§ EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTONMy Lords, I rise to ask the First Commissioner of Works the Question which stands in my name on the Paper—namely, whether he will consider the desirability of adding to the commemorative tablets on the floor of Westminster Hall a tablet designating the spot on which Warren Hastings stood for his trial. Those of your Lordships who pass through Westminster Hall on your way to and from the debates of this House will no doubt have noticed that four incidents or persons are commemorated by brass tablets let into the pavement of the Hall. Two of these tablets mark the spots where rested the bodies of King Edward VII and of the late Mr. Gladstone on their way to their final interment. The two other tablets denote the spots where King Charles I and Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford, stood for their trial. I venture to think that Warren Hastings deserves equally to be commemorated with those illustrious and ill-fated men. He was more fortunate than they in the issue of his trial in Westminster Hall, but he shared with them the distinction of being one of the most remarkable, and I think even the most pathetic, figures in English history. I cannot say that his countrymen were over grateful to him in his lifetime or that they showed any excessive feeling upon his death, and I believe that the bust of him in Westminster Abbey, which I fancy is the solitary public memorial to that great man, was the gift, not of his admiring countrymen or of a grateful Government, but only of a sorrowing and devoted wife. I think, therefore, if the noble Earl can see his way to answer my suggestion in the affirmative, he will not merely be commemorating one of the most famous episodes in our history, although it is one that does not do us much honour, but he will also be offering a tardy reparation to a great and singularly ill-treated Englishman.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPMy Lords, I shall be very glad indeed to comply with the suggestion of the noble Earl and put such a commemorative tablet as he suggests upon the floor of Westminster Hall. I hope that he will allow me to consult with him privately as to the exact spot on which Hastings stood for his trial in order that we may make no mistake in this matter and may mark the exact spot. I think your Lordships will all agree that the importance of the occasion fully justifies the tablet which we propose to place in Westminster Hall.