e. It
is to be observed that the Governor-General states, "that the dispatch
of the 'Lively' had been protracted from time to time; that this delay
was of no public consequence; but that it produced a situation which
with respect to himself he regarded as unfortunate, because it exposed
him to the meanest imputations, from the occasion which the late
Parliamentary inquiries have since furnished, but which were unknown
when his letter was written." If the Governor-General thought his
silence exposed him to the _meanest imputations_, he had the means in
his own power of avoiding those imputations: he might have sent this
letter, dated the 22d May, by the Resolution. For we find, that, in a
letter from Captain Poynting, of the 26th May, he states it not possible
for him to proceed to sea with the smallest degree of safety without a
supply of anchors and cables, and most earnestly requests they may be
supplied from Calcutta; and on the 28th May we find a minute from the
Secretary of the Council, Mr. Auriol, requesting an order of Council to
the master-attendant to furnish a sloop to carry down those cables;
which order was accordingly issued on the 30th May. There requires no
other proof to show that the Governor-General had the means of sending
this letter seven days after he wrote it, instead of delaying it for
near seven months, and because no conveyance had offered. Your Committee
must also remark, that the conveyance by land to Madras was certain; and
whilst such important operations were carrying on, both by sea and land,
upon the coast, that dispatches would be sent to the Admiralty or to the
Company was highly probable.

If the letter of the 22d May had been found in the list of packets sent
by the Resolution, the Governor General would have established in a
satisfactory manner, and far beyond the effect of any affidavit, that
the letter had been written at the time of the date. It appears that the
Resolution, being on her voyage to England, met with so severe a gale of
wind as to be obliged to put back to Bengal, and to unload her cargo.
This event makes no difference in the state of the transaction. Whatever
the cause of these new discoveries might have been, at the time of
sending them the fact of the Parliamentary inquiry was publicly known.

In the letter of the above date Mr. Hastings laments the mortification
of being reduced to take precautions "to guard his reputation from
dishonor."--"If I had," says he,