is, that even a good man cannot be trusted to decide a cause in which he is himself concerned.  Not a day passes on which an honest prosecutor does not ask for what none but a dishonest tribunal would grant.  It is too much to expect that any man, when his dearest interests are at stake, and his strongest passions excited, will, as against himself, be more just than the sworn dispensers of justice.  To take an analogous case from the history of our own island; suppose that Lord Stafford, when in the Tower on suspicion of being concerned in the Popish plot, had been apprised that Titus Oates had done something which might, by a questionable construction, be brought under the head of felony.  Should we severely blame Lord Stafford, in the supposed case, for causing a prosecution to be instituted, for furnishing funds, for using all his influence to intercept the mercy of the Crown?  We think not.  If a judge, indeed, from favour to the Catholic lords, were strain the law in order to hang Oates, such a judge would richly deserve impeachment.  But it does not appear to us that the Catholic lord, by bringing the case before the judge for decision, would materially overstep the limits of a just self-defence.

While, therefore, we have not the least doubt that this memorable execution is to be attributed to Hastings, we doubt whether it can with justice be reckoned among his crimes.  That his conduct was dictated by a profound policy is evident.  He was in a minority in Council.  It was possible that he might long be in a minority.  He knew the native character well.  He knew in what abundance accusations are certain to flow in against the most innocent inhabitant of India who is under the frown of power.  There was not in the whole black population of Bengal a placeholder, a place-hunter, a government tenant, who did not think that he might better himself by sending up a deposition against the Governor-General.  Under these circumstances, the persecuted statesman resolved to teach the whole crew of accusers and witnesses, that, though in a minority at the council-board, he was still to be feared.  The lesson which he gave then was indeed a lesson not to be forgotten.  The head of the combination which had been formed against him, the richest, the most powerful, the most artful of the Hindoos, distinguished by the favour of those who then held the government, fenced round by the superstitious reverence of millions, was hanged in broad day before many thousands of people.  Everything that could make the warning impressive, dignity in the sufferer, solemnity in the proceeding, was found in this case.  The helpless rage and vain struggles of the Council made the triumph more signal.  From that moment the conviction of every native was that it was safer to take the part of Hastings in a minority than that of Francis in a majority, and that he who was so venturous as to join in running down the Governor-General might chance, in the phrase of the Eastern poet, to find a tiger, while beating the jungle for a deer.  The voices of a thousand informers were silenced in an instant.  From that time, whatever difficulties Hastings might have to encounter, he was never molested by accusations from natives of India.