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While staying in London with her aunt Philadelphia Hancock and cousin Eliza, Philadelphia Walter attends the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings, the former governor-general in India. He is Eliza’s godfather and benefactor. Philadelphia compares the speakers for her brother James and makes clear that the family wishes Hastings well. This extract records her loyalties, not a judgement on the charges against him.
and sat from ten till four, completely tired; but I had the satisfaction of hearing all the celebrated orators—Sheridan, Burke, and Fox. The first was so low we could not hear him, the second so hot and hasty we could not understand, the third was highly superior to either, as we could distinguish every word, but not to our satisfaction, as he is so much against Mr. Hastings whom we all wish so well.
Austen Papers, p. 129 heads the fuller extract “Philadelphia Walter to James Walter” and dates it 21 April 1788. The trial is Warren Hastings’s impeachment. This passage starts mid-sentence because the biography has already explained the visit; it is neither a complete letter nor a neutral account of the proceedings.
Extract from Life and Letters (1913), p. 41.
