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April 4th.

On the fourth of April, Mr. Burke, in his place, charged Warren Haftings, efq; the late governor general of Bengal, with fundry high crimes and mifdemeanors, and delivered at the table the nine first articles of his charge, and the reft in the courfe of the following week, amounting in all to 22 in number. On the 26th Mr. Haftings requested by petition to the houfe to be permitted to be heard in his defence to the feveral articles, and that he might be allowed a copy of the fame *. Mr. Burke declared his wish that every reasonable degree of indulgence should be fhewn to Mr. Haftings he fhould therefore readily confent to his being heard in his defence, though he did not think it quite agreeable to the regularity of their proceeding, that he fhould be heard in the prefent ftage of it. With refpect to a copy of the charges, he believed there was no precedent of fuch an indulgence being granted. It was well known that it was his original intention to have gone through the whole of his evidence before he delivered in his articles, and to let the charge grow out of the evidence; but the house, in its wisdom, had

thought proper to vote a different mode of proceeding, and to direct that the charges fhould be first made; and that he fhould then proceed to fubftantiate them by evidence. Hence he had been under the neceffity of new arranging his plan, and of making his charges as comprehenfive as poffible, taking in and ftating every thing with which private information could furnish him. In their present form they were to be confidered merely as a general collection of accufatory facts, intermixed with a variety of collateral matter, both of fact and reafoning neceffary for, their elucidation; and the committee to which they were to be referred would neceffarily find occafion to alter them materially. For this reafon alfo he thought it would be highly improper to give a copy of them, in the prefent stage of the bufinefs, to Mr. Haftings. Thefe reafons, however, being overruled by the majority, and a copy ordered to be granted to Mr. Haltings, Mr. Burke moved, that the house fhould refolve itself into a committee to examine the witneffes that had been ordered to attend. This was alfo objected to by the other fide of the house, on this

*To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain,
in Parliament affembled.

The humble Petition of WARREN HASTINGS, late Governor General of Bengal.

Sheweth,

THAT your petitioner obferves by the votes of the 4th and 12th days of April infant, that Mr. Burke in his place charged Warren Haftings, late governor general of Bengal, with fundry high crimes and misdemeanors; and prefented to the house several articles of charge of high crimes and misdemeanors against the said Warren Haftings.

Your petitioner therefore humbly prays that he may be heard in his defence to the feveral articles; and that he may be allowed a copy of the fame.

And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

WARREN HASTINGS.

ground,

ground, that as they had agreed to hear the defence of Mr. Haftings, they ought to wait till that had been gone through, fince he might poffibly be able to offer fuch matter in exculpation of himself as would induce the house entirely to stop all

further proceeding. This argument was strongly fupported by the mafter of the rolls and the attorney general, and ably oppofed by Mr. Hardinge, folicitor general to the queen, and Mr. Anstruther. The decifion of the house, by a majority of 140 to 80 against the propofition of Mr. Burke, was confidered as a moft favourable prognoftic by the friends of Mr. Haftings; and they spoke with the utmolt confidence of a speedy conclufion of the whole business in his favour.

On the 1ft of May, May 1ft. Mr. Haltings being called to the bar, addreffed the house in a fhort fpeech; in which he ftated, that he confidered his being allowed to be heard in that ftage of the business as a very great indulgence, for which he begged leave to make his moft grateful acknowledgments to the houfe; and as his wifh was to deliver what he had to fay in anfwer to the charges that had been prefented against him by an honourable member, with a greater fhare of accuracy and correctnefs than he could pretend to in afpeech from memory, he had committed his fentiments towriting, and hoped to be permitted to read them. This request being granted, Mr. Haftings proceeded to read his defence, in which he was affifted by Mr. Markham, a fon of the archbishop of York, and the clerks of the house. Three days were spent

in going through the feveral parts of his defence; and it was afterwards, at the request of Mr. Haftings, ordered to be laid upon the table of the houfe, and printed for the ufe of the members.

As two articles only of the charge were decided upon in this feffion of parliament, we fhall, for the sake of giving our readers a connected view of the whole fubject together, defer entering at prefent into the fubject matter of the charges exhibited, the proofs by which they were fupported, or the allegations urged by Mr. Haftings in his defence, and content ourselves with a narrative of the proceedings of the house of commons.

In our next volume we fhall endeavour to give as concife and comprehenfive an abstract of the whole bufinefs, as its immenfe extent and complicated variety will admit. We fhall therefore only observe, with refpect to the defence of Mr. Haftings, that it does not appear to have produced an effect anfwerable to the fanguine expectation of his friends, or to the views of those who might wish to have taken a plaufible opportunity of quafhing the whole proceeding, by a fhort queftion upon the general merits of the perfon accufed.

In the mean time, the houfe, in a committee, proceeded in the examination of witneffes in proof of the charges; and on the

June 1ft. firft of June Mr. Burke brought forward the Rohilla charge, and moved the following refolution thereupon:- That the committee, heaving confidered the faid article, and examined evidence on the fame, are of opinion that there are grounds fufficient to charge Warren Haf[7] 3

tings

tings with high crimes and mifdemeanors upon the matter of the faid article."

Mr. Burke introduced his motion with a folemn invocation of the juftice of the house, which he faid was particularly due, as well to the people of Great Britain, becaufe the national credit and character were deeply involved, and implicated in the iffue of the bufinefs about to be brought before them, as for the fake of their own honour and dignity. He defcribed with great force the nature of the question to be decided; declaring emphatically, that it was an appeal from British power to British juftice. The charge, he faid, muft either condemn the accufer or the accused: there was no medium. The result must be, that Warren Haft ings, efq; had been guilty of grofs, enormous, and flagitious crimes; or, that he was a bafe, calumniatory, wicked, and malicious accufer. He enlarged upon the degree of guilt afcribable to that man who fhould dare prefume to take up the time of the houfe by rafhly coming forward, and urging groundlefs and ill-founded charges against a perfon who had been intrufted with high and exalted offices in the government of a part of our territories, much larger and more extenfive than the whole ifland of Great Britain. There were, he obferved, but three fources of falfe accufation, viz. ignorance, inadvertency, or paffion; by none of thefe three had he been actuated: ignorance he could not plead, because he knew the fubject as fully as the labour and ftudy of fix years could make him know it: inadvertency as little could he be charged with, because he had deliberately proceeded, and examined eyery step he took in the business with

the most minute and cautious atten-
tion: and, least of all, could it be
'faid, with any colour of truth, that
he had been actuated by paffion.
Anger indeed he had felt, but fure-
ly not a blameable anger; for who
ever heard of an enquiring anger, a
digefting anger, a collating anger,
an examining anger, or a felecting
anger? The anger he had felt was,
an uniform, fteady, public anger,
but never a private anger; that
anger which five years ago warmed
his breaft, he felt precifely the fame
and unimpaired at that moment.
Not all the various occurrences of
the laft five years, neither five
changes of adminiftration, nor the
retirement of the fummer, nor the
occupation of winter, neither his
public nor his private avocations,
nor the fnow, which in that period
had fo plentifully fhowered on his
head, had been able to cool that
anger, which he acknowledged to
feel as a public man, but which, as
a private individual, he had never
felt for one moment.

He obferved, that the vote they were to give that day was not merely on the cafe of Mr. Haftings; they were to vote a fet of maxims and principles, to be the guide of all future governors in India. The code of political principles which they fhould that day establish as the principles of British government in its diftant provinces, would stand recorded as a proof of their wifdom and juftice, or of their difpofition to tyranny and oppreffion. He entered at large into thofe peculiar circumftances in the connection between this country and India, which rendered the retribution of justice, in cafes of cruelty and oppreffion, extremely difficult, and contrafted them with the fituation of the pro

vinces

vinces conquered by the Romans. The Roman empire was an empire of continuity, each province being either immediately or nearly accel fible by land; they had likewife one general tongue to speak with, fo that each man was able to tell his tale in his own way. They had another advantage, which arofe from the very circumstance of their being conquered, and it was that the principal perfons who accomplished the conqueft always acquired a property and influence in each new province by them fubdued, and of courfe the vanquished found patrons and protectors in the perfons of their conquerors. Each province was alfo confidered as a body corporate, and confequently each province was enabled to fend their grievance to Rome collectively, and to ftate them as fpeaking with one mouth. He next adverted to the fituation of an accuser in Rome, and to the advantages that attended him in profecuting his charges against a ftate delinquent, who was ftripped of his power, and even of his rights as a citizen, pending the profecution, the better to enable his accufer to make out and establish his accufa tion. He drew a diftinction between this facility of coming at a Roman governor, charged with high crimes and mifdemeanors, and the extreme difficulty of fubftantiating an accufation against a British governor. When it was confidered that Mr. Hastings had been for fourteen years at the head of the government in India, and that no one complaint during that time had been tranfmitted to England against him, the houfe must be convinced of the enormous degree of power he had to contend with, to which alone could be afcribed the filence in queftion,

fince it was not in human nature, fituated as Mr. Haftings had been, to preferve fo pure, even-handed, and unimpeachable a conduct, as to afford no room for a fingle accusation to be stated against him.

After this exordium, Mr. Burke flated at large the fubject matter of the charge, and concluded a long and eloquent fpeech, with defiring the clerk to read the refolution of May 1782, to clear himself from the imputation of having rafhly and fingly meddled with the fubject; and to fhew that the house had, in very ftrong terms, already reprobated Mr. Haftings's conduct in the Rohilla war.

The motion was fupported by Mr. Wilbraham, Mr. Powis, Mr. Montague, Lord North, Mr. M. A. Taylor, Mr. Wyndham, and Mr. Hardinge; and oppofed by Mr. Nicholls, Lord Mornington, Mr. H. Browne, and Lord Mulgrave. At half past three o'clock the debate was adjourned, and renewed the day following by Mr. Francis, Mr. Anftruther, and Mr. Fox, on the one fide; and Mr. W. Grenville, Mr. J. Scott, Mr. Burton, Mr. Wilberforce, and Mr. Dundas, on the other. At half past seven the committee divided, when there appeared for the motion 67, against it 119.

13th June.

On the 13th of June, Mr. Fox brought for

ward the charge refpecting the Rajah of Benares. Nearly the fame perfons took a part in this debate as in the former, and it was carried by a majority of 119 to 79," that there was matter of impeachment against Warren Haflings contained in the faid charge." The chancellor of the exchequer concurred in this vote, but upon very narrow ground. He thought that the de[1] 4

mands

mands made upon the Raja went beyond the exigence of the cafe, and that Mr. Haltings had pushed the exercife of the arbitrary discretion entrufted to him beyond the neceffity of the fervice. The conduct of the minister on this occafion drew upon him much indecent calumny from the friends of Mr. Haftings; they did not hesitate to accufe him out of doors, both publicly and privately, of treachery. They declared it was in the full confidence of his protection and fupport, that they had urged on Mr. Burke to bring forward his charges; and that the gentleman accufed had been perfuaded to come to their bar, with an hafty and premature defence; and they did not fcruple to attribute this conduct in the minifter to motives of the bafeft jealousy.

During the courfe of the proceedings of the houfe of commons on the impeachment of Mr. Haftings, another lubject, relative to the adminiftration of the company's affairs in India, underwent a warm difcuffion in both houfes of parliament; this was a bill brought in by Mr. Dundas, for amending Mr. Pitt's act, paffed in the year 1784, for regulating the government of the Eat ndia company. Previous to the firft mention of the tubject by Mr. Dundas, Mr. Francis had moved for leave to bring in a bill with the fame title, but much more extenfive in its objects. Upon this motion the previous queftion was put, and carried without a division. The principal object of Mr. Dundas's bill was to enla ge the powers of the governor gencral; first, by vefting in the nomination to the vacant feats in the council: fecondly, by uniting the offices of governor general and commander

in chief of the forces: and thirdly, by authorizing him to decide upon every meature, whether his council agreed with him or not. Leave being given to bring in the bill, Mr. Francis moved," that it be an inftruction to the gentlemen ap. pointed to prepare and bring in a bill to explain and amend an act, paffed in the 24th year of his majetty's reign, intituled, An act, &c.' that in preparing the fame they do never lofe fight of the effect, which any meafure to be adopted for the good government of our poffeffions in India may have on our own conftitution, and our dearest interefts at home; and particularly, that in amending the faid act they do take care that no part thereof fhall be confirmed or re-enacted, by which the unalienable birthright of every British subject to a trial by jury, as declared in magna charta, fhall be taken away or impaired.' This motion was rejected without debate, by a majority of 85 to 16.

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On the 2zd of March the bill was committed, when the claufes conferring fo extraordinary a degree of power on the governor general were oppofed with a torrent of eloquencs by Mr. Burke. He protefted in the ftrongest terms against the principle of a bill which was, he faid, to introduce an arbitrary and defpotic government in India, on the false pretence of its tending greatly to the ftrength and fecurity of the British poffeffions there, and giving energy, vigour, and dispatch to the meafures and proceedings of the executive government. He reprobated the whole of this idea, contending that an arbitrary and defpotic government was always fure to produce the reverse of energy, vigour, and difpatch;

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