The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 10 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 10 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
stage of the business, from beginning to end, has he once made.
And therefore here I close that part of the charge which relates to the
business of Nundcomar. Your Lordships will see such a body of
presumptive proof and positive proof as never was given yet of any
secret corrupt act of bribery; and there I leave it with your Lordships'
justice. I beg pardon for having detained you so long; but your
Lordships will be so good as to observe that no business ever was
covered with more folds of iniquitous artifice than this which is now
brought before you.
SPEECH
ON
THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF CHARGE.
SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1789.
My Lords,--When I last had the honor of addressing your Lordships, I
endeavored to state with as much perspicuity as the nature of an
intricate affair would admit, and as largely as in so intricate an
affair was consistent with the brevity which I endeavored to preserve,
the proofs which had been adduced against Warren Hastings upon an
inquiry instituted by an order of the Court of Directors into the
corruption and peculation of persons in authority in India. My Lords, I
have endeavored to show you by anterior presumptive proofs, drawn from
the nature and circumstances of the acts themselves inferring guilt,
that such actions and such conduct could be referable only to one cause,
namely, _corruption_; I endeavored to show you afterwards, my Lords,
what the specific nature and extent of the corruption was, as far as it
could be fully proved; and lastly, the great satisfactory presumption
which attended the inquiry with regard to Mr. Hastings,--namely, that,
contrary to law, contrary to his duty, contrary to what is owed by
innocence to itself, Mr. Hastings resisted that inquiry, and employed
all the power of his office to prevent the exercise of it, either in
himself or in others. These presumptions and these proofs will be
brought before your Lordships, distinctly and in order, at the end of
this opening.
The next point on which I thought it necessary to proceed was relative
to the presumptions which his subsequent conduct gave with regard to his
guilt: because, my Lords, his uniform tenor of conduct, such as must
attend guilt, both in the act, at the time of the inquiry, and
subsequent to it, will form such a body of satisfactory evidence as I
believe the human mind is not made to resist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account