that shadow of government to foreign nations which it was
the policy of the Company, at that time, to keep up. This was the person
whom Mr. Hastings was ordered to remove; in consequence of which removal
all these offices were to be supplied,--of guardian of the Nabob's
person and manager of his family, of chief magistrate, and of
representative of the fallen dignity of the native government to the
foreign nations which traded to Bengal.

To these orders was added an instruction of a very remarkable nature,
which was a third trust that was given to Mr. Hastings: that during the
Nabob's minority he should reduce the annual allowance, which was
thirty-two lacs, to sixteen; and that to prevent the abuse of this
restricted sum, and to prevent its being directed by the minister's
authority to other purposes than that for which the Company allowed it,
(that is to say, allowed him out of what was his own,) of these sixteen
lacs an account was to be regularly kept, as a check upon the person so
appointed, which account was ordered to be transmitted to Calcutta, and
to be sent to England.

Now we are to show your Lordships what Mr. Hastings's conduct was upon
all these occasions; and for this we mean to produce testimony recorded
in the Company's books, and authentic documents taken from the public
offices of that country. At the same time I do admit that there never
was a positive testimony that did not stand something in need of the
support of presumption: for, as we know that witnesses may be perjured,
and as we know that documents can be forged, we have recourse to a known
principle in the laws of all countries, that circumstances cannot lie;
and therefore, if the testimony that is given was ever so clear and
positive, yet, if it is contrary to the circumstances of the country, if
it is contrary to the circumstances of the facts to which it alludes, if
the deposition is totally adverse and alien to the characters of the
persons, then I will say, that, though the testimonies should be many,
though they should be consistent, and though they should be clear, yet
they will still leave some degree of hesitation and doubt upon every
mind timorous in the execution of justice, as every mind ought to be.
If, for instance, ten witnesses were to swear that the Chief-Justice of
England, that the Lord High-Chancellor, or the Archbishop of Canterbury,
was seen, in the robes of his function, at noonday, robbing upon the
highway, it is not