Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1842-03-15
RICHARD HENRY BROWNE, EDITOR. I


accepted; and, having borrowed mon
ey 10 meet the expenses of his outfit,
the future Governor-G General again
started for India.
The advance Of Hastings towards
supreme power was now very rapid.
BY his skil[nl policy the finances Of the
Company were enormously incr eased,
and its territorial possessions enlarged.
In the mean time grave discussions
again arose in Parliament on Indian
affairs, terminating in measure which
brought about radical change in the
management Of our Eastern possess
slOns, which in future were to be placed
under the administration of a Govern
Or-General, aided with four council
lOrs. To Hastings the first great of
fee was conGded; and the Council
lors were, Mr.. BarwelI, General Cla-
verlng, Mr.. Monson, and Mr.. Francis
afterwards the celebrated Sir Philip
Francis.) To thelast gentleman may
be ascrlbed the origin of that bitter
anlmosiry against Hasting which en-
ded in the famous impeachment.
In making these few remarks on
the character Ofthe first and most Gel
ebrated Of the Governors-General of
India, we have neither room nor incIi-
nation to pursue the intricacies of
Anglo AsiaGc government, nor to de-
tail the long catalogue Of imputed Of
fences which reused the enmity and
lnf1amed the invectives of Burke. All
these may be fully learned and appre-
clated in Mr.. Gleigs valuable volumes.
The progress and result of the great
trial before the Peers of England are
we / known. Hastings was acquitted;
but, in a pecuniary point of view, he
was a ruined man! The legal expen-
.es TO which be was subjected were
enormous. But his dearest wish had
been accomplished in regaining Day
lesiord, the seat of his ancestors; and
thither he retired to spend the remain
der OF his dayssln tranquility occupying
himself, life Evelyn aud Cowley, with
books and horticulture. Here he
made large plantations, embellished
his grounds, stored his garden with
Asiauc eXotics, and for the last twenty
four years of his life divided his
time between literature and rural pur-
suits.
'MeIhjnks see great DIOCESAN walk
In the Saonan gardens noble shade,
Which by his own imperial hands was
made
The Modern siagularity happy char
acteristic and graphic scotch of Has
tings in his retirement, is from the pen
IF 10 Leigh, in letter to a corr.s-
pondent in town.
'Daylesford is not halGa mile from
my old paternal seat. AdIestrop; and,
when at home, almost daily saw, till
my twenty-frst year, Warren Has
tings, and was also Intimately acquain
ted with MIS-. Hastings till her death
Hastings ha / solemn and slow enun-
authenticated very like a wizard,
and, with his shrewed, expressive,
otrongly-marked countenance, his fine
forehead, and compressed lips, over
awed me, especially when he was envel-
oped in his large, Indian, mystical.
looking dressing-gown. He was be-
low the middle size, talked with equa
solemnity on all subjects, and was very
fond of botany. The country gentle.
men held him in great veneration; he
was called "the Governor" par ercel
lencc; and the common people regar
ded him as a sort of Oriental cDniurer
He was very kind 10 me as a boy
| do not remember the DayIesGorC
breakfasts Of which the Edinburgh Re
view speaks; but the dinners were yer,
good. | recollect Hastings writin
some verses on the fall of his beech
. trees, in which there was a good dea
about, "dTmons Of the air." &c. Thes
he reCited 10 US one day, when he ha
: enjoyed some excellent Madeira and
5 superb "pillau," for luncheon. TIL
: verses were excellent, though enur
| ciated in a tone somewhat similar t
] that Ofthe Ghost in Hamlet