remarked, that he rose to say, that having himself conceived Monday se'nnight was the intended day, and having informed several members who were yet in the country, that the business would not be brought on before Monday se'nnight, he desired not to change the day, but to let the house understand, that on Tuesday next he wished to call Mr. Middleton to the bar, to explain a few points in his evidence, respecting which, as they stood at present, great doubts might arise ;-and which doubts nothing but a few questions put to Mr. Middleton could clear up. His right honourable friend did not mean himself to interrogate Mr. Middleton, but the whole would rest on the few questions which he (Mr. Sheridan) thought it absolutely necessary to put to Mr. Middleton, which would not detain that gentleman at the bar above half an hour; and he should, on Monday se'nnight, be prepared to bring forward the business of the charge; but that no time would actually be lost by this mode of proceeding, as his right honourable friend would be ready to come forward with another charge on Thursday in the same week. Mr. Sheridan added, that if there was any serious objection to calling Mr. Middleton again to the bar, he would wave his motion for his attendance on Thursday; but as the questions which he wished to put to that gentleman were really important, and would take up but very little time, he hoped there would not be any obstacle. Under this idea, he should therefore beg leave to move," That Nathaniel Middleton, Esq. do attend the committee of the whole house on India affairs on Thursday next."

The question was put, and agreed to.

The 1st and 2nd of February were spent in examining Mr. Middleton and Sir Elijah Impey. Mr. Pitt having expressed his apprehensions that it would be impossible for the evidence to be printed soon enough for the copies to be distributed on Monday, for the members to have them, so as to enable them to become masters

of its tendency, and apply it to the charge, if the charge was that day debated; Mr. Sheridan agreed to postpone bringing forward the charge against the Begums till Wednesday.

FEBRUARY 7.

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MR. HASTINGS.

The house having resolved itself into a committee of the whole house, Mr. St. John in the chair, on the fourth charge against Mr. Hastings, viz. the resumption of the Jaghires, and the confiscation of the treasures of the princesses of Oude.

The subject of this charge was particularly fitted for displaying all the pathetic powers of eloquence; and never were they displayed with greater skill, force, and elegance. For five hours and a half Mr. Sheridan commanded the universal attention and admiration of the house (which from the expectation of the day was uncommonly crowded), by an oration of almost unexampled excellence; uniting the most convincing closeness and accuracy of argument, with the most luminous precision and perspicuity of language; and alternately giving force and energy to truth, by solid and substantial reasoning; and enlightening the most extensive and involved subjects with the purest clearness of logic, and the brightest splendour of rhetoric. Every prejudice, every prepossession were gradually overcome by the force of this extraordinary combination of keen, but liberal, discrimination; of brilliant, yet argumentative wit. So fascinated were the auditors by his eloquence, that when Mr. Sheridan sat down, the whole house, the members, peers, and strangers, involuntarily joined in a tumult of applause, and adopted a mode of expressing their approbation, new and irregular in the house, by loudly and repeatedly clapping with their hands. Burke declared it to be the most astonishing effort of eloquence, argument, and wit, united, of which there was any record or tradition. Mr. Fox said, "all that he had ever heard-all that he had ever read when compared with it, dwindled into nothing, and vanished like vapour before the sun." Mr. Pitt acknowledged, that it surpassed all the eloquence of ancient or modern times, and possessed every thing that genius or art could furnish, to agitate and controul the human mind. The effects it produced were proportioned to its merits. After a considerable suspension of the debate, one of the friends of Mr. Hastings (Mr. Burgess) with some difficulty obtained, for a short time, a hearing; but finding the house too strongly affected by what they had heard to listen to him with favour, sat down again. Several members confessed they had come down strongly prepossessed in favour of the person accused, and imagined nothing less than a miracle could have wrought so entire a revolution in their sentiments. Others declared, that though they could not resist the conviction that flashed upon their minds, yet they wished to have leave to cool before they were called upon to vote; and though they were persuaded it would require another miracle to produce another change in their opinions, yet, for the sake of decorum, they thought it proper that the debate should be adjourned. Mr. Fox and Mr. A. Taylor strongly opposed this proposition; contending, that it was not less absurd than unparliamentary to defer coming to a vote for no other reason that had been alleged than because the members were too firmly convinced; but Mr. Pitt concurring with the opinions of the former, the debate was adjourned a little after one o'clock.

SPEECH.

MR. SHERIDAN Commenced by observing that it had been impossible to have received, without a violation of the established rules of parliament, the paper* which the honourable member, Mr. Dempster, had just now read, he should willingly have re

* A paper from Sir Elijah Impey, amending his evidence.

ceded from any forms of the house, for the purpose of obtaining new lights and farther illustrations on the important subject then before them; not, indeed, that, on the present occasion, he found himself so ill prepared, as merely, for this reason, to be prevented from proceeding to the discharge of his duty; neither, to speak freely, was he inclined to consider any explanatory editions to the evidence of Sir Elijah Impey so much framed to elucidate, as to perplez and contradict. Needless to his present purpose was it for him to require Sir Elijah, legally, to recognize what had been read in his name, by the honourable gentleman. In fact, neither the informality of any subsisting evidence, nor the adducement of any new explanations from Sir Elijah Impey, could make the slightest impression upon the vast and strong body of proof which he should now bring forward against Warren Hastings. Yet, if any motive could have so far operated upon him, as to make him industriously seek for renewed opportunities of questioning Sir Elijah, it would result from his fresh and indignant recollection of the low and artful stratagem of delivering to the members, and others, in this last period of parliamentary inquiry, printed handbills of defence, the contents of which bespoke a presumptuous and empty boast of completely refuting all which, at any time had, or even could, be advanced against Mr. Hastings, on the subject of the fourth article in the general charge of a right honourable member (Mr. Burke). But even this was far beneath his notice. The rectitude and strength of his cause were not to be prejudiced by such pitiful expedients; and he should not waste a moment in counteracting measures, which, though insidious, were proportionately frivolous and unavailing. Nor would he take up the time of the committee with any general arguments to prove that the subject of the charge which had fallen to his lot to bring forward, was of great moment and magnitude. The attention which parliament had paid to the affairs of India, for many sessions past, the voluminous productions of their committees on that subject, the various proceedings in that house respecting it, their own strong and pointed resolutions, the repeated recommendation of his Majesty, and their reiterated assurances of paying due regard to these recommendations, as well as various acts of the legislature, were all of them undeniable proofs of the moment and magnitude of the consideration; and incontrover

tibly established this plain broad fact, that parliament directly acknowledged that the British name and character had been dishonoured, and rendered detested throughout India, by the malversation and crimes of the principal servant of the East India Company. That fact having been established beyond all question, by themselves, and by their own acts, there needed no argument on his part, to induce the committee to see the importance of the subject about to be discussed that day, in a more striking point of view than they themselves had held it up to public observation. There were, he knew, persons without doors who affected to ridicule the idea of prosecuting Mr. Hastings; and who not inconsistently redoubled their exertions, in proportion as the prosecution became more serious, to increase their sarcasms upon the subject, by asserting that parliament might be more usefully employed; that there were matters of more immediate moment to engage their attention; that a commercial treaty with France had just been concluded; that it was an object of a vast and comprehensive nature, and in itself sufficient to engross their attention. To all this he would oppose these questions. Was parliament mis-spending its time, by inquiring into the oppressions practised on millions of unfortunate persons in India, and endeavouring to bring the daring delinquent, who had been guilty of the most flagrant acts of enormous tyranny and rapacious peculation, to exemplary and condign punishment? Was it a misuse of their functions to be diligent in attempting, by the most effectual means, to wipe off the digrace affixed to the British name in India, and to rescue the national character from lasting infamy? Surely no man who felt for either the one or the other would think a business of greater moment, or magnitude, could occupy his attention; or that the house could, with too much steadiness, too ardent a zeal, or too industrious a perseverance, pursue its object. Their conduct in this respect, during the course of the preceding year, had done them immortal honour, and proved to all the world, that how. ever degenerate an example of Englishman some of the British subjects had exhibited in India, the people of England collectively, speaking and acting by their representatives, felt, as men should feel on such an occasion, that they were anxious to do justice, by redressing injuries, and punishing offenders, however high their rank, however elevated their station.

Their indefatigable exertions in committees appointed to inquire concerning the affairs of India; their numerous, elaborate, and clear reports; their long and interesting debates; their solemn addresses to the throne; their rigorous legislative acts; their marked detestation of that novel and base sophism in the principles of judicial inquiry (constantly the language of the governor-general's servile dependents!), that crimes might be compounded; that the guilt of Mr. Hastings was to be balanced by his successes; that fortunate events were a full and complete set-off against a system of oppression, corruption, breach of faith, peculation, and treachery; and, finally, their solemn and awful judgment that, in the case of Benares, Mr. Hastings's conduct was a proper object of parliamentary impeachment; had covered them with applause, and brought them forward in the face of all the world as the objects of perpetual admiration. Not less unquestionably just, than highly virtuous, was the assertion of the commons of Great Britain, that there were acts which no political necessity could warrant; and that amidst flagrancies of such an inexpiable description, was the treatment of Cheit Sing. To use the well-founded and emphatic language of a right honourable gentleman (Mr. Pitt), the committee had discovered in the administration of Mr. Hastings, proceedings of strong injustice, of grinding oppression, and unprovoked severity. In this decision the committee had, also, vindicated the character of his right honourable friend (Mr. Burke) from the slanderous tongue of ignorance and perversion. They had, by their vote on that question, declared, that the man who brought the charges was no false accuser; that he was not moved by envy, by malice, nor by any unworthy motives to blacken a spotless name; but that he was the indefatigable, persevering, and, at length, successful champion of oppressed multitudes against their tyrannical oppressor. With sound justice, with manly firmness, with unshaken integrity, had his right honourable friend, upon all occasions, resisted the timid policy of mere remedial acts; even the high opinion of Mr. Hastings's successor-even the admitted worth of Lord Cornwallis's character had been deemed by his right honourable friend an inadequate atonement to India for the injuries so heavily inflicted on that devoted country. Animated with the same zeal, the committee had, by that memorable vote, given a solemn pledge of their farther in