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
The Council of
Calcutta took this representation into their deliberate consideration;
they found that it was true, that, if he had such an attendance any
longer in this situation, (and a large attendance it was, such as the
Chancellor of this kingdom or the Speaker of the House of Commons does
not appear with,) it would have an evil appearance. On the other hand,
say they, "_If he should be left under a guard, the people would
consider him as under disgrace._" They therefore took a middle way, and
ordered the guard not to attend him with fixed bayonets, which had the
appearance of the custody of a prisoner, but to lower their muskets and
unfix their bayonets.
The next step of these commissioners is to exclude Mr. Paterson from all
their deliberations; and in order that both parties might be put on an
equality, one would naturally conclude that the culprit, Debi Sing, was
likewise excluded. Far from it: he sat upon the bench. Need I say any
more upon this subject? The protection followed.
In this situation Mr. Paterson wrote one of the most pathetic memorials
that ever was penned to the Council of Calcutta, submitting to his hard
fate, but standing inflexibly to his virtue that brought it upon him. To
do the man justice, he bore the whole of this persecution like an hero.
He never tottered in his principles, nor swerved to the right or to the
left from the noble cause of justice and humanity in which he had been
engaged; and when your Lordships come to see his memorials, you will
have reason to observe that his abilities are answerable to the dignity
of his cause, and make him worthy of everything that he had the honor to
suffer for it.
To cut short the thread of this shocking series of corruption,
oppression, fraud, and chicanery, which lasted for upwards of four
years: Paterson remains without employment; the inhabitants of great
provinces, whose substance and whose blood was sold by Mr. Hastings,
remain without redress; and the purchaser, Debi Sing, that corrupt,
iniquitous, and bloody tyrant, instead of being proceeded against by the
Committee in a civil suit for retribution to the sufferers, is handed
over to the false semblance of a trial, on a criminal charge, before a
Mahometan judge,--an equal judge, however. The judge was Mahomed Reza
Khan, his original patron, and the author of all his fortunes,--a judge
who depends on him, as a debtor depends upon his creditor. To that
judge is he sent, without a distinct charge, without a prosecutor, and
without evidence. The next ships will bring you an account of his
honorable acquittal.
I have stated before that I considered Mr. Hastings as responsible for
the characters of the people he employed,--doubly responsible, if he
_knew_ them to be bad. I therefore charge him with putting in situations
in which any evil may be committed persons of known evil characters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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