HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
begun to entertain the opinion, that 
the prodigious property embarked 
in, all the concerns relating to the 
West Indies, would operate as an 
insurmountable obstacle to the de- 
sign of tying up the hands of the 
planters in the management of these 
distant possessions on their own 
plan. 
A decision, long looked for 
with still more impatience, was 
that relating to the conduct of 
Mr. Hastings, in the East Indies. 
This tedious business had now 
fasted seven years, to the great 
diminution of his fortune, and at 
a large expence to the public. 
This protraction was considered 
as unnecessary, and occasioned hea- 
ee eerie, not only from Mr. 
Hastings himself, but from the ge- 
nerality of people, who thought, 
that the forms of justice were un- 
duly lengthened, and. that a sen. 
tence of condemnation or of ab. 
solution might, and ought, there- 
fore, to have passed long before 
this time. The defence which he 
drew up and presented to the 
lords, in Westminster-hall, was 
written with great eloquence and 
_ability, and made a strong impres. 
sion in his favour. He was so- 
lemnly acquitted of every charge 
brought against him. Out of 
twenty-nine peers, who pro- 
_ nounced judgment on this occasion, 
twenty-three declared him inno- 
,cent. But the costs of this ex- 
. pensive trial would have proved 
a grievous load to him, and too 
heavy ta be borne, had not the 
East-Indja company, with a spirit 
/ 
[205 
of gratitude, greatly to their credit; 
taken upon them to discharge the 
whole, amounting to upwards of 
seventy thousand pounds. The 
company also avoided the disgrace 
of leaving so meritorious a servant 
in indigence, by a moderate pecus 
niary donation.—He retired from 
the perilous situation wherein he so 
long" had stood, with an injured 
constitution: but witha reputation 
not only unimpaired, but, nots 
withstanding the indefatigable at. 
tempts to ruin him in the esteem 
of the public, confirmed and 
exalted. | 
The trial of such a character, 
political and private, as Mr. Hast. 
ings, whose services had so of- 
ten received the sanétion of pub. 
lic approbation and grateful ap- 
plause, and which, in fact, had 
proved, in a crisis of the utmost 
alarm, the salvation of his coun- 
try*—the trial of such a man, 
protracted to such an enormous 
length of time, was a novelty in 
the history of England, and deep- 
ly fixed the attention, as well as 
the wonder of foreign nations : 
to the principal of whom, the 
merits of Mr. Hastings appeared 
to be better known than to his own 
countrymen. That one who, had 
deserved so well of his country 
should be stretched so long on 
the rack of ‘* the law’s delay,’’ 
and that this should be so long 
borne by a generous nation, ap- 
peared utterly astonishing to na- 
tions but little acquainted with 
the tedious formalities that are: 
incident to processes under, free 
* Yor dn account of the manner in which the exertions of Mr. Hastings saved hie 
country, by enabling the English minister, as he acknowledged, to make the peace 
_ of 1783, and-also of the intrigues and cabals that gave birth to the impeachment of 
Mr. Hastings, see Memoirs of the late War in Asia. 
governments, 
