the committee declared their readiness to resort to their advice as to the services they thought necessary for effectually carrying on the prosecution. Mr. Sheridan contended, that after having received such a letter from the committee, it was a little hard that government should countenance such a motion as the present. The house divided; ayes 60; noes 19. The managers all withdrew without dividing.

MAY 30.

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MR. HASTINGS.

Mr. Fox observed, that as a particular account of the distribution of the sums expended, in consequence of the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq., had been before the house during the space of some days, he wished to know when the honourable gentleman who moved for the account, and said he had doubts relative to a part of the general heads stated in that account, meant either to bring forward the said doubts, or declare whether they still left upon his mind the same impression.

Mr. Burgess answered, that in his humble opinion, he had sufficiently done his duty in calling for the papers. They were now before the house, and an opportunity was open to every gentleman to form his sentiments upon the subject. What his doubts were, he imagined, must suggest themselves to every gentleman who read the accounts, and therefore he left to persons, who had more weight and authority in that house than he had, to take the matter up; but if no other person should, and the house should call upon him to bring the subject forward, he was perfectly ready to obey their commands.

MR. SHERIDAN observed, that the sort of way in which the matter had been treated, was a little extraordinary. The honourable gentleman, if his recollection did not greatly deceive him, had, on a former day, said, that he had his doubts upon one of the heads of the general account, but that he could not say whether those doubts were well founded or not, because he saw a more particular statement of the items of the accounts; that particular statement had now been presented some days, and the honourable gentleman had just declared, he still entertained his doubts, but that he left it to other gentlemen to promote the discussion. Mr. Sheridan added, that he wished the honourable gentleman would either act upon his doubts, or get some other gentleman to take his doubts up for him, and act upon them. From what had already passed in that house upon the subject, the matter ought not to drop without a farther investigation.

Mr. Burgess answered, that if the house thought it was now more peculiarly his province to bring the subject forward, he had not the smallest objection to take the task upon him; and, in that case, he believed the proper way would be either

to move "" that the papers be referred to a committee of the whole house, or to give notice of a day on which he would state his sentiments upon their contents." Mr. Pitt recommending the latter mode, Mr. Burgess gave notice for the ensuing Friday.

Mr. Pitt called upon Mr. Sheridan to know, when the honourable gentleman meant to bring forward his promised discussion of the operation and effect of the commutation act.

Mr. Sheridan answered, that from the right honourable gentleman's pressing so much to know when he would bring forward the discussion of the commutation act, he was persuaded that the right honourable gentleman entertained strong hopes, that he would not be able to introduce the investigation of it during the course of the present session. The right honourable gentleman, however, ought to recollect that there were gentlemen in that house who had no inconsiderable share of important duty to discharge elsewhere. It was well known that he had been employed for some time past in managing the prosecution of a charge of some magnitude in Westminster Hall. It was not very fair, therefore, pending such a business, to call upon him to say, when he would bring forward the discussion of a very different subject in that house. This, he would assure the right honourable gentleman, that as soon as he had summed up the charge he had been superintending, he would, if the house was likely to sit long enough, give notice the very next day, that at the distance of two or three days only, he would resume the discussion of the effects of the commutation act.

Mr. Pitt declared himself perfectly satisfied.

JUNE 3.

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MR. HASTINGS IN WESTMINSTER HALL.

MR. SHERIDAN'S SPEECH ON SUMMING UP THE EVIDENCE ON THE SECOND, OR BEGUM CHARGE.

Since the commencement of this memorable trial Westminster Hall had not experienced so numerous or so brilliant an assemblage of persons as crowded every part of it this day. By eight o'clock in the morning, the avenues leading to the court through New and Old Palace Yards, were filled with persons of the first distinction, many of them peeresses in full dress, who stood in the open air for upwards of an hour before the gates were opened. The exertions made in pressing forward to get convenient seats, had nearly proved fatal to many.

The peers did not enter the hall till twelve o'clock. A few minutes after, the lord chancellor, having bowed to Mr. Sheridan to signify to him that their lordships were then ready to hear him, that honourable gentleman rose, whilst all about him preserved the most dignified and awful silence.

MR. SHERIDAN said it was not his intention to trespass upon their lordships' attention for any length of time, in the consideration of the charge immediately before them, by making many preliminary observations. Such general remarks, as it was in his power to make, would only weaken what had been already urged by the right honourable gentleman who was the principal mover of the impeachment-whose genius exeeded everything but his disposition-who understood and felt for all-through whom and by whom, so great an embodied stand had been made in defence of the rights of man against man's oppression. He might, however, without injury to the general cause, and without exposing too much of their lordships' patience, say a few words, both upon the subject of the impeachment in general, and the particular situation of himself and his honourable colleagues who had been appointed to conduct it.

He thought, that if ever there was a prosecution in which those who carried it on were free from all unwarrantable resentment, or improper bias, it was the present. He could speak from his own heart, and declare most solemnly, that he found there no private incentive to the part he had taken in this impeachment; and he verily believed he might safely say that all his honourable colleagues, as well as himself, were actuated solely by the zeal they felt for the public welfare, and their honest solicitude for the honour of their country, and the happiness of those who were under its dominion and protection. With such subjects in view, he really lost sight of Mr. Hastings; who, however great in other respects, was too insignificant to be mixed with such important considerations. "The unfortunate gentleman at the bar is no mighty object in my mind. Amidst the series of mischiefs, to my sense, seeming to surround him, what is he but a petty nucleus, involved in its lamina, scarcely seen or thought of." It was impossible, therefore, that his honourable colleagues or himself should feel themselves under the influence of malice or ill-will towards the object of the prosecution; they acted solely under a delegated power; they stood at their lordships' bar as the representatives of the commons of England;

and as they acted in that public capacity, it might as well be said that the commons of Great Britain, in whose name the impeachment had been brought before their lordships, were actuated by malice to the prisoner, as that the managers of the house of commons had any private spleen to gratify in discharging the duty imposed upon them by their principals. In truth, the prosecution was not begotten in prejudice, or nursed in error. It was founded in the clearest conviction of the wrongs which the natives of Hindostan had suffered through the mal-administration of those in whose hands the country had placed extensive powers, which ought to have been exercised for the benefit of the governed, but which had been used by the prisoner at the bar for the shameful purposes of oppression.

Toconvince their lordships that the British government-which ought to have been a blessing to the powers in India connected with it--had been a scourge to the natives, and the cause of desolation to the most flourishing provinces in Hindostan, he had only to read a letter that had been received not long since from Lord Cornwallis, the present governor-general of Bengal. In that letter the noble lord stated he had been received by the Nabob Visier with every mark of friendship and respect; but the honours he received at the court of Lucknow had not prevented him from seeing the desolation that overspread the face of the country, the sight of which had shocked his very soul. He spoke to the nabob on the subject, and earnestly recommended it to him to adopt some system of government that might restore the prosperity of his kingdom, and make his people happy. The nabob's answer was strikingly remarkable. That degraded prince said to his lordship, that as long as the demands of the English government upon the revenue of Oude should remain unlimited, he (the nabob) could have no interest in establishing any system of economy; and whilst the English should continue to interfere in the internal government of his country, it would be in vain for him to attempt any salutary reform; for his subjects knew he was only a cypher in his own dominions, and therefore laughed at and despised his authority and that of his ministers.

Surely the state to which that wretched prince was reduced by our mismanagement, and the ruin which had, by the same cause, been brought upon his country, called loudly upon their lordships to interfere, and rescue their national honour and character from the infamy to which both would be exposed, if no inquiry

was made into the causes of such calamities, and no punishment was inflicted on the authors of them. Policy, as well as justice, called upon them to vindicate the character of Great Britain in India; for he would prove to them, from good authority, that the native powers had so little reliance upon our faith, that the preservation of our empire in that quarter of the world could be effected only by convincing the native princes that a religious adherence to its engagements should, in future, characterize the British government in that country. To prove the necessity there was for bringing such a conviction to the mind of every native prince, Mr. Sheridan read a letter addressed to Lord Cornwallis, from Captain Kirkpatrick, who, when he wrote it, was resident at the court of the great Maratta chief, Madajee Scindia. This gentleman stated in his letter, that the new system of moderation brought about by his lordship was certainly the only one that could give stability to our empire in India; but at the same time, he must observe, that as the princes of that country had so frequently had cause to lament that no engagement could bind us, it would require time, and repeated proofs of good faith, to convince them that we were serious in the professions which were then held out to them on the part of the British government; that ambition, or a desire of conquest, should no longer be encouraged by British councils ;-and that strict adherence to all treaties and engagements should be the basis of all our future political transactions.

To these letters, Mr. Sheridan said, he must call upon their lordships to give an answer-not by words, for they will find no credit with the natives, who had so often been deceived by our professions; but by deeds, which would convince them that we were truly in earnest; for it was only by our punishing those who have been guilty of the delinquencies which have brought ruin on the country, that we could possibly gain confidence with the people of India, and satisfy them that future delinquents will not be encouraged or countenanced by the ruling powers at home.

In looking round for an object fit to be held out to the world as an example of national justice, their lordships must necessarily fix their eyes upon Mr. Hastings. He was the great cause of the degradation of our character in India, and of the oppression of its devoted inhabitants; and he was the only victim that could atone for the calamities he had occasioned.

But whilst he pointed out the prisoner at the bar as a proper