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WARREN HASTINGS (1732-1818)
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See also:WARREN See also:HASTINGS (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 See also: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 See also: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: |