Hastings sat with recorded peculation, with peculation proved upon oath on the minutes of that very Council,--he sat at the head of that Council and that board where his peculations were proved against him.
Burke asserts that Hastings was directly involved in proven acts of corruption while in a position of power.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Other voices in this conversation
