regard for my country makes me anxious to prevent a precedent by
which all her services for the future would be greatly impeded; this I
am confident will be the effect of punishing any harsh and severe, but
perhaps necessary, stretches of power, which the saviour of India may
have been found to have committed." It was thought that if Hood had
advocated the cause of Hastings at on earlier stage of the proceedings,
he might have stopped them with such arguments altogether; but, as it
was, it only served to draw declarations from Pitt which left Hastings
no other hope than that of an acquittal in Westminster-hall. Pitt said
that he should have given a silent vote on the question before the
house, but he felt himself called upon to answer the argument used, lest
the weight of his lordship's authority on such subjects might mislead
the judgment of the committee. For himself he must ever prefer what was
right to what was expedient. At the same time Pitt admitted, that if a
servant of the public should carry his exertions beyond the strict line
of right, or even of necessity, all due merit should be allowed him,
and the abundance of his zeal should be allowed as an atonement for
the irregularity of his actions and the error of his judgment. But, he
asked, was the conduct of Hastings correspondent to such a principle?
Was the crime that day alleged against him justified by necessity? Was
it of such a size and complexion as could be justified by any necessity?
Wherever a departure was made from justice and right, it was not
sufficient to say that such a step was necessary; the party must prove
the necessity, and this, in his opinion, had not been done. With regard
to the merits of Hastings, he confessed, there had been a period
in which such an argument might have been urged with effect. At the
commencement of the proceedings, the house might have weighed his
crimes against his virtues, and considered whether the latter were
of sufficient excellence to counterbalance the former. Such a
consideration, however, could not with any propriety be entertained
after the inquiry had once been instituted: the committee were not then
required to determine on a general view of facts, the general merits
or demerits of the accused, but on the investigation of a particular
transaction, on the criminality or innocence of that single transaction.
Still Pitt admitted that there remained a stage, in which the merits of
the accused might and ought t