e or the
worst extreme of falsehood and hypocrisy. These are not the
principles which should rule the conduct of men whom you have
constituted the guardians of your property, and checks on the
morals and fidelity of others. The care of self-preservation will
naturally suggest the necessity of seizing the opportunity of
present power, when the duration of it is considered as limited to
the usual term of three years, and of applying it to the provision
of a future independency; therefore every renewal of this term is
liable to prove a reiterated oppression. It is perhaps owing to the
causes which I have described, and a proof of their existence, that
this appointment has been for some years past so eagerly solicited
and so easily resigned. There are yet other inconveniences
attendant on this habit, and perhaps an investigation of them all
would lead to endless discoveries. Every man whom your choice has
honored with so distinguished a trust seeks to merit approbation
and acquire an _eclat_ by innovations, for which the wild scene
before him affords ample and justifiable occasion."

You see, my Lords, he has stated, that, if a Governor is appointed to
hold his office only for a short time, the consequence would be either
an avowed disobedience, or, what is worse, extreme falsehood and
hypocrisy. Your Lordships know that this man has held his office for a
long time, and yet his disobedience has been avowed, and his hypocrisy
and his falsehood have been discovered, and have been proved to your
Lordships in the course of this trial. You see this man has declared
what are the principles which should rule the conduct of men whom you
have constituted the guardians of your property, and checks upon the
morals and fidelity of others. Mr. Hastings tells you himself directly
what his duty was; he tells you himself, and he pronounces his own
condemnation, what was expected from him, namely, that he should give a
great example himself, and be a check and guardian of the fidelity of
all that are under him. He declares, at the end of this letter, that a
very short continuance in their service would enable him to make a
fortune up to the height of his desire. He has since thought proper to
declare to you that he is a beggar and undone, notwithstanding all his
irregular resources in that very service.

I have read this letter to your Lordships, that you