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The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke novel. A total of 269 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke.Vol. I.by Edmund Burke.PREFACE.Before the
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke.Vol. I.by Edmund Burke.PREFACE.Before the philosophical works of Lord Bolingbroke had appeared, great things were expected from the leisure of a man, who, from the splendid scene of action in which his talent
- 201 1st. That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, that he did, in a public instrument, solemnly recognize, "_as a breach of treaty_," and as such did subject to the consequent penalties, an act which he, the said Hastings, did at the same ti
- 202 FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHaN BY MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS.I. That, in the course of the said negotiation for establis.h.i.+ng the rights of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, Major Palmer aforesaid did communicate to the Resident, Bristow, and through the sa
- 203 LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL.SPEECH IN OPENING.FEBRUARY, 1788.SPEECH IN OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT.FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788.My Lords,--The gentlemen who have it in command to support the impeachment against Mr. Hastings have directed me to ope
- 204 I must, however, remark, before I go further, that there is something in the representation of the East India Company in their Oriental territory different from that, perhaps, of any other nation that has ever transported any part of its power from one co
- 205 With all the faults of their nature and errors of their inst.i.tutions, their inst.i.tutions, which act so powerfully on their natures, have two material characteristics which ent.i.tle them to respect: first, great force and stability; and next, excellen
- 206 It might have been expected, too, that, in that enlightened state of the world, influenced by the best religion, and from an improved description of that best religion, (I mean the Christian reformed religion,) that we should have done honor to Europe, to
- 207 Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent factions; but the faction which adhered to Nundcomar was undoubtedly the weakest. That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khan, clinging, as to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling a
- 208 To bring this point a little nearer home,--since we are challenged thus, since we are led into Asia, since we are called upon to make good our charge on the principles of the governments there, rather than on those of our own country, (which I trust your
- 209 This is the provincial const.i.tution, and these the laws of Bengal; which proves, if there were no other proof, by the division of the functions and authorities, that the supreme power of the state in the Mogul empire did by no means delegate to any of i
- 210 [18] 15th Dec, 1775. [19] On the 15th of November. [20] Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782. [21] Andersons letter of 26th January, 1782. [22] Andersons letter of 24th February, 1782. [23] Sic orig. [24] Sic orig. [25] Observations on Mr. B
- 211 The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke.Vol. X.by Edmund Burke.SPEECH IN OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT.THIRD DAY: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1788.My Lords,--The gentlemen who are appointed by the Commons to manage this prosecution, have directed me to inform y
- 212 His conduct upon these occasions may be thought irrational. But, thank G.o.d, guilt was never a rational thing: it distorts all the faculties of the mind; it perverts them; it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason; it puts him into confusio
- 213 There is a revenue in that country, raised by a tax more productive than laudable. It is an imposition on public prost.i.tutes, a duty upon the societies of dancing-girls,--those seminaries from which Mr. Hastings has selected an administrator of justice
- 214 Other principles of policy, and other rules of government, and other maxims of office prevailed in the Committee of Mr. Hastings's devising.In order to destroy that just and natural credit of the officer, and the protection and support they were boun
- 215 Goodlad, who had no authority but that of receiving the accounts and rents of the district from Rajah Debi Sing, and occasionally to be the channel of communication between him and the Committee."Thus your Lords.h.i.+ps see what Mr. Hastings's o
- 216 "I therefore move the board that Gunga Govind Sing may be forthwith required to surrender the original deeds produced by him as a t.i.tle to the grant of Salbarry, in order that they may be returned to the Rajah's agents, to be made null and voi
- 217 After the evidence upon this article had been adduced, it was summed up and enforced by Mr. Anstruther, on the 11th day of April following.The next article with which the Commons proceeded was brought forward on the 15th of April, 1788, by Mr. Adam, and s
- 218 My Lords, I think it is necessary to state, that there has been some little difficulty concerning this word, _presents_. Bribery and extortion have been covered by the name of presents, and the authority and practice of the East has been adduced as a pall
- 219 "Your order for the reduction of the Nabob's stipend was communicated to him in the month of December, 1771. He remonstrated against it, and desired it might be again referred to the Company. The board entirely acquiesced in his remonstrance, an
- 220 I will have nothing to do with the great question that arose upon the Governor-General's resolution to dissolve a board, whether the board have a right to sit afterwards; it is enough that Mr. Hastings would not suffer them, as a Council, to examine
- 221 Hastings wishes to appeal to a court of justice, rather than to give satisfaction to his employers,) "though supported by the cries of the people and the most authentic representations, it is yet impossible in most cases to obtain legal proofs of it;
- 222 This is followed by another letter, in which he shows who those corrupt men were that had gained the ascendency over the Nabob's temper,--namely, the eunuchs of Munny Begum: one of them her direct instrument in bribery with Mr. Hastings. What you wou
- 223 My Lords,--Agreeably to your Lords.h.i.+ps' proclamation, which I have just heard, and the duty enjoined me by the House of Commons, I come forward to make good their charge of high crimes and misdemeanors against Warren Hastings, Esquire, late Gover
- 224 My Lords, you see what an account Mr. Hastings has given of some obscure transaction by which he contradicts the record. For, on the 26th of June, he generously, n.o.bly, full of enthusiasm for their service, offers to the Company money of his own. On the
- 225 He goes on to say (and the threat is indeed alarming) that by calling him to account they may provoke him--to what? "To appropriate," he says, "to my own use the sums which I have already pa.s.sed to your credit, by the unworthy and, pardon
- 226 My Lords, you will observe in this most astonis.h.i.+ng account which he gives here, that several of these sums he meant to conceal forever, even from the knowledge of the Directors. Look back to his letter of 22d May, 1782, and his letter of the 16th of
- 227 Hastings must have taken some money in some irregular way, or he could not have made those payments. Mr. Larkins begins to suspect him. "Where did you lose this bodkin?" said one lady to another, upon a certain occasion. "Pray, Madam, where
- 228 My Lords, I have one farther remark to make upon these accounts. The cabooleats, or agreements for the payments of these bribes, amount, in the three specified provinces, to 95,000_l._ Do you believe that these provinces were thus particularly favored? Do
- 229 The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke.Vol. XI.by Edmund Burke.NOTE.In the sixth article Mr. Burke was supported, on the 16th of February, 1790, by Mr. Anstruther, who opened the remaining part of this article and part of the seventh article, and
- 230 Your Committee thinks it scarcely possible that the Lords could be influenced by such a feeble argument. For, admitting the fact to have been as supposed, there is no sort of reason why so uniform a course of precedents, in a legal court composed of a pee
- 231 For these reasons your Committee did and do strongly contend that the Court of Parliament ought to be open with great facility to the production of all evidence, except that which the precedents of Parliament teach them authoritatively to reject, or which
- 232 Thus it is with things which owe their existence to men; but where the subject is of a physical nature, or of a moral nature, independent of their conventions, men have no other reasonable authority than to register and digest the results of experience an
- 233 [1] 4 Inst. p. 4.[2] Rol. Parl. Vol. III. p. 244, -- 7.[3] 4 Inst. p. 15.[4] 16 Ch. I. 1640.[5] Lords' Journals, Vol. IV. p. 133.[6] Id. Vol. XIX. p. 98.[7] Lords' Journals, Vol. XIX. p. 116.[8] Lords' Journals, Vol. XIX. p. 121.[9] Lords&#
- 234 [45] Digest. Lib. XXII. t.i.t. 5.[46] Calvinus, voce _Praesumptio_.[47] Bartolus [48] Lib. II. Obs. 149, -- 9.[49] Lib. I. Obs. 91, -- 7.[50] Antiqua jurisprudentia aspera quidem illa, tenebricosa, et tristis, non tam in aequitate quam in verborum superst
- 235 _To the Second Question._ "Supposing the day appointed by the judgment for execution should lapse before such execution done, (which, however, the law will not presume,) we are all of opinion that a new time may be appointed for the execution, either
- 236 _Answer._--The Lord Chief-Baron of the Court of Exchequer delivered the unanimous opinion of the Judges upon the said question, in the negative,--and gave his reasons.1789, May 27.--Pa. 771._Fourth._ _Question._--Whether the public accounts of the Nizamut
- 237 1794, February 27.--Lords' Minutes._Answer._--The Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of Common Pleas delivered the unanimous opinion of the Judges upon the said question,--"That it is not competent for the Managers for the Commons to ask the witnes
- 238 MAY AND JUNE, 1794.SPEECH IN GENERAL REPLY.FIRST DAY: WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1794 My Lords,--This business, which has so long employed the public councils of this kingdom, so long employed the greatest and most august of its tribunals, now approaches to a clo
- 239 This sympathetic revenge, which is condemned by clamorous imbecility, is so far from being a vice, that it is the greatest of all possible virtues,--a virtue which the uncorrupted judgment of mankind has in all ages exalted to the rank of heroism. To give
- 240 I mean to prove the direct contrary of everything that has been said on this subject by the prisoner's counsel, or by himself. I mean to prove that the people of India have laws, rights, and immunities; that they have property, movable and immovable,
- 241 It may be necessary that I should recall to your Lords.h.i.+ps' recollection the principles of the accusation and of the defence. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will bear in mind that the matters of fact are all either settled by confession or conviction, and th
- 242 It is known, my Lords, that Mr. Hastings, besides having received proposals for delivering up the beautiful country of Benares, that garden of G.o.d, as it is styled in India, to that monster, that rapacious tyrant, Asoph ul Dowlah, who with his gang of m
- 243 In expectation of danger, he seized the person of the Rajah, and he pretends that the Rajah suffered no disgrace from his arrest. But, my Lords, we have proved, what was stated by the Rajah, and was well known to Mr. Hastings, that to imprison a person of
- 244 [98] Hedaya, Vol. II. p. 621.SPEECH IN GENERAL REPLY.THIRD DAY: TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1794.My Lords,--We are called, with an awful voice, to come forth and make good our charge against the prisoner at your bar; but as a long time has elapsed since your Lords.h
- 245 Your Lords.h.i.+ps tread upon corruption everywhere. Why was such a large revenue given to the young Rajah to support his dignity, when, as they say, Cheyt Sing did not spend above a lac and half in support of his,--though it is known he had great establi
- 246 Observe, my Lords, the person that put Durbege Sing in prison was Mr.Markham; while the complaint in the arzee is, that Mr. Markham was himself the cause of the very failure for which he imprisoned him. Now what was the conduct of Mr. Hastings as judge? H
- 247 _Extract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares, under date the 26th February, at the Purgunnah of Sekunderpoor._ "The Resident now leaves Sekunderpoor to proceed to Nurgurah, the head cutchery of the purgunnah. He is sorry to observe, that, d
- 248 Your Lords.h.i.+ps will remember that the counsel at the bar have said that they undertook the defence of Warren Hastings, not in order to defend him, but to rescue the British character from the imputations which have been laid upon it by the Commons of
- 249 The next point to which I have to direct your Lords.h.i.+ps' attention is that part of the prisoner's conduct, in this matter, by which he exposed the nakedness of the Company's authority to the native powers. You would imagine, that, after
- 250 It is stated in evidence upon your minutes that this bloated leech went back to Calcutta; that he was supposed, from a state of debt, (in which he was known to have been when he left that city,) to have returned from Oude with the handsome sum of 300,000_
- 251 The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke.Vol. XII.by Edmund Burke.SPEECH IN GENERAL REPLY.FIFTH DAY: SAt.u.r.dAY, JUNE 7, 1794.My Lords,--We will now resume the consideration of the remaining part of our charge, and of the prisoner's attempts to de
- 252 That your Lords.h.i.+ps may learn something of one of these ladies, called the Munny Begum, I will refer you to Major Browne's evidence,--a man who was at Delhi, the fountain-head of all the n.o.bility of India, and must have known who this lady was that
- 253 _Letter from Mr. Johnson to the Officer commanding the Guard.Lucknow, 28th June, 1782._ "Sir,--The Nabob having determined to inflict corporal punishment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may
- 254 My Lords, I must here observe to your Lords.h.i.+ps that there is no act of violence which, merely as an act of violence, may not in some sort be borne: because an act of violence infers no principle; it infers nothing but a momentary impulse of a bad min
- 255 Let us suppose our proof to be, that two persons who never appeared before nor since, that two grenadiers in English uniforms, (which would be a great deal stronger than the case of the nudjeeves, because they have no particular uniform belonging to them,
- 256 You see, my Lords, the Directors had received every one of his false impressions. They had conceived an idea, that, after the rebellion of Cheyt Sing, (but not before, upon his own showing,) the Begums had shown a disposition to arm. They here a.s.sume a
- 257 SEVENTH DAY. THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1794.My Lords,--When I had last the honor of addressing your Lords.h.i.+ps from this place, my observations were princ.i.p.ally directed to the unjust confiscation and seizure of the jaghires and treasures of the Begums, wi
- 258 "Sir,--I beg leave to address you again concerning the women in the Khord Mohul. Their behavior last night was so furious that there seemed the greatest probability of their proceeding to the utmost extremities, and that they would either throw themselve
- 259 "And the said Warren Hastings further says, that in certain letters written by David Anderson, Esquire, and John Bristow, Esquire, it was represented that the said Mirza Jungli did apply to the said Bristow, through the said Anderson, then on an emba.s.s
- 260 I do not know, my Lords, that it is necessary to make any observation upon this state of things. You see that the native authority was, as we have proved, utterly extinguished by Mr. Hastings, and that there was no superintendent power but his. You have h
- 261 Mr. Hastings, having received these orders from the Court of Directors, did--what? He alleges in his defence, that no positive commands were given him. But a very sufficient description was given of the person who ought to succeed Mahomed Reza Khan, in wh
- 262 "For my own part, I have ever considered the reserve which has been enjoined us in this respect as a consequence of the doubts which have long prevailed, and which are still suffered to subsist, respecting the rights of the British government and the
- 263 My Lords, here is a man who is to administer his own affairs, who has arrived at sufficient age to supersede the counsel and advice of the great Mahometan doctors and the great n.o.bility of the country, and he is put under the most absolute guardians.h.i
- 264 "We wish we could refute the observation, that almost every attempt made by us and our administrations at your Presidency for the reforming of abuses has rather increased them, and added to the miseries of the country we are so anxious to protect and
- 265 When he had got rid of the majority in the Council, which thwarted him, what did he do? Did he himself correct any of the evils and disorders which had prevailed in the service, and which his hostile majority had purposed to reform? No, not one,--notwiths
- 266 The first thing that will occur to your Lords.h.i.+ps is an a.s.sertion of the accuser's:--"I am morally certain, that jaidads or a.s.sets for ten lacs, either in a.s.signment of land or in bills, had been prepared, and were in the charge or pos
- 267 At the same time that we call for your justice upon this man, we beseech you to remember the severest justice upon him is the tenderest pity towards the innocent victims of his crimes. Consider what was at that time the state of the people from whom, in d
- 268 This act of injustice, against which we have fulminated the thunder of our resolutions as a heavy crime, as a crime that dishonored the nation, and which measures ought to be taken to redress, this man has the insolence to bring before your Lords.h.i.+ps
- 269 THE END……