The Works and Correspondence of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Volume 7F. & J. Rivington, 1852 - Great Britain |
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Common terms and phrases
accusation act of parliament affairs aforesaid agent Ally Cawn appear appointed arbitrary power authority banyan Benares Bengal Berar bribery bribes British Calcutta character charge Chunar circumstances Clavering company's concealed conduct consequence corrupt court of directors crimes criminal Debi Sing declared defence duty East India Company endeavour English Esquire execution extortion favour Fyzabad give given governor governor-general and council guilt Gunga Govin Sing Hastings's honour inquiry jaghires justice lacs of rupees letter Lord Clive lords lordships Lucknow Mahomed Reza Khân Mahrattas manner means ment minister Mogul Munny Begum nabob Fyzoola Khân nabob of Oude native never Nundcomar occasion opinion oppression peculation person possession pretended prince principles proceedings proof province rajah ranna received resident Bristow resident Middleton revenue Scindia servants Sir Eyre Coote Sir John Clavering situation suffer thing tion transaction treaty troops trust vizier Warren Hastings whole
Popular passages
Page 21 - Sir, the Nabob having determined to inflict corporal punishment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may have free access to the prisoners, and be permitted to do with them as they shall see proper.
Page 472 - My Lords, what is it that we want here to a great act of national justice ? Do we want a cause, my Lords ? You have 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 ever laid to the charge of any one ? No, my Lords, you must not look to punish any other such delinquent from India.
Page 286 - This, my lords, we knew, and we weighed before we came before you. But the crimes which we charge in these articles, are not lapses, defects, errors, of common human frailty, which, as we know and feel, we can allow for. We charge this offender with no crimes that have not arisen from passions which it is criminal to...
Page 388 - Company, he does not pretend that it was obtained from their zeal and affection to our cause, or that it made their submission more complete; very far from it. He says, they ought to be independent, and all that you have to do is to squeeze money from them. In short, money is the beginning, the middle, and the end of every kind of act done by Mr. Hastings — pretendedly for the Company, but really for himself.
Page 435 - I am sure, in the most barbarous ages, no politic tyranny, no fanatic persecution, has ever yet exceeded. Mr. Paterson, the commissioner appointed to inquire into the state of the country, makes his own apology and mine for opening this scene of horrors to you in the following words: " That the punishments inflicted upon the ryots, both of Rungpore and Dinagepore, for non-payment, were in many instances of such a nature that I would rather wish to draw a veil over them than shock your feelings by...
Page 474 - I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted; whose properties he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and desolate. " I impeach him in the name, and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice, which he has violated. " I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed, in both sexes, in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life.
Page 471 - ... them to wicked persons under him. I charge him with having removed the natural guardians of a minor rajah, and with having given that trust to a stranger, Debi Sing, whose wickedness was known to himself and all the world ; and by whom the rajah, his family, and dependants were cruelly oppressed. I charge him with having committed to the management of Debi Sing three great provinces ; and thereby, with having wasted the country, ruined the landed interest, cruelly harassed the peasants, burnt...
Page 361 - It is a contradiction in terms ; it is blasphemy in religion ; it is wickedness in politicks, to say, that any man can have arbitrary power. In every patent of office the duty is included. For what else does a magistrate exist? To suppose for power is an absurdity in idea. Judges are guided and governed by the eternal laws of justice, to which we are all subject.
Page 411 - There are crimes, undoubtedly, of great magnitude, naturally fitted to create horror, and that loudly call for punishment, that have yet no idea of turpitude annexed to them ; but unclean hands, bribery, venality, and peculation are offences of turpitude, such as, in a governor, at once debase the person, and degrade the government itself, making it not only horrible, but vile and contemptible in the eyes of all mankind.
Page 472 - I believe, my lords, that the sun, in his beneficent progress round the world, does not behold a more glorious sight than that of men, separated from a remote people by the material bounds and barriers of nature, united by the bond of a social and moral community ; — all the Commons of England resenting, as their own, the indignities and cruelties, that are offered to all the people of India.