Bengal army. Swords of honour were bestowed on Pearse and two of his officers; and the Colonel, whom Hastings was 'proud to call his friend,' was requested publicly to thank his officers and men for their past services. Nor were Goddard's soldiers forgotten. Every Sepoy who had served in Southern or Western India received a medal, and to every soldier, white or black, in either army was granted an increase of his monthly pay[1].
In the last year of his rule Hastings had helped to found the Asiatic Society, whose first President was Sir William Jones, the next Chief Justice of Bengal. Warren Hastings was the first Englishman who persuaded the Pandits of Benares to unlock the treasures of Sanskrit literature, and to aid him in codifying the Hindu laws. He encouraged scholars like Halhed, Anderson, and Hamilton, to translate and arrange the current law-books, Hindu and Muhammadan. Of art, as well as science and learning, he showed himself a liberal and discerning patron. Imhoff was but the first of several painters for whom his bounty or his influence secured a lucrative career in the East. Zoffany painted his 'Last Supper' for the new church of St. John in Calcutta, the first stone of which was laid by Wheler, as Hastings' deputy, in April, 1784[2].
The last few weeks of his stay in India were spent in working up all arrears of public business, in
