“By what authority,” the Governor-General asks, “did the Council erect courts of law and superintend the administration of justice, without any communication with the Nabob?  Had the Nabob himself any idea that he was a sovereign?  Does he complain of the reduction of his stipend or the infringement of treaties?  No; he appears to consider himself to be, what in fact he really is, absolutely dependent on the Company, and to be willing to accept any pittance they would allow him for his maintenance:  he claims no rights.  Does he complain that the administration of justice is taken into the hands of the Company?  No:  by the treaty, the protection of his subjects is delivered up to the Company; and he well knew, that, whoever may be held up as the ostensible prince, the administration of justice must be in the hands of those who have power to enforce it.”  He goes on,—­“The Governor-General, who, I suppose, had a delicacy to state more than what had before been made public, closes his affidavit with saying that all he has deposed to he believes to be publicly known, as it is particularly set forth in the printed book entitled ‘Reports of the Committee of the House of Commons.’  I knew,” he adds, “it was there, and was therefore surprised at this application; it is so notorious, that everybody in the settlement must have known it:  when I say everybody, I mean with an exception to the gentlemen who have applied to the court.  The only reason I can give for their applying is the little time they have been in the country.”  The judge (I think it is Chief-Justice Impey) then goes on,—­“Perhaps this question might have been determined merely on the dates of the letters to the Governor-General; but as the Council have made the other a serious question, I should not have thought that I had done my duty, if I had not given a full and determinate opinion upon it:  I should have been sorry, if I had left it doubtful whether the empty name of a Nabob should be thrust between a delinquent and the laws, so as effectually to protect him from the hand of justice.”

My Lords, the court, as you see, bottoms its determination on what we stand upon here, Mr. Hastings’s evidence, that the empty name of a pretended sovereign should not be thrust forth between a delinquent and justice.

What does Mr. Le Maistre, the other judge, say upon this occasion?  “With regard to this phantom, that man of straw, Mobarek ul Dowlah, it is an insult on the understanding of the court to have made the question of his sovereignty.  But as it came from the Governor-General and Council, I have too much respect for that body to treat it ludicrously, and I confess I cannot consider it seriously, and we always shall consider a letter of business from the Nabob the same as a letter from the Governor-General and Council.”