Nathaniel Brassey Halhed - War of The Pamphlets

War of The Pamphlets

Halhed soon took residence in Holland and later in London. Even though he had ceased being an employee of the East India Company he continued to be an ally and the protégé of Hastings and advocated his policies while, conversely, attacked those who sought to defame Hastings or criticise him. His first undertaking to this end was an anonymous tract in 1779 in defense of Hastings' policies with respect to the Maratha War. Being away from his former patron did not lead to an estrangement but to an intimacy which would not have been becoming while working under Hastings. Very soon he began to write poetry expressing his persisting fidelity and admiration for the governor. On 8 June 1782, in imitation of Horace's Ode in praise of Augustus, he proclaimed:

What thanks, O Hastings, from the Chair,

What ballot of impartial names,

What vote of Commons shall declare

The meed exerted virtue claims.

Soon Halhed began to write more for Hastings' cause and became intently involved in Indian politics. Under the pseudonym of "Detector" he wrote a series of open letters that appeared in the daily papers, as separate pamphlets and grouped into collections. These letters span over a year, from October, 1782 to November, 1783.