were, I firmly believe, regulated and made by Mr. Markham.  But whether they were or were not, it comes to the same thing.  If they were improperly made and improperly conducted, Mr. Hastings is responsible for the whole of the mismanagement; for he gave the entire control to a person who had little experience, who was young in the world (and this is the excuse I wish to make for a gentleman of that age).  He appointed him, and gave him at large a discretionary authority to name whom he pleased to be the ostensible Naib; but we know that he took the principal part himself in all his settlements and in all his proceedings.

Soon after the Naib had been thus appointed and instructed by Mr. Markham, he settled, under his directions, the administration of the country.  Mr. Markham then desires leave from Mr. Hastings to go down to Calcutta.  I imagine he never returned to Benares; he comes to Europe; and here end the acts of this viceroy and delegate.

Let us now begin the reign of Mr. Benn and Mr. Fowke.  These gentlemen had just the same power delegated to them that Mr. Markham possessed,—­not one jot less, that I know of; and they were therefore responsible, and ought to have been called to an account by Mr. Hastings for every part of their proceedings.  I will not give you my own account of the reign of these gentlemen; but I will read to you what Mr. Hastings has thought proper to represent the state of the people to be under their government.  This course will save your Lordships time and trouble; for it will nearly supersede all observations of mine upon the subject.  I hold in my hand Mr. Hastings’s representation of the effects produced by a government which was conceived by himself, carried into effect by himself, and illegally invested by him with illegal powers, without any security or responsibility of any kind.  Hear, I say, what an account Mr. Hastings gave, when he afterwards went up to Benares upon another wicked project, and think what ought to have been his feelings as he looked upon the ruin he had occasioned.  Think of the condition in which he saw Benares the first day he entered it.  He then saw it beautiful, ornamented, rich,—­an object that envy would have shed tears over for its prosperity, that humanity would have beheld with eyes glistening with joy for the comfort and happiness which were there enjoyed by man:  a country flourishing in cultivation to such a degree that the soldiers were obliged to march in single files through the fields of corn, to avoid damaging them; a country in which Mr. Stables has stated that the villages were thick beyond all expression; a country where the people pressed round their sovereign, as Mr. Stables also told you, with joy, triumph, and satisfaction.  Such was the country; and in such a state and under such a master was it, when he first saw it.  See what it now is under Warren Hastings; see what it is under the British government; and then judge whether the Commons are or are not right in