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him an object of compassion. It was | temple to Hastings; and this story exthought, and not without reason, that, cited a strong sensation in England. even if he was guilty, he was still an Burke's observations on the apotheosis ill-used man, and that an impeachment were admirable. He saw no reason of eight years was more than a suffi- for astonishment, he said, in the incicient punishment. It was also felt that, dent which had been represented as so though, in the ordinary course of cri- striking. He knew something of the minal law, a defendant is not allowed mythology of the Brahmins. He to set off his good actions against his knew that as they worshipped some crimes, a great political cause should gods from love, so they worshipped be tried on different principles, and others from fear. He knew that they that a man who had governed an em- erected shrines, not only to the benigpire during thirteen years might have nant deities of light and plenty, but done some very reprehensible things, also to the fiends who preside over and yet might be on the whole de- smallpox and murder; nor did he at serving of rewards and honours rather all dispute the claim of Mr. Hastings than of fine and imprisonment. The to be admitted into such a Pantheon. press, an instrument neglected by the This reply has always struck us as one prosecutors, was used by Hastings and of the finest that ever was made in his friends with great effect. Every Parliament. It is a grave and forcible ship, too, that arrived from Madras or argument, decorated by the most brilBengal, brought a cuddy full of his liant wit and fancy. admirers. Every gentleman from India Hastings was, however, safe. But spoke of the late Governor-General as in everything except character, he having deserved better, and having would have been far better off if, when been treated worse, than any man first impeached, he had at once pleaded living. The effect of this testimony guilty, and paid a fine of fifty thousand unanimously given by all persons who pounds. He was a ruined man. The knew the East, was naturally very legal expenses of his defence had been great. Retired members of the Indian enormous. The expenses which did services, civil and military, were settled not appear in his attorney's bill were in all corners of the kingdom. Each perhaps larger still. Great sums had of them was, of course, in his own little been paid to Major Scott. Great sums circle, regarded as an oracle on an had been laid out in bribing newsIndian question; and they were, with papers, rewarding pamphleteers, and scarcely one exception, the zealous ad- circulating tracts. Burke, so early as vocates of Hastings. It is to be added, 1790, declared in the House of Comthat the numerous addresses to the late mons that twenty thousand pounds had Governor-General, which his friends in been employed in corrupting the press. Bengal obtained from the natives and It is certain that no controversial transmitted to England, made a con- weapon, from the gravest reasoning to siderable impression. To these ad- the coarsest ribaldry, was left unemdresses we attach little or no import-ployed. Logan defended the accused That Hastings was beloved by Governor with great ability in prose. the people whom he governed is true; For the lovers of verse, the speeches of but the eulogies of pundits, zemindars, the managers were burlesqued in SimpMahommedan doctors, do not prove itkin's letters. It is, we are afraid, into be true. For an English collector or judge would have found it easy to induce any native who could write to sign a panegyric on the most odious ruler that ever was in India. It was said that at Benares, the very place at which the acts set forth in the first article of impeachment had been committed, the natives had erected a

ance.

disputable that Hastings stooped so low as to court the aid of that malignant and filthy baboon John Williams, who called himself Anthony Pasquin. It was necessary to subsidise such allies largely. The private hoards of Mrs. Hastings had disappeared. It is said that the banker to whom they had been intrusted had failed. Still if Hastings

But he was careless and profuse, and was more than once under the necessity of applying to the Company for assistance, which was liberally given.

had practised strict economy, he would, | ner, was sufficient to enable the retired after all his losses, have had a mode- Governor to live in comfort, and even rate competence; but in the manage- in luxury, if he had been a skilful ment of his private affairs he was im- manager. prudent. The dearest wish of his heart had always been to regain Daylesford. At length, in the very year in which his trial commenced, the wish was accomplished; and the domain, alienated more than seventy years before, returned to the descendant of its old lords. But the manor house was a ruin; and the grounds round it had, during many years, been utterly neglected. Hastings proceeded to build, to plant, to form a sheet of water, to excavate a grotto; and, before he was dismissed from the bar of the House of Lords, he had expended more than forty thousand pounds in adorning his

seat.

He had security and affluence, but not the power and dignity which, when he landed from India, he had reason to expect. He had then looked forward to a coronet, a red riband, a seat at the Council Board, an office at Whitehall. He was then only fifty-two, and might hope for many years of bodily and mental vigour. The case was widely different when he left the bar of the Lords. He was now too old a man to turn his mind to a new class of studies and duties. He had no chance of receiving any mark of royal favour while Mr. Pitt remained in power; and, when Mr. Pitt retired, Hastings was approaching his seventieth year.

Once, and only once, after his acquittal, he interfered in politics; and that interference was not much to his honour. In 1804 he exerted himself

The general feeling both of the Directors and of the proprietors of the East India Company was that he had great claims on them, that his services to them had been eminent, and that his misfortunes had been the effect of his zeal for their interest. His friends in Leadenhall Street proposed to reimburse him the costs of his trial, and to settle on him an annuity of five thou-strenuously to prevent Mr. Addington, sand pounds a year. But the consent against whom Fox and Pitt had comof the Board of Control was necessary; bined, from resigning the Treasury. and at the head of the Board of Con- It is difficult to believe that a man, so trol was Mr. Dundas, who had himself able and energetic as Hastings, can been a party to the impeachment, who have thought that, when Bonaparte had, on that account, been reviled with was at Boulogne with a great army, great bitterness by the adherents of the defence of our island could safely Hastings, and who, therefore, was not be intrusted to a ministry which did in a very complying mood. He refused not contain a single person whom to consent to what the Directors sug-flattery could describe as a great statesgested. The Directors remonstrated. man. It is also certain that, on the A long controversy followed. Hast-important question which had raised ings, in the mean time, was reduced to Mr. Addington to power, and on which such distress that he could hardly he differed from both Fox and Pitt, pay his weekly bills. At length a com- Hastings, as might have been expected, promise was made. An annuity for agreed with Fox and Pitt, and was life of four thousand pounds was decidedly opposed to Addington. Resettled on Hastings; and in order ligious intolerance has never been the to enable him to meet pressing de- vice of the Indian service, and cermands, he was to receive ten years' tainly was not the vice of Hastings. annuity in advance. The Company But Mr. Addington had treated him was also permitted to lend him fifty with marked favour. Fox had been a thousand pounds, to be repaid by in-principal manager of the impeachment. stalments without interest. This relief, To Pitt it was owing that there had though given in the most absurd man- been an impeachment; and Hastings, VOL. II.

R

we fear, was on this occasion guided ever good the breakfasts at Dayles

by personal considerations, rather than by a regard to the public interest.

The last twenty-four years of his life were chiefly passed at Daylesford. He amused himself with embellishing his grounds, riding fine Arab horses, fattening prize-cattle, and trying to rear Indian animals and vegetables in England. He sent for seeds of a very fine custard-apple, from the garden of what had once been his own villa, among the green hedgerows of Allipore. He tried also to naturalise in Worcestershire the delicious leechee, almost the only fruit of Bengal which deserves to be regretted even amidst the plenty of Covent Garden. The Mogul emperors, in the time of their greatness, had in vain attempted to introduce into Hindostan the goat of the table-land of Thibet, whose down supplies the looms of Cashmere with the materials of the finest shawls. Hastings tried, with no better fortune, to rear a breed at Daylesford; nor does he seem to have succeeded better with the cattle of Bootan, whose tails are in high esteem as the best fans for brushing away the mosquitoes.

ford may have been, and we are assured that the tea was of the most aromatic flavour, and that neither tongue nor venison-pasty was wanting,—we should have thought the reckoning high if we had been forced to earn our repast by listening every day to a new madrigal or sonnet composed by our host. We are glad, however, that Mr. Gleig has preserved this little feature of character, though we think it by no means a beauty. It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds. Dionysius in old times, Frederic in the last century, with capacity and vigour equal to the conduct of the greatest affairs, united all the little vanities and affectations of provincial blue-stockings. These great examples may console the admirers of Hastings for the affliction of seeing him reduced to the level of the Hayleys and Sewards.

When Hastings had passed many years in retirement, and had long outlived the common age of men, he again Literature divided his attention with became for a short time an object of his conservatories and his menagerie. general attention. In 1813 the charter He had always loved books, and they of the East India Company was rewere now necessary to him. Though newed; and much discussion about not a poet, in any high sense of the Indian affairs took place in Parliaword, he wrote neat and polished lines ment. It was determined to examine with great facility, and was fond of witnesses at the bar of the Commons; exercising this talent. Indeed, if we and Hastings was ordered to attend. must speak out, he seems to have been He had appeared at that bar once bemore of a Trissotin than was to be ex- fore. It was when he read his anpected from the powers of his mind, swer to the charges which Burke had and from the great part which he had laid on the table. Since that time played in life. We are assured in twenty-seven years had elapsed; pubthese Memoirs that the first thing lic feeling had undergone a complete which he did in the morning was to change; the nation had now forgotten write a copy of verses. When the his faults, and remembered only his family and guests assembled, the poem services. The reappearance, too, of a made its appearance as regularly as man who had been among the most the eggs and rolls; and Mr. Gleig re-distinguished of a generation that had quires us to believe that, if from any passed away, who now belonged to accident Hastings came to the break- history, and who seemed to have risen fast-table without one of his charming from the dead, could not but produce a performances in his hand, the omission solemn and pathetic effect. The Comwas felt by all as a grievous disap-mons received him with acclamations, pointment. Tastes differ widely. For ordered a chair to be set for him, and, ourselves, we must say that, how- when he retired, rose and uncovered.

as is rarely enjoyed by those who attain such an age. At length, on the twentysecond of August, 1818, in the eightysixth year of his age, he met death with the same tranquil and decorous fortitude which he had opposed to all the trials of his various and eventful life. With all his faults,-and they were neither few nor small,-only one ce

There were, indeed, a few who did not sympathize with the general feeling. One or two of the managers of the impeachment were present. They sate in the same seats which they had occupied when they had been thanked for the services which they had rendered in Westminster Hall: for, by the courtesy of the House, a member who has been thanked in his place is consi-metery was worthy to contain his redered as having a right always to oc- mains. In that temple of silence and cupy that place. These gentlemen reconciliation where the enmities of were not disposed to admit that they twenty generations lie buried, in the had employed several of the best years Great Abbey which has during many of their lives in persecuting an innocent ages afforded a quiet resting-place to man. They accordingly kept their those whose minds and bodies have seats, and pulled their hats over their been shattered by the contentions of brows; but the exceptions only made the Great Hall, the dust of the illusthe prevailing enthusiasm more re-trious accused should have mingled markable. The Lords received the with the dust of the illustrious accusers. old man with similar tokens of respect. The University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws; and, in the Sheldonian Theatre, the undergraduates welcomed him with tumultuous cheering.

This was not to be. Yet the place of interment was not ill chosen. Behind the chancel of the parish church of Daylesford, in earth which already held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hastings, was laid the coffin These marks of public esteem were of the greatest man who has ever soon followed by marks of royal fa- borne that ancient and widely extended vour. Hastings was sworn of the name. On that very spot probably, Privy Council, and was admitted to a fourscore years before, the little Warlong private audience of the Prince ren, meanly clad and scantily fed, had Regent, who treated him very gra- played with the children of ploughciously. When the Emperor of Rus- men. Even then his young mind had sia and the King of Prussia visited revolved plans which might be called England, Hastings appeared in their romantic. Yet, however romantic, it train both at Oxford and in the Guild- is not likely that they had been so hall of London, and, though sur- strange as the truth. Not only had rounded by a crowd of princes and the poor ophan retrieved the fallen great warriors, was every where re- fortunes of his line-not only had he ceived with marks of respect and ad- repurchased the old lands, and rebuilt miration. He was presented by the the old dwelling-he had preserved Prince Regent both to Alexander and and extended an empire. He had to Frederic William; and his Royal founded a polity. He had adminisHighness went so far as to declare in tered government and war with more public that honours far higher than a than the capacity of Richelieu. He seat in the Privy Council were due, had patronised learning with the juand would soon be paid, to the man dicious liberality of Cosmo. He had who had saved the British dominions been attacked by the most formidable in Asia. Hastings now confidently combination of enemies that ever sought expected a peerage; but, from some the destruction of a single victim; and unexplained cause, he was again dis-over that combination, after a struggle appointed. of ten years, he had triumphed. He had at length gone down to his grave in the fulness of age, in peace, after so many troubles, in honour, after so much obloquy.

He lived about four years longer, in the enjoyment of good spirits, of faculties not impaired to any painful or degrading extent, and of health such

Those who look on his character | population and revenue the fifth among without favour or malevolence will pro- them, and in art, science, and civilisanounce that, in the two great elements tion entitled to the third, if not to the of all social virtue, in respect for the second place, sprang from a humble rights of others, and in sympathy for origin. About the beginning of the the sufferings of others, he was de- fifteenth century, the marquisate of ficient. His principles were somewhat Brandenburg was bestowed by the lax. His heart was somewhat hard. Emperor Sigismund on the noble family But though we cannot with truth de- of Hohenzollern. In the sixteenth censcribe him either as a righteous or as a tury that family embraced the Lutheran merciful ruler, we cannot regard with- doctrines. It obtained from the King out admiration the amplitude and fer- of Poland, early in the seventeenth tility of his intellect, his rare talents century, the investiture of the duchy of for command, for administration, and Prussia. Even after this accession of for controversy, his dauntless courage, territory, the chiefs of the house of his honourable poverty, his fervent zeal Hohenzollern hardly ranked with the for the interests of the state, his noble Electors of Saxony and Bavaria. The equanimity, tried by both extremes of soil of Brandenburg was for the most fortune, and never disturbed by either. part sterile. Even round Berlin, the capital of the province, and round Potsdam, the favourite residence of the Margraves, the country was a desert. In some places, the deep sand could with difficulty be forced by assiduous tillage to yield thin crops of rye and Frederic the Great and his Times. Edited, oats. In other places, the ancient fowith an Introduction, by THOMAS CAMP-rests, from which the conquerors of the BELL, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1842. Roman empire had descended on the THIS work, which has the high honour Danube, remained untouched by the of being introduced to the world by hand of man. Where the soil was rich the author of Lochiel and Hohenlin- it was generally marshy, and its insaden, is not wholly unworthy of so dis-lubrity repelled the cultivators whom tinguished a chaperon. It professes, its fertility attracted. Frederic Wilindeed, to be no more than a compila- liam, called the Great Elector, was the tion; but it is an exceedingly amusing prince to whose policy his successors compilation, and we shall be glad to have agreed to ascribe their greatness. have more of it. The narrative comes He acquired by the peace of Westdown at present only to the commence-phalia several valuable possessions, and ment of the Seven Years' War, and among them the rich city and district therefore does not comprise the most of Magdeburg; and he left to his son interesting portion of Frederic's reign. Frederic a principality as considerable as any which was not called a kingdom.

FREDERIC THE GREAT.

(APRIL, 1842.)

It may not be unacceptable to our readers that we should take this oppor- Frederic aspired to the style of roytunity of presenting them with a slight alty. Ostentatious and profuse, negsketch of the life of the greatest king ligent of his true interests and of his that has, in modern times, succeeded high duties, insatiably eager for frivoby right of birth to a throne. It may, lous distinctions, he added nothing to we fear, be impossible to compress so the real weight of the state which he long and eventful a story within the governed: perhaps he transmitted his limits which we must prescribe to our- inheritance to his children impaired selves. Should we be compelled to rather than augmented in value; but break off, we may perhaps, when the he succeeded in gaining the great obcontinuation of this work appears, re-ject of his life, the title of King. In turn to the subject.

The Prussian monarchy, the youngest of the great European states, but in

the year 1700 he assumed this new dignity. He had on that occasion to undergo all the mortifications which

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