in vain. Mr. Burke added, that, when he had feen lord North abandon the fyftem which had been the object of his cenfure, he had been willing to forget what was paft, and to do that honour to his talents and virtues that they well deferved. He had now the happinefs to rank that nobleman in the number of his friends, and he was proud to make this public acknow ledgment of the fincerity of his profeffions, and the difinterested nefs of his conduct.

All the charges, except the laft, having been now delivered, Mr. Burke, in purfuance of the line of conduct, which, he conceived, had been chalked out to him by the mafter of the rolls, and which had received the fanction of that houfe, immediately moved, that the speaker fhould leave the chair, in order for the house to go into a committee, for the examination of witneffes. But a new oppofition now originated with the fame perfon. Sir Lloyd Kenyon objected to the motion, upon the ground that the fituation of the bufinefs was completely changed, in confequence of the houfe having that day confented to hear Mr. Haftings, upon the fubject of the charges. It was now become highly improper to allow a fingle ftep farther to be taken in the bufinefs; fince what Mr. Haftings might have to fay, might induce the houfe to drop the profecution. In the courts below, it was a frequent practice to hear defendants in limine, and even indictments were quafhed, upon proper caufe being fhown. Mr. Jenkinfon inforced the fame reafoning; and obferved, that Mr. Haflings would, in all probability, be able by allegation and argument, torprove the half of each charge irrelevant and impro

per; of confequence, it would be highly abfurd to hear evidence, till they had firft endeavoured as much as poffible, to define the subject upon which that evidence was to be examined.

Mr. Pitt maintained that there was great inconfiftency in grauting Mr. Haftings permiffion to be heard, and then poftponing that hearing till they had gone through the evidence. By this means, inftead of giving him an opportunity of removing the prejudices, which might arife from the charges going abroad, and making an impreffion upon men's minds without being anfwered, which was what Mr. Haftings wanted; they would first add all poffible weight to the impreffions, and then leave him to attempt by his affertion and argu. ments, to overturn what had already been fubftantiated by evidence. It might be objected, that fuch a proceeding would occafion delay; but it was a maxim of our law. Nulla de vita bominis cunctatio longa eft; and it could not be difputed, that to a perfon of Mr. Haftings's rank and confideration, good name and reputation were as dear as life. Mr. Pitt animadverted with great freedom upon the ftructure of the charges. He was willing to admit that they contained criminal matter, and Tuch as it was highly incumbent on that houfe to investigate; but they were fo filled with aggravations and unconnected details, they were fo confufed, fo complicated, fo irre levant, and in many places, fo un intelligible, that he thought it impoffible for the house at large, to be able accurately to feparate thofe parts which were worthy of attention, from fuch as were foreign to the main defign. He therefore thought, that it would be abfo

lutely

lutely neceffary for their author, to felect from them thofe parts which moft ftrictly belonged to the fubject, and to model them anew, before it would be poffible for the houfe of commons to pronounce upon them. He added, that, when he faid there was much criminal matter contained in the charges, he did not mean to infinuate, that he had formed any opinion, whether the criminality were properly fupported; and he fhould be inclined to hope at least, that the contrary would be made to appear.

The conduct of administration in respect to this queftion was firongly refented by oppofition. Mr. Burke obferved, that, with refpect to the imperfections that might be fairly imputable to the charges, they were to be ascribed to the conduct of the other fide of the houfe. It was well known, that it had originally been his intention to have called his evidence first, and then to have fuffered the charge gradually to grow out of the evidence. But the house in its wifdom had thought proper to dictate to him a different mode of proceeding. For himself, it was totally unreasonable to expect that he fhould mould his charges into a different form; and was a thing to which he would never fubmit. He added, that, let the mafter of the rolls repeat as often as he would the practice of being flow in giving his advice, and embarraffing the bufinefs from day to day, he would not abandon his caufe. Mr. Burke complained of the difficulty of keeping his witneffes together; fome of whom were ill, and could not remain in town without endangering their lives. What he had heard led him to fear, that it was intended to quath the profecution; for it was evident from the language of Mr.

It

Jenkinfon, that one half of his accufations were gone already. was ftruck with the dead palfy, and was to live no longer. He confidered one arm of the business as lopped away; but, if he loft a leg, he would fill perfevere, and even, if reduced to the neceffity, would fight like Witherington, upon his ftumps. He concluded with fuggefting a very lively apprehenfion, that, if the motion of the maiter of the rolls were received, it would prove fatal to the accufation.

Mr. Fox defcribed the difficul ties which Mr. Burke had experi enced in his progrefs to that itage of the bufinefs, and faid, that no man with inferior abilities would ever have furmounted them. As foon as he had brought forward the bufinefs in one fhape, it was stated by the other fide of the house, that the form of proceeding was wrong; and that another form must be adopted. Still new modes were propofed, new delays invented, new artifices played off to confound, impede and embarrass; but the house and the public must fee through the whole. Unfair indeed was the ground taken by the defenders of Mr. Haflings; for the most practifed advocate could not have acted with more artifice and chicane, had he been engaged to plead for him at ever fo high a premium. Mr. Pitt had admitted that the charges bore on their face much matter of heinous offence; but he chofe to complain of confufion and irrelevancy, and had gone the length of ftating, that they were in fome parts utterly unintelligible. Why were the le complaints ged? Because in fite of every objection, conjured up for the fake of difquifing their real effest, the guilt imputed was too clearly underflood, and impreffion it made could not be concealed.

Mr.

Mr. Wilberforce reproved the warmth of Mr. Fox. If the charges were true, they contained enough of criminal imputation to roufe and animate the feelings of every man in the house. He wondered not therefore, that they fhould particularly warm the mind, and animate the feelings of the gentleman, who had been the principal conductor of the profecution. He had tudied the affans of India, before that houfe generally fpeaking, knew any thing about them; he had been brooding over them for years; and it was natural for him to fee their enormity in a magnified point of view. Of Mr. Burke's head and his heart, of his abilities and his humanity, of his rectitude and his perfeverance, no man entertained a higher opinion than he did. But though Mr. Burke's impetuofity and warmth were in a high degree juftifiable, the fame reafons and the fame excufe would not apply to the paffion of Mr. Fox. His paffion might perhaps pafs upon the public for nothing more, than a portion of that common and ordinary violence, affumed and exhibited by him upon every fubject of parliamentary debate. He wished however, for the fake of national juftice, and for the character of that houfe, that Mr. Fox would fo far reftrain his feelings, as to appear on fo ferious and important an oc. cafion, to conduct himself with the temper and moderation it fo well deferved, and not to throw out infinuations, which he was perfuaded the house regarded as unmerited. If it fhould appear in the end, that Mr. Fox and the chancellor of the exchequer came nearer in opinion upon the fubject, than the former might perhaps conceive, he was apprehenfive, that Mr. Fox would feel a very great degree of

disappointment, and be difpofed to more warmth and paflion than he had hitherto shown.

Mr. Hardinge oppofed the motion of fir Lloyd Kenyon. He examined fucceffively the various grounds for hearing Mr. Haftings in this ftage of the bufinefs. It was faid that Mr. Hallings could fatisfy the houfe, that their proceedings were injurious to him, as being il conftructed in their form, irre levant and obfcure. To this he would anfwer, that Mr. Haftings ought never to be heard with effect upon that ground, in this period of the enquiry. It had been farther alledged, that the information which he would give to the house, might enlighten their general view of the fubject, and guide them in examining the evidence. Against this too he fhould proteft, as a topic inadmiflible on the part of the accufed, prior to any legal charge which he could be called upon to answer. But it might be faid if thefe objects were precluded, no other topic was left him; this however he denied, Mr. Haftings might be detirous to be heard, for the purpose of counteracting, by his own ftate of the fubject, thofe general impreffions, which he might conceive that fuch a charge would make to his preju dice. Whatever might be his view in defiring to be heard, the house ought to hear him not, as a point of right in this ftage of the proceeding, but from that lenity, which, even prior to the queftion of a legal charge, his critical fituation attracted. If they could fee no poffible end of public juftice, they fhould not retufe to him the indulgence of his own preconception upon this object: but, if they agreed with Mr.Hardinge, that he could not be heard with effect fo as to interfere with the courfe of the evidence, it

followed,

followed, that the evidence ought to proceed without admitting the fmalleft alteration into the progrefs of the bufinefs. The motion was farther oppofed by lord North and Mr. Anstruther, and it was fupported by Mr. Bearcroft and Mr. Nichols. The house having divided, the numbers appeared, ayes 140, noes 80.

Mr. Haftings appeared at the bar of the houfe of commons on the first of May; and on that and the following day delivered in his defence, in anfwer to Mr. Burke's charges. He concluded with requefling that the minutes of his defence might be permitted to lie upon the table. Major Scott made a motion in compliance with this request, and was feconded by Mr. Burke. As foon as this matter was adjusted, Mr. Burke moved to call the first of his witneffes to the bar, and procceded in the examination of feveral perfons returned from India during the three following weeks. In the course of this examination major Scott endeavoured to bring home to Mr. Burke a charge of partiality in the felection of fome witnefles, and the rejection of others. For this Mr. Burke accounted, by obferving, that it was no wonder, that he fhould have found the tellimony of fome of the witneffes for whom he had originally called to be unneceffary, fince he had exprefsly told the houfe from the first, that of not one of them had he any perfonal knowledge; and with refpect to others, he had thought it idle and abfurd to call witneffes to the bar, to begin with a crofs examination of them. In one of the inftances however, which major Scott fpecified, he propofed inlantly, with the approbation of the houfe, to call in the witnefs, and to examine him

with respect to the particulars with which he might be acquainted. Major Scott farther accufed Mr. Burke of unneceffary procraftination and delay, in this ftage of the bufinefs; but from this imputation he was defended by Mr. Pitt.

On the eighteenth of May, the evidence in favour of the profecution being nearly concluded, Mr. Burke explained to the house the mode in which he intended to proceed, and mentioned a day for bringing forward a leading question upon the fubject. The idea which he had formed, was that of firft taking the fenfe of the house upon all the charges collectively, and obtaining from them a decifion, whether they contained amafs of mifdemeanours, fufficient to autho rife a profecution by impeachment. In this mode of proceeding he had found that it would be impoffible for him to fuftain the fatigue of going through the whole of the accufation himfelf; and therefore he had obtained from other members a promife, that they would occafionally relieve him by taking up the fubject alternately, till the whole fhould be brought at once under the deliberation of the houfe. Mr. Pitt objected to the mode fpecified by Mr. Burke, and fuggefted, that it would in his opinion be better, first to take the fenfe of the committee on each charge individually, and then determine, whether upon the whole, or upon any particular ar ticle, there would be fufficient ground for an impeachment. Mr. Burke ufed various arguments in fupport of his arrangemer But the next day expreffed his willingnefs to comply with the fuggeftion of Mr. Pitt. When he reflected upon the latenefs of the feffion, and the importance of the fubject, he was the more convinced how valu

able