MR. LAW’S SPEECH DISCUSSED.
We then spoke of Mr. Law, Mr. Hastings’s first counsel, and I expressed some dissatisfaction that such attackers should not have had abler and more equal opponents. “But do you not think Mr. Law spoke well?” cried he, “clear, forcible?”
“Not forcible,” cried I. I would not say not clear.
“He was frightened,” said Mr. Windham, “he might not do himself justice. I have heard him elsewhere, and been very well satisfied with him; but he looked pale and alarmed, and his voice trembled.”
“I was very well content with his materials,” quoth I, “which I thought much better than the use he made of them; and once or twice, he made an opening that, with a very little skill, might most adroitly and admirably have raised a laugh against you all.”
He looked a little askew, I must own, but he could not help smiling... I gave him an instance in point, which-was the reverse given by Mr. Law to the picture drawn by Mr. Burke of Tamerlane, in which he said those virtues and noble qualities bestowed upon him by the honourable manager were nowhere to be found but on the British stage.
Now this, seriously, with a very little ingenuity, might have placed Mr. Burke at the head of a company of comedians. This last notion I did not speak, however; but enough was understood, and Mr. Windham looked straight away from me, without answering; nevertheless, his profile, which he left me, showed much more disposition to laugh than to be incensed.
Therefore I proceeded; pointing out another lost opportunity that, well saved, might have proved happily ridiculous against them; and this was Mr. Law’s description of the real state of India, even from its first discovery by Alexander, opposed to Mr. Burke’s flourishing representation, of its golden age, its lambs and tigers associating, etc.
Still he looked askew; but I believe he is truth itself, for he offered no defence, though, of course, he would not enter into the attack. And surely at this critical period I must not spare pointing out all he will submit to hear, on the side of a man of whose innocence I am so fully persuaded.
“I must own, however,” continued I, finding him still attentive, though silent, “Mr. Law provoked me in one point—his apologies for his own demerits. Why should he contribute his humble mite to your triumphs? and how little was it his place to extol your superior talents, as if you were not self-sufficient enough already, without his aid.”
‘Unless you had heard the speech of Mr. Law, you can hardly imagine with what timid flattery he mixed every exertion he ventured to make in behalf of his client; and I could not forbear this little observation, because I had taken notice with what haughty derision the managers had perceived the fears of their importance, which were felt even by the very counsel of their prisoner. Mr. Windham, too, who himself never looks either insolent or deriding, must be sure what I meant for his associates could not include himself. He did not, however, perfectly welcome the remark; he still only gave me his profile, and said not a word,-so I went on. Mr. Hastings little thinks what a pleader I am become in his cause, against one of his most powerful adversaries.
“There was still another thing,” quoth I, “in which I felt vexed with Mr. Law: how could he be so weak as to beg quarter from you, and to humbly hope that, if any mistake, any blunder, any improvident word escaped him, you would have the indulgence to spare your ridicule? O yes, to be sure! when I took notice at the moment of his supplication, and before any error committed, that every muscle of every face, amongst you was at work from the bare suggestion.”
He could not even pretend to look grave now, but, turning frankly towards me, said, “Why, Mr. Fox most justly observed upon that petition, that, if any man makes a blunder, a mistake, ’tis very well to apologize: but it was singular to hear a man gravely preparing for his blunders and mistakes, and wanting to make terms for them beforehand.”
“I like him for this,” cried James again bonnement, “that he seems so much interested for his client.”
“Will you give me leave to inquire,” quoth I, “one thing? You know my old knack of asking strange questions.”
“He only bowed—archly enough, I assure you.”
“Did I fancy, or was it fact, that you were a flapper to Mr. Burke, when Mr. Law charged him with disingenuity, in not having recanted the accusation concerning Devy Sing? He appeared to me in much perturbation, and I thought by his see-saw he was going to interrupt the speech: did you prevent him?”
“No, no,” he answered, “I did not; I did not think him in any danger.”
He rubbed his cheek, though, as he spoke, as if he did not much like that circumstance. O that Mr. Burke—so great, so noble a creature—can in this point thus have been warped.