Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1913 — Long Time on His Feet. [ARTICLE]

Long Time on His Feet.

Few if any of the Inscriptions on commemorative tablets at Westminster have escaped criticism or challenge on some point of detail. But what shall be said of the astounding statement on the bronze plate placed in the floor of Westminster hall recently f It reads: On this spot Warren Hastings Stood for His Trial 1788—1795, No wonder that the great governor

general was weary of the business at the end of those seven years I The fact, of course, is that the opening scenes of the impeachment familiar to everybody through Macaulay’s purple patch were enacted in Westminster hall, and presumably Hastings stood during part of the time. Apart from the historic tradition, the use of the great hall was necessary because the commons claimed the right of full attendance as a committee of the whole bouse. The prolonged business of the trial, however

(lasting in all 145 dayß), went forward year after year in the house of lords, the great hall being requisitioned once again when the lords delivered Judgment on April 23, 1795. It is odd that Lord Curzon, the prime mover in the affair of the tablet, a stickler for eplgraphic accuracy, should have permitted so ludicrous an inscription to have gone through.