the state in the Mogul empire did by no means delegate to any of its officers the supreme
power in its fulness. Whether or no we have delegated to Mr. Hastings the supreme power
of King and Parliament, that he should act with the plenitude of authority of the British
legislature, you are to judge.
Mr. Hastings has no refuge here. Let him run from law to law; let him fly from the common
law and the sacred institutions of the country in which he was born; let him fly from acts of
Parliament, from which his power originated; let him plead his ignorance of them, or fly in
the face of them. Will he fly to the Mahomedan law? That condemns him. Will he fly to the
high magistracy of Asia to defend taking of presents? Padishah and the Sultan would
condemn him to a cruel death. Will he fly to the Sophis, to the laws of Persia, or to the
practice of those monarchs? I cannot utter the pains, the tortures, that would be inflicted on
him, if he were to govern there as he has done in a British province. Let him fly where he
will, from law to law; law, I thank God, meets him everywhere, and enforced, too, by the
practice of the most impious tyrants, which he quotes as if it would justify his conduct. I
would as willingly have him tried by the law of the Koran, or the Institutes of Tamerlane, as
on the common law or statute law of this kingdom.
The next question is, whether the Gentoo laws justify arbitrary power: and if he finds any
sanctuary there, let him take it, with the cow in the pagoda. The Gentoos have a law which
positively proscribes in magistrates any idea of will,—a law with which, or rather with
extracts of it, that gentleman himself has furnished us. These people in many points are
governed by their own ancient written law, called the Shaster. Its interpreters and judges are
the Pundits. This law is comprehensive, extending to all the concerns of life, affording
principles and maxims and legal theories applicable to all cases, drawn from the sources of