Warren Hastings Recalled from India

1785

Bengal's brilliant, controversial governor-general returned to England after thirteen years. He faced impeachment in the Lords for crimes of extortion and cruelty. The trial, opened by Burke and Sheridan, would drag on for seven years and become the empire's conscience on public display. Hastings was acquitted, and exhausted. The proceeding established the principle that British officials in India could be held accountable at home for their conduct abroad.