Literature. Reviews.

punish the individuals AVIIO Avere guilty , aud thereby let it remain a stain and a reproach upon tho national character . " AVe stand at issue IIOAV before the great tribunal of Europe , and of the world . These aro crimes , I contend of an individual ; but if _ you acquit him , they aro the crimes of thc nation . They stamp tho national character in that country , and an Englishman can hold up his bead no more with any profession of humanity , of justice , of liberty , or any of those darling virtues which AVC have boon fond to appropriate to ourselves

exclusively , in contradistinction to the rest of the Avorld . If there be anything worse than the commission of those crimes .... I trust there cannot be .... it must be a tribunal that can sanctify them . For , even in thc worst of crimes , there is something imputable to the depravity of a single individual . AVhat is done from passion is more easily to bo excused ; what is done from determined malignity , bad as it is , you still see the source of it in the human heart , because something of malignity is undoubtedla quality inherent in a great

y part of mankind : but , upon cool deliberate reason and examination , to sanctify injustice , to uphold tyranny , and to declare British justice to be far worse than any oppression in any country , is fixing an indelible stain upon the character " of your lordships and on the British legislation . They might say , 'These men talk of their own character ; they talk of the constitution of their country , of the mildness of their laws , of the fair chance that every innocent man has upon his trial , and the certaintof conviction of man who is guiltybutwhen facts are

y every ; , laid before them , Avhen crimes are presented to them , they haA'e laid down as a principle , destructive to the character of the English name , destructive of the liberty of every mau under the English government in this great empire , that crimes and punishments ought to have no proportion to each other . ' "

. Ojir space precludes us from extracting any of the minor celebrities' speeches on that occasion , hut ire must not , even at the risk of being tedious , overlook the Avorldfamcd " Begum" speecli of Sheridan , and so AA'e offer our readers that frequently misquoted portion , on filial duty , as revised hy Mr . Bond ,, and actually delivered h y Sheridan himself . The orator began thus : — " I know that I am speaking before those AA-IIO understand AA-hat the

feelings of fathers are . I trust I am not to learn them : but , my lords , I say this aggravates AA'hat I consider as Mr . Middleton's guilt in this business ; because it convinces mo that his mind was not Avithout circumstances to show him . the saeredness ni those ties which , ho was violating ; because it shoivs me that he did not Avaut opportunities of those duties Avhich he A \ as tearing from the bosom of another—that he could look into his child's face and read nothing there to warn him from the deed he AA"as engaged inGood God ! lordswhat a cause is

. my , this we are maintaining I AVhat ! when I feel it a part of my duty , as it Avere , when I feel it an instruction in my brief to support the claim of age to reverence , of maternal feebleness to filial protection and support , can I recollect where I stand ? can I recollect before whom I am pleading ! I look round on this various assembly that surrounds me , seeing in every countenance a breathing testimony to this general principle , and yet for a moment think it necessary to enforce thc bitter aggravation Avhich attends the crimes of those AVIIO violate this universal

duty . Yet , my lords , such is the nature of the charge Avhich we maintain—such the monstrous nature of the guilt Avhich AVC arraign—and such the more monstrous nature of tho defence opposed to that guiltthat when I see in many of these letters the infirmities of age made a subject of mockery aud ridicule — when I see the feelings of a son treated by Mr . Middleton as puerile ( as he calls them ) and contemptible

•—AA'hen I see an order given from Mr . Hastings to harden that sun ' s heart , to choke tho struggling nature in his bosom—when I see them pointing to the son ' s name and to his standard when they march to oppress the mother , as to a banner that gives dignity , that gives a holy sanction and a re \ -erencs to their enterprise—when Iseo and hear these things done—when I hear them brought into three deliberate defences odored in the charges in the commons—my lords , I own I grow puzzled and confounded and almost doubt Avhether where such a defence can be

, offered it may not be tolerated . "And yet , my lords , how can I support tho claim of filial love by argument , much less tho affection of a sou to a mother , where love loses its aAve , and veneration is mixed with tenderness ? AVhat can I say upon such a subject ? AVhat can I do but repeat the ready truths which , with the quick impulse of tho mind must spring to thc lips of every man on such a theme ? Filial 1 OA-C—the morality , the instinct , the sacrament

of nature—a duty ; or rather let me say it is miscalled a duty , for it floAvs from the heart Avithout effort—it ? delight—its indulgence—its enjoyment . It is guided not by the SIOAV dictates of reason ; it awaits not encouragement from reflection or from thought ; it asks no aid of memory ; it is an innate but active consciousness of having been thc object of a thousand tender solicitudes , a thousand waking watchful cares , of mock anxiety and patient sacrifices , unremarked aud unrequited bthe object It is founded conviction of obli

y . a gratitude upon a gations not remembered , but the more binding because not remembered , because conferred before tho tender reason could acknowledge or the infant memory record them—a gratitude and affection Avhich no circumstances should subdue and which few can strengthen—a gratitude L"iJ Avhich even injury from the object , though it may blend regret , sliould never breed resentment—and affection which can be increased only by the decay of those to whom Ave owe it—then , most fervent

when thc tremulous voice of age , resistless in its feebleness , inquires toi tho natural protectors of its cold decline . " The conclusion of this remarkable speech was as folloAVS;—" Do you feel that this is tho true imago of justice ? Is this the character o " f British justice ? Arc these her features ? Is this her countenance ? Is this her gait or her mien ? No : I think even now I hear you calling upon mo to turn from , this vile libel—this base

caricaturethis Indian pagod (?)—this vile [ idol ?] hewn from some rock—blasted in some unhallowed grove—formed by thc hand of guilty and knavish tyranny to dupe the heart of ignorance—to turn from this deformed idol to thc true majesty of justice here . Here , indeed , I see a different form , enthroned by the sovereign hand of Freedom , and adorned by the baud of [ Mercy ?] aAvful Avithout severity—commanding without pride —vigilant and active without restlessness and suspicion—searching and inquisitive without meanness and debasement—not arrogantly scorning to stoop when listening to the voice of afflicted innocence—and in its loveliest attitude when bending to uplift its suppliant at its feet . "

AA e must find room for another extract which is , if possible , even finer than the preceding . Sheridan thus concludes ;—" From those short specimens , from these authentic documents before your lordships , with respect to the real causes of the insurrections of Goruckporc , can it be credited that Mr . Hastings himself , AAIIO justifies , authorises , and , as it were , sums up and vouches for the truth of the ill conduct of the British officers and other concerned Avith them

persons , in the reasons he gives for removing them from Oude and sweeping them from other parts of the country—that he could have accounted for it in the misconduct of the Begums ? " If your lordships look over the evidence you will see a country that , CA-en in the time of Suja-ud-Dowla , is represented as populous—desolated . A person looking at this shocking picture of calamity Avould have been inclined to ask , if he had been a stranger to what had passed in

Indiaif Ave could suppose a person to have come suddenly into the country , unacquainted Avith any circumstances that had passed since the days of Snja-ud-Do ' . A'la—he would naturally ask , 'AA'hat cruel hand has Avrought this Avide desolation ? AA hat barbarian foe has invaded the country , has desolated its fields , depopulated its villages ? ' He would ask , 'AVbat disputed succession , AA'hat civil rage , what mad frenzy of thc inhabitants , has induced them to act in hostility to the beneficent works of God and the beauteous works of man ? ' He AA-OUM ask , 'AAliat religious Keal or

frenzy has added to the mad despair and horrors of war ? The ruin is unlike anything that appears recorded in any age . It looks like neither the barbarities of men nor the judgment of vindictive hea \ 'eu . There is a AA-aste of desolation , as if caused by fell destroyers never meaning to return , and who-make but a short period of their rapacity . It looks as if some fabled monster had made its passage through the country , whose pestiferous breath had blasted more than its voracious appetite could devour . '

" If there bad been any men in the country who had not their heart and soul so subdued by fear as to refuse to speak thc truth at all upon such a subject , they would have told him there had been no war since the time of Suja-ud-Dowla—tyrant indeed as he was , but then deeply regretted by his subjects;—that no hostile blow of any enemy had been

struck in that land ; that there had been no disputed succession , no civil war , no religions frenzy ; but that those AA'ere the tokens of British friendship , tho marks of tho embraces of British alliance—more dreadful than the blows of the bitterest enemy . That they had made a prince a slave , to make himself the principal in the extortion upon his subjects . They would tell him . that their rapacity increased in proportion as the means of supplying their avarice diminished . They made the sovereign pay as if they bad a right to an increased price , because the labour of

extortion and plunder increased . They would tell him it AA-as to these causes these calamities Avere owiug . Need I refer your lordships to this strong testimony of Major Jfaylor , Avhen he rescued Colonel Hannay from their hands . Avhen you see that this people , born to submission , bred to most abject subjection , yet that they , in whose meek hearts injury had never yet begot resentment nor oven despair bred courage—that their hatred , their abhorrence of Colonel Hannay was such that they clung round him . by thousands and thousandsthat when Major Naylov rescued him they

; refused life from the hand that could rescue Hannay ; that they nourished this desperate consolation that by their death they should at least thin the number of Avrctchcs that should suffer by his devastation and extortion ? He says , when he crossed thc river he found tho poor wretches quivering upon the parched banks of the polluted river , encouraging their blood to AOA \ - —encouraging thc thought that their blood woull not sink into the earth , but rise to tho common God of humanity ,

and cry aloud for vengeance on their cursed destroyers . " This warm description , which is no declamation of mine , but founded in actual fact , is a fair , clear proof before your lordships . I say it speaks powerfully Avhat the cause of these oppressions was , and the justness of those feelings that were occasioned by them . And then I am asked to prove Avhy these people arose in such concert I 'There must have been machinations , and the Begums' machinations , to produce this : there was concertAVhy did they rise ? ' Because they were people in human

. shape : the poor souls had human feelings . Because patience under the detested tyranny of man is rebellion to tho sovereignty of God . Because allegiance to that pOAverthat gives us the forms of men commands nsto maintain the rights of men . And never yet was this truth dismissed rom the human heart—never , in any time , iu any age—neA'er in any