not absolutely refuse the charge, was desirous to rid himself of it as soon as possible. Dr. Nichols made strong remonstrances against the cruelty of interrupting the studies of a youth who seemed likely to be one of the first scholars of the age. He even 5 offered to bear the expense of sending his favourite pupil to Oxford. But Mr. Chiswick was inflexible. He thought the years which had already been wasted on hexameters and pentameters quite sufficient. He had it in his power to obtain for the lad a writership 10 in the service of the East India Company. Whether the young adventurer, when once shipped off, made a fortune, or died of a liver complaint, he equally ceased to be a burden to anybody. Warren was accordingly removed from Westminster school, and placed for a 15 few months at a commercial academy, to study arithmetic and book-keeping. In January, 1750, a few days after he had completed his seventeenth year, he sailed for Bengal, and arrived at his destination in the October following.

He was immediately placed at a desk in the secretary's office at Calcutta, and laboured there during two years. Fort William 2 was then purely a commercial settlement. In the south of India the en

1 East India Company.-Founded in 1600 as a purely commercial body trading with India. It gradually became a governing power, and acquired vast territories, until in 1857 it was dissolved and all its lands became part of British possessions.

2 Fort William.-A strong fortress built to protect the town of Calcutta.

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croaching policy of Dupleix1 had transformed the servants of the English company, against their will, into diplomatists and generals. The war of the succession was raging in the Carnatic; and the tide had 5 been suddenly turned against the French by the genius of young Robert Clive.2 But in Bengal the European settlers, at peace with the natives and with each other, were wholly occupied with ledgers and bills of lading.

After two years passed in keeping accounts at CalIO cutta, Hastings was sent up the country to Cossimbazar, a town which lies on the Hoogley, about a mile from Moorshedabad, and which then bore to Moorshedabad a relation, if we may compare small things with great, such as the city of London bears to West15 minster. Moorshedabad was the abode of the prince who, by an authority ostensibly derived from the Mogul, but really independent, ruled the three great

1 Dupleix, Joseph.-A scheming French merchant, who long succeeded in upholding the interests of France in Southern India. His influence gave way before that of Clive, and he was recalled to France in disgrace. This paragraph is a brief summary of a large part of Macaulay's Essay on Clive.

2 Clive, Robert (1725-1774), went, like Hastings, to India as a clerk, but became a brilliant soldier, gaining victories over the French at Arcot and Trichinopoly, and over Surajah Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal, in the battle of Plassey, 1757. This last victory punished Surajah Dowlah for the atrocities of the Black Hole of Calcutta, for which he was responsible. Clive was created a peer, but on his return to England in 1767 was charged before the House of Commons with high crimes and misdemeanours. These charges, though not proved, preyed on his mind so much that he committed suicide in 1774.

3 The Mogul was the sovereign of the Empire of Hindostan, the capital of which was Delhi. This line was founded by Baber in

provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. At Moorshedabad were the court, the harem, and the public offices. Cossimbazar was a port and a place of trade, renowned for the quantity and excellence of the silks which were sold in its marts, and constantly receiving 5 and sending forth fleets of richly laden barges. At this important point, the Company had established a small factory subordinate to that of Fort William. Here, during several years, Hastings was employed in making bargains for stuffs with native brokers. 10 While he was thus engaged, Surajah Dowlah succeeded to the government, and declared war against the English.

The defenceless settlement of Cossimbazar, lying close to the tyrant's capital, was instantly seized. Hastings was sent a prisoner to Moorsheda- 15 bad, but, in consequence of the humane intervention of the servants of the Dutch Company, was treated with indulgence. Meanwhile the Nabob marched on Calcutta; the governor and the commandant fled; the town and citadel were taken, and most of the 20 English prisoners perished in the Black Hole.

In these events originated the greatness of Warren Hastings. The fugitive governor and his companions had taken refuge on the dreary islet of Fulda, near

1526, and reached its highest fame under Aurungzebe (d. 1707), and became extinct in 1857. Their power began to decline in the eighteenth century; they were attacked on all sides by Afghans, Rajpoots, and Mahrattas, and their supremacy was utterly broken. It was this disintegrated state of government that gave Clive and Hastings their opportunity of bringing large provinces under English rule.

the mouth of the Hoogley. They were naturally desirous to obtain full information respecting the proceedings of the Nabob; and no person seemed so likely to furnish it as Hastings, who was a prisoner at 5 large in the immediate neighbourhood of the court. He thus became a diplomatic agent, and soon established a high character for ability and resolution. The treason which at a later period was fatal to Surajah Dowlah was already in progress; and Hastings Io was admitted to the deliberations of the conspirators. But the time for striking had not arrived. It was necessary to postpone the execution of the design; and Hastings, who was now in extreme peril, fled to Fulda.

15 Soon after his arrival at Fulda, the expedition from Madras, commanded by Clive, appeared in the Hoogley. Warren, young, intrepid, and excited probably by the example of the Commander of the Forces who, having like himself been a mercantile agent of the 20 Company, had been turned by public calamities into

a soldier, determined to serve in the ranks. During the early operations of the war he carried a musket. But the quick eye of Clive soon perceived that the head of the young volunteer would be more useful 25 than his arm. When, after the battle of Plassey, Meer Jaffier was proclaimed Nabob of Bengal, Hastings was appointed to reside at the court of the new prince as agent for the Company.

He remained at Moorshedabad till the year 1761,

when he became a member of Council, and was consequently forced to reside at Calcutta. This was during the interval between Clive's first and second administration, an interval which has left on the fame of the East India Company a stain, not wholly effaced 5 by many years of just and humane government. Mr. Vansittart, the Governor, was at the head of a new and anomalous empire. On one side was a band of English functionaries, daring, intelligent, eager to be rich. On the other side was a great native popula- 10 tion, helpless, timid, accustomed to crouch under oppression. To keep the stronger race from preying on the weaker, was an undertaking which tasked to the utmost the talents and energy of Clive. Vansittart, with fair intentions, was a feeble and inefficient 15 ruler. The master caste, as was natural, broke loose from all restraint; and then was seen what we believe to be the most frightful of all spectacles, the strength of civilisation without its mercy. To all other despotism there is a check, imperfect indeed, and liable to 201 gross abuse, but still sufficient to preserve society from the last extreme of misery. A time comes when the evils of submission are obviously greater than those of resistance, when fear itself begets a sort of courage, when a convulsive burst of popular rage and despair 25 warns tyrants not to presume too far on the patience of mankind. But against misgovernment such as then afflicted Bengal it was impossible to struggle. The superior intelligence and energy of the dominant