think it necessary to say a word, too, upon another circumstance, of
which there is some complaint, as if some injustice had arisen from
voluntary delay on our part.

I have already alluded to, first, the melancholy, then the joyful
occasion of this delay; and I shall now make one remark on another part
of the complaint, which I understand was formally made to your Lordships
soon after we had announced our resolution to proceed in this great
cause of suffering nations before you. It has been alleged, that the
length of the pursuit had already very much distressed the person who is
the object of it,--that it leaned upon a fortune unequal to support
it,--and that 30,000_l._ had been already spent in the preliminary
preparations for the defence.

My Lords, I do admit that all true, genuine, and unadulterated justice
considers with a certain degree of tenderness the person whom it is
called to punish, and never oppresses those by the process who ought not
to be oppressed but by the sentence of the court before which they are
brought. The Commons have heard, indeed, with some degree of
astonishment, that 30,000_l._ hath been laid out by Mr. Hastings in this
business. We, who have some experience in the conduct of affairs of this
nature, we, who profess to proceed with regard not to the economy so
much as to the rigor of this prosecution, (and we are justified by our
country in so doing,) upon a collation and comparison of the public
expenses with those which the defendant is supposed to have incurred,
are much surprised to hear it. We suppose that his solicitors can give a
good account to him of those expenses,--that the thing is true,--and
that he has actually, through them, incurred this expense. We have
nothing to do with this: but we shall remove any degree of uneasiness
from your Lordships' minds, and from our own, when we show you in the
charge which we shall bring before you this day, that one bribe only
received by Mr. Hastings, the smallest of his bribes, or nearly the
smallest, the bribe received from Rajah Nobkissin, is alone more than
equal to have paid all the charges Mr. Hastings is stated to have
incurred; and if this be the case, your Lordships will not be made very
uneasy in a case of bribery by finding that you press upon the sources
of peculation.

It has also been said that we weary out the public patience in this
cause. The House of Commons do not call upon your Lordships to do
anything of which they