We charge the prisoner at your bar with all the consequences of this war.  We charge him with the murder of our sepoys, whom he sent unarmed to such a dangerous enterprise.  We charge him with the blood of every man that was shed in that place; and we call him, as we have called him, a tyrant, an oppressor, and a murderer.  We call him murderer in the largest and fullest sense of the word; because he was the cause of the murder of our English officers and sepoys, whom he kept unarmed, and unacquainted with the danger to which they would be exposed by the violence of his transactions.  He sacrificed to his own nefarious views every one of those lives, as well as the lives of the innocent natives of Benares, whom he designedly drove to resistance by the weakness of the force opposed to them, after inciting them by tyranny and insult to that display of affection towards their sovereign which is the duty of all good subjects.

My Lords, these are the iniquities which we have charged upon the prisoner at your bar; and I will next call your Lordships’ attention to the manner in which these iniquities have been pretended to be justified.  You will perceive a great difference in the manner in which this prisoner is tried, and of which he so much complains, and the manner in which he dealt with the unfortunate object of his oppression.  The latter thus openly appeals to his accuser.  “You are,” says he, “upon the spot.  It is happy for me that you are so.  You can now inquire into my conduct.”  Did Mr. Hastings so inquire?  No, my Lords, we have not a word of any inquiry; he even found fresh matter of charge in the answer of the Rajah, although, if there is any fault in this answer, it is its extremely humble and submissive tone.  If there was anything faulty in his manner, it was his extreme humility and submission.  It is plain he would have almost submitted to anything.  He offered, in fact, 220,000_l._ to redeem himself from greater suffering.  Surely no man going into rebellion would offer 220,000_l._ of the treasure which would be so essential to his success; nor would any government that was really apprehensive of rebellion call upon the suspected person to arm and discipline two thousand horse.  My Lords, it is evident no such apprehensions were entertained; nor was any such charge made until punishment had commenced.  A vague accusation was then brought forward, which was answered by a clear and a natural defence, denying some parts of the charge, evading and apologizing for others, and desiring the whole to be inquired into.  To this request the answer of the Governor-General was, “That won’t do; you shall have no inquiries.”  And why?  “Because I have arbitrary power, you have no rights, and I can and will punish you without inquiry.”  I admit, that, if his will is the law, he may take [make?] the charge before punishment or the punishment before the charge, or he may punish without making any charge.  If his will is the law, all I have been saying amounts to nothing.  But I have endeavored to let your Lordships see that in no country upon the earth is the will of a despot law.  It may produce wicked, flagitious, tyrannical acts; but in no country is it law.