leaps over one-and-thirty pages more, to page | ment assembled, had accused Mr. Hastings, fifty-one ; where he reads the following sen- as governor-general of Bengal, of high crimes tence, which he mainly relies on, and upon and misdemeanors; and their jurisdiction which I shall by-and-by trouble you with for that high purpose of national justice, was some observations: “Thirteen of them passed unquestionably competent; but it is proper

in the House of Commons, not only without you should know the nature of this inquisi• investigation, but without being read; and torial capacity. The Commons, in voting an the votes were given without inquiry, argu- impeachment, may be compared to a grand ment, or conviction. A majority had deter. jury finding a bill of indictinent for the mined to impeach; opposite parties met crown: neither the one nor the other can be each other, and ‘jostled in the dark, to supposed to proceed, but upon the matter perplex the political drama and bring the which is brought before them; neither of hero to a tragic catastrophe.'

them can find guilt without accusation, nor From thence, deriving new vigour from the truth of accusation without evidence.every exertion, he makes his last grand stride When therefore we speak of the accuser or acoder forty-four pages more, almost to the end cusers of a person indicted for any crime, alof the book, charging a sentence in the ninety- though the grand jury are the accusers in form, fifth page.

by giving effect to the accusation; yet in So that out of a volume of one hundred and common parlance we do not consider them as ten pages, the defendant is only charged with the responsible authors of the prosecution. a few scattered fragments of sentences picked | If I were to write of a most wicked indictout of three or four.-Out of a work consist- ment, found against an innocent man, which ing of about two thousand five hundred and was preparing for trial, nobody who read it thirty lines of manly, spirited eloquence, only | would conceive that I meant to stigmatize the forty or fifty lines are culled from different grand jury that found the bill; but it would parts of it, and artfully put together, so as to be inquired immediately, who was the PROSErear up a libel out of a false context, by a CUTOR, and who were the wiTNESSES on the supposed connexion of sentences with one back of it? In the same manner I mean to another, which are not only entirely inde contend, that if this book is read with only pendent, but which, when compared with common attention, the whole scope of it will their antecedents, bear a totally different be discovered to be this: that, in the opinion construction. In this manner, the greatest of the author, Mr. Hastings had been accused works upon government, the most excellent of mal-administration in India, from the heat books of science, the sacred scriptures them and spleen of political divisions in parliament, selves, might be distorted into libels by for- and not from any zeal for national honour or saking the general context and hanging a justice: that the impeachment did not origimeaning upon selected parts :thus, as in the nate from government, but from a faction text put by Algernon Sidney;* · The fool has banded against it, which, by misrepresenta

said in his heart, there is no God;" the tion and violence, had fastened it on an unattorney-general, on the principle of the pre- willing House of Commons: that, prepossent proceeding against this pamphlet, might sessed with this sentiment (which, however indict the publisher of the Bible for blasphe unfounded, makes no part of the present bumously denying the existence of heaven, in siness, since the publisher is not called before printing. There is no God,'—These words you for defaming individual members of the alone, without the context, would be selected Commons, but for a contempt of the Comby the information, and the Bible, like this mons as a body), the author pursues the book, would be underscored to meet it; nor charges article by article;-enters into a could the defendant in such a case have any warm and animated vindication of Mr. Hlastpossible defence, unless the jury were per- | ings, by regular answers to each of them; mitted to see, BY THE BOOK ITSELF, that the and that, as far as the mind and soul of a man verse, instead of denying the existence of the can be visible, I might almost say embodied divinity, only imputed that imagination to a in his writings, his intention throughout the fool.*

whole volume appears to have been to charge Gentlemen, having now gone through the with injustice the private accusers of Mr. attorney-general's reading, the book shall | Hastings, and not the lIouse of Commons as presently come forward and speak for itself. a body, which undoubtedly rather reluctantly -But before I can venture to lay it before gave way to, than heartily adopted, the im. you, it is proper to call your attention to how peachment. This will be found to be the matters stood at the time of its publication : palpable scope of the book; and no man who without which the author's meaning and in- can read English, and who at the same time tention cannot possibly be understood.

will have the candour and common sense to The Commons of Great Britain, in parlia- take up his impressions from what is written

in it, instead of bringing his own along with * See Vol. IX, p. 868.

him to the reading of it, can possibly under+ This argument was also used by Mr. stand it otherwise. Erskine in the case of the dean of St. Asaph, But it may be said, that admitting this to onte vol. 21, pp. 964. 1003.

be the scope and design of the author, what VOL. XXII.

S

| defendant would be punished for anticipating the justice of his country by the publication of his defence, the public being no party to it, until the tribunal appointed for its determination be open for its decision.

ledge of the Commons (for we cannot presume our watchmen to have been asleep), publicly hawked about in every pamphlet, magazine, and newspaper in the kingdom.-You well know with what a curious appetite these charges were devoured by the whole public, interesting as they were, not only from their importance, but from the merit of their com

right had he to canvass the merits of an accusation upon the records of the Commons; more especially while it was in the course of legal procedure? This, I confess, might have been a serious question; but the Commons, "as prosecutors of this information, seem to have Gentlemen, you have a right to take judicial waived or forfeited their right to ask it. Be- notice of these matters, without the proof of fore they sent the attorney-general into this them by witnesses; for jurors may not only, place, to punish the publication of answers to | without evidence, found their verdicts on facts their charges, they should have recollected that are notorious, but upon what they know that their own want of circumspection in the privately themselves, after revealing it upon maintenance of their privileges, and in the oath to one another; and therefore you are protection of persons accused before them, always to remember, that this book was had given to the public the charges themselves, written when the charges against Mr. Hastwhich should have been confined to their ownings, to which it is an answer, were, to the knowJournal. The course and practice of parliament might warrant the printing of them for the use of their own members; but there the publication should have stopped, and all farther progress been resisted by authority. If they were resolved to consider answers to their charges as a contempt of their privileges, and to punish the publication of them by such severe prosecutions, it would have well be-position; certainly not so intended by the come them to have begun first with those honourable and excellent composer to opprinters who, by publishing the charges them- press the accused, but because the commonest selves throughout the whole kingdom, or subjects swell into eloquence under the touch rather throughout the whole civilized world, of his sublime genius. Thus by the remisswere anticipating the passions and judgments ness of the Commons, who are now the proseof the public against a subject of England cutors of this information, a subject of Engupon his trial, so as to make the publication land who was not even charged with contuof answers to them not merely a privilege, macious resistance to authority, much less a but a debt and duty to humanity and justice. proclaimed outlaw, and therefore fully entiThe Commons of Great Britain claimed and tled to every security which the customs and exercised the privilege of questioning the in- statutes of the kingdom hold out for the pronocence of Mr. Hastings by their impeach-tection of British liberty, saw himself pierced ment; but as, however questioned, it was still with the arrows of thousands and ten thousands to be presumed and protected, until guilt was of libels. established by a judgment, He whom they had accused had an equal claim upon their justice, to guard him from prejudice and misrepresentation until the hour of trial.

Gentlemen, † ere I venture to lay the book

Edmund Burke.

+ The skilful arrangement and application of every circumstance connected with his case, which indeed are observable in all Mr. Erskine's speeches, have in the present instance given rise to the following observa tions :

He thus introduces his audience to a striking view of the grand trial in West'minster-hall, not for the sake of making fine sentences, or of adorning his speech with a beautiful description,-for the speeches of this great advocate may be searched through by the most crafty special pleader, from beginning to end, and no one instance of such useless ornament will be found,--but for the solid and important purpose of interesting his bearers in the situation of Mr. Hastings, and of his defender, the author of the pam

Had the Commons therefore by the exercise of their high, necessary, and legal privileges, kept the public aloof from all canvass of their proceedings, by an early punishment of printers, who, without reserve or secrecy, had sent out the charges into the world from a thousand presses in every form of publication, they would have then stood upon ground to-day, from whence no argument of policy or justice could have removed them; because nothing can be more incompatible with either, than appeals to the many upon subjects of judicature, which by common consent a few are appointed to determine, and which must be determined by facts and principles, which the multitude have neither leisure nor knowledge to investigate. But then let it be remembered, that it is for those who have the autho-phlet,-of leading the mind to view the nity to accuse and punish, to set the example of, and to enforce this reserve, which is so necessary for the ends of justice. Courts of law therefore in England never endure the publication of their records; and a prosecutor of an indictment would be attached for such a publication; and upon the same principle a

before you, it must be yet farther remembered (for the fact is equally notorious), that under these inauspicious circumstances the trial of Mr. Hastings at the bar of the lords had actually commenced long before its publication. There the most august and striking spectacle was daily exhibited, which the world ever witnessed. A vast stage of justice was erected, awful from its high authority, splendid from its illustrious dignity, venerable from the learning and wisdom of its judges, captivating and affecting from the mighty concourse of all ranks and conditions which daily flocked into it as into a theatre of pleasure; there, when the whole public mind was at once awed and softened to the impression of every human affection, there appeared, day after day, one after another, men of the most powerful and exalted talents, eclipsing by their accusing eloquence the most boasted harangues of antiquity;-rousing the pride of national resentment by the boldest invectives against broken faith and violated treaties, and shaking the bosom with alternate pity and horror by the most glowing pictures of insulted nature and humanity;-ever animated and energetic, from the love of fame, which is the inherent passion of genius;firm and indefatigable, from a strong prepossession of the justice of their cause.

The history of it is very short and natural. The reverend Mr. Logan, minister of the Gospel at Leith, in Scotland, a clergyman of the purest morals, and, as you will see by-andby, of very superior talents, well acquainted with the human character, and knowing the difficulty of bringing back public opinion after it is settled on any subject, took a warm, unbought, unsolicited interest in the situation of Mr. IIastings, and determined, if possible, to arrest and suspend the public judgment concerning him. He felt for the situation of a fellow citizen exposed to a trial which, whether right or wrong, is undoubtedly a severe one-a trial, certainly not confined to a few criminal acts like those we are accustomed to, but comprehending the transactions of a whole life, and the complicated policies of numerous and distant nations;-a trial, which had neither visible limits to its duration, bounds to its expense, nor circumscribed compass for the grasp of memory or understanding;-a trial, which had therefore broken loose from the common forms of decision, and had become the universal topic of discussion in the world, superseding not only every other grave pursuit, but every fashionable dissipation.

*Mr. Logan died on the 25th of December 1788, nearly a year before this trial took place; besides the pamphlet in question, he appears to have been the author of various tracts. Prefixed to his Sermons-edition of 1810,-will be found some account of his life and writings, from which I have extracted a passage not inapplicable to the present case:

Gentlemen, the question you have therefore to try upon all this matter is extremely Gentlemen, when the author sat down to simple. It is neither more nor less than this. write the book now before you, all this ter--At a time when the charges against Mr. rible, unceasing, exhaustless artillery of warm Hastings were, by the implied consent of the zeal, matchless vigour of understanding, consuming and devouring eloquence, united with the highest dignity, was daily, and without prospect of conclusion, pouring forth upon one private unprotected man, who was bound to hear it, in the face of the whole people of England, with reverential submission and silence. I do not complain of this as I did of the publication of the charges, because it is what the law allowed and sanctioned in the course of a public trial; but when it is remembered that we are not angels, but weak fallible men, and that even the noble judges of that high tribunal are clothed beneath their ermines with the common infirmities of man's nature, it will bring us all to a proper temper for considering the book itself, which will in a few moments be laid before you. But first, let me once more remind you, that it was under all these circumstances, and amidst the blaze of passion and prejudice which the scene I have been endeavouring faintly to describe to you might be supposed likely to produce, that the author, whose name I will now give to you, sat down to compose the book which is prosecuted to-day ' as a libel.

"The following curious fact is related by Dr. Bisset in his History of the Reign of George the Third. The late Mr. Logan,' says he, well known for his literary efforts, ' and author of a most masterly defence of 'Mr. Hastings, went that day (the day which 'the eloquence of Sheridan had rendered so 'memorable) to the House of Commons prepossessed for the accused and against his accusers; at the expiration of the first hour of Mr. Sheridan's speech, he said to a friend, 'all this is declamation without proof; when 'the second was finished, this is a most wonderful oration; at the third, Mr. Hastings acted most unjustifiably; at the fourth, Mr. Hastings is a most atrocious criminal; and at last, of all monsters of iniquity the most atrocious is Warren Hastings. This I was told by Mr. Peter Stewart, proprietor of the Oracle 'who was present.' This fact does not affect the merits of the cause, but it is certainly an evidence of the susceptibility of Logan's feelings, and a pleasing tribute to the eloquence of the Speaker." Account of Logan's life; Sermons, p. VII, note.

Commons, in every hand and on every table; -when by their managers, the lightning of cloquence was incessantly consuming him, and flashing in the eyes of the public;-when every man was with perfect impunity saying, and writing, and publishing just what he pleased of the supposed plunderer and devastator of nations; would it have been criminal in Mr. Hastings himself to have reminded the public that he was a native of this free land, entitled to the common protection of her justice, and that he had a defence in his turn to offer to them, the outlines of which he implored them in the mean time to receive as an antidote to the unlimited and unpunished poison in circulation against him? This is, without colour or exaggeration, the true ques tion you are to decide; because I assert, with out the hazard of contradiction, that if Mr. Hastings himself could have stood justified or excused in your eyes for publishing this volume in his own defence, the author, if he wrote it bona fide to defend him, must stand equally excused and justified; and if the author be justified, the publisher cannot be criminal, unless you had evidence that it was published by him with a different spirit and intention from those in which it was written. -The question therefore is correctly what I just now stated it to be: could Mr. Hastings have been condemned to infamy for writing

this book?

House and to the public, to expatiate upon the crimes of the person whom they had accused. None of these points are questioned by me, nor are in this place questionable. I only desire to have it decided, whether, if the Commons, when national expediency happens to call in their judgment for an impeachment, shall, instead of keeping it on their own records, and carrying it with due solemnity to the Peers for trial, permit it without censure and punishment to be sold like a common newspaper in the shop of my client, so crowded with their own members, that no plain man, without privilege of par liament, can hope even for a sight of the fire in a winter's day;-every man buying it,-reading it,—and commenting upon it;the gentleman himself who is the object of it, or his friend in his absence, may not, without stepping beyond the bounds of English freedom, put a copy of what is thus published into his pocket, and send back to the very same shop for publication a boná fide, rational, able answer to it, in order that the bane and antidote may circulate together, and the public be kept straight till the day of decision.-If you think, gentlemen, that this common duty of self-preservation, in the accused himself, which nature writes as a law upon the hearts of even savages and brutes, is nevertheless too high a privilege to be enjoyed by an impeached and suffering Englishman;-or if you think it beyond the offices of humanity and justice, when brought home to the hand of a brother or a friend, you will say so by your verdict of GUILTYthe decision will then be yours; and the consolation mine, that I laboured to avert it. A very small part of the misery which will follow from it, is likely to light upon me ;— the rest will be divided amongst yourselves and your children.

Gentlemen, I tremble with indignation, to be driven to put such a question in England. -Shall it be endured, that a subject of this country (instead of being arraigned and tried for some single act in her ordinary courts, where the accusation, as soon at least as it is made public, is followed within a few hours by the decision) may be impeached by the Commons for the transactions of twenty years, -that the accusation shall spread as wide as the region of letters,-that the accused shall Gentlemen, I observe plainly, and with stand, day after day, and year after year, as a infinite satisfaction, that you are shocked spectacle before the public, which shall be and offended at my even supposing it poskept in a perpetual state of inflammation sible you should pronounce such a detestable against him; yet that he shall not, without judgment; and that you only require of me the severest penalties, be permitted to sub- to make out to your satisfaction (as I promit any thing to the judgment of mankindmised) that the real scope and object of this in his defence? If this be law (which it is for you to-day to decide), such a man has no TRIAL; this great hall, built by our fathers for English justice, is no longer a court, but an altar and an Englishman, instead of being judged in it by GOD AND HIS COUNTRY, is A VICTIM AND A SACRIFICE.

You will carefully remember, that I am not presuming to question either the right or the duty of the Commons of Great Britain to impeach; neither am I arraigning the propriety of their selecting, as they have done, the most extraordinary persons for ability which the age has produced, to manage their, impeachment. Much less am I censuring the managers themselves, charged with the conduct of it before the Lords, who were undoubtedly bound, by their duty to the

book is a bona fide detence of Mr. Hastings, and not a cloak and cover for scandal on the House of Commons. I engage to do this, and I engage for nothing more. I shall make au open manly defence; I mean to torture no expressions from their natural constructions; to dispute no innuendos on the record, should any of them have a fair application; nor to conceal from your notice any unguarded intemperate expressions which may perhaps be found to chequer the vigorous and animated career of the work. Such a conduct might, by accident, shelter the defendant, but it would be the surrender of the very principle on which alone the liberty of the English press can stand; and I shall never detend any man from a temporary imprisonment, by the permanent loss of my own

But, gentlemen, to your astonishment, I will now read what intervenes between these two passages; from which you will see, beyond a possibility of doubt, that the author never meant to calumniate the House of Commons, but to say that the accusation of Mr. Hastings before the whole House grew out of a Committee of Secrecy established some years before, and was afterwards brought forward by the spleen of private enemies, and a faction in the government. This will appear, not only from the gram-torious services (which is unquestionably matical construction of the words, but from what is better than words,-from the meaning which a person writing as a friend of Mr. Hastings must be supposed to have intended to convey. Why should such a friend attack the House of Commons? Will any man gravely tell me that the House of Commons, as a body, ever wished to impeach Mr. Hastings? Do we not all know that they