25 JANUARY 1930, Page 29

Dr. Sophia Weitzman has made an important contribution to eighteenth-century

history of British India in her Warren Hastings and Philip Francis (Manchester University Press, 25s.). She is not worldly-wise, perhaps, in admitting that her book has grown out of a Ph.D. thesis, but she has succeeded in humanizing the academic touch without diminishing the value of her research. Professor Ramsay Muir tells us that her work is " one of the most valuable contributions that have been made for a long time to the rise of the British power in India," and we agree. It has taken long to uncover the great figure of Warren Hastings from the mountains of rubbish talked at his impeachment. It would be a fascinating "If" of history to think what that great man would have made of India if he had been given a fair chance by ignorant Whig politicians at home. * * * *