work was accomplished by a man who had had no special training for such tasks, who was continually hampered by hostile or uncertain colleagues, by fractious or untrustworthy subordinates, by half-hearted, weak, or treacherous allies, by a captious and distrustful Court of Directors, by unsparing assailants in the House of Commons, and by Ministers who used him as a mere pawn in their political game, we can only wonder the more at the versatile genius, the patient energy, the dauntless self-reliance, the unyielding grasp, the stubborn yet pliable strength of will, which enabled him, often single-handed, in spite of all hindrances, to bring so many of his schemes for the general good to a prosperous issue. Even Macaulay, who finds him wanting in respect for the rights and in sympathy for the sufferings of others — which is not true — pays all due homage to his great qualities as statesman and ruler, and bears admiring witness to 'his dauntless courage, his honourable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests of the State, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, and never disturbed by either.'
For official industry Hastings can hardly have been surpassed by Dalhousie himself. In official courage he seems to stand alone, because none of his successors had to encounter all the trials and disadvantages which fell to his lot. That he made many mistakes during his long rule, through ignorance or imperfect information; that he changed his opinion and was sometimes biassed by his feelings; that he
