ing his character to be at ftake, ftrenuously contended for the proceeding, and it was taken up as a party mea. fure. Mr Dempfter, the late Colonel Cathcart, Mr Sloper, Mr Nichols, and a few other members, feceded; but the party in general went with Mr Fox. Two years were spent in the House of Commons before the impeachment was voted. The trial lafted fix years in Weftminster Hall, and a feventh in the chamber of Parliament; fo that, if we reckon from 1785, when Mr Burke gave his notice, to 1795, when the acquittal was pronounced, this celebrated trial might vie for duration with the fiege of Troy *. The evidence on this celebrated trial was fummed up by Lord Thur. low with an accuracy and precifion that reflect the higheft honour on that diftinguished character; and his fpeeches contain the beft hiftory of Mr Haftings's administration that has hitherto been published t. This remarkable profecution coft the nation above one hundred thou fand pounds, and the law expences of Mr Haftings amounted to more than fixty thousand pounds; to which, if we add the incidental expences attending it, we may fairly fay, that the trial coft him one hundred thoufand pounds alfo. While it was depending, it had been repeatedly faid in the Houfe, that in the event of his acquittal he had an undoubted right to remuneration from parliament. A petition was accordingly drawn up by him, but the Minifter would not advise his Majesty to agree to its being prefented. A General Court was afterwards called at the India House, and a motion made by Mr Ald. Lushington, prefaced by a very eloquent and energetic fpeech in favour of Mr Haftings. After the * fulleft acknowledgement of his fervices, it was propofed to pay the legal expences of his trial, and to grant him a penfion of five thousand pounds a year for the remainder of the charter. Both motions were carried by confiderable majorities; but doubts were ftarted as to the right of the Company to difpofe of their own money without the confent of the Board of Commiffioners. The great lawyers held different opinions; but the Attorney and Solicitor General were decidely against such a right being vefted in the Company. On this decifion a new motion was brought forward in concert with his Majefty's Minifters, who agreed (without any referrence to the trial,) in confideration of Mr Hattings's public fervices, to grant him a penfion of four thou fand pounds a year for twenty eight years and a half; of this peufion they immediately gave him forty-two thoufand pounds, and lent him in addition fifty thousand pounds. The whole fum voted was one hundred and fourteen thousand pounds, of which they immediately paid him ninety-two thoufand; the remainder he was to receive at the rate of five thousand pounds a year to the clofe of the charter; the other two thoufand pounds were to be ftopped to repay the loan of fifty thoufand pounds, and his eftate was charged with a mortgage for the fum of fourteen thousand pounds, which would be due to the Company when the charter expired. We have given this account, because few have known what fum was really granted to Mr Haftings. There have been various impeachments at different periods of our hifftory; but Mr Haftings is the fift British fubject acquitted after a trial on an accufation preferred by the Quem neque Tydides, nec Lariffæus Achilles, Com VIRGIL. They are to be found in Debrett's Lords Debates for February, March, and April 1795. Commons. There are many inftances of acquittal at the bar of the Houfe of Lords; but in all others they have procec-led from a difference between the two Houfes, as in the cafes of the Whig Lords in the reign of William the Third, and of Lord Oxford in the reign of George the First, and fometimes by the Commons not profecuting. But to the honour of the adminiftration of juftice in this reign, the trial of Mr Haftings was brought to a legal determination without any interference on the part of the Crown, the King's Minifters, or the House of Commons, and by thofe Lords only who had generally attended the trial. Two other circumftances highly honourable to Mr Haftings ought alfo to be mentioned. He was impeached in the name of the people of England, for acts of tyranny, injuftice, and oppreffion, exercifed upon the natives of India. While the trial was yet pending, the natives of India, of all ranks and fects, tranfmitted to the Eaft India Company, through Lord Cornwallis, their full difavowal of the charge, and expreffed their perfect fatisfaction with the conduct of Mr Haftings, and their strong attachment to him. When the intelligence of his acquittal arrived in India, it was received with enthusiastic pleasure. Addreffes of congratulation were tranf. mitted to him by the British fubjects in Calcutta, by the officers of the army, and by all claffes amongst the natives and the event was celebrated by public rejoicings in every part of Bengal. The charge preferred againft him in behalf of the Eaft India Company was alfo difclaimed by that body. He was accufed of having brought upon them great lofs and damage, and of having wantonly wafted their property. Men bred to bufiness reforted to the evidence of figures; they found that Mr Haftings had preferved the British Empire in India entire, had even improved it during a hazardous war, and had added two millions a year to their annual refources. They thought him entitled to applaufe rather than to cenfure, and they returned him their unanimous thanks for his long, faithful, and able service. Prejudice has now fubfided, and England and India proclaim with united rapture their obligations to Mr Haftings. In private life, he is univerfally allowed to be a man of very general knowledge-an excellent Engineer (having practifed that art under the celebrated Mr Robins,) and an Architect. His minutes on military fubjects prove him well qualified to command an army; and that he is an able Financier, and an admirable Lawyer, appears by his "Plans for the Better Administration of Juftice," which have been published. Many fcholars and men of talents have tranflated the celebrated Ode of Horace which begins, “Otium divos rogat," &c. The translation of Mr Haftings is fuperior to them all. He wrote the following lines in Mr Mickle's excellent Verfion of the Lufiad of Camoens, to be inferted at the end of the fpeech of Pacheco : Yet fhrink not, gallant Lufian, nor repine That Man's eternal deftiny is thine; Whene'er fuccefs the advent'rous chief befriends, Fell Malice on his parting fteps attends; On Britain's candidates for fame await, As now on thet, the harsh decrees of Thus are Ambition's fondeft hopes o'er Fate; reach'd, One dies imprifon'd, and one lives impeach'd. THE ANECDOTES OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &C. OF BENGAL. From Stavorinus' Voyages HE Gentoos are divided into various claffes, called cafts, of which, as I have been informed, there are more than seventy Of thefe the caft of the brahmins is the firft and nobleft, and that of the pareas, who are employed in the removal of ordure and earrion, is the loweft and moft defpifed. In order that these cafts may each remain pure, and unmingled with the others, it is enacted, that no Bengalefe fhall marry a woman who is of a lower caft than his own, or if he does fo, he shall then defcend into the caft of his wife. The fame regula-` tion likewife takes place, if any one have eaten a meal with another of an inferior caft, in which cafe he is immediately degraded to the rank of the perfon with whom he has been thus familiar. It is not only in thefe cafes, but in many others, that a man lofes the privileges of his caft; for which reason, they are very careful not to do any thing that may give occafion hereto, and people of the higher orders, will rather fuffer every kind of want, than fubmit to any thing derogatory to their dignity. Every caft has its peculiar means of livelihood, or manual trade, by which they are maintained, and which is inherited from father to fon. They have accordingly opportunities of making great progrefs in their refpective arts, although they can never expect to rise above the station, in which they are born. The fon of a brahmin becomes a priest, or a man of letters, juft as his father. A cooley, or labourer, cultivates the foil, as his anceftors did before him. The son of a berra, or pelankeen bearer, continues to carry pelankeens, all the days of his life. Artificers confine themselves to one fort of work, so that a gold fmith will not work in filver, nor a 3 vols. 8vo, just published. The The artificers are very ingenious, and I have seen several examples, efpecially of gold and filverfmiths, which are fcarcely credible, of the dexterity with which they make every thing that can be formed of those metals: if they have but a proper model, they will imitate it with the greatest exactness and ingenuity. They perform their work with fo much expedition and neatness, and with fo little apparatus, and fo few implements, that an European artist would be aftonished at their fuccess. They are withal very poor. workmen in gold or filver, are frequently only little boys, who fit every day on the bazar, or market, waiting till they are called to exercise their trade: when one of them is called,' he comes to the house, where he is wanted, with his implements, which he carries in a little basket, and which only confift of a very small anvil, a hammer, a pair of pincers, a few files, and a pair of bellews. A chafing-dish, or pan of embers, is then given to him, with a model of what is to be made: and the gold and filver is weighed off to him by rupees: and an agreement is made how many annas, or fixteenth parts of a rupee, according to the work that is to be done, and the trouble required to finish it, agreeable to the pattern, fhall be paid to him: or fometimes an agree ment is made how much he shall earn per day, which feldom exceeds fix or feven ftivers (pence). about his work in the open air, and performs it with dispatch and ingenuity. He employs both hands and feet, and is able to hold, and turn He then fets things about, between his toes and the fole of his foot, as faft as we can with our hands and fingers. When his work is done, and he is rewarded for it, he takes his little basket up a gain, and feats himfelt anew on the market, waiting patiently for another opportunity of exercifing his profeffion. It is the fame cafe with other tradefmen, who are equally fent for home, when any thing is to be done. If fhoes are wanted, a fhoemaker is called from the bazar, who, with the leather, and other requifites, makes four pair of fhoes in a day, for the value of half a crown. A taylor here makes as good and handsome clothes, in the European fashion, both for men and women, as any where in Europe. When a piece of the fineft muflin is torn, they can mend it again so artificially, that no eye can discover where the defect was. Mullins are fometimes wove fo fine, that a piece of twenty yards in length, and longer, can be inclufed in a common pocket tobacco-box. The whole is done with a very trifling apparatus, and Europeans are often furprised to behold the perfection of manufacture, which is exemplified here in almost every handicraft, effected with so few, and fuch imperfect tools. The common people go almoft naked. They wear nothing but a piece of linen, wrapped round the wafte, and paffed between the legs. Some of them wear a piece of linen, wound about the head; but others go bareheaded. Those of a higher rank have a drefs of white cotton, which doubles over before, as high as the fhoulders, and is faftened with ftrings round the middle; these may not be tied on the right fide, to diftinguifh them from the Moguls, or Mahome dans: this dress hangs down to their feet; they wear no ftockings, but have a kind of shoes, which are put on flipfhod, and are turned up before, juft like the Turkish babooches. a Most of them fhave their heads, and eradicate the hair from all other parts of the body. Rich people wear turbans, but made in a different manner from thofe of the Moors. A great many of them wear fmall ear rings. The drefs of the women confifts of piece of cotton-cloth, which is thrown over the fhoulders, and under which they wear a kind of coat and drawers. They support their breasts, and prefs them upward by a piece of linen, which paffes under the arms, and is made faft on the back. Those that can afford it, adorn their hair with gold bodkins, and their arms, legs, and toes, with gold or filver rings and bands, as likewife their ears, and the cartilage of the nose. The women of the lower claffes, wear fimilar ornaments, which are made of cowries (a fhell) brought from the Maldive iflands, and called chanclos, which the Bengalefe have the art of fawing through, fo that every cutting makes a ring; they go bareheaded, and their hair is turned up, and faftened at the back of the head. Rice is the chief article of food of the Hindoos, and ferves them inftead of bread. Vegetables and milk constitute the remainder of their scanty bill of fare. They eat no fish, flesh of animals, or any thing that has received life. They frequently let milk ftand till it is thick and four, before they ufe it; it is then called tayer. Their beverage is generally pure water: they are enemies to every kind of inebriating liquor, and never indulge in the beaftly pleasures of intoxication, as too many other nations do, except fome of the very lowest cafts, who fometimes exceed the bounds of temperance, in drinking a kind of spirits, which they distil from fpoiled rice. With regard to their religion, I could not obtain much particular knowledge farther than what relates to outward ceremonies and rites. Se veral other writers have, however, en. larged on it. I have often converfed on the fubject, with the brahmins, by means of an interpreter, but always found them either very ignorant of or very obftinate in not revealing the principles and tenets of their belief. Whatever they faid was fo wildly ab. furd, and what they alleged at one time, was fo inconfiftent with what they said at another, that I thought very little of it worthy of preferva tion. I could collect, that they believed in a Supreme Being, to whom feveral other deities were fubordinate, of which the Ganges was one of the principal. This fupreme God was the author of all good; but there was another fpirit who violently oppofed the firft, and occafioned all the evils and diftreffes which fall upon mankind. They vent the most horrid Execrations against this evil fpirit, efpecially when it thunders and lightens, which they believe proceeds from him. They pourtray him in the form of a dragon, or ferpent, with four claws, trampled under foot by the beneficent deity, who is painted in a variety of fhapes. They believe in a future ftate, in which every one fhall be rewarded, according to his good or evil deeds in this world; but this is fo blended and confounded with their belief in the tranfmigration of feuls, that I have not been able to form a clear idea of their tenets in this refpect. They fay that the world will have an end, and that the good being, after having deftroyed every thing but the Ganges, will remain, fitting upon a pifangleaf, with two betel-plants by him, floating upon the river, and wrapped up in meditation and enjoyment, for everlasting. Befide others, they have three grand fetivals namely, the festival in honour of the Ganges; the feftival of books, as it is called by the Euro peans; and that of the washings, or purifications The feftival of hooks* (which is the name given to it by the Europeans) is celebrated in the beginning of April. I was not an eyewitnels to it, because I had, at that time, left the Ganges: but the following account was given to me, by people worthy of credit. At the top of a high ftake erected for this purpose, a crofs piece of wood of thirty feet in length, is laid, which turns round upon an iron pin. A Bengalefe, who is confecrated to this folemnity, by one of the chief brahmins, then has a great iron hook run into his body, under the ribs, over which a piece of cloth, or girdle, is ftifly bound, to prevent the tearing through of the flesh. The hook is faftened by a fhort cord, to one end of the cross beam, and a longer cord is fixed to the other, by which it is turned round with rapidity, feveral times, by the people who are prefent, while the man who undergoes the penance, and who hangs by the hook at the other end of the cross beam, in the air, ftrews ground rice, or flowers, upon the people below, which they catch and preferve as facred relics. After having been whirled round for fome time, he is taken down, the hook taken out of his body, and the wound is cured as foon as poffible. Others, out of a fuperftitious zeal, run iron pegs through their tongues, fome that are as thick as a finger, which they keep in that fituation, and carry about with them wherever they go, as long as the feftival lafts. Some make two openings, one on each fide, through which they pass ropes, which are ftretched tight at either end, and along which they run backward and forward. Several fuffer themfelves to be crushed to death, under the broad wheels of a lofty machine, which is made for the purpose: and being filled with * Called by the Hindoos, the feftival of Oppofs. It is fuppofed to be kept in commemoration of a martyr, who fuffered extraordinary tortures for the fake of his faith. |