enemy of Mohammed Reza Khân, and therefore likely to be active in procuring evidence against him. As to the uncle, there was the danger of himself or his sons, as next heirs, practising against the life of the Nabob. The reasons for rejecting the mother do not appear.

The other office, Dewan of the household, was given to Rajah Goordass, the son of Nundcomar. The reason assigned was, their known enmity to Mohammed Reza Khân. It was expected that his own probity, joined with the talent of his father, by whom it was known he would be influenced, though it was hoped not controlled, would cause him to perform the duties of the office in a creditable manner 9.

The emperor Shâh Alum had, from the time that Clive had made the arrangement with him, been most anxious to prevail on the English to convey him to Delhi, and replace him on the throne of his ancestors. Unable to prevail on them, he had listened to the overtures of the Maratta chiefs Tûkajee Holkar, Madhajee Sindia, and Kishn Visajee, whom the Peishwa had sent with a large force into Hindûstan, in order to recover the influence lost at the battle of Pânîput, and to punish the Rohillas for their share in that event. They of course exacted hard conditions for their services; the emperor had no alternative but to submit, and on the 25th December, 1771, he made his entrance into Delhi. The Marattas, having suffered him to remain there only a few days, hurried him into the field, and their united force entered the nearest part of the Rohilla territory, Seheranpûr, the jagheer of the late minister, Nujub-ud-Dowlah, and which was now held by his son, Zabita Khân. This chief, though he made a spirited defence, was defeated and forced to fly to the camp of Shujah-ud-Dowlah, and his country was ravaged by the Marattas, who, regardless of their ally, kept all the plunder to themselves. The principal remaining Sirdar (chief) of the Rohillas now was Hafez Rahmut Khân; and through him an agreement was formed with Shujah-ud-Dowlah, by which, on the Rohillas engaging to pay him forty lacs of rupees, he undertook to cause the Marattas to retire from their country. Of these lacs Hafez paid five; and as the Marattas soon after retired of their own accord on account of the rains, he demanded that the bond should be cancelled; but the vizîr still retained it. In all these transactions Sir Robert Barker acted a prominent part, with the approbation of the government of Calcutta.

The emperor had returned to Delhi, highly disgusted with his allies. On his refusal to comply with some more of their demands, they invested Delhi, and on the 22nd December, 1772, about a year from the time they had put him into possession of it, he was forced to surrender it to their arms. He became now a mere instrument in their hands, and the first use they made of their power was to force him to cede to them the provinces of Allahabad and Corah.

The Marattas now prepared to cross the Ganges and enter Rohilcund again; and they made great

offers to the Rohillas if they would give them a free passage through their country to Oude. The Rolillas temporized; the vizîr exerted himself to prevent that union, and, as Hafez Rahmut asserts, offered to give up the forty lacs of rupees; and they finally united their troops with his and the English, when they entered their country, to oppose the passage of the Ganges by the Marattas. No action, however, took place; and in May, the state of their affairs in the Deckan obliged this people to return to their own country.

In all these transactions little, if any, blame attaches to the conduct of the Rohillas. But, as we have already seen 1, their country had always been an object of cupidity to the rulers of Oude. In a meeting between the vizîr and Mr. Hastings at Benâres, in the month of September, the former asked for an English force to put him in possession of the Rohilla country. In this project he was actually encouraged by the latter; and it was finally arranged that he should bear all the ex| penses of the English troops which should be given him, and pay the Company forty lacs of rupees on the accomplishment of the enterprise.

In his own account of this transaction, Mr. Hastings never says one word of its justice or the contrary; he only speaks of expediency. The vizîr, he says, was the only useful ally of the Company; the acquisition of the Rohilla country would be very beneficial to him and the Company; and he dwells on the advantage of getting forty lacs of rupees, and having a large portion of their army supported at the expense of their ally. When writing an account of this Benâres treaty (the whole of which we have not yet seen), he says, "I am not apt to attribute a large share of merit to my own actions; but I own that this is one of the few to which I can, with confidence, affix my own approbation."

The remaining part of the treaty related to the emperor. On the pretext of his having joined the enemies of the Company, and given to them the provinces which had been assigned him, they were resumed, and were given to the vizîr for fifty lacs of rupees, twenty to be paid down, and the remainder in two equal annual instalments. On the application of the emperor for the arrears of his tribute, and his demand of punctual payment in future, Mr. Hastings' reply was, that he "would not consent to let a rupee pass out of Bengal, till it had recovered from its distresses, which had been principally occasioned by the vast drains that had been made of its specie, for his remittances ;" in other words, that he should get nothing more from the Company.

No act more flagrantly unjust than this is to be found in history. The emperor's right to confer the dewannee, and other advantages acquired for the Company, was undoubted, and the annual sum. which he was to receive was their own offer. There was no condition made with him that he should not attempt to regain possession of his paternal dominions; and though the Company might consider the Marattas dangerous, they were not, properly speaking, their enemies. As to his cession of the provinces, it was well known to have been an act of compulsion; and from the specimen he had had of the Marattas, there was little likeli

1 See above, p. 46.

A. D. 1774.

hood of his again seeking their friendship, and as the vizîr was unable to defend his own dominions without the help of the English, they might as well defend the two provinces for the descendant of Timûr as for him. But even granting a political necessity in this matter, the refusal of the tribute was robbery and breach of faith. Still the whole of the guilt must not fall on Hastings, who in this, as in so many other points, only carried out the wishes of his masters, who had long been watching for a pretext to stop the payment of the tribute. On the 11th November, 1768, they had written out, "If the emperor flings himself into the hands of the Marattas, or any other power, we are disengaged from him, and it may open a fair opportunity of withholding the twenty-six lacs we now pay him." And on the treaty of Benâres they bestowed their entire approbation.

Another point arranged with the vizîr in the Benares conference was, the appointment of a civil agent to reside at his court and be the medium of communication between him and the governor. This task had hitherto been usually executed by the military officer on the spot, but it was a part of Hastings' policy to raise the civil over the military power. The first resident, as these agents were called, at the court of the Vizîr was Mr. Nathaniel Middleton, and he was directed to communicate secretly with the governor.

The vizîr did not seem inclined to attack the Rohillas at once. He advanced towards Delhi, and assisted the emperor in taking Agra from the Jâts, gave him some money, and finally concluded a treaty by which the troops of the emperor were to join him against the Rohillas, and he was in return to have a share of the plunder, and half the conquered country.

In November the vizîr unexpectedly called on the president for the promised aid. Hastings had some difficulty in obtaining the assent of his colleagues; but in January, 1774, the second brigade received orders to join the vizir; in February Col. Champion came and took the command of it, and it entered the territory of Oude, and on the 17th of April the allied forces entered the Rohilla country. On the 19th, Col. Champion wrote to the president, stating that the Rohilla chiefs were most anxious for accommodation, but that the demands of the vizîr had now risen to two crores of rupees !

Aware now that arms, not equity, must decide their fate, the Rohillas prepared for action. On the morning of the 23rd, the English advanced to the attack. Col. Champion, as a generous enemy, bestows the highest praise on the desperate valour and even the military skill displayed by the Rohillas and their leaders. But valour was unavailing; and after a severe contest of nearly three hours, they fled, leaving 2000 slain, including many Sirdars, among whom were the gallant Hafez Rahmut and one of his sons. The doughty vizîr, it will easily be believed, had no share in this victory. He had even refused to lend some of his cannon, and broke his promise of being at hand with his cavalry. But when the victory was gained, and plunder was in prospect, then his troops put forth their activity, and, says Col. Champion, "We had the honour of the day, and these banditti the profit." According to the same authority, the excesses committed by the vizir and his troops, and

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his barbarous treatment, not only of the Rohillas, but of the innocent Hindoo cultivators, were shocking to humanity 2.

The army shortly after marched to Bissouly, in the centre of the Rohilla country, where they found the emperor's general, Nujuf Khân, with his army. As the country might now be regarded as conquered, and as the emperor had performed his part of the treaty, though the rapidity of the English had prevented his sharing in the conquest, Nujuf Khân demanded for him his share of the country and of the plunder. The vizîr was unable to deny the treaty; but positive orders came from Calcutta to the English commander, to support him in the violation of it; and of course it was set at nought.

A Rohilla chief, named Fyzoola Khân, was still in arms at the foot of the mountains. He sent, offering to hold his district as a renter from the vizîr; but the latter positively declared that he would suffer no Rohilla chief to remain beyond the Ganges. The army was then put in motion to attack him; but when they came near to where he was posted, the vizîr, from some unexplained reason, became anxious for accommodation. good deal of negotiation, it was agreed that Fyzoola Khân should surrender one half of his effects to the vizîr, and receive in return a jagheer of nearly fifteen lacs of rupees in Rohilcund.

CHAPTER XV.

After a

Arrival of Members of Council-Quarrels with HastingsDeath of the Vizîr-Abrogation of Treaty-Charges against Hastings-His Conduct-Execution of Nundcomar for Forgery-Death of Col. Monson-Hastings' tendered Resignation-His Exercise of Power-Reconciliation with Francis-Monstrous Pretensions of the Supreme CourtAppointment of the Chief-Justice to a new office-Duel between Hastings and Francis.

ON the 14th October, the vessel carrying the new members of council and the judges of the Supreme Court anchored in the Hooghly. Mr. Hastings immediately sent the second member of council to congratulate them on their safe arrival. They landed at Calcutta on the 19th, under a salute from the batteries, and were conducted by an officer of the governor's staff to his private residence, where all the members of the government were assembled to receive them. But courtesies of this kind had little effect on the minds of those to whom they were shown. The men whom Parliament in its wisdom (that is, the favour of the minister) had selected to regulate the affairs of an empire, had remarked on their landing that the batteries had fired only seventeen, instead of twenty-one guns, and that no guard of honour had met them on the beach; and they showed much real or affected indignation.

2 In the correspondence between Hastings and the vizîr Rohillas, and exterminate them out of the country. Mill in 1773, there occur these terms, thoroughly exterminate the

takes the word exterminate in its ordinary English sense, of destroy; while Wilson would take it in its (algebraic) sense, of remove, drive away. The former seems to us the more natural sense.

Next morning a council was held, and the commission and the Company's letter were read. The latter strongly inculcated unanimity and concord among the members of the government; it also directed that past abuses and oppressions should be inquired into, and their recurrence be prevented. It would seem that the three new members conceived their chief business to be to listen to all kinds of charges from all quarters against the governor-general, and to be at concord only among themselves, and to unite in showing him neither favour nor justice.. At least so we might infer from their conduct; and henceforth we shall have to contemplate acts and scenes discreditable to the English name.

They would fain have set about their selfimposed task at once; but on Hastings' observing that Mr. Barwell was at some distance, they agreed to wait till the 25th for his return. On that day was read a minute of the governor's, giving a view of his policy and conduct since the time of his appointment. They denounced the treaty of Benâres as impolitic, and the war not only so, but unjust. But to understand the matter clearly, they required the whole of Mr. Middleton's correspondence to be laid before them. This Hastings refused, as that correspondence having been secret, it must have contained many other matters which it would not have been honourable, or perhaps even safe, to make public; but he offered to produce every part of it that related to the subject under consideration. Not content with expressing their indignation and hinting their suspicions, the majority, as we shall henceforth call the three, voted Middleton's immediate recall.

It might be supposed, that men who had so peremptorily pronounced on the injustice of the Rohilla war, would have been anxious to obliterate the disgrace of the British name, to cause the innocent Rohillas to be restored to their country, and to force the vizîr to make them some compensation. But their justice and humanity were of a different kind; and it sufficed them if they could blacken the governor's character. They forthwith wrote, without knowing whether the war was ended or not, to Col. Champion, who was to take Middleton's place for the present, to insist on immediate payment of the forty lacs, the price of the extermination of the Rohillas, and of all other sums due by the vizîr on other accounts. He was also to lead his troops, within fourteen days, into Oude; and in case of the vizîr's not complying with his demands, to withdraw from him, and enter the Company's territories. Hastings remonstrated, but of course in vain, against these measures, as precipitate, and dangerous to the Company's interests.

In the beginning of 1775 the vizîr died, and was succeeded as Sûbahdâr of Oude by his son, who took the title of Asof-ud-dowlah, to whom also, after some delay, the emperor granted the office of vizîr. In public treaties it is generally understood, that they are to be of a permanent character, and not to depend on the life of the persons making them; those therefore made with Shujahud-dowlah should in justice extend to his successor. But the majority took a different view. They maintained, that all engagements with the late Sûbahdar were personal, and that the present one must make new terms for himself; and through

Mr. Bristow, whom they had sent to replace Mr. Middleton, they forced a new treaty on Asof-uddowlah. By this the Company were to guarantee him Corah and Allahabâd, and he in return was to cede to them the territory of Benâres, held by Rajah Cheit Sing, raise the allowance to their troops to 260,000 rupees a month, and pay all the money due by his late father. Mr. Hastings refused to concur in these terms, as in themselves unjust, and beyond the power of Azof-ud-dowlah to fulfil. The Directors, in their first letter on the subject, disapproved of the conduct of the council, holding their engagements with Shujah-ud-dowlah to be permanent. But in their second, after they had heard of the increase of revenue, and of pay of the troops, they signified their entire approbation of the treaty that had been concluded. În fact, at this time, the Directors were sure to approve of every measure, however unjust, that brought money to their treasury.

Every one who could frame a charge of any nature against the governor-general met with favour from the majority, who received all sorts of persons for this purpose at their private residences. Thither then repaired discontented or place-seeking Englishmen, and crafty natives, especially Nundcomar; and charges of peculation soon began to be brought forward. The first accusation came from the Ranee of Burdwân, the widow of the rajah who had held the zemindary of that district. Her son, a minor, had been at first left under her guardianship, but he had afterwards been withdrawn from it, and the affairs of the zemindary were managed by persons appointed by the English. She now accused the Dewan of corruption, and Mr. Graham, the resident, of supporting him for the sake of the bribes which he obtained from him. The majority resolved that the Dewan should be removed, at least for a time, and that the Ranee should, as she desired, be allowed to come to Calcutta with her son. Hastings and Barwell opposed these measures, as unjust or unnecessary. Mr. Graham made an indignant reply. Among other things, he showed that he had left Burdwân six weeks after the rajah's death, an event antedated three years by the Ranee, for the sake of making out a case against him. He also required that the Ranee should give security to pay an equivalent penalty, in case she failed to establish her charges. This was a law or usage of the country, in order to put a check to false or calumnious accusations. The majority, however, would not impose it. A variety of accounts were presented, in which were entered various sums paid by the Dewan to the servants of the Company, among which was a petty sum of 1500 rupees to Mr. Hastings himself! The whole amounted to upwards of nine lacs; but nothing could be proved.

This charge having failed, a new one was brought forward. A statement was made by a native, that the foujdar of Hooghly was paid by the Company 72,000 rupees a year, and that out of this he annually paid the governor 36,000, and his native secretary 4000, having only 32,000 for himself; for which sum the accuser would undertake to do the duties of the office, and thus save the Company 40,000 rupees a year, of which they were now defrauded by Mr. Hastings. The motives of this person are tolerably clear; yet the majority went

A. D. 1775.

into the case. The foujdar having objected to be sworn, which Hindoos of high caste regard as a degradation, he was held to be guilty, and dismissed, and the office was given to another-not, however, the accuser-at 36,000 rupees a year.

Any one, we are persuaded, who considers the preceding conduct of the majority, must feel that it was malignity toward Hastings, and not a love of justice, that actuated them. This was certainly This was certainly Hastings' own feeling; he viewed them as his enemies and his accusers, and would not allow them to be his judges. He denied their right, sitting in council and in his presence, to receive charges against him, and asserted that he would not lower the dignity of his office by answering charges made by any one who chose to come before them. If they wanted to inquire into his conduct, let them resolve themselves into a committee, and then lay the charges before the Supreme Court or the Directors. And he declared his resolution to dissolve the council as soon as they should enter on any inquiry relating to himself. This he always did, and he and Mr. Barwell retired; but the majority then voted Gen. Clavering into the chair and proceeded.

On the 11th March, Mr. Francis stated to the Board that he had been waited on that morning by Nundcomar, who had delivered him a paper which he requested him to lay before them. He did not think, he added, that he had a right to refuse a person of Nundcomar's rank. As to the contents of the paper, he knew them not, but had a suspicion that it contained charges against the governor of taking bribes from himself and from Munnee Begum. Some days after, another paper from Nundcomar was presented; and Monson then moved that he should be called before them to substantiate his charge. Hastings refused in very strong terms, and he dwelt indignantly on the unworthy conduct of Francis. He said he had expected this attack; for he had seen a paper containing many accusations against him, which he was told had been carried to Col. Monson by Nundcomar, who had been some hours in private with him, explaining the charges. Monson denied having seen any paper containing charges against the governor-general (perhaps he meant he had not read such a paper); but he made no reply to the charge of the private interview. The motion, however, was carried of course; Hastings and Barwell retired; Nundcomar was then examined, and a resolution was passed, that Hastings had received 3,54,000 rupees, which of right belonged to the Company; and by another resolution he was called on to refund them. Hastings refused to receive or answer these resolutions; and it was then resolved that the proceedings should be transmitted to the Company's attorney, to consult counsel how to proceed for the recovery of the

money.

The facts of the case were these. After Nundcomar had opened the business, as above related, Mr. Grant, accountant to the council at Moorshedabâd, sent some accounts which he said he had received from a native who had been a clerk in the Nabob's treasury, from which it appeared that Munnee Begum had received 9,67,963 rupees more than she had accounted for. The clerk, when examined, stated that her head-eunuch had endeavoured to induce him to restore the papers and

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return to her service; and Mr. Grant declared himself willing to swear that similar attempts had been made on himself. The majority, Hastings and Barwell in vain opposing, determined to send Mr. Goring to investigate the conduct of the Begum, whose power was meanwhile to be withdrawn from her and committed to Rajah Goordass. The instructions to Mr. Goring were, to receive from the Begum all the accounts of the Nizâmut for the last eight years, and deliver them to gentlemen who were to examine and report on them to the Board. This might be expected to occupy some time; but he reached Moorshedabâd on the 20th May, and on the 22nd he sent to Calcutta memorandums of payments to Hastings and others, obtained, as it seems, by intimidation, and with a view to the inculpation of Hastings. In these it was stated that 1,50,000 rupees had been given to the governor, as entertainment money, when he went to Moorshedabâd, in 1772, and a similar sum to Mr. Middleton. The latter, we may here observe, was never denied; the former Mr. Hastings, at a subsequent period, acknowledged and attempted to justify 3.

The prime mover in all this business, as we may see, was Nundcomar. Him Hastings regarded as his deadly enemy, and him, he owns 4, he hated above all men living. We must therefore be cautious in examining every thing relating to this

man.

In the month of April an indictment was preferred against Nundcomar, and Messrs. Joseph and Francis Fowke, in the Supreme Court, at the instance of Mr. Hastings, Mr. Barwell, Mr. G. Vansittart, Mr. Hastings' banyan, and the Roy Royan of Calcutta, for a conspiracy, to force a man named Cummâl-ud-dîn to write a petition against them. After the examination before the judges, Mr. F. Fowke was discharged, and Nundcomar and Mr. J. Fowke were held to bail, at the suit of Mr. Hastings and Mr. Vansittart, the other parties having withdrawn their names. On the following day the majority paid Nundcomar a visit of ceremony.

A few days after (May 6) Nundcomar was arrested, on a charge of forgery, at the suit of a native named Mohun Persâd, and committed to the common gaol, notwithstanding his wealth, his rank, and his being a Brahmin by caste. The majority, of course, declared on his side; and while he lay in prison, as we have seen, they promoted his son Goordass. He was brought to trial, tried by a jury of Englishmen, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. be hanged. None of the natives, however, had the slightest idea that the sentence would be carried into execution. The fatal day (Aug. 5) at length arrived, and there was no reprieve. Nundcomar

He said

3 In his Defence before the House of Lords. that the Act of Parliament prohibiting the receipt of presents had not been passed at that time; that it was the custom of the country, and that the Nabob, when he visited Calcutta, received one thousand rupees a-day on this account; that he added nothing to his fortune by it, and must have charged the Company as large a sum if he had not received it. This, however, was two thousand rupees a-day for the time he was at Moorshedabâd; but Hastings was notorious for want of economy in his own affairs, and did not look closely after the expenditure of those about him. Mr. Wilson (Mill, iii. 635), if we rightly understand him, says that this money "was acknowledged, and carried to account."

4 See his letter in Gleig.

took a solemn leave of his friends, and then occupied himself writing notes and examining accounts. He mounted the palankeen which was to convey him to the place of execution, and ascended the steps of the scaffold with the utmost firmness, in the presence of an immense crowd. When all was ready the drop fell, and Nundcomar soon ceased to exist. The Hindoos uttered a wild and piercing cry, and fled from the spot; and none remained but the officers of justice, and a few Brahmins, who were to take charge of the body.

The execution of Nundcomar, it is well known, was the subject of much discussion, and even of a parliamentary impeachment, where Mr. Burke did not hesitate to assert that Mr. Hastings had murdered him by the hands of Sir Elijah Impey. We will, therefore, dwell a little on the subject.

The crime for which Nundcomar suffered, was unknown as a capital offence to either Hindoo or Mohammedan laws. The act with which he was charged took place in 1770, and the supreme court with its powers was not created till 1774, he, therefore, it would appear, suffered on an ex post facto law. Further, the law making forgery capital, did not extend to India, as the colonies are never included unless expressly named in the statute, and one Indian for an offence against another Indian should have been tried by a native tribunal. Such were the arguments of those who asserted the injustice of the sentence; to which it was replied by Sir Elijah Impey, that Nundcomar, by making Calcutta his residence, was amenable to English law, and that the doctrine was false of a penal statute not extending to a colony not named in it; that natives had hitherto been subject to, and tried by English law in the courts of Calcutta, and that ignorance of the law is no excuse for the breach of it. As to this last argument, we may observe, that nothing but narrow-minded legal pedantry would cause any man to make use of it; the preceding one has more apparent weight; for owing to an omission in the charter of justice granted in 1753, the company's servants had sometimes extended the penalties of English law to natives, and one native had not long before been tried and convicted of forgery and sentenced to death by the mayor's court, but he had been recommended to mercy and pardoned. On the whole, by the mere letter of the law, the court that condemned Nundcomar was not to blame. By this alone the judges, who were mere lawyers, were guided; the spirit of the law, and the principles of equity, seem to have been unknown to them; and when the counsel for the prisoner asked the foreman of the jury to join in an application to the judges for mercy, the chiefjustice censured him severely in open court.

On Hastings this event has cast a shade of suspicion which, perhaps, will never be dispelled. Nundcomar was his accuser; he had instituted legal proceedings against him, which were likely to fail; when a native, who could hardly be supposed to know or admire English law, charges him with an offence committed some years before 5;

5 Mr. Wilson, however, says that proceedings had been commenced by Mohammed Persâd, in the Dewannee Adawlut, and Nundcomar had been confined, but was liberated by Hastings; the forged instrument had been deposited in the mayor's court, and was transferred with all its

the chief justice, who was Hastings' school-fellow and friend, acts with extreme rigour; Hastings who had power to respite, declines to exercise it, and rather submits to lie under the imputation of removing in this manner a dangerous witness, and of thus deterring others from appearing against him. The very circumstance of the prisoner being his enemy would, we think, have caused a man of generous feelings to make every effort to save his life 6.

As to the majority, who certainly must have had the power to prevent the execution of the sentence, we fear that we must agree with Hastings' biographer, in suspecting that they let Nundcomar perish, in order to have a charge against Hastings.

Charges, now that Nundcomar was gone, ceased to come in against the governor-general. By an order of the Court of Directors, Mohammed Reza Khân was appointed to the offices held by Goordass, and the latter was made Roy Royan. The Directors also censured Hastings for allowing his banyan to farm several districts in Bengal, contrary to the finance regulations of 1772. His defence was, that he himself had no share in the profits, of which, in fact, there were little or none7.

The plan which had been devised for collecting the revenue had proved a failure; the produce was not what had been anticipated, for the farmers in general had contracted for more than they were able to pay. Angry debates, of course, took place in the Council. Hastings then proposed that each member should devise a plan, to be forwarded to the Directors. That of himself and Mr. Barwell

other papers to the Supreme Court, on whose very first sitting of oyer and terminer the indictment was prepared and tried. This would, indeed, exonerate Hastings completely; but is it not most strange, that neither he himself nor any of his defenders should have noticed the circumstance? Mill, Gleig, and Thornton, seem all equally ignorant of it.

6 It is said, no doubt, that he could not interfere with the

proceedings of the Supreme Court; but he showed in a sub

sequent case that he could, and would interfere.

It is a remarkable trait in Hastings' character, that he never seems to have been conscious of acting wrong. This may, as is asserted, have proceeded from his enormous selfesteem; but he appears also to have held, that whatever law allows is right. The circumstances of his marriage seem to show this. In the ship in which he sailed to India, in 1769, there was as a passenger a German baron, named Imhoff, who was going out as a portrait painter to Madras. He was accompanied by his wife, a very attractive young woman, and by whose charms Hastings was captivated. She attended him in an illness on board. The intimacy was continued at Madras; they accompanied him to Bengal. There is no reason to suppose there was any thing improper between Hastings and the baroness; but all this time, a suit for a divorce was going on in the courts of Franconia; and when it was obtained, Hastings married the lady, taking also her three children, and in the words of the gentle biographer, "the baron returned to his native country a richer man than he ever could have hoped to become, by the mere exercise of his skill as a painter;" i.e. he sold his wife, almost like the former Smithfield sales of wives. It is worthy of remark, that Hastings was the most affectionate of husbands, and that their union was eminently happy. He acted like a father to her children.

7 Mr. Wilson says he needed to make no defence, as it was collectors that were mentioned (see p. 101), and he was no collector. But surely he acted against the spirit of the law.