mitted, that in the cafe of every fervant of the public, to whom vaft and momentous concerns were entrufted, it was but just that when a complaint was made, the grounds of that complaint ought to be weighed with the fituation in which he ftood. If he fuffered the neceffities of his fervice to carry him no farther than was abfolutely necefsary, and endeavoured, though it could not be done in its full extent, to reconcile his duty to his country with that he owed to individuals; he had then the double merit of difcretion as well as zeal ;-nay, even if in his exertions for the public, he fuffered himself to be carried beyond the line of ftrict and urgent neceffity, provided that it was evident that his intentions were fair and upright, God forbid that he or any man fhould deny him his due merit, or fay that the abundance of his zeal ought not to be allowed to make ample atonement for the error of his judgment. But he asked, was the conduct of Mr. Haftings, in that part of it now before the houfe, correfpondent to fuch principles? Was the crime that day alledged against him juftified by neceffity or was it of fuch a fize and complexion as any exifting neceffity could juftify? Where a departure was made from juftice and right, it was not fufficient to fay, that fuch a step was neceffary; it was incumbent on the party to point out and prove the neceffity, and the confequences likely to attend a too rigid observance of strict juftice and propriety. A comparifon might then be formed between the object to be gained, and the facrifice to be made, and a judgment of cenfure or approbation founded on the refult of fuch com

parifon. But in the prefent inftance no ftate neceffity whatfoever was attempted to be fhewn, and therefore there was no ground whatsoever for thofe who faw a criminal tendency in the tranfaction to refuse their consent to the motion.

Befides this topic of the neceflities of his fituation, the noble lord had reforted to another in favour of Mr. Haftings, namely, his general merits in the courfe of his fervice. There had been a period, he confeffed, in which fuch an argument might have been urged with fome force, but that period was now past. The committee was then called upon to determine not, upon a general view of facts, the general merits or demerits of the perfon accused, but, upon a particular inveftigation of a particular transaction, the criminality or innocence of that fingle tranfaction.

With respect to the particular charge then under difcuffion, it was not neceffary for him to fay much. He begged leave to refer the committee to that part of Mr. Haftings's correfpondence, where, in fpeaking of the recall of Mr. Shee from Farruckabad, Mr. Haftings acknowledged," that by fo doing he muft give up nabob Muzaffer Jung to the oppreffion of the vizier," fo that he could not juftify himself for fuch a ftep by any plea of wanting fufficient warning of the confequence, having evidently forefeen it; nor had there been any grounds of neceffity alledged to palliate the measure. But befides thus letting loofe the vizier on the nabob of Farruckabad, the confequence of which he knew would be the ruin and oppreffion of that unfortunate prince, and that this was done without any neceflity, what could excufe

his

his accepting of a prefent of fuch magnitude as that, which he had received from the nabob of Oude? Could such a transaction be excufed by any degree of neceffity? Was there a fleet in want of her neceffary fupplies; was there any army waiting for fubfiftence; or did any one branch whatsoever of the public fervice render so extraordinary a refource requifite? No; it was juftified by no neceflity -it could therefore be accounted for by nothing but corruption. But he had chiefly rifen, he faid, to interpofe as fpeedily as poflible between the high authority of the noble lord and the feelings of the houfe, left they might be led by his arguments to confound the twocafes; that of a man ftruggling against a violent neceflity, and at length obliged to give way to the exigency of the public fervice, and to deviate into a neceffary injuftice; and that of a perfon wantonly committing acts of tyranny and oppreflion, for which not even a pretence of public fervice had been alledged.

The committee divided upon this queftion; ayes 112-noes 50.

On the feventh of March, Mr. Burke rofe to beg the attention of the houfe to the many difficulties, with which the gentlemen, who had to furnish the houfe with the evidence neceffary for fubftantiating the charges against Mr. Haftings, had to labour. It was well known that the fervants of the company were under an obligation to fend over copies of their proceedings, minutes, and correfpondence to the court of directors at home. This was undoubtedly a neceffary and wife precaution; but in the cafe of Mr. Haftings, the moft glaring infiances of disobedience of this rule

had occurred. Whenever the late governor general thought proper, he mutilated, garbled, or fuppreffed his correfpondence, and one of the great difficulties of carrying on the profecution against that gentleman arofe from this circumftance; a circumftance involving in itself a charge of very confiderable weight and importance. Another difficulty originated from their ignorance of the titles of the papers they wished to call for. Mr. Burke, inftancing the late charge, faid, that he had called for the Farruckabad papers, and he thought that all of them had been prefented; but a very refpectable member of that house had afterwards called for others under another name, and had by those means furnished the houfe with the Perfian correfpondence, which proved to be very material. He next obferved, that the attorney of Mr. Haftings was the attorney of the Eaft-India company, in defence of whofe rights, and for the punishment of whose fervants, that house was now carrying on a profecution! He begged leave to point out the manifeft advantage which this circumftance gave Mr. Haltings over the house, for while they were groping in the dark, and gueffing at what papers they ought to call for, Mr. Haftings's attorney, who had daily accefs to all the company's papers, might lay his hand on any of them, and come to the bar of the house of lords, and there produce fome paper or other, to overturn the whole of the evidence which they had been able to come at, and affitt Mr. Hastings to laugh at the profecution. It ap peared, that a correfpondence was kept back which would fhew the remonftrances of the nabob of Oude

againft

confiderations to thofe gentlemen who had taken the lead in the profecution. After what had already paffed, he believed there was no one who had any regard to the dignity of parliament, or to the ends of public and fubftantial juftice, that could have any with but to forward it as much as poffible, and to bring it before the other house, in the most unquestionable fhape. But he conceived that it was by no means the best way to the end they had in view to clog it with useless, unneceffary, and impracticable matter. To ftrip it of all fuch was the most advifeable thing for the house to endeavour; and he wished the right honourable gentleman who had taken so active a part in the bufinefs, would, on fome early day afcertain and determine on fuch charges as he intended to bring forward; as there were many of those already before the house, that he was certain could never be made out in proof, or if they could, were not of fufficient, criminality to excuse and warrant the prefent mode of proceeding, For the feveral reafons therefore which he had given in the course of his fpeech, he faid, he fhould propofe an amendment to the prefent motion, which, if it fhould be a dopted by the house, would leave him at liberty to vote for the general queftion: his amendment was to add the following words to the motion: "In refpect to the contract for bullocks in the year 1779; that for opium in the year 1781; and to the increased falary of Sir Eyre Coote."

Mr. Burke rofe,, and declared, that he confidered the propofition made by the right honourable gentleman, as a propofition founded in

amity and friendship; that for his part he fhould be exceedingly happy to be able to ftate what other of the charges he should think it neceffary to go into, as containing criminal facts too ferious and important to be difpenfed with, or paffed over; that in truth he thought every one of the charges did contain matter of that defcription, and the great difficulty was, to determine what could be beft fpared. He refembled, in his prefent fituation, a fhipmaster, who, in order to lighten his vessel, was under the neceflity of throwing fome of the cargo overboard. But what articles he was to commit to the waves he was perfectly at a lofs to determine. Nay, he was afraid to enter on this office, leit gentlemen fhould afterwards tell him, "You, indeed, at first furnished yourself with an excellent cargo;, many of your articles were of the very beft quality; but whilft you have retained trifles, you have configned thofe, which, were of the greatest value, to the waves.

Mr.

Mr. Wyndham; after which Mr. Dundas rofe, and ftated the principal point, in which he thought the conduct of Mr. Haftings criminal. viz. the violation of the guarantee of the company to the treaty of 1774. To that treaty he conceived Fyzoola Khân had every right to confider the company as guarantee, in confequence of colonel Champion's figning his name as an atteftation of it, and of the fubfequent public authorised atteftation of it at Rampore. By the treaty of Chunar, in 1781, that guarantee was violated, and the British name brought into difgrace, as by an article of that treaty Fyzoola Khân was declared to have forfeited the protection of the British government, and permiffion was granted to the nabob vizier to refume his lands. That that permiffion was never intended to be fuffered by Mr. Haftings to be carried into execution, Mr. Dundas declared, he verily believed; and in that circumftance confifted, in his mind, a great part of Mr. Haftings's crimipality; as he thereby made use of the credit of the British name to delude the nabob vizier, and at the fame time to hold out to Fyzoola Khân an idea that the British government, which was the guarantee to him for the quiet poffeffion of Rampore, Shawabad, and fome other diftricts, had ftipulated by treaty to affift the nabob vizier in difpoffeffing him of thofe territories. He commented on the extreme criminality, of this conduct; but as it certainly differed materially from the conftruction that might be put on the charge, viz that it had been the intention of Mr. Haftings really to affift in difpoffelling Fyzoola Khân of his territories, he

could not agree to the motion, unlefs it was modified and tempered fo as to reftrict it to the points in which the matter of impeachment, in his opinion, really confifted. The better to convey his meaning to the committee, Mr. Dundas faid, he would produce the amendment he had defigned to offer to the motion. 'It was, in fubftance, to ftate, that in the charge there was matter of impeachment, as far as related to that part of the treaty of Chunar which went to a breach of the gua-rantee of the treaty of Rampore. Mr. Dundas said, he did not mean to prefs his amendment, if it should appear to be difagreeable to, gentlemen on the other side. He was aware he fhould have another opportunity of ftating it, and enforcing its reception, when the queftion of impeachment came to be agitated.

Mr. Burke obferved, in reply to Mr. Dundas, that he believed, upon a more attentive confideration of the charge, the learned member would find, that in the charge preferred by him there was not a fyllable amounting to an infinuation, much lefs a direct charge, that it had been Mr. Haftings's real intention to affift in difpoffeffing Fyzoola Khân of his jaghire; and the reafon was, becaufe he had neither direct legal, nor, fufficiently ftrong prefumptive evidence to fupport fuch an infinuation. The great charge against Mr. Haftings in this cafe was, that he had kept Fyzoola Khân in a fever for ten years together, in which that father of agriculture (for fo Mr. Haftings calls him) was put into a perpetual feries of hot and cold fits, not knowing whether he was to look up to the British government in India as his protectors

or