Hastings, he was bound by every feeling of humanity, every principle of regard to his own honor and his employers', to see whether it was true or false; if false, to refute it; if true, to afford redress: he has done neither.
Edmund Burke
The Public Record
Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, and politician who is widely credited as the founder of the cultural and political philosophy of conservatism. Regarded as one of the most influential conservative thinkers and political writers of the 18th century, Burke spent the majority of his career in Great Britain and was elected as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1766 to 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party. His writings played a significant role in influencing public views and opinions in both Great Britain and France following the French Revolution in 1789, and he remains a major figure in modern conservative circles.
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If, instead of the mass of crimes that we have brought before you, this singly had been charged upon the prisoner, I will say that it is a greater crime than any man has ever been impeached for before the House of Lords, from the first…
With respect to the Begums, they have been charged with rebellion; but who has accused the miserable inhabitants of the Khord Mohul of rebellion, or rebellious designs?
My Lords, the maintenance of these women had been guarantied by the Company; but it was doubly guarantied under the great seal of humanity.
The zemindars, thus left at the mercy of the aumils, are often driven to rebellion.
The Company never had (and it is a thing that we can never too often repeat to your Lordships)--the Company never had of right despotic power in that country, to overturn any of these establishments.
Hastings, though thus defeated, was only waiting for what he considered to be the fortunate moment for returning again to his corrupt, vicious, tyrannical, and disobedient habits.
Judge you of the bribery, rapine, and peculation which here stare you in the face.
Can it be believed that any man could be so absurd as to attack a man's birth, when he is accusing his actions?
There is but one exception to his abhorrence of accounts: he always contrives to make up a good account for himself.
He here confesses himself to be the author of the whole mischief.
Do you make your laws, do you make your covenants, for the very purpose of their being evaded?
This is a business not to be hurried over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man, who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it…
Upon the face of the two accounts there is a gross fraud.
Will you not reward a person who did you such a great and important service, by conniving a little at his delinquencies?
Be yourself the judge, and say whether such a conduct would become a prince or not.
Civil wars corrupt the morals of the people, ii. 203.
Clamor, justifiable when it is caused by abuse, vii. 121.
Independence of mind, always more or less influenced by independence of fortune, vii. 78.
Magnanimity, in politics, often the truest wisdom, ii. 181.
Magnificence, a source of the sublime, i. 154.
In addition to these high gifts, may be added, an ability to wield the weapons of sarcasm and irony, with a keenness of application and effect rarely equalled.
What members are to the body, that citizens are to a commonwealth.
Whatever turns the soul inward on itself, tends to concentre its forces, and to fit it for greater and stronger flights of science.
It ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents.
Politicians like Edmund Burke
