g _a large
pecuniary mulct_." The resolution "_to draw from his guilt the means of
relief to the Company's distresses."_ His determination "to make him
_pay largely_ for his pardon, or to execute a severe vengeance for past
delinquency." That "as his _wealth was great_, and the _Company's
exigencies_ pressing, he thought it a measure of justice and policy to
exact from him a large pecuniary mulct _for their relief_."--"The sum"
(says Mr. Wheler, bearing evidence, at his desire, to his intentions)
"to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend his fine was
forty or fifty lacs, _that is, four or five hundred thousand pounds_;
and that, if he refused, he was to be removed from his zemindary
entirely; or by taking possession of his forts, to obtain, _out of the
treasure deposited in them_, the above sum for the Company."

Crimes so convenient, crimes so politic, crimes so necessary, crimes so
alleviating of distress, can never be wanting to those who use no
process, and who produce no proofs.

But there is another serious part (what is not so?) in this affair. Let
us suppose that the power for which Mr. Hastings contends, a power which
no sovereign ever did or ever can vest in any of his subjects, namely,
his own sovereign authority, to be conveyed by the act of Parliament to
any man or body of men whatsoever; it certainly was never given to Mr.
Hastings. The powers given by the act of 1773 were formal and official;
they were given, not to the Governor-General, but to the major vote of
the board, as a board, on discussion amongst themselves, in their public
character and capacity; and their acts in that character and capacity
were to be ascertained by records and minutes of council. The despotic
acts exercised by Mr. Hastings were done merely in his _private_
character; and, if they had been moderate and just, would still be the
acts of an usurped authority, and without any one of the legal modes of
proceeding which could give him competence for the most trivial exertion
of power. There was no proposition or deliberation whatsoever in
council, no minute on record, by circulation or otherwise, to authorize
his proceedings; no delegation of power to impose a fine, or to take
any step to deprive the Rajah of Benares of his government, his
property, or his liberty. The minutes of consultation assign to his
journey a totally different object, duty, and destination. Mr. Wheler,
at his desire, tells us long after, that