having, in sundry instances, acted in a manner repugnant to the honour and policy of this nation, and thereby brought great calamities on India, and enormous expenses on the East India Company, it is the duty of the directors of the said Company to pursue all legal and effectual means for the removal of the said Governor-general and President from their respective offices, and to recall them to Great Britain."

Mr. Burke now said, that it was not without considerable uneasiness that he discovered that the task of introducing to the attention of the House the solemn and important business of the day was on the point of falling to his lot, when (as all to whom he had the honour of addressing himself would certainly allow) it might have been brought forward, in the plenitude of weight and efficacy, by the right hon. member, (Mr. Dundas) whose propositions were the very basis of the resoJution, the contents of which had only in the preceding moment been recited. A party, of all others, the most interested in the awful progress and ultimate result of any proceedings which might arise, had, with becoming dignity of character, called firmly on him to advance his charges; and so pointed was the nature of his invocation, that it rendered it impossible for him to evade the execution of his duty. Under these circumstances, most feelingly did he lament, that, as the unwelcome consequence of a devolution, caused partly by the natural demise of some, the political decease of others, and, in particular cases, a death to virtue and to principle, he should now remain alone engaged in the attempt to keep the honour and the consistency of the House in their unsullied lustre, to impart vigour to its intentions, and to facilitate and fix the efficacy of a sentence, subsequent to the passing of which a period of four years had actually elapsed. On the present occasion, he trusted that, in common justice, he should not be considered in any other character than as the mere agent of the House, who, at the very time to which he referred, had fixed upon Mr. Hastings as an object of their particularly marked and formal accusations. His province, therefore, was subordinate, confining him within the necessary endeavour to accelerate the accomplishment of a point aimed at most indubitably by the House, and which ought, perhaps, much earlier to have been fulfilled. Whosoever acted under the sanction of the authority of the

House might certainly, without arrogance, assert a claim to its protection, as far at least as the word protection would bear to be interpreted as that candid and honourable construction of a procedure to which all, determined upon the purest and most unassailable adherence to what they deemed a rectitude of conduct, were thoroughly entitled.

For the purpose of rendering the whole House (but more especially its newlyelected members) possessed of a full idea concerning the nature of every preceding vote which bore affinity to the transactions and affairs of India, he must beg the favour of carrying the recollection of those to whom he had the honour of addressing himself to matters of a remoter date; a review, during which, sensible of the impropriety of trespassing too long upon their attention, he should consult as much as possible a brevity in his descriptions. They might remember that, during the course of the year 1764, or, at least, near to that period, the East India Company dispatched lord Clive to their settlements in that quarter, for the purpose of there becoming instrumental to the introduction and establishment of certain principles of government, then regarded as indispensably requisite for preserving, in less precarious security, and amidst the influence of a wiser policy, the territorial possessions of Great Britain. The successes of this noble lord surpassed even the sanguine expectations of those who were inclined to give him credit for achievements of the first importance; and with such astonishing rapidity did the most extensive and rich domains of this almost completely vanquished region become appurtenances to our East India Company, that mankind were left at a loss whether most to wonder at the sudden inundations of prosperity, or the at-once-accumulated riches which marked the brilliancy and vigour of its existence. From this æra did opulence bring forward one of its too customary and baneful effects, by throwing open all the channels of ungovernable corruption. The most enormous abuses were in a moment piled, each upon the other, till every spot of British territories in the East Indies became a shocking theatre of that variety of crimes to which the lust of avarice and ambition so frequently impels the worthless part of human kind. Disgrace became naturally interwoven with the commission of enormities; the honour of Englishmen not only lost its lustre, but

received an ignominious stain; and, whilst the princes of the East considered with detestation the violent and unpardonable measures of the subjects of Great Britain, the states of Europe, with equal indications of abhorrence, adopted and dispersed their sentiments. When lord Clive returned to England, it was deemed absolutely requisite to invest with the presidency of the council at Calcutta, and the governorship of Bengal, some person to whom the principles of government in the East Indies, as arranged and consolidated into a system by the noble peer, were not barely intimately known, but perfectly congenial; and, doubtless, it was for this reason that Mr. Warren Hastings became removed from Madras to the government of Bengal.

In this train, the tendency of which was obvious, affairs proceeded, until the Parliament, grown sensible of the necessity of scrutinizing their merits by the most serious and ample investigations, threw open and continued their inquiries concerning the actual state, whether upon a general or a particular ground, of the Company in the East Indies. From one period to another, several committees were appointed, and various proceedings also took place in consequence of their reports. At last, during a moment, which was the dreadful prelude to one of the bitterest and most disgraceful to the national misfortunes, the war against America burst forth; yet, even through the continuation of hostilities, upon our side, at once frantic and ineffectual, the situation of affairs in the East Indies, far from having been forgotten, became a frequent object of the close attention of the House of Commons, who, in the year 1781, thought fit to establish, in two separate and totally distinct departments, a secret and a select committee. A right hon. gentleman (Mr. Dundas) was, upon this occasion, placed at the head of the secret committee; and particularly from his investigations and propositions, had resulted a well-known string of resolutions, from amongst which he (Mr. Burke) had just selected one concerning Warren Hastings and William Hornby, esquires; a resolution not couched in terms which could at all suffer even the slightest equivocal interpretation, but conveying against them, as powerfully as it was possible for words to point the meaning, the most direct accusation of negligence of duty, and of im. proper proceedings throughout the course

of their enjoyment of high official situations. Surely it was a theme for universal astonishment, that when the right hon. gentleman had discovered, from an acute and indefatigable investigation of occurrences, that even every tittle of this striking resolution was grounded upon the strong foundations of the most unanswerab'e truths, he should, with a degree of coldness almost approaching to indifference, have remained contented with the inactive sequel of his great and arduous task, which, at its conclusion, (dissimilar, indeed, from its extraordinary and spirited beginning and procedure!) sunk into little more than a faint persuasion to the House to adopt and vote the resolution. An hon. gentleman (general Smith) at present not enjoying a seat among the Commons, moved, on a former occasion, for the select committee, when another hon. gentleman (Secretary to the Board of Control) seconded the motion: and, certainly, it would have appeared becoming in this hon. gentleman, if he had submitted the matter to the serious attention, and not have left him (Mr. Burke) to engage in a matter which was more peculiarly his own province. Of the select committee, Mr. Burke added, that he was an unworthy member; but he could venture to assert, that although he, or even his associates, might have been outstripped by others in those vigorous and deeplyscrutinizing powers of the mind, so greatly beneficial when it is necessary to unravel a vast and intricate combination of occurrences, at once important and alarming, yet no persons whatsoever could have exceeded them in zeal and assiduity. From the most unabated and ardent attention, manifested by the committees to every point submitted to their opinion, had arisen an immense and well-digested body of evidence, forming, indeed, a most voluminous pile of reports for the table of the House, yet not less than highly interesting throughout every part of its amazing bulk, although the labours of any seven preceding committees had fallen considerably short of so extended and comprehensive an arrangement. That such absolutely was the case could not, in fair argument, be disproved, even by a noble and learned lord (Thurlow) highly distinguished on account of the pre-eminence of his office, yet more an object of celebrity as being in the full vigour of great influence, and extraordinary talents; nor less conspicuous as keeper of the Royal

conscience; in which singular and exalted character he thought proper to observe, in an august assembly, that the reports of this House concerning the situation of affairs in the East Indies, were scarcely of more consideration than idle fables; thus treating them like the fanciful adventures of Robinson Crusoe, or the wild chimera of any writers of romance! But neither wit nor ridicule, from howsoever brilliant or venerated a quarter they might proceed, could invalidate the nature and force of these reports; and, therefore, in defiance of either the keen severity of raillery at once unmerited and groundless, or the imposing plausibility of an insidious style of argument, should he rest his own particular accusation against Mr. Hastings, as a delinquent of the first magnitude, upon the united authority of the very heavy charges to which he stands exposed in these reports, and of the string of resolutions remaining upon the Journals, of the 28th of May 1782; a matter which, coolly and impartially considered, must totally exempt him from the imputation of pressing more upon the attention of the House than they already, had admitted and declared. One striking proof that the Commons of Great Britain had not, amidst their investigations of the affairs and occurrences in the East Indies, proceeded with either precipitation or wantonness, or without the most deliberate and sound advice, and that their labours were deemed entitled to very high regard, might fairly be deduced (in fact the premises would not admit a different conclusion) from the honourable manner in which, at the close of the session of 1782, the subject was recommended, in a Speech from the Throne, as calling for the strictest parliamentary investigations. Nor did this example stand long alone. It was followed by a second, not less pointed and convincing, when, from the same exalted quarter, expressions, particularly gracious, were dropped, in favour of the progress made by the House, at the opening of the ensuing session, with respect to an examination into the nature of measures and occurrences in the East Indies. Having read to the House the extracts from the speeches in question, Mr. Burke remarked, that they ought to operate as an irresistible incitement to their following up the point until they should have detected every various delinquency, and brought the most criminal offenders to exemplary

atonements.

In explanation of the process whereon he meant to enter with respect to Mr. Hastings, against whom, with a degree of warmth amounting to an appearance of defiance, he had been loudly called upon to advance his accusation, (and against whom he certainly should advance it, were the papers for which he meant to move thrown open to his inspection), he must beg leave to remind the House, that three several examples of the mode of proceeding against state delinquents were on record; and that, according to the exigencies of particular cases, each had been, at different periods, adopted. The first was a direction to the Attorney General to prosecute. From this measure, he must acknowledge himself totally averse, because he had reason to believe that the learned gentleman now vested in that high official situation, to which his truly respectable character and professional abilities rendered him-equal, in every sense of the expression, did not discover any zealous inclination to support the point in question, and bring it forward under the weight and sanction of his powers, to impress the House with a due sense of the measures which it behoved them to pursue, in order to bring delinquents (should such be found) to signal punishments: nor, indeed, did he conceive that a trial by jury was, of all others, the most unexceptionable and best devised for the purpose of obtaining ample justice against an offender so great and elevated (if opulence, talents, and connexions could elevate) as the person whom he felt it as his duty on this occasion to pursue. As little was he prepossessed in favour of an application to the court of King's-bench, from an idea that the magnitude of the trial (which he anxiously wished to have brought forward in that shape, which would the most certainly facilitate the progress and ultimate decisions of impartial justice) would overwhelm the varying multitude of lesser causes of meum and tuum, assault and battery, conversion and trover, trespass and burglary, together with an innumerable tribe of different misdemeanors. Contending, therefore, (as he described himself) against the mode of prosecuting through the Attorney General, against a trial by jury, and against the institution of a suit in the court of King's Bench; it might naturally be asked, whether he would wish to introduce a bill of pains and penalties, and to collect the evidence which such a mode might render requi

site? To this question he should not hesitate to reply, that the procedure must press, with the severity of injustice, upon the party prosecuted, and tarnish in no slight degree the character and honourable dignity of the House; of which the members would thus appear to present themselves a motley set, at one moment in the capacity of accusers, and at another moment in the deciding rank of judges: and, certainly, it appeared an act of violence to force a supposed criminal into an anticipation of his defence, and to order him to attend, together with his counsel, at the bar, for the purpose of stating (in the presence of an assembly, the members of which preposterously presided in the two-fold capacity of accusers and of judges) to what ground he meant to resort for proofs of his innocence, when required to enter upon his exculpation in another place; the forms and rules of which, exacting evidences on oath, were more within the spirit of the customary practice of judicial trials. His invincible objection to a bill of pains and penalties would of course lead him to the proposition of another mode; and this, at once ancient and constitutional, was a procedure by a bill of impeachment: yet, even in the adoption of this measure, he would not endeavour to introduce the usual practice of first moving an immediate bill of impeachment, and next instituting a committee for the purpose of discovering, and arranging articles, in order that they might serve as its foundation ;-a recourse which, in his humble opinion, carried with it an appearance of warmth and prejudice exceedingly repugnant to the justice, dig. nity, and honour of the House. With their permission, he should move for papers, from the contents of which he would endeavour to collect the several articles into their necessary points of view; and when these should, in the contemplation of the House, seem (as, without rancour, and, in the cool spirit of impartial justice, he could venture to intimate his belief that they would seem) charges of an atrocious nature, he then designed to move for an impeachment at the bar of the House of Lords. This grave and solemn measure would not only prove congenial with the weight and high authority of the representatives of the people of Great Britain, but most powerfully contribute to the attainment of all the awful and decisive consequences which could arise from justice. On this occasion it

was superfluous to dwell upon the indisputable necessity of acting with the most guarded caution and the coolest impartiality. In the very moment when an accuser brought his charges against another, was he, in a considerable degree, himself standing under a state of accusation. Conscious how religiously he was obliged to act upon the surest grounds, he chose the line of conduct to which he now alluded, persuaded that this, of all others, might be pursued, without the least danger of either plunging into error, encroaching upon the purity of law by violent oppression, or deviating, in any case, from that invariably equitable point to which the course of real justice perpetually ran. He lamented (but he felt it unavoidable) that the inquiry must become personal; nor was he now to learn, that if, in the present instance, the people of India could be permitted to make a choice, they would prefer a procedure, of which the result might discover the existence of peculation, yet not reveal the peculator; might bring into the face of day the proofs of scandalous corruption, yet hide equally, from all inquiring eyes, the corruptor and the corrupted; might make it manifest with what invincible fatality the torrent of outrageous vice broke down and dashed away each obstacle before it, yet kept the vicious individuals entirely concealed from human penetration; and, in a word, might imitate the verdict of a coroner-declare that murder had taken place, but add, that it was committed by persons unknown. For the purpose of tracing peculation to the peculator, corruption to the corruptor, and vice to the vicious, were the various committees employed from time to time in obedience to the votes and orders of the House; and the result was, that the committee, at which a spirited and truly irreproachable individual (Mr. Gregory) presided, during the course of three successive years, did (as well as two subse quent committees) declare, that it was impossible for the government in the East Indies to be foul, and the head of that government pure. Under all these circumstances, and keeping in his view the resolution of the House accusatory of Mr. Hastings, Mr. Burke declared that he should consider himself justified in all his succeeding motions, of which the first would be," That there be laid before this House copies of all correspondence, since the month of January 1782, between Warren Hastings, esq., late Governor-ge