months past,' had finally blackened his honest efforts to justify himself. 'This is the very wantonness of oppression; it is like putting the man to the rack, and exclaiming against him for struggling with his tormentors; while rewards are held out publicly to those who will offer themselves as my accusers[1].'
On the 8th June, 1775, in the height of the hot season, Nanda-Kumár was arraigned before a Court of four judges, headed by Impey, with a full English jury, on charges capital according to English law. Two English barristers defended the prisoner. Throughout the trial, which lasted eight long days, the judges wore their wigs, and retired, it is said, three or four times daily to change their linen. The trial lasted until 4 A.M. of the 16th, when a verdict of guilty was brought in. With the entire concurrence of his fellow-judges, Impey sentenced the convicted forger to death.
It might have been expected that some of the Rájá's powerful friends would have made a strong effort to save the life of a man whom they had lately held in such high esteem. Francis was ready at first to do something on his behalf, but Clavering and Monson flatly refused to meddle in a business which had no bearing on their public duties[2]. One of the jurymen signed the only petition for a respite which ever reached the Supreme Court. Francis himself took no notice of the piteous appeal for help which Nanda-
