Hastings, Warren
Warren (1732-1818), governor-general of India. He was descended from an ancient English family of cavaliers, whose worldly possessions, including the Hastings estate, were lost during the troublous times of the Civil War. Warren was left an orphan, dependent on relatives for his education. He was sent to the village school and later to a grammar school. Conway, the poet, was a schoolmate and a lifelong friend. Warren was a boy of precocious ability and winning ways. He was ambitious. Among other boyish notions was the hope that he might some day buy back the ancestral estate. At seventeen his uncle, on whom he was dependent, decided to rid himself of his charge. He shipped young Warren to India as a clerk. Two years were spent in the great warehouse of the East India Company at Calcutta, posting ledgers and writing bills of lading. He was then placed in charge of a small branch station at Fort William, where he spent several years, buying and selling for the company.
When the Indian mutiny broke out in 1757 Hastings served in various capacities, first of all as a private in the ranks. His ability was soon recognized, however, and he was promoted to various positions of trust, becoming at length a member of the council. In 1764 he returned to England. It is said that he spent his time in resting, reading, and making acquaintances. He then applied to the company for employment and was sent to Madras.
In order to understand Hastings' subsequent movements it is necessary to remember that India was governed by independent native princes, who had been taken under the so-called protection of the English government. A monopoly of the right to trade with India, coupled with practical authority to govern the country, had been granted by Parliament to the East India Company. The directors of this company resided in London. The immediate management of affairs in India was intrusted to a council resident in Calcutta. The company conducted a vast business. It maintained enormous warehouses in various parts of India and employed a fleet of ships which plied to and fro between its agencies and the wharves of London. Naturally, the directors were anxious for large profits. On his return to India Hastings was made a member of the council. He pleased the company of directors so well that he was later made the presiding officer or governor of the council. In this position Hastings set himself to amass revenue for the company and at the same time to advance his own fortune. Two instances will suffice to indicate the manner in which he worked. He took a province away from one nabob and sold it to another for a quarter of a million dollars. In return for another sum, rated at $2,000,000, he let the services of the English army to the powerful nabob of Oude, a villainous prince known in history as Surajah Dowlah. This Indian schemer proceeded to attack a neighboring province inhabited by the most intelligent, the bravest, and the most prosperous people in India. They were of Afghan blood and were known as Rohillas. They lived in the fertile plain of the Ramganga. Left to themselves, they were infinitely superior to the Indian robber. Incredible as it may seem, the English troops led the invasion of the province, did the fighting, captured the strongholds, and then stood aside and permitted--apparently unconcerned--the nabob's troops to plunder, massacre, and lay waste to their heart's content. The atrocities committed are too heathenish for print. How men of English blood could consent is yet a mystery. In this case, Hastings poured literally millions into the treasury of the company, and extended and strengthened its commercial business in every direction.
Reports of the atrocities committed under his administration reached London, however, and were, for years, a source of bitter controversy. At one time it would seem that Hastings must be recalled. At another, he was more supreme in Indian affairs than ever. Finally the end came. A party in the House of Commons, led by such men as Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Pitt, moved for his impeachment. The vote carried in the House and a committee, of which Burke was chairman, was appointed to prefer charges against Hastings before the House of Lords. The episode is one of the most dramatic in English history. In his Essay on Warren Hastings, Macaulay has painted the scene in words that are remarkable in literature. He describes the great hall of William Rufus in which the trial was held. The solemn procession of one hundred seventy lords who assembled at the tribunal, the hangings of the galleries, the dress of the audience, the presence of members of the royal household, are touched with a master hand. One can hear the sergeant's proclamation and see Hastings bending his knee at the bar of justice. Burke, in the prime of his eloquence, preferred the charges, working up his audience into such a pitch of excitement that ladies fainted and strong men were unable to conceal their emotion. "At length," says Macaulay, "the orator concluded. Raising his voice till the old arches of Irish oak rerounded,
"Therefore," said he, "hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanours. I impeach him in the name of the Commons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all!"
Once the excitement was over, however, the trial languished and was dragged through a period of eight years. Hastings declared that he was indicted by one generation and tried by another. Eventually he was acquitted. At the conclusion the interest was so slight that but twenty-nine lords voted. There were only six votes against him. In the meanwhile, Hastings bought the old estate of Daylesford on which he had set his heart when a boy. Although his private fortune was expended in the trial, the directors of the East India Company remembered him generously. They advanced a large sum to meet his present necessities and settled a pension on him for life. He settled down to a life of literary ease, taking an interest in the countryside. He conducted a number of experiments in raising fruit and stock. By degrees his crimes were forgotten. In 1813 when he ventured to visit the House of Commons, the members rose and bared their heads to him. At his death, much to Macaulay's regret, he was refused burial in Westminster Abbey. His remains were laid at rest with the bones of his fathers behind the chancel of the parish church of Daylesford.
The present solidity of English rule in India and the great change for the better that has taken place in the lot of the people of this vast region are due in no small degree to the energy and ability of Warren Hastings. He is one of the world's great men. It is a pity that his ability should have been stained by unnecessary and, it would seem, unworthy courses of action.