Nathaniel Brassey Halhed - The Bengal Squad

The Bengal Squad

The group that followed Hastings to England consisted of Halhed, David Anderson, Major William Sands, Colonel Sweeney Toone, Dr. Clement Francis, Captain Jonathan Scott, John Shore, Lieutenant Col. William Popham, Sir John d'Oyly and was known as the Bengal Squad. Halhed arrived in England on 18 June. As Hastings had rightly assumed, troubles in England had only taken a backseat and they came back with a greater immensity to Hastings. Burke brought twenty-two charges against Hastings in April, 1786 and Halhed was in the middle of it, his reputation and wealth suffering along his former patron.The Benares charge for which Halhed had drafted the answer was not in accord with Hastings' line of defense and had to be dropped causing Halhed to become unpopular and ridiculed. He also slipped up at least one of Hastings' shady accounts when he was called in to testify and this too added to the charges brought against Hastings.

Soon Halhed began to look for a parliamentary career. His vehement opposition of Burke, Fox and his erstwhile friend, Sheridan, who were enemies of Hastings, made him one of the Tories and he sought election to parliament which failed miserably and cost him a great deal. He succeeded in acquiring a seat in May, 1791 from the borough of Lymington, Hants. Halhed's return from India was a severe blow since he could no longer pursue his Oriental interests without the aid of the pundits. In the decade of Hastings' impeachment, Halhed remained entangled in the war of pamphlets and could indulge in a few Persian manuscripts that offered second-grade translation of the original Sanskrit works. Among his translated works the Upanisad (1787) which was based on Dara Shiko's Persian translation happens to stand out. Slowly but surely, Halhed's vigor waned being so far removed from India and the lack of appreciation in England for his Oriental works and contempt for being a returned Nabob, an agent of an Indian Prince, and a Hastings' man.