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And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by the direction of those whom I am bound to obey, the principles on which Mr. Hastings declares he has conducted his government, principles which he has avowed, first in several letters written to the East India Company, next in a paper of defence delivered to the House of Commons explicitly, and more explicitly in his defence before your Lordships.
Do your lordships suppose that the Protestants of Ireland are not aware of that fact? April 28,1837. Lord Normanby's Gaol Deliveries. What was the next step of which the Protestants of Ireland complained?
Larkins, your Lordships see, adheres to the principle of secrecy. You will next remark that Mr. Hastings had as many bribe-factors as bribes. There was confidence to be reposed in each of them, and not one of these men appears to be in the confidence of another. You will find in this letter the policy, the frame, and constitution of this new exchequer. Mr.
Caesar and I mournfully and silently consumed our last fragment of beef, with the remaining dry crusts of bread, and then sat down doggedly to smoke and see whether the captain would discover our situation. But no; while we were supplied, the whole vessel was at our Lordships' command, and now that we were destitute, he took care to make no rash offers.
If the top and point of the sword is broken off, we shall take the hilt in our hand, and fight with whatever remains of the weapon against bribery, corruption, and peculation; and we shall use double diligence under any restraint which the wisdom of the Commons may lay upon us, or your Lordships' wisdom may oblige us to submit to.
Yet, since such is my present state, that I cannot avoid a declaration of my thoughts on this question, without being condemned in my own breast as a deserter of my country, nor utter them without the danger of becoming contemptible in the eyes of your lordships; I will, however, follow my conscience, rather than my interest; and though I should lose any part of my little reputation, I shall find an ample recompense from the consciousness that I lost it in the discharge of my duty, on an occasion which requires from every good man the hazard of his life.
Such of your lordships who join with the people in ascribing our present unhappy state not to the errours, but to the crimes of the minister, and who, therefore, think a bare removal not sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice, must, doubtless, give their consent to the motion, for the sake of obtaining proper evidence of his wickedness, which cannot be expected while he stands exalted in prosperity, and distributes the riches of the nation, and the gifts of his sovereign at his own choice; while he is in possession of every motive that can influence the mind, enforce secrecy, and confirm fidelity; while he can bribe the avaricious, and intimidate the fearful; while he can increase the gratification of luxury, and enlarge the prospects of ambition.
And having stated at large what he means by saying that the same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and in Europe, we are to let your Lordships know that these gentlemen have formed a plan of geographical morality, by which the duties of men, in public and in private situations, are not to be governed by their relation to the great Governor of the Universe, or by their relation to mankind, but by climates, degrees of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of latitudes: as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues die, as they say some insects die when they cross the line; as if there were a kind of baptism, like that practised by seamen, by which they unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which a new order and system of things commenced.
Onely we hope His Maiestie will give us leave to say We greive that he is misinformd of us And our proceedings, of which we hereafter Will give him certaine and unanswerable proofes To iustefie our Actions, which we will Make knowne to all the world; till when we wish He will be pleasd to give way to the States To finish what they have begon, with Justice Temperd with mercy; and that your good Lordships Will give his Grace to understand thus much, If with the generall voice you doe approve it.
The address which was so modestly offered to your lordships, cannot be said to contain any more than a general answer to his majesty's speech, and such declarations of our duty and affection, as are always due to our sovereign, and always expected by him on such occasions.
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