ment on the delinquent party; for, to give the right of demanding without the power of punishing the refufal, world be abfurd and nugatory in the extreme. But then it was their duty to apportion the punishment to the degree of guilt. This, he was forry to fay, Mr. Haftings, in his opinion, had not done, but the honourable gentleman who bad taken fo active a part in the whole of thofe proceedings was not himself entirely free from blame, for he had given his countenance to a confiderable part of Mr. Haftings's improper conduct he had admitted the principle that, whether the demand had been juft or not, it ought, having been once made, to be rigorously enforced as far as his authority would go; he had, by an acquiefcence, encouraged Mr. Haftings to the rafh fteps which he took in confequence of Cheit Sing's obftinacy, for he had fubjoined to the refolution which Mr. Haftings had entered on the bocks of confultation, to march into the country of Benares, his fignature to the following words: "I acquiefce, although I hope there "will be no neceffity to put the threat into execution." And from his conduct then, and that which he purfued on the prefent occafion, it afforded fome fufpicion, that even at the time when he might have exerted himself to prevent many improper fteps from having been taken, he fat by, with a fecret fatisfaction contemplating the errors of Mr. Hastings, as laying the foundation of future perfecutions againft him. The grounds of his opinion, that the conduct of Mr. Haftings, fubfequent to the demand of the troops and money from Cheit Sing, was cenfurable, were, that the fine which he determined to levy was beyond all proportion exorbitant, unjuft, and tyrannical; he fhould therefore, certainly, on the prefent charge, agree to the motion that had been made, not confidering himself as being thereby committed to a final vote of impeachmect, but only meaning to be understood, that if upon the whole of the charges, it fhould be his opinion, that an impeachment ought to be preferred against him, that then this act of oppreffion was such as ought to be made one of the articles of that impeachment, being in his judgement a very high crime and mifdemeanor. In fining the Rajah 500,000l. for a mere delay to pay 50,000l. (which fifty he had actually paid) Mr. Haftings had proceeded in an arbitrary, tyrannical manner, and was not guided by any principle of reafon and justice. This proceeding deftroyed all relation and connection between the degrees of guilt and punishment; it was grinding; it was overbearing : and admitting the fuppofed guilt of the Rajah in delaying to pay an additional tribute demanded of him, the punishment was utterly difproportionate, and thamefully exorbitant. In all this he meant to confine himself exprefsly to the exorbitancy of the fine, and not to the fubfequent revolution of Benares, Benares, which was an event that under all the circumstances could not poffibly have been avoided: for Cheyt Sing having reluctantly obeyed in one inftance (the payment of the money) the orders of the Council, after making falfe and contumacious excufes-for certainly his pretence of inability. was of that defcription-and having actually difobeyed the other part of their commands, the furnishing of a certain number of troops, the Governor was unquestionably at liberty to impofe a fine upon him, and to march into his country in order to enforce it; and the Rajah not being acquainted, from any overt act, that the fine intended to be levied was exorbitant, (the only unjuft inftance of the tranfaction) his taking up arms in order to escape from an arreft, to which he had fubjected himself by his own fault, and exciting an infurrection among his men to maffacre the British forces, and afterwards withdrawing himself and going into open rebellion, which could not be excufed by any confideration of that with which he was not acquainted-the exorbitancy of the fine. All thefe circumftances confidered, his depofition of the Rajah was indifpenfably juft and neceffary, and did naturally follow from what had preceded it. As to his encouraging the troops to commit ravage, and devaftation, that could not have been the confequence of the letter to which it was imputed; for, that letter was only calculated for the private perufal of the Council, and it was a well-known fact, and fufficienly fubftantiated by evidence, that he had taken every precaution by iffuing the neceflary orders to prevent any avoidable licentioufnefs of the foldiery, and that the cruelties committed were only by a party of difobedient and. mutinous followers of the camp. As to the fubfequent parts of the charge, the fecond and third revolution of Benares, as well as thofe upon which he had last touched, he should fay but a few words, as they had not been much relied upon, except as matter of agravation, but not as direft charge. On the head of the last-mentioned article, the right honourable gentleman had attempted to point out a contrast between the different parts of Mr. Haftings's conduct in having first depofed Cheit Sing for not paying a certain fum of money, and afterwards depofing Jagher Deo Sheo for using rigorous modes of collection in order to enable himself to comply with fimilar demands. In both cafes, he was strictly right in his principles, for one Rajah deferved to be punished for not paying what he was able to pay, and what he ought in duty to pay. The other was equally culpable in not making a proper collection of the revenue, but laying it on in a partial and unfair manner. The fole remaining fubject on which he had any thing to fay at prefent, was the restoration of Cheit Sing to his poffeffions. Whatever Mr.Dempfter. I d. Mulgrave. Major Scott Whatever ought to be done in that cafe could not now fall properly under confideration. In the one cafe by determining to restore him, it would create an unfair prejudice againit a man accufed, and in the other, by determining to withhold his poffeffions, it might poffibly have a tendency the contrary way, and carry with it an approbation, which was hereafter to become a subject of criminal inquiry-he should therefore, for the present, beg leave to withhold the communication of his opinion. Mr. Dempfter obferved that there was but one point in which he differed from the right honourable gentleman who fpoke laft, and that was in his conclufion, that there was matter of impeachment in the charge. He reafoned on the cuftoms of the East compared to the customs of Europe, and faid, that great allowance ought to be made for the extreme difference between the two. He urged many arguments in 'fupport of the meritorious fervices of Mr. Haftings, terming him the faviour of our poffeffions in Hindoftan, and declaring, that France, during the course of the laft war, confidered him to be of fo much importance, that they refted all their hopes of fuccefs in India on the chance of his being recalled. In fhort, if the late Governor-general Haftings deferved impeachment at all, it certainly was for that foolish difintereftedness which would not fuffer him to bring home a larger fortune. Lord Mulgrave declared that he could not agree with his right honourable friend, that Mr. Haftings's having arrested Cheit Sing was a matter deferving of impeachment. It was the duty of a Zemindar to comply with the requifition of the Sovereign power for a contribution towards the exigencies of the ftate; and Cheit Sing appeared to be a very fhuffling evafive bad man, whofe conduct called for punishment. Major Scott faid, that he would trouble the Committee with very few words; for, after the complete and ample juftification which the right honourable gentleman Mr. Pitt had entered into of every part of Mr. Hastings's conduct, except as to the quantum of the fine which he meant to impose upon him, it would be prefumption to wafte the time of the Committee. The right honourable gentleman had proved, that Mr. Haftings had an undoubted right to require military aid from Cheit Sing, and that Cheit Sing was criminal in having declined to give it as he ought to have done; but the right honourable gentleman had concluded by faying, that he was not fo far criminal as to justify Mr. Haftings in impofing fo large a fine as 40 or 50 lacks upon him, and therefore Mr. Haftings was culpable. Upon this fubject Major Scott faid he would offer a few words. Mr. Haftings left Calcutta in July 1781, at a time when the very existence of the Bri tifh empire in India depended upon his exertions in Bengal. Sir Eyre Coote was then upon the coaft of Coromandel, oppofed to Hyder Ally about fifty lacks of rupees had been fent to Madras between October 1780 and July 1781; and every grain of rice for our army, and every rupee for its difbursements, Sir Eyre had informed Mr. Haftings, muft come from Bengal. Added to this, we had the Mahratta war to support; a French fleet had appeared off Madras in February 1781, and returned much reinforced under Suffrein the next feafon. The conduct of Cheit Sing, by the right honourable gentleman's own account, was criminal, and Mr. Haftings had received intelligence of his difaffection, which formerly he had treated too flightly. But what was the crime. of Mr. Haftings in the eye of the right honourable gentleman It was merely this, ftating it in the strongest terms, that when our very existence as a nation in India depended upon his exertions, h, in 1784, formed a refolution in his own mind fubject to alteration however, that to relieve the dif treffes of the Company, and to preferve India to Great Britain, he would exact a large fine from a man, whom the right honourable gentleman allowed was criminal, though Mr. Haftings's propofed punishment exceeded what he conceived to be the Rajah's offence and in this excefs of zeal in his country's fervice, without a fufpicion of his being actuated by a corrupt or malicious motive, the right honour. able gentleman thought there was impeachable matter in the `charge, and for this only, for he had moft fully and completely exculpated him from every other part of it. The Major faid that he would not trouble the Committee farther; but he could not fupprefs his aftonifhment, that that part, and that only, of Mr. Haftings's conduct, which had moft ftrongly evinced his zeal for the prefervation of the empire committed to his charge, fhould have been fele&ed by the right honourable gentleman as deferving of cenfure, Mr. Vanfittart obferved, that proper allowances ought to Mr. Yan. be made for the cuftoms of the Eaft-Indies, where it was no fittart. uncommon thing for a Zemindar to be arrested. [The House laughed.] Mr. Grenville defended the conduct of Mr. Haftings, de- Mr. Grenclaring, that, as an honeft man, he could not vote for the refolution. ville. The Attorney General remarked, that he could not agree to Mr. Attor go the length of an impeachment, and unlefs the prefent re- ney Gene folution was followed by an impeachment, he faw no ufe in ral voting it. Mr. Attorney faid farther, that if part of the fpeech of a right honourable gentleman, Mr. Fox, were true to the great extent which he had carried it, Mr. Haftings, intead of deferving impeachment, would deferve a halter; but VOL. XX. 3 C as Mr. Powy. Ld. Mul grave. Mr. Chan as he did not believe the argument in its extent, although he was free to own Mr. Haftings had gone a great way with his power, he could not confent to vote the prefent refolution, not being at all prepared to impeach. Mr. Powys expressed his fatisfaction at having heard so honourable and manly an argument from the right honourable gentleman at the head of the Exchequer. A more fair and fatisfactory, one had scarcely ever been delivered within those walls. He could not, however, but lament, that the right honourable gentleman fhould be left alone, that he should be deferted by his friends, and that two of the Ministers for India fhould have argued against the refolution, and embraced fentiments fo repugnant to thofe profeffed by the right honourable gentleman. Mr. Powys faid, the two Minifters for India had virtually avowed that a political expediency fanctified injuftice; a maxim to which he could not accede. Lord Mulgrave declared that the right honourable gentleman would not be fit to be Minister of the country for a fingle day, if, upon a queftion of that nature, where the House were fitting as judges, he was to expect his friends were to facrifice their opinions. Mr. Chancellor Pitt lamented that there fhould be any dif cellor Pitt. ference of opinion between him and his friends; but it was an honourable difference, not a difference about a principle, but about the application of a principle. Mr. Beru foy. The Committee divided, Ayes 119.-Noes 79. The refolution was therefore carried by a majority of forty. The Houfe adjourned. Friday, 16th June. The House having refolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, to confider of the Report from the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the British fisheries, Mr. Beaufoy spoke to the following effect: Mr. Elliot. The attention of the Houfe has been called fo often to the fubject of this Report on the interefts of the British fisheries, and the Report itself has lain fo long upon your table, that it cannot be neceffary to trouble you with many words upon the occafion. The refolutions of the prefent report are principally founded on the evidence, verbal and written, that was offered to the House in a Report from the Committee of the last feffion of Parliament. They are deductions from the facts eftablished by that evidence, and it is hoped will be found to compofe a fyftem highly advantageous to the fisheries, and tending |