III.

Return to Britain

Many liberals in England feared Hastings's growing power, and in 1784 Parliament passed a bill abolishing the political autonomy of the East India Co. in India. Hastings felt he could not work under the divided authority of the company and the Crown, and he resigned as governor-general. After his return to Britain he became the victim of a long political struggle between Parliament and the East India Co. for control of the government of India. In 1788 he was brought to trial by a parliamentary group, led by his personal enemy and former colleague on the governing council, Sir Philip Francis; the two men had previously fought a duel. Hastings was charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, accusations based largely on his confiscation of property and money while in office. The trial, at which the statesman Edmund Burke delivered a celebrated oration for the prosecution, lasted seven years; in 1795 Hastings was completely exonerated, but his fortune had been depleted by the cost of his defense. Hastings spent the rest of his life in retirement in England; after 1804 he accepted a pension from the East India Co. He died in Daylesford, Worcestershire, on August 22, 1818.