202 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



Post-OfEce. This gentleman first 

 became proprietor of the Theatre 

 of his native place, which, by 

 great exertion, he hberated from 

 its confinement, and procured it 

 to be the first Royal Theatre 

 established out of the metropolis. 

 This, however, was a small part 

 of the benefits which he con- 

 ferred upon his country, for he 

 brought into eiFect an entire 

 change of the mode of conveying 

 the post through these kingdoms, 

 notwithstanding all the opposi- 

 tion made under the former 

 system, with their several esta- 

 blishments of proprietors and 

 innke;epers. Mr. Palmer was 

 besides long obliged to submit to 

 a great defalcation of the com- 

 pensation to which he justly laid 

 claim ; and it was not till the 

 ministry themselves thought pro- 

 per to bring in a bill granting 

 him 50,000/. as a kind of acknow- 

 ledgment, for his merits. Mr. 

 Palmer twice represented his 

 native city in parliament, and 

 upon his resignation was suc- 

 ceeded by his son, Col. Palmer, 

 who is one of the present 

 members. 



20. Hon. H.^A. Annesleij, only 

 brother of the Earl of Mount- 

 norris, drowned in bathing at 

 Blackpool. 



22. At his seat, Daylesford 

 house, Worcestershire, tlie Right 

 Hon. Warren Hastings, formerlj^ 

 Governor-General of Bengal, in 

 his 86th year. He was educated 

 at Westminster - school, from 

 which, at the age of 16, he was 

 nominated to a writership in the 

 service of the Efst India com- 

 pany, for which he embarked. 

 After a residence in that country 

 upwards of fourteen years, during 



which he rose to the rank 

 of Member of the Council at 

 Calcutta, he returned to England. 

 In process of time, the Court of 

 Directors wishing for a person 

 of ability to succeed to the 

 government of Madras, they pre- 

 vailed upon Mr. Hastings to 

 undertake the office ; and he had 

 not been long in the place, be- 

 fore a more important occasion 

 called for the exercise of his 

 talents. The affairs of Bengal 

 had become much embarrassed, 

 and the Court of Directors, 

 thinking no one so capable of 

 retrieving them as Mr. Hastings, 

 sent orders directing him to pro- 

 ceed immediately to Bengal, and 

 take upon himself the Govern- 

 ment of that settlement. This 

 took place in 1772. In 1774' 

 Parliament changed the whole 

 system of management of the 

 East India Company, appointing 

 a Supreme Council at Bengal, 

 which was to control all the 

 other settlements in India. The 

 legislature appointed Mr. Hast- 

 ings the first Governor General, 

 and conferred the same appoint- 

 ment [on him three several times 

 afterwards, between that year, 

 and his final departure in 1785. 

 During his absence, a varied and 

 multiplied war was conducted 

 against France, Hyder A]y, and 

 the Malirattas. 



Mr. Hastings returned to Eng- 

 land, and not long after, an im- 

 peachment was raised against him, 

 by several persons distinguished 

 for their eloquence. He was 

 kept on his trial during seven 

 3ears ; but whether the length of 

 time wearied the House of Lords, 

 or they became convinced of his 

 innocence, it so happened, that 



although 



