had been poisoned at the time of the in- to baffle and confound the highest authoquiry into the conduct of lord Clive; rity of the state which was now called when it seemed to be laid down as a fun- forth against him; and to prove that it damental maxim, that in the administra- was possible for a subject of this country tion of public affairs, no sort of weight to create a degree of influence for himself ought to be given to the calls of con- which should protect him, not only from science or of honour, and that morality punishment, but even from inquiry. The and good policy were totally incompatible greatness of Mr. Hastings was of a pecuwith each other. The charges against liar nature, and might be collected from Mr. Hastings were of a very serious and that extraordinary composition that was alarming nature, and such as the justice called his defence, in which his true chaof the country was loudly called upon to racter was pourtrayed in as precise a bring to the strictest trial. He should manner as the British language could not then pretend to say whether he, in admit it into description. In that defence fact, thought Mr. Hastings guilty of the he had fully and clearly detailed to the crimes imputed to him; he sincerely House the system and principles by which hoped he might finally be acquitted of his government had been conducted. them all but he was fully convinced That system and those principles were that the charges were of sufficient force, such as he by no means approved of, and and the ex parte evidence produced in such as naturally must have led Mr. support of them sufficiently clear, to make Hastings into measures similar to those it indispensably necessary for that House, which were then the objects of inquiry. in discharge of its duty, as the grand in- He had justified his conduct rather by its quest of the nation, to send the inquiry to necessity than its propriety, and made a tribunal in which the evidence on the notable use of the court of directors. Mr. other side might also be examined, and a Hardinge pointed out three several uses just and proper result might follow. This which Mr. Hastings made of the court, was not only due to the public, but to the and to which he desired the particular two gentlemen principally concerned-as attention of the House. As one of these well to Mr. Hastings, as to the right hon. uses, Mr. Hastings had attempted to show gentleman who had instituted the pro- that the censures of the East India Comceeding. And he hoped that the House pany were the only punishment which he would take care that they should leave no ought to expect, and that their approbaroom for a suspicion that they intended tion was a full and complete acquittal. to screen a public delinquent from trial, He had also put in a plea, which from which would be the only interpretation the beginning he feared would be relied that could be put upon their giving a ne- upon, and which on a former occasion he gative to the question. Such a conduct had deprecated-the plea of a set-off. as this would affix a stigma,. not only on His merits, whatever they might have that House, but on the country at large; been, would certainly be very proper a stigma that would cling to the nation grounds for the Crown to proceed upon like a poisoned shirt, defiling and polluting in extending its mercy to him in case of its reputation, not merely for the present conviction; but by no means a ground moment, but when the divisions of the for acquittal on his trial, much less of denow existing parties should have been clining to find the charge against him in buried in oblivion, and that would de- order to the instituting a prosecution. scend as a legacy to our remotest posterity. He ridiculed the idea of Mr. Hastings Mr. Hastings had already shewn himself laying any stress on the recommendation too great for his masters, the court of of him to his Majesty by Madagee directors; he had shewn himself too great Scindia, a person with whose character for his Majesty's ministers (and, by-the- he was well acquainted, and whom he bye, he could not reflect upon the cir knew to be a man of such principles as cumstances of that triumph, without ex-rendered his good opinion of no manner pressing the most marked reprobation of the conduct which the noble Lord in the blue ribbon observed on the occasion of it), and he had even been great enough to resist, with success, the censure of that House: but he hoped, great as he was, he would not be found powerful enough [VOL. XXVI. ]

of consequence. Mr. Hardinge now entered more particularly into the charge then before the House. He went over the subject of guaranteeship, in which, he said, he perfectly coincided with Mr. Taylor. He instanced several treaties in the East Indies to which the Company [E]

were guarantees, which were not done by believed them to be two of the most incorsimple signature and attestation, but in ruptible men that were ever entrusted by the ordinary way, by making the guaran- their country in high stations. They were tees a party to the treaty; and another men who carried from England to India treaty to which the Company in the per- characters unimpeached, and they were son of one of their servants had given their men to whom their residence in India had signature, to which treaty they were not brought an accession of fame, by the disheld either by themselves or the parties to play which it had given of their integrity be guarantees. This plainly proved that a and independence. These gentlemen, as simple signature was not sufficient to well as himself, went forth to India, not create guaranteeship. He enlarged on the only well disposed to Mr. Hastings, but Rohilla war itself, and observed, that a actuated by high reverence for his abinoble lord (Mulgrave) had taken a very litics. So far from having previously decurious mode indeed. of debating that signed and settled the opposition which question; for he had avowed that he would they afterwards gave to his measures, confine himself solely to the necessity of they went forth with confidence in the that measure, and assume the justice of it. virtue and good intentions of Mr. HastThis was a very broad assumption indeed, ings, that he would cheerfully co-operate and for his part, he should take a very with them in establishing the new constidifferent course; for he would leave en- tution which they carried out. It was a tirely out of the question the necessity, fact which came within the knowledge of and would prove the injustice of it. He several persons in this country, that in concluded with saying, that although the order to conciliate the mind of Mr. Hastex parte evidence before the House was ings to the new government, and to show such as made it absolutely necessary for that it was not their wish to institute a them (unless they meant to screen a captious opposition to his measures, sir J. servant of the public from inquiry, not- Clavering asked in the closet for some. withstanding the amplest grounds of sus- mark of his Majesty's favour to carry out picion) to find the article; yet he was not to Mr. Hastings, that he might know and without hopes, that Mr. Hastings would feel that in abridging the power of the on his trial be able to produce such evi- governor-in-chief, there was nothing perdence on the other side, as should pro- sonal against Mr. Hastings. There was cure his honourable acquittal. no jealousy nor enmity in the breasts of sir J. Clrvering, or of col. Monson, arising either from ambition, or from rivalship. They did not look forward to the recall of Mr. Hastings as the means of their own aggrandizement. And if they did not covet the situation of Mr. Hastings; if they were not within its reach, how much farther was he from the possibility of reaching it if he had the ambition; and how far therefore must he have been from opposing Mr. Hastings on that ground, if he was possessed either of common sense or of reason! It was not the effect of preconcert; it was not original ill-will, or enmity; it was not previous bad opinion; but it was the observation and scrutiny of the measures of Mr. Hastings which determined general Clavering, col. Monson, and himself, to oppose the sanguinary system. Concerning the motives of his right hon. friend who had brought forward the present charges, he might speak with equal confidence. He, surely, could not be moved by ambition or rivalship; he could have no desire to fill the station of Mr. Hastings, nor any personal reason to oppose his government. As it was im

Mr. Fox rose; but there being a general cry of "Adjourn!" he said, he thought the cry a very proper one, and such as he should willingly give way to, as he had much rather say what he wished to offer to the House. another day than then, and the more especially as he could not promise to be very short.

The House accordingly adjourned.

June 2. The House having again resolved itself into the Committee, Mr. St. John in the chair, the adjourned debate was resumed.

Mr. Francis adverted to the insidious surmises thrown out touching the improper motives of the most strenuous opponents of Mr. Hastings; he enumerated those persons who had chiefly distinguished themselves by such opposition. Sir J. Clavering and col. Monson were gentlemen whose characters, he was convinced, stood as high in the opinion of all men, as it was possible for their best and dearest friends to desire them to stand. He meant not to describe them in terms of highflown panegyric, but in plain English; he

him in every one of the charges he had brought, but through the whole of his residence in India he had opposed the measures now adduced as matter of accusation against that gentleman. He desired therefore to be considered as implicated in the question, and that his honour and opinions were at stake. Nor were his only; the opinions and honour of his lamented friends and colleagues, sir John Clavering and col. Monson, were also involved; and gentlemen, in deciding this day on Mr. Hastings, decided upon all.

possible that he could be benefited by the opposition; as it was impossible that he could have any interest in bringing forward the present laborious inquiry, unless the committee admitted that his motive was public justice, the love of humanity, and the detestation of crimes by which millions were doomed to suffer; to what possible source could they trace the present inquiry, and the steady opposition of his right honourable friend? There was but one other source, and that was insanity. With respect to the Rohilla war, he felt it necessary to observe, that Mr. W. W. Grenville said, that this the argument of Mr. Hastings," that the being an adjourned question, he should Rohillas were not a nation," was fallacious take the liberty to animadvert on what in the extreme. They were a people was said the day before by his learned capable of sending 60,000 fighting men friend (Mr. Hardinge), who had imputed into the field. A body capable of doing to a noble lord near him, that he had asthat, merited, in his mind, the name of a sumed the justice, that he might debate people. What must the number of that the policy of the war. With deference people be, who, exclusive of the women, to his learned friend, he must be perof the old men, and of the children, were mitted to say, that it was essential to the capable of sending an army of 60,000 argument on the policy, that the justice into the field? They were a people nu- should be admitted. The justice of the merous and happy, habituated to industry, war was a question to be discussed; but and possessing the comforts of a well-cul- undoubtedly in the discussion of the whole tivated and a prolific country. Such was of the charge respecting the Rohilla war, the people Mr. Hastings made a solemn it was essential to argue simply on the pocontract with Sujah Dowlah to extermi-licy, without reference to the justice. For nate. Contrary to the orders of the Company, contrary to policy, contrary to justice, he employed the arms of the Company in the inhuman office of extirpating this whole race of men. Mr. Francis examined the answer of Mr. Hastings to each of the charges. He denied that the signature of sir R. Barker could be considered as a guarantee, and he averred that ..the whole was no more than a covenant and contract to extirpate the people for forty lacks of rupees. He endeavoured to shew, by passages from the evidence of col. Champion, that the war was conducted with as much inhumanity as the principle on which it was begun; and having urged these things from the evidence of those who had been employed by Mr. Hastings, and who had been examined at the bar, he recalled an expression of his right hon. friend (Mr. Burke), that in the decision of the House on this question there was no middle path. There was no justifying the conduct of Mr. Hastings, and leaving that of his right hon. friend without a stain. If his right hon. friend thought this, how much more must he consider himself involved in the decision, since he not only now most steadily agreed with him, and seconded

his own part, he was ready to avow his opinion, that he thought the war was perfectly just, as well as politic. The Rohillas were situated in the adjacency of the Vizier's dominions, and the Vizier was our barrier against the Mahrattas. It was certainly a matter of policy to strengthen the frontier, and in all questions of war between independent nations, the conqueror would not think himself bound to measure his redress merely by the aggression, or to proportion his gain to the injury he had sustained. The Rohillas refused the payment of 40 lacks of rupees to our ally the Vizier; perhaps strict justice required that no more than these 40 lacks should have been demanded from them; but conquerors think themselves justified in asking for more than the sum of the original injury. Of this principle between independent nations at war, it would be idle to call for instances; it was universally prevalent. In the peace of 1763, we had manifested it, The French were the aggressors; they had made some encroachments on the back of our American settlements; but in the war, Providence having crowned our arms with success, we demanded and procured, on the peace, the surrender of the whole of the

of an European treaty, it had all that the customs and usage of India required. It was needless to enter upon all the extraneous matter which had very improperly been introduced into this question. He considered it as highly improper that on the day when they were arguing on a single article of the voluminous body of charges, the right hon. gentleman should have gone at full length into all the mat

and no less than three-fourths of his long speech the day before had been occupied with the enumeration of matter not applicable to the Rohilla war. In like manner his learned friend had indulged himself, and had again alluded to that great character, lord Clive, to insinuate that general character was not to be set off against particular charges. He said he had found himself fully occupied in making himself completely master of the single charge before the committee, and he thought it highly indecorous that any other matter should be coupled with that article. The result of his very deliberate investigation of this question, was, his conviction of the perfect innocence, and of the merit of Mr. Hastings.

French possessions on the continent of America. The question was not therefore so much about the consequences of the Rohilla war, as about the original justice of it. What was the precise case? Our ally, whose dominions we had by solemn treaty agreed to guarantee, received an aggression. He was injured by a set of people who had it in their power to be his dangerous enemy. They might join with the Mahrattas, and from that moment hister of accusation which he had brought; country was insecure. They owed him a sum, of which they refused him the payment. There was both an aggression and a political alarm. The Vizier had cause, not only for resentment but jealousy; and the English having the same political interest, as well as being bound by treaty, were of course obliged to go with him into the war. The justice and policy of the war went hand in hand; that war was just which originated in an aggression, and that war was political which seemed to strengthen a frontier, to take off a suspicious and ill-disposed neighbour who had it in his power and who betrayed the inclination to favour the views of an avowed enemy. If, therefore, we admitted the justice of the war, we had nothing to do with the conduct of it. It was no more possible to charge Mr. Hastings with the cruelties committed under the auspices of Sujah Dowlah in Rohilcund, than to charge him with the enormities committed by the Mahrattas in the wars in which they were engaged. It was impossible to calculate to what absurdity this doctrine would proceed. Mr. Hastings certainly might, turning the arms of England against his ally Sujah Dowlah, have checked his inhumanities; but he had no other means. Mr. Grenville contended, that the Company were bound to guarantee the treaty between the Rohillas and the Vizier; and as that turned the whole of the question, the fact precisely was, that in the treaty to which sir R. Barker put his signature, the Rohillas would not trust the Vizier, whom they considered as faithless; nor would he trust them; he branded them with every epithet of treachery: and in this mutual distrust the English became the guarantee. The attempts made to explain away the validity of this treaty, and particularly to explain the share which sir Robert Barker had in it, as not pledge ing the Company, were not satisfactory to his mind. The Company, in his opinion, were pledged; and though the thing was not concluded with all the formality

Mr. Hardinge remarked, that he certainly had accused the noble lord with inverting the true order of the discussion in regard to the justice and the policy of the war; for he had assumed the justice, in order to debate on the policy; whereas, in his opinion, it was his first duty to prove the justice, in so far as no war could or ought to be held as political, the foundation of which was not wise. In regard to his mention of lord Clive, whose name by. the-bye he never did mention without profound reverence for his memory, he had done it only to shew that the House had not considered general good character to weigh with them against particular charges.

Mr. Anstruther pronounced it ominous to the government of India, that two members of the new Board of Control should have given an opinion so decidedly for the system which this House had already, oftener than once, and in terms peculiarly strong and pointed, reprobated. He ridiculed the idea of justice, which, with a view to establish this point, the hon. gentleman had broached. There was a tribunal for individuals, but none for nations. Was there, then, no law by which bodies of men acting in a social and political capacity were bound to act