The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 11 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 11 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
SPEECH
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
SECOND DAY: FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1794.
My lords,--On the last day of the sitting of this court, when I had the
honor of appearing before you by the order of my fellow Managers, I
stated to you their observations and my own upon two great points: one
the demeanor of the prisoner at the bar during his trial, and the other
the principles of his defence. I compared that demeanor with the
behavior of some of the greatest men in this kingdom, who have, on
account of their offences, been brought to your bar, and who have seldom
escaped your Lordships' justice. I put the decency, humility, and
propriety of the most distinguished men's behavior in contrast with the
shameless effrontery of this prisoner, who has presumptuously made a
recriminatory charge against the House of Commons, and answered their
impeachment by a counter impeachment, explicitly accusing them of
malice, oppression, and the blackest ingratitude.
My Lords, I next stated that this recriminatory charge consisted of two
distinct parts,--injustice and delay. To the injustice we are to answer
by the nature and proof of the charges which we have brought before you;
and to the delay, my Lords, we have answered in another place. Into one
of the consequences of the delay, the ruinous expense which the
prisoner complains of, we have desired your Lordships to make an
inquiry, and have referred you to facts and witnesses which will remove
this part of the charge.
With regard to ingratitude, there will be a proper time for
animadversion on this charge. For in considering the merits that are
intended to be set off against his crimes, we shall have to examine into
the nature of those merits, and to ascertain how far they are to
operate, either as the prisoner designs they shall operate in his favor,
as presumptive proofs that a man of such merits could not be guilty of
such crimes, or as a sort of set-off to be pleaded in mitigation of his
offences. In both of these lights we shall consider his services, and in
this consideration we shall determine the justice of his charge of
ingratitude.
My Lords, we have brought the demeanor of the prisoner before you for
another reason. We are desirous that your Lordships may be enabled to
estimate, from the proud presumption and audacity of the criminal at
your bar, when he stands before the most awful tribunal in the world,
accused by a body representing no less than the sacred voice of his
country, what he must have been when placed in the seat of pride and
power. What must have been the insolence of that man towards the natives
of India, who, when called here to answer for enormous crimes, presumes
to behave, not with the firmness of innocence, but with the audacity and
hardness of guilt!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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