d is a disadvantage? No: give me, if ever I am to have
accusers, miscreants, as he calls him,--wretches, the basest and vilest
of mankind. "The board," says he, "are my accusers." If they were, it
was their duty; but they were not his accusers, but were inquiring into
matters which it was equally his duty to inquire into. He would not
suffer Nundcomar to be produced; he would not suffer Nundcomar to be
examined; he rather suffered such an accusation to stand against his
name and character than permit it to be inquired into. Do I want any
other presumption of his guilt, upon such an occasion, than such conduct
as this?

This man, whom he calls a wretch, the basest and vilest of mankind, was
undoubtedly, by himself, in the records of the Company, declared to be
one of the first men of that country, everything that a subject could
be, a person illustrious for his birth, sacred with regard to his caste,
opulent in fortune, eminent in situation, who had filled the very first
offices in that country; and that he was, added to all this, a man of
most acknowledged talents, and of such a superiority as made the whole
people of Bengal appear to be an inferior race of beings compared to
him,--a man whose outward appearance and demeanor used to cause
reverence and awe, and who at that time was near seventy years of age,
which, without any other title, generally demands respect from mankind.
And yet this man he calls the basest of mankind, a name which no man is
entitled to call another till he has proved something to justify him in
so doing; and notwithstanding his opulence, his high rank, station, and
birth, he despises him, and will not suffer him to be heard as an
accuser before him. I will venture to say that Mr. Hastings, in so
doing, whether elevated by philosophy or inflated by pride, is not like
the rest of mankind. We do know, that, in all accusations, a great part
of their weight and authority comes from the character, the situation,
the name, the description, the office, the dignity of the persons who
bring them; mankind are so made, we cannot resist this prejudice; and it
has weight, and ever will have _prima facie_ weight, in all the
tribunals in the world. If, therefore, Rajah Nundcomar was a man who (it
is not degrading to your Lordships to say) was equal in rank, according
to the idea of his country, to any peer in this House, as sacred as a
bishop, of as much gravity and authority as a judge, and who was
prime-mini