XXII. 1786. favour of The house, unmoved by what they had heard, BOOK proceeded in the examination of evidence: and the first article of impeachment respecting the Rohilla war was brought formally before the Decision in house on the 1st of June. After a very long de- Mr. Hastbate, the question was decided in favour of Mr. pecting the Hastings, sixty-seven members voting for, and one war." hundred and nineteen against the impeachment. Mr. Pitt on this occasion gave a silent vote against the motion; but the ground on which he voted was tolerably well ascertained by a declaration he had previously made, when the subject of the Rohilla war was in a more general way discussed, "that he considered that transaction in a horribly alarming point of view, and as being so repugnant to every sentiment of human nature, that nothing could justify it but the strongest motives of political expediency, and the invincible principles of retributive justice-adding, nevertheless, that it would be highly inconsistent and absurd to consider Mr. Hastings now in the light of a culprit, for any measures taken by him previously to the period in which he had been nominated by act of parliament governor-general of India, which was the highest certificate of legisla tive approbation." But surely, in the contemplation of common justice and common sense, this re-appointment could not be regarded as equivalent to an acquittal, unless the house were at that ings res Rohilla XXII. BOOK period in full possession of the evidence on which the merits or demerits of the transaction rested, which it was notorious they were not. 1786. Decision On the 13th of June, the second charge rela against Mr. the Benares Hastings on tive to the rajah of Benares being brought forcharge. ward, it was resolved by the house, on a division of 119 to 79 voices," that this CHARGE Contained MATTER OF IMPEACHMENT against the late GOVERNOR-GENERAL of BENGAL." On this occasion Mr. Pitt spoke in support of the motion; but, admitting the legality of the discretionary power assumed by Mr. Hastings, he confined the criminality of the charge to the enormity of the fine levied upon the rajah, and its concomitant circumstances of oppression and cruelty. Frantic at tempt to the king. On the 11th of July, 1786, an end was put to these proceedings for the present by a prorogation of the parliament, which was dismissed with assurances of "the particular satisfaction with which the king had observed their diligent attention to the public business, and the measures they had adopted for improving the resources of the country." Soon after the rising of parliament a singular assassinate incident occurred which ingrossed for a moment the attention of the public. As the king was alighting from his post-chariot at the garden entrance of St. James's palace, August the 2d, a woman decently dressed presented a paper to his XXII. 1786. majesty; and while he was in the act of receiving BOOK it, she struck with a concealed knife at his breast. The king happily avoided the blow by drawing back; and as she was preparing to make a second thrust, one of the yeomen caught her arm, and the weapon was wrenched out of her hand. On examination before the privy-council, it immediately appeared that the woman was insane. Being asked where she had lately resided, she answered frantically," that she had been all abroad since that matter of the crown broke out." Being further questioned what matter? she said, " that the crown was hers; and that if she had not her right, England would be deluged in blood for a thousand generations." On being interrogated as to the nature of her right, she refused to answer, saying, in the genuine style of royalty," that her rights were a MYSTERY." It appeared that this poor maniac, whose name was Margaret Nicholson, had presented a petition ten days before, full of wild and incoherent nonsense. Like most other petitions it had probably never been read, or the person of the petitioner would have been secured. The idea of a judicial process was of course abandoned, and she was consigned to a fit apartment provided for her in Bethlem Hospital. In a few days the lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and common council of the city of London, went in procession to St. XXII. 1786. BOOK James's to present an address to his majesty on his happy escape from assassination. This example was followed by nearly all the corporate bodies throughout the kingdom; and the popularity of the king was sensibly increased by this trivial and almost ludicrous incident. The number and quality of knighthoods conferred on occasion of these addresses were such as completed the ridicule, so successfully levelled since the days of Cervantes, against that once honourable and envied distinction.* In the month of September 1786, the king was pleased to appoint a new Committee of Council, for the consideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations. Of this board the famous Charles Jenkinson, now for his long and faithful services created lord Hawkesbury, and constituted chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, was declared president. Under the auspices of this new comTreaty of mission a TREATY of COMMERCE was signed bewith France.tween the two courts of England and France (September 26, 1786) on the liberal principles of equality and reciprocity. Its general principle was to commerce * According to an anecdote somewhere related of Charles II. the witty and profligate, that monarch observing a person on whom he was about to confer the honour of knighthood to hang down his head and blush, as if conscious of the deficiency of his pretensions, exclaimed with his usual good humour and pleasantry," Don't be ashamed-'Tis I who have most XXII. 1786. admit the mutual importation and exportation of BOOK the commodities of each country at a very low ad valorem duty. The negotiator of this treaty was Mr. Eden, who under the coalition administration had filled the lucrative office of vice-treasurer of Ireland. This was the first memorable defection from that ill-starred and heterogeneous alliance: and it was the more remarkable, as Mr. Eden had himself been generally considered as the original projector of the coalition, or at least as the man who might contest that honour with Mr. Burke. He was soon afterwards rewarded for this desertion by a peerage, under the title of baron Auckland, and, gaining the entire confidence of the minister, was appointed in the sequel ambassador to the Hague. the Mos ments. About the same time a convention was signed Convention with Spain with Spain of some importance, as it finally termi- relative to nated the long-subsisting disputes respecting the quito settlesettlements of the English nation on the Mosquito shore and the coast of Honduras. The Mosquito shore extends by sea eastward from Point Castile, the boundary dividing it from the Bay of Honduras, to Cape Gracios-a-Dios, 87 leagues; and southward from Cape Gracios-a-Dios to the river of St. Juan, 94 leagues. The interior part of the country is bounded by the Lake of Nicaragua, and fenced by mountains stretching to the west. In magnitude it considerably exceeds the kingdom |