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these discussions were resumed. The charge touching the spoliation of the Begums was brought forward by Sheridan," in a speech which was so imperfectly reported that it may be said to be wholly lost, but which was, without doubt, the most elaborately brilliant of all the productions of his ingenious mind. The impression which it produced was such as has never been equaled. He sat down, not merely amidst cheering, but amidst the loud clapping of hands, in which the Lords below the bar and the strangers in the gallery joined. The excitement of the House was such that no other speaker could obtain a hearing; and the debate was adjourned. The ferment spread fast through the town. Within four and twenty hours, Sheridan was offered a thousand pounds for the copyright of the speech, if he would himself correct it for the press. The impression made by this remarkable display of eloquence on severe and experienced critics, whose discernment may be supposed to have been quickened by emulation, was deep and permanent. Mr. Windham, twenty years later, said that the speech deserved all its fame, and was, in spite of some faults of taste, such as were seldom wanting either in the literary or in

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7. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), was famous both as a dramatist and as a statesman. The Rivals and the School for Scandal are certainly among the best comedies written since the time of Shakespeare, and would have made him famous had he done naught else. Like Fox, he opposed the war with America, and one speech of his was so masterly that the Congress of the United States offered him as a reward about $100,000, which he declined.

8. William Windham (1750-1810), was an English statesman, who held various offices, first under Fox, then under Fox's opponent, Pitt, and then again under Fox. His chief work was a series of reforms in the army, to which he devoted himself, whatever party he was working with.

the parliamentary performances of Sheridan, the finest that had been delivered within the memory of man. Mr. Fox, about the same time, being asked what was the best speech ever made in the House of Commons, assigned the first place, without hesitation, to the great oration of Sheridan on the Oude charge.

When the debate was resumed, the tide ran so strongly against the accused that his friends were coughed and scraped down. Pitt declared himself for Sheridan's motion; and the question was carried by a hundred and seventy-five votes against sixty-eight.

At length the House, having agreed to twenty articles of charge, directed Burke to go before the Lords, and to impeach the late Governor-General of High Crimes and Misdemeanors." Hastings was at the same time arrested by the Serjeant-atarms and carried to the bar of the Peers.

The session was now within ten days of its close. It was, therefore, impossible that any progress could be made in the trial till the next year. Hastings was admitted to bail; and further proceedings were postponed till the Houses should re-assemble.

When Parliament met in the following winter, the Commons proceeded to elect a committee for managing the impeachment. Burke stood at the head; and with him were associated most of the leading members of the Opposition. But when the name of Francis was read a fierce contention arose. It was said that Francis and Hastings were

9. In impeachment cases in England, the prosecutor is the House of Commons, while the court before which the case is tried is the House of Lords.

notoriously on bad terms, that they had been at feud during many years, that on one occasion their mutual aversion had impelled them to seek each other's lives, and that it would be improper and indelicate to select a private enemy to be a public accuser. It was urged on the other side with great force, particularly by Mr. Windham, that impartiality, though the first duty of a judge, had never been reckoned among the qualities of an advocate; that in the ordinary administration of criminal justice among the English, the aggrieved party, the very last person who ought to be admitted into the jury-box, is the prosecutor; that what was wanted in a manager was, not that he should be free from bias, that he should be able, well-informed, energetic, and active. The ability and information of Francis was admitted; and the very animosity with which he was reproached, whether a virtue or a vice, was at least a pledge for his energy and activity. It seems difficult to refute these arguments. But the inveterate hatred borne by Francis to Hastings had excited general disgust. The House decided that Francis should not be a manager.

The preparations for the trial proceeded rapidly; and on the thirteenth of February, 1788, the sittings of the Court commenced. There have been spectacles more dazzling to the eye, more gorgeous with jewelry and cloth of gold, more attractive to grown-up children, than that which was then exhibited at Westminster; but, perhaps, there never was a spectacle so well calculated to strike a highly cultivated, a reflecting, an imaginative mind. All the various kinds of interest which belong to the

near and to the distant, to the present and to the past, were collected on one spot and in one hour. All the talents and all the accomplishments which are developed by liberty and civilization were now displayed, with every advantage that could be derived both from co-operation and from contrast. Every step in the proceedings carried the mind either backward, through many troubled centuries, to the days when the foundations of our constitution were laid; or far away, over boundless seas and deserts, to dusky nations living under strange stars, worshipping strange gods, and writing strange characters from right to left. The High Court of Parliament was to sit, according to forms handed down from the days of the Plantagenets,10 on an Englishman accused of exercising tyranny over the lord of the holy city of Benares, and over the ladies of the princely house of Oude.

The place was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus, the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings, the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon11 and the just absolution of Somers, 12 the hall where the eloquence of Straf

10. The first of the royal house of the Plantagenets was Henry II, who came to the throne of England in 1154; the last was Richard II (1377-1399). Some of the ablest kings who have ever ruled England were of this house.

11. Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam (1561-1625), was a great English philosopher and statesman. He entered Parliament at thirty-four, held various offices, and in 1618 was made lord high chancellor. Accused of corruption as a judge, he pleaded guilty, was fined $200,000, and sentenced to imprisonment. Although the sentence was afterward practically remitted, he was disgraced for life. Bacon is known now chiefly through his Essays.

12. John Somers (1651-1716), was an English lawyer and statesman. He held offices of increasing importance, and in 1697 was raised to the peerage and made lord chancellor of England. Three

ford13 had for a moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment, the hall where Charles1 had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid courage which has half redeemed his fame. Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined with grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. The peers, robed in gold and ermine, were marshalled by the heralds under Garter King-at-arms. The judges in their vestments of state attended to give advice on points of law. Near a hundred and seventy lords, three-fourths of the Upper House as the Upper House then was, walked in solemn order from their usual place of assembling to the tribunal. The junior Baron present led the way, George Eliott, Lord Heathfield, recently ennobled for his memorable defense of Gibraltar against the fleets and armies of France and Spain. The long procession was closed by the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of the realm, by the great dignitaries, and by the brothers and sons of the King. Last of all came the Prince of Wales, conspicuous by his fine years later he was removed from office, and impeachment proceedings were begun against him. They were, however, soon dropped.

13. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (1593-1641), was an English statesman, chief supporter of Charles I in his absolutist policy. Early in his career he sided with Parliament and attempted to check Charles, but feeling that Parliament was going too far, he joined Charles. In Ireland, as lord deputy, he made himself intensely unpopular, and after his return to England he drew upon himself, by his arbitrary character, the hatred of Parliament. At length a bill of attainder was passed against him, and was signed by Charles I, who had assured Strafford that no harm should ever come to him by reason of his allegiance to the king. In May, 1641, he was beheaded.

14. This was, of course, Charles I, who when condemned to death, met his fate with such dignity and composure that many who had been in favor of his execution regarded him afterward as a martyr and a saint.

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