hed, except by us. We know not how this assertion is to be
made good, unless _the most daring and flagrant prostitution in every
branch_ be deemed an honor to his administration."

The whole style and tenor of these accusations, as well as the nature of
them, rendered Mr. Hastings's first postponing, and afterwards totally
declining, all denial, or even defence or explanation, very
extraordinary. No Governor ought to hear in silence such charges; and
no Court of Directors ought to have slept upon them.

The Court of Directors were not wholly inattentive to this business.
They condemned his act as it deserved, and they went into the business
of his legal right to dissolve the Council. Their opinions seemed
against it, and they gave precise orders against the use of any such
power in future. On consulting Mr. Sayer, the Company's counsel, he was
of a different opinion with regard to the legal right; but he thought,
very properly, that the use of a right, and the manner and purposes for
which it was used, ought not to have been separated. What he thought on
this occasion appears in his opinion transmitted by the Court of
Directors to Mr. Hastings and the Council-General. "But it was as great
a _crime_ to dissolve the Council upon _base and sinister motives_ as it
would be to assume the power of dissolving, if he had it not. I believe
he is _the first governor that ever_ dissolved a council inquiring into
his behavior, when he was innocent. Before he could summon three
councils and dissolve them, he had time fully to consider what would be
the result of such conduct, _to convince everybody, beyond a doubt, of
his conscious guilt_."

It was a matter but of small consolation to Mr. Hastings, during the
painful interval he describes, to find that the Company's learned
counsel admitted that he had legal powers of which he made an use that
raised an universal presumption of his guilt.

Other counsel did not think so favorably of the powers themselves. But
this matter was of less consequence, because a great difference of
opinion may arise concerning the extent of official powers, even among
men professionally educated, (as in this case such a difference did
arise,) and well-intentioned men may take either part. But the use that
was made of it, in systematical contradiction to the Company's orders,
has been stated in the Ninth Report, as well as in many of the others
made by two of your committees.

FOOTNOTES:

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