bout fortifications, he said, turning to the duke,
that 'holding in his hand the report made by the Board of Officers, he
complimented the noble president on his talents as an _engineer_, which
were strongly evinced in planning and constructing that very paper....
He has made it a contest of posts, and conducted his reasoning not less
on principles of trigonometry than of logic. There are certain
assumptions thrown up, like advanced works, to keep the enemy at a
distance from the principal object of debate; strong provisos protect
and cover the flanks of his assertions, his very queries are his
casemates,' and so on.

When Lord Mulgrave said, on another occasion, that any man using his
influence to obtain a vote for the crown _ought_ to lose his head,
Sheridan quietly remarked, that he was glad his lordship had said
'_ought_ to lose his head,' not _would_ have lost it, for in that case
the learned gentleman would not have had that evening '_face_ to have
shown among us.'

Such are a few of his well-remembered replies in the House; but his fame
as an orator rested on the splendid speeches which he made at the
impeachment of Warren Hastings. The first of these was made in the House
on the 7th of February, 1787. The whole story of the corruption,
extortions, and cruelty of the worst of many bad rulers who have been
imposed upon that unhappy nation of Hindostan, and who ignorant how to
_parcere subjectis_, have gone on in their unjust oppression, only
rendering it the more dangerous by weak concessions, is too well known
to need a recapitulation here. The worst feature in the whole of
Hastings' misconduct was, perhaps, his treatment of those unfortunate
ladies whose money he coveted, the Begums of Oude. The Opposition was
determined to make the governor-general's conduct a state question, but
their charges had been received with little attention, till on this day
Sheridan rose to denounce the cruel extortioner. He spoke for five hours
and a half, and surpassed all he had ever said in eloquence. The subject
was one to find sympathy in the hearts of Englishmen, who, though they
beat their own wives, are always indignant at a man who dares to lay a
little finger on those of anybody else. Then, too, the subject was
Oriental: it might even be invested with something of romance and
poetry; the zenanah, sacred in the eyes of the oppressed natives, had
been ruthlessly insulted, under a glaring Indian sun, amid the
luxuriance of I