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СНАР. CLXXII.

A. D. 1795.

George

an order was made that they should be instituted, and war-
rants were signed for the arrest of the supposed traitors.
The result is well known. To the credit of George III.,
when the whole subject was understood by him, he rejoiced in
the acquittals, and laying all the blame on the Chancellor, he 's
said, "You have got us into the wrong box, my Lord, you
have got us into the wrong box. Constructive treason won't
do, my Lord, constructive treason won't do."

speech to

Lord
Lough-

borough on
the acquit-

tal of

Hardy,

Tooke, &c.
Conclusion
of the trial
Hastings.

of Warren

The long pending trial of Warren Hastings now approached its conclusion, under the presidency of Lord Loughborough, Horne' who, notwithstanding his opinion of the truth of most of the charges, conducted himself with impartiality as well as dignity. The interest of the proceeding had greatly declined, and the public sympathy was all with the accused. Mr. Burke, however, was still unrelenting, and when the evidence and the speeches had closed,— in the fervour of his zeal, he wrote the following letter to the Chancellor, -overlooking the impropriety of a prosecutor privately seeking to influence a judge:

"MY DEAR LORD,

"It would be shameful, after the long toil of both Houses, and Letter of

Mr. Burke

the enormous expense of the public, that the trial of Indian pecu- to Lord

lation and oppression should have an unjust, or a lame and impo- Loughtent conclusion. Sequestered as I am from the public, I should borough, respecting be infinitely concerned that such a thing should fall out at any Hastings's time, but particularly at a time when you presided in the House of case. Peers. I should be equally sorry to have my poor remains of life employed in justifying the last fourteen years of it by preparing a stable record of their proceeding in every part of Europe, necessarily concluding to the perpetual infamy of a body which, God knows, I wish to be held in perpetual honour, I mean the House of Lords. This affair, in my opinion, ought to be adjourned over until some person can be found to state the several prominent parts namely, the leading facts, and then the criminal inferences, and lastly, the matters of aggravation or extenuation as they appear in the evidence. This thing cannot be left to the known partisans of the delinquent amongst the most desperate of whom I must reckon (between ourselves) your clerk, Mr. Cowper. He is likely to make the worst rapporteur that can be found. We are preparing a syllabus, which will be printed for the use of such Lords

CHAP.

CLXXII.

A. D. 1795.

April, 1795.

Another

letter from

Mr. Burke to Lord Lough

borough.

as wish to know what case we would be thought to have made out.
Excuse this trouble from one of your sincere wellwishers.

"I am ever, with the most sincere respect and regard,
"My dear Lord,

"Your Lordship's most faithful and obliged humble servt.

"Beaconsfield, Jan. 10. 1795."

"EDM. BURKE.

I am not aware what answer was returned, but I presume it must have been a mild refusal to listen to the proposal, as the Chancellor was bound to take no part in the proceedings except judicially.

During the long-continued discussions among the Peers themselves on the merits of the case, he was engaged in several sharp contests with Thurlow, who still eagerly advocated the cause of the defendant. When the verdict was to be given, he said "Guilty" on all the sixteen charges except three; but of the Peers who voted-reduced by casualties since the commencement of the prosecution to twenty-nine - there being on every charge a large majority who said "Not guilty," he had the task, which he performed very courteously, of announcing to Mr. Hastings that he was acquitted of the crimes and misdemeanours whereof he had been impeached.

He afterwards received the following very interesting letter from Mr. Burke, beginning with an allusion to the attack on the writer by the Duke of Bedford, which led to one of the finest effusions of genius, and concluding with a bitter protest against the resolution, that all the expenses of the prosecution on both sides should be paid by the public:

"MY DEAR LORD,

"I am, now the thing is over, to thank you for the handsome part you took in the first attack on me. It may appear odd, but the fact is, that until the speech was sent to me, under a cover, by post that came in on Saturday, I had never seen an account of the kind things you were pleased to say of me. It will appear odd, but it is true, that I never read the attacks made on me by the D. of Bedford and Lord Lauderdale, but had them merely from a verbal, but I think a faithful and an exact, relator, who told me of them, and of Lord Grenville's defence of me. I trust I am not

CHAP.

A. D. 1796.

disposed to be ungrateful, and I should certainly have paid your Lordship the share of the compliment I owed you, if I had known CLXXII. how much I was indebted to you for what I have ever thought, and shall think, a great honour and consolation to me-your acknowledging your long-continued partial opinion of me. The newspapers, and all the matter they contain, have been long hateful to me. I pass months without looking into one of them, and I faithfully assure you, that until Clairfait's victories, I was a long time indeed without casting my eyes on a paper. I only knew what was going on by conversation, from which I could not disengage myself.

"The regard I set on your good opinion will not permit me to let you imagine for a moment that I am insensible to the blow which is attempted at my reputation, and at a reputation of infinitely more moment than mine. Mr. Hastings is publicly rewarded for the crimes which your Lordship knows have been proved against him at the bar of the House of Lords. The House of Commons, for the first time that this infamy has happened to them, are condemned in costs and damages. It is the first time that any public prosecutor has been so condemned. Robbery so rewarded by new robbery. Oh no! It shall never be said, never, never, that the cause of the people of India, taken up for twenty years in Parliament, has been compromised by pensions to the accused and the accursed. The blood of that people shall not be on my head. The example of such a desertion of a cause, and prevarication in justice, is a dreadful example. I shall, I hope, by the end of the week, petition the House of Commons. Excuse this trouble.

Your goodness to me entitles you to a communication of every material step I take in life. I confess I never expected this blow. As to the acquittal, that it was total I was surprised at that it should be so in a good measure, I expected from the incredible corruption of the time.*

"I have the honour to be, with the most respectful affection,

"My dear Lord,

"Your most faithful and obliged humble servant,

"Beaconsfield, March 7. 1796."†

"EDM. BURKE.

⚫ So earnest was Mr. Burke on this subject, that he likewise sent the following letter to the Duke of Portland : —

"My dear Lord,

Letter

"I little expected that under an Administration, in which your Grace had a from Burke,

† Rossl. MSS.

CHAP. CLXXII.

But, notwithstanding Burke's dying efforts, the resolution respecting costs, of which he complained so bitterly, remained unaltered, and he is now generally supposed to have displayed a want of sound judgment and good feeling in the whole course of that prosecution, on which he chiefly relied for a great reputation with posterity.

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part, the House of Commons should be condemned in damages to an immense amount to Mr. Hastings. We charged him with a robbery of the people of India we reward him by a robbery of the same people. Your poor old friend does not choose to be actively or passively a party in this nefarious act of peculation; I therefore propose, as my dying act, and I should have no objection to perish in that act at the bar of the House of Commons, to petition against this robbery of India, and treachery to those employed to prosecute. I only think it right to give your Grace this notice. This poor scroll requires

no answer.

"I have the honour to be, with the highest respect and affection,

"My dear Lord,

"Your Grace's most faithful and obedient humble servant,
"EDM. BURKE."!

1 Rossl. MSS.

CHAPTER CLXXIII.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD LOUGHBOROUGH TILL THE
COMMENCEMENT OF THE INTRIGUES WHICH ENDED IN HIS RE-
SIGNATION AND THE DISSOLUTION OF MR PITT'S ADMINISTRATION.

A. D. 1795.

MR. HASTINGS's acquittal was soon forgotten by the public, CHAP. amidst the stirring events of the war which now raged with CLXXIII. such violence. There being an alarm of invasion, a proposal was made to arm the people in mass; but this was strongly Lord opposed by the Chancellor, who contended that arms should Loughnever be permitted to any, except under the direction of men of property; and that the conduct of the "National Guard in France" should be a warning to us to intrust our defence exclusively to the King's regular army.*

The opposition, in the upper House, was now almost entirely confined to Lord Stanhope; and, to silence him, the Lord Chancellor put his resolutions from the woolsack without reading them, and when they were negatived, had them expunged from the Journals.†

borough

opposes a

general arming of

the people.

1795.

The Whigs made a rally to support the Duke of Bedford's June 27. motion for peace with France; but the Chancellor said that "it was not fit to be put on the Journals;" and a counterresolution, moved by Lord Grenville, for a vigorous prosecution of the war, was carried by a majority of 88 to 15.

Lord Loughborough and the

Prince of

There was now a great coolness between Lord Lough- Coolness borough and the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness had between been for a short time an "alarmist," but he ever hated Pittand he again associated familiarly with Fox and Sheridanregarding him who was to have been his Chancellor under the Regency as little better than an apostate, -a -a character for which, till he actually was Regent, he expressed great contempt. The wary Scot was uneasy at this state of affairs; for there were from time to time symptoms indicating that

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Wales.

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