the houfe, was defective in many particulars. But this proceeding does not feem to have effected any material alteration in the meafure. In the house of lords the progrefs of the bill was attended with fome debate. Its principle was attacked by lord Loughborough, lord Stormont, and the duke of Portland; and the ministerial fide of the quef tion was efpoufed by lord Walfingham and earl Bathurst. It was.. propofed by the duke of Portland, that the farther confideration of the bill fhould be poftponed for fix weeks; and the houfe having divided upon the question, the numbers appeared, contents, 6, not contents, 1. 14. i CHAPTER VII. Impeachment of Mr. Haftings. Motion for Papers. Maratta Papers re- HE remaining fubject that be feffion, is the impeachment of Mr. Warren Hallings, late governorgeneral of Bengal. It is the wifh of every true friend to his country, that the financial operations of the year 1786, may be productive of alleviation and benefit to our latest pofterity. But unquestionably the tranfaction, during the existence of the prefent adminiftration, the recollection of which will always most strongly arreft the feelings, and intereft the paffions of the human mind, is this great profecution. The acquifition of territories, fo vaft in their dimenfions, and ftill more extensive in their influence, as we poffefs in India, by a mercan tile company, is a circumstance un paralleled in the history of the world. The extreme difproportion between the power that governs and the object to be governed, is fuch as to trike the most careless obferver, and might naturally be expected to be productive of ca lamities of various defcriptions, and of the alternate evils of anarchy and defpotifim. Different ftatefmen of the highest abilities have turned of this fituation, and have fought to introduce an adequate remedy. The first project of this fort was that of the earl of Chatham in 1766, and which was understood to include the total diffolution of the territorial power of the EastIndia company, and the affumption of the provinces in the name, and by the immediate authority of the legiflature of Great Britain. This was a strong measure, and it is poffible, that, if the proceedings of that nobleman had not been counter. acted, either by a series of the moft obstinate ill health, or by the operations of ministerial intrigue, all the abilities of this illuftrious character might have failed in the introduction of fo decifive a revolution. The next project for an effectual remedy did not occur till the year. 1783, and it is understood to have been the joint production of Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke. The scheme of 1783 fell fhort in the extent of its operation of the scheme of 1766; but it feemed likely, to be productive in the fequel of effects not lefs lefs important. It was the intention of Mr. Fox to leave not only the commercial advantages, but the territorial revenues in the hands of the company, and to fuffer them to continue, as far as any pecuniary interest was concerned, the fovereigns of the country; but at the fame time to take from them irrevocably the adminiftration of that fovereignty, the appointment of its fervants, the deliberations of peace and war, and all thofe circumftances of which it is conftituted. The measures relative to India, which took place in the interval be. tween the administration of lord Chatham and Mr. Fox, and thofe which have followed upon the dif miffion of the latter, are to be confidered comparatively fpeaking as palliatives. Thofe of lord North are now generally acknowledged to have miscarried. Upon the merits of those of Mr. Pitt it is imagined, that there has not yet been a fufficient lapfe of time to enable us to decide. Two methods naturally occurred to the minds of all men for the remedy of the mifgovernment, which was generally acknowledged to exift in India, one of them of the nature we have defcribed, and the other an investigation of the conduct, and an exemplary punifiment of the delinquencies, of fome of thofe, who have fucceffively been intrufted in this great adminiftration. It has been a question among our practical statefmen, whether these two remedies ought to go hand in hand, or whether that of punishment is to be confidered as only fit to be adopted, if we fail in our attempts to introduce the other. It appears to have been most commonly fuppofed, that the mode of retrofpect and punishment ought on no account to be omitted, and this 1786 idea muft at least have ftrongly im preffed itself on the minds of thofe, who condemned and derided as nugatory the Eatt India regulations of Mr. Pitt from their first introduction. It is certainly of little confequence to fay that the errors of our oriental governors ought. not to be punifhed, because the fyftem of government there is ra dically defective. This may be an excufe for leffer faults; it may be pleaded in extenuation of, and excite our pity for confiderable crimes; but, if admitted in its utmost extent, it would put an end to all ideas of criminal justice and fevere retribution. The profecution of Mr. Haftings is, on many accounts, a fubject of If it no common importance. failed, it was not unlikely that it would prove the last attempt of the kind that this country would ever witnefs. Whatever encomiums have been paffed upon the judicial provifions of the British conftitution, certain it is, that they have notorioufly failed in the attempt to apply them to perfons returning from India. The parliamentary profecution of lord Clive by general Burgoyne was early defeated. The verdict of the court of king's bench against the perfons, who had imprifoned and occafioned the death of lord Pigot, was fuch, as to be confidered by the perfons condemned rather as an object of merriment than a fouree of calamity. The bill of pains and pe nalties against fir Thomas Rumbold, which was introduced into parliament by Mr. Dundas in the year 1782, was found to be unfit for the purposes it had in view, and was given up by its author. It is not neceffary for us to decide upon the criminality of any one of the perfons thus felected for profecu tion. But certainly there was in each of thete cafes too much fimilarity in the event of the profecution. The last fuppofed delinquent, that was brought before the bar of the public, was Mr. Hattings. The last mode of proceeding was now to be tried in that ultimate referve of the British conftitution, the mode of impeachment by the commons of Great Britain. The characters both of the accufer and of the perfon accufed, were fuch as to give dignity and intereft to the fcope of this bufinefs. Mr. Burke was a man of the most original genius, of the most culti vated talents, and the moft unwearied application. He received, the highest compliments upon this occafion, and it will probably be thought deferved ones, for his integrity, from allthe parties in tlicirturn that exift in the English houfe of commons. Mr. Haftings or the other Hand, was a man of imagination, of fpirit, and of extenfive obfervation. His mind was by no means caft in a mean and vulgar mould. The m fluence, that was poffeffed by this man, while he refided in India, was undoubtedly great, and was fup pofed to have contributed to the defeat of the project of Mr. Fox, and the ruin of his administration. It was fcarcely to be believed that his influence, now that he was returned to England, could be totally extinguiflied, and it was the opinion of many, that Mr. Pitt would not dare, whatever were his genuine fentiments, to join in the condemnation of the proceedings of Mr. Haftings. From the firit the opinions of adminiftration ran evidently in favour of the ex-governor. The eulogiums that were pronounced upon him by Mr. Dundas were neither limited nor moderate; and Mr. Pitt, though he profeffed to come to the fubject with a mind fair and impartial, was certainly not prepoffeffed in favour of the accufing party, and was open in his commendation of the ability and the ufefulness of a leading part of Mr. Haftings's later proceedings. The obitacles, which, whether they were thrown in the way of the profecution by defign or by mere chance, were fuch as to demand all the fpirit, the perfeverance, and the inflexibility of Mr. Burke to overcome them. Along with them he had to overcome a long feries of unpopularity, the perfonal indifference that had been fhewn to him by the house of commons, and their indifpofition fo much as to lend him the hearing; together with the coldnefs and the invincible frigidity, with which the nation at large were difpofed to listen to the complaints of Eatt India delinquency. All thefe bars to his fuccefs Mr. Burke has overcome; and, without entering into the demerits of Mr. Haftings, we may allow ourselves to beflow, upon the difinterestedness of his proceedings, and his refoluteneis to obtain what he confidered as a great national object, the higheft encomium. The fame praife is due to the house of commons which has ultimately fupported him; and, if Mr. Haftings be innocent, yet the bold and decifive effort they have made to bring to juflice a man whom they have fuppofed in the highest degree criminal, can be infpired by no other motives, than those which are virtuous and honourable. It has already been mentioned that Mr. Haftings arrived in England on the fixteenth of June 1785; and as Mr. Burke was unwilling to lofe any time in the profecution of a bufinefs to which he was folemnly engaged, or to leave. any room for uncertainty whether of not he would fupport thofe charges in the prefence of Mr. Haftings, which he had fo peremp. torily advanced during his abfence, he gave notice on the twentieth of that month, of his intention to move for the meditated inquiry. It was probable there would not be fufficient time in the feffion of parliament then exifting for fuch a proceeding; but, if there were not, he would certainly bring it forward at a convenient time in the feffion that fhould cnfue. In the mean time, if Mr. Burke flowed himfelf ready in the bufiuefs of the profecution, Mr. Haftings was not lefs forward to challenge enquiry, and to urge the proceeding with all pollible expedition in a bufinefs fo interefting to his reputation and his happiness. On the twenty-fourth of January 1786, the day upon which parliament met for the tranfaction of bufinefs, major Scott, the particular friend of Mr. Haftings, took the opportunity to remind Mr. Burke of the pledge he had made, aud to request him to come to an immediate decifion. Mr. Burke replied, that he fhould anfwer the major with a fhort anecdote of the duke of Parma, who came from Amiens to fight king Henry the Fourth in his capital. The king, uneafy at fome delay, urged the duke to a speedy meeting; to which he replied, that he had not travelled fo far as from Amiens to Paris, to learn from his enemy the propereft time and place for meeting him in a duel. One of the first circumstances, that was neceffary to give any probability of fuccefs to Mr. Burke's undertaking, depended upon the question, whether or not he would be fupported in the progrefs of it with the whole weight, and the fincere and ftrenuous effort of the 147 connection of men with whom he ufally acted. This question was originally treated by many perfons as a fubject of uncertainty and feepticifm. That he might remove all doubt upon the fubject, Mr. Fox rofe at the fame time with Mr. Burke, in anfwer to the challenge of major Scott, and affured him, that, if his friend should so far neglect his duty, as to forget the redemption of his pledge, there were other members who would take care that the fubje&t fhould be made a matter of investigation. The engagement, which was implied in thefe expreffions, has been perfectly fulfilled; and Mr. Burke has been affifted in the whole progress of the bufinefs with an attachment and a gallantry, that seem to reflect equal honour on the party that received, and the party that exerted them. he made on Friday, the feventeenth Previously to the fpeech, which of February, and in which he explained in fome degree to the house the mode of proceeding he was defirthat the two concluding articles ous to adopt, Mr. Burke requested might be read, of a lift of refolutions, which had been moved by Mr. Dundas, as chairman of the fecret committee appointed to enquire into the caufes of the Carnatic war and the affairs of the East India company, on the 28th of May 1782. Thefe refolutions, that the reader may have at once before him all the particulars which were conceived to be most intiwe will tranfcribe. They are first, mately connected with the bufincís, "That for the purpose of conveying entire conviction to the minds of the native princes, that to commence hoftilities without just provocation against them, and to pur fue fchemes of conquest and extent of dominion, are meafures repug K 2 nant nant to the wifh, the honour and the policy of this nation, the parliament of Great Britain fhould give fome fignal mark of its difpleafure against thofe, in whatever degree intrufted with the charge of the Eat India company's affairs, who fhall appear wilfully to have adopted or countenanced a fyftem, tending to infpire a reasonable diftruft of the moderation, juftice and good faith of the British nation." And fecondly, "That Warren Hattings, governor-general of Ben gal, and William Hornfby, prefident of the council at Bombay, having in various inftances acted in a manner repugnant to the honour and policy of this nation, and brought great calamities cn India, and enormous expences on the Eaft India company, it is the duty of the directors of the company, to purfue all legal and effectual means for the removal of the governorgeneral and prefident from their refpective offices, and to recall them to Great Britain." ⚫ Mr. Burke now faid, that it was not without confiderable uneafine's, that he discovered that the task of introducing to the attention of the houfe the folemn and important butinefs of that day was on the point of falling to his lot, when it might have been brought forward in the plenitude of weight and efficacy by the member whofe propo. fitions were the basis of the refolution, the contents of which had now been recited. The party of all others the most interested in the awful progrefs and the ultimate refult of the proceedings which might arife, had, with becoming dignity of character, called on him to advance his charges; and fo pointed was the nature of his challenge, that it rendered it impoffible for him to evade the execution of his duty. Under thefe circum ftances moft feelingly did he lament, as the unwelcome confequence of a devolution, caufed partly by the natural demife of fome, the political deceafe of others, and in particular cafes a death to virtue and ` to principle, that he fhould now remain alone engaged in the attempt, to preferve the honour and the confiftency of that house, in their unfullied luftre; and to impart vigour and efficacy to a fentence, fubfequent to the paffing of which a period of four years had elapfed. On the prefent occafion he trusted, that in common juice he fhould be confidered in no other character, than as the agent of that houfe, which had fixed upon Mr. Haftings as an object of their particular and formal accufation. Acting under their fanction, he conceived, that he might without arrogance affert a claim to their protection; as far at leaft, as protection implied an honourable and candid construction of a procedure dictated by fentiments of rectitude and juftice. Mr. Burke recalled to the recollection of the house, the ftory of our tranfactions in India from the time of lord Clive, and the parliamentary proceedings which thofe tranfactions had occationed. Such had been the military fuccefs of lord Clive, as to furpafs the most fanguine expectations of his adhe rents and admirers. From the æra of that fuccefs, riches had poured upon the British fettlements with the most aftonifhing rapidity; and they had brought along with them one of their too cuftomary effects, by throwing open all the channels of ungovernable corruption. The moft enormous abufes had in a moment been piled upon each other, till every fpot of the British territories in India, became a fhocking theatre |