“And the soldier who forgot his duty and his honor, and in the hour of action turned his face from his master, and came in unto me, I considered as the most detestable of men.

“And in the war between Touktummish Khaun, his emirs forgot their duty to Touktummish, who was their master and my foe, and sent proposals and wrote letters unto me.  And I uttered execrations upon them, because, unmindful of that which they owed to their lord, they had thrown aside their honor and their duty, and came in unto me.  I said unto myself, ’What fidelity have they observed to their liege lord? what fidelity will they show unto me?’

“And, behold, it was known unto me by experience, that every empire which is not established in morality and religion, nor strengthened by regulations and laws, from that empire all order, grandeur, and power shall pass away.  And that empire may be likened unto a naked man, who, when exposed to view, commandeth the eye of modesty to be covered; and it is like unto a house which hath neither roof nor gates nor defences, into which whoever willeth may enter unmolested.

“THEREFORE I established the foundation of my empire on the morality and the religion of Islaum; and by regulations and laws I gave it stability.  And by laws and by regulations I executed every business and every transaction that came before me in the course of my government.”

* * * * *

I need not read any further, or I might show your Lordships the noble principles, the grand, bold, and manly maxims, the resolution to abstain from oppression himself, and to crush it in the governors under him, to be found in this book, which Mr. Hastings has thought proper to resort to as containing what he calls arbitrary principles.

But it is not in this instance only that I must do justice to the East.  I assert that their morality is equal to ours, in whatever regards the duties of governors, fathers, and superiors; and I challenge the world to show in any modern European book more true morality and wisdom than is to be found in the writings of Asiatic men in high trust, and who have been counsellors to princes.  If this be the true morality of Asia, as I affirm and can prove that it is, the plea founded on Mr. Hastings’s geographical morality is annihilated.

I little regard the theories of travellers, where they do not relate the facts on which they are founded.  I have two instances of facts attested by Tavernier, a traveller of power and consequence, which are very material to be mentioned here, because they show that in some of the instances recorded, in which the princes of the country have used any of those cruel and barbarous executions which make us execrate them, it has been upon governors who have abused their trust,—­and that this very Oriental authority to which Mr. Hastings appeals would have condemned him to a dreadful punishment.  I thank God, and I say it from my heart, that even