The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-09-21
RICH NJ 0 Nd, VA


About three weeks ago. a very interesting
event took place in England. which was oil
the nature of a common place every day oc'
currence, but which Is suggestive of the
crandest associations, and calculated TO
awaken a lively emotion in the mind of
every reader of English history, The AFFAIR
WIS conducted under the red flag, and the
chief actor in it was the auctioneer. The
late George Robins ought to have lived long
enough to conduct so remarkable sale 1t
,x.s that of the furniture and effects of the
mansion of Dayiesford, well known as the
seat Of the celebrated WARREN HASTINGS.
Atthe bare mention Of such a circumstance
as this, how powerfully does the past rush
upon us bringing back the recolleetions of
so much of Englands greatness and glory
during the long and chequered career OF
,bot remarkable man! Doubtless many ar
t;clas were put under the hammer which
were brought by the first of Nabobs from the
India he subdued, to decorate the homestead
which it was ever the dearest wish of his
heart to re purchase and rebuild. For it Will
be remembered that Daylesford had passed
out of the possession of the family at an ear
ly day, and the spot where the young WAR
rem had gamboled in infancy had become
the property of a London merchant, in the
melancholy decline of its former proprietors.
How unremittingly and fxedly the design of
reinvesting the estate with magnihcence
worthy of the proud name of HASTINGS, was
kept in view by the greatest man that ever
bore that name, Macaulay has told us in that
eloquent essay, in which the pomp and SPLEEN
dor of the East are SO wildly represented in
connection with all of pictorial effect that
belonged to the impeachment In this man
sion house of Daylesford resided, until within
twenty years past, the partner of WARREN
HASTINGS. the MADAME IMHoFF, whom he
espoused under circumstances so romantic
and peculiar. This parsonage seems to be-
long to so remote period of history, in view
of the changes which have taken place in the
Indian Empire since she set sail from its
shores with her future husband that it is diff
cult to recognise that she was alive at day
within the recollection of many now living,
Yet is this true, and the immediate effect of
one of her acts has only been seen within
the last revolving moon, for it was under
clause of her will that the late sale took
place, whereby the Penates of the conqueror
of India have been taken down from their
dusty pedestals and scattered abroad. The
mansion after having been restored TO the
Hastings family, and worthily repaired, has
at last become again the abode of strangers,
and all that remains of that once princely
House is the historic fame of its latest repre-
sentative. SIC transit gloria mundi!
Notwithstanding the obloquy which Has
'r1Ses had to endure, and the grand combina-
ton of eloquence and learning with Whlch ne
was assailed before the British Senate, the
opinion of the world has at length settled
down into an estimate of his character,
which if not altogether favorable, is by no
means harsh. That he was an INSCRIPTIONS
man cannot be doubted; that he possessed in
supereminent degree that doggedness of
purpose which distinguished JACKSON after
wards, and which rocked not of consequent
.cas where any cherished object was to be &C.
complished, is most certain but with all his
. faults he was man of stature that we
rarely see in the men whom nations reverence
as great, and the results of his life were, per-
haps, more important to England than those
of any other man, Wellington not excepted
who has illustrated her annals during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.