Dawning of the Raj: The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings [Hardcover]

Jeremy Bernstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2000

Nothing in the history of empire is stranger than the creation of British rule in India, when a small European island became master of a subcontinent ranging from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayas. In the late eighteenth century the person most responsible for this was Warren Hastings, Britain's first governor-general of India. In Dawning of the Raj, Jeremy Bernstein brings to life in vivid colors Hastings's story amidst the rise of British power. Orphaned early, Hastings worked his way up from the lowest clerk in the East India Company to its highest office in India. His concern for native cultures led him to sponsor the first British expedition to Tibet and the first translation into English of the Bhagavadgita. Brilliant and autocratic, he also made enemies, and upon his return to England they charged him with "high crimes and misdemeanors." His impeachment trial, one of the great spectacles of the age, lasted seven years and pitted Hastings against the likes of Edmund Burke and the playwright Richard Sheridan. It attracted the novelist Fanny Burney, who wrote of it with passion in her Journals. This parliamentary drama, replete with the trappings of state, forms the conclusion to Mr. Bernstein's fascinating, unusual, and completely captivating narrative. With 22 black-and-white illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed biographer Bernstein (Albert Einstein and the Frontiers of Physics) looks at the history behind the impeachment trial of the 18th century--a trial that lasted seven years, involved some of the epoch's greatest figures (Edmund Burke, Richard Sheridan) and ended in acquittal. At the center of these events was the colonialist Warren Hastings--India's first British governor-general. Hastings, Bernstein claims in this descriptive account, was the man responsible for planting the seeds of the British Empire in India. A brilliant, intellectually curious man, Hastings ruled India arrogantly, efficiently and by personal decree; he set up a postal service, sponsored a geographical survey of India's vast regions, unified the currency system, sponsored a diplomatic mission to Tibet and encouraged the codification of Indian law. But he served two demanding, and often contradictory, masters: the British East India Company and the British government. When, in the late 18th century, the East India Company sent "Company men," such as Philip Francis, overseas, most of them believed Hastings was an autocrat who needed to be reined in. That's when Hastings's troubles began. Drawing on his powerful friends back in Europe, Francis began a successful campaign to besmirch Hastings's reputation, and when Hastings returned home in 1785, he was charged with taking bribes, profiteering and genocide. Although occasionally lacking in narrative focus, this thoroughly researched, rich chronicle recalls an important chapter of European history, providing a fresh perspective on the roots of the British Empire and the labyrinthine politics of late-18th-century Britain. B&w photos. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

As the "jewel in the crown" of the British empire, India naturally produced a large share of imperial demigods, including Clive, Havelock, and Napier. Hastings certainly merits a place at or near the top of the list. As the first governor-general of British India, he reformed revenue administration, replaced personal whims with the rule of law in the judicial system, and defeated the Mahrattas to guarantee British control of western and central India. Yet his public career ended in ignominy when he was charged with various acts of administrative extortion and impeached in London. His trial lasted seven years, and although acquitted, Hastings was ruined financially. Bernstein is a theoretical physicist who has traveled in and written extensively about the Indian subcontinent. He views Hastings as an immensely gifted but flawed man whose strength of personality eventually led to his downfall. His recounting of the trial captures both the sensational and tragic aspects of an ordeal that ranged from high drama to farce. This is an absorbing and stimulating biography that effectively captures both the man and his era. Jay Freeman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; 1ST edition (March 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566632811
• ISBN-13: 978-1566632812
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting miscellany, not a successful biography, April 21, 2005

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dawning of the Raj: The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings (Hardcover)

Most of this book is interesting, but it is very cursory either as a biography of Warren Hastings or as a history of the beginning of the Raj. It contains a lot of marginally relevant information that I enjoyed reading, but which doesn't contribute enough towards the alleged main purpose of the book to explain the number of pages devoted to it. If this were an exhaustive multi-volume work, I might understand why it includes so much information on George Bogle, Robert Oppenheimer and Fanny Burney, but as it is, the biographical information on Hastings is skimpy and some of it is repetitive. There are two somewhat contradictory stories of one duel, separated by a number of pages without any apparent recognition that they don't quite fit together.

The book opens with a chapter on Bogle's trip to Tibet at the direction of Hastings. This shows something about Hastings' activities in India and his breadth of mind, but Bernstein carefully chronicles Bogle's childhood, family, etc., in a surprising amount of detail. Intriguing, but not precisely part of the main story.

Hasting's early life is chronicled in appropriate detail, but once he reaches adulthood, I am baffled as to exactly what he did and why he was made Governor-General. The story moves in a series of brief hops from Hastings' first employment to India quickly to his quarrels during his administration with other members of the Company. There is very little detail in between. Bernstein chronicles the events that would figure in his trial, but I am left with no coherent picture of Hastings' tenure nor his significance in the shift from the East India Tea Company's dealings with India to the official takeover by the British government. I found most of these chapters rather dull because I could make little sense of them. Were Hastings' activities actually important in the shift, or was he, as Bernstein seems to suggest in his discussion of the trials, simply seized upon as a pawn to pursue political ends that had little to do with him as an individual?

Fanny Burney seems to occupy more of the book that Mrs. Hastings or Eliza Hitchcock, Hasting's goddaughter and supposed illegitimate daughter, who had a continuing relationship with him. I have learned far more about the latter from biographies of Jane Austen, Eliza's cousin and sister-in-law. Burney's life is carefully explained in unnecessary, though enjoyable detail. It is interesting that she wrote about the trial, but why this requires more than a passing reference is beyond me.

Bernstein compares the treatment of Hastings to the travails of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Why, I am not sure. I am an American, and 52; frankly, while I have heard a great deal about Oppenheimer and the atom bomb, I was totally unaware of his problems with Congress. They occurred when I was a small child. If Bernstein thinks that he is illuminating Hastings' situation by comparing it with Oppenheimer's, I believe that he is mistaken: I don't think that enough people are aware of the details of the latter case. Perhaps Bernstein thinks that we ought to be more knowledgeable, but that's another book. (And that book would be American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.)

The explanation of the trial itself is interesting, especially for its essential pointlessness. Bernstein seems oddly puzzled that after four years, Hastings changed his mind about how he would like the trial conducted - I think it was obvious, Hastings wanted to get it over with! The trial was conducted in small installments over a period of seven years with the result that very few of the Lords determining Hastings' fate had heard all the evidence. I read this part and the epilogue on his latter years with great interest.

I can't say reading the book was a waste of time: there was a lot of interesting material. It was a disappointment as a biography, however, which was why I wanted to read it.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical treatise that reads as smoothly as a great novel., August 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dawning of the Raj: The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings (Hardcover)

The life and trials of Warren Hastings are followed in this story of early British rule in India, recommended for students of India history and for those researching early legal issues. Dawning of the Raj reads like a novel at times but is packed with facts about the trials of Warren Hastings, following the man's life and achievements.