Benares under the impulse of malice, to wreak the
meanest vengeance for private wrongs, to the manifest in
jury of the Company's interests, and to the indelible dis
grace of the British name : thence sprang the rebellion ;
and all the calamities and mischiefs attending it, arose from
pride, malice, insatiable avarice, and an ambition to follow
the example of Sujah Dowlah, and the other detestable
tyrants of the east."
Mr. Burke next proceeded to advert to another part of
the defence of Mr. Hastings, in which he endeavoured to

17940* SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 483
justify himself by precedent, in taking bribes, or, as he
speciously denominates them, fines ; and here, he said, it
would have occurred to a man of an enlarged mind and
honest heart, to have chosen, when he was searching for
precedents, those who were most eminent in antiquity for
virtue and talents, and have adopted the examples laid
down by the greatest philosophers, writers, and legislators ;
but instead of that, Mr. Hastings chose the most aban
doned and sanguinary tyrants of the east, Cossim Ali
Khan and Sujah ul Dowlah. Sujah ul Dowlah, said he,
took a fine. " Good God ! my lords, see how guilt per
verts the understanding, blinds the faculties, and extin
guishes every power of discrimination in the human mind !
Could your lordships have believed, that the governor-
general of India, the sagacious, the ingenious Mr. Hast
ings, should have been so stupid as not to distinguish
between a fine of purchase and a fine of penalty? — A
fine of purchase, as in the case of Sujah ul Dowlah, and
a tyrannical fine of penalty, as in his own ?" Upon the
whole, he thought the same lines were applicable to the
prisoner, which Lord Coke had cited from Virgil upon a
former occasion, in which that admirable poet describes
the conduct of the judges in hell :
Gnossius haec Rhadamanthus habet durissima regna :
Castigatque, auditque dolos ; subigitque fateri
Quae quis apud superos, surto laetatus inani,
Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem.
If their lordships wished to see the conduct of those
judges of hell exemplified, they had only to look for it
in the conduct of the prisoner at the bar. But while Mr.
Hastings was acting in this oppressive manner, was he in
other respects idle? No, by no means; for it would ap
pear that he was busily employed in a plot which cut
deeper ; was negociating, and had actually received pro
posals for the sale of the province ; and, in aggravation of
the guilt of such a transaction, had chosen the very last
man almost in existence that he ought to have chosen, to
commit the charge of the province to: he chose Sujah ul
1 1 2

484 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 3.
Dowlah, who was a bankrupt, and in the last degree of
indigence; who owed already more to the Company than
he was able to pay ; and who, by the necessities of his
situation, must have been constrained to a life of rapine.
This bankrupt tyrant, stimulated by want, was the man
with whom the prisoner entered into a treaty to deliver up
Cheyt Sing. To the pillage of this needy tyrant he de
livered up a country, which, from its superior beauty and
fertility, was called the Garden of God. To him he agreed
to give the power to break into the before unpolluted
sanctuary of the women, the seat of honour of that un
fortunate, injured prince, which the laws of the country
and the usage of time immemorial had held sacred even
from the execution of those laws or from the entrance of
the magistrate. Mr. Hastings never communicated to the
rajah, or to any other person, the sum with which he
would be satisfied, nor the time at which it should be paid ;
yet when Cheyt Sing offered him twenty lacks of rupees,
he refused it, saying that it came too late. He also af
fected the utmost resentment against Cheyt Sing for not
having offered him fifty instead of twenty lacks, he having
determined in his own mind not to accept a less sum than
the fifty lacks. But if this was his purpose, why did he
not communicate it to the rajah ? Instead of doing so, he
kept it a profound secret, as if to entrap that unfortunate
prince ; for it appeared from the evidence produced by Mr.
Hastings himself, that not even the resident at Benares
knew the sum which was demanded, or even that any sum
whatever had been specified.
To point out the various inconsistencies in Mr. Hastings's
account of these transactions, were an endless task; but
there was one which Mr. Burke said he could not avoid
mentioning, namely, that at one time he positively declares
that the whole of his proceeding against Cheyt Sing was
only in terrorem, while at the very same moment he put
into execution that which he said was only intended as a
threat. Thus it would be found, that no two accounts of
the prisoner's agreed with each other, but that one con
stantly operated as a contradiction to the other.

17940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 485
Mr. Burke then proceeded to shew, in the clearest
manner, that so far from the Company having any right
or claim to the fort of Bidjegur, they had not even a co
lourable pretence to it ; for the real property in it lay in
Cheyt Sing. Mr. Hastings was so conscious of this, that
when seeking for pretexts under which to shelter himself
upon that occasion, he said he found that some of his
predecessors had wished to get possession of it ; and sets up
the most ludicrous justification that ever was conceived,
namely, the wish of his predecessors, as if his oppressive
acts could be justified by their illegal intentions.
Mr. Burke next adverted to that part of Mr. Hastings's
defence in which he justified his assuming military rank by
the subsequent assumption of it by Lord Cornwallis : this,
he contended, was an aggravation of the guilt of the pri
soner, because it was an attempt to offer a mischief pro
duced by the example of his own act in justification of that
very act. But Mr. Burke denied the fact ; for Lord Corn
wallis had united in him the double offices of commander-in-
chief and governor -general, which was so far from being the
case with Mr. Hastings, that the parliament of England
was obliged to pass an act to confer that united power on
Lord Cornwallis. He reprobated the partition of the power
of governor-general between Mr. Hastings and Mr.
Wheler, as utterly illegal and inconsistent. He insisted
that Mr. Hastings's journey to Benares could have origin
ated in nothing but the most foul and unjustifiable motives ;
for there was no act of advantage to the Company that he
could not have done better by remaining in Calcutta ; and
whether he wished to make or to violate a treaty, or even
to overcome any supposed resistance of Cheyt Sing's, he
might have done it with much more effect by his agents ;
and there was no such talisman in the great and mighty
person of Mr. Hastings, but that Major Popham, with his
army, might as completely have effected the subjugation of
Cheyt Sing, as that gentleman with his few companies of
seapoys. Mr. Burke then, in the strongest language, painted the
1 1 3

486 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 3.
additional insult offered to Cheyt Sing in his selection
of a person as the substitute for that prince. He appointed
Hussain Sing, who had dishonoured his family, polluted
his father's bed, and was his own inveterate enemy ; as if
the; vindictive spirit of <the prisoner, unsated by the enor
mous injuries he had already offered him, had determined
to embitter ruin, to make destruction dishonourable, dis
grace more infamous, and affliction more afflictive.
Mr. Burke then shewed,, from minutes of the evidence
which he read, that so far froga. Cheyt Sing disclosing any
sinister intentions, he had threH?£i&ies put his life into the
power of the prisoner, with all the confidence of an un
suspicious heart, till at last his subjects, aware of the
danger and treachery that surrounded him, and anxious
for the honour of their sovereign, flocked around him, and
against his will forced him into resistance.
Having shewn the cruelty of Mr. Hastings's conduct to
Cheyt Sing, Mr. Burke proceeded to prove its impolicy
with respect to the interests of the Company ; for Cheyt
Sing, in his flight, carried off with him no less than four
hundred thousand pounds, which must have greatly im
poverished the province. He left behind him two hundred
thousand pounds in his zenana, as in a sanctuary which
never had, and, as he vainly supposed, never could be
violated. But no sanctuary was sacred in Mr. Hastings's
eye ; for in his letter to Major Popham, he animated the
soldiers to plunder it ; and, as if to shew that he was in
capable of keeping faith with any one, he directed the
Company's advocate at Calcutta, to sue the soldiery for
the plunder which they had taken by his direction. " Cal
culate, then," said Mr. Burke, " the profit and loss of this
stupendous account of tyranny- — put on one side four
hundred thousand pounds carried off by Cheyt Sing —
two hundred thousand pounds lavished in plunder among
the soldiery -r- the agriculture, laws, and commerce of a
country torn up by the roots — the British nation dis
honoured, and all sanctions, human and divine, trampled
under foot; and on the other side put — what? The gra-

'794-1 1 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 487
tification of Mr. Hastings's malice for a private insult said
to have been offered to himself. So long as arithmetical
numbers stand, so long as truth shall have existence, and
justice be the first principle of social union, so long shall
the cruelty, avarice, and extortion of Warren Hastings
appear manifest to the world !"
Mr. Burke next told their lordships, that they were now
to view Mr. Hastings in a new character — that of a le
gislator. Every thing being swept away by his ruinous
hand, the people of the country some butchered and some
exiled, the prince and his family outraged; without one
plan, the complete conquest made of a country little less,
in point of size and revenue, than England and Wales ;
tlieir lordships were to see how far the prisoner, who having
compared himself as a conqueror to Alexander the Great,
had imitated the example of that illustrious character as a
legislator — in which capacity he would be found acting
in defiance of the laws of his country on the one hand, and
on the other giving a loose to the most unbridled arbitrary
will, and the most harsh and ferocious disposition, and,
standing in a middle capacity between the inferior and su
perior, by his infamous conduct to both, proclaiming him
self at once both the rebel and the tyrant. As soon as by
those illicit means he had got possession of the country, he
proceeded, without any communication with the council,
to dispose of the country as if it was actually his own pro
perty; confiscated as it suited the needy clamours of his
avarice, distributed as it pleased his capricious inclination,
and, as he took, gave away without permission, and by a
master-stroke of fanatical hypocrisy, founded a Gentoo
charity, to pray, not for the country, not for the govern
ment of England, not for the Company, but — for the
prosperity of Warren Hastings, Esq. !
When he had thus dispatched the property of the coun-r
try, he thought then of a person to govern under his own
arbitrary will, and nominated to succeed the rajah in his
office, Durbidgee Sing, a boy of nineteen years of age*
who, he himself confesses, had neither right to the office'
114

488 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 3.
nor ability to fill it ; but to enable him to discharge the
duty of it, chooses for his guardian the boy's father, a man
of aknowledged incapacity. To ensure to himself the do
minion over those nominal governors, he appointed as
resident Mr. Markham, a gentleman possessed of the very
strong recommendatory qualifications of twenty-one years
of age, and five months of experience. When he men
tioned this gentleman's name in that manner, he wished
their lordships to understand, that not to him, but to Mr.
Hastings who appointed him, were justly to be attributed
the misfortunes that ensued to that country and the Com
pany from his incapacity ; for when any man was burthened
beyond his strength, he was no longer answerable for his
exertions. For this gentleman's1 services, however, and
to support his dignity, Mr. Hastings allowed the most ex
travagant emoluments, not less than sixty thousand a-year
authorized allowance, besides what their lordships' know
ledge of the system of peculation in that country might
suppose him to have picked up.
In this, as in every other transaction of Mr. Hastings,
corruption reared its head, and stared them in the face.
From this Durbidgee Sing, Mr. Markham, by which he
would be understood to mean Mr. Hastings, exacted a net
revenue of four hundred thousand a-year, although it ap
peared, from the evidence of Mr. Markham himself, that
he, in privy council, with his sage moonshee, and his sage
clerk, having made up the revenue at the utmost they could
bring it to, it was only three hundred and sixty thousand
pounds ; a circumstance which could not fail to engage the
attention of their lordships — that an inexperienced youth
of twenty-one, a hireling moonshee, and a venal clerk,
should sit as quorum to decide upon the revenues of a great
country. Mr. Duncan, too, whose character stood with
honour on their lordships' records, has declared, that the
whole revenues of the country, take them how they would,
could not be- made to exceed three hundred and forty
thousand pounds ; in addition to which, if their lordships
would look back into the revenues of any number of years,

1 7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 489
in the most prosperous times, the country was never known
to produce any thing near four hundred thousand pounds.
As a proof that Mr. Hastings was conscious of the enor
mity of this exaction, he agreed to give for the future a re
mission to the rajah, but granted that remission only on
the terms that the full sum should be paid up to the time at
which it was granted, and thus by one act acknowledged
the enormity of the exaction, and enforced the execution
of it ; and not one of these circumstances did he lay before
the council.
Mr. Burke said it was a principle, the universal pro
mulgation of which might be of service to mankind, that
that man whom his unlucky fate condemns to the exercise
of arbirary power, is as certainly condemned to perpetual
ignorance and blindness. The slaves who share his favour
will not set him right, and the honesUmen who do not,
dare not. Thus it happened with Mr. Hastings - — his
rapid descent in wickedness deprived him of his intellects
and sight, while none were so hardy as to dare to impede
his progress. Under this blindness and fatuity he entirely
destroyed the country ; so that while he exacted the heaviest
revenue from it that ever was known, he rendered it ut
terly unproductive, even of support for its inhabitants;
and considering it as his own private property, received
complaints against Durbidgee Sing as against a private
steward, and proceeded in a more summary way against
the one than he could against the other, and never com
municated to the council a single tittle either of the com
plaints or of the consequent proceedings, till the ruin of
that unhappy man was effected, although he had full five
months during which to make such communication. He
then called upon the board to confirm all the violent acts
of himself and Mr. Markham ; said he was personally hurt
at the discredit clone to his appointment; and desired them
to concur in the punishment of the rajah, when in strict
justice it was himself who merited the punishment. At the
same time he denounced, that if every rupee of the exac-

490 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 3.
tion was not paid, the life of Durbidgee Sing should
answer for it.
Mr. Hastings having thus annihilated all law, and the
people having no fixed point to which to resort for pro
tection, had nothing left but prayer and petition : this they
had recourse to — many petitions were sent in against Mr.
Markham ; but Mr. Hastings received the petitions of Mr.
Markham against them, and suppressed those petitions
which were sent against that gentleman. Under colour of
the rigorous exaction of Mr. Markham of that enormous
revenue, the collection of which, if it could have been
collected at all, was prevented by his interference, Dur
bidgee Sing was plunged into the dungeon of Chunar, se
lected for its horrors, and his life was threatened if he did
not pay; but there being no proof of his having collected,
but, on the contrary, strong proofs that it could not be
collected at all, and that he was persecuted for that which
the prisoner knew had no existence, application was made
to Mr. Hastings for his release ; but the tyrant proceeded
to Europe without releasing him, and he died in jail after
his departure from India.
After his death, upon an examination of his affairs, and
a search of his house, it appeared that the unhappy man
died a bankrupt. " In the name of this unhappy victim,"
said Mr. Burke, " who was condemned and suffered with
out being heard, and in the name of his afflicted family,
who were left to deplore his untimely death, I conjure your
lordships to do severe justice upon the criminal at your
bar. Thus was a second rajah of Benares cut off. From
that period the revenues of the country were managed en
tirely by Mr. Markham, under the ostensible name of a
native collector, till Mr. Hastings returned to Europe, and
the reign of his viceroy ended."
Mr. Burke said, that in order to supersede all necessity
of observation, he would read from Mr. Hastings's own
details what would be sufficient to condemn him. He then
read to the following effect : That in April 1784 the pri
soner said, that in passing through Benares he was fol-
15

17940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 49 1
lowed by the clamours of the disconsolate inhabitants;
that from Buxar to the opposite boundaries of the country,
the whole was nearly depopulated, and nothing appeared
but ruin and devastation. This was the description he
gave of that very country in 1784, which but a short time
before he himself had described as a place that humanity
must shed tears of joy to see, thick set with villages teem
ing with the productions of nature and agriculture, and so
cultivated that the soldiers were obliged to march in file to
avoid destroying the fruits of the earth, which had they
walked in rank they must have done.
In confirmation of this fact, Mr. Burke directed their
lordships'. attention to a transaction which had since taken
place : Lord Cornwallis had sent up Mr. Jonathan Duncan
to see the country ; and, to shew how deep the wounds of
arbitrary power are, and how slowly, if ever, they recover,
Mr. Duncan reported, that not a third of some districts
were in a state of cultivation, and that in the rest it was
one continued waste as far as the eye could reach ; and
that, upon inquiry, he found the whole was owing to the
mismanagement of former governors, and that the date of
the ruin was to be fixed from the expulsion of Cheyt Sing.
" Oh !" said Mr. Burke, " what triumph for a British
governor, who on the balmy wings of peace and benefi
cence, should carry mercy, blessing, and gladness in his
train, to be pursued by the clamours and execrations of an
injured people, or to create a solitude around him wherever
he went ; the unhappy victims flying from him as from a
pestilence; giving up their all, their industry, and their
homes, and facing famine and exile, rather than the tyrant
who had overspread their country with ruin !"
Mr. Burke said, that on the last day. [June 3.] he had
been obhged to conclude where the prosperity and the
patience concluded too; where a great country was laid
Waste, its agriculture and commerce destroyed, and its
lawful sovereign deposed and banished. Their lordships
were now to proceed from that desolated country to another,

492 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [Julie 5.
and to travel from desolation to desolation, because they
were to walk in the steps of Warren Hastings. But before
their lordships proceeded to the consideration of what he
had to offer, he would call to their recollection one grand
principle, namely, that a man was not innoxious merely
because he was insignificant; for manifold experience had
shewn, that men bred in the most mean and wicked habits,
when placed in unsuitable power, do more mischief than
the worst tyrants born under canopies of state and swad
dled in cloth of purple. The prisoner at the bar amply
verified this remark ; for if the great tyrants of the east,
to whom the counsel had thought proper to oppose his
character, had raised a pyramid of ninety thousand heads
by the splendid havock of the sword, the prisoner had
raised his pyramid by the meaner and more inevitably de
structive havoc of famine.
Having endeavoured to impress this principle upon their
lordships' recollection, his next duty was to lead their at
tention to the conduct of the prisoner in the province of
Oude, a country hardly inferior in size to England ; which
conduct the counsel of the prisoner had endeavoured to
palliate by the most gross and unfounded slanders upon the
pedigree of the reigning prince of that country, and taking
for their authority that contemptible production, " Dow's
History of Hindostan," which few read, but almost ah who
read despised, had endeavoured to throw a slur upon that
great family, by saying that he was the son of a pedlar.
Sujah Dowlah, he said, it would appear from Mr.
Verelst's account of India, was, though haughty and fe
rocious in his nature, at once magnificent in his expences
and economical in his state affairs. He made an annual
saving from his -revenues without straining them, and of
course had the confidence of his people, though a tyrant.
But the prisoner had treated his offspring with indignity
below servility, and raked up the ashes of the dead to vilify
that prince, though he was not ashamed to take and put in
his pocket immense sums of his money. But whether the
account given to their lordships of that family by the

J7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 493
Dows, the Hastings's, and that infamous clan of slander
ers, was true or not, could have no weight in their lord
ships' determination; for Mr. Hastings, at all events,
found him a sovereign exercising authority by the consent
of his people, with a revenue equal to that of England, an
army of 1 20,000 men, and a splendid court, and had no
right to go back into his pedigree, in order to find de
fects to cover his own enormities.
In 1775 Sujah ul Dowlah died, leaving one lawful child,
Asoph ul Dowlah, and eighty by his concubines, all of
whom, by the customs of the Mahomedan courts, had
rights and privileges peculiar to themselves, and even pre
tensions to the succession. With this prince a treaty had
been made, wliich however gave no power of interference
with the interior of the country ; but Mr. Hastings set up
as his defence, that by this treaty the nabob was reduced
to an actual state of vassalage ; and while he admitted on
the one hand the flourishing state of Oude at the time of
this treaty, on the other he avows its total ruin during his
administration ; but he says it was occasioned by a bad
system of government established there. Before he would
remark upon this transaction, he would lay it down as a
principle, that mere systems never rendered a people happy
or unhappy, but as they gave wicked men room to act. Had
the system however been never so pernicious, was it not the
duty of Mr. Hastings to correct it by his administration ?
But by saying that he" acted in conformity thereto, he
avowed himself the instrument of that villainous system ;
and it appeared by Mr. Hastings's evidence, (which
Mr. Burke read,) that by good faith there was not a nation
in India but might have been won over to England, and
yet that in fact they all abhorred the connection. This
disgrace upon the British name, and this abhorrence of its
servants, took rise only in the administration of Mr. Hast
ings, who threw the whole country into a masquerade,
who invested slaves with authority, and turned governors
into slaves.
Mr. Burke then adverted to that part of the prisoner's

494 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 5.
defence, in which he stated that the reason why he did not
oppose that corrupt system in the constitution of Oude, was,
that there was a majority in council against him ; and to
strengthen his defence, had thrown aspersions on the cha
racter of General ClaVering, Colonel Monson, and Mr,
Francis, men whom, contemplating their conduct in India,
he must respect, whether living or dead, and whose fate,
when compared with that of this prisoner, served to re
mind him of an observation by no means new, that let a
man be ever so corrupt and wealthy, he has hosts of
friends ; but let him stem the torrent of corruption, and a
thousand mouths are opened against him. But Mr. Burke
insisted, that whether Mr. Hastings had a majority in the
council or not, he was bound to propose measures to coun
teract that system ; and even though he knew his proposi
tions would be negatived, at least to record his disappro
bation of it. But taking the prisoner's objection to those
gentlemen, (viz. Clavering, Monson, and Francis,) and sup
posing them to have been as wicked as he said, their power
lasted but for a very short time, after which he was left in
full power over the councils of the country, and in full pos
session of the government of Oude. Being thus invested
with unlimited power, and finding the nabob, as he would
represent him, a vassal to the Company, he determined to
make him a vassal to himself, and to that end annihilated the
whole Persian correspondence of Oude, (which, their lord
ships knew, must comprize the whole correspondence, as
the Persian is the only language in which the business of
all eastern courts is transacted,) secreted and kept it in
a private cabinet, and never communicated it to the coun
cil from 1781 to 1785. But as nothing spoke so strongly
against a man as his own evidence, so nothing could esta
blish a fact so strongly as a record ; and in order to confirm
his assertion relative to the suppression of the correspond
ence, Mr. Burke said, he would read from the Company's
records, a statement of the fact as it really stood. Here Mr.
Burke read from the minutes of council a statement of the
Persian translator, that for four years he found no Persian

1 7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 495
document whatsoever, till after the departure of Mr. Hast
ings, when he found some in a mutilated state in the trunk
of Captain John Scott.
Thus, when the council, emancipated from the tyranny
of Mr. Hastings, dared to think for themselves, and to call
for the records, out they came from the Pandora's box,
that abyss of secrets, Captain John Scott's trunk, mutilated
and garbled ; and thus the redoubtable governor of India,
with the assistance of that miraculous cabinet, that Aladin's
wonderful lamp, kept the government of Oude in his hands,
made a tool of the nabob, blinded the council, and der
stroyed not only that country, but the interests of Great
Britain. This, Mr. Burke insisted, was a positive act of
rebellion against the laws of his country, while the conceal
ment of. the records was not only a substantial crime in it-?
self, but a positive proof of other crimes.
Having thus rendered the council and the nabob sub
servient to his purposes, he determined to proceed further ;
and to follow his system of rebellion, denied the right of
the Company to the appointment of their own officers ; and,
in defiance of a positive order of the court of directors,
appointing Mr. Bristow resident at Lucknow, he recalled
that gentleman from that office, and sent in his place
Middleton and Johnson, two instruments of his own ; and,
not content with this positive disobedience, boasted of it,
and said, that he resisted Bristow only because the court of
directors appointed him; and as he promulgated that
declaration to the nabob, and to all the powers of that coun
try, had certainly so far done all he could to expose the
nakedness and imbecility of the parliament of Great Bri
tain, and the Company which acted under its authority.
Mr. Burke here read a letter to that effect from the de
fendant to the nabob of Oude. But afterwards, when it
suited his own purpose, and when the Company had ceased
to recommend Mr. Bristow, he appointed that gentleman
himself. Mr. Burke read private letters from Govind Ram to
the vizier, and from the vizier to Govind Ram, for the pur-

496 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 5.
pose of developing the various machinations of Mr. Hast
ings in Oude with the view of thwarting the intentions of
the court of directors, and at the same time to screen his
conduct from their knowledge. It appeared that the letter
containing a requisition from the nabob was first written
by Mr. Hastings, and sent up to the nabob, in order to
be written again, and sent as his own. To such a length
was this carried by Mr. Hastings, and there appeared such
manifest contradictions between his public declarations and
his private instructions, that the vizier, by the nabob's
order, wrote to the prisoner, and begged him to state really
what were his intentions, for among such innumerable in
consistencies, he could not discover them. " Here," said
Mr. Burke, " here, my lords, is a discovery of a new and
extraordinary kind — here, my lords, the crooked ma
chinery of this great and important nature, in which the
manager, I mean Mr. Hastings, had so long dazzled the
eyes of the world with the splendour of his pantomimical
deceptions — here the flying of witches, the sinking of
ghosts, the trap-doors, and the harlequinades — here all
the strutting of the signors and the sweet blandishments of
the signoras, and the great master of the machinery him
self, were all, all opened and exposed to view in that ca
binet of slight of hand and hocus pocus, the trunk of Cap
tain John Scott, that miraculous trunk which produced all
the effects of Aladin's wonderful lamp !"
The nabob, at last reduced to the utmost extremity, ap
plied to the prisoner to be relieved from that band of
British officers by whom he was surrounded and oppressed;
among those was to be found a name ever memorable in
India, Colonel Hannay, who had been recommended to
Mr. Hastings by Sir Elijah Impey, and turned out a worthy
fruit of such a stock. This man had the command of two
regiments of the Company's troops in the province of Oude,
exercised also the office of a farmer-general of the re
venue, and was enabled by the power he possessed, of
commander-in-chief, to enforce his exactions as farmer-
general; and in instances where the unfortunate inhabi-

17940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 497
tants refused payment, he confined them in the open air in
cages, and exercised on them the most unheard-of seve
rities. To such a degree were they at last reduced, that
they were obliged to sell their children in order to pay his
arbitrary exactions. The evidence upon this subject, Mr.
Burke said, demanded their lordships' most positive cre
dence, when they recollected that it was extracted from the
witnesses like drops of blood, and was proved by the pri
soner's own evidence. This produced a general rebellion ;
the forts and all the dungeons were filled with prisoners ;
the people rose at the call of nature, and each, as he stood
affected, demanded his parent, his brother, or his child ;
and, as an earnest of the clemency they were to expect,
Colonel Hannay cut off the heads of eighteen of the prin
cipal inhabitants, and threw them over the battlements ;
and for this transaction no account, no responsibility was
to be found but the will of that gloomy murderer.
At length the nabob, roused from the state of debase
ment into which the tyranny of Mr. Hastings had sunk his
mind, demanded the recal of Colonel Hannay, which was,
with much difficulty, complied with. Here Mr. Burke
read a letter from the vizier, expressive of the utmost hu
mility, in which he swears, by the Holy Prophet, that was
Hannay to come again into Oude, he would fly the country.
Mr. Burke said, that on the last day (June 5.) he had
proved that Mr. Hastings had been guilty of premeditated
rebellion against the acts of the parliament of Great Britain,
and against the acts of his masters, the court of directors.
He had also proved his vengeance against those officers of
the Company who refused obedience to him, and only
rested their rights upon the Company. He had proved
the absolute vassalage of the nabob to the prisoner, and
his being made by him the weak instrument of his own
ruin, and of the ruin of his august family ; he was now,
he said, to call the attention of their lordships to the treat
ment of their prince, in which cruelty and upstart tyranny
were carried to a refinement unexampled in the ingenuity of
vol. iv. K K

498 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 10.
man. The prisoner, not satisfied with the injuries he had
heaped upon the unhappy prince, brought him, who had
no will of his own, down to Chunar, under pretence of
settling all misunderstandings, and reconciling the British
interest with that of the nabob : accordingly, the nabob
came down.
Mr. Hastings having brought this miserable victim down
to Chunar, prevailed upon him to sign a certain treaty,
under the pretence that the stipulations which immediately
affected the interest of the nabob were not to be executed,
but were to be in lieu, as it were, of those conditions which
were favourable to the nabob. The first article of the
treaty was, that Mr. Hastings was to order away the rabble
of British pensioners and officers, particularly the new bri
gade, who all together constituted a weight that nearly sunk
the nabob, and exhausted his revenues ; while on the other
hand, the nabob undertook to resume those jaghires which
had been granted by former nabobs, either to the royal
family for support, or to their subjects for services, and
which were considered as fixed and permanent property :
these were to be resumed, and made a new source of pe
culation for Mr. Hastings. In order to shew that the
prisoner, from the beginning, had no intention of per
forming either part of this treaty, Mr. Burke read a letter
of Mr. Middleton, in which he says, that the nabob was
ready to conform to whatever Mr. Hastings might pre
scribe, and that he (Middleton) was ready to take his
share of the odium of the prisoner's non-performance of
that agreement. But what shewed that the defendant was
utterly regardless of the appearance even of decency, on
the very day on which the treaty was signed, he recom
mended new pensioners to the nabob.
Their lordships were then to observe how far Mr. Hastings
adhered to his private promise to the nabob, on the strength
of which that prince had been induced to sign the treaty
of Chunar. Mr. Hastings had come down from Benares*
frustrated in his intention to get 500,000/., which he had
promised himself by his journey there : but seeing the

1 794-3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 499
country ravaged, and 'nothing but disgrace and solitude
about him, and afraid, after the ruin he had made, to re
turn without some plunder, he revolved in his mind a vast
variety of stratagems, and at length hit upon this happy
expedient of plundering the principal people of Oude of
their property, under the name of a resumption of the
jaghires. But aware that the nabob, from common justice,
as well as from the natural feelings of a man to his own
family, must feel a repugnance to carry such a plan into
execution, he perfidiously promised him that those stipu
lations should not be enforced, wliich promise he neverthe
less broke as soon as the treaty was signed, by wresting the
jaghires from their lawful owners. Mr. Burke defined the
nature of that species of property called Jaghires, and as
similated them- to the feudal possessions in Europe; and
said, that jacobinism never struck a more effectual blow
against property than their lordships would do, if, by ap
proving of this measure, they sanctioned the idea of arbi
trary confiscations, for the purpose of creating revenue.
For his part, viewing it in the light of justice to the indi
vidual, or policy in the state, his prayer respecting pro
perty should ever be, esto perpetua.
Mr. Burke then proceeded to shew, that when this part
of the treaty came to be carried into execution, the nabob
shewed the most acute repentance for having been trepan
ned into signing the treaty. He not only expressed reluct
ance, but absolutely fell at the feet of Middleton, conjuring
and entreating him to spare him the horror of turning all
the different branches of his family, who had been provided
for by those jaghires, destitute upon the world; and find
ing all his efforts to melt the obdurate heart of Middleton
ineffectual, and fearing that a rebellion would be the conse
quence of the indignation of his people at such treatment,
he sent his family away, and petitioned Mr. Hastings to re
lax from his unjust resolution; but in vain — in vain he
begged, prayed, dissembled, and put in practice every
delay — the inexorable Middleton usurped openly the go-
gemment of the nabob, and with all the harsh hauteur
K K 2

50© SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 10.
of a tyrannous conqueror, declared that he would issue pur-
wannas to compel the execution of the treaty. Here Mr.
Burke said, that he would read Hastings's and Middleton's
owti account of the business, and then leave it to their lord
ships, whether the highest pitch of crimination they had
ever witnessed could equal such a nefarious avowal as those
letters contained. Here he read Mr. Middleton's letter of
December 1781, page 809. in the minutes, in which he
states that the nabob's finances, were so bad, that he was
not able to pay his troops ; that the resumption of the
jaghires was obviously against his inclination, for that a
settled melancholy had taken possession of him, so as to
endanger his health, and that therefore he (Middleton)
suspended the execution until he knew Mr. Hastings's
ipleasure. Here, said Mr. Burke, your lordships may perceive the
conflict between the natural feelings of humanity and the
abject habits of a slave ; but Mr. Hastings stood superior
to such feelings, and sent a body of troops to enforce the
immediate execution of this treaty. It must be a consider
able aggravation of an injury, to receive it from a set of
obscure people, coming, like the English, from an un
known country — it was a bitter, bitter draught to any
having the feelings of men. Oppression, he said, was good
no where, but certainly was more tolerable from those to
whom the oppressed were accustomed to bow. Letters of
Mr. Middleton of the 6th and 7th of December 1781,
were then read, by which it appeared that Middleton had
ordered the necessary purwannas, but before they could be
issued, received a message from the nabob, requesting the
delay only of a few hours, and that the thing should be
done in his own name ; but this Mr. Middleton refused,
and issued the purwannas himself.
" Here," exclaimed Mr. Burke, with strong marks of
emotion, " was an act of tyranny and usurpation unex
ampled in history ! Have your lordships ever found in the
annals of tyranny, or the histories of popular tumult in
deposing princes, any act to equal this ? a monarch deposed

1 794-3 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL, 50 1
by his pretended allies, trampled under foot by the slaves
who before abjectly crouched at his feet, and the means of
whose existence were drawn from his bounty, and himself
rendered, by one flagitious stroke, the greatest slave and
the poorest man in his own dominions ! All men possessed
of the principles of common honesty must be roused to
indignation at such a recital, but your lordships, more sub
limed to honour, must run before me in my feelings on this
transaction." The confiscation thus executed, the whole was handed
over to Middleton, who again, on his part, handed it over
to the usurers of Benares, and thus a body of foreign usurers
were put into possession of the estates of the principal people
of the country. Middleton said, that the debt would be
paid by these means in the space of two years ; but would
it would it not be better, Mr. Burke asked, to suffer the
estates to remain with their real owners, and compel them
to give security to the bankers of Benares? But, no! Mr.
Hastings willed it, and the unfortunate people were to be-
turned out without the means of existence :
Sic volo,sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas.
In order to sum up every thing that could be said of the
atrocity of this act, Mr. Burke proceeded to shew their
lordships the horror with which it struck every body save
Mr. Hastings. Middleton himself, " albeit not used to
the melting mood," relented, and wrote in terms of com
miseration for the unhappy people to Mr. Hastings; who,
however, felt himself superior to such vulgar feelings —
" honest black disdained to change its colour." He,
with all the stern rigidity of a stoic, spurned from him
pity in such a virtuous cause : this Cato of peculation,
fraud, and tyranny, would not relent, but insisted upon
the rigorous execution, even to the letter of the confisca
tion ; and if Middleton had not nerves to execute it, he
himself would have gone in person for that purpose ; and
thus, said Mr. Burke, the prisoner argued* — " I am
afraid to go home without money ; I went to rob in Be-
k K 3

502 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June IO.
nares, and failed there ; I must get money elsewhere, or I
cannot meet the parliament of England. Are you equal
to it ? says the great robber to the little one. If not, I, the
great master of tyranny, will fly on the baleful wings of
ruin, and put to shame the poor relenting nature of your
heart."  Infirm of purpose !
Give me the daggers. 
My hands are of your colour, but I shame
To wear a heart so white.
This great man could not, like Satan, see the glories of
the world; but worse, looked over the naked waste that
himself had made, and could not see one single shilling
that he could by fraud or violence attach ; all was hid, and
buried under ground, when he got there. He then recol
lected one great family, the women of which had, in three
or four successive reigns, amassed, by saving it from their
incomes, a large sum of money, and had it secured under
the guard of a fortress, and a treble security of the manners
and laws of the country ; — but these were but slender im
pediments to the violent passion of the prisoner, for as
Jupiter made love in a shower of gold, so he made love
for a golden shower, not in gold at the person, but at the
person for the gold.
Having first resolved to seize on those treasures, he was
at a loss under what pretext to justify such a violation, not
only of the right of the parties, the laws of the country,
the decency to be observed to persons of the female sex by
the customs of the country, but of a treaty by which the
British government had guaranteed that property to them.
At length he hit upon an expedient more atrocious even
than the original intention ; and, partly by stratagem and
partly by force, made the nabob enter into his plan, and
become the instrument of violation of his mother's property,
house, and family. This was no other than to accuse them
of rebellion, and under that pretext to confiscate their goods.
And here it was worthy of remark, that Sir Elijah Impey
(who by his sacred office was bound to protect, yet was

*7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 503
made the instrument of this act of injustice) never was con
sulted upon tbe point of law by Mr. Hastings, although he
was continually with him, for —
" Phoebe went with him wherever he went."
No, Sir Elijah did very well for a common messenger, for
a tipstaff, or to take an affidavit; but, upon a point of
law, was not fit to be consulted, though chief justice of
India : neither had Mr. Hastings thought proper to con
sult the native chief justice — he consulted neither, but
employed both in the execution of this abominable pro
ject, contenting himself with putting the question hypothe-
tically — " Supposing the Begums are guilty of rebellion,
has not the nabob a right to confiscate their property ?"
To which Sir Elijah said, Certainly ; and thus, between
them, they contrived to conform to the old legal maxim —
Ad qucestionem facti non respondent judices, ad qucestionem
legis non respondent juratores. Mr. Hastings assumes the
province, and exercises the right of the jury, and finds the
fact; and Sir Elijah, in his character of judge, applies
the law, and thus between them was this infamous trans
action completed.
Mr. Burke said, that the honourable manager who had
preceded him upon this charge had gone so very fully into
the subject, that it was hardly necessary for him to say
more, than that, to accomplish Mr. Hastings's purposes, a
variety of the meanest stratagems, most violent outrages,
and enormous cruelties were practised upon these unfor
tunate women, until at last he discovered where their
hoards lay, upon which occasion Mr. Middleton, with all
the raptures of a lover, in amorous transports and cooings,
writes to his " dear Sir Elijah Impey," that he has got
at the object- of all his wishes, the secret hoards of the old
ladies. But even the acquisition of those immense treasures
could neither satiate the avarice, nor give a momentary
check to the cruel disposition of the prisoner, for he had
an assay made of the treasure, and finding that it fell short
K K 4

5©4 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June II.
by sixty thousand pounds of the sum upon which he had
fixed his mind, he extorted from the eunuchs, who were the
ministers of the Begums, bonds'to the amount of that defi
ciency. The moment the bonds were obtained, those un
happy victims were dragged to a prison, and a prison of all
Others the most dreadful to them, the English fortress of
Chunar. In the dungeons of that fort they were kept, and
treated not only with rigour, but with the most atrocious
cruelty, laden with heavy chains, and repeatedly deprived
even of food. Mr. Burke read some letters from Major
Gilpin, who had the command of the fort, to Middleton,
in which he states the miserable situation of his prisoners,
and requests permission to alleviate in some degree their
torments ; but Mr. Middleton, instead of affording relief,
gave directions for heavier fetters, and, if possible, an in
crease of torments. The princesses of Oude, feeling for
the situation of their ministers, parted with all their orna
ments and dress for tbe purpose of" relieving them out of
prison ; by these means they raised a sum of 40,000/., but
Still they were detained for the remainder.
Mr. Burke then proceeded to shew the gross improbabi
lity of the charge of rebellion which had been made against
the Begums, and said, that if it were even probable, the
evidence which the prisoner had brought to prove it would
shew its falsehood. But allowing for a moment the truth
of this accusation, what did it prove ? Why, that the
tyranny of the English was so intolerable, that even clois
tered old women conspired to cut off a man, who stood in
the relation of son to the one, and grandson to the other,
rather than not get rid of the British oppression. Mr.
Burke, proceeded in recapitulating the material points of
his speech on the preceding day ; the result of the whole
was said to be, that the dominions of the nabob of Oude
were utterly ruined by Mr. Hastings. . •
On the following day, June 11., being the one hundred
and forty-fifth day, Mr. Burke recapitulated what he had
said oh the preceding day, and then went into a very strong

1.7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 50$
and pointed attack upon the testimony and conduct of Sir
Elijah Impey, a member of the House of Commons, and
upon the several gentlemen who had been employed in
Oude. He went through the Begum charge in part ; con
tended that it was impossible she should have been in the
rebellion in the year 1781 ; that the whole was a story in
vented by Mr. Hastings as a plea for seizing her treasures ;
and offered as a proof of it, that the directors had sent
the most positive orders for instituting a particular inquiry
into the truth of the accusation against the Begum ; which
orders the colleagues of Mr. Hastings would have carried
into execution, had they not been over-ruled by Mr. Hast
ings. This subject occupied Mr. Burke for a considerable
time ; and in the course of this speech he applied so many
strong epithets to Mr. Hastings, that at length the latter
started up, and declared that the directors had sent no
orders for instituting the inquiry mentioned by Mr. Burke,
and that human nature must at last be exhausted by hear
ing such gross falsehoods so often repeated. Mr. Burke
appeared a little confounded ; but recovering himself, said,
he hoped the Court would not permit that wicked wretch,
that scourge of India, that criminal, to insult the House
of Commons. After some time, Mr. Windham said the
-best way would be to read again the orders of the directors
for the inquiry alluded to by Mr. Burke. The letter was
read, and it appeared there were no orders ; the term was
a request.
. On Thursday, June 12., being the one hundred and
forty-sixth day, Mr. Burke took up the remaining part of
the Begum charge, namely, the treatment of the women
and children of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah, and. the
seizure of the treasures of the Begum, the imprisonment .of
her ministers, and loading them with irons, to give secu
rities for large sums, and pay the same, stripping the
effects, clothes, jewels, &c. from the Begum, by which
means the numerous family in the Khord Mahal (inner
palace) which was dependent upon the Begum, wanted the

506 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 1 2.
mere necessaries of life ; and after fruitless supplications
and shrieks of famine, they endeavoured to force their way
out of the palace, and break into the market-place to beg
for bread, but were driven back with blows by the sepoys,
who were armed with bludgeons. Several letters were read,
written by Major Gilpin, Mr. Bristow, and Mr. Middleton,
in order to fix the guilt of these transactions upon the de
fendant. Mr. Burke concluded this charge with an affect
ing appeal to the feelings and the passions of their lordships.
The principal occurrence of the day was an attempt to
comment upon charges, as collateral matter, which had
been abandoned by the House of Commons in a vote on
the 4th 'of February 1791. The lord chancellor checked
this mformal procedure, and signified his opinion, that
what was not insisted upon in charge, could admit of no
comment in reply. Mr. Burke retorted this extraneous
adduction upon the counsel, who had, he contended, also
brought matter irrelevant in their defence. But he desired
to withdraw a few 'minutes with his brother managers.
Mr. Windham attended him out, and Mr. Francis followed.
When they returned, Mr. Burke lamented very feelingly
the hardship of his situation ; but he said he was bound to
believe he heard the judgment of that House, when no one
peer arose to dissent from his lordship, to whose single opi
nion, indeed, great weight was always attached, and to
which he very cheerfully deferred. However, the facts he
alluded to were upon the Journals ; they were in the ma
nagers' record, and in that of the counsel ; and though
abandoned in charge, yet, as assented to by Mr. Hastings,
would remain for ever evidence against him. Mr. Wind
ham then read a variety of papers, and Mr. Burke com
mented at considerable length. The business of Oude was
closed by Mr. Burke's declaration, that he believed that
province to be as much now as heretofore governed by
Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Burke then proceeded nearer home, and having
historically painted the three classes of inhabitants at Ben
gal, he considered what measures Mr. Hastings had taken

1 794- J SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 507
to augment the wealth, secure the territories, and moderate
the government of the Mahomedans, the landholders, and
the Company's servants. Mr. Burke, after a few more ob
servations on Oude, said he had some new matter to offer
to their lordships on the next day they would honour him
with an hearing.
Saturday, June 14., being the one hundred and forty-
seventh day, Mr. Burke began this day's summing up
with the latter part of the sixth article of impeachment,
and the whole of the seventh, which relate entirely to the
peculations, frauds, and embezzlements charged to have
been committed by the defendant in the extensive pro
vinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orixa. He said, that Mr.
Hastings had despoiled the nabob of Bengal, like an an
tient knight, of all his armour — his helmet — his hawbeck
— and at last cut off his spurs — that he afterwards restored
him to all his privileges, for the purpose of again bringing
into power that infamous, corrupting, and corrupted pro
stitute Munny Begum ; that he made her chief justice, and
the country was again given up to murderers and robbers
— that he set up the country gentlemen to auction, and
put his own domestics in possession of the estates of the
nobles of the country.
Having dwelt for a considerable time on these points,
he passed to the seventh article, respecting the collection
of the revenues of the above provinces, which were granted
to the Company in 1 765, by Shaw Alum, the Great Mo
gul ; in animadverting on which, Mr. Burke alternately
soared into the heights of sublimity, and frequently sunk
much below mediocrity. A proof of the latter was the-
comparison of Mr. Hastings with the keeper of a pig-stye
wallowing in filth and corruption. Speaking of Mr. Hast
ings's promise on his appointment to extirpate the system
of corruption in India, he said, on the contrary he had
opened its flood-gates more widely, and in such a manner
as to preclude all possibility of a reform :

J08 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 14-

" Like Sin and Death,

Who op'd the gates of Hell, the which to shut
Excell'd their power !"
Of Mr. Hastings's disobedience to the Company's orders,
Mr. Burke said, it rose with an elastic spring in propor
tion to the pressure upon it. His principal object this day
was to criminate Mr. Hastings on account of the appoint
ment of the Begums, and the conduct of Sir John D'Oyley.
He stated that Sir John D'Oyley had sent no accounts to
Calcutta of the expences of the nabob, and that he had
refused to answer questions in the committee of secrecy,
because the answers might tend to criminate himself. He
charged the governor-general with having set up the public
appointments to sale. He made some very sarcastic similes
as to the connection between Mr. Hastings and the Be
gums, quoting Dean Swift's Progress of Love as applicable
on the occasion. The humour touching the Munny Be
gum flowed something in this way : " Age has its comforts
— the consolations of debility and ugliness may be found
in brandy. The old lady had therein a monopoly. She
was a great dealer in the article. But mark the transition
— a youth of sentiment and love; an old age reposing
upon the brandy-cask." He then ironically adverted to
the perverse passions of great men for strumpets. " Antony
had his Cleopatra, and Mr. Hastings his Munny Begum.
It might be so ; for aged, shrivelled, bony deformity had
its relish for some palates : but, good God ! no man ever
fell in love with his own banyan !"
Mr. Burke exerted all his severity upon the shameful
practice of sending out youth to repair the honours 'of
shattered nobility here, by the plunder of the East. To
the general remark, that we should hate the crime but love
the criminal," he replied, " it was a false and pernicious
maxim. Some vices were their own punishment ; the evils
of ambition but few could imitate ; but those of peculation
were open to the million. O, but we should punish the
crime and pity the criminal ! What, am I to love Nero ?

»7940 speeches in westminster-hall; 509
Is Caligula to have my cordial esteem ? Am I to take
Domitian to my bosom ? No ; I hate both the criminal
and the crime, and it is virtue to do so."
Mr. Burke next went very slightly through the contracts ;
the abolition of the provincial councils and Gunga Govind
Sing — he then went back to Oude, and came back again
to Bengal, to what he called the bribe of the entertainment
— that is, the sum of two thousand rupees a day, paid to
Mr. Hastings while he was at Moorshedebad in 1772.
Mr. Burke then said, that if the lords would attend him
one hour on Monday, he would finally close; upon which
the court adjourned to
Monday, June 16. being the one hundred and forty-
eighth day. Mr. Burke began by an illusion to a speech
of one of the counsel, whom he accused of taking im
proper liberties, and he then mentioned an epigram,, of
which the same gentleman was the supposed author. As
it is in proof, that the sum of two thousand rupees a day
received by Mr. Hastings in 1772 was for entertainment,
agreeably to established custom, and not a bribe, as charged
by the late House for an appointment to office, Mr. Burke
took up a new ground. He affirmed that_ the covenants
were made precisely to prevent this sort of abuse. Mr.
Burke then returned to Nobkissen's present, which he af
firmed to be worse than any act of Verres, and apphed the
epithets rogue, common cheat, swindler, to Mr. Hastings,
for having taken that present for the Company.
Mr. Burke next came to Lord Cornwallis's evidence,
which he insisted proved Bengal to be ruined. He then
read the 39th section of the act of the 24th of his present
majesty, to prove the oppressions of Mr. Hastings. The
act of parliament, he said, had declared the oppressions
and the oppressor; and addressing himself to the lords,, he
Baid,' " You must repeal this act of parfiament, you must
declare the legislature a liar, before you can acquit Warren
Hastings." Mr. Burke then said, that Mr. Hastings had. pleaded

510 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. [June 1 6.
his merits, which was no answer to a criminal charge, but
in fact, every act which he stated to be meritorious, had
been condemned by a former parliament; Mr. Dundas
having moved forty-five resolutions, each of which con
demned some act done by Mr. Hastings. Every one of
those acts, said Mr. Burke, not excepting one of them, were
all censured by the House of Commons. Mr. Hastings
admitted this statement to be true, and told the House of
Commons he did so ; at the same time that he complained
of the cruel injuries he suffered by that body having cen
sured and prosecuted him in one character, for acts which
in another they had very fully approved, and of which
they continued to enjoy all the benefit. Mr. Burke next
affirmed, that Mr. Hastings was the author of the Mahratta
war, and that he concluded it by a dishonourable peace.
After dwellingwith considerable energy for a long time on
the charges in the gross and in detached parts, he, at last,
said he was come to his conclusion ; but before he quitted
the box, he should beseech their lordships' attention for a
few moments. Mr. Burke then made a solemn pause, and
gave his peroration, the beauty, energy, and simplicity of
which was never exceeded, if indeed equalled. We can only
givp « faint, idea. « My lords," said he, " the Commons
wait the issue of this cause with trembling solicitude.
Twenty-two years- have they been employed in it, seven of
which have passed in this trial. They behold the dearest
interests of their country deeply involved in it — they feel
that the very existence of this constitution depends upon
it. Your lordships' justice stands pre-eminent in the world,
but it stands amidst a vast heap of ruins, which surrounds
it in every corner of Europe. If you slacken justice, and
thereby weaken the bands of society, the well-tempered
authority of this court, which I trust in God will continue to
the end of time, must receive a fatal wound, that no balm
cancure, no time can restore."
Here Mr. Burke entered into a comparison between the
dignity and justice of the high court and the late parliament
of Paris, the death-blow to which was given by Mirabeau.
16

J7940 SPEECHES IN WESTMINSTER-HALL. 51 1
He next alluded to the miserable state of France at the
present moment — to the murder of the best of kings and
the most glorious of queens, and to the destruction of the
parliament of Paris, a court almost as dignified as that
which he was then addressing, and uniformly pure in its
legal decisions ; and, after praying that Heaven would avert
from us the miseries that had desolated France, he said,
that if it should be their lordships' lot to submit to the axe
of the guillotine, on any future and dreadful convulsion,
their last hours would be more tranquil from a reflection,
that in the great cause before them they had decided by
the rules of equity and justice. But, deprecating such a
dreadful event, he hoped the noble fabric of this constitu
tion would long stand unimpaired in reputation as well as
in strength ; and at the same time that it operated as a
terror to tyrants, that it would always afford protection to
injured and oppressed nations.
Mr. Burke then concluded his elaborate speech. " My
lords," said he, " it is not the criminality of the prisoner
— it is not the claims of the Commons to demand judg
ment to be passed upon him — it is not the honour and
dignity of this court, and the welfare of millions of the hu
man race, that alone call upon you : — when the devouring
flames shall have destroyed this perishable globe, and it sinks
into the abyss, of nature, from whence it was commanded
into existence by the Great Author of it — then, my lords,
when all nature, kings and judges themselves, must answer
for their actions, there will be found what supersedes cre
ation itself, namely, Eternal Justice. It was the attri
bute of the Great God of Nature before worlds were ; it
will reside with him when they perish ; and the earthly
portion of it committed to your care, is now solemnly de
posited in your hands by the Commons of England.
My lords, I have done."

THE END.

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