The reputation of Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India from 1772 to 1785, has passed through tremendous vicissitudes. Thousands of educated persons both in England and India are filled with indignation when they read of his atrocious acts, the judicial murder of Nand Kumar, the extermination of the Rohillas and the plunder of the Begums. Sir John Strachey, who passed several years of his Indian Civil Service in the Province of Rohilkhand had the chance of making personal investigations against the worst of Hastings crimes, i.e. the ex­termination of the Rohillas. He writes in this...