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cufations. Mr. Fox immediately rofe, and faid, that, on a fubject which concerned his honour and his character, he would not hesitate a moment to offer himself again to the house, though he had already fpoken more than once in the courie of the debate. He would firft premife, that at no period had any offers been made to him, either by Mr. Haftings or his agents, in order to bring about an accommodation, for if there had, he would inftantly have treated them with the most abfolute and peremptory refusal. At the fame time he would affert upon his honour, that no propofal whatever was made to Mr. Haltings or his friends with either his knowledge or concurrence, and he was well affured that no fuch propofal had ever come from any of his colleagues. Indeed it frequently happened, that during the confultations that he held on the fubject of his India bill, it had been intimated to him that it would be better to drop all proceedings against Mr. Haflings, as being a powerful enemy; but he would never confent to listen to any advances of this nature.

Mr. Sheridan, the perfon principally concerned in the tranfaction to which major Scott had alluded, entered into no explanation of the matter on that day, but immediately had an interview with the perfon who had gone from him to major Scott. In order to make him felf more clearly, understood, it would be neceffary for him to ftate a little of fome opinions, which he had hitherto ever referved within his own mind. With regard to India affairs, he had thought that there were but two kinds of conduct to be pursued. The one was to recall Mr. Haftings inftantly by the strong arm of parliament, and

punish him exemplarily; the other to bring in an India bill, in which, on grounds of expediency, on account of the times not bearing fo ftrong a measure, and from the difference of opinion which prevailed upon the fubject, no retrospect : fhould be had, but all the claufes fhould look to the future. With thefe. fentiments, when the. India: bill of Mr. Fox was preparing, and while he was fecretary to the treafury, he had commiffioned a ⠀ friend to go to major Scott, to know whether Mr. Haflings would come home, if recalled by administration. In the courfe of the converfation which he had had with his friend, the intended India bill was certainly mentioned, but without the moft diftant idea of conveying to the major a propofition upon the fubject. Major Scott admitted the truth of this reprefentation, and thanked Mr. Sheridan for the fairnefs with which he stated the tranfaction. He had laboured under a mistake ever fince the converfation: had paffed, but from the authority? of the gentleman who had been the medium upon this occafion, he was now bound to acknowledge, that there had been in the affair no idea. of a compromife.

In the interval between the dif ferent debates upon the Dehli papers, the preliminaries of the in tended impeachment were not delayed. On Thursday the ninth of March it was moved by Mr. Francis, in the absence of Mr. Burke, that a certain felection of the papers which had been laid upon the table fhould be printed. Mr. Francis having at the fame time fuggefted to major Scott the expediency of a fimilar felection being made in favour of Mr. Hadings, the major moved that all the papers fhould be printed without difcrimination.

He

they received an account of it, to the month of October 1783. Mr. Sheridan obferved, that major Scott was well aware, that the answer to his motion would prove a non eft inventus, and that it might perhaps tend to demonftrate, how unfit the directors were for their stations, but was in no degree calculated to exculpate Mr. Haflings. But motions from different fides of the house were fated to receive a very different encouragement.

"He was forry to involve the public in fo confiderable an expence; but he felt it impoffible to make a felection, and he conceived, that there was not one of the documents, which would not contribute to justify and illuftrate the merit of the conduct of Mr. Haftings. Four days after this motion, Mr. Francis moved, that, with a view to the fubject of the impeachment, to the difcution of Mr. Dundas's India bill, and the examination of the great measure of the intended finking fund, the house should be called over on that day three weeks. · Major Scott hoped, that upon this occafion fome affurance would be given by Mr. Burke of his bringing forward his impeachment near the time of the propofed call. Mr. Burke replied, that the going through a period of thirteen years, collecting the facts relative to the fubject during that time, and arranging them in the form of a charge, was a matter of no eafy accomplishment. The period however that he would name for this bufinefs was the day of the call. He would then move, that the houfe fhould refolve itfelf into a committee on the papers which had been produced in relation to the go-vernment of Mr. Haftings, and he would fubmit to them what he had collected from verbal teftimony upon the fubject. The next day he gave in a lift of the perfons, for whofe attendance he fhould move at the bar of the house. On the twenty-fourth of March, major Scort made a motion for papers which he had long promifed. The chief object of this motion was to prove, that the directors had given no orders, and pronounced no cenfure in regard to Mr. Haltings's treatment of the raja of Benares, from the month of May 1779, when

On the third of April, in pur fuance of the notice which had been given, the house refolved itfelf into a committee, having previously referred to that committée the reports of the fecret and felect committees, and the other papers which had been laid upon the table, in relation to Mr. Haflings. Mr. Burke immediately moved for the introduction of the witnefles, who had been ordered to attend the houfe on that day, and obferved, that it was his intention to examine them, for e purpofe of authenti caring certain papers, which were already in his poffeffion, relative to the tranfactions of Oude with regard to the treatment of the royal family, the imprisonment of the mother and grand-mother of the nabob, and the putting other perfons of quality in fetters, with a view to extort fums of money from them. The papers ought to have been at the India houfe. He fhould therefore establish the authenticity of thefe papers by oral evidence, as well for the fake of enabling him to lay them on the table, as of proving, that the governor-general had withheld fuch papers of importance from his employers at home, as it was his unquestionable duty to have communicated.

Sir Lloyd Kenyon, mafter of the rolls, oppofed the motion of Mr. L 3

Burke,

Burke. He was not much acquainted with the forms of proceeding of that houfe in criminal matters; but he well knew, that it was the practice of the grand in quest of every county, when a criminal profecution was brought be fore them, to hear a specific charge firit, and then go into the evidence, in order to the finding a bill of indictment. He fhould fuppofe, that fomething analogous to this practice did, or ought to obtain in refpect of criminal profecutions car ried on by the houte. He warned them to proceed with the most deliberate and impartial circumfpection, when the bufinefs was in the hands of a perfon of to great and acknowledged abilities, and when the whole power and weight of parliament were about to be brought to prefs upon an individual. As the perfon who conducted the profecution was known to poffefs as much candour as any man living, to that he should venture to appeal, whether it would not be fair in refpect to the fuppofed delinquent, that the charge hould in fome fort at least be fpecified. He had fully expected, when he came down to the houfe, to have heard Mr. Burke ftate the charges which he meant to bring forward, that he and others might be enabled to judge how far the parole evidence to be produced at the bar, bore upon the charge, as well as whether the charge was of a criminal nature, and fuch as it because the dignity and juftice of that houfe to entertain. The fuggeftions of fir Lloyd Keynon were fupported by the folicitor-general, the lord advocate of Scotland, and

Mr. Nichols.

Mr. Burke anfwered, that fo much did he admire and refpect wifdom, that he would bow even to late wifdom. But furely, if

learned gentlemen of great weight and authority, becaufe at the head of their profeffion, instead of coming down fo late in the progrefs of the proceeding, in order to fet the houfe right, and guide their steps in the bufinefs, had been fo good as to have let them have the benefit of their fuperior legal knowledge a little earlier, their conduct would have been more kind, and their behaviour more friendly to the house, and to him. Sir Lloyd Kenyon had talked of the weight of that houfe being employed to crush an individual. He might reft aflured, that neither would that houfe fuffer its weight to be used in the unjust preffure of an individual, ner would he attempt to employ it for any fuch purpofe. But in truth, the weight of the houfe in the profecution of an Eaft Indian delinquent, was not to be confidered as of fo dreadful a nature. The loins of the houfe upon a criminal, weighed not fo much as the little finger of the law, nor was it fo likely to crufh him to the earth. For himself, he intended, through the whole of the proceeding, to fhew himfelf as open as poffible, more fo than perhaps was well for the part which he had undertaken. With this view he had, in the very outfet of the bufirefs, laid down the grounds of fact in a general manner, upon which he was induced to prefume guilt of a great and enormous nature in the government of India, and, upon the hearing of which, the house had not ventured, except in one or two inftances, to refufe him the papers for which he asked. In compliment to fir Lloyd Kenyon, Mr. Burke would again read the fummary of the principal facts in re fpect of the conduct of the British in the province of Oude, to which

he meant folely to confine himself in his firft enquiry. Mr. Burke concluded with enumerating the different fteps which had already been taken in the bufinefs. The papers for which he had called, were many of them granted. He had then moved for a committee of the whole houfe, for the purpofe of hearing certain witneffes. The witneffes had been ordered to attend, and they were at this moment in a committee, with a view to the calling in and examining them. Any thing therefore which the master of the rolls had to fuggeft against the form and order of their proceedings, muft amount to a cenfure of that houfe; and he warned them to be careful of their own honour, and by no means to appear defirous of restraining evidence, or preventing full information upon the fubje&.

Sir Lloyd Kenyon exprefsly difclaimed the idea, that himself and the gentlemen of the law had been brought down upon that day for the purpose of preventing the witneffes from being examined. On the contrary he proteited, that he had come with the expectation to have heard the charges ftated by Mr. Burke. The production of thefe charges, he trufted, would in fome measures coureract the exhibition of infinuations and libels, upon which it had been usual for the courts of law feverely to animadvert in fimilar cafes. Sir L'ovd Keynon particularly alluded to a pamphlet, containing a letter of Mr. Haftings, upon the subject of money privately received, and which he had carried to the account of the company, for the purpole of paying hitelf certain arrears, which he confidered as due to him. This letter was accompanied with many fevere and acrimonious remarks,

and had been fent_anonymously to many members of that houfe. The pamphlet was given by rumour to Mr. Francis, and it was treated by major Scott with the ftrongest epithets of iniquity and infamy. The fpeaker of the houfe of commons upon this occafion, fupported the motion of the mafter of the rolls, and declared, that he did not think the committee competent to the hearing of evidence. The queflion however was not tamely given up by oppofition; and the examination of the witneffes was farther urged by fir Grey Cooper, Mr. Welbore Ellis, and Mr. Fox. Mr. Sheridan ob ferved in reply to the ipeaker, that, if the committee were rightly to adhere to forms, they had it not in their power to receive any charge, though it were actually exhibited; and in confirmation of this opinion he defired that the order for the houfe to go into a committee might be read. The idea of Mr. Sheridan appears in fome measure to have been admitted, fince, the queftion for the hearing of witnettes having been carried in the negative, Mr. Burke the next day laid his charges upon the table of the houfe, when the fpeaker was in the chair.

The charges, which Mr. Burke exhibited in the courfe of the month of April, amounted to twenty-one; and a farther additional one, the compofition of Mr. Francis, was laid upon the table on the fifth of May. We will here ftate as briefly as poflible, the principal fubject of each of thefe charges. The fit of them related to the war that had been carried on against the Rohillas. The fcond, to the province, of Cora and Allahabad, which had been conferred on the Mogul by lord Clive, and the revenues of which had been detained, when that prince withdrew to his L 4 capital

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capital of Dehli, and put himself under the protection of the Marattas. The third treated of the extraordinary aid which had been demanded on account of the war from the raja of Benares, the fine which had been impofed upon him for refractorinefs, and his confequent expulfion from his dominions. The fourth related to the confinement of the princeffes of Oude, the imprisoning and fettering their fervants with a view to extort money the direfles which were experienced by their families, and their compulfory refignation of their jaghires or appanages. The fifth regarded the treatment of the raja of Farruckabad. The fixth, of the raja of Sahlone. The feventh, the tenth, the eleventh, and the twelfth, treated of certain extravagant contracts into which Mr. Haftings had entered on the part of the company; and the enormous falaries which he had bestowed upon fir Eyre Coote, and upon certain boards of his own inftitution. The eighth treated of money privately received, and of illegal prefents. The ninth regarded the authority which Mr. Haflings had given to certain perfons in England, to refign the government in his name; and the refufal he had given in India, to fubmit to the confequent appointment of his fucceffor. The thirteenth refpected certain embaffies to the nabob of Arcot, and the fuba of the Decan. The fourteenth related to the defertion of the rana of Gohud, in the conclufon of the Maratta peace. The fteenth to the unœconomical and arbitrary management of the reve. Dues of Bengal. The fixteenth charged upon Mr. Haftings the declention and ruin of the province of Oude. The feventeenth regarded a certain native called Ma.

homed Reza Khan, who had for a long time been intrufted with the internal management of Bengal and was difplaced by Mr. Haftings. The eighteenth accufed Mr. Haftings of having, at a recent pe riod, delivered up the Mogul into the hands of the Marattas. The nineteenth charged him with libeling the court of directors. The twentieth related to the guilt of occafioning the Maratta war, and the ill faith that had attended the conclufion of the Maratta peace. The twenty-first regarded fuppreffion of correspondence: and the twentyfecond related to the treatment of Fizulla Khan.

On the twenty-fixth of April a petition was prefented from Mr. Hattings, requefting to be allowed a copy of the articles which had been exhibited, and to be heard in his defence in reply to the charges they contained. The demand to be heard was readily conceded on the part of oppofition, but they objected to the granting a copy of the charges, as a thing contrary to the practice of the houfe. The objection was over-ruled by the friends of adminiftration. Upon this occafion Mr. Martin revived his favourite idea of an impeachment of lord North, and recommended the conduct of it to Mr. Burke. The repetition of this fubje

in this defultory way, was cenfured with ferioufuefs, by both the parties to whom the allusion was made. We mention it in this place merely as it led Mr. Burke to relate to the house, that he had once drawn up feven diftinct articles of impeachment against that nobleman. The marquis of Rockingham had indeed advifed him to abandon the idea, and had taken from him the papers; and he had fince endeavoured to find them, but

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