ABSTRACT
Edmund Burke's long study and plea on behalf of India show him at his very greatest. And this is completely aside from the obvious historical importance—aside from the fact that this spectacular, thorough airing of the whole matter was slowly, over generations, to leave its effect. It is also despite the two facts that Warren Hastings himself, to begin with, was being made a scapegoat, and also that this huge mass of material is inevitably dated and is far too detailed to arouse much interest. For, first, simply as a sheer feat of mind, this tour de force of Burke is unrivalled in its own way, and compels unqualified admiration. Secondly, this assimilative power is constantly fed by a moral and imaginative vision that is richly meshed with fact and freighted with concreteness. Above all, there is the appeal of Burke's sense of process and time.
