the immediate neighborhood 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 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.

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 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 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 by many years of just and humane government. Mr.
Vansittart, the Governor, was at the head of a new and anomalous empire.
On the one side was a band of English functionaries, daring,
intelligent, eager to be rich. On the other side was a great native
population, 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 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 civilization without its mercy. To all other despotism there is a
check, imperfect indeed, and liable to 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 cou