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Literature. Reviews.
great gift of government , the greatest , the best , that was ever given by God to mankind , to be the plaything and the sport of the fecbie will of a man who , by , 1 blasphemous , absurd , and petulant usurpation , would place his own feeble , contemptible , ridiculous will in tho place of thc Divine wisdom and justice ? rlo , my lords . It is not to bo had by conquest ; for by conquest , which is a more immediate designation of the hand of God , the conqueror only succeeds to all the painful duties and subordination to the power of God which belonged to the sovereithat
gn held tho country before . He catmot have it by succession ; for no man can succeed to fraud , rapine , and violence ; neither by compact , covenant , or submission , nor by any other means , can arbitrary power bo conveyed to any man . Those who give and those Avho receive arbitrary power are alike criminal , and there is no man but is bound to resist it to the best of his power , Avherever it shall show its face to the world . Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men iu not resisting it to the best of their power .
Law and arbitrary power arc at eternal enmity . Name me a magistrate , and I Avill name property ; name me power , and I will name protection . It is a contradiction in terms , it is blasphemy in religion , it is wickedness in politics , to say that any man can have arbitrary power . Judges are guided and governed by the eternal laws of justice , to which we are all subject . AA e may bite our chains if Ave will , but Ave shall be made to know ourselves , and be taught that man is bom to be governed by law ; and he that -will substitute will in the place of it is an enemy to God . "
Our next illustration shall he his character of the crimes laid to the charge of the ex-governor general . He says : —• "My lords , iu the nest place I observe , with respect to the crime which we chose , Ave chose one which we contemplated in its nature , with all its circumstances , with all its extenuations , and with all its aggra-A'ations ; and , on that review , we are bold to say that the crimes Avith Avhich we charge the prisoner at the bar are substantial crimesthat
; they are no errors or mistakes , such as wise and good men might possibly tail into . Thej' are crimes , my lords , truly , and properly , and emphatically , crimes . The commons are too liberal not to allow for the difficulties of a great and arduous public situation . They know too well that domineering necessities will frequently occur in all great affairs . They know that the exigencies of a great occasion , in its precipitate careerdo not ive time to have recourse to fixed principlesbut that
, g , they oblige men frequently to decide in a manner that calmer reason would certainly have rejected . AVe know that , as we are to be served by men , tho persons who serve us must be tried as men , and that there is a very large allowance indeed due to human infirmity and human error . This , my lords , we knew and had weighed before Ave came to your lordships' bar . But the crimes which Ave charge in these articles are not the lapses and defects and errors of common human nature and such know and
railty , as we feel and can allow for . They are crimes f which have their rise in the wicked dispositions of men ; they are crimes * hat have their rise in avarice , rapacity , pride , cruelty , ferocity , malignity of temper , haughtiness , insolence ; in short , my lords , in everything that manifests a heart blackened to the very blackest—a heart died deep in blackness—a heart corrupted , vitiated , and gangrened , to the A-ery core . If we do not lant the crimes that Ave charge [ him Avith in ! those
p vices-which the breast of man is made to abhor aud its laws to protect against , we desire no longer to be heard on this occasion . Let everything be pleaded that can be pleaded on the score of error and infirmity , we give up the whole . AVo stand on crimes that were crimes of deliberation . AVe charge him with nothing that he did not commit upon deliberation , that he did not commit against remonstrance . AA e charge him with nothing that he did not commit against command . ' We charge him Avith that he did not commit
nothing contrary to the advice , contrary to the admonition and reprimand , of those who Avere authorised by the laws to reprove and reprimand him . They were crimes , not against forms , but against those eternal laws of justice which you aro assembled here , to assert : which forms are made to support and not to supersede m any instance whatever . 'They were , not in formal and technical language but in real and absolute effecthi crimes and
, , gh misdemeanours . " AVe next turn to Fox , noting the simplicity with which he marshals his facts , his clearness in narrating than , and his vigour hi dealing with them , AVC come to his biting sarcasm on Lord Tlmrlow ' s comparison of Hastings to Alexander the Great , which he opens thus : —¦
" i . ly lords , I state this to show tho character of this man ; and I here find some little account in my own mind for a parallel which I hear was once made between thc prisoner at the bar ami the "ivatest though not perhaps tho most amiable , diameter nf antiquity—I mean Alexander the Great . I have heard that the services of this man have been compared to the important conquests of that extraordinary character who is so well known in every part of thc Avorld by the name of Alexander the Great . I am told that that has from hih autho
come g - rity ; that it has come from a person of such rank and authority as to dispute m some cases precedency with the princes of the blood in tins country . I have heard that from such authority it has been said there might possibly bo some resemblance , and that it has been attempted to draw % parallel between Alexander the Great and the prisoner ' at the oar . L confess there is some resemblance ; but it must be in Alexander s case when intoxicated ; when he had the vanity to suppose himself
a god aud not a man ; when , in the heat of a debauch , ho set fire to a town to gratify his feelings at the moment ; when , in a debauch , at the moment of rage , in fury and corruption , he did those acts which cast a shade upon all his conquests , and made it doubtful Avhether now he is more , to be revered for the great acts ho performed , or detested for those disgraceful actions of which in those circumstances he was guilty . In that vieAv I see a resemblance between these two persons , ft appears
as if the prisoner in his sobei' moments was something liko -Alexander when rising from the fumes of . a debauch . If in that view the parallel , was stated , it Avas Avorthy of the great abilities by which , as I lnrvo heard , it was drawn . ' All that disgraced my betters met iu me ' is a compliment wisely and nobly refused by a great philosopher and poet in this country . If there be any resemblance in this case , it is only that the spot—the specks—the blemishes—of that great character resemble the constant habits of the life of the man now before your lordships . "
In juxta-position the following specimen Avill SIIOAV how eloquently Fox could deal Avith the patriotic feelings of the highest court of judicature in the realm Avhen he addresses to the lords such an harangue as this : — ' Let me put this to your lordships' consideration . You are the first court of English justice in this kingdom : it concerns you more nearly , if possible , than the rest of the subjects of this country . AA ill you
suffer this sample of British justice to be exhibited in India and to have the sanction of your approbation ? AVe are come to a period iu winch it is in A'ain to dissemble : we must own the consequences of our decision . There was a period , I admit it , AA'hen the affairs of India were so little known in this country , when iu the labyrinth of long and tedious volumes the whole was so confused and obscured , that even those who were willing to know found it a , task too arduous for moderate aud common industry—when those who were willing , acting from their feelings
rather than their knowledge—when those who we 2-e willing rather to express their gratitude to those Avho had provided for their relations —• could at least plead ignorance to their own conscience and lull the feelings which must arise upon their minds from the eventful history of that country , shutting their ears to anything that came from it , except what came in an agreeable and acceptable shape . Such was the case respecting that country , till the indefatigable zeal and industry of one man—orto express myself more properlthe three distinguishable
, y , characters of the English nation—incorruptible virtue , sublime genius , aud warm enthusiasm ( without which virtue and genius are insufficient and almost useless qualities to mankind)—these great qualities combined in one individual—have torn the veil of ignorance from the eyes of the public . AVe can no longer pretend not to . know what the virtue , the diligence , the zeal , the enthusiasm , and what the genius of that man have brought before the public , Avhether Ave would see it or not ; Avhat he has forced upon them in spite of discouragement ; what he has forced
upon them , AA'ith an ardour and zeal that rarely accompany tho pursuit of men in any case where there is no personal object to be obtained . He has clone this ; he has done it greatly and nobly ; and his name , if this country regains its fame in India , will go down to posterity as
having clone the greatest service to this country that ever was clone by any man iu it . That is with respect to him . AAlth respect to us , to your lordships , to the public , one consequence has happened—you cim no longer plead ignorance . Your hear the maxims , you hear tho principles , you hear the system upon which British government lias been exercised iu India . You hear the ideas upon AA'hich British j uridical and British criminal justice has been distributed in India . Your lordships cannot pretend not to know . You must now , therefore , come to
this alternative—you must be the aA'engers of or the accomplices in the deeds of Mr . Hastings . You have no other alternative but to punish Mr . Hastings ; not AA'ith such a punishment as he inflicted upon Chcyt Sing , with a punishment disproportionate to his crimes , but apportioned to them—if such power be within the roach of your lordships—or you must declare at once in his favour , and render yourselves accompl ices in his guilt by giving your sanction to that iniquitous perversion of justice I liai-e stated .
"All judicial punishments arc for example , and so are all judicial , acquittals . If your lordships acquit Mr . Hastings upon this charge , you Avill send this out to India—that your idea of the proportion of crimes and punishments is this : that a short delay in the payment of £ 50 , 000 , that an offer of five hundred matchlock men , instead of five hundred cavalry , shall be punished AA'ith a fine of five hundred thousand pounds , Avith degradation from dignity , imprisonment of person and expulsion from territory . You must lie the accomplices , if you will not take the
other glorious character to be the avengers , of those crimes Avhich I have stated to your lordships . " If it be asked—if that pitiful , miserable , illiberal , and contemptible argument , which I cannot find epithets enough to degrade , and to point out the scorn which I feel upon the subject , should be stated to your lordships—that we are not the Avronged , the oppressed—I say , though Ave are not the oppressed , yet AVO arc the wronged : the British nation is the Avronged . Am I to flatter ourselves aud the British nation , to tell
you that we boar a good character in Europe with respect to our transactions in India ? If I did I should indeed most grossly flatter . There was a period Avhen Spain AA'as infamous , as it were , all over Europe with respect to her conduct to her colonies . 'Why ? Because she did not
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature. Reviews.
great gift of government , the greatest , the best , that was ever given by God to mankind , to be the plaything and the sport of the fecbie will of a man who , by , 1 blasphemous , absurd , and petulant usurpation , would place his own feeble , contemptible , ridiculous will in tho place of thc Divine wisdom and justice ? rlo , my lords . It is not to bo had by conquest ; for by conquest , which is a more immediate designation of the hand of God , the conqueror only succeeds to all the painful duties and subordination to the power of God which belonged to the sovereithat
gn held tho country before . He catmot have it by succession ; for no man can succeed to fraud , rapine , and violence ; neither by compact , covenant , or submission , nor by any other means , can arbitrary power bo conveyed to any man . Those who give and those Avho receive arbitrary power are alike criminal , and there is no man but is bound to resist it to the best of his power , Avherever it shall show its face to the world . Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men iu not resisting it to the best of their power .
Law and arbitrary power arc at eternal enmity . Name me a magistrate , and I Avill name property ; name me power , and I will name protection . It is a contradiction in terms , it is blasphemy in religion , it is wickedness in politics , to say that any man can have arbitrary power . Judges are guided and governed by the eternal laws of justice , to which we are all subject . AA e may bite our chains if Ave will , but Ave shall be made to know ourselves , and be taught that man is bom to be governed by law ; and he that -will substitute will in the place of it is an enemy to God . "
Our next illustration shall he his character of the crimes laid to the charge of the ex-governor general . He says : —• "My lords , iu the nest place I observe , with respect to the crime which we chose , Ave chose one which we contemplated in its nature , with all its circumstances , with all its extenuations , and with all its aggra-A'ations ; and , on that review , we are bold to say that the crimes Avith Avhich we charge the prisoner at the bar are substantial crimesthat
; they are no errors or mistakes , such as wise and good men might possibly tail into . Thej' are crimes , my lords , truly , and properly , and emphatically , crimes . The commons are too liberal not to allow for the difficulties of a great and arduous public situation . They know too well that domineering necessities will frequently occur in all great affairs . They know that the exigencies of a great occasion , in its precipitate careerdo not ive time to have recourse to fixed principlesbut that
, g , they oblige men frequently to decide in a manner that calmer reason would certainly have rejected . AVe know that , as we are to be served by men , tho persons who serve us must be tried as men , and that there is a very large allowance indeed due to human infirmity and human error . This , my lords , we knew and had weighed before Ave came to your lordships' bar . But the crimes which Ave charge in these articles are not the lapses and defects and errors of common human nature and such know and
railty , as we feel and can allow for . They are crimes f which have their rise in the wicked dispositions of men ; they are crimes * hat have their rise in avarice , rapacity , pride , cruelty , ferocity , malignity of temper , haughtiness , insolence ; in short , my lords , in everything that manifests a heart blackened to the very blackest—a heart died deep in blackness—a heart corrupted , vitiated , and gangrened , to the A-ery core . If we do not lant the crimes that Ave charge [ him Avith in ! those
p vices-which the breast of man is made to abhor aud its laws to protect against , we desire no longer to be heard on this occasion . Let everything be pleaded that can be pleaded on the score of error and infirmity , we give up the whole . AVo stand on crimes that were crimes of deliberation . AVe charge him with nothing that he did not commit upon deliberation , that he did not commit against remonstrance . AA e charge him with nothing that he did not commit against command . ' We charge him Avith that he did not commit
nothing contrary to the advice , contrary to the admonition and reprimand , of those who Avere authorised by the laws to reprove and reprimand him . They were crimes , not against forms , but against those eternal laws of justice which you aro assembled here , to assert : which forms are made to support and not to supersede m any instance whatever . 'They were , not in formal and technical language but in real and absolute effecthi crimes and
, , gh misdemeanours . " AVe next turn to Fox , noting the simplicity with which he marshals his facts , his clearness in narrating than , and his vigour hi dealing with them , AVC come to his biting sarcasm on Lord Tlmrlow ' s comparison of Hastings to Alexander the Great , which he opens thus : —¦
" i . ly lords , I state this to show tho character of this man ; and I here find some little account in my own mind for a parallel which I hear was once made between thc prisoner at the bar ami the "ivatest though not perhaps tho most amiable , diameter nf antiquity—I mean Alexander the Great . I have heard that the services of this man have been compared to the important conquests of that extraordinary character who is so well known in every part of thc Avorld by the name of Alexander the Great . I am told that that has from hih autho
come g - rity ; that it has come from a person of such rank and authority as to dispute m some cases precedency with the princes of the blood in tins country . I have heard that from such authority it has been said there might possibly bo some resemblance , and that it has been attempted to draw % parallel between Alexander the Great and the prisoner ' at the oar . L confess there is some resemblance ; but it must be in Alexander s case when intoxicated ; when he had the vanity to suppose himself
a god aud not a man ; when , in the heat of a debauch , ho set fire to a town to gratify his feelings at the moment ; when , in a debauch , at the moment of rage , in fury and corruption , he did those acts which cast a shade upon all his conquests , and made it doubtful Avhether now he is more , to be revered for the great acts ho performed , or detested for those disgraceful actions of which in those circumstances he was guilty . In that vieAv I see a resemblance between these two persons , ft appears
as if the prisoner in his sobei' moments was something liko -Alexander when rising from the fumes of . a debauch . If in that view the parallel , was stated , it Avas Avorthy of the great abilities by which , as I lnrvo heard , it was drawn . ' All that disgraced my betters met iu me ' is a compliment wisely and nobly refused by a great philosopher and poet in this country . If there be any resemblance in this case , it is only that the spot—the specks—the blemishes—of that great character resemble the constant habits of the life of the man now before your lordships . "
In juxta-position the following specimen Avill SIIOAV how eloquently Fox could deal Avith the patriotic feelings of the highest court of judicature in the realm Avhen he addresses to the lords such an harangue as this : — ' Let me put this to your lordships' consideration . You are the first court of English justice in this kingdom : it concerns you more nearly , if possible , than the rest of the subjects of this country . AA ill you
suffer this sample of British justice to be exhibited in India and to have the sanction of your approbation ? AVe are come to a period iu winch it is in A'ain to dissemble : we must own the consequences of our decision . There was a period , I admit it , AA'hen the affairs of India were so little known in this country , when iu the labyrinth of long and tedious volumes the whole was so confused and obscured , that even those who were willing to know found it a , task too arduous for moderate aud common industry—when those who were willing , acting from their feelings
rather than their knowledge—when those who we 2-e willing rather to express their gratitude to those Avho had provided for their relations —• could at least plead ignorance to their own conscience and lull the feelings which must arise upon their minds from the eventful history of that country , shutting their ears to anything that came from it , except what came in an agreeable and acceptable shape . Such was the case respecting that country , till the indefatigable zeal and industry of one man—orto express myself more properlthe three distinguishable
, y , characters of the English nation—incorruptible virtue , sublime genius , aud warm enthusiasm ( without which virtue and genius are insufficient and almost useless qualities to mankind)—these great qualities combined in one individual—have torn the veil of ignorance from the eyes of the public . AVe can no longer pretend not to . know what the virtue , the diligence , the zeal , the enthusiasm , and what the genius of that man have brought before the public , Avhether Ave would see it or not ; Avhat he has forced upon them in spite of discouragement ; what he has forced
upon them , AA'ith an ardour and zeal that rarely accompany tho pursuit of men in any case where there is no personal object to be obtained . He has clone this ; he has done it greatly and nobly ; and his name , if this country regains its fame in India , will go down to posterity as
having clone the greatest service to this country that ever was clone by any man iu it . That is with respect to him . AAlth respect to us , to your lordships , to the public , one consequence has happened—you cim no longer plead ignorance . Your hear the maxims , you hear tho principles , you hear the system upon which British government lias been exercised iu India . You hear the ideas upon AA'hich British j uridical and British criminal justice has been distributed in India . Your lordships cannot pretend not to know . You must now , therefore , come to
this alternative—you must be the aA'engers of or the accomplices in the deeds of Mr . Hastings . You have no other alternative but to punish Mr . Hastings ; not AA'ith such a punishment as he inflicted upon Chcyt Sing , with a punishment disproportionate to his crimes , but apportioned to them—if such power be within the roach of your lordships—or you must declare at once in his favour , and render yourselves accompl ices in his guilt by giving your sanction to that iniquitous perversion of justice I liai-e stated .
"All judicial punishments arc for example , and so are all judicial , acquittals . If your lordships acquit Mr . Hastings upon this charge , you Avill send this out to India—that your idea of the proportion of crimes and punishments is this : that a short delay in the payment of £ 50 , 000 , that an offer of five hundred matchlock men , instead of five hundred cavalry , shall be punished AA'ith a fine of five hundred thousand pounds , Avith degradation from dignity , imprisonment of person and expulsion from territory . You must lie the accomplices , if you will not take the
other glorious character to be the avengers , of those crimes Avhich I have stated to your lordships . " If it be asked—if that pitiful , miserable , illiberal , and contemptible argument , which I cannot find epithets enough to degrade , and to point out the scorn which I feel upon the subject , should be stated to your lordships—that we are not the Avronged , the oppressed—I say , though Ave are not the oppressed , yet AVO arc the wronged : the British nation is the Avronged . Am I to flatter ourselves aud the British nation , to tell
you that we boar a good character in Europe with respect to our transactions in India ? If I did I should indeed most grossly flatter . There was a period Avhen Spain AA'as infamous , as it were , all over Europe with respect to her conduct to her colonies . 'Why ? Because she did not