HASTED, Edward, the historian of Kent, born in 1732, and the inheritor of lands in that county, spent forty years in the composition of his "History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent," 4 vols. folio, Canterbury, 1778-99. He published in 1801 a "History of the City of Canterbury," detached from the original work, with additions. After some vicissitudes of fortune, losing and recovering the enjoyment of his estates in Kent, he died at Corsham in the January of 1812.—F. E.
HASTINGS, Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Theophilus, earl of Huntingdon, and celebrated for her personal accomplishments, her piety, and her acts of charity, was born April 19, 1682. She gave large allowances to many deserving families, endowed several charity schools, and erected a new church at Leeds. She founded five scholarships in Queen's college, Oxford, for students in divinity. She died December 22, 1739.—G. BL.
HASTINGS, Francis Rawdon, Marquis of. See Moira.
HASTINGS, Warren, the chief founder and organizer of the British empire in India, was born on the 6th December, 1732. There is no famous man of recent days, except perhaps Bonaparte, on whom the verdict of mankind will be so various, according to the standard which is applied. He was the descendant of an illustrious race, which, if sprung from Hastings, the celebrated sea-king of the ninth century, would naturally enough possess a few piratical tendencies. A branch—it claimed to be the eldest branch—of the Hastings family, owning the manor of Daylesford in Worcestershire, had long been wealthy and important, but was ruined by the civil commotions of which Charles I.'s execution was the tragic end. The grandfather of Warren Hastings was the clergyman of the parish in which the manor of Daylesford is situated. This clergyman's father had been compelled to sell the manor. Warren's father, Pynaston, had married when very young; he lost his wife a few days after Warren was born; he himself died at an early age; and the orphan was left to the care of the grandfather. He was sent to the village school, and is said, among other schemes and dreams, to have cherished the design of fighting by energy and success his way back to the ancestral mansion. An uncle, Howard, had a situation in the London custom-house. When Warren was eight years of age, his uncle took charge of him, and sent him to Westminster school, where he was both a diligent and brilliant student. Hastings had for companions at Westminster school Cowper, Churchill, and others whose names still live. When Howard Hastings died he intrusted his nephew to a friend and relation called Chiswick, who wished to get rid of the responsibility as soon as possible. A clerkship in the service of the East India Company was procured for Warren Hastings, who arrived at Calcutta in October, 1750. After some years of drudgery at the desk, which was perhaps irksome enough to his quick spirit, he was sent as the company's commercial agent to Cossimbazar, the busy trading suburb of Moorshedabad. The attack of Surajah Dowlah, the nabob of Bengal, on the English was the means of drawing Hastings from obscurity; for having been taken prisoner, Hastings displayed so much zeal, intrepidity, and intelligence on behalf of his countrymen, as to excite their warmest gratitude and admiration. He had already attracted the attention of Clive, when in 1757 the battle of Plassey overthrew the power of the Surajah Dowlah, whose relation, Meer Jaffier, became nabob of Bengal, which, however, was now in effect an English province. Hastings was appointed political agent at Meer Jaffier's sham court. In 1761 he left Moorshedabad, having been named a member of the council at Calcutta. Three years later he was on his way to England. As yet he was neither rich nor famous; but he had acquired sufficient influence to make his application for renewed employment to the East India Company at once successful. He returned to India in 1769 as member of council at Madras. On the voyage he became acquainted with a German called Imhoff and his wife. This lady and Hastings were attracted by each other. With truly German equanimity Imhoff agreed to surrender his rights by a divorce in the German courts; a few years later the lady appeared as Mrs. Hastings. So much to the satisfaction of the company did Hastings discharge his functions at Madras, that in 1772 he was created governor of Bengal, an office which promptly expanded into that of governor-general of India. It was unfortunate for Hastings that, in whatsoever he attempted, he had first to satisfy the cupidity of a simply commercial association. The vigour, the sagacity, the courage, the fertility displayed by Hastings in his long proconsulship of thirteen years, have never been denied. The only question has been regarding the morality of many memorable transactions. Now, as the instrument of English merchants chiefly anxious about dividends, Hastings could scarcely be expected to manifest the loftiest morality. India spread itself before him as a vast field for plunder, and he pillaged accordingly. At the outset he was hampered by the constitution of the government, of which he was nominally the head. That constitution was absurd enough. A council of four was associated with the governor in the management of affairs. Of the four councillors, Barwell generally sided with Hastings; the other three—Monson, Clavering, Francis—quite as generally opposed him. The opposition, so far as Francis was concerned, took the shape of personal antipathy. Francis, to whom the Letters of Junius are commonly attributed, and who was an able, ambitious, and determined man, differed from Hastings in having scruples and principles which Hastings must have viewed as pedantries—Hastings, who was mainly in India to make money for a great trading corporation. The governor-general was quite as resolute as Francis, and he had much more diplomatic skill. With his strong instincts as an autocrat, Hastings must have borne it impatiently enough to be thwarted in the most trifling executive details, but he knew that by perseverance and adroitness he should at last vanquish his foes. It is not of despotism that the Oriental will ever complain, but he, equally with the inhabitant of the West, has the sense of justice and of injustice. That sense Hastings contrived very speedily to offend by one of the foulest, most flagrant misdeeds, that ever a man in high position committed. The Rohillas were the descendants of Mahometan conquerors, were proud of their freedom, and had given many proofs of their valour. Sujah Dowlah, the prince of Oude, wished to subdue the Rohillas. For this purpose his own forces were inadequate. He applied to Hastings, who agreed to furnish a British brigade provided the expenses were defrayed, and £400,000 paid to the East India Company in addition. The Rohillas defended themselves with their hereditary courage; but they could not resist the science and discipline of the English, who played the part of assassins to turn the houses of brave men to desolation. Suffering from the huge shame of the Robilla massacre and of kindred crimes, Hastings was humiliated to find his sway both in the council and out of it enormously enfeebled. He was looked upon as a fallen, a ruined man, to whom any amount of contempt might be shown. Of those among the influential natives who allied themselves with the European enemies of Hastings, the most conspicuous was Nuncomar, a man who, besides being chief bramin, had held important offices. Nuncomar's character was one of the worst: that is granted. But fortunately we have not the power of hanging men who are our enemies, merely because they happen to have a bad character. Sir Elijah Impey, the chief justice of the supreme court at Calcutta, was the servile tool of Hastings. Nuncomar was apprehended and tried before Impey for forgery, condemned, and actually hanged on the 5th August, 1775. Murder though this execution was, it had the effect which Hastings intended. It showed that however desperate might be the attempts of his foes, he would always encounter them by means still more desperate. Reports of the governor-general's bold, bad doings, had reached Europe. To disarm wrath he pretended to resign, and the resignation was accepted by the East India Company; but neither he nor they were sincere; he continued in office. The death of Monson, the death of Clavering, and finally the retirement of Francis, whom Hastings had severely wounded in a duel, left the latter uncontrolled. But it was not easy to rule India grandly and wisely, and yet minister to the insatiable rapacity of the East India Company. Not personally covetous, Hastings did not rob for the pleasure of robbing. Still money must be had for his masters, and there was for him no alternative between serving such masters and an insignificance repulsive to one so daring in his aspirations. First Cheyte Sing, rajah of Benares, was mercilessly plundered, Benares taken, and a new province added to the company's possessions. Then Asaph-Ul-Dowlah, prince of Oude, was mercilessly plundered. Finally, on the most frivolous pretences, and with circumstances so abominable that the pen shrinks from recording them, the mother and grandmother of the prince were mercilessly plundered. It would be most unjust to picture Warren Hastings in India as only a plunderer. He had displayed both in peace and in war the most wonderful faculty. In him the talent of command and the talent of organization were in a rare degree united, and he would have
