slight, and they consider as nothing all evidence given by persons who are interested in the very cause,—­persons who derive their fortunes from the ruin of the very people of the country, and who have divided the spoils with the man whom we accuse.  Undoubtedly these officers will give him their good word.  Undoubtedly the Residents will give him their good word.  Mr. Markham, and Mr. Benn, and Mr. Fowke, if he had been called, every servant of the Company, except some few, will give him the same good word, every one of them; because, my Lords, they have made their fortunes under him, and their conduct has not been inquired into.

But to return to the observations we were making upon the ruinous effects in general of the successive governments which had been established at Benares by the prisoner at your bar.  These effects, he would have you believe, arose from the want of a constitution.  Why, I again ask, did he destroy the constitution which he found established there, or suffer it to be destroyed?  But he had actually authorized Mr. Markham to make a new, a regular, an official constitution.  Did Mr. Markham make it?  No:  though he professed to do it; it never was done:  and so far from there being any regular, able, efficient constitution, you see there was an absolute and complete anarchy in the country.  The native inhabitants, deprived of their ancient government, were so far from looking up to their new masters for protection, that, the moment they saw the face of a soldier or of a British person in authority, they fled in dismay, and thought it more eligible to abandon their houses to robbery than to remain exposed to the tyranny of a British governor.  Is this what they call British dominion?  Will you sanction by your judicial authority transactions done in direct defiance of your legislative authority?  Are they so injuriously mad as to suppose your Lordships can be corrupted to betray in your judicial capacity (the most sacred of the two) what you have ordained in your legislative character?

My Lords, I am next to remind you what this man has had the insolence and audacity to state at your bar.  “In fact,” says he, “I can adduce very many gentlemen now in London to confirm my assertions, that the countries of Benares and Gazipore were never within the memory of Englishmen so well protected, so peaceably governed, or more industriously cultivated than at the present moment.”

Your Lordships know that this report of Mr. Hastings which has been read was made in the year 1784.  Your Lordships know that no step was taken, while Mr. Hastings remained in India, for the regulation and management of the country.  If there was, let it be shown.  There was no constitution framed, nor any other means taken for the settlement of the country, except the appointment of Ajeet Sing in the room of Durbege Sing, to reign like him, and like him to be turned out.  Mr. Hastings left India in February, 1785; he arrived here, as I believe, in