XXIII. 1788. BOOK other accusations till the question of Nundcomar was decided. He could not bear to live under the imputation of MURDER; but if he were acquitted of that, he should consider all the other charges as frivolous and unimportant." Being requested to leave the minutes of his defence, as Mr. Hastings had before done, upon the table, the chief-justice declared it to be impossible-having unfortunately spoken extempore. On the 28th of April sir Gilbert Elliot entered upon his summary of the charge. He enlarged upon the "absurdity of enforcing a law founded upon the local customs of one country against the natives of another. To extend by a constructive interpretation the English law against forgery, unknown on the other side the Tweed, to India, was no less preposterous than to try the Great Mogul and the visiers of his court upon the English statute of bigamy. He stated in the strongest terms the expediency and equity of at least granting a respite of the sentence, since conviction had been obtained by evidence the most suspicious, at a time when Nundcomar was in the act of bringing forward an accusation against the governorgeneral, and when it was evident that the execution of the sentence could not take place without exciting horror and dismay throughout Hindostan. He affirmed, that the blood of the MURDERED KAJAH was upon their heads, and still crying for ven 207 XXIIL ~ 1788. geance on the man who had thus stained and crim- BOOK soned the spotless ermine of justice." The defence of sir Elijah Impey had, however, engaged and preoccupied the minds of the house. And it must be confessed, that the chief-justice had so skilfully entrenched himself behind the impregnable ramparts of the law-the letter of which, admitting the extension of the system of English jurisprudence to India, he in the whole of this transaction carefully avoided overstepping-that it was difficult to pronounce him in a legal sense guilty, however flagitious his conduct might appear when brought to the test of free and rational investigation. The lawyers in the house seemed to consider it as a common cause, and exerted themselves with peculiar ardor in his behalf; and Mr. Pitt declaring himself convinced of the innocence of the accused, the motion of sir Gilbert Elliot was on the division negatived by a majority of 73 to 65 voices. Such was the effect of this discouraging circumstance, that the farther consideration of the impeachment was adjourned over the session, and it has never yet been resumed. It seems extraordinary, that the acceptance of an appointment contrary to his oath of office, under the governor and council, by the chief-justice, which was the immediate ground of his recall, was not made the leading article of the impeachment, as upon this head all the ingenuity of the profession, excellent and admirable as it is, could have afforded no colorable defence. BOOK 1788. trial of Mr. The trial of Mr. Hastings commenced on the 15th of February-Westminster Hall being fitted Commence- up for the purpose with great magnificence. Mr. ment of the Burke was no less than four successive days in Hastings. making his preliminary speech, which was filled with vehement invective, with much rhetorical exaggeration, and with matter wholly extraneous to the subject of the impeachment. Men of plain sense, whose object was TRUTH, and who desired only a clear and simple summary of facts, sighed over these eccentricities and follies; and augured ill of the final success of the impeachment from so injudicious an outset. If approbation, however, was wanting, the place was amply supplied by admiration; and the speech was extolled by the parasitical flatterers of Mr. Burke, as a more than Ciceronian effort of eloquence. On the 22d of February the Benares charge was opened by Mr. Fox; and it was concluded on the 25th by Mr. Grey, member for the county of Northumberland, whose talents had, at a very early period of life, attracted in an eminent degree the attention of the house, of which he was destined to be one of the chief and most distinguished orna ments. On the 15th of April, the charge relative to the Begums of Oude was brought forward in a very able manner by Mr. Adam; and the evidence on this charge was summed up by Mr. Sheridan, in a XXIII. speech which lasted five days, and of which the BOOK more vigorous compression only was wanting to 1788. the perfection of eloquence. gulating the slave trade. The last business of importance which engaged Bill for rethe attention of parliament was a bill brought into African the house by sir William Dolben, member for the university of Oxford, a man of the highest integrity and respectability, to regulate the transportation of slaves from the coast of Africa to the West Indies. At the beginning of the year, a multitude of petitions had been presented from the different towns, cities, and counties of the kingdom, imploring in earnest and affecting terms the abolition of that superlatively nefarious and detestable traffic. A motion on the subject of these petitions was expected to be made by Mr. Wilberforce,member for Yorkshire; but in consequence of the long-protracted and unfortunate indisposition of that gentleman, Mr. Pitt on the 9th of May moved a resolution, importing that the house would early in the next session proceed to take into consideration the state of the slave-trade. The bill of sir William Dolben, which was intended merely to establish a certain reasonable proportion between the number of slaves and the tonnage of the ships, was violently and obstinately opposed by petitions from the merchants of Lon. don and Liverpool concerned in the African trade. Counsel being therefore engaged, and witnesses וי XXIII. 1788. BOOK examined, it appeared in evidence at the bar of the house, that five feet six inches in length, and sixteen inches in breadth, was the average space allotted to each slave. The lower deck of the vessel was entirely covered with bodies. The space between the floor of that deck and the roof above, in height about five feet eight inches, was divided by a platform, also covered with human bodies. The slaves were chained, two and two, by their hands and feet, and by means of ring-bolts fastened to the deck. In that sultry climate, their allowance was a pint of water each per diem; and they were usually fed twice a day with yams and horse beans. After meals they were compelled by the whip to jump in their irons, which by the slave dealers was called dancing. They had not, as was emphatically stated, when stowed together, so much room as a man in his coffin, either in length or breadth. They drew their breath with laborious and anxious efforts, and many died of mere suffocation. The customary mortality of the voyage exceeded seventeen times the usual estimate of human life. A slave ship, when full fraught with this cargo of wretchedness and abomination, exhibited at once the extremes of human depravity and human misery. • Mr. Pitt, who, on various occasions, has dropped the statesman to assume the nobler character of the philanthropist, declared with indignant |