by declarations of all their sovereigns.  And what, my Lords, is opposed to all this?  The practice of tyrants and usurpers, which Mr. Hastings takes for his rule and guidance.  He endeavors to find deviations from legal government, and then instructs his counsel to say that I have asserted there is no such thing as arbitrary power in the East.  Good God! if there was no such thing in any other part of the world, Mr. Hastings’s conduct might have convinced me of the existence of arbitrary power, and have taught me much of its mischief.

But, my Lords, we all know that there has been arbitrary power in India,—­that tyrants have usurped it,—­and that, in some instances, princes otherwise meritorious have violated the liberties of the people, and have been lawfully deposed for such violation.  I do not deny that there are robberies on Hounslow Heath,—­that there are such things as forgeries, burglaries, and murders; but I say that these acts are against law, and that whoever commit them commit illegal acts.  When a man is to defend himself against a charge of crime, it is not instances of similar violation of law that is to be the standard of his defence.  A man may as well say, “I robbed upon Hounslow Heath, but hundreds robbed there before me”:  to which I answer, “The law has forbidden you to rob there; and I will hang you for having violated the law, notwithstanding the long list of similar violations which you have produced as precedents.”  No doubt princes have violated the law of this country:  they have suffered for it.  Nobles have violated the law:  their privileges have not protected them from punishment.  Common people have violated the law:  they have been hanged for it.  I know no human being exempt from the law.  The law is the security of the people of England; it is the security of the people of India; it is the security of every person that is governed, and of every person that governs.  There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity,—­the Law of Nature and of Nations.  So far as any laws fortify this primeval law, and give it more precision, more energy, more effect by their declarations, such laws enter into the sanctuary, and participate in the sacredness of its character.  But the man who quotes as precedents the abuses of tyrants and robbers pollutes the very fountain of justice, destroys the foundations of all law, and thereby removes the only safeguard against evil men, whether governors or governed,—­the guard which prevents governors from becoming tyrants, and the governed from becoming rebels.

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