ster in the country in which he lived, with what face can Mr.
Hastings call this man a wretch, and say that he will not suffer him to
be brought before him? If, indeed, joined with such circumstances, the
accuser be a person of bad morals, then, I admit, those bad morals take
away from their weight; but for a proof of that you must have some other
grounds than the charges and the railing of the culprit against him.

I might say that his passion is a proof of his guilt; and there is an
action which is more odious than the crimes he attempts to cover,--_for
he has murdered this man by the hands of Sir Elijah Impey_; and if his
counsel should be unwise enough to endeavor to detract from the credit
of this man by the pretended punishment to which he was brought, we will
open that dreadful scene to your Lordships, and you will see that it
does not detract from his credit, but brings an eternal stain and
dishonor upon the justice of Great Britain: I say nothing further of it.
As he stood there, as he gave that evidence that day, the evidence was
to be received; it stands good, and is a record against Mr.
Hastings,--with this addition, that he would not suffer it to be
examined. He railed at his colleagues. He says, if the charge was false,
they were guilty of a libel. No: it might have been the effect of
conspiracy, it might be punished in another way; but if it was false, it
was no libel. And all this is done to discountenance inquiry, to bring
odium upon his colleagues for doing their duty, and to prevent that
inquiry which could alone clear his character.

Mr. Hastings had himself forgotten the character which he had given of
Nundcomar; but he says that his colleagues were perfectly well
acquainted with him, and knew that he was a wretch, the basest of
mankind. But before I read to you the character which Mr. Hastings gave
of him, when he recommended him to the Presidency, (to succeed Mahomed
Reza Khan,) I am to let your Lordships understand fully the purpose for
which Mr. Hastings gave it. Upon that occasion, all the Council, whom he
stated to lie under suspicion of being bought by Mahomed Reza Khan, all
those persons with one voice cried out against Nundcomar; and as Mr.
Hastings was known to be of the faction the most opposite to Nundcomar,
they charged him with direct inconsistency in raising Nundcomar to that
exalted trust,--a charge which Mr. Hastings could not repel any other
way than by defending Nundcomar. The wei