But where, all this time, is the Nabob, against whom this rebellion is pretended to be directed?  Was it ever even insinuated to him that his mother had raised a rebellion against him?  When were the proofs shown to him?  Did he ever charge her with it?  He surely must have been most anxious to prevent and suppress a rebellion against himself:  but not one word on that subject has ever come out of his mouth; nor has any one person been produced to show that he was informed of the existence of such a rebellion.  The persons said to be rebels are his mother and grandmother; and I again ask, Was there the least intimation given to him by Mr. Middleton, or by any other person, of their being even suspected of rebellion against him?  There was, indeed, a hint of some rebellion, which the creatures of Mr. Hastings got at obliquely; but neither the person against whom the rebellion is supposed to exist, nor the persons who were said to be guilty of it, were ever either informed of or charged with it.  I defy the prisoner and his whole gang to produce one word ever uttered by any one of them, from which the Nabob or Begums could learn that they were supposed to be concerned in the rebellion:  so that none of those who were said to be the principal actors in the scene ever heard of the parts they were acting from the actual authors and managers of the business.  Not one word was uttered of a charge made, much less of proof given.  Nothing was heard but “Give me the money!”—­irons,—­new irons,—­new imprisonment,—­and at last the castle of Chunar.

And here I beg leave to pause, and to leave upon your minds the impression, first, of the wrong that was done, the violence, and the robbery,—­and, secondly, of the pretences, both civil and criminal, by which they have attempted to justify their proceedings.

SPEECH

IN

GENERAL REPLY.

SIXTH DAY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1794.

My Lords,—­Your Lordships will recollect that we closed the last day of your proceeding in this trial at a most interesting part of our charge, or rather of our observations upon that charge.  We closed at that awful moment when we found the first women of Oude pillaged of all their landed and of all their moneyed property, in short, of all they possessed.  We closed by reciting to you the false pretence on which this pillage was defended, namely, that it was the work of the Nabob.  Now we had before proved to you, from evidence adduced by the prisoner himself, that this Nabob was a mere tool in his hands; and therefore, if this pretence be true, it aggravates his guilt:  for surely the forcing a son to violate the property of his mother must everywhere be considered a crime most portentous and enormous.  At this point we closed; and after the detail which has been given you already of these horrible and iniquitous proceedings, some apology may perhaps be necessary for entering again into the refutation of this iniquitous pretence.