f his being confirmed in his
government_," is tantamount to a declaration "_that he will not continue
in his government, unless those conditions can be obtained_." And the
said attempt at prevarication can serve, its author the less, as either
both sentences have one and the same meaning, or, if their meaning be
different, the original instructions in his own handwriting, or, in
other words, the thing itself, must be preferred as evidence of its
contents to a loose statement of its purport, founded, perhaps, on a
loose recollection of it at a great distance of time.

That the said refusal of Warren Hastings, Esquire, was a breach of faith
with the Court of Directors and his Majesty's ministers in England; as
the said resignation was not merely a voluntary offer without any
consideration, and therefore subject to be recalled or retracted at the
pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, but ought rather to be considered
as having been the result of a negotiation carried on between Mr.
Macleane for the benefit of Warren Hastings, Esquire, on the one hand,
and by the Court of Directors for the interests of the Company on the
other: which view of the transaction will appear the more probable, when
it is considered that at the time of the said resignation a strict
inquiry had been carrying on by the Court of Directors into the conduct
of the said Warren Hastings, and the solicitor and counsel to the
Company, and other eminent counsel, had given it as their opinions, on
cases stated to them, that there were grounds for suing the said Warren
Hastings in the courts of law and equity, and that the Company would be
entitled to recover in the said suits against Warren Hastings, Esquire,
several very large sums of money taken by him in his office of
Governor-General, contrary to law, and in breach of his covenants, and
of his duty to the Company and the public; and the Court of Directors
had also come to various severe resolutions of censure against the said
Warren Hastings, and amongst others to a resolution to recall the said
Warren Hastings, and remove him from his office of Governor-General, to
answer for sundry great crimes and delinquencies by him committed in his
said office. And on these accounts it appears probable that the said
resignation was tendered and accepted as a consideration for some
beneficial concessions made in consequence thereof to the said Warren
Hastings in his said dangerous and desperate condition.

And the