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HASTINGS, WARREN (1732-1818)
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See also:HASTINGS, See also:WARREN (1732-1818) , the first See also:governor-See also:general of See also:British See also:India, was See also:born on the 6th of See also:December 1732 in the little See also:hamlet of See also:Churchill in See also:Oxfordshire. He came of a See also:family which had been settled for many generations in the adjoining See also:village of See also:Daylesford; but his See also:great-grandfather had sold the ancestral See also:manor-See also:house, and his grandfather had been unable to maintain himself in See also:possession of the family living. His See also:mother died a few days after giving him See also:birth; his See also:father,
Pynaston Hastings, drifted away to perish obscurely in the See also:West Indies. Thus unfortunate in his birth, See also:young Hastings received the elements of See also:education at a charity school in his native village. At the See also:age of eight he was taken in See also:charge by an See also:elder See also:brother of his father, See also:Howard Hastings, who held a See also:post in the customs. After spending two years at a private school at Newington Butts, he was moved to See also:Westminster, where among his contemporaries occur the names of See also:Lord See also:Thurlow and Lord Shelburne, See also:Sir See also:Elijah See also:Impey, and the poets See also:Cowper and Churchill. In 1749, when his headmaster Dr See also:Nichols was already anticipating for him a successful career at the university, his See also:uncle died, leaving him to the care of a distant kinsman,Mr Creswicke, who was afterwards in the direction of the See also:East India See also:Company; and he determined to send his See also: That See also:province was under the able See also:government of See also:Ali Vardi See also:Khan, who peremptorily forbade the See also:foreign settlers at Calcutta and See also:Chandernagore to introduce feuds from See also:Europe. The duties of a young " writer " were then such as are implied in the name. At an See also:early date Hastings was placed in charge of an aurang or factory in the interior, where his duties would be to superintend the See also:weaving of See also:silk and See also:cotton goods under a See also:system of See also:money advances. In 1753 he was transferred to See also:Cossimbazar, the See also:river-See also:port of the native See also:capital of See also:Murshidabad. In 1756 the old See also:nawab died, and was succeeded by his See also:grandson Surajud-Dowlah, a young madman of 19, whose name is indelibly associated with the tragedy of the See also:Black Hole. When that passionate young See also:prince, in revenge for a fancied wrong, resolved to drive the English out of Bengal, his first step was to occupy the fortified factory at Cossimbazar, and make prisoners of Hastings and his companions. Hastings was soon released at the intercession of the Dutch See also:resident, and made use of his position at Murshidabad to open negotiations with the English fugitives at Falta, the site of a Dutch factory near the mouth of the See also:Hugli. In later days he used to refer with See also:pride to his services on this occasion, when he was first initiated into the See also:wiles of See also:Oriental See also:diplomacy. After a while he found it necessary to See also:fly from the See also:Mahommedan See also:court and join the See also:main See also:body of the English at Falta. When the relieving force arrived from Madras under See also:Colonel Clive and See also:Admiral See also:Watson, Hastings enrolled himself as a volunteer, and took See also:part in the See also:action which led to the recovery of Calcutta. Clive showed his appreciation of Hastings's merits by appointing him in 1758 to the important post of resident at the court of Murshidabad. It was there that he first came into collision with the See also:Bengali See also:Brahman, See also:Nuncomar, whose subsequent See also:fate has supplied more material for controversy than any other See also:episode in his career. During his three years of See also:office as resident he was able to render not a few valuable services to the Company; but it is more important to observe that his name nowhere occurs in the See also:official lists of those who derived pecuniary profit from the necessities and weakness of the native court. In 1761 he was promoted to be member of See also:council, under the See also:presidency of Mr See also:Vansittart, who had been introduced by Clive from Madras. The See also:period of Vansittart's government has been truly described as " the most revolting See also:page of our See also:Indian See also:history." The entire duties of See also:administration were suffered to remain in the hands of the nawab, while a few irresponsible English traders had See also:drawn to themselves all real See also:power. The members of council, the commanders of the troops, and the commercial residents plundered on a See also:grand See also:scale. The youngest servant of the Company claimed the right of trading on his own See also:account, See also:free from See also:taxation and from See also:local See also:jurisdiction, not only for him-self but also for every native subordinate whom he might permit to use his name. It was this exemption, threatening the very See also:foundations of the Mussulman government, that finally led to a rupture with the nawab. See also:Macaulay, in his celebrated See also:essay, has said that "of the conduct of Hastings at this See also:time little is known." As a See also:matter of fact, the See also:book which Macaulay was professing to See also:review describes at length the See also:honourable part consistently taken by Hastings in opposition to the great See also:majority of the council. Sometimes in See also:conjunction only with Vansittart, some-times absolutely alone, he protested unceasingly against the policy and practices of his colleagues. On one occasion he was stigmatized in a See also:minute by Mr Batson with having espoused the nawab's cause, and as a hired See also:solicitor defended all his actions, however dishonourable and detrimental to the Company." An altercation ensued. Batson gave him the See also:lie and struck him in the council chamber. When See also:war was actually begun, Hastings officially recorded his previous See also:resolution to have resigned, in See also:order to repudiate responsibility for See also:measures which he had always opposed. Waiting only for the decisive victory of See also:Buxar over the allied forces of Bengal and Oudh, he resigned his seat and sailed for See also:England in See also:November '764. After fourteen years' See also:residence in Bengal Hastings did not return See also:home a See also:rich See also:man, estimated by the opportunities of his position. According to the See also:custom of the time he had augmented his slender See also:salary by private See also:trade. At a later date he was charged by See also:Burke with having taken up profitable contracts for supplying bullocks for the use of the Company's troops. It is admitted that he conducted by means of agents a large business in See also:timber in the Gangetic See also:Sundarbans. When at Falta he had married Mrs See also:Buchanan, the widow of an officer. She See also:bore him two See also:children, of whom one died in See also:infancy at Murshidabad, and was shortly followed to the See also:grave by her mother. Their See also:common gravestone is in existence at the See also:present See also:day, bearing date See also:July ir, 1759. The other See also:child, a son, was sent to England, and also died shortly before his father's return. While at home Hastings is said to have attached himself to See also:literary society; and it may be inferred from his own letters that he now made the See also:personal acquaintance of See also:Samuel See also: The great influence of Lord Clive was also exercised on his behalf. At last, in the See also:winter of 1768, he received the See also:appointment of second in council at Madras. Among his companions on his voyage See also:round the Cape were the See also:Baron Imhoff, a speculative portrait-painter, and his wife, a See also:lady of some personal attractions and great social See also:charm, who was destined henceforth to be Hastings's lifelong See also:companion. Of his two years' See also:work at Madras it is needless to speak in detail. He won the good-will of his employers by devoting himself to the improvement of their manufacturing business, and he kept his hands clean from the prevalent taint of pecuniary transactions with the nawab of the Carnatic. One fact of some See also:interest is not generally known. He See also:drew up a See also:scheme for the construction of a See also:pier at Madras, to avoid the dangers of landing through the surf, and instructed his brother-in-See also:law in England to obtain estimates from the See also:engineers See also:Brindley and See also:Smeaton.
In the beginning of 1772 his ambition was stimulated by the nomination to the second See also:place in council in Bengal with a promise of the reversion of the governorship when Mr See also:Cartier should retire. Since his departure from Bengal in 1764 the situation of affairs in that settlement had scarcely improved. The second governorship of Clive was marked by the See also:transfer of the diwani or See also:financial administration from the See also:Mogul See also:emperor to the Company, and by the enforcement of stringent regulations against the besetting See also:sin of peculation. But Clive was followed by two inefficient successors; and in 1770 occurred the most terrible Indian See also:famine on See also:record, which is credibly estimated to have swept away one-third of the See also:population. In See also:April 1772 Warren Hastings took his seat as See also:president of the council at Fort
See also: His first care was to carry out the instructions received from home, and effect a See also:radical reform in the system of government. Clive's See also:plan of governing through the agency of the native court had proved a failure. The See also:directors were determined " to stand forth as diwan, and take upon themselves by their own servants the entire management of the revenues." All the See also:officers of administration were transferred from Murshidabad to Calcutta, which Hastings boasted at this early date that he would make the first See also:city in See also:Asia. This reform involved the ruin of many native reputations, and for a second time brought Hastings into collision with the wily Brahman, Nuncomar. At the same time a settlement of the See also:land See also:revenue on leases for five years was begun, and the See also:police and military systems of the • See also:country were placed upon a new footing. Hastings was a man of immense See also:industry, with an insatiable appetite for detail. The whole of this large See also:series of reforms was conducted under his own personal supervision, and upon no part of his multifarious labours • did he dwell in his letters home with greater pride. As an See also:independent measure of See also:economy, the See also:stipend paid to the titular nawab of Bengal, who was then a See also:minor, was reduced by one-See also:half—to sixteen lakhs a See also:year (say £i6o,000). Macaulay imputes this reduction to Hastings as a characteristic See also:act of financial immorality; but in truth it had been expressly enjoined by the court of directors, in a despatch dated six months before he took up office. His pecuniary bargains with Shuja-ud-Dowlah, the nawab See also:wazir of Oudh, stand on a different basis. Hastings himself always regarded them as incidents in his general scheme of foreign policy. The See also:Mahrattas at this time had got possession of the See also:person of the Mogul emperor, Shah Alam, from whom Clive obtained the See also: With the emperor in their See also:camp, the Mahrattas were threatening the province of Oudh, and causing a large• British force to be cantoned along the frontier for its See also:defence. Warren Hastings, as a deliberate measure of policy, withheld the tribute due to the emperor, and resold Allahabad and Kora to the wazir of Oudh. The Mahrattas retreated, and all danger for the time was dissipated by the See also:death of their See also:principal See also:leader. The wazir now bethought him that he had a good opportunity for satisfying an old See also:quarrel against the adjoining tribe of Rohillas, who had played fast and loose with him while the Mahratta See also:army was at See also:hand. The Rohillas were a See also:race of Afghan origin, who had established themselves for some generations in a fertile See also:tract west of Oudh, between the Himalayas and the See also:Ganges, which still bears the name of See also:Rohilkhand. They were not so much the occupiers of the See also:soil as a dominant See also:caste of warriors and freebooters. But in those troubled days their See also:title was as good as any to be found in India. After not a little hesitation, Hastings consented to allow th'e Company's troops to be used to further the ambitious designs of his Oudh ally, in See also:consideration of a sum of money which relieved the ever-pressing wants of the Bengal See also:treasury. The Rohillas were defeated in See also:fair fight. Some of them fled the country, and so far as possible Hastings obtained. terms for those who remained. The fighting, no doubt, on the part of the wazir was conducted with all the savagery of. Oriental warfare; but there is no evidence that it was a war of extermination. Meanwhile, the affairs of the East India Company had come under the consideration of See also:parliament. The Regulating Act, passed by Lord See also:North's. See also:ministry in 1773, effected considerable changes in the constitution of the Bengal government. ' The council was reduced to four members with a governor-general, who were to exercise certain indefinite See also:powers of See also:control over the presidencies of Madras and Bombay. Hastings was named in the act as governor-general for a See also:term of five years. The council consisted of General Clavering and the Hon. Colonel See also:Monson, two third-See also:rate politicians of considerable See also:parliamentary influence; See also: All that he had done they condemned; all that they could they reversed. Hastings was reduced to the position of a See also:cipher at their meetings. After a time they See also:lent a ready See also:ear to detailed allegations of corruption brought against him by his old enemy Nuncomar. To charges from such a source, and brought in such a manner, Hastings disdained to reply, and referred his accuser to the supreme court. The majority of the council, in their executive capacity, resolved that the governcrgeneral had been guilty of peculation, and ordered him to refund. A few days later Nuncomar was thrown into See also:prison on a charge of See also:forgery preferred by a private prosecutor, tried before the supreme court sitting in See also:bar, found guilty by a See also:jury of Englishmen and sentenced to be hanged. Hastings always maintained that he did not cause the charge to be instituted, and the legality of Nuncomar's trial is thoroughly proved by Sir See also: But in the meantime Colonel Monson had died, and Hastings was thus restored, by virtue of his casting See also:vote, to the supreme management of affairs. He refused to ratify his resignation; and when Clavering attempted to seize on the governor-generalship, he judiciously obtained an See also:opinion from the judges of the supreme court in his favour. From that time forth, though he could not always command an See also:absolute majority in council, Hastings was never again subjected to See also:gross insult, and his general policy was able to prevail.
A crisis was now approaching in foreign affairs which demanded all the experience and all the genius of Hastings for its See also:solution. Bengal was prosperous, and free from See also:external enemies on every See also:quarter. But the government of Bombay had hurried on a rupture with the Mahratta confederacy at a time when See also:France was on the point of declaring war against England, and when the mother-country found herself unable to subdue her rebellious colonists in See also:America. Hastings did not hesitate to take upon his own shoulders the whole responsibility of military affairs. All the French settlements in India were promptly occupied. On the part of Bombay, the Mahratta war was conducted with procrastination and disgrace. But Hastings amply avenged the See also:capitulation of Wargaon by the See also:complete success of his own plan of operations. Colonel Goddard with a Bengal army marched across the breadth of the peninsula from the valley of the Ganges to the western See also:sea, and achieved almost without a See also:blow the See also:conquest of See also:Gujarat. See also:Captain See also:Popham, with a small detachment, stormed the See also:rock fortress of See also:Gwalior, then deemed impregnable and the See also: The Bhonsla Mahratta See also:raja of See also:Nagpur, whose dominions bordered on Bengal, was won over by the diplomacy of an emissary of Hastings. But while these events were taking place,a new source of embarrassment had arisen at Calcutta. The supreme court, whether rightly or wrongly, assumed a jurisdiction of first instance over the entire province of Bengal. The English common law, with all the absurdities and rigours of that day, was arbitrarily extended to an See also:alien system of society. Zaminddrs, or government renters, were arrested on See also:mesne See also:process; the sanctity of the zendna, or See also:women's chamber, as dear to See also:Hindus as to Mahommedans, was violated by the See also:sheriff's officer; the deepest feelings of the See also:people and the entire fabric. of revenue administration were alike disregarded. On this point the entire council acted in See also:harmony. Hastings and Francis went See also:joint-See also:bail for imprisoned natives of distinction. At last, after the dispute between the judges and the executive threatened to become a trial of armed force, Hastings set it at See also:rest by a characteristic stroke of policy. A new judicial office was created in the name of the Company, to which Sir Elijah Impey was appointed, though he never consented to draw the additional salary offered to him. The understanding between Hastings and Francis, originating in this See also:state of affairs, was for a See also:short period extended to general policy. See also:Ari agreement was come to by which Francis received patronage for his circle of See also:friends, while Hastings was to be unimpeded in the control of foreign affairs. But a difference of See also:interpretation arose. Hastings recorded in an official minute that he had found Francis's private and public conduct to be " void of truth and See also:honour." They met as duellists. Francis See also:fell wounded, and soon afterwards returned to England.
The Mahratta war was not yet terminated, but a far more formidable danger now threatened the English in India. The imprudent conduct of the Madras authorities had irritated beyond endurance the two greatest Mussulman powers in the peninsula, the See also:nizam of the See also:Deccan and Hyder Ali, the usurper of See also:Mysore, who began to negotiate an See also:alliance with the Mahrattas. A second time the genius of Hastings saved the British See also:empire in the east. On the arrival of the See also:news that Hyder had descended from the See also:highlands of Mysore, cut to pieces the only British army in the See also: The government monopolies of See also:opium and See also:salt were then for the first time placed upon a remunerative basis. But these reforms were of See also:necessity slow in their beneficial operation. The pressing demands of the military See also:chest had to be satisfied by loans, and in at least one See also:case from the private See also:purse of the governor-general. Ready See also:cash could alone fill up the void; and it was to .the hoards of native princes that Hastings's fertile mind at once turned. Chait Sing, raja of See also:Benares, the greatest of the See also:vassal chiefs who had grown rich under the See also:protection of the British See also:rule, See also:lay under the suspicion of disloyalty. The wazir of Oudh had fallen into arrears in the See also:payment due for the See also:maintenance of the Company's See also:garrison posted in his dominions, and his administration was in great disorder. In his case the ancestral hoards were under the control of his mother, the begum of Oudh, into whcse hands they had been allowed to pass at the time when Hastings was powerless in council. Hastings resolved to make a progress up country in order to arrange the affairs of both provinces, and bring back all the treasure that could be squeezed out of its holders by his personal intervention. When he reached Benares and presented his demands, the raja See also:rose in insurrection, and the governor-general barely escaped with his See also:life. But the faithful Popham rapidly rallied a force for his defence. The insurgents were defeated again and again; Chait Sing took to See also:flight, and an augmented permanent tribute was imposed upon his successor. The Oudh business was managed with less See also:risk. The wazir consented to everything demanded of him. The begum was charged with having abetted Chait Sing in his See also:rebellion; and after the severest pressure applied to herself and her attendant eunuchs, a See also:fine of more than a million See also:sterling was exacted from her. Hastings appears to have been not altogether satisfied with the incidents of this expedition, and to have anticipated the censure which it received in England. As a measure of precaution, he procured documentary evidence of the rebellious intentions of the raja and the begum, to the validity of which Impey obligingly lent his extra-judicial See also:sanction. The See also:remainder of Hastings's term of office in India was passed in See also:comparative tranquillity, both from See also:internal opposition and foreign war. The centre of interest now shifts to the India House and to the British parliament. The long struggle between the Company and the ministers of the crown for the supreme control of Indian affairs and the attendant patronage had reached its See also:climax. The decisive success of Hastings's administration alone postponed the inevitable solution. His See also:original term of five years would have expired in 1778; but it was annually prolonged by See also:special act of parliament until his voluntary resignation. Though Hastings was thus irremovable, his policy did not See also:escape censure. Ministers were naturally anxious to obtain the reversion to his vacant post, and Indian affairs formed at this time the See also:hinge on which party politics turned. On one occasion Dundas carried a motion in the House of Commons, censuring Hastings and demanding his recall. The directors of the Company were disposed to act upon this resolution; but in the court of proprietors, with whom the decision ultimately lay, Hastings always possessed a sufficient majority. See also:Fox's India See also:Bill led to the downfall of the See also:Coalition ministry in 1783. The act which See also:Pitt successfully carried in the following year introduced a new constitution, in which Hastings See also:felt that he had no place. In See also:February 1785 he finally sailed from Calcutta, after a dignified ceremony of resignation, and amid enthusiastic farewells from all classes. On his arrival in England, after a second See also:absence of sixteen years, he was not displeased with the reception he met with at court and in the country. A See also:peerage was openly talked of as his due, while his own ambition pointed to some responsible office at home. Pitt had never taken a See also:side against him, while Lord See also:Chancellor Thurlow was his pronounced friend. But he was now destined to learn that his enemy Francis, whom he had discomfited in the council chamber at Calcutta, was more than his match in the parliamentary See also:arena. See also:Edmund Burke had taken the subject races of India under the protection of his eloquence. Francis, who had been the early friend of Burke, supplied him with the personal animus against Hastings, and with the know-ledge of detail, which he might otherwise have lacked. The Whig party on this occasion unanimously followed Burke's See also:lead. Dundas, Pitt's favourite subordinate, had already committed himself by his earlier resolution of censure; and Pitt was induced by motives which are still obscure to incline the ministerial majority to the same side. To meet the See also:oratory of Burke and See also:Sheridan and Fox, Hastings wrote an elaborate minute with which he wearied the ears of the House for two successive nights, and he subsidized a swarm of pamphleteers. The See also:impeachment was decided upon in 1786, but the actual trial did not commence until 1788. For seven long years Hastings was upon his defence on the charge of " high crimes and misdemeanours." During this anxious period he appears to have See also:borne himself with characteristic dignity, such as is consistent with no other See also:hypothesis than the consciousness of innocence. At last, in 1795, the Houseof Lords gave a See also:verdict of not guilty on all charges laid against him; and he See also:left the bar at which he had so frequently appeared, with his reputation clear, but ruined in fortune. However large the See also:wealth he brought back from India, all was swallowed up in defraying the expenses of his trial. Continuing the line of conduct which in most other men would be called See also:hypocrisy, he forwarded a petition to Pitt praying that he might be reimbursed his See also:costs from the public funds. This petition, of course, was rejected. At last, when he was reduced to actual destitution, it was arranged that the East India Company should grant him an See also:annuity of £4000 for a term of years, with £9o,000 paid down in advance. This annuity expired before his death; and he was compelled to make more than one fresh See also:appeal to the See also:bounty of the Company, which was never withheld. Shortly before his acquittal he had been able to satisfy the See also:dream of his childhood, by buying back the ancestral manor of Daylesford, where the remainder of his life was passed in honourable retirement. In 1813 he was called on to give evidence upon Indian affairs before the two houses of parliament, which received him with exceptional marks of respect. The university of See also:Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L.; and in the following year he was sworn of the privy council, and took a prominent part in the reception given to the See also:duke of See also:Wellington and the allied sovereigns. He died on the 22nd of See also:August 1818, in his 86th year, and lies buried behind the See also:chancel of the See also:parish See also: Hastings's public career will probably never cease to be a subject of controversy. It was his misfortune to be the scapegoat upon whose See also:head parliament laid the accumulated sins, real and imaginary, of the East India Company. If the acquisition of the Indian empire can be supported on ethical grounds, Hastings needs no defence. No one who reads his private See also:correspondence will admit that even his least defensible acts were dictated by dishonourable motives. It is more pleasing to point out certain of his public measures upon which no difference of opinion can arise. He was the first to See also:attempt to open a trade route with See also:Tibet, and to organize a survey of Bengal and of the eastern seas. It was he who persuaded the pundits of Bengal to disclose the treasures of See also:Sanskrit to See also:European scholars. ITe founded the Madrasa or See also:college for Mahommedan education at Calcutta, primarily out of his own funds; and he projected the See also:foundation of an Indian See also:institute in England. The Bengal See also:Asiatic Society was established under his auspices, though he yielded the post of president to Sir W. See also: After the Conquest William I. erected the earthworks of the existing See also:castle. By ro86 Hastings was a See also:borough and had given its name to the See also:rape of See also:Sussex in which it lay. The See also:town at that time had a See also:harbour and a See also:market. Whether Hastings was one of the towns afterwards known as the Cinque Ports at the time when they received their first See also:charter from See also:Edward the See also:Confessor is uncertain, but in the reign of William I. it was undoubtedly among them. These combined towns, of which Hastings was the head, had special liberties and a See also:separate jurisdiction under a See also:warden. The only charter See also:peculiar to Hastings was granted in 1589 by See also: His See also:host, composed not only of his See also:Norman vassals but of barons, knights and adventurers from all quarters, was arranged in a centre and two wings, each See also:corps having its archers and arblasters in the front line, the rest of the infantry in the second and the heavy armoured See also:cavalry in the third. Neither the arrows nor the charge of the second line of See also:foot-men, who, unlike the English, wore defensive See also:mail, made any impression on the English See also:standing in a serried See also:mass behind their interlocked See also:shields.2
Then the heavy cavalry came on, led by the duke and his brother See also:Odo, and encouraged by the example of the See also:minstrel Taillefer, who rode forward, tossing and catching his See also:sword, into the midst of the English line before he was pulled down and killed. All along the front the cavalry came to See also:close quarters with the defenders, but the long powerful Danish axes were
most able and the most enlightened of their own class. If Clive's sword conquered the Indian empire, it was the See also:brain of Hastings that planned the system of civil administration, and his genius that saved the empire in its darkest See also:hour.
See G. B. See also:Malleson, Life of Warren Hastings (1894); G. W. See also:Forrest, The Administration of Warren Hastings (Calcutta, 1892) ; See also:air See also: See also:Holmes, Four Heroes of India (1892) ; G. W. Hastings, A Vindication of Warren Hastings (1909). Macaulay's famous essay, though a classic, is very partial and inaccurate; and Burke's speech, on the impeachment of Warren Hastings, is magnificent See also:rhetoric. The true See also:historical view has been restored by Sir James Stephen's See also:Story of Nuncomar (1885) and by Sir See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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