The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 12 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
History
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 12 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
I have only further to observe to your Lordships, that this
Mudjed-o-Din, who, under the patronage of Mr. Hastings, was to do all
these wonders, Lord Cornwallis turned out of his office with every mark
of disgrace, when he attempted to put into some more respectable state
that establishment which Mr. Hastings had made a sink of abuse.
I here conclude all that I have to say upon this business, trusting that
your Lordships will feel yourselves more offended, and justice more
insulted, by the defence than by the criminal acts of the prisoner at
your bar; and that your Lordships will concur with us in thinking, that
to make this unhappy people make these attestations, knowing the direct
contrary of every word which they say to be the truth, is a shocking
aggravation of his guilt. I say they must know it; for Lord Cornwallis
tells you it is notorious; and if you think fit to inquire into it, you
will find that it was unusually notorious.
* * * * *
My Lords, we have now brought to a conclusion our observations upon the
effects produced by that mass of oppression which we have stated and
proved before your Lordships,--namely, its effects upon the revenues,
and upon the public servants of the Company. We have shown you how
greatly the former were diminished, and in what manner the latter were
reduced to the worst of all bad states, a state of subserviency to the
will of the Governor-General. I have shown your Lordships that in this
state they were not only rendered incapable of performing their own
duty, but were fitted for the worst of all purposes, coöperation with
him in the perpetration of his criminal acts, and collusion with him in
the concealment of them. I have lastly to speak of these effects as they
regard the general state and welfare of the country. And here your
Lordships will permit me to read the evidence given by Lord Cornwallis,
a witness called by the prisoner at your bar, Mr. Hastings himself.
_The Evidence of Lord Cornwallis. Page 2721._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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