system of deception and delusion, and he would venture to pronounce it a " bed of justice," where justice would for ever fleep. On the motion of commitment, the numbers were ayes 276, noes 61 ; and it was carried in triumph to the house of peers, where, after an opposition vigorous in point of exertion, but feeble in regard of numbers, the bill paffed August 9, 1784. It was accompanied by a protest, in which it was severely branded as a measure ineffectual in its provisions, unjust in its inquisitorial spirit, and unconstitutional in its partial abolition of the trial by jury.

Amongst those who had chiefly diftinguished themselves in the investigation of Indian affairs, and whose indignation had been most strongly awakened at the difcovery of the enormous oppreffion exercised in those diftant regions, was Mr. Burke. Agreeably, indeed, to the general cast of his character and genius, Mr. Burke's acuteness of research, and that extensive knowledge of the fubject which he had acquired by long and indefatigable attention, was obscured and rendered in a great measure useless, and even pernicicus, by the violence of his paffions, and the obstinacy of his prejudices. Not satisfied with exhibiting facts sufficiently atrocious in their own nature in the fimple garb of truth, Mr. Burke was eager upon all occafions to impress the public mind, and heighten the general effect, by all the arts of rhetorical amplification and embellishment. So little of philofophy, however, entered into the oratory of this famous speaker, that the effect produced upon the public mind was directly oppofite to that which he himself expected and intended. Amidst the blaze of declamation, and the thunders of invective, the ingenuous enquirer after TRUTH found it infuperably difficult to ascertain with precision those points on which the charge of criminality rested. To the most careless observer, it was apparent that in numerous instances facts were distorted and disguised; that

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the most invidious construction was invariably annexed even to the most indifferent actions; that every thing was seen through the medium of false and artificial colorings; that the dignified candor which gives weight to an accufation was wholly wanting. His calmness was settled rancor; his warmth the phrenfy of rage and revenge. Mr. Burke had long singled out Mr. Hastings, late governor general of India, as the object of his most furious attacks; but from the circumstances now enumerated, the feelings of the public were in a confiderable degree excited in his favor. Added to this, the successes of the late war in India, contrasted with the defeats and disasters fustained by the nation in all other parts of the globe, caft a certain splendor around the character of Mr. Hastings, who had acquired the popular appellation of the saviour of India, while to appreciate the real merits of his long and eventful administration required a sagacity and diligence of research for which the inclination and ability were, to speak in general terms, equally wanting. Mr. Burke had also entirely loft the degree of credit which he once poffefsed with the public, by standing forward as the avowed advocate and champion of the detested coalition, of which he was indeed more than suspected to have been the original projector, although the bitterness of his former invectives against the late minister lord North could not be exceeded by his most virulent effusions against the more recent object of his intemperate abuse, Mr. Hastings. In a word, Mr. Burke appeared in the view of the public at this period, as a man of talents indeed, but totally deftitute of judgment, and even of principle; who, actuated by pride, spleen, ambition, affected to affume the elevated character of a CICERO, dragging a delinquent of the first magnitude-a VERRES, to public justice: while Mr. Hastings, on the other hand, was regarded as a man deserving highly of his country, and

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who had from secret and finister motives become the unfortunate object of an unjust and iniquitous persecution.

Early in July, the minifter, Mr. Pitt, acquainted the house with the arrival of fir Elijah Impey, chief judge of the fupreme court of judicature at Bengal, who had been recalled by the king, in conformity to an address of that house. Mr. Burke upon this remarked, that the resolutions upon the subject were originally moved and seconded by fir Adam Ferguson and general Smith, who were not members of the present parliament. The charge against the delinquent in question having already received the fanction of that house, it might be proper to proceed against him by impeachment. For his own part, however, he totally declined taking the lead in this business. What hope could he, a folitary and unaffisted individual, entertain of success, when the nobleman now prefiding in the house of peers had expressly declared, in relation to the reports in which the proceedings originated, that he regarded them no more than the romance of Robinson Crufoe? He therefore earnestly recommended it to the chancellor of the exchequer, as the chief conductor and representative of the executive government, to enforce the resolutions of that house relating to fir Elijah Impey. But Mr. Pitt totally, and in the most unequivocal terms declined any concern in the affair. This was not the only indication of a fixed determination in the present ministry to discountenance all judicial investigation of the antecedent transactions in India.

On the 28th of July, Mr. Burke moved, that the house should refolve itself into a committee, to enquire into the facts stated in the different reports relative to India. He afferted, that his character was at stake. If, as had been suggested, the reports were mere fables, they were indeed calumnies of the most bold and unprincipled nature, and he himself was an infamous calumniator. The two fets of reports originating from the different committees acknowledged knowledged as their parents Mr. Dundas and himself. The right honorable gentleman had indeed seen the drawn scymitar lifted up to divide and destroy his offspring without discovering any symptom of emotion. But the spectacle was too horrid for his feelings. He wished to intercept the arm of the executioner, and to receive the bloody and flagitious stroke in his own person : " Adfum qui feci," exclaimed the orator, " in me convertite ferrum!" In contempt of this flight of eloquence, Mr. Dundas coolly moved the order of the day.

Disappointed in this attempt, Mr. Burke two days afterwards brought forward a feries of resolutions, intended as a foundation for an enquiry into the conduct of Mr. Hastings. On this Mr. Pitt rose, and asked, "how that house, as a house of parliament, knew as a fact the transactions on which Mr. Burke grounded his motions? If the motions passed, from what office were the papers expected to proceed? To relieve the house from these embarrafsments, he said, he should move the order of the day." 'This second interruption was more than the patience of Mr. Burke could endure. He affirmed the insensibility of government to the foul enormities lately perpetrated, and still perpetrating, by our countrymen in the east, to be truly shocking. He deprecated the day that the knowledge of them had come to his mind. The miferable objects it exhibited, nations extirpated, provinces defolated, cities and countries overwhelmed in one mass of deftruction, constantly dwelt on his imagination. The cries of the native Indians were never out of his ears; an impreffion of horror had feized on his mind, which deprived him of fleep, and night and day preyed upon his peace. The reality of the facts stated in the reports had been impeached. Why then would not the men who denied them stand forward and support their allegations? Oh! what, faid this impaffioned orator, would I not give to find the scenes of horror there described nothing more than a fiction! fiction! To me it would be a discovery more precious and grateful than the discovery of a new world. He declared, that he wished it for the honor of humanity, from sympathy to millions of fuffering and helpless individuals, from an anxious defire to retrieve the honor of the house, and of the country at large, from infamy and execration. He conjured Mr. Pitt to reflect with seriousness on this business. The voice of India cried aloud for justice. He was at a lofs, he said, how to account for the callous insensibility of the minister, at a time of life when all the generous feelings of our nature are most lively and fufceptible; and proceeding in reflections very pointed and perfonal, he was loudly called to order; and still persevering in his exclamations and reproaches, was at length compelled to fit down, amidst the universal clamor and tumult of the house.

On the dismission of this unwelcome business, the ate tention of the house was immediately transferred to a bill introduced by the minister, for the more effectual-prevention of the practice of smuggling, which had of late years arisen to a most alarming height. This bill contained various prudential, but somewhat severe regulati

The distance from shore at which seizures should in future be deemed lawful, was extended, and the constructing of vessels of a certain form and dimension peculiarly calculated for contraband purposes prohibited. But by far the most extraordinary part of the present plan was the reduction of the duties paid by the East India company on the importation of TEA, which was affirmed to be the grand medium of the smuggling traffic; and the consequent imposition of a new duty on windows, already most grievously burdened, to the amount of the deficiency, estimated at no less than fix hundred thousand pounds per annum. This was styled by the minifter a commutation tax; and the equity of it was defended on the general and vague idea that teas being an article of universal confumption,