such occasions, it cannot possibly happen that you should differ from me, in the construction which I have put upon them.

Gentlemen, this, I should however mention to you, is a libel of a more dangerous nature than the ribaldry that we daily see crowding every one of the prints which appear every morning upon our tables; because it is contained in a work which discovers the author of it to be by no means ignorant of composition, but certainly to be of good understanding, and eminently acquainted with letters. Therefore when calumny of this sort comes so recommended, and addressing itself to the understandings of the most enlightened part of mankind-I mean those who have had the best education-it may sink deep into the minds of those who compose the thinking and the judging part of the community; and, by misleading them, perhaps may be of more real danger than the momentary misleading, or the momentary inflammation of common minds, by the ordinary publications of the day.

This book is entitled, "A Review of the principal Charges "against Warren Hastings, Esquire, late Governor Gene"ral of Bengal."

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One passage in it is this:

"The House of Commons has now given its final decision with regard to the merits and "demerits of Mr. Hastings. The grand inquest of England "have delivered their charges, and preferred their impeach<< ment; their allegations are referred to proof; and from the "appeal to the collective wisdom and justice of the nation in "the Supreme Tribunal of the Kingdom, the question comes "to be determined, whether Mr. Hastings be guilty or not guilty ?"

Another is this:

"What credit can we give to multiplied "and accumulated charges, when we find that they originate "from misrepresentation and falsehood?"

Another is: "An impeachment of error in judgment "with regard to the quantum of a fine, and for an intention "that never was executed, characterizes a tribunal of inqui"sition, rather than a Court of Parliament."

In another part it is said: "The other charges are so insignificant in themselves, or founded on such gross misre"presentations, that they would not affect an obscure indi"vidual, much less a public character."

And again: "If success, in any degree, attends the de"signs of the accusers of Mr. Hastings, the voice of Britain "henceforth to her sons, is, Go and serve your country; "but if you transgress the line of official orders, though

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compelled by necessity, you do so at the risk of your for "tune, your honour, and your life; if you act with proper prudence against the interests of the empire, and bring 66 calamity and disgrace upon your country, you have only "to court opposition and coalesce with your enemies, and <c you will find a party zealous and devoted to support you; 66 you may obtain a vote of thanks from the House of Com

mons for your services, and you may read your history in "the eyes of the mob, by the light of bonfires and illumina"tions. But if, after exerting all your efforts in the cause "of your country, you return, covered with laurels, and "crowned with success; if you preserve a loyal attachment to your Sovereign, you may expect the thunders of par"liamentary vengeance; you will certainly be impeached, "and probably be undone."

Another passage is this; "The office of calm deliberate "justice is to address grievances as well as to punish offences. "It has been affirmed, that the natives of India have been deep"ly injured; but has any motion been made to make them "compensation for the injuries they have sustained?-Have "the accusers of Mr. Hastings ever proposed to bring back "the Rohillas to the country from which they were expelled? "To restore Cheit Sing to the Zemindary of Benares, or to "return the Nabob of Oude the present which the Governor "of Bengal received from him for the benefit of the compa"ny? Till such measures are adopted, and in the train of "negotiation, the world has every reason to conclude, that "the impeachment of Mr. Hastings is carried on."-Now Gentlemen, I leave you to judge what sort of motives are imputed to the House of Commons here-" From motives "of personal animosity, not from regard to public justice."

The general meaning, without specifying it in technical language, which I have thought it my duty to impute to these words, is shortly this :-That the House of Commons, without consideration, without reading, without hearing, have not been ashamed to accuse a man of distinguished situation; and to pervert their accusatorial character from the purposes of deliberate, thoughtful, considerate justice, to immediate, hasty, passionate, vindictive, personal animosity. The work represents, that the better a man conducts himself-that the more deserving he has rendered himself of his country's favour from his past conduct, the more he exposes himself to the vindictive proceedings of Parliament; and that such a man will be impeached and ruined.

In another passage, PERSONAL ANIMOSITY (the very words are used) is imputed to the Commons of Great Britain as the motive of their conduct-these are too plain for you, Gentlemen, to differ with me in the interpretation.

I do not choose to waste your time, and that of the Court, in so plain a case, with much observation; but hackneyed as it may be, it is my duty, upon every one of these occasions, to remind you, that the liberty of the press consists in its good regulation,-if it be meant that it should be preserved with benefit to the public, it must be from time to time lopped of its unjust excesses, by reasonable and proper verdicts of Juries, in fit and clear cases.

The publication having been proved, Mr. Erskine addressed the Fury as follows: first saying,

I admit that the witness has proved that he bought this book at the shop of Mr. Stockdale-Mr. Stockdale himself being in the shop; from a young man who acted as his

servant.

GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY,

MR. STOCKDALE, who is brought as a criminal before you for the publication of this book, has, by employing ME as his advocate, reposed what must appear to many an extraordinary degree of confidence; since, although he well knows that I am personally connected in friendship with most of those, whose conduct and opinions are principally arraigned by its author, he nevertheless commits to MY hands his defence and justification.

From a trust apparently so delicate and singular, vanity is but too apt to whisper an application to some fancied merit of one's own; but it is proper, for the honour of the English Bar, that the world should know that such things happen to all of us daily, and of course; and that the Defendant, without any knowledge of me, or any confidence that was personal, was only not afraid to follow up an accidental retainer, from the knowledge he has of the general character of the profession. Happy indeed is it for this country, that whatever interested divisions may characterize other places, of which I may have occasion to speak today, however the councils of the highest departments of the state may be occasionally distracted by personal considerations, they never enter these walls to disturb the administration of justice: whatever may be our public principles, or the private habits of our lives, they never cast even a shade across the path of our professional duties. If this be the characteristic even of the bar of an English Court of Justice, what sacred impartiality may not every man expect from its Jurors and its Bench?

As, from the indulgence which the Court was yesterday pleased to give to my indisposition, this Information was not proceeded on when you were attending to try it, it is probable you were not altogether inattentive to what passed at the trial of the other indictment, prosecuted also by the House of Commons; and therefore, without a restatement of the same principles, and a similar quotation of authori ties to support them, I need only remind you of the law applicable to this subject, as it was then admitted by the Attor

ney General, in concession to my propositions, and confirmed by the higher authority of the Court, viz.

First, that every information or indictment must contain such a description of the crime, that the Defendant may know what crime it is which he is called upon to answer.

Secondly, that the Jury may appear to be warranted in their conclusion of Guilty or Not Guilty.

And lastly, that the Court may see such a precise and definite transgression upon the record, as to be able to apply the punishment which judicial discretion may dictate, or which positive law may inflict.

It was admitted also to follow as a mere corollary from these propositions, that where an information charges a writing to be composed or published oF AND CONCERNING THE COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN, with an intent to bring that body into scandal and disgrace with the public, the author cannot be brought within the scope of such a charge, unless the Jury, on examination and comparison of the whole matter written or published, shall be satisfied that the particular passages charged as criminal, when explained by the context, and considered as part of one entire work, were meant and intended by the author to vilify the House of Commons as a body, and were written of and concerning them

IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

These principles being settled, we are now to see what the present Information is.

แ

It charges, that the Defendant, "unlawfully, wickedly, " and maliciously devising, contriving, and intending to asperse, scandalize, and vilify the Commons of Great Bri"tain in Parliament assembled; and most wickedly and audaciously to represent their proceedings as corrupt and "unjust, and to make it believed and thought, as if the Com66 mons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, were a "most wicked, tyrannical, base, and corrupt set of persons, "and to bring them into disgrace with the public"-the Defendant published--What ?--Not those latter ends of sentences which the Attorney General has read from his brief, as if they had followed one another in order in this book ;not those scraps and tails of passages which are patched together upon this record, and pronounced in one breath, as if they existed without intermediate matter in the same page, and without context any where.-No-This is not the accusation, even mutilated as it is: for the Information charges, that, with intention to vilify the House of Commons, the VOL. I.

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