Thus he has at once
repealed all preceding acts, he has annulled by prospect every future
act you can make; and it is not in the power of the Parliament of Great
Britain, without ruining the empire, to hinder his exercising this
despotic authority. All Asia is by him disfranchised at a stroke. Its
inhabitants have no rights, no laws, no liberties; their state is mean
and depraved; they may be fined for any purpose of court extravagance or
prodigality,--or as Cheyt Sing was fined by him, not only upon every
war, but upon every pretence of war.
This is the account he gives of his power, and of the people subject to
the British government in India. We deny that the act of Parliament gave
him any such power; we deny that the India Company gave him any such
power, or that they had ever any such power to give; we even deny that
there exists in all the human race a power to make the government of any
state dependent upon individual will. We disclaim, we reject all such
doctrines with disdain and indignation; and we have brought them up to
your Lordships to be tried at your bar.
What must be the condition of the people of India, governed, as they
have been, by persons who maintain these principles as maxims of
government, and not as occasional deviations caused by the irregular
will of man,--principles by which the whole system of society is to be
controlled, not by law, reason, or justice, but by the will of one man?
Your Lordships will remark, that not only the whole of the laws, rights,
and usages, but the very being of the people, are exposed to ruin: for
Mr.
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250