hes "to be considered rather as the guardians of the honor and
property of the native powers than as the instruments of oppression,"
he, the said Hastings, in reply to the said Directors, his masters, did
conclude his official account of the final settlement with Fyzoola Khan
with the following indecent, because unjust, exultation:--

"Such are the measures which we shall ever wish to observe towards our
allies or dependants upon our frontiers."

APPENDIX

TO THE

EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES.[26]

Copy of a Letter from Warren Hastings, Esquire, to William Devaynes,
Esquire, Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India
Company, dated Cheltenham, 11th of July, 1785, and printed by order
of the House of Commons.

_To William Devaynes, Esquire, Chairman of the Honorable the Court of
Directors._

Sir,--The Honorable Court of Directors, in their general letter to
Bengal by the "Surprise," dated the 16th March, 1784, were pleased to
express their desire that I should inform them of the periods when each
sum of the presents mentioned in my address of the 22d May, 1782, was
received, what were my motives for withholding the several receipts from
the knowledge of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and what
were my reasons for taking bonds for part of these sums, and for paying
other sums into the treasury as deposits on my own account.

I have been kindly apprised that the information required as above is
yet expected from me. I hope that the circumstances of my past
situation, when considered, will plead my excuse for having thus long
withheld it. The fact is, that I was not at the Presidency when the
"Surprise" arrived; and when I returned to it, my time and attention
were so entirely engrossed, to the day of my final departure from it, by
a variety of other more important occupations, of which, Sir, I may
safely appeal to your testimony, grounded on the large portion
contributed by myself of the volumes which compose our Consultations of
that period, that the submission which my respect would have enjoined me
to pay to the command imposed on me was lost to my recollection, perhaps
from the stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it
had left on my mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for
something which had given offence in my report of the original
transaction than as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of
it.

I will now endeavor