he sons
of the Nabob were involved, and that two of them were wounded in an
attempt to escape: and yet this man has had the impudence to declare his
doubts of the Nabob's having had any children in the place, though the
account of what was going on had been regularly transmitted to him.
After this, what is there in his conduct that we can wonder at?

My Lords, the maintenance of these women had been guarantied by the
Company; but it was doubly guarantied under the great seal of humanity.
The conscience of every man, and more especially of the great and
powerful, is the keeper of that great seal, and knows what is due to its
authority. For the violation of both these guaranties, without even the
vain and frivolous pretence of a rebellion, and for all its
consequences, Mr. Hastings is answerable; and he will not escape your
justice by those miserable excuses which he has produced to the Court of
Directors, and which he has produced here in his justification. My
Lords, that justification we leave with your Lordships.

* * * * *

We now proceed to another part of our charge, which Mr. Hastings has not
thought proper to deny, but upon which we shall beg leave to make a few
observations. You will first hear read to you, from the 17th article of
our charge, the subject-matter to which we now wish to call your
attention.

"That in or about the month of March, 1783, three of the said
brothers of the Nabob, namely, Mirza Hyder Ali, Mirza Imayut Ali,
and Mirza Syef Ali, did represent to the said Bristow that they
were in distress for dry bread and clothes, and in consequence of
such representation were relieved by the intervention of the said
Bristow, but soon after the deputation of the said Warren Hastings
to Oude, in the year 1784, that is to say, some time in or about
the month of September, in the said year 1784, the said Mirza Hyder
Ali, one of the three princes aforesaid, did fly to the province of
Benares, and did remain there in great distress; and that, although
the said Warren Hastings did write to the said Nabob an account of
the aforesaid circumstances, in certain loose, light, and
disrespectful expressions concerning the said Mirza Hyder Ali, he
did not, as he was in duty bound to do, in any wise exert that
influence which he actually and notoriously possessed over the mind
of the said Nabob, for the rel