LESSON 107

IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS

控告沃伦·哈斯廷斯

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800-1859, was born in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire. On his father’s side, he descended from Scotch Highlanders and ministers of the kirk. His education began at home, and was completed at Trinity College, Cambridge. While a student, he gained much reputation as a writer and a debater. In 1826 he was admitted to the bar. In 1825 began his connection with the “Edinburgh Review,” which continued twenty years. Some of his most brilliant essays appeared first in its pages. He was first chosen to Parliament in 1830, and was reelected several times. In 1840 his essays and some other writings were collected and published with the title of “Miscellanies.” His “Lays of Ancient Rome” was published in 1842. His “History of England” was published near the close of his life. In 1857 he was given the title of Baron Macaulay. “His style is vigorous, rapid in its movement, and brilliant; and yet, with all its splendor, has a crystalline clearness. Indeed, the fault generally found with his style is, that it is so constantly brilliant that the vision is dazzled and wearied with its excessive brightness.” He has sometimes been charged with sacrificing facts to fine sentences.

In his statesmanship, Macaulay was always an earnest defender of liberty. His first speech in Parliament was in support of a bill to remove the civil disabilities of the Jews, and his whole parliamentary career was consistent with this wise and liberal beginning.

The place in which the impeachment of Warren Hastings was conducted, was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus; the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings; the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon, and the just absolution of Somers; the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment; the hall where Charles had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid courage which half redeemed his fame.

Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined with grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. The peers, robed in gold and ermine, were marshaled by heralds. The judges, in their vestments of state, attended to give advice on points of law. The long galleries were crowded by such an audience as has rarely excited the fears or the emulation of an orator. There were gathered together, from all parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous realm, grace and female loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every science and of every art.

There were seated around the queen, the fair-haired, young daughters of the house of Brunswick. There the embassadors of great kings and commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle which no other country in the world could present. There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imitations of the stage. There Gibbon, the historian of the Roman Empire, thought of the days when Cicero pleaded the cause of Sicily against Verres; and when, before a senate which had still some show of freedom, Tacitus thundered against the oppressor of Africa. There, too, were seen, side by side, the greatest painter and the greatest scholar of the age; for the spectacle had allured Reynolds from his easel and Parr from his study.

The sergeants made proclamation. Hastings advanced to the bar, and bent his knee. The culprit was indeed not unworthy of that great presence. He had ruled an extensive and populous country; had made laws and treaties; had sent forth armies; had set up and pulled down princes; and in his high place he had so borne himself, that all had feared him, that most had loved him, and that hatred itself could deny him no title to glory, except virtue. A person, small and emaciated, yet deriving dignity from a carriage which, while it indicated deference to the court, indicated, also, habitual self-possession and self-respect; a high and intellectual forehead; a brow, pensive, but not gloomy; a mouth of inflexible decision; a face, pale and worn, but serene, on which a great and well-balanced mind was legibly written: such was the aspect with which the great proconsul presented himself to his judges.

The charges, and the answers of Hastings, were first read. This ceremony occupied two whole days. On the third, Burke rose. Four sittings of the court were occupied by his opening speech, which was intended to be a general introduction to all the charges. With an exuberance of thought and a splendor of diction, which more than satisfied the highly raised expectations of the audience, he described the character and institutions of the natives of India; recounted the circumstances in which the Asiatic Empire of Britain had originated; and set forth the constitution of the Company and of the English Presidencies.

Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of eastern society, as vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he proceeded to arraign the administration of Hastings, as systematically conducted in defiance of morality and public law. The energy and pathos of the great orator extorted expressions of unwonted admiration from all; and, for a moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute heart of the defendant. The ladies in the galleries, unaccustomed to such displays of eloquence, excited by the solemnity of the occasion, and perhaps not unwilling to display their taste and sensibility, were in a state of uncontrollable emotion. Handkerchiefs were pulled out; smelling bottles were handed round; hysterical sobs and screams were heard, and some were even carried out in fits.

At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice, till the old arches of Irish oak resounded—“Therefore,” said he, “hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all.”

【中文阅读】

在这里，对沃伦•哈斯廷斯提出指控，值得进行这样的审判。这是威廉二世修建的那间大厅，曾经回荡过三十位国王加冕典礼的欢呼声。这个大厅见证过对培根的公正判决，还有对索莫斯的公正赦免。在这里，曾几何时斯特拉福德的雄辩令人敬畏，并打消了获得胜利的党派的怨恨；在这里，查尔斯凭借能够挽回他一半声誉的温和的勇气，面对最高法院的裁决。

不论军事还是公民的隆重仪式，这里都不鲜见。周围的街道都由精锐士兵把守，大街都被骑兵队肃清了，穿着饰金的貂皮长袍的贵族按传令官的指令列队，身着指定服装的法官就法律要点发表意见。观者摩肩接踵的站在长长的旁听席，很少被演说者的讲话激起恐惧或者进行仿效。人们从一个很大的、自由的、开明的和兴旺发达的国度的四面八方聚在一起，每一种科学与艺术都体现出优雅和女性的姣美、风趣和学识。

在一头金发的女王周围坐着的是布伦威克宫年轻的女儿们。伟大的列王和英联邦的使节们惊叹地盯着世界上没有其他任何国家能上演的场面。正值华年的西登斯动情地凝视着超越所有舞台模仿的一个场面。吉本，那位罗马帝国史学家，思考着西塞罗为西西里反抗维勒斯统治的原因辩护的那段岁月发生的历史事件。当时，在尚有几分自由表达权的元老院，塔西陀疾言厉词地斥责非洲的暴君。在那里也能见到肩并肩坐着的当时最伟大的画家和学者。这个场景吸引雷诺兹离开画架，帕尔走出书斋。

军队士官们发出欢呼声。哈斯廷斯走到辩护席前，鞠了一躬。实际上，这个罪犯并非配不上如此之大的场面。他统治的是一个地域辽阔、人口众多的国家，制订过法律签署过条约，也派遣过军队，立过和废过王储。身居如此高位，他竟然如此纵容自己，以至于所有人都惧怕他。绝大多数爱他和憎恶这件事情本身的人，可能拒绝让他尊享荣耀，除了其优点以外。一个人，本来很渺小和衰弱，从一场婚姻得到尊严，这暗示出有对法庭保持尊重的可能性，也暗示出他泰坦自若和自视甚高。高耸和富有智慧的前额，总是若有所思的样子，但并不晦暗；一张具有坚定不移决断力的嘴；那张脸，虽然苍白和透着沧桑，但宁静安详，从这张脸上人们能读出不寻常和神智健全的内心世界。这就是这位不可一世的殖民地总督留给法官的印象。

对于指控，哈斯廷斯的答复是首先读诉状。这个仪式持续了整整两天。在第三天，伯克起身发言。法庭四周落座的人都被他的公开演讲吸引住了，这显然是对所有指控一个总的开场白。思维之活跃和用词之华丽，超过了观众的预期，他描述了印度人的性格和习俗，详细讲述了大不列颠这个亚洲帝国所产生的问题，详细解释了东印度公司的章程和有关英国居民的法规。

他这样做意在与他的听众就这个东方社会的观念进行交流，同他心里存在已久的想法一样清晰明确，接着他指责哈斯廷斯管理失当，一贯无视道德准则和公共法律。这位伟大的演讲家的活力和感染力曲解了激起人们不寻常赞赏表述的内涵。一时间，这番慷慨陈词甚至将被告的决绝之心都刺穿了。旁听席上的夫人小姐们尽管对这样的雄辩不习惯，还是被这种场合的肃穆所感染，也许不愿意显露出她们的情趣和情感，结果处于一种无法遏制的激情洋溢之中。他们拿出手帕，手上攥着鼻烟壶。人们听到旁听席传来一片歇斯底里的啜泣和尖厉的叫声，有的甚至挥舞着拳头。

最后，伯克结束演讲。他抬高调门，连用爱尔兰橡树做成的古老拱门都传来回音。“因此，”他说，“我对大不列颠国会下院同意我对沃伦•哈斯廷斯犯有重罪和行为不轨的控告抱有十足的信心。我以国会下院的名义控告他辜负了国家对他的信任；我以英国的名义控告他玷污了这个古老国家的荣誉；我以印度人民的名义控告他践踏了他们的权利，将他们的国家变成一片沙漠蛮荒。最后，我以人性本身的名义，以两性的名义，以所有人的名义，以社会各个阶层的名义，控告这个人民公敌和所有人的压迫者。”