ask yourselves,—­Is this justifiable by his covenant?  Is this justifiable by law?  Is this justifiable, under the circumstances of the case, by an enlarged discretion?  Is it to be justified under any principles of humanity?  Would it be justifiable by local customs, if such were applicable to the case in question? and even if it were, is it a practice fit for an English Governor-General to follow?

I dwell the longer upon this, because the fact is avowed; the whole is an issue of law between us,—­whether a Governor-General, in such a case, ought to take such money; and therefore, before I finally dismiss it, I beg leave to restate it briefly once more for your Lordships’ consideration.

First I wish to leave fixed in your Lordships’ minds, what is distinctly fixed, and shall never go out of ours, that his covenant did not allow him to take above four hundred pounds as a present, upon any pretence whatsoever.

Your Lordships will observe we contend, that, if there was a custom, this covenant puts an end to that custom.  It was declared and intended so to do.  The fact is, that, if such custom existed at all, it was a custom applicable only to an ambassador or public minister sent on a necessary complimentary visit to a sovereign prince.  We deny, positively, that there is any such general custom.  We say, that he never was any such minister or that he ever went upon any such complimentary visit.  We affirm, that, when he took this money, he was doing an act of quite another nature, and came upon that business only to Moorshedabad, the residence of the prince of the country.  Now do you call a man who is going to execute a commission, a commission more severe than those issued against bankrupts, a commission to take away half a man’s income, and to starve a whole body of people dependent upon that income,—­do you call this a complimentary visit?  Is this a visit for which a man is to have great entertainments given him?  No, the pretence for taking this money is worse than the act itself.  When a man is going to execute upon another such harsh cruelty, when he is going upon a service at which he himself says his mind must revolt, is that precisely the time when he is to take from his undone host a present, as if he was upon a visit of compliment, or about to confer some honor or benefit upon him,—­to augment his revenues, to add to his territories, or to conclude some valuable treaty with him?  Was this a proper time to take at all from an helpless minor so large a sum of money?

And here I shall leave this matter for your Lordships’ consideration, after reminding you that this poor Nabob is still at Moorshedabad, and at the mercy of any English gentleman who may choose to take 18,000_l._, or any other given sum of money from him, after the example of the prisoner at your bar, if it should be sanctioned by your connivance.  Far different was the example set him by General Clavering.  In page 1269 your Lordships will find the most honorable