different person, a major in the
Bengal army, named Scott. This gentleman had been sent over from India
some time before as the agent of the Governor-General. It was rumored
that his services were rewarded with Oriental munificence; and we
believe that he received much more than Hastings could conveniently
spare. The Major obtained a seat in Parliament, and was there regarded
as the organ of his employer. It was evidently impossible that a
gentleman so situated could speak with the authority which belongs to an
independent position. Nor had the agent of Hastings the talents
necessary for obtaining the ear of an assembly which, accustomed to
listen to great orators, had naturally become fastidious. He was always
on his legs; he was very tedious; and he had only one topic, the merits
and wrongs of Hastings. Everybody who knows the House of Commons will
easily guess what followed. The Major was soon considered as the
greatest bore of his time. His exertions were not confined to
Parliament. There was hardly a day on which the newspapers did not
contain some puff upon Hastings, signed Asiaticus or Bengalensis, but
known to be written by the indefatigable Scott; and hardly a month in
which some bulky pamphlet on the same subject, and from the same pen,
did not pass to the trunk-makers and the pastry-cooks. As to this
gentleman's capacity for conducting a delicate question through
Parliament, our readers will want no evidence beyond that which they
will find in letters preserved in these volumes. We will give a single
specimen of his temper and judgment. He designated the greatest man
then living as "that reptile Mr. Burke."

In spite, however, of this unfortunate choice, the general aspect of
affairs was favorable to Hastings. The King was on his side. The Company
and its servants were zealous in his cause. Among public men he had many
ardent friends. Such were Lord Mansfield, who had outlived the vigor of
his body, but not that of his mind; and Lord Lansdowne, who, though
unconnected with any party, retained the importance which belongs to
great talents and knowledge. The ministers were generally believed to be
favorable to the late Governor-General. They owed their power to the
clamor which had been raised against Mr. Fox's East India Bill. The
authors of that bill, when accused of invading vested rights, and of
setting up powers unknown to the Constitution, had defended themselves
by pointing to the crimes of Hastings, and