Warren Hastings

This illustrious lady, mother of the late Emperor of Germany, was two years younger than Metternich, but he had known her from childhood, for her grandmother, by whom she had been brought up at Darmstadt, had been on intimate terms with his mother.

from the university of mayence metternich proceeded first to coblentz and then to brussels in the university of which city he became a student but his occupations at this period would seem to have been of a very desultory character the french armies were invading the low countries and metternich relates that his studies were interrupted by having to pass to and fro between brussels and the austrian army sometimes with commissions from his father sometimes to see his friends in this manner visiting also the scenes of military operations he passed the winter of seventeen ninety three and four in the beginning of the latter year he accompanied the chief treasurer of the netherlands government on a mission to london there not only was he received by the king with unusual kindness and appability but he came to know personally william pitt fox burke sheridan grey and other leading men he frequented the sittings of parliament and followed with the deepest interest the trial of warren hastings he adds i endeavoured to acquaint myself thoroughly with the mechanism of the parliament and this was not without use in my subsequent career Amongst those with whom he became intimate was the Prince of Wales, one of the handsomest men I ever saw, and of whose abilities he formed a high opinion.

Whilst in London, the young diplomatist received from his court his nomination to the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at The Hague.

the passage to the continent was difficult as a french fleet was in the channel metternich proceeded then with the sanction of the king to see the english fleet which had assembled at portsmouth to sail under admiral soon to become lord howe against the enemy the sight of this fleet and of a large convoy of merchant ships under its wing from the top of the hill behind cowes on which metternich had posted himself was he relates the most beautiful sight i have ever seen i might say indeed the most beautiful that human eyes have ever beheld so impressed was he that he requested the admiral to allow him to remain on board his ship to see the impending fight but the admiral would not two days later was fought the famous battle of the first of june The journey of Metternich to the continent was accompanied by many circumstances attended with danger, but he finally reached Holland, visited Amsterdam, part of North Holland and The Hague, and thence proceeded to the lower Rhine to take up his post, the French armies having rendered a prolonged stay in the Netherlands impossible.

So this is a completely different attitude toward colonization, and it can be understood as a sort of historical ambivalence.

I'd actually like to pause over an example of what you might call the Warren Hastings moment, a vicious example, although an absolutely fascinating one, in the disturbing masterpiece by John Ford called The Searchers.

I hope some of you at least know that film.

The John Wayne character is a kind of lone stranger, which is of course not infrequent in the Western, who shows up at the house of some relatives and hears that a daughter has been abducted by the Native Americans, by the Indians.

We have to acknowledge that there's quite a bit of information.

at this person's disposal, and all of that is borne out in the characterization of John Wayne in this film.

Warren Hastings was a lot like that.

Warren Hastings knew everything about people whom he ultimately didn't really respect and whom he insisted on ruling with the iron fist of authority.

It's so expensive to pay someone to just sort of sit there and, as you say, just get tiny bits of something through.

And in terms of there always being courtroom fascination, I was going back and looking at sort of things in history, and Willie Dalrymple's book, The Anarchy, about the East India Company, there's really interesting stuff about the trial of, like, Clive of India and Warren Hastings, who was a Bengal gov- governor.

That was in the 18th century.

Used to play rugby for Scotland.

Wilkes found supporters in the great orator Edmund Burke, then not far from the commencement of his parliamentary career, and in Grenville, who recognised that he had been expelled for accumulative crimes.

The letters of the bitter satirist who hid under the name of Junius, footnote, this clever but virulent writer was probably Philip Francis, afterwards known as the enemy of Warren Hastings, and footnote, kept appearing all through the year 1769, and castigated the ministers with unsurpassed virulence.

Wilkes was at once recognised as the representative of all the discontent against the governmental system.

A grave constitutional struggle began, and Wilkes, from a mere demagogue, became the upholder of the rights of constituencies to choose their own representatives.

This costly struggle against the first able native prince with whom the East India Company had to deal shook the whole fabric of Indian government, and the directors found bankruptcy imminent.

The ministers, supported by public opinion, were convinced that a commercial company was unable to govern a great country successfully, and in 1773 the Regulating Act was passed.

By it the government of India was virtually placed in the hands of the ministers of the Crown, and Warren Hastings was created the first Governor-General.

The same year saw the acquittal of Clive from charges of violence and rapacity during his second governorship in Bengal, followed in 1774 by his melancholy death by his own hand.

Attempts to subvert the Constitution may not be treason as above defined.

Warren Hastings, the governor-general of British India, whose impeachment for the oppressions of his administration had opened in London that very year, and whose name needed no explanation in the room.

George Mason moved to add after bribery the words of maladministration, and Gerry seconded him.

Madison killed the vote in a single sentence.

Wilkes found supporters in the great orator Edmund Burke, then not far from the commencement of his parliamentary career and in Grenville who recognised that he had been expelled for accumulative crimes.

The letters of the bitter satirist who hid under the name of Junius, footnote, this clever but virulent writer was probably Philip Francis afterwards known as the enemy of Warren Hastings and footnote, kept appearing all through the year 1769 and castigated the ministers with unsurpassed virulence.

Wilkes was at once recognised as the representative of all the discontent against the governmental system.

A grave constitutional struggle began and Wilkes from a mere demagogue became the upholder of the rights of constituencies to choose their own representatives.

This costly struggle against the first able native prince with whom the East India Company had to deal shook the whole fabric of Indian government, and the directors found bankruptcy imminent.

The ministers, supported by public opinion, were convinced that a commercial company was unable to govern a great country successfully, and in 1773 the Regulating Act was passed.

By it the government of India was virtually placed in the hands of the ministers of the Crown, and Warren Hastings was created the first Governor-General.

The same year saw the acquittal of Clive from charges of violence and rapacity during his second governorship in Bengal, followed in 1774 by his melancholy death by his own hand.

There's a famous, uh, line, uh, in the introduction to his famous book, Reflections on the French Revolution, where he says, uh, "For some people, circumstances amount to nothing when in fact they're what give principles their particular hue and color." So he took, uh, circumstances very seriously.

Similarly, i- in his, uh, prosecution of Warren Hastings, who was, uh, governor general of India, he said, you know, things like, uh, uh, "This man, uh, is insensitive to the norms of this other country.

Uh, and, uh, that's why, uh, he prosecutes them," or, "That's why he, he deserves to be prosecuted."

prosecuted."You're listening to Philosophy Talk.