3686. HASTINGS (Warren), Trial of.—
I presume you will remain at London to see the trial of Hastings. Without suffering yourself
to be imposed on by the pomp in which it will
be enveloped, I would recommend to you to
consider and decide for yourself these questions.
If his offense is to be decided by the law of the land, why is he not tried in that
court in which his fellow-citizens are tried, that
is, the King's Bench? If he is cited before another
court that he may be judged, not according
to the law of the land, but by the
discretion of his judges, is he not disfranchised
of his most precious right, the benefit of the
laws of his country in common with his other
fellow-citizens? I think you will find on investigating
this subject that every solid argument
is against the extraordinary court, and
that every one in its favor is specious only. It
is a transfer from a judicature of learning and
integrity to one, the greatness of which is both
illiterate and unprincipled. Yet such is the
force of prejudice with some, and of the want
of reflection in others, that many of our constitutions
have copied this absurdity, without
suspecting it to be one.—
To William Rutledge. Washington ed. ii, 349.
Ford ed., v, 4.
(P.
1788)
