nsel acting for Hastings, who said that the matter which, the
managers brought forward was neither set down nor made a charge of in
the articles of impeachment. On this their lordships adjourned again,
and after long consultation, the objections made on the part of the
defendant were held to be valid. The managers and the public by this
time seemed to consider that the trial would never be finished, and
Burke, on the 11th of May, called the attention of the house of
commons to its protracted continuance; and moved the two following
resolutions:--1. "That this house, taking into consideration the
interruptions occasioned by the occupations of the judges and the house
of lords, as also the impediments which have occurred, or may occur,
in the course of the trial of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq.,
doth, without meaning to abandon the truth or importance of the charges,
authorize the managers of their said impeachment, to insist only upon
such and so many of the said charges as shall appear to them the most
conducive to the obtaining speedy and effectual justice against the
said Warren Hastings. 2. That the commons of Great Britain in parliament
assembled, from a regard to their own honour, and from the duty which
they owe to all the commons of Great Britain, in whose name, as well
as in their own, they act in the public prosecutions by them carried on
before the house of lords, are bound to persevere in their impeachment
against Warren Hastings, Esq., late governor-general of Bengal, until
judgment may be obtained upon the most important articles in the same."
The first of these resolutions was adopted, but the latter was dropped
as unnecessary. In supporting them the managers attributed the delay to
Hastings himself, to his counsel, and to the house of lords. A day or
two after, however, Major Scott, published a letter containing a review
of the trial, and strictures upon the managers, whom he accused of being
guilty of a great crime in instituting the prosecution, and of a still
greater crime in not having brought it to a close long ago. Long and
angry debates took place on the publication of this document, the result
of which was that Major Scott was reprimanded, sitting in his place, for
the violation of his duty as a member of the house of commons. In the
meantime the impeachment still went but slowly forward. The court of
peers only sat thirteen days during the session, and did not get beyond
the charge which