It is upon these rules and
principles the Commons contend that Mr. Hastings ought to have regulated
his government; and not only Mr. Hastings, but all other governors. It
is upon these rules that he is responsible; and upon these rules, and
these rules only, your Lordships are to judge.
My Lords, long before the Committee had resolved upon this impeachment,
we had come, as I have told your Lordships, to forty-five resolutions,
every one criminatory of this man, every one of them bottomed upon the
principles which I have stated. We never will nor can we abandon them;
and we therefore do not supplicate your Lordships upon this head, but
claim and demand of right, that you will judge him upon those
principles, and upon no other. If once they are evaded, you can have no
rule for your judgment but your caprices and partialities.
Having thus stated the principles upon which the Commons hold him and
all governors responsible, and upon which we have grounded our
impeachment, and which must be the grounds of your judgment, (and your
Lordships will not suffer any other ground to be mentioned to you,) we
will now tell you what are the grounds of his defence.
He first asserts, that he was possessed of an arbitrary and despotic
power, restrained by no laws but his own will.
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