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abstract sovereign, and he cannot be exalted higher in our books. I say he is destitute of the first character of sovereign power. He cannot lay a tax upon his people.

The next part, in which he misses of a sovereign power, is, that he cannot dispose of the life, of the property, or of the liberty of any of his subjects, but by what is called the fetfa, or sentence of the law. He cannot declare peace or war without the same sentence of the law; so much is he, more than European sovereigns, a subject of strict law, that he cannot declare war or peace without it. Then, if he can neither touch life nor property, if he cannot lay a tax on his subjects, or declare peace or war, I leave it to your lordships' judgment, whether he can be called, according to the principles of that constitution, an arbitrary power. A Turkish sovereign, if he should be judged by the body of that law to have acted against its principles, (unless he happens to be secured by a faction of the soldiery) is liable to be deposed on the sentence of that law, and his successour comes in under the strict limitations of the antient law of that country: neither can he hold his place, dispose of his succession, or take any one step whatever, without being bound by law. Thus much may be said, when gentlemen talk of the affairs of Asia, as to the nearest of Asiatick sovereigns; and he is more Asiatick than European, he is a Mahomedan sovereign; and no Mahomedan is born, who can exercise any arbitrary power at all, consistently with their constitution: insomuch that this chief magistrate, who is the highest executive power among them, is the very person, who, by the constitution of the country, is the most fettered by law.

Corruption is the true cause of the loss of all the benefits of the constitution of that country. The practice of Asia, as the gentleman at your bar has thought fit to say, is what he holds to; the constitution he flies away from. The question is, whether you will take the constitution of the country as your rule, or the base practices of those usurpers, robbers, and tyrants, who have subverted it. Undoubtedly much blood, murder, false imprisonment, much peculation, cruelty and robbery are to be found in Asia; and if, instead

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of going to the sacred laws of the country, he chooses to resort to the iniquitous practices of it, and practices authorized only by publick tumult, contention, war, and riot, he may indeed find as clear an acquittal in the practices, as he would find condemnation in the institutions of it. He has rejected the law of England. Your lordships will not suffer

it.

God forbid! For my part I should have no sort of objection to let him choose his law-Mahomedan, Tartarean, Gentû. But if he disputes, as he does, the authority of an act of parliament, let him state to me that law, to which he means to be subject, or any law, which he knows, that will justify his actions. I am not authorized to say, that I shall, even in that case, give up what is not in me to give up, because I represent an authority, of which I must stand in awe; but, for myself, I shall confess, that I am brought to publick shame, and am not fit to manage the great interests committed to my charge. I therefore again repeat of that Asiatick government, with which we are best acquainted, which has been constituted more in obedience to the laws of Mahomed, than any other, that the sovereign cannot, agreeably to that constitution, exercise any arbitrary power whatever.

The next point for us to consider is, whether or no the Mahomedan constitution of India authorizes that power. The gentleman at your lordships' bar has thought proper to

that it will be happy for India (though soon after he tells you it is an happiness they can never enjoy) "when the despotick institutes of Genghiz Khân or Tamerlane shall give place to the liberal spirit of a British legislature; and," says he," I shall be amply satisfied in my present prosecution, if it shall tend to hasten the approach of an event so beneficial to the great interests of mankind."

My lords, you have seen what he says about an act of parliament. Do you not now think it rather an extraordinary thing, that any British subject should, in vindication of the authority which he has exercised, here quote the names and institutes, as he calls them, of fierce conquerours, of men, who were the scourges of mankind, whose power was a power, which they held by force only?

As to the institutes of Genghiz Khân, which he calls arbitrary institutes, I never saw them. If he has that book, he will oblige the publick by producing it. I have seen a book existing, called Yassa of Genghiz Khân; the other I never saw. If there be any part of it to justify arbitrary power, he will produce it. But, if we may judge by those ten precepts of Genghiz Khân, which we have, there is not a shadow of arbitrary power to be found in any one of them. Institutes of arbitrary power! Why, if there is arbitrary power, there can be no institutes.

Nor

As to the institutes of Tamerlane; here they are in their original, and here is a translation. I have carefully read every part of these institutes; and if any one shows me one word in them, in which the prince claims in himself arbitrary power, I again repeat, that I shall for, my own part confess, that I have brought myself to great shame. There is no book in the world, I believe, which contains nobler, more just, more manly, more pious principles of government than this book, called the Institutions of Tamerlane. is there one word of arbitrary power in it, much less of that arbitrary power, which Mr. Hastings supposes himself justified by; namely a delegated, subordinate, arbitrary power. So far was that great prince from permitting this gross, violent, intermediate, arbitrary power, that I will venture to say, the chief thing, by which he has recommended himself to posterity, was a most direct declaration of all the wrath and indignation of the supreme government against it. But here is the book. It contains the institutes of the founder of the Mogul empire, left as a sacred legacy to his posterity, as a rule for their conduct, and as a means of preserving their power.

"BE it known to my fortunate sons, the conquerours of kingdoms, to my mighty descendants, the lords of the earth, that, since I have hope in Almighty God, that many of my children, descendants and posterity, shall sit upon the throne of power and regal authority; upon this account, having established laws and regulations for the well governing of my dominions, I have collected together those regulations and laws as a model for others; to the end, that every one

of my children, descendants and posterity, acting agreeably thereto, my power and empire, which I acquired through hardships, and difficulties, and perils, and bloodshed, by the divine favour and by the influence of the holy religion of Mahomed, (God's peace be upon him) and with the assistance of the powerful descendants and illustrious followers of that prophet, may be by them preserved.

"And let them make these regulations the rule of their conduct in the affairs of their empire, that the fortune and the power, which shall descend from me to them, may be safe from discord and dissolution.

"Now therefore be it known to my sons, the fortunate and the illustrious, to my descendants, the mighty subduers of kingdoms, that, in like manner as I by twelve maxims, which I established as the rule of my conduct, attained to regal dignity, and with the assistance of these maxims conquered and governed kingdoms, and decorated and adorned the throne of my empire, let them also act according to these regulations, and preserve the splendour of mine and their dominions.

"And among the rules, which I established for the support of my glory and empire, the First was this-That I promoted the worship of Almighty God, and propagated the religion of the sacred Mahomed throughout the world; and at all times, and in all places, supported the true faith.

"Secondly: With the people of the twelve classes and tribes I conquered and governed kingdoms; and with them I strengthened the pillars of my fortune, and from them I formed my assembly.

"Thirdly: By consultation, and deliberation, and provident measures, by caution, and by vigilance, I vanquished armies, and I reduced kingdoms to my authority. And I carried on the business of my empire by complying with times and occasions, and by generosity, and by patience, and by policy; and I acted with courteousness towards my friends and towards my enemies.

"Fourthly: By order and by discipline I regulated the concerns of my government; and by discipline and by order I so firmly established my authority, that the ameers

and the viziers, and the soldiers, and the subjects, could not aspire beyond their respective degrees; and every one of them was the keeper of his own station.

"Fifthly: I gave encouragement to my ameers, and to my soldiers, and with money and with jewels I made them glad of heart; and I permitted them to come into the banquet; and in the field of blood they hazarded their lives. And I withheld not from them my gold nor my silver. And I educated and trained them to arms; and to alleviate their sufferings I myself shared in their labours, and in their hardships, until with the arm of fortitude and resolution, and with the unanimity of my chiefs, and my generals, and my warriours, by the edge of the sword I obtained possession of the thrones of seven-and-twenty kings; and became the king and the ruler of the kingdoms of Eracen and of Tooraun; and of Room, and of Mughrib, and of Shaum; and of Missur, and of Erank-a-Arrub, and of Ajjum; and of Mauzinduraun, and of Kylaunaut; and of Shurvaunaut, and of Azzurbauejaun; and of Fauris, and of Khorausaun; and of the Dusht of Jitteh, and the Dusht of Kipchauk; and of Khauruzm, and of Khuttun, and of Kauboolistaun; and of Hindostaun, and of Baukhtur Zemeen.

"And when I clothed myself in the robe of empire, I shut my eyes to safety, and to the repose, which is found on the bed of ease. And from the twelfth year of my age I travelled over countries, and combated difficulties, and formed enterprizes, and vanquished armies; and experienced mutinies amongst my officers and my soldiers, and was familiarized to the language of disobedience; and I opposed them with policy and with fortitude, and I hazarded my person in the hour of danger; until in the end I vanquished kingdoms and empires, and established the glory of my name.

"Sixthly: By justice and equity I gained the affections of the people of God; and I extended my clemency to the guilty as well as to the innocent; and I passed that sentence, which truth required: and by benevolence I gained a place in the hearts of men; and by rewards and punishments I kept both my troops and my subjects divided between hope and fear. And I compassionated the lower ranks of my peo

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