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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 391: CHARGE AGAINST SIR ELIJAH IMPEY.
By Edward Farr
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The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

CHARGE AGAINST SIR ELIJAH IMPEY.

Early in this session it was determined to impeach Sir Elijah Impey, chief-justice of the supreme court established at Calcutta, by the Regulating Act of 1773, Six articles of impeachment were accordingly exhibited to the house by Sir Gilbert Elliot, who supported them by a long and impressive speech, in which he professed to describe the career of the accused from his first arrival at Calcutta, down to his recall by a resolution of the house of commons. The articles which he produced related to the trial and execution of Nuncomar; to the conduct of Impey in a cause called the Patna cause; to an extension of jurisdiction, illegally and oppressively, beyond the intention of the act and charter; to the Cossijurah cause, in which this extension of jurisdiction had been carried out with great violence; to the acceptance of the office of judge of the Sudder Dewannee Adaulut, which was affirmed to be contrary to law, repugnant to the spirit and act of the charter, and subversive of all its material purposes; and to the affairs in Oude and Benares, where it was declared the chief-justice became the agent and tool of Hastings. At the suggestion of Pitt, these charges were ordered to be printed, and then referred to a committee of the whole house; which committee was to take them into consideration on the 4th of February. When that day arrived, a petition was presented from Sir Elijah Impey, praying to be heard in answer to the charges, before the house proceeded any further; and the prayer being granted, he was called to the bar for that purpose. His defence was very long and conducted with great ability, embracing every point on which he was charged. It produced a deep and lasting impression on the house, and Pitt was heard to declare that had he been placed in the same situation, he could not say but that he should have acted precisely as the accused had done. It was evident that the prosecution would soon be dropped, and it was rendered still more clear by the evidence taken at the bar of the house. This evidence was all taken by the 28th of April, on which clay Sir Gilbert Elliot began his reply to the defence, which was not finished before the 9th of May. Sir Gilbert moved, in conclusion, a resolution importing that the first charge had been made good, which was supported by Fox, Burke, and Colonel Fuliarton, and controverted by Sir Richard Sutton, Mr. D. Pulteney, the attorney and solicitor-general, and the chancellor of the exchequer. Upon a division, the motion was lost by a majority of seventy-three against fifty-five; and on the 27th of May, the day appointed for the committee to sit again, upon the usual motion that the speaker do now leave the chair, it was opposed by the attorney-general, and negatived without a division; and the further consideration of the charges was adjourned to that day three months. The prosecution of Sir Elijah Impey was now closed, for the other charges were never taken into consideration.