some of
them he might meet with some sort of denial, but the most part he did
not.

The first thing a man under such an accusation owes to the world is to
deny the charge; next, to put it to the proof; and lastly, to let
inquiry freely go on. He did not permit this, but stopped it all in his
power. I am to mention some exceptions, perhaps, hereafter, which will
tend to fortify the principle tenfold.

He promised, indeed, the Court of Directors (to whom he never denied the
facts) a full and liberal explanation of these transactions; which full
and liberal explanation he never gave. Many years passed; even
Parliament took notice of it; and he never gave them a liberal
explanation, or any explanation at all of them. A man may say, "I am
threatened with a suit in a court, and it may be very disadvantageous to
me, if I disclose my defence." That is a proper answer for a man in
common life, who has no particular character to sustain; but is that a
proper answer for a governor accused of bribery, that accusation
transmitted to his masters, and his masters giving credit to it? Good
God! is that a state in which a man is to say, "I am upon the
defensive--I am on my guard,--I will give you no satisfaction,--I have
promised it, but I have already deferred it for seven or eight years"?
Is not this tantamount to a denial?

Mr. Hastings, with this great body of bribery against him, was
providentially freed from Nundcomar, one of his accusers, and, as good
events do not come alone, (I think there is some such proverb,) it did
so happen that all the rest, or a great many of them, ran away. But,
however, the recorded evidence of the former charges continued; no new
evidence came in; and Mr. Hastings enjoyed that happy repose which
branded peculation, fixed and eternized upon the records of the Company,
must leave upon a mind conscious of its own integrity.

My Lords, I will venture to say, there is no man but owes something to
his character. It is the grace, undoubtedly, of a virtuous, firm mind
often to despise common, vulgar calumny; but if ever there is an
occasion in which it does become such a mind to disprove it, it is the
case of being charged in high office with pecuniary malversation,
pecuniary corruption. There is no case in which it becomes an honest
man, much less a great man, to leave upon record specific charges
against him of corruption in his government, without taking any one step
whatever to refute them.

Though