Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818
Warren Hastings, British colonial administrator, served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1772–1785. He and Robert Clive are credited with laying the foundation of the British Empire in India. He was an energetic organizer and enforcer, and he led forces of the East India Company against a coalition of native states and the French. Finally, the well-organized British side held its own, while France lost influence in India. In 1787, he was accused of corruption and impeached, but after a long trial acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.
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[Letter from Andrew D. Campbell of Glasgow to Elizabeth Upshur Teackle - May 1, 1800]
Letter from Andrew D. Campbell to Elizabeth Upshur Teackle. He teases her about flirting with boys in Virginia, discusses their shared acquaintances, including Henrietta Liston, wife of the British Prime Minister to the U.S. He talks about his family and the news of the wedding of Elizabeth's cousin Sarah Custis Handy to Ephraim King Wilson. He also talks about the marriage of Anna Teackle Smith to John Donnell of Baltimore and his dislike of her husband. He discusses the death of George Washington: "With you, I grieve for the loss your country has sustained in the death of your great Hero. Few are the ages that produce such characters, but we shall hope, as America is yet in her infancy, that she will produce many who will emulate him. Imagination can hardly picture one to surpass him. It is also a matter of consolation to reflect that he died in the zenith of his glory, in the possession of the noblest faculties of man to his last breath, and without experiencing any of those vicissitudes to which human nature, particularly in the high ranks of life, are so subject. In how few nations do we find men distinguished by their military and political career who retain their honors, as Washington did, while they live." He also mentions his friend, Congressman John Stratton and Henry Parker.