HASTINGS, Warren, a man remarkable alike for his talents, his fortunes, and his history, was the son of a clergyman, and born in 1733, though in what place does not seem to have been ascertained. At a subsequent period it was alleged to his disparagement that his origin a was low, obscure, and vulgar;” but such an assertion would seem to have been as gratuitous as it was undoubtedly unworthy of Mr Burke, from whom it proceeded. That his parents were not in affluent circumstances, may be concluded from the fact that the remainder of the family estate had been sold some time previous to the birth of young Hastings; yet, on the other hand, his maintenance and education at a great public seminary, followed by a respectable appointment in the service of the East India Company, do not seem to indicate any want either of substance or of connections; and, in fact, it appears from various authorities, that he was collaterally descended of an ancient family of the same name in the county of Worcester, and that the estate of Daylesford, and the patronage of the living, were vested in his progenitors for many generations, although the fortune of one of them had been greatly diminished by his attachment to the royal cause in the time of Charles I. We notice this circumstance, not because the assertion of Mr Burke would have been any reproach to Mr Hastings, if it had been true to the fullest extent, but because being altogether groundless, it seems to have been calculated for the meridian of a place (the House of Lords) where the imputation of a low, obscure, and vulgar origin could scarcely fail to produce a strong and by no means advantageous impression.

Warren Hastings received his education at Westminster School, where he appears to have made considerable proficiency in learning. Amongst his class-fellows were the celebrated antiquary Soame Jennings, who spent a large fortune in the purchase of articles of vertu, and died in obscurity, if not poverty; and Sir Elijah Impey, afterwards chief justice of Bengal, who was repeatedly threatened with impeachment for his co-operation in many of the acts of his former school-fellow. The residence of young Hastings at Westminster could not have been long, as he appears to have left it about the age of sixteen. But the precocity of his talents attracted the notice of his master Dr Nichols, and he withdrew with the reputation of being one of the best scholars of his standing. It was intended to send him to Oxford, there to complete his studies; but circumstances prevented this design from being carried into effect. In 1750 he was appointed a writer in the service of the East India Company, and had the good fortune to be nominated to Bengal. At that period there existed no college in England for instruction in the oriental languages, nor could any private tutor be found capable of undertaking such a task. It was not, therefore, until after his arrival in India that he was enabled to acquire any knowledge of the dialects of that country. But as his natural sagacity led him to conclude that an acquaintance with the native tongues might serve the purposes of his ambition, he immediately applied himself to the study of the Persian and Hindustance, in which his assiduity and perseverance were ere long rewarded with success; and to his early proficiency in these languages, which were then but little cultivated, he was chiefly indebted for his rise in the Company’s service.

At this period the East India Company still retained much of its primitive character. It had been instituted for the purposes of trade, and its servants abroad were merely merchants, whose views were confined to commercial enterprise, and who had no ambition beyond that of enhancing the profits of mercantile speculation. No visions of conquest had yet flitted across their imagination; no vista of a sovereignty extending over millions of Asiatics had disclosed itself even in the most distant perspective. The great, indeed the only object then was, to open new sources of trade, and to discover new outlets for the commodities of Europe. With this view Mr Hastings was chosen as a fit person to establish a factory in the interior of Bengal. No EuropÄn had as yet appeared in that part of the country; and one acquainted with the languages in use amongst the natives was naturally selected as the most proper person to conduct the enterprise. The attempt, however, proved unsuccessful; but, notwithstanding its failure, Mr Hastings found means to conciliate the goodwill of the principal natives; and when afterwards taken prisoner by Surajah Dowlah, the sworn foe of the English name, his knowledge of Persian mainly contributed to ensure the safety of his person, and even to command the respect of his captor.

But a new and memorable epoch at length occurred, from which may be dated an entire change in the character and policy of the Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies. Colonel Clive, originally a clerk or writer, like Mr Hastings, but a man fitted by nature to play a great part in a different sphere of action, appeared at the head of a small but victorious army; and the fortunes of India were suddenly changed. Surajah Dowlah, doomed in his turn to experience the inconstancy of fortune, was defeated, dethroned, and finally murdered by his successor Meer Jaffier; and from this time the East India Company appeared in the character of a military power. It now became necessary to select as resident minister at the durbar of the nawab Jaffier Ali Cawn, a man of talents and address, conversant with the oriental languages, thoroughly acquainted with the interests of the Company, and capable of unravelling the intricacies of eastern politics, as well as defeating the intrigues peculiar to a court of this description. On this occasion, Colonel, afterwards Lord Clive, showed his discernment and sagacity by pitching upon Mr Hastings as the person best qualified to discharge these various and difficult duties; and, in 1758, the latter was accordingly sent as diplomatic agent of the Company to the court of the new nawab. A more critical or responsible situation cannot well be imagined; but he conducted himself with a degree of skill, prudence, and ability, which gave entire satisfaction to his employers; and he was only recalled to Bengal, in 1761, in consequence of his having become, by seniority, a member of the general administration.

After a residence of about fourteen years in India, Mr Hastings returned to England, with acquisitions so moderate, and wishes so humble, that, whilst he panted to enjoy ease in Europe, he renounced all hopes of realising those golden prospects which had at first induced him to visit the banks of the Ganges. But, in a few years, brighter prospects dawned on him. In 1769 he unexpectedly received the appointment of second in the council, and soon afterwards left England for India. In the outward voyage, Mrs Imhoff happened to be a passenger on board the same ship with Mr Hastings. Married to a German, then on his way to India in the capacity of portrait painter, this lady, at once handsome and majestic in her person, rendered herself still more agreeable by her talents for conversation, and, although she had for some time been both a wife and a mother, contrived to captivate the affections of Mr Hastings, who, in fact, became so much enamoured, [7:11:160]that, disregarding the prior rights of the unfortunate portrait painter, he resolved to transfer her matrimonial allegiance to himself. He landed at Madras in 1770, and remained there until the beginning of 1772, when, having been appointed president of the supreme council, he once more proceeded to Bengal. The management of the affairs of the first settlement belonging to the Company necessarily engrossed a large share of his attention; but still the helpmate of the German artist was not lost sight of; and, after a variety of delays incidental to a divorce, Mr Hastings was enabled, in 1777, to present Mrs Imhoff to the world in the character of his wife, having at the same time settled on her a lac of rupees, which, by an accumulation of interest, ŉnd the sale of some jewels, was afterwards increased to L.30,000.

As early as the year 1767, the House of Commons had instituted an inquiry, having for its object to ascertain by what right the Company held territorial possessions and exercised sovereignty in India. At that period, the affairs of,the Company, both in Europe and in Asia, were in great disorder, and exhibited an appearance of general distress. This was attributed partly to the gross mismanagement of its servants, and partly also to the departure from the ancient and prudential maxims on which it had been originally constituted. No longer a mere association of merchants, traders, and factors,, it had recently become a military power, and affected conquest, which was deemed incompatible with commerce; the peaceful economy and regularity of the counting-house had been exchanged for the waste and disorders of the field; the hands which had been sent to India to employ the pen now wielded the sword; and the Company’s servants, abandoning their proper vocation, which was to extend its commerce, now sought only to enlarge its territorial dominions. But the system on which its affairs were managed was not yet adapted to the change which had taken place in its character and objects. The different presidencies, claiming equal powers and co-ordinate authority, had not coalesced for common purposes either of aggression or defence; jealousies and disunion prevailed; and, from the want of a central and supreme jurisdiction, the very existence of the Company was brought into jeopardy. To remedy this evil, it was resolved to create a paramount jurisdiction; and Mr Hastings was accordingly invested with supreme authority as Governor-General of Bengal. In the mean while, the situation of England had become critical in the extreme. The fatal attempt to coerce the American colonies had produced an alliance between them and France; Spain and Holland afterwards joined the confederacy against Britain; and along, sanguinary, and expensive war ensued, the flames of which soon extended to the eastern hemisphere, and at length involved the Company in a contest for existence. At that period Hyder Ali Cawn Bahauder, an able and warlike prince, swayed the sceptre of Mysore, and only waited for a favourable opportunity to expel the English from India. Having collected a formidable army, and entered into alliances, particularly with the Mahrattas, he invaded the Carnatic, spreading terror and desolation wherever he appeared. The chief in command at Madras fled at his approach; the British under Sir Hector Munro were defeated; a strong detachment under Colonel Baillie was, after a gallant resistance, cut to pieces at Conjeveram; dismay pervaded the British settlements, and the triumph of Hyder seemed approaching towards its consummation.

On this critical and trying occasion, the conduct of the governor-general was distinguished for that firmness and energy by which alone great reverses are retrieved. Undismayed by the combination which had been formed against him, he stretched forth a helping hand to the remotest British settlements in Hindustan; on some occasions he had recourse to open force, on others he employed the most refined policy to disunite the confederates; and he even scrupled not, when other means failed, to buy off a dangerous enemy with money. Whilst the army of Sir Eyre Coote carried all before it in the field, and revived the respect of the natives for British prowess, the policy of the governor-general, effectively seconding the impression made by the troops, succeeded in dispelling the most formidable confederacy which had ever menaced the overthrow of the British power in India. But, even in the midst of his victorious career, murmurs began to be raised against him both in England and in India. He was accused of squandering the public money in improvident contracts; he was charged with extorting supplies from allied and dependent states, by means of injustice and oppression; and the peace he had concluded with the Mahrattas, the most formidable enemies of the British power, was declared to be dishonourable. In answer to all this, the friends of the governor-general pleaded the necessity of some of these measures; excused others on the ground that the end in some degree justified the means; ridiculed the idea that the storm in India could have been weathered by a European compass; and challenged the accusers to show how that settlement could have been saved by a policy less unscrupulous and less energetic than that which had been pursued by Mr Hastings. At first no charge of peculation was preferred. The objections were general, not personal; they applied to the policy of the governor-general, not to the conduct of the man.

As early as 1776, however, it became evident that the government at home was displeased with his measures, and steps were accordingly taken at the India House to order liis recall; but a majority of the Court of Proprietors having declared in his favour, he was allowed to remain. Nothing further was done for some years, during which the opposition slumbered. But, on the 28th of May 1782, the House of Commons resolved that it was the duty of the Court of Directors to remove Mr Hastings. The motion embodying this resolution was made by Mr Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, on the arrival of a dispatch containing an account of “an act of the most flagrant violence and oppression, and of the grossest breach of faith, committed against Cheyt Sing, the rajah of Benares.” An order for the recall of Mr Hastings was accordingly issued by the Directors; but this also was afterwards rescinded, in consequence of a second vote of the Court of Proprietors in his favour. On these occasions, the talents and capacity of Mr Hastings were acknowledged by all parties; and it was also admitted that both the territories and revenues of the Company had been greatly increased under his administration. No one doubted or questioned his ability, none denied the success which had crowned almost all his schemes; but, on the other hand, these were often of such a kind as shocked all European notions of justice and equity, and the means too frequently employed appeared much more objectionable than the ends proposed to be attained. Hence, as the Court of Proprietors refused to sanction his recall, a regular plan was formed to bridle his power and circumscribe his authority, if these should at any time be exerted for unworthy or improper purposes. With this view, three gentlemen of acknowledged ability, Mr, aftenvards Sir Philip Francis, General Clavering, and Colonel Monson, were selected, to whom were assigned scats at the council-board with competent salaries, and who were to form a sort of counterpoise to the governor-general. On the arrival of these functionaries in India, they were received with the customary respect; but, as might have been easily foreseen, many disagreements soon afterwards arose. Mr Hastings’ policy did not meet their approbation. On the contrary, many of his projects seemed to them pregnant with danger; and as they constituted a majority, they carried all questions[7:11:161] by a plurality of votes. The governor-general, accustomed to exercise absolute sway, could ill brook the restraint thus imposed on him. The newly-constituted board of control, on the other hand, exasperated by his haughty and despotic demeanour, carried their opposition beyond due bounds, protesting against and sternly refusing their consent to measures of undoubted utility. The breach became daily wider and wider between the parties, and at last an open rupture was signalised by a duel between the governor-general and Mr Francis.

Before this event occurred, however, these commissioners and councillors, in consequence of express orders from the Court of Directors, proceeded to inquire into all acts of bribery, peculation, and oppression, committed, or alleged to have been committed, by any of the Company’s servants. This proceeding soon brought on a crisis, out of which arose some of the most remarkable events in the history of our Indian empire. Nundcomar, a native of high consideration, perceiving the divisions which existed in the supreme council, laid before that body certain charges of corruption, implicating the governor-general, and at the same time challenged, or rather defied, the latter to deny them. Mr Hastings peremptorily refused either to meet or refute the charges of Nundcomar; but contented himself with vilifying his accuser, and repeatedly dissolved the council, by which means his colleagues were prevented from proceeding with their inquiries. Some progress was, however, made in the investigation. The evidence of Nundcomar, and that of his son Rajah Gourdass, were obtained, from which it appeared that large sums of money had been conveyed by them to the governor-general, in the name of Munry Begum. They mentioned all the intermediate agents employed, the species of coin in which the bribe consisted, the colour of the bags which contained the money, and the rate of exchange paid on the occasion; in corroboration of their statement they produced a letter from Munry Begum herself, and they concluded by requesting that Mr Hastings’ banyan, Cantoo Baboo, might be examined respecting all these points. The governorgeneral, however, declined to meet his accusers; he refused to allow Cantoo Baboo to be produced; and to the specific charges preferred by Nundcomar and Gourdass he merely opposed the integrity of his character. Whilst matters were in this state, an event occurred, which was not only extraordinary in itself, but seemed calculated to fix suspicion upon the governor-general. Nundcomar was arrested on a charge of forgery, and having been committed to the common prison, was soon afterwards tried before Sir Elijah Impey, the chief justice of Bengal, convicted, and executed, in pursuance of a statute which did not apply to Scotland, and which could only be extended to India on a principle of construction expressly excluded in the interpretation of all penal enactments.

In the mean while, the sudden death of General Clavering, followed by that of Colonel Monson, having restored the preponderance of Mr Hastings in the council, Mr Francis, finding himself unsupported, embarked for Europe, though not until he had fought a duel with the governor-general. From that moment the latter conducted the affairs of the government with absolute authority. By his casting vote he nullified the propositions of Mr Wheler; and Mr Barwell, who afterwards acted as his colleague, acceded to all his measures, and contributed to promote their success. Nor can it be disputed that he conducted the war against Hyder with extraordinary ability. The want of money was supplied by the resources of a mind fertile in invention, and not over-scrupulous as to means; the Company’s revenues were increased under his administration; and, notwithstanding all that had been alleged against him, his influence, both in England and India, seemed to be unbounded. Nevertheless, on the 9th of February 1787, Mr Hastings deemed it prudent to embark for Europe; and although fully aware that he was returning to pass through the fiery ordeal of impeachment, his mind appears to have been unmoved by the prospect of such a trial. He had powerful friends, he had performed important services, and he trusted that the united influence of both would bear him triumphantly through.

After a passage of four months and a few days, Mr Hastings arrived in England, where he was eagerly expected both by his friends and his enemies. It was not, however, until the 17th of February 1786 that Mr Burke moved for papers connected with the proceedings of Mr Hastings in India; and on the 4th of April the former presented to the house separate articles charging the latter with a number of high crimes and misdemeanours. In these the ex-governor-general was charged with gross injustice, cruelty, and treachery, in hiring British soldiers for the purpose of extirpating the helpless people who inhabited Rohillacund; with bereaving the Great Mogul of considerable territory, forcibly withholding the tribute of twenty-six lacs of rupees, and holding in his name the duannce of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; with extortion, followed by expulsion, in respect to the rajah of Benares; with inflicting intolerable hardships on the royal family of Oude; with having reduced the province of Fer-ruckabad to a state of utter ruin; with impoverishing and depopulating the whole country of Oude, and rendering it an uninhabited desert; with a wanton, unjust, and pernicious exercise of his power, in overturning the ancient establishments of India, and extending an undue influence, by conniving at extravagant contracts and appointing inordinate salaries; with receiving money against the orders of the Company, the act of parliament, and his own engagements, and applying it to improper purposes; with having resigned by proxy, for the purpose of retaining his situation, and denying the deed in person; with having conducted himself treacherously towards Muzuffer Jung, who had been placed under his guardianship; and with enormous extravagance and bribery, in the view of enriching his favourites and dependents. But these charges were afterwards restricted to four, viz. those respecting the rajah of Benares, the begums of Oude, the presents, and the contracts.

On the 1st of May, Mr Hastings was called to the bar of the House of Commons, and there read his defence, which occupied two whole days. He described the grounds of crimination as ill founded and malicious; he complained that the various publications of the times contained the most unwarrantable observations on his conduct, and that the press daily teemed with the most gross libels on every part of his administration in India; and he urged the extreme hardship of being obliged to reply to charges containing nothing specific, and which might be called historical narrations with voluminous commentaries. In respect of his public conduct, he had ever acted according to the emergencies of the times; and he had been frequently reduced to such extremities as to defy the sanction of any precedent. No man had ever been in more perilous situations; and, amidst his disasters, he was entirely left to the resources of his own mind. He had resigned the government of India amidst the regret of his fellowsubjects; he had repeatedly received the thanks of his employers, the Directors of the East India Company; he had had the satisfaction of discharging the trust reposed in him with unanimous approbation; and he believed that no other power on earth had a shadow of right to call his conduct in question. He then replied to the different charges in succession, and entered into details and explanations which, from their multiplicity, defy all power of abridgment or concentration.

On the 1st of June, the House of Commons rejected the first charge, deciding that the conduct of Mr Hastings.
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in the Rohilla war, was not impeachable; but the second, respecting the rajah of Benares, was carried by a great majority, upon which it was resolved that Mr Burke should carry up the impeachment, and that Mr Hastings should be committed to the custody of the serjeant-at-arms. The trial commenced on the 15th of February 1788, when Mr Burke, in an eloquent exordium, recapitulated the history of India since its connection with England. After remarking that the arts of plunder had not been exhausted under Lord Clive, he observed that the accused had introduced into his defence a sort of geographical morality, a set of principles suited only to a particular climate, and had contended that what was peculation and tyranny in Europe lost both its essence audits name in India. He then touched upon the alleged delinquencies of Mr Hastings, commencing with the affair of Nundcomar. That unfortunate person, soon after he had become the accuser of Mr Hastings, was taken off by a prosecution for felony; yet he was not the only accuser, one of the most illustrious princesses of Bengal having declared on oath that the accused had received from her or her agents a bribe of L.40,000, whilst another bribe had been obtained for a judgment relative to the descent of land. He next charged Mr Hastings with employing two notorious criminals, Congo Burwant Sing and Devi Burwant Sing, for corrupt purposes; then entered into a detail of the cruelty, injustice, and extortion practised by these men against the natives; and concluded with a most powerful appeal to the justice of the house. On the sixth day Mr Burke opened the Benares charge. He attributed the prisoner’s hatred of the rajah of Benares to the circumstance of the latter having sent a vakeel or ambassador to congratulate Sir John Clavering on his supposed accession to the dignity of governor-general; a proceeding which would appear natural and inoffensive to those who considered the humiliation to which the princes of India were reduced, but which, in the mind of Mr Hastings, was sufficient to excite a rancour that could only be appeased by the ruin of its object. He then stated that a subsidiary treaty had existed between the Company and Cheyt Sing, who was recommended to keep up a body of 2000 horse for their mutual security; that on this treaty the governor-general founded an arbitrary claim, and turning the recommendation into a demand, required the 2000 horse to be found, not at the expense of the Company, as had been agreed on, but at that of the rajah; that Cheyt Sing declared in answer that he had only 1300 horse, 500 of which he offered to furnish, and to supply the deficiency with 500 matchlock-men, all at his own expense; that he likewise attempted to conciliate the friendship and protection of Mr Hastings by a present of L.20,000, which the latter afterwards received for the use of the Company, although such a voluntary gift could not be expected from a man worn out with extortion, and was obviously meant as a bribe to rescue him from future oppression; and that, notwithstanding all these concessions, Mr Hastings declared his patience exhausted, took upon himself the character of judge, accuser, and witness, demanded of the rajah a fine of fifty lacs, or L.500,000, for his disobedience, and proceeded in person to Benares to enforce the requisition. Mr, afterwards Earl Grey, followed, and stated, in terms truly affecting, the arrest and deposition of the unfortunate rajah. The arrangement of the evidence, which was allotted to Mr Anstruther, occupied many days.

The second charge, respecting the begums or princesses ofOude,was opened by Mr, afterwards Lord Chief Commissioner Adam. After representing Oude as a great and flourishing country, Mr Adam observed that the begums were ladies of the highest birth and quality ⅛ that they were legally in possession of great estates, both real and personal, which had been guaranteed by the East India Company; that it was therefore the bounden duty of Mr Hastings to maintain them in the undisturbed possession of their property so guaranteed; that, instead of doing so, he had invaded and compelled their own nearest relative, the reigning nawab, to despoil them of this property; that these ladies, besides being treated with the greatest indignity, were reduced to the most deplorable distress; and that, in order to give a colouring to his own proceedings, the accused had, by means of affidavits taken by Sir Elijah Impey, to the great discredit of justice, slandered the begums as the abettors of Cheyt Sing. He then stated it to be the intention of Mr Hastings to obtain a resumption of the jaghires or grants bestowed on these ladies; animadverted on the odious and cruel means employed for this purpose by his agent, Mr Middleton; dwelt with great force on the reluctance with which the personage so nearly related to them^[1. One of the begums was the mother, and the other the grandmother, of the reigning nawab of Oude. ] had been obliged to violate every thing deemed sacred on earth; and concluded with a harrowing picture of the want, misery, and despair to which they were in consequence reduced. Mr Sheridan occupied three days and part of the fourth in summing up this charge, a duty which he performed with transcendent ability and unsurpassed eloquence. He described the seizure of the treasures and the jaghires as the effect of a dark conspiracy, in which no more than six persons were concerned. Three of these were of a higher order; Mr Hastings, who might be considered as the principal and leader; Mr Middleton, the English resident at Lucknow; and Sir Elijah Impey, the chief justice of Bengal: whilst the other three were inferior or subordinate conspirators; Hyder Beg Khan, the nominal minister, but in reality the creature of Mr Hastings; Colonel Hannay; and Ali Ibrahim Khan. After passing in review, and strongly animadverting on, the character of each of these persons in succession, he recurred to that of Mr Hastings, whom he represented as a man who affected to ensure to the allies of the Company prosperity and protection. And how had this been accomplished by him? The former he secured by sending an army to plunder them of their wealth, and to desolate their soil. His protection was fraught with a similar security; like that of the vulture to the lamb, grappling in its vitals, thirsting for its blood, scaring off every petty kite that hovered round, and then, with an insulting perversion of language, calling this prosperity and protection. ^[2. The winding up of this part of the case is eminently forcible and striking. “The deep-searching annals of Tacitus, the luminous philosophy of Gibbon, all the records of man’s enormity, from the period of original sin up to the present time, dwindle into comparative insignificance of enormity, both in the aggregation of vile principles, and the extent of their consequential ruin. The victims of this oppression were confessedly destitute of all power to resist their oppressors; but debility, which from other bosoms would have claimed some compassion with respect to the mode of suffering, here excited but the ingenuity of torture. Even’when every feeling of the nabob was subdued, nature made a lingering, feeble stand within his bosom; but. even then that cold, unfeeling spirit of malignity with which his doom was fixed, returned with double acrimony to its purpose, and compelled him to inflict on a parent that destruction, of which he was himself reserved but to be the last victim.” ] The parliamentary accusers then proceeded to the sale of the jaghires, which was not followed, as had been promised, by a pecuniary compensation. The goods and jewels taken from these ladies were sold for a low price, at a mock auction, and their ministers imprisoned to exact the deficiency. And yet these were but petty frauds in comparison of the enormities of Mr Hastings, who, after extorting upwards of L.600,000, forbade Mr Middleton to come to a definitive [7:11:163] settlement, and afterwards found a balance of twenty-six lacs (L.260,000) more against the begums, “Talk not to us,”said the governor-general, “of their guilt prinnocence, but as it suits the Company’s credit. We will not try them by the code of Justinian or the Institutes of Timur. We will not judge them by the British laws, or by their local customs. No, we will try them by the multiplication table; we will find them guilty by the rule of three; and we will condemn them according to the sapient and profound institutes of Cocker’s arithmetic.”

On the 5th of May, Mr Burke opened the charge relative to the acceptance of presents, and the corrupt appointment of Munry Begum, who had been a dancing girl, to the head of the government of Bengal. But on this occasion the Lords rejected as inadmissible much of the evidence produced; and towards the conclusion of the session, Mr Hastings made an appeal at the bar of the house, in the course of which he demanded if his whole life was to be consumed in this impeachment. On the 16th of February 1791, Mr Anstruther resumed the charge relative to the presents, and accused Mr Hastings of having received a bribe of L.40,000 from Goonga Govin Sing, the most infamous man in all Hindustan. The article relative to corrupt and illegal contracts was opened by Mr St John, who dwelt particularly upon one respecting opium, entered into with Mr Stephen Sullivan, son of the chairman of the East India Company, by whom it was afterwards sold for an enormous premium. He also charged Mr Hastings with engaging the Company in a smuggling trade to China, with giving away the bullock contract without advertisement, and with assigning to Mr Auriol the agency for supplying the presidency of Madras with provisions during a time of scarcity, and agreeing that he should account, not by vouchers, but “upon honour.”

On the seventy-third day, and fifth year of the trial, Mr Law, afterwards Lord Ellenborough, entered on the defence of his client. He began by calling the attention of their lordships to the critical situation in which the governor-general had found Bengal; detailed the principal events of his administration from 1773 to 1780; affirmed that the Carnatic had been saved by the spirit and decision of Mr Hastings; pronounced the attack on Goonga Govin Sing mere invective; and declared his opinion that the demand of fifty lacs of subsidy from Rajah Cheyt Sing was legitimate. He then entered into an examination of the articles separately, and concluded with a high-wrought eulogium on the character of Mr Hastings. Evidence was now produced in behalf of the accused; some of the statements of the managers were disproved; a different colour was given to others; and all the witnesses examined testified to the high character of Mr Hastings. In the debates which ensued in the House of Lords, it was maintained that many of the bribes were sums usually given for entertainments; that other charges of a similar nature were not established; and that the lesser accusations were not such as to afford grounds for impeachment. But on this occasion the two great law authorities of the house differed widely from each other; Lord Thurlow contending for the complete innocence of the accused, whilst Lord Loughborough, now Chancellor, deemed his conduct in many respects highly culpable.

At length, on the 2d of June, Mr Hastings entered upon his defence before the House of Lords, and in presence of the Commons of Great Britain, his accusers. After lamenting the protracted duration of the proceedings, and expressing the greatest confidence in an acquittal, he produced numerous testimonials from the natives themselves, in answer to the charge of having oppressed them; he referred to the statement of the expenditure of Bengal in war and peace, in reply to the charge of having squandered the public money; and he justified his disobedience of the orders of the Directors, by the absolute, overruling necessity of the case. As to the Benares charge, he denied that Cheyt Sing was an independent prince; that person was merely a zemindar, our subject, and consequently liable to the demands of his superior in time of war. With regard to the alleged usage of the begums, he confessed that he had consented to the resumption of the jaghires or grants, and of the treasure, because he conceived them disaffected to our government, which in his opinion put an end to the guarantee. As to presents, he maintained that no proof existed of his having ever accepted any but the common zeafut or entertainment-money given to all former governors; and he utterly denied having received any bribe whatsoever from the unfortunate Nundcomar. On the subject of the contracts, he disavowed all knowledge of the transaction respecting opium, and stated, that if he disobeyed the Company’s orders in regard to a public sale, it was because he was desirous to place at the head of this department a man incapable of fraud and falsification. He then enumerated all the services he had performed during the long period he was at the head of the Indian government, and concluded as follows: “I am arraigned in the name of the Commons of England, for desolating the provinces of their dominion in India ;— I dare to reply that they are the most flourishing of all the states of India; and it was I who made them so. The valour of others acquired, but it was I who enlarged, and gave shape and consistency, to your dominions. I maintained the wars which were of your formation, not mine; 1 dispelled a confederacy of the native powers; I neutralised their efforts, I divided their members. I gave you all, and you have rewarded me with confiscation, disgrace, and a life of impeachment.”

This trial, after having lasted during the unexampled period of a hundred and forty-eight days, and been protracted for nearly eight years, was at length brought to a termination. Sixteen distinct questions were separately put to the Lords, who, by a large majority of those present, pronounced the accused not guilty; and he was accordingly declared by the chancellor to be “acquitted of the articles of impeachment exhibited against him.” With the result of this celebrated impeachment all parties were discontented. The managers objected to the decisions of the Lords, as being unaccompanied with reasons, and to the opinions of the judges, as arising out of cases not stated in their presence; and it was even asserted in the House of Commons that the general acquittal on all the charges afforded only a proof of legal innocence. On the other hand, Mr Hastings complained that, after a trial of one hundred and forty-eight days, followed by a complete acquittal, his law expenses, amounting to L.71,080, had not been paid; and that a sum voted by his constituents, the East India Company, to “indemnify him for the legal expenses incurred by him in making his defence,” had not been granted. On the 2d of May 1796, the chairman, Sir Stephen Lushington, informed a General Court of Proprietors that an annuity of L.4000 a year for twenty-eight years and a half had been passed by the Court of Directors, and confirmed by the Board of Control, in favour of Mr Hastings, and that the law expenses should also be cleared, although the precise mode had not yet been settled. Of this pension he obtained about ten years in advance; but as he lived thirty-three years thereafter, he survived it for a considerable period. Whether the expenses incurred by him in making his defence were actually cleared by the Company, agreeably to the vote just mentioned, we have had no means of ascertaining.

From the moment of his acquittal, Mr Hastings courted obscurity, and spent the remainder of his life in retirement at Daylesford, where he occupied himself in adorning his grounds and improving his estate. He lived long [7:11:164]enough to see many of his plans realised through the agency of others; and at length having attained his seventy-fifth year, he died on the 22d of August 1818. The powerful talents, intrepid character, and unbounded success, of Mr Hastings, have been acknowledged even by his enemies; but still it is extremely difficult to pronounce any decided opinion, either on his general conduct or the principles of his government. He was no doubt placed in a situation of extreme difficulty and peril, to which the ordinary maxims of government cannot be rigorously applied; but, on the other hand, he urged the plea of necessity a great deal too far, and, in his anxiety to attain a particular end, evinced a blameable indifference as to the character of the means employed. His conduct to Cheyt Sing and the bcgurns of Oud’c, the extermination of the Rohillas, and his proceedings in regard to the contracts, may probably be excused, but can never be justified, and, notwithstanding all the ingenuity of his defence, will ever be viewed with an unfavourable eye in Europe, whatever opinion may be formed of them in India. In private life Mr Hastings was amiable, conciliating, and unaffected. In his early days he had cultivated poetry; and all the terrors of an impending impeachment could not prevent him from indulging his inclination in this respect, during his second voyage to Europe. At a later period, when writhing under the agony of a protracted prosecution, he produced an epigram, the bitterness of which could only be excused by the situation he was placed in; and Mr Burke, stung by it at the moment, complained loudly to the House of Lords, although no one will, on due consideration, think that it had any just application to him. This epigram is as follows :·—

Oft have I wondered that on Irish ground No poisonous reptiles ever yet were found: Revealed the secret stands of Nature’s work; She saved her venom to create a Burke.

Mr Hastings was the author of, 1. Narrative of the Insurrection at Benares, 1782, in 4to; 2. Memoirs relative to the State of India, 1786, in 8vo; 3. A Treatise on the means of guarding Houses, by their construction, against Fires, 1816, in 8vo; 4. Fugitive Poetry, consisting of Imitations of Horace, &c. (a.) Hastings, a market-town of the county of Sussex, sixty-four miles from London. It is situated on the sea-shore, in the hundred of Baldstow and the rape of Bramber. It is said to have been originally built by a Danish pirate, Whose name it bears. It is the principal of the cinque ports, and had formerly a harbour, but is now only a roadstead adapted for small vessels and fishing boats. Itcontains three parishes, but only two churches, both very ancient edifices. There is a custom-house and town-hall, but no other public buildings deserving of notice, excepting an old castle in ruins, which overlooks the town. There is an extensive herring fishery carried on in the autumn, and in all seasons the taking of fish for present use gives occupation to many of the inhabitants. There is also a vast deal of contraband trade pursued, with more zest than gain to those engaged in it. But the town owes its prosperity chiefly to the number of casual visitors, who frequent it on account of the peculiar mildness of the air, and the excellent accommodations for sea-bathing. These circumstances have operated of late years to promote building of a better description; and as a cleft interposed on the western side of the town, the rock has been scooped out sufficiently to erect a new and handsome square. From the same causes, a beautiful suburb called St Leonard’s has been covered with many sumptuous houses, adapted for the more wealthy class of visitors. This place has been rendered famous in history by the victory obtained near it by William the Conqueror. It is a borough, governed by a mayor and jurats, and returns two members to parliament. Under the new law the voters are about 580. There are good markets on Wednesday and Saturday. The population amounted in 1801 to 2982, in 1811 to 3848, in 1821 to 6085, and in 1831 to 10,097.