ity was not very likely to
prove dangerous. But he wholly misunderstood the character of the
other foes, as important as Francis was unimportant, who were ranged
against him. He made the extraordinary mistake of despising Burke.

Hastings had certain anxieties on his return to England, His first was
caused by his disappointment at not finding his wife in London to greet
him on his arrival, a {276} disappointment that was consoled two days
later when, as he was journeying post-haste to the country to join her,
he met her on Maidenhead Bridge driving in to join him. His second was
the pleasurable anxiety of negotiating for the purchase of Daylesford,
the realization of his youthful dream. He was made a little anxious
too, later on, by the delay in the awarding to him of those honors
which he so confidently expected. But he does not seem to have been
disturbed in any appreciable degree by the formidable preparations
which were being made against him by Burke and Fox and the followers of
Burke and Fox.

It is just possible that those preparations might have come to little
or nothing but for the folly of Major Scott. Major Scott was mad
enough to try and force the hand of the enemies of Hastings by calling
upon Burke and Fox to fix a day for the charges that they were
understood to be prepared to bring against him. Fox immediately rose
to assure Major Scott that the matter was not forgotten. Burke, with
grave composure, added that a general did not take choice of time and
place of battle from his adversaries. It has been suggested that but
for Major Scott's ill-advised zeal the attack might never have come to
a head. But the conclusion is one which it would be rash to draw.
Burke was not the man to forego his long-cherished hope of bringing a
criminal to justice. If he had been inclined to forego it, he was not
the kind of man to be goaded into unwilling resumption of his purpose
by the taunts of Major Scott. It may surely be assumed that the
impeachment of Warren Hastings would have been made even if Major Scott
had been as wise and discreet as he proved himself to be unwise and
indiscreet.

Even when the attack was formally begun, Hastings failed to grasp its
gravity or guess the best mode of meeting it. He insisted upon being
heard at the Bar of the House in his own defence. A man of rare
oratorical ability, gifted with special skill in the selection of his
material and the adjustment of his arguments, mi