313 



HAS3ELQGIST, FREDERIC. 



HASTINGS, WARREN. 



314 



of his powers in an advanced period of life. Hasse is certainly 

 entitled to be considered as one of the best composers of his day. 

 Some of his productions, and among these his ' Pellegrini ' and two 

 Litanies, are much admired by unprejudiced judges; but many of his 

 operas have sunk into an oblivion by no means unmerited. 



HASSELQUIST, FREDERIC, a Swedish naturalist, and pupil of 

 Linnaeus, was bora at Tornvalla, in East Gothland, on the 3rd of 

 January 1722, old style. His father, Andrew Hasselquist, a poor 

 curate, having died young, without having made any provision for 

 his family, his wife's brother, a clergyman of the name of Poiitin, 

 took charge of young Hasselquist's education, and placed him with 

 hia own children in the school of Linkoping. After the death of his 

 benefactor, Hasselquist was transferred to the university of Upsal, 

 where he entered in 1741. He there acquired a taste for natural 

 history, became a pupil of the great Linnaeus, and was led very parti- 

 cularly to apply himself to the study of the properties of plants. An 

 inaugural thesis, called ' Vires Plantarum," which appeared in 1747, 

 evinced him to be a young man of a strong original turn of miml, and 

 worthy of his master. He showed how puerile were the notions at 

 thnt time entertained regarding the medical properties of many plants, 

 how much the whole of vegetable materia medica stood in need of 

 reformation ; and he pointed out a philosophical mode of investigating 

 the facts connected with it, by insisting upon the old doctrine of 

 'like forms, like virtues." This truth, which is one of the most 

 important among those connected with the practical application of 

 botany to useful purposes, had been so obscured by want of science 

 in the age immediately preceding Linnaeus, that it bad ceased to be a 

 point of belief, and was rather set down as a fanciful speculation of 

 forgotten theorists. Hasselquiat however maintained its accuracy, and 

 with so much skill that he may be said to have established it upon a 

 Roliil foundation, from which it could never afterwards be shaken. 

 This, and his general proficiency in other branches of science, procured 

 Haaselquut some of the royal stipends provided for travelling students, 

 and he was thus eventually enabled to carry into execution a favourite 

 project of visiting the Holy Land for tho laudable purpose of investi- 

 gating its natural history. Having sailed from Stockholm in August 

 1747, he proceeded to Smyrna, thence to Egypt, and afterwards to the 

 Holy Laud. His constitution sunk however under the exertions of 

 bis enterprising spirit, and he died at Smyrna, on his return home- 

 wards, on the 9th of February 1752, in the thirty-first year of his age. 

 Tho result of lii-s investigations of these, at that time little known 

 countries, was ; -n to the world by Linnaeus in the year 1757, under 

 the name of ' It . I'aloj-itinum.' This work showed that the author 

 hid combined with energy and industry great attainments in the 

 sciences of his day. It is rich in observations upon tho quadrupeds, 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, mollusca, plants, minerals, and materia 

 medica of the countries be visited, and is to this day a standard work 

 of reference. His science was not the flimsy, superficial, and unin- 

 telligible gossip of most modern travellers, but the sound matter-of- 

 fact, precise, and definite information of which use may be made so 

 loug as science endures, whatever changes it may undergo in its forms. 

 His name is perpetuated in botany by having been given to a curious 

 geuus of Egyptian Apiaccx. 



HASTINGS, \VAUHEN, a memorable name in the history of 

 British India, was born in the middle rank of life in 1733, and after 

 receiving the usual education at Westminster school, went out in 

 17 JO as a writer in the service of the East India Company. His first 

 advancement was duo to his own industry and discernment, which 

 led him to master the Persian and Hindustanee languages, a study at 

 that time almost universally neglected ; and he was therefore chosen 

 for more than one useful and honourable employment, commercial 

 and diplomatic, in the interior. After residing about fourteen years 

 in India, he returned home with a moderate fortune, intending 

 apparently to pass the remainder of bis life in tranquillity. In 17'J'J 

 however he unexpectedly received the appointment of second in 

 council at Madras, and iu 1772 was appointed to the highest office in 

 the Company's service', that of President of the Supreme Council of 

 Bengal. His powers were enlarged by the alteration of the Indian 

 constitution by act of parliament, in virtue of which he became, 

 January 1, 1774, governor-general and supreme head of all our Indian 

 dependencies. Affairs were at this time in great disorder. The ter- 

 ritories of the Company had been greatly extended by the conquests 

 of Clive and his successors : but their dominion, authority, and 

 influence were siiil unconsolidated, and were exposed during the 

 government of Mr. Hastings to great danger from the inveterate 

 enmity of Hyder AH, rajah of Mysore, supported by the Mahratcas, 

 and others of the native powers. That he did many things under the 

 pressure of circumstances, which nothing but expedience could justify 

 is haidly denied by bis defenders or himself: indeed it seems to have 

 been part ot his dtfencc, that Indian statesmen were not to be bound 

 or judged by European rules of justice or morality. Kight or wrong, 

 he weathered the daugeis to which the British Empire in India were 

 exposed ; and if he left the provinces under his charge wasted and 

 depopulated, the increased revenue more than counterbalanced by the 

 increased debt, he also left the power of our enemies broken, our own 

 consolidated, and au easier task to his successors than fell to his own 

 share. 

 Notwithstanding hi* services, Hastings gave satisfaction neither to 



the Home administration nor to the Court of Directors. The public 

 ear was offended by rumours of cruelty, corruption, and unjust aggres- 

 sion ; the directors censured the lavish and corrupt expenditure, and 

 the presumptuous independence of his conduct. Repeated attempts 

 were made to obtain his dismissal, but these were uniformly defeated 

 by the Court of Proprietors. Thus supported, he carried matters with 

 a high hand; neglected or positively refused to obey the orders sent 

 by the Directors ; overruled the opposition of the Council, of which 

 a majority was, in the first instance, opposed to his views [FRANCIS, 

 Sill PHILIP] ; and practically exercised au absolute and irresponsible 

 power until February 1785, when he resigned his office and set sail 

 for England, well aware that a storm awaited his arrival. 



As soon as Mr. Hastings had arrived, Mr. Burke intimated his reso- 

 lution of instituting an inquiry into the late governor-general's con- 

 duct. Proceedings however were not commenced until the session of 

 1786, in the course of which articles of impeachment were brought 

 forward by Mr. Burke, charging him with numerous acts of injustice 

 and oppression committed against native princes aud people, de- 

 pendants or allies of the Company ; with the impoverishment and 

 desolation of the British dominions; with the corrupt and illegal 

 reception of presents himself; with the corrupt exertion of his great 

 influence by conniving at unfair contracts, and granting inordinate 

 salaries, aud with enormous extravagance and bribery, intended to 

 enrich his dependants and favourites. The several accusations were 

 finally confined to four heads : the oppression and final expulsion of 

 the raj ih of Benares ; the maltreatment and robbery of the Begums 

 (or princesses) of the house of Oude ; and the charges of receiving pre- 

 sents and conniving at unfair contracts aud extravagant expenditure. 

 The sessions of 1786-87 having been consumed iu preliminary pro- 

 ceedings, the House of Lords assembled in Westminster Hall, February 

 13th, 1788, to try the impeachment, and on the loth, the preliminary 

 forms having been gone through, Burke, in the name of the Commons 

 of England, opened the charges against the prisoner iu a compre- 

 hensive, elaborate, and most eloquent speech [BuitKE, EDMUND] 

 which lasted upwards of three days. He was assisted in the manage- 

 ment of this most arduous cause by Fox, Sheridan, Grey, and others. 

 The sessions of 1788, 1789, and 1790 were consumed in going through 

 the case for the prosecution. In 1791 the Commons expressed their 

 willingness to abandon some part of the charges, with the view of 

 bringing this extraordinary trial sooner to an end ; and on the 2nd of 

 June, the seventy-third day, Mr. Hastings . began his defence. This 

 was protracted till April 17, 1795, on which (the 118th) day he was 

 acquitted by a large majority on every separate article charged against 

 him. 



There seems no doubt but that public opinion changed greatly 

 during the trial ; and that Mr. Hastings came to bo regarded as an 

 oppressed, instead of an offending man. This feeling was probably 

 caused in a great measure by the suspicious appearance of so great a 

 delay of justice, and the skilful manner in which Mr. Hastings aud his 

 counsel threw all the blame on the managers of the prosecution, when 

 in truth the smallest share of it seems to have belonged to them. The 

 extreme violence of their invective was perhaps calculated to hurt 

 their cause, aud the upper ranks, more especially the powerful interests 

 connected with lu-lia, were disposed to look jealously at so close a 

 scrutiny into the conduct aud gains of au official man. 



Mr. Hastings attempted to refute the charges of extortion by pub- 

 licly asserting in the most solemn manner, that never at any time of 

 his life was he worth 100,OUU2. The law-charges of his defence 

 amounted to 76,080i In March 1766 the Company granted him au 

 annuity of 40001. for twenty eight years aud a half, and lent him 

 SO.OUOZ. for eighteen years, free of interest. He, retired completely 

 from public life, to an estate which he purchased at Daylesford, iu 

 Worcestershire, formerly in the possession of his family. He died in 

 August 22ud, 1818, having been raised to the dignity of privy-oouu- 

 cillor not long before. 



On his real character as a man and a statesman it is somewhat hard 

 to decide. That his talents and his services were aliko eminent, is 

 admitted ; that the means which he used were often most culpable, 

 appears to be equally certain. His apology is to be fouud iu the 

 necessities of his situation, in the general neglect of justice in our 

 dealings with the Asiatic princes, and the notorious laxity of Anglo- 

 Indian morality, where making a fortune was concerned, in those days. 

 Mr. Mill, after exhibiting without reserve or favour tho errors and 

 vices of Mr. Hastings' administration, thinks it necessary to recom- 

 mend him to the favourable construction of tho reader, on the ground 

 that he " was placed in difficulties and acted on by temptations, such 

 as few public men have been called on to overcome :" and he adds, 

 " It is my firm conviction that if we had the advantage of viewing tho 

 conduct of other men, who have been as much engaged in the conduct 

 of public affairs, a.s completely naked and stripped of all its disguises 

 as his, few of them would be fouud whose character would present a 

 higher claim to indulgence ; in some respects, I think, even to ap- 

 plause. In point of ability he is beyond all question the most eminent 

 of the chief rulers whom the Company have ever employed ; nor is 

 there any of them who would not have succumbed under the diffi- 

 culties which, if he did not overcome, he at any rate sustained. He 

 had no genius, any more than Clive, for schemes of policy, including 

 large views of the post, and large anticipations of the future ; but he 



