1788.

end. But what was the end of this law of his, was a question, from the solution CHAP. I. of which he pretty completely abstained. If it was the good government of India; he did not attempt the difficult task of proving that to this end the powers for which he contended were in any degree conducive. If it was the increase of ministerial influence; of their conduciveness to this end, no proof was required.

To the charge that he had introduced his act, under professions of not adding to the influence of the Crown, nor materially diminishing the powers of the Company; professions which his present proceedings completely belied; he made answer by asserting broadly, and confidently, that it was the grand intention of the act of 1784 to transfer the government of India from the Court of Directors to the Board of Control; and that he had never held a language which admitted a different construction.

Mr. Dundas denied what was asserted on the part of the Company, that for some time after the passing of the act, the Board of Control had admitted its want of title to the powers which now it assumed. The Company offered to produce proof of their assertion at the bar of the House. The ministers introduced a motion, and obtained a vote, that they should not be allowed. No further proof of the Company's assertion, according to the rules of practical logic, could be rationally required.

To show that the Board of Control had exercised the powers which it was thus proved that they had disclaimed, Mr. Dundas was precipitated into the production of facts, which were better evidence of other points than that to which he applied them. He made the following statement: That, in 1785, the resources of the Company were so completely exhausted, as to be hardly equal to payment of the arrears which were due to the army: That the troops were so exasperated by the length of those arrears, as to be ripe for mutiny: And that the Board of Control sent orders to apply the Company's money to the satisfaction of the troops, postponing payments of every other description. In this appropriation, however, was it not true, that the Directors, though reluctantly, did at last acquiesce?

Mr. Dundas further contended, that without the powers in question, namely the whole powers of government, the Board of Control would be a nugatory institution.

If the whole powers of government, however, were necessary for the Board of Controul, what use was there for another governing body without power? This was to have two governing bodies; the one real, the other only in show.

UNIV.

1788.

BOOK VI. Of this species of duplication the effect is, to lessen the chances for good government, increase the chances for bad; to weaken all the motives for application, honesty, and zeal in the body vested with power; and to furnish it with an ample screen, behind which its love of ease, power, lucre, vengeance, may be gratified more safely at the expense of its trust.

To crown the ministerial argument, Mr. Dundas advanced, that the powers which were lodged with the Board of Control, how great soever they might be, were lodged without danger, because the Board was responsible to parliament. To all those who regard the parliament as substantially governed by ministerial influence, responsibility to parliament means responsibility to the minister. The responsibility of the Board of Control to parliament, meant, according to this view of the matter, the responsibility of the ministry to itself. And all those, among whom the authors of the present bill and their followers were to be ranked as the most forward and loud, who denounced parliament as so corrupt, that it would have been sure to employ, according to the most wicked purposes of the minister, the powers transferred to it by the bill of Mr. Fox, must have regarded as solemn mockery, the talk, whether from their own lips, or those of other people, about the responsibility of ministers to parliament.

Meeting the objections to the sending of Kings' troops, Mr. Pitt confessed his opinion, that the army in India ought all to be on one establishment; and should all belong to the King; nor did he scruple to declare, that it was in preparation for this reform that the troops were now about to be conveyed.

With regard to the doctrine, called constitutional, about the necessity of an annual vote of parliament for the maintenance of all troops kept on foot by the King, he remarked, that the bill of rights, and the mutiny act, the only positive laws upon the subject, were so vague and indefinite (which is very true) as to be almost nugatory; that one of the advantages attending the introduction of the present question would be, to excite attention and apply reform to that important but defective part of the constitutional law; and that he was ready to receive from any quarter the suggestion of checks upon any abuse to which the army, or the patronage of India, might appear to be exposed.

If any persons imagined, that this language, about the reform of the constitutional law, would lead to any measures for that desirable end; they were egregiously deceived. Besides; was it any reason, because the law which pretended to guard the people from the abuse of a military power was inadequate to its ends, that therefore a military force should now be created, more independent of par

liament than any which, under that law, had as yet been allowed to exist? That CHAP. I. any danger, however, peculiar to itself, arose from this army, it was, unless for the purpose of the moment, weak to pretend.

Notwithstanding the immense influence of the minister, so much suspicion was excited by the contrast between his former professions, and the unlimited power at which he now appeared to be grasping, that the bill was carried through the first stages of its progress, by very small majorities. With a view to mitigate this alarm, Mr. Pitt proposed that certain clauses should be added; the first, to limit the number of troops, beyond which the orders of the Board of Control should not be obligatory on the East India Company; the second, to prevent the Board from increasing the salary attached to any office under the Company, except with the concurrence of Directors and Parliament; the third, to prevent it, except with the same concurrence, from ordering any gratuity for services performed; the fourth, to oblige the Directors annually to lay before parliament the account of the Company's receipts and disbursements.

The annexation of these clauses opened a new source of argument against the bill. A declaratory bill, with enacting clauses, involved, it was said, an absurdity which resembled a contradiction in terms. It declared that an act had a certain meaning; but a meaning limited by enactments yet remaining to be made. It declared that a law without limiting clauses, and a law with them, was one and the same thing. By the bill before them, if passed, the house would declare that certain powers had been vested in the Board of Control, and yet not vested, without certain conditions, which had not had existence. Besides, if such conditions were now seen to be necessary to prevent the powers claimed under the act from producing the worst of consequences, what was to be thought of the legislature for granting such dangerous powers? It was asked, if this was not so disgraceful to the wisdom of parliament, if it saw not the danger, or to its virtue, if it saw it without providing the remedy, as to afford a proof, that in 1784 no such powers were meant by the legislature to be conveyed?

A protest in the upper house, signed Portland, Carlisle, Devonshire, Portchester, Derby, Sandwich, Cholmondely, Powis, Cardiff, Craven, Bedford, Loughborough, Fitzwilliam, Scarborough, Buckinghamshire,-fifteen lordsexhibits, on the subject of the patronage, the following words: "The patronage of the Company-and this seems to be the most serious terror to the people of England-the Commissioners of Control enjoy in the worst mode, without that responsibility which is the natural security against malversation and abuse.

1788.

1788.

BOOK VI. They cannot immediately appoint; but they have that weight of recommendation and influence, which must ever inseparably attend on substantial power, and which, in the present case, has not any where been attempted to be denied. Nor is this disposal of patronage without responsibility the only evil that characterizes the system. All the high powers and prerogatives with which the commissioners are vested, they may exercise invisibly-and thus, for a period at least, invade, perhaps, in a great measure finally baffle, all political responsibility; for they have a power of administering to their clerks and other officers an oath of secrecy framed for the occasion by themselves; and they possess in the India House the suspicious instrument of a Secret Committee, bound to them by an oath."

CHAP. II.

The Trial of Mr. Hastings.

1788.

THE trial of Mr. Hastings commenced in Westminster Hall on the 13th day CHAP. II. of February, 1788. So great was the interest which this extraordinary event had excited, that persons of the highest elevation crowded to the scene.* After Opening speech of Mr. two days were spent in the preliminary and accustomed ceremonies, on the 15th Burke. Mr. Burke began. His oration was continued on the 16th, 18th, and 19th, and lasted four days. It was the object of this address to convey to the members of the court a general idea of the character and circumstances of the people of Hindustan; of their situation under the government of Englishmen; of the miseries which he represented them as enduring through the agency of Mr. Hastings; and of the motives, namely, pecuniary corruption, to which he ascribed the offences with which that Governor was charged. The most remark

* Take the following account, from the publication entitled, Trial of W. Hastings, Esq. &c. p. 1. "Previous to their Lordships approach to the Hall, about eleven o'clock, her Majesty, with the Princesses Elizabeth, Augusta, and Mary, made their appearance in the Duke of Newcastle's gallery. Her Majesty was dressed in a fawn-coloured satin, her head-dress plain, with a very slender sprinkling of diamonds. The royal box was graced with the Duchess of Gloucester and the young Prince. The ladies were all in morning dresses; a few with feathers and variegated flowers in their head-dress, but nothing so remarkable as to attract public attention. "Mrs. Fitzherbert was in the royal box.

"The Dukes of Cumberland, Gloucester, and York, and the Prince of Wales, with their trains, followed the Chancellor, and closed the procession.

"Upwards of 200 of the Commons, with the Speaker, were in the gallery.

"The Managers, Charles Fox and all, were in full dress.

"But a very few of the Commons were full dressed-some of them were in boots. Their seats were covered with green cloth-the rest of the building was one red."

"Mr. Hastings stood for some time-On a motion from a Peer, the Chancellor allowed, as a favour, that the prisoner should have a chair-And he sat the whole time-but occasionally, when he spoke to his Counsel.

"His Counsel were Mr. Law, Mr. Plomer, Mr. Dallas.-For the Commons-Dr. Scott and Dr. Lawrence; Messrs. Mansfield, Piggot, Burke, and Douglas.

"A party of horse-guards, under the command of a Field Officer, with a Captain's party from the horse-grenadiers, attended daily during the trial.

"A body of 300 foot-guards also kept the avenues clear, and a considerable number of constables attended for the purpose of taking offenders into custody."