LETTER LXII.
After so many hazards and hardships as I had undergone, it was a most pleasing reflection to find myself in a society composed of my oldest professional connections, and warmest and sincerest friends: but this was a happiness I could not long enjoy; for, being charged with a mission from Hyat Sahib to the Governor-General and Supreme Council, I was constrained to proceed to Bengal, and accordingly set sail for Calcutta, which I reached in little more than a week, without encountering any accident, or meeting a single occurrence, worth the relation. Upon my arrival there, Sir John Macpherson, who was in the Supreme Council, gave me a kind invitation to live at his house, and presented me to Mr. Hastings, with whom I entered into a negociation on behalf of Hyat Sahib, which will appear by the following letters:
LETTER TO WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ.
“Calcutta, May 3, 1783.
“Honourable Sir,
“Indisposition has put it out of my power, since the first day after my arrival here, to have the honour of paying you my respects, and of laying before you, for the information of the Board, the objects of my mission to your superintending Government.
“As these objects are of public importance, and as ill health may prevent me, for some time longer, from having the honour of waiting upon you, I take the liberty to beg your attention to this address.
“The great Revolution in favour of the India Company upon the West side of India, and to which I had the happiness of being in some little degree instrumental, has been certainly brought about by the zeal and spirit of General Mathews; but that Officer ascribes to the orders and supplies of your Government the principal merit of the undertaking: he looks to the same Government for support in the arrangement which he has made, and may make, for the security of the conquered Province.