HASTINGS (Warren, 1732-1818, Governor-General of India)

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir William BEECHEY (1753-1839, Portrait Painter, R.A.) telling him that "With great reluctance I feel myself compelled to break my engagement with you for this morning, as I came home from a great feast at a late hour last night, and am not in a condition of health fit for a sitting; and I pray your forgiveness, I have resolved to prolong my departure another day ... & shall be much obliged if you will give me an hour for my last sitting in any portion of tomorrow ...", with a note in another hand that he was at an East India Company Dinner, 1 side 8vo., with integral autograph address leaf, Sunday Morning, July

Warren Hastings was impeached on the grounds of corruption and cruelty in his Indian Administration. This trial of 145 days ended with his acquittal but cost him £70,000 and ruined him financially. The East India Company granted him a pension and he lived the rest of his life in Worcestershire.

Item Date:  1814

Stock No:  38820