ridan now added, that, after the vote of that day. Mr. Haf tings and the House would be at iffue. The business muft then be removed to the proper tribunal, and he begged in the interim that gentlemen would recollect (for they feemed a little to forget) that their votes upon the diftinct charges did not go to make Mr. Haftings a criminal, and they were not acting as Judges, but as profecutors. The judgementfeat was placed elsewhere, and if Mr. Haftings fhould be acquitted, unworthy, indeed, fhould he hold that man who either within or beyond the walls of Parliament confidered. Mr. Haftings otherwife than innocent.

The Solicitor General faid, that he could not vote for an The Solidimpeachment, whatever he might think of the criminality for General proved in this charge; and therefore, without entering at

all into the confideration of the merits of the motion, he / would not vote upon it.

tart.

Mr. Vanfittart read a part of Mr. Haftings' letter of Mr. Vanfit 1782, to prove that Mr. Haftings had fent the Directors at home an account of his having received the prefent of 100,000l. and that he meant to carry it to their account before he had received any of the money, which he confidered as an unanswerable reply to the arguments urged by Mr. Sheridan on the preceding night, touching the prefent he received at Chunar. Mr. Vanfittart contending, that releafing the Nabob from his guarantee was no crime.

Mr. Fox obferved, that when the charge relative to Cheyt Mr. Fox. Sing was difcuffed, their votes had been the fame, but their arguments had differed exceedingly. Now, that they appeared to be but trifling, and not more than one or two in number, it would be eafy for him to ftate in what refpect they differed. A right honourable gentleman (Mr. Pitt) had thought proper to remark, that he would pass over the contradictions in the different defences of Mr. Haftings, and. confider them as mere matter of jealousy; but he (Mr. Fox) begged leave to remind the right honourable gentleman, that the falfe accounts of tranfactions in India fent home to the Directors by Mr. Haftings in 1781, and which were now acknowledged to be falfe, was in a fervant of the Company, of itself, in his opinion, a matter highly criminal. Another thing had fallen from the right honourable gentleman, which he could not confent to, and that was this: the right honourable gentleman had faid, Mr. Haftings was not answerable for the manner of effecting his orders to feize the treafures of the Begum, or for the feverities practifed on their Minifters; that he muft deny. Whoever in Great Britain directed a felony to be committed, he was answerable for all the confequences. Mr. Haftings gave orders for the plunder of the Begums, he directed it to be carried into ef

fe8,

fter.

fect, and he was anfwerable for all the confequences. An honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox obferved) had talked of Mr. Haftings fending home advice of the prefent he received to the Directors. Undoubtedly he did fo, but how? He wrote home word that the fum was too large to be concealed; that he had put it to their account, but he begged of them to let him have it for himself. Mr. Fox commented on this, and then faid, the right honourable gentleman talks of releasing a guarantee, as if it were a flight matter. What, violate the folemnly-pledged faith of the Company, break a guarantee, and call it a trifle! The act was in the highest degree

criminal.

Mr. Demp Mr. Dempfler obferved, that his ideas concerning the defence of Mr. Haftings were (he was well apprifed) fo different from the fentiments of other gentlemen, that they were more likely to injure thofe he meant to ferve, by being ftated, than to ferve them; for this reafon he had hitherto generally given a filent vote upon the days when the charges had been heard; but as he now forefaw he fhould vote in a minority, he would venture to declare why he thought Mr. Haftings ought not to be impeached. Mr. Dempfter then faid, that when this country granted a power to the EaftIndia Company to conduct the government of their territories in India, they authorised the fending out Governors to act at difcretion as the neceffity of the cafe required; and unless it could be proved that they acted from motives of perfonal corruptnefs, for what they did upon the principle of State neceffity, they ought not to be held amenable; for Governors exercifing power at fuch an immense distance as India could not be called to account like British Minifters at hone. Mr. Dempfter juftified the treatment of the Begum's eunuchs, by faying the custom of the East fanctioned fuch feverities; that money was there collected by the whip, and that stripes were the ufual means of our enforcing payment. Mr. Dempfter faid, his conftruction of Mr. Haftings' words relative to his prefent differed greatly from that of the right honourable gentleman who fpoke laft, by talking of the difficulty of difguifing fuch a fum on account of its magnitude. Mr. Haftings furely meant not to affign that as a reafon for paying it into their treasury.

Mr. Boughton Rous.

Mr. Boughton Rous faid, that although he was very ready to concur in opinion with the honourable gentleman who fpoke laft, that the conduct of perfons who had been employed in ftations of great power in India, ought not to be fcrutinized by thofe rigid maxims which belong to our own conftitution, or to the common practice of free nations; yet he could not allow a juftification to be fet up for Mr. Haftings by reference to a fuppofed practice of cruelty in the revenue

fyftem

fyftem of Bengal, which he did not conceive to exift. That being his fincere opinion, he was confident he should gratify the feelings of the Committee, as well as his own, in preventing fuch impreffions from going abroad, and in endeavouring to remove a difgraceful imputation from the British government in Bengal, which in general he believed to be humane. He mentioned moreover fome circumstances to fhow, partly from his own knowledge, and partly from the information he had lately received from Mr. Shore, who prefided three years in the Khalfah at Calcutta, or Exchequer of the Company's poffeffions, that the custom of enforcing the collection of the revenues by corporal punishment, was either abfolutely difcontinued by the English, or that it prevailed infinitely lefs than it had done before the country came into our poffeffion.

As to the question before the Committee, Mr. Rous faid, that, according to his idea of the Jaghire tenure in India, and of thofe Jaghires poffeffed by the Princeffes of Oude, he held the refumption of them to be a justifiable act, upɔn principles of general policy, even notwithstanding the guarantee of the Company's government, provided an equivalent was fecured to them in money. But he did not think fufficient grounds were laid to justify the feizure of their treasures, and therefore he must join in the refolution propofed at the fame time, without pledging himself, in the prefent ftage of the bufinefs, neceffarily to vote for an impeachment, or to reject the plea of extenuation, in cafe there fhould appear, as he thought there would, in difcuffing fome of the remaining charges against Mr. Haftings, matter deferving rather the applaufe than the cenfure of Parliament.

Mr. Rous here made an appeal to the candour of those gentlemen who had been in India, and whofe refidence in that country had unquestionably qualified them to judge between him and the honourable gentleman who fpoke laft, to fay, whether the cruel treatment mentioned by the honourable gentleman, or the direct reverfe of the propofitions, was the moft diftinguishing feature of the English government in Bengal.

This had the defired effect; and Mr. Le Mefrier pro- Mr. Le Me-ceeded with confiderable warmth and energy to defend Mr. ferier. Haftings, denying that any one person in India called for the crimination, much lefs his impeachment, although it had been faid that millions complained of his conduct.

Smith,

Mr. Samuel Smith concluded the debate by obferving, that Mr. Samuel he had seldom troubled the House upon India questions, and that he trusted even at a late hour the fituation he formerly held, and the circumstances under which he quitted it would fecure to him the attention of the Committee for a few

ininutes;

minutes; that he rofe not merely as the advocate of Mr. Haftings, but in defence of public fituation, called upon to act for the prefervation of the state, in great and critical moments, when it is neceffary to decide without much deliberation, and the falvation of the empire may depend upon immediate action; under fuch circumstances, and when the great end has been attained, that it was furely hard to criminate, becaufe in the execution of it there may have been fome errors, which never would have arifen in cafes where the fubject could have met a cool deliberation. That the feverity towards the Begums in the execution of thofe plans, was made neceffary to be carried into effect with firmness, from the fituation in which the empire then flood, and when a want of decifion might have loft it, was contended as a criminal charge against Mr. Haftings, and argued as wanton acts of cruelty; furely it was a little unfair to attribute it to fuch motives, when the whole tenor of his private life gives a complete negative to fuch an affertion. That he would venture to fay there is not a more humane, a more benevolent, a more generous man, or a man more open to the calls of private friendship, or who during his adminiftration had been a better friend to the diftreffed, or more liberally relieved them. That he would for one, never admit that good and amiable principles in the private man, could be fo contrafted in the public. Had there ever existed in this or any other country any adminiftration the most pure, whofe every tract would bear the test of abstract inveftigation? If fuch conduct is difficult to ftand the trial of complete perfection in a free Government like this, how much less is it to be expected in that of a Governor fent to rule a People, accustomed to defpotic government, and prone to look upon every relaxation of feverity and enforcement, as a weakness in the executive member of it. That a People ufed to the habits of an abfolute ruler, were but ill formed to receive, or to be controled by the lenient measures of a British conftitution. He obferved that this nation was a humane one, and easily roufed by the call of oppreffion. That he would state it fairly to the Committee, and defy any one to difapprove it, that notwithstanding all that has been faid within thofe walls, and all the publications that have made their appearance without them, that the nation did not feel to this moment that Mr. Hastings had acted wrong, or that he was an object of impeachment. He faid, is there any nation in Europe that does not feel or know the fervices he has rendered this country, and that it was his measures and firmness that defeated the defigns of very able men fent to that part of the world, to counteract his plans, and to confpire our ruin. We are trying, fays he, government

upon

upon the narrow scale of private life; we are holding out
that in the exertions to fave an empire, the fcope and ten-
dency of the measure shall be laid out of the question, and
the little errors that may have arifen, become the subject of
impeachment. That he lamented feelings from a convic-
tion, that if in cafes of imminent danger to the country,
great and able men would not take upon themselves to act,
from an apprehension of refponfibility, if in the moment
of that danger the whole of their condu did not square
with the cool deliberation of the clofet, that the empire
might be loft. And forry I am, fays he, to remark that
there feems to be but little inducement for a man to risk any
thing in the public fervice, or to exert himself beyond the
cold line of official duty. This country, at fome future
time may feel the effect of such a doctrine, confirmed in my
opinion, that it is uncandid to try Mr. Haftings by the dif-
cuffion of minute parts of his conduct, on questions of
abstract propofition, and without taking into our view the
scope and tendency of it, and the material benefits that have
refulted to this country, and which it every hour feels. I
fhall give my decided negative to the question.

The Committee divided, Ayes 175.-Noes 68.
The Houfe adjourned.

Friday, 9th February.

Mr. Adam begged leave once more to make his complaints Mr. Adam gainst the circumftance of detaining of the writ for Renfrewshire. He cited different Acts of Parliament to support the arguments he ufed, and concluded with making the complaint in form, and moving, that the returning officer appear at the bar on the third of April, which day, he faid, he had fixed on, as the petition complaining of an undue election would in all probability be heard aud decided towards the end of March.

Sir Adam Ferguson afferted, that the Act of Parliament Sir Adam had directly a contrary tendency to that, in which the ho- Ferguson, nourable gentleman had argued it. Sir Adam gave the Houfe a fort of hiftory of the customs of Scotland refpecting elections for Members of Parliament, and faid, the gentleman who was the object of the motion, was upwards of 70 years of age, a man of a moft refpectable character, that he had been Sheriff depute of the county for above forty years and was efteemed by all who knew him. Sir Adam afked, what end was the motion to anfwer, or what neceffity was there for it, when the election was over, and the gentleman who complained had taken his feat?

Mr. Adam replied, and defended his former argument.

Mr.