/ :k Qass. Book- THE KREBS COLLECTION (LINGUISTICS) Warren Hastings. BY LORD MACAULAY. LEIPZIG GEESSNEK & SCHEAMM. |gS4 ^^ 0^ 409416 • '31 ^ INTEODUCTION. ^*^HOMAS Babington Macatjlay was bom at RotMey Temple, in Leicestersliire, on the 25th of October, 1800. His grandfather, the Rev. John Macaulay, minister of Oardross, had twelve children. One of them, Zachary, began life as overseer of an estate in Jamaica, saw the ills of slavery, and at the age of twenty-four went to Sierra Leone in the service of a company formed to oppose free labour to slave labour. After some years Zachary Macaulay settled in England as secretary to that company, and married a Quakeress, Selina Mills, who had been a pupil, and who remained a friend, of Hannah More and her sisters. Zachary's sister Jean had married Mr. Thomas Babington of Rothley Temple, in Leicestershire ; Mrs. Macaulay was staying with her friends at Rothley Temple when her first child was born; and so he was named Thomas Babington Macaulay. The child's ear- liest home was in Birchin Lane, at the house of the Sierra Leone Com^Dany; afterwards the family was established at a house in High Street, Clapham. From childhood Macaulay had a very wonderful memory. He read much, also wrote verses, and he " talked like iv rNTRODaOTlON. print." When four yeaivs old lie replied to a lady who condoled with him upon having hot coffee spilt over his legs, " Thank you, madam, the agony is abated." Macaulay was placed first at a school in Clapham, then with an Evangelical clergyman, who taught a dozen boys, at Little Shelford, near Cambridge. In October 1818, he was sent to Trinity College, Cam- bridge, where he twice gained the Chancellor's medal for English verse. He obtained also a prize offered to the Junior Bachelor of his College who should write the best essay on the " Conduct and Character of William the Third." Ho was brilliant among fellow students as a writer and a talker, and he never ceased to be a talker. In later days Samuel Rogers, at one of tlie breakfasts to which he gathered many men of letters, once announced that as Macaulay was coming presently, " If any one has anything to say let him say it now, while there remains a chance." In 1823 and 1824 Macaulay contributed to a maga- /Ane, Knight's Quarterly, set up by Cambridge students. Montcontour, Ivry, Songs of the Huguenots, were among his contributions. In 1824 he obtained a Fellowship of Trinity, and in August of the same year Francis Jeffrey, who was looking out for some young men who could put new blood into the Edinburgh Review, published with great satisfaction, Macaulay's first contribution to it, an article on Milton. This was a new departure in reviewing, for Macaulay's articles may be said to have established a change of fashion in I1>TTR0DUCTI0N, " V the form of writing for the quarterly reviews. His articles were not reviews, but independent essays, including a few Avords about some book which had been taken as a peg on which to hang short pieces of history or biography, written with little or no regard to the book supposed to be under review, as in the case of the present Essay, which is professedly a review of Mr. Gleig's " Life of Warren Hastings." Young Macaulay continued to write articles in the JEdlnburgh Review. These, with his fluent talk in society, talk en- riched from the stores of an unfathomable memory and brightened by his kindly nature, caused Lord Lyndhurst to regard him as the most promising of the young Whigs. Lord Lyndhurst made him, in 1828, a Commissioner of Bankruptcy. With this appoint- ment and about £300 a year from his fellowship, and £200 a year from his writing, Macaulay, at the age of twenty-eight, had an income of £900 a year. He felt strong enough to shape for himseK a great career; and at his own choice, either in literature or in politics. At that time he looked chiefly to political life, and was put into Parliament in 1830 by Lord Lausdowne for the pocket borough of Calne. Macaulay was full of home affection, helpful as son and brother, and in high spirits with the sense of sure success. "Yesterday Tom dined with us," a sister recorded one day in January, 1832 ; " Tom dined with us and stayed late. He talked almost uninterruptedly for six hours." After the passing of the E-eform Bill, Macaulay was VI • INTRODUCTION. appointed Secretary of tlie Board of Control, whicli represented tlie voice of the Crown in tlie affairs of the East India Company. In January, 1833, he en- tered Parliament as member for Leeds ; and in De- cember he obtained the appointment which confirmed the inclination of his mind towards Indian affairs. One seat of the Supreme Council of India was ap- pointed to be held by a nominee of the Crown who was not a servant of the Company. This was offered to Macaulay. The salary was ten thousand a year. He could save half of it, and return after some years to England with the independence necessary to political success. In 1834 Macaulay went to India with a sister Hannah, who there married Charles (afterwards Sir Charles) Trevelyan. In India Macaulay worked in- defatigably. He became President of the Committee of Public Instruction, and President of a Law Com- mission for which he framed a code of Indian Criminal Law. During the four years of his life in India Macaulay's unremitting work earned him enduring honour. He came back in 1838. His essay on Lord Clive appeared in the Edinhurgk Review in January, 1840 ; this on Hastings in October, 1841. Its date was the year be- fore the publication of the Lays of Ancient Borne, and six years before the withdrawal from political life that was followed by the writing of Macaulay's History. H. M. WARREN HASTINGS. Warren Hastings sprang from an ancient and illus- trious race. It has been affirmed that his pedigree can be traced back to the great Danish sea-king, whose sails were long the terror of both coasts of the British Channel, and who, after many fierce and doubtful struggles, yielded at last to the valour and genius of Alfred. But the undoubted splendour of the line of Hastings needs no illustration from fable. One branch of that line wore, in the fourteenth century, the coronet af Pembroke. From another branch sprang the re- nowned Chamberlain, the faithful adherent of the White Rose, whose fate has furnished so striking a theme both to poets and to historians. His family received from the Tudors the earldom of Huntingdon, which, after long dispossession, was regained in our time by a series of events scarcely paralleled in romance. The lords of the manor of Daylesf ord, in Worcester- shire, claimed to be considered as the heads of this 8 WARREN HASTINGS. distinguished family. The main stock, indeed, pros- pered less than some of the younger shoots. But the Daylesford family, though not ennobled, was wealthy and highly considered, till, about two hundred years ago, it was overwhelmed by the great ruin of the civil war. The Hastings of that time was a zealous Cavalier, He raised money on his lands, sent his plate to the mint at Oxford, joined the royal army, and, after spend- ing half his property in the cause of King Charles, was glad to ransom himself by making over most of the remaining half to Speaker Lenthal. The old seat at Daylesford still remained in the family ; but it could no longer be kept up ; and in the following generation it was sold to a merchant of London. Before this transfer took place, the last Hastings of Daylesford had presented his second son to the rectory of the parish in which the ancient residence of the family stood. The living wanS of little value ; and the situation of the poor clergyman, after the sale of the estate, was deplorable. He was constantly engaged in lawsuits about his tithes with the new lord of the manor, and was at length utterly ruined. His eldest son, Howard, a well-conducted young man, obtained a place in the Customs. The second son, Pynaston, an idle worthless boy, married before he was sixteen, lost his wife in two years, and died in the West Indies, leaving to the care of his unfortunate father a little VVAKKEIV HASTINGS. 9 orpliau, destined to strange and memorable vicissitudes of fortune. Warren, tlie son of Pynaston, was born on the 6tli of December, 1732. His mother died a few days later, and he was left dependent on his distressed grandfather. The child was early sent to the village school, where he learned his letters on the same bench with the sons of the peasantry; nor did anything in his garb or fare indicate that his life was to take a widely different course from that of the young rustics with whom he studied and played. But no cloud could overcast the dawn of so much genius and so much ambition. The very ploughmen observed, and long remembered, how kindly little Warren took to his book. The daily sight of the lauds which his ancestors had possessed, and which had passed into the hands of strangers, filled his young brain with wild fancies and projects. He loved to hear stories of the wealth and greatness of his progenitors, of their splendid housekeeping, their loyalty, and their valour. On one bright summci- day, the boy, then just seven years old, lay on the bank of the rivulet which flows through the old domain of his house to join the Isis. There, as threescore and ten years later he told the tale, rose in his mind a scheme which, through all the turns of his eventful career, was never abandoned. He would recover the estate which had belonged to his fathers. He would be Hastings of 10 WAliKEN HASTINGS. Daylesford. This purpose, formed in infancy and poYerty, grew stronger as his intellect expanded and as his fortune rose. He pursued his plan with that calm but indomitable force of will which was the most striking peculiarity of his character. When, under a tropical sun, he ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his hopes, amidst all the cares of war, finance, and legis- lation, still pointed to Daylesf ord. And when his long public life, so singularly chequered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at length closed for ever, it was to Daylesf ord that he retired to die. When he was eight years old, his uncle Howard determined to take charge of him, and to give him a liberal education. The boy went up to London, and was sent to a school at N'ewington, where he was well taught but ill fed. He always attributed the smallness of his stature to the hard and scanty fare of this seminary. At ten he was removed to Westminster School, then flourishing under the care of Dr. Nichols. Vinny Bourne, as his pupils affectionately called him, was one of the masters. Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, were among the students. With Cowper, Hastings formed a friendship which neither the lapse of time, nor a wide dissimilarity of opinions and pursuits, could wholly dissolve. It does not appear that they ever met after they had grown to manhood. But forty years later, when the voices of WARREN HASTINGS. 11 many great orators were crying for vengeance on the oppressor of India, the sliy and secluded poet could imagine to himself Hastings the Governor -General only as the Hastings with whom he had rowed on the Thames and played in the cloister, and refused to believe that so good-tempered a fellow could have done anything very wrong. His own life had been spent in praying, musing, and rhyming among the water-lilies of the Ouse. He had preserved in no common measure the innocence of childhood. His spirit had indeed been severely tried, but not by temptations which impelled him to any gross violation of the rules of social morality. He had never been attacked by combinations of powerful and deadly enemies. He had never been compelled to make a choice between innocence and greatness, between crime and ruin. Firmly as he held in theory the doctrine of human depravity, hi^ habits were such that he was unable to conceive how far from the path of right even kind and noble natures may be hurried by the rage of conflict and the lust of dominion. Hastings had another associate at "Westminster of whom we shall have occasion to make frequent men- tion, Elijah Impey. We know little about their school-days. But we think we may safely venture to guess that, whenever Hastings wished to play any trick more than usually naughty, he hired Impey with 12 WAnREN HASTlNOa. a tart or a ball to act as fag iu the worst part of the prank. Warren was distinguished among his comrades as an excellent swimmer, boatman, and scholar. At fourteen he was first in the examination for the foundation. His name in gilded letters on the walls of the dormitory still attests his victory over many older competitors. He stayed two years longer at the school, and was looking forward to a studentship at Christ Gliurch, when an event happened which changed the whole course of his life. Howard Hastings died, bequeathing his nephew to the care of a friend and distant relation, named Chiswick. This gentleman, though he did not absolutely refuse the charge, was desirous to rid himself of it as soon as possible. Dr. Nichols made strong remonstrances against the cruelty of interrupting the studies of a youth who seemed likely to be one of the first scholars of the age. He even offered to bear the expense of sending his favourite pupil to Oxford. But Mr. Chiswick was inflexible. He thought the years which had already been wasted on hexameters and pentameters quite sufficient. He had it in his power to obtain for the lad a writership in the service of the East India Company. Whether the young adventurer, when once shipped off, made a fortune, or died of a liver complaint, he equally ceased to be a burden to anybody. Warren was accordingly WATlItEN HA>VrtNGS. 13 romovofl frnrn WpstniiiiKter Soliool, anrl plaood for a few niontlis at a commercial academy, to study arith- metic and book-kep])ing. In Janiiary, 1750, a few days after he had completed his seventeenth year, he sailed for Bengal, and arrived at his destination in the October following. He was immediately placed at a desk in the Secre- tary's office at Calcutta, and laboured there during two years. Fort William was then purely a commercial settlement. In the south of India the encroaching policy of Dupleix had transformed the servants of the English Company, against their will, into diplomatists and generals. The war of the succession was raging in the Carnatic ; and the tide had been suddenly turned against the French by the genius of young Robert Clive. But in Bengal the European settlers, at peace with the natives and with each other, were wholly occupied with ledgers and bills of lading. After two years passed in keeping accounts at Calcutta, Hastings was sent up the country to Cossim- bazar, a town which lies on the Hoogley, about a mile from Moorshedabad, and which then bore to Moorshe- dabad a relation, if we may compare small things with great, such as the city of London bears to Westmin- ster. Moorshedabad was the abode of the prince who, by an authority ostensibly derived from the Mogul, but really independent, ruled the three great provinces qf 14 WAEHEN HASTINGS. Bengal, Orissa, and Baliar. At Moorsliedabad were the court, the harem, and the public offices. Cossim- bazar was a port and a place of trade, renowned for the quantity and excellence of the silks which were sold in its marts, and constantly receiving and sending forth fleets of richly laden barges. At this important point the Company had established a small factory subordinate to that of Fort William. Here, during several years, Hastings was employed in making bargains for stuffs with native brokers. While he was thus engaged, Surajah Dowlah succeeded to the government, and declared war against the English. The defenceless settlement of Cossimbazar, lying close to the tyrant's capital, was instantly seized. Hastings was sent a prisoner to Moorshedabad, but, in conse- quence of the humane intervention of the servants of the Dutch Company, was treated with indulgence. Meanwhile the Nabob marched on Calcutta; the governor and the commandant fled; the town and citadel were taken, and most of the English prisoners perished in the Black Hole. In these events originated the greatness of Warren Hastings. The fugitive governor and his companions had taken refuge on the dreary islet of Fulda, near the mouth of the Hoogley. They were naturally desirous to obtain full information re- specting the proceedings of the Kabob ; and no person A^ARREN HASTINGS. 15 seemed so likely to furnish it as Hastings, who was a prisoner at large in the immediate neighbourhood of the court. He thus became a diplomatic agent, and soon established a high character for ability and reso- lution. The treason which at a later period was fatal to Surajah Dowlah was already in progress; and Hastings was admitted to the deliberations of the conspirators. But the time for striking had not arrived. It was necessary to postpone the execution of the design ; and Hastings, who was now in extreme peril, fled to Fulda. Soon after his arrival at Fulda, the expedition from Madras, commanded by Clive, appeared in the Hoogley. Warren, young, intrepid, and excited probably by the example of the Commander of the Forces who, having like himseK been a mercantile agent of the Company, had been turned by public calamities into a soldier, deter- mined to serve in the ranks. During the early opera- tions of the war he carried a musket. But the quick eye of Clive soon perceived that the head of the young volunteer would be more useful than his arm. When, after the battle of Plassey, Meer Jaffier was proclaimed Nabob of Bengal, Hastings was appointed to reside at the court of the new prince as agent for the Company, He remained at Moorshedabad till the year 1761, when he became a Member of Council, and was conse- quently forced to reside at Calcutta. This was during 16 WAUilEN llASTIJVGiS. tLe interval between Olive's iirst and second adnjiuis- trations, an interval which has left on the fame of the East India Company a stain not wholly effaced by many years of ^ust and humane government. Mr. Vansittart, the Governor, was at the head of a new and anomalous empire. On one side was a band of Eng- lish functionaries, daring, intelligent, eager to be rich. On the other side was a great native population, help- less, timid, accustomed to crouch under oppression. To keep the stronger race from preying on the weaker was an undertaking which tasked to the utmost the talents and energy of Olive. Yansittart, with fair in- tentions, was a feeble and inefficient ruler. The master caste, as was natural, broke loose from all restraint ; and then was seen what we believe to be the most frightful of all spectacles, the strength of civilisation without its mercy. To all other despotism there is a check, imperfect, indeed, and liable to gross abuse, but still sufficient to preserve society from the last extreme of misery. A time comes when the evils of submission are obviously gi-eater than those of resistance, when fear itself begets a sort of courage, when a convulsive burst of popular rage and despair warns tyrants not to presume too far on the patience of mankind. But against misgovernment such as then afflicted Bengal it was impossible to struggle. The superior intelli- gence and energy of the rlominaut class made their WAKKEN HASTINGS. 17 power irresistible. A war of Bengalees against Eng- lishmen was like a war of sheep against wolves, of men against dsemous. The only protection which the con- quered could find was in the moderation, the clemency, the enlarged policy of the conquerors. That protec- tion, at a later period, they found. But at first English power came among them unaccompanied by English morality. There was an interval between the time at which they became our subjects, and the time at which we began to reflect that we were bound to discharge towards them the duties of rulers. During that inter- val the business of a servant of the Company was simply to wring out of the natives a hundred or two hundred thousand pounds as speedily as possible, that he might return home before his constitution had suffered from the heat, to marry a peer's daughter, to buy rotten boroughs in Cornwall, and to give balls in St. James's Square. Of the conduct of Hastings at this time little is known ; but the little that is known, and the circumstance that little is known, must be con- sidered as honourable to him. He could not protect the natives : all that he could do was to abstain from plimdering and opj)ressing them ; and this he appears to have done. It is certain that at this time he con- tinued poor ; and it is equally certain that by cruelty and dishonesty he might easily have become rich. It is certain that lie was never charged with having borne 18 vVAEilEN HASTINGS, a share in the worst abuses which theu prevailed; and it is almost ecjYtally certain that, if he had borne a share in those abuses, the able and bitter enemies who afterwards persecuted him would not have failed to discover and to proclaim his guilt. The keen, severe, and even malevolent scrutiny to which his whole public life was subjected, a scrutiny unparalleled, as we believe, in the history of mankind, is in one respect advantageous to his reputation. It brought many lamentable blemishes to light ; but it entitles him to be considered pure from every blemish which has not been brought to light. The truth is that the temptations to which so many English functionaries yielded in the time of Mr. Yan- sittart were not temptations addressed to the ruling passions of Warren Hastings. He was not squeamish in pecuniary transactions ; but he was neither sordid nor rapacious. He was far too enlightened a man to look on a great empire merely as a buccaneer would look on a galleon. Had his heart been much worse than it was, his understanding would have preserved him from that extremity of baseness. He was an un- scrupulous, perhaps an unprincipled statesman ; but still he was a statesman, and not a freebooter. In 1764 Hastings returned to England. He had realised only a very moderate fortune ; and that mode- rate fortune was soon reduced to nothing, partly by his WARHEN HASTINGS. 19 praiseworthy liberality, and partly by liis mismanage- ment. Towards his relations he appears to have acted very generously. The greater part of his savings he left in Bengal, hoping probably to obtain the high usury of India. But high usury and bad security generally go together ; and Hastings lost both interest and principal. He remained four years in England. Of his life at this time very little is known. But it has been asserted, and is highly probable, that liberal studies and the society of men of letters occupied a great part of his time. It is to be remembered to his honour that, in days when the languages of the East were regarded by other servants of the Company merely as the means of communicating with weavers and money-changers, his enlarged and accomplished mind sought in Asiatic learning for new forms of intellectual enjoyment, and for new views of government and society. Perhaps, like most persons who have paid much attention to de- partments of knowledge which lie out of the common track, he was inclined to overrate the value of his favourite studies. He conceived that the cultivation of Persian literature might with advantage be made a part of the liberal education of an English gentleman ; and he drew up a plan with that view. It is said that the University of Oxford, in which Oriental learning |iad never, since the revival of letters, been wholly 20 WARREN HABTINas. neglected, was to be the seat of the institution which he contemplated. An endowment was expected from the munificence of the Company ; and professors thoroughly competent to interpret Hafiz and Ferdubi were to be engaged in the East. Hastings called on Johnson, with the hope, as it should seem, of interesting in this project a man who enjoyed the highest literary reputa- tion, and who was particularly connected with Oxford, The interview appears to have left on Johnson's mind a most favourable impression of the talents and attain- ments of his visitor. Long after, when Hastings was ruling the immense population of British India, the old philosopher wrote to him, and referred in the most courtly terms, though with great dignity, to their short but agreeable intercourse. Hastings soon began to look again towards India. He had little to attach him to England ; and his pecuniary embarrassments were gi'eat. He solicited his old masters the Directors for employment. They acceded to his request, with high compliments both to his abilities and to his integrity, and appointed . him a Member of Council at Madras. It would be unjust not to mention that, though forced to borrow money for his outfit, he did not withdraw any portion of the sum which he had appropriated to the relief of his dis- tressed relations. In the spring of 1769 he embarked on board of the Dulce of Grafton, and commenced !\ WARKRN HASTINGS. 21 voyage distinguished by iucideuts which might friruish matter for a novel. Among the passengers in the BuJce of Grafton was a German of the name of Imhoff . He called himself a Baron ; but he was in distressed circumstances, and was going out to Madras as a portrait painter, in the hope of picking up some of the pagodas which were then lightly got and as lightly spent by the English in India. The Baron was accompanied by his wife, a native, we have somewhere read, of Archangel. This young woman, who, born under the Arctic circle, was destined to play the part of a Queen under the tropic of Cancer, had an agreeable person, a cultivated mind, and manners in the highest degree engaging. She despised her husband heartily, and, as the story which we have to tell sufficiently proves, not without reason. She was interested by the conversation and flattered by the attentions of Hastings. The situation was indeed perilous. No place is so propitious to the formation either of close friendships or of deadly enmities as an Indiaman. There are very few people who do not find a voyage which lasted several months insupportably dull. Anything is welcome which may break that long monotony, a sail, a shark, an albatross, a man overboard. Most passengers find some resoui-ce in eating twice as many meals as on land. But the great devices for killing the time are quarrelling and 22 WARREN HASTINGS. flirting. The facilities for both these exciting pursuits are great. The inmates of the ship are thrown to- gether far more than in any country-seat or boarding house. None can escape from the rest except by imprisoning himself in a cell in which he can hardly turn. All food, all exercise, is taken in company. Ceremony is to a great extent banished. It is every day in the power of a mischievous person to inflict in- numerable annoyances. It is every day in the power of an amiable person to confer little services. It not seldom happens that serious distress and danger call forth, in genuine beauty and deformity, heroic virtues and abject vices which, in the ordinary intercourse of good society, might remain during many years un- known even to intimate associates. Under such circum- stances met Warren Hastings and the Baroness Imhoff , two persons whose accomplishments would have at- tracted notice in any court of Europe. The gentleman had no domestic ties. The lady wag tied to a husband for whom she had no regard, and who had no regard for his own honour. An attachment sprang up, which was soon strengthened by events such as could hardly have occurred on land. Hastings f eU ill. The Baroness nursed him with womanly tenderness, gave him his medicines with her own hand, and even sat up in his cabin while he slept. Long before the Buke of Grafton reaqhed Madras, Hastings was in love. But his love WAEREN HASTINGS. 23 v/as of a most characteristic description. Like his hatred, like his ambition, like all his passions, it was strong, but not impetuous. It was calm, deep, earnest, patient of delay, unconquerable by time. Imhoff was called into council by his wife and his wife's lover. It was arranged that the Baroness should institute a suit for a divorce in the courts of Franconia, that the Baron should afford every facility to the proceeding, and that, during the years which might elapse before fche sentence should be pronounced, they should continue to live together. It was also agreed that Hastings should bestow some very substantial marks of gratitude on the complaisant husband, and should, when the marriage was dissolved, make the lady his wife, and adopt the children whom she had already borne to tmhoff. At Madras, Hastings found the trade of the Company in a very disorganised state. His own taste would have led him rather to political than to commercial pursuits : but he knew that the favour of his employers depended chiefly on their dividends, and that their dividends depended chiefly on the investment. He therefore, with great judgment, determined to apply his vigorous mind for a time to this department of business, which had been much neglected, since the servants of the Company had ceased to be clerks, and had become warriors and negotiators. 24 WARREN HASTINGS. Ill a very few montlis he effected an important reform. The Directors notified to him their high approbation, and were so much pleased with his conduct that they determined to place him at the head of the government of Bengal. Early in 1772 he quitted Fort St. George for his new post. The Imhoffs, who were still man and wife, accompanied him, and lived at Calcutta on the same plan which they ha(] already followed during more than two years. "When Hastings took his seat at the head of the council board, Bengal was still governed according to the system which Olive had devised, a system which was, perhaps, skilfully contrived for the purpose of facilitating and concealing a great revolution, but which, when that revolution was complete and irre- vocable, could produce nothing but inconvenience. There were two governments, the real and the osten- sible. The supreme power belonged to the Company, and was in truth the most despotic power that can be conceived. The only restraint on the English masters of the country was that which their own justice and humanity imposed on them. There was no constitu- tional check on their will, and resistance to them was utterly hopeless. But though thus absolute in reality, the English had not yet assumed the style of sovereignty. They held their territories as vassals of the throne of Dellji ; they WARTR,EN HASTINOS. 25 nucod their revenues as collectors appoiuted by the imperial commission ; their public seal was inscribed with the imperial titles ; and their mint struck only the imperial coin. There was stiU a Nabob of Bengal, who stood to the English rulers of his country in the same relation in which Augustulus stood to Odoacer, or the last Mero- vingians to Charles Martel and Pepin. He lived at Moorshedabad, surrounded by princely magnificence. He was approached witli outward marks of reverence, and his name was used in public instruments. But in the government of the country he had less real share than the youngest writer or cadet in the Company's service. The English council which represented the Company at Calcutta was constituted on a very different plan from that which has since been adopted. At present the Governor is, as to all executive measures, absolute. He can declare war, conclude peace, appoint public functionaries or remove them, in opposition to the unanimous sense of those who sit with him in council. They are, indeed, entitled to know all that is done, to discuss all that is done, to advise, to remonstrate, to send protests to England. But it is with the Governor that the supreme power resides, and on him that the whole responsibility rests. This system, which was introduced by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas in spit« of 26 WARREN HASTING8. the strenuous opposition of Mr. Burke, we conceive to be on tlie whole the best that was ever devised for the government of a country where no materials can be found for a representative constitution. In the time of Hastings the Grovernor had only one vote in council, and, in case of an equal division, a casting vote. It therefore happened not unfrequently that he was over- ruled on the gravest questions ; and it was possible that he might be wholly excluded, for years together, from the real direction of public affairs. The English functionaries at Fort William had as yet paid little or no attention to the internal govern- ment of Bengal. The only branch of polities about which they much busied themselves was negotiation with the native princes. The police, the administration of justice, the details of the collection of revenue, wer6 almost entirely neglected. We may remark that the phraseology of the Company's servants still bears the traces of this state of things. To this day they always use the word " political " as synonymous with " diplo- matic." We could name a gentleman still living, who was described by the highest authority as an invaluable public servant, eminently fit to be at the head of the internal administration of a whole presidency, but unfortunately quite ignorant of all political business. The internal government of Bengal the English rulers delegated to a great native minister, who was WARREN HASTINGS. 27 stationed at Moorsliedabad. All military affairs, and, witli the exception of what pertains to mere ceremonial, all foreign affairs, were withdrawn from his control ; but the other departments of the administration were entirely confided to him. His own stipend^amounted to near a hundred thousand pounds sterling a year. The personal allowance of theN'abob, amounting to more than three hundred thousand pounds a year, passed through the minister's hands, and was, to a great extent, at his disposal. The collection of the revenue, the adminis- tration of justice, the maintenance of order, were left to this high functionary; and for the exercise of his immense power he was responsible to none but the British masters of the country. A situation so important, lucratire, and splendid, was naturally an object of ambition to the ablest and most powerful natives. Clive had found it difficult to decide between conflicting pretensions. Two candidates stood out prominently from the crowd, each of them the representative of a race and of a religion. One of these was Mahommed Reza Khan, a Mussul- man of Persian extraction, able, active, religious after the fashion of his people, and highly esteemed by them. In England he might perhaps have been regarded as a corrupt and greedy politician. But, tried by the lower standard of Indian morality, he might be considered as a man of integrity and honour. 28 WABEEN HASTINGS. His competitor was a Hindoo Brahmiii whose name has, by a terrible and melancholy event, been insepa- rably associated with that of Warren Hastings, the Maharajah Il^uncomar. This man had played an important part in all the revolutions which, since the time of Surajah Dowlah, had taken place in Bengal. To the consideration which in that country belongs to high and pure caste, he added the weight which is derived from wealth, talents, and experience. Of his moral character it is difficult to give a notion to those who are acquainted with human nature only as it appears in our island. What the Italian is to the Englishman, what the Hindoo is to the Italian, what the Bengalee is to other Hindoos, that was !N"uncomar to other Bengalees. The physical organisation of the Bengalee is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapour bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs delicate, his movements languid. During many ages he has been trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities to which his constitution and his situation are equally unfavourable. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body. . It is weak even to helplessness for x^urposes of manly resistance ; but its suppleness , and its tact move the children of sterner climates to admiration not unmingled with contempt. All those arts which are the natural defence of the weak are WARllEN HASTIIs'OS. 2^ more familiar to this subtle race than to tlie louiau of the time of Juvenal, or to the Jew of the dark ages. VVljat the horns are to the buffalo, what the paw is to the tiger, what the sting is to the bee, what beauty, according to the old Greek song, is to woman, deceit is to the Bengalee. Large promises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial falsehood, chicanery, perjury, forgery, are the weapons, offensive and defen- sive, of the people of the Lower Ganges. All those millions do not furnish one sepoy to the armies of the Company. But as usurers, as money-changers, as sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear a comparison with them. With all his softness, the Bengalee is by no means placable in his enmities, or prone to pity. The pertinacity with wliich he adheres to his purposes yields only to the immediate.^ pressure of fear. Nor does he lack a certain kind of courage which is often wanting to his masters. To inevitable evils he is sometimes found to oppose a passive fortitude, such as the Stoics attributed to their ideal sage. An European warrior who rushes on a battery of cannon with a loud hurrah, will sometimes shriek under the surgeon's knife, and fall into an agony of despair at the sentence of death. Bat the Bengalee, who would see his country overrun, his house laid in ashes, his childi'en murdered or dis- honoured, without having the spirit to strike one blow, 30 V/ABEEN HASTINGS. has yet been known to endure torture with the firmness of Mucins, and to mount the scaffold with the steady step and even pulse of Algernon Sidney. In iN'uncomar the national character was strongly and with exaggeration personified. The Company's servants had repeatedly detected him in the most criminal intrigues. On one occasion he brought a false charge against another Hindoo, and tried to sub- stantiate it by producing forged documents. On another occasion it was discovered that, while pro- fessing the strongest attachment to the English, he was engaged in several conspiracies against them, and in particular that he was the medium of a correspon- dence between the Court of Delhi and the French authorities in the Carnatic. For these and similar practices he had been long detained in confijiement. But his talents and influence had not only procured his liberation, but had obtained for him a certain degree of consideration even among the British rulers of his country. Olive was extremely unwilling to place a Mussulman at the head of the administration of Bengal. On the other hand, he could not bring himseK to confer immense power on a man to whom every sort of villany had repeatedly been brought home. There- fore, though the ll^abob, over whom N'uncomar had by intrigue acquired great influence, begged that the WARRKN RA STINGS. 31 artf uJ Hindoo might be iu trusted witli the government, Olive, after some hesitation, decided honestly and wisely in favour of Mahommed Reza Khan. When Hastings became Governor, Mahommed Reza Khan }'.ad held power seven years. An infant son of Meer Jaffier was now Nabob ; and the guardianship of the young prince's person had been confided to the minister. Nuncomar, stimulated at once by cupidity and malice, had been constantly attempting to hurt the reputation of his successful rival. This was not difficult. The revenues of Bengal, under the adminis- tration established by Olive, did not yield such a surplus as had been anticipated by the Company ; for, at that time, the most absurd notions were entertained in England respecting the wealth of India. Palaces of porphyry, hung with the richest brocade, heaps of pearls and diamonds, vaults from wbicb pagodas and gold mohurs were measured out by the bushel, filled the imagination even of men of business. Nobody seemed to be aware of what nevertheless was most un- doubtedly the truth, that India was a poorer country than countries which in Europe are reckoned poor ; than Ireland, for example, or than Portugal. It was confidently believed by Lords of the Treasury and members for the city that Bengal would not only defray its own charges, but would a:fford an increased (Uyideud to the proprietors of India stock, and large 32 WARREN HASTIWaS. relief to the English fiuauces. These absurd expecta- tions were disappointed; and the Directors, naturally enough, chose to attribute the disappoiTitmeut rather to the mismanagement of Mahommed Heza Khan than to their own ignorance of the country intrusted to their care. They were confirmed in their error by the agents of Nuncomar, for Nuncomar had agents even in Leadenhall Street. Soon after Hastings reached Calcutta, he i-eceived a letter addressed by the Court of Directors, not to the Council generally, but to himself in particular. He was directed to remove Mahommed Reza Khan, to arrest him, together with all his family and all his partisans, and to institute a strict inquiry into the whole administration of the province. It was added that the Governor would do well to avail himself of the assistance of Nuncomar in the investigation. The vices of Nuncomar were ac- knowledged. But even from his vices, it was said, much advantage might at such a conjuncture be derived; and, though he could not safely be trusted, it might still be proper to encourage him by hopes of reward. The Governor bore no good will to Nuncomar. Many years before, they had known each other at Moorshedabad ; and then a quarrel had arisen between them which all the authority of their superiors could hardly compose. "Widely as they differed in most points, they resembled each other in this, that both WARREN HASTINGS. 66 were men of unforgiving natures. To Mahommed Reza Khan, on the other hand, Hastings had no feel- ings of hostility. Nevertheless he proceeded to exe- cute the instructions of the Company with an alacrity which he never showed, except when instructions were in perfect conformity with his own views. He had, wisely as we think, determined to get rid of the system of double government in Bengal. The orders of the Directors furnished him with the means of effecting his purpose, and dispensed him from the necessity of discussing the matter with his Council. He took his measures with his usual vigour and dexterity. At midnight, the palace of Mahommed Reza Khan at Moorshedabad was surrounded by a battalion of sepoys. The minister was roused from his slum- bers and informed that he was a prisoner. With the Mussulman gravity, he bent his head and submitted himself to the will of Grod. He feD not alone. A chief named Schitab Roy had been intrusted with the government of Bahar. His valour and his attachment to the English had more than once been signally proved. On that memorable day on which the people of Patna saw from their walls the whole army of the Mogul scattered by the little band of Captain Knox, the voice of the British conquerors assigned the palm of gallantry to the brave Asiatic. " I never," said Kuox, B— 1 34 WARREN HASTINGS. when he introduced Schitab Roy, covered with blood and dust, to the English functionaries assembled in the factory, "I never saw a native fight so before." Schitab E-oy was involved in the ruin of Mahommed Reza Khan, was removed from office, and was placed under arrest. The members of the Council received no intimation of these measures till these prisoners were on their road to Calcutta. The inquiry into the conduct of the minister was postponed on different pretences. He was detained in an easy confinement during many months. In the meantime, the great revolution which Hastings had planned was carried into effect. The office of Minister was abolished. The internal administration was trans- ferred to the servants of the Company. A system, a very imperfect system, it is true, of civil and criminal justice, under English superintendence, was established. The Nabob was no longer to have even an ostensible share in the government ; but he was still to receive a considerable annual allowance, and to be surrounded with the state of sovereignty. As he was an infant, it was necessary to provide guardians for his person and property. His person was intrusted to a lady of his father's harem, known by the name of the Munny Begum. The office of treasurer of the household was bestowed on a son of Nuncomar, named Goordas. Nuncomar's services were wanted ; yet he could not WARREN HASTINGS. 35 safely be trusted with power ; and Hastings thought it & masterstroke of policy to reward the able and un- principled parent by promoting the inoffensive child. The revolution completed, the double government dissolved, the Company installed in the full sove- reignty of Bengal, Hastings had no motive to treat the late ministers with rigour. Their trial had been put off on various pleas till the new organisation was com- plete. They were then brought before a committee, over which the Governor presided. Schitab Roy was speedily acquitted with honour. A formal apology was made to him for the restraint to which he had been subjected. All the Eastern marks of respect were bestowed on him. He was clothed in a robe of state, presented with jewels and with a richly harnessed elephant, and sent back to his government at Patna. But his health had suffered from confinement; his high spirit had been cruelly wounded ; and soon after his liberation he died of a broken heart. The innocence of Mahommed Reza Khan was not so clearly established. But the Governor was not dis- posed to deal harshly. After a long hearing, in which Nuncomar appeared as the accuser, and displayed both the art and the inveterate rancour which distinguished him, Hastings pronounced that the charge had not been made out, and ordered the fallon minister to be set at liberty. 36 WARREN HASTINGS. Nuncomar had purposed to destroy the Mussulman admmistration, and to rise on its ruin. Both his malevolence and his cupidity had been disappointed Hastings had made him a tool, and used him for the purpose of accomplishing the transfer of the govern- ment from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, from native to European hands. The rival, the enemy, so long envied, so implacably persecuted, had been dismissed unhurt. The situation so long and ardently desired had been abolished. It was natural that the Governor should be from that time an object of the most intense hatred to the vindictive Brahmin. As yet, however, it was necessary to suppress such feelings. The time was coming when that long animosity was to end in a desperate and deadly struggle. In the meantime, Hastings was compelled to turn his attention to foreign affairs. The object of his diplomacy was at this time simply to get money. The finances of his government were in an embarrassed state, and this embarrassment he was determined to relieve by some means, fair or foul. The principle which directed all his dealings with his neighbours is fully expressed by the old motto of one of the great predatory families of Teviotdale, "Thou shalt want ere I want." He seems to have laid it down, as a funda- mental proposition which could not be disputed, that, when he had not as many lacs of rupees as the public WARREN HASTINGS. o7 (Service required, he was to take them from anybody who had. One thin^^, indeed, is to be said in excuse for him. The pressure a^^plied to him by his employers at home was such as only the highest virtue could have withstood, such as left him no choice except to commit great wrongs, or to resign his high post, and with that post all his hopes of fortune and distinction. The Directors, it is true, never enjoined or applauded any crime. Far from it. Whoever examines their letters written at that time, will find there many just and humane sentiments, many excellent precepts, in short, an admirable code of political ethics. But every ex- hortation is modified or nullified by a demand for money. " Govern leniently, and send more money ; practise strict justice and moderation towards neighbouring powers, and send more money ; " this is, in truth, the sum of almost all the instructions that Hastings ever received from home. Now these instructions, being inter- preted, mean simply, " Be the father and the oppressor of the people ; be just and unjust, moderate and rapacious." The Directors dealt with India, as the Church, in the good old times, dealt with a heretic. They delivered the victim over to the executioners, with an earnest request that all possible tenderness might be shown. We by no means accuse or suspect those who framed these despatches of hypocrisy. It is probable that, writing fifteen thousand miles from the place 38 sVAiiiijjN Hastings. where their orders were to be carried into effect, tiiey never perceived the gross inconsistency of which they were guilty ; but the inconsistency was at once mani- fest to their vicegerent at Calcutta, who, with an empty treasury, with an unpaid army, with his own salary often in arrear, with deficient crops, with government tenants daily running away, was called upon to remit home another half million without fail. Hastings saw that it was absolutely necessary for him to disregard either the moral discourses or the pecuniary requisitions of his employers. Being forced to dis- obey them in something, he had to consider what kind of disobedience they would most readily pardon ; and he correctly judged that the safest course would be to neglect the sermons and to find the rupees. A mind so fertile as his, and so little restrained by conscientious scruples, speedily discovered several modes of relieving the financial embarrassments of the govern- ment. The allowance of the Nabob of Bengal was reduced at a stroke from three hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year to haK that sum. The Company had bound itself to pay near three hundred thousand pounds a year to the Great Mogul as a mark of homage for the provinces which he had intrusted to their care ; and they had ceded to him the districts of Corah and Allahabad. On the plea that the Mogul was not really independent, but merely a tool in the WARREN HASTINGS. 39 hands of others, Hastings determined to retract these concessions. He accordingly declared that the English would pay no more tribute, and sent troops to occupy Allahabad and Corah. The situation of these places was such, that there would be little advantage and great expense in retaining them. Hastings, who wanted money, and not territory, determined to seE them. A purchaser was not wanting. The rich province of Oude had, in the general dissolution of the Mogul Empire, fallen to the share of the great Mussulman House by which it is still governed. About twenty years ago, this House, by the permission of the British government, assumed the royal title ; but in the time of Warren Hastings such an assump- tion would have been considered by the Mahommedans of India as a monstrous impiety. The Prince of Oude, though he held the power, did not venture to use the style of sovereignty. To the appellation of Kabob or Viceroy, he added that of Yizier of the monarchy of Hindostan, just as in the last century the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, though independent of the Emperor, and often in arms against him, were proud to style themselves his Grand Chamberlain and G-rand Marshal. Sujah Dowlah, then Nabob Yizier, was on excellent terms with the English. He had a large treasure. Allahabad and Corah were so situated that they might be of use to him, and could be of none to 40 WARREN HASTINGS. the Company. Tlie buyer and seller soon came to an understanding; and the provinces which had been torn from the Mogul were made over to the government of Oude for about haK a million sterling. But there was another matter still more important to be settled by the Yizier and the Grovemor. The fate of a brave people was to be decided. It was decided in a manner which has left a lasting stain on the fame of Hastings and of England. The people of Central Asia had always been to the inhabitants of India what the warriors of the German forests were to the subjects of the decaying monarchy of Rome. The dark, slender, and timid Hindoo shrank from a conflict with the strong muscle and resolute spirit of the fair race which dwelt beyond the passes. There is reason to believe that, at a period anterior to the dawn of regular history, the people who spoke the rich and flexible Sanscrit came from regions lying far beyond the Hyphasis and the Hystaspes, and imposed their yoke on the children of the soil. It is certain that, during the last ten centuries, a succession of in- vaders descended from the west on Hindostan ; nor was the course of conquest ever turned back towards the setting sun, till that memorable campaign in which the cross of Saint George was planted on the walla of Ghizni. The Emperors of Hindostan themselves came from WARUEN HASTINGS, 41 the other side of the great mouutain ridge ; and it had always been their practice to recruit their army from the hardy and raliant race from which their own illustrious House sprang. Among the military ad- venturers who were allured to the Mogul standards from the neighbourhood of Cabul and Candahar, were conspicuous several gallant bauds, known by the name of the Rohillas. Their services had been rewarded with large tracts of land, fiefs of the spear, if we may use an expression drawn from an analogous state of things, in that fertile plain through which the Ramgunga flows from the snowy heights of Kumaon to join the Ganges. In the general confusion which followed the death of Aurungzebe, the warlike colony became virtually independent. The Rohillas were dis- tinguished from the other inhabitants of India by a peculiarly fair complexion. They were more honourably distinguished by courage in war, and by skill in the arts of peace. While anarchy raged from Lahore to Cape Oomorin, their little territory enjoyed the bless- ings of repose under the guardianship of valour. Agriculture and commerce flourished among them ; nor were they negligent of rhetoric and poetry. Many persons now living have heard aged men talk with regret of the golden days when the Afghan princes ruled in the vale of Rohilcund. Sujah Dowlah had set his heart on adding this rich 42 WA.RREN HASTINGS. district to his own principality. Right, or show of right, he had absolutely none. His claim was in no respect better founded than that of Catherine to Po- land, or that of the Bonaparte family to Spain. The Rohillas held their country by exactly the same title by which he held his, and had governed their country far better than his had ever been governed. Nor were they a people whom it was perfectly safe to attack. Their land was indeed an open plain, destitute of natural defences ; but their veins were full of the high blood of Afghanistan. As soldiers, they had not the steadiness which is seldom found except in company with strict discipline ; but their impetuous valour had been proved on many fields of battle. It was said that their chiefs, when united by common peril, could bring eighty thousand men into the field. Sujah Dowlah had himself seen them fight, and wisely shrank from a conflict with them. There was in India one army, and only one, against which even those proud Caucasian tribes could not stand. It had been abundantly proved that neither tenfold odds, nor the martial ardour of the boldest Asiatic nations, could avail ought against English science and resolution. Was it possible to induce the Governor of Bengal to let out to hire the irresistible energies of the imperial people, the skill against which the ablest chiefs of Hindostan were helpless as infants, the discipline which had so often WAKRF.N HASTINGS. 43 triumphed over the frantic struggles of fanaticism and despair', the unconquerable British courage which is never so sedate and stubborn as towards the close of a doubtful and murderous day ? This was what the Nabob Vizier asked, and what Hastings granted- A bargain was soon struck. Each of the negotiators had what the other wanted. Hastings was in need of funds to carry on the govern- ment of Bengal, and to send remittances to London ; and Sujah Dowlah had an ample revenue. Sujah Dowlah was bent on subjugating the Rohillas ; and Hastings had at his disposal the only force by which the E-ohillas could be subjugated. It was agreed that an English army should be lent to the Nabob Yizier, and that, for the loan, he should pay four hundred thousand pounds sterling, besides defraying all the charge of the troops while employed in his service. " I really cannot see," says Mr. Grleig, " upon what grounds, either of political or moral justice, this pro- position deserves to be stigmatised as infamous." If we understand the meaning of words, it is infamous to commit a wicked action for hire, and it is wicked to engage in war without provocation. In this particular war, scarcely one aggravating circumstance was wanting. The object of the Rohilla war was this, to deprive a large population, who had never done us the least harm, of a good government, and to place them, 44 WARREN HASTINGS. against their will, under an execrably bad one. Nay, even this is not all, England now descended far below the level even of those petty German princes who, about the same time, sold us troops to fight the Americans. The Hussarmongers of Hesse and An- spach had at least the assurance that the expeditions on which their soldiers were to be employed would be conducted in conformity with the humane rules of civilised warfare. Was the Rohilla war likely to be so conducted? Did the Governor stipulate that it should be so conducted ? He well knew what Indian warfare was. He well knew that the power which he covenanted to put into Sujah Dowlah's hands would, in all probability, be atrociously abused, and he re- quired no guarantee, no promise, that it should not be so abused. He did not even reserve to himself the right of withdrawing his aid in case of abuse, however gross. We are almost ashamed to notice Major Scott's plea, that Hastings was justified in letting out English troops to slaughter the Rohillas, because the Rohillas were not of Indian race, but a colony from a distant country. What were the English themselves ? Was it for them to proclaim a crusade for the expulsion of all intruders from the countries watered by the Ganges ? Did it lie in their mouths to contend that a foreign settler who establishes an empire in India is a caput lupinum ? What would they have said if any WARREN HASTINGS. 45 other power had, ou such a ground, attacked Madras or Calcutta, without the slightest provocation ? Such a defence was wanting to make the infamy of the transaction complete. The atrocity of the crime, and the hypocrisy of the apology, are worthy of each other. One of the three brigades of which the Bengal army consisted, was sent under Colonel Champion to join Sujah Dowlah's forces. The Rohillas expostulated, entreated, offered a large ransom, but in vain. They then resolved to defend themselves to the last. A bloody battle was fought. " The enemy," says Colonel Champion, "gave proof of a good share of military knowledge ; and it is impossible to describe a more obstinate firmness of resolution than they displayed." The dastardly sovereign of Oude fled from the field. The English were left unsupported ; but their fire and their charge were irresistible. It was not, however, till the most distinguished chiefs had fallen, fighting bravely at the head of their troops, that the Rohilla ranks gave way. Then the Nabob Yizier and his rabble made their appearance, and hastened to plunder the camp of the valiant enemies whom they had never dared to look in the face. The soldiers of the Company, trained in an exact discipline, kept un- broken order, while the tents were pillaged by these worthless allies. But many voices were heard to 46 WARREN HASTINGS. exclaim, " We have had all the fighting, and those rogues are to have all the profit." Then the horrors of Indian war were let loose on the fair valleys and cities of Rohilcund. The whole country was in a blaze. More than a hundred thousand people fled from their homes to pestilential jungles, preferring famine, and fever, and the haunts of tigers, to the tyranny of him to whom an English and a Christian government had, for shameful lucre, sold their substance, and their blood, and the honour of their wives and daughters. Colonel Champion remon- strated with the Nabob Yizier, and sent strong repre- sentations to Fort William; but the Governor had made no conditions as to the mode in which the war was to be carried on. He had troubled himself about nothing but his forty lacs ; and, though he might dis- approve of Sujah Dowlah's wanton barbarity, he did not think himself entitled to interfere, except by of- fering advice. This delicacy excites the admiration of the biographer. " Mr. Hastings," he says, " could not himseK dictate to the Nabob, nor permit the com- mander of the Company's troops to dictate how the war was to be carried on." No, to be sure. Mr. Hastings had only to put down by main force the brave struggles of innocent men fighting for their liberty. Their military resistance crushed, his duties ended ; and he h^^d theri only to fold his arms jiud look WARREN HASTINGS. 47 on. while their villages were burned, their children butchered, and their women violated. Will Mr. Gleig seriously maintain this opinion ? Is any rule more plain than this, that whoever voluntarily gives to an- other irresistible power over human beings, is bound to take order that such power shall not be barbarously abused? But we beg pardon of our readers for arguing a point so clear. We hasten to the end of this sad and disgraceful story. The war ceased. The finest population in India was subjected to a greedy, cowardly, cruel tyrant. Commerce and agriculture languished. The rich province which had tempted the cupidity of Sujah Dowlah became the most miserable part even of his miserable dominions. Yet is the injured nation not extinct. A.t long intervals, gleams of its ancient spirit have flashed forth ; and even at this day, valour, and self-respect, and a chivalrous feeling rare among Asiatics, and a bitter remembrance of the great crime of England, distinguish that noble Afghan race. To this day they are regarded as the best of all sepoys at the cold steel ; and it was very recently remarked, by one who had enjoyed great opportunities of observa- tion, that the only natives of India to whom the word "gentleman" can with perfect propriety be applied, are to be found among the Rohillas. Whatever we may think of the morality of Hastings, 48 WARKEN HASTINGS. it cannot be denied that the financial results of his policy did honour to his talents. In less than two years after he assumed the government, he had, without imposing any additional burdens on the people subject to his authority, added about four hundred and fifty thousand pounds to the annual income of the Company, besides procuring about a million in ready money. He had also relieved the finances of Bengal from military expenditure, amounting to near a quarter of a million a year, and had thrown that charge on the Nabob of Oude. There can be no doubt that this was a result which, if it had been obtained by honest means, would have entitled him to the warmest gratitude of his country, and which, by whatever means obtained, proved that he possessed great talents for administra- tion. In the meantime. Parliament had been engaged in long and grave discussions on Asiatic affairs. The ministry of Lord North, in the session of 1773, intro- duced a measure which made a considerable change in the constitution of the Indian government. This law, known by the name of the Regulating Act, provided that the presidency of Bengal should exercise a control over the other possessions of the Company ; that the chief of that presidency should be styled Governor- General; that he should be assisted by four Councillors; and that a supreme court of judicature, WARRKN HASTINGS. 49 consisting of a chief justice and tliree inferior judges, should be established at Calcutta. This court was made independent of the Governor- General and Council, and was intrusted with a civil and criminal jurisdiction of immense and, at the same time, of un- defined extent. The Governor- General and Coimcillors were named in the act, and were to hold their situations for five years. Hastings was to be the first Governor- General. One of the four new Councillors, Mr. Harwell, an experienced servant of the Company, was then in India. The other three, General Clavering, Mr. Monson, and Mr. Francis, were sent out from England. The ablest of the new Councillors was, beyond all doubt, Philip Francis. His acknowledged composi- tions prove that he possessed considerable eloquence and information. Several years passed in the public offices had formed him to habits of business. His enemies have never denied that he had a fearless and manly spirit; and his friends, we are afraid, must acknowledge that his estimate of himself was extrava- gantly high, that his temper was irritable, that his deportment was often rude and petulant, and that his hatred was of intense bitterness and long duration. It is scarcely possible to mention this eminent man vrithout adverting for a moment to the question which 50 WARREN HASTINGS. his name at once suggests to every mind. Was he tha author of the Letters of Junius ? Our own firm belief is that he was. The evidence is, we think, such as would support a verdict in a civil, nay, in a criminal proceeding. The handwriting of Junius is the very peculiar handwriting of Francis, slightly disguised. As to the position, pursuits, and connections of Junius, the following are the most important facts which can be considered as clearly proved : first, that he was acquainted with the technical forms of the secretary of state's office ; secondly, that he was intimately ac- quainted with the business of the War Office ; thirdly, that he, during the year 1770, attended debates in the House of Lords, and took notes of speeches, parti- cularly of the speeches of Lord Chatham; fourthly, that he bitterly resented the appointment of Mr. Chamier to the place of deputy secretary-at-war ; fifthly, that he was bound by some strong tie to the first Lord Holland. Now, Francis passed some years in the secretary of state's office. He was subsequently chief clerk of the War Office. He repeatedly men- tioned that he had himseK, in 1770, heard speeches of Lord Chatham, and some of these speeches were actually printed from his notes. He resigned his clerkship at the War Office from resentment at the appointment of Mr. Chamier. It was by Lord Hol- land that he was first introduced into the public sei-vice. WARREN HASTINGS. 51 Now, here are five marks, all of which ought to bo found in Junius. They are all five found in Francis. We do not believe that more than two of them can be found in any other person whatever. If this argument does not settle the question, there is an end of all reasoning on circumstantial evidence. The internal evidence seems to us to point the same way. The style of Francis bears a strong resemblance to that of Junius ; nor are we disposed to admit, what is generally taken for granted, that the acknowledged compositions of Francis are very decidedly inferior to the anonymous letters. The argument from inferiority, at all events, is one which may be urged with at least equal force against every claimant that has ever been mentioned, with the single exception of Burke; and it would be a waste of time to prove that Burke was not Junius. And what conclusion, after all, can be drawn from mere inferiority? Every writer must produce his best work ; and the interval between his best work and his second best work may be very wide indeed. Nobody wiU say that the best letters of Junius are more decidedly superior to the acknowledged works of Francis than three or four of Oorneille's tragedies to the rest, than three or four of Ben Jon- son's comedies to the rest, than the Pilgrim's Progress to the other works of Bunyan, than Don Quixote to the other works of Cervantes. Nay, it is 52 WARREN HASTINGS, certain that Junius, whoever he may have been, was a most unequal writer. To go no further than the letters which bear the signature of Junius ; the letter to the King, and the letters to Home Tooke, have little in common, except the asperity; and asperity was an ingredient seldom wanting either in the writings or in the speeches of Francis. Indeed, one of the strongest reasons for believing that Francis was Junius is the moral resemblance be- tween the two men. It is not difficult, from the letters which, under various signatures, are known to have been written by Junius, and from his dealings with Woodf all and others, to form a tolerably correct notion of his character. He was clearly a man not destitute of real patriotism and magnanimity, a man whose vices were not of a sordid kind. But he must also have been a man in the highest degree arrogant and insolent, a man prone to malevolence, and prone to the error of mistaking his malevolence for public virtue. " Doest thou well to be angry ? " was the question asked in old time of the Hebrew prophet. And he answered, "I do well." This was evidently the temper of Junius; and to this cause we attribute the savage cruelty which disgraces several of his letters. No man is so merciless as he who, under a strong self- delusion, confounds his antipathies with his duties. It may be added that Junius, though allied with the WARREN HASTINGS. 53 (iBinocratic party by common enmiities, was the very