I received your very kind and affectionate letter last night at Dropmore, where I had been for a few days. When you were last in town, the projects of arrangement for India remained so nearly in the state in which our last conversation had left them, that I thought it unnecessary to trouble you at that time on the subject. Since that time, the matter has certainly taken a more distinct shape, although it is not true, as the newspaper has stated, that my appointment has actually taken place, or that I am to embark within a few days for India. Had you continued in town, I would have communicated to you, step by step, every stage of the transaction, and especially whatever concerned Hobart; but the distance of your situation rendered such a detailed communication difficult, and I was besides unwilling to intrude upon your time in a moment of so much domestic anxiety, in which, I assure you, I took the deepest concern. I also had an expectation that Mr. Sullivan, with whom I had constant intercourse, might have had the opportunity of seeing you in Buckinghamshire (if Lord Temple's health should allow you to see anybody), and that he would have apprised you of every circumstance which could affect Hobart's interest or reputation; to both of which objects, it is my sincere opinion that the utmost regard has been shown by all parties in this affair: I say by all parties, because common justice compels me to declare that Mr. Dundas, instead of having impeded or frustrated the arrangement proposed for Hobart, or of having sacrificed him to any intrigue at the India House, has to my certain knowledge asserted Hobart's cause with the warmest zeal, used every means of representing it to the Company in the most advantageous light, and even entered into personal engagements for the benefit of Hobart far exceeding any demand which could justly or reasonably have been made upon him by Hobart or by his friends. A short statement of facts will, I think, satisfy you of the truth of my opinion.
After a very full consideration of all the despatches both from Bengal and Madras, relating to the affairs of the latter Government, Mr. Dundas wrote a letter to the Directors, of which he sent me a copy, expressing his sense of Lord Hobart's services in these words: "To his zeal and promptitude in the execution of his orders, after the unfortunate rupture with Holland, I in a very great degree attribute the very proud and advantageous situation in which our Indian empire is now placed." The letter concludes with the following recommendation to the Court to make a provision for Lord Hobart: "If the Court of Directors concur with me in thinking that Lord Hobart has performed very meritorious services, but that there are at the same time very forcible grounds of expediency why he should not proceed to the higher situation originally destined for him, I can have no doubt, from the known justice and liberality of the East India Company, that they will concur with me in thinking that he ought not to return to his own country without a substantial mark of the approbation and favour of the East India Company."
The grounds of expediency for Lord Hobart's recal, Mr. Dundas stated in these terms: "I am, after the most mature consideration of the subject, thoroughly satisfied that, after the unfortunate misunderstandings which have prevailed between Lord Hobart and the Government-General, and the equally unfortunate differences which exist between his Lordship and the Nabob and the Rajah of Tanjore, it would be inexpedient to re-appoint him to the Government-General; and still more so, that he should remain longer at Madras."
Upon this letter, my dear Lord, I am persuaded that your own justice and candour will anticipate my observations; but the very strong expressions contained in your letter render it my duty to observe, that in this application to the Court of Directors, Mr. Dundas has chosen the very same topics, on which to urge the claims of Lord Hobart to the gratitude of the Company, which you concurred with me in selecting as the most favourable grounds to found a public motion in the Court of Proprietors, with a view to obtaining a pension for Lord Hobart; and Mr. Dundas has stated the expediency of removing Lord Hobart on no other grounds than those which in conversation you and I have repeatedly agreed to be of the greatest force, and at the same time perfectly consistent with Lord Hobart's fair reputation and unsullied honour. It cannot, therefore, be denied that Mr. Dundas has dealt fairly by Lord Hobart's character and interests, both in the reasons assigned for his recal, and in those urged in favour of his services.
To this letter the Chairman of the Court of Directors returned an answer, concurring in Mr. Dundas's opinion of the necessity of recalling Lord Hobart, admitting the extent of his services, and expressing the inclination of the Court to propose a provision for him to the consideration of the proprietors; but postponing the moment for making that proposal to a period which appeared to me rather too distant, and not sufficiently defined.
In this state of the matter, Mr. Dundas proposed to me the reversion of the Government-General after Lord Cornwallis, having previously furnished me with a copy of the correspondence, to which I have already referred. I expressed my doubts whether the provision for Lord Hobart was yet sufficiently secure to admit of my accepting the offer made to me consistently with my good wishes for him. Mr. Dundas then informed me, that he knew the intention of the Directors was to propose the pension to the Court of Proprietors in May; and he added, that if at that time the pension should fail in either court, he would himself move it in Parliament, and charge it upon the revenues of Ceylon, or take some other effectual means of securing it. He also said, that there would be no objection to calling Lord Hobart to the House of Peers within a very short time, probably even before Lord Cornwallis's departure.
Here again I must observe, that Mr. Dundas offers a personal pledge in favour of Lord Hobart, which neither you nor I, nor any of Lord Hobart's friends ever had required, and which we could not on any fair grounds have demanded. When Mr. Dundas had thus stated to me the situation of Lord Hobart in terms so perfectly satisfactory, and affording such undeniable proofs of his sincere wish to serve him under all possible contingencies, I entered into a variety of points relating to my own views (which I will state to you when we meet); and the conversation ended without my final acceptance of the proposal made to me. In a day or two afterwards I saw Mr. Sullivan, and communicated to him what had passed between me and Mr. Dundas relative to Lord Hobart. I had then the satisfaction to learn from Mr. Sullivan, that he also had seen Mr. Dundas, from whom he had received the very same assurances, which Mr. Dundas had given to me in relation to Lord Hobart's pension and peerage; and Mr. Sullivan further stated, that Mr. Dundas had desired that those assurances might be communicated to Lord Guilford. I then asked Mr. Sullivan whether, under all the circumstances of the case, he thought that my acceptance of the Government of Madras, with the reversion of the Government-General after Lord Cornwallis, could be in any degree injurious to Lord Hobart's interest or honour? Mr. Sullivan answered, certainly it could not; and added, that he and Lord Guilford were now perfectly satisfied with the footing on which Mr. Dundas had placed the credit and welfare of Lord Hobart.
Having seen Lord Cornwallis, and at length made up my mind to undertake this most arduous charge, I communicated to Mr. Dundas about a week ago my final acceptance of the Government of Madras, with the provisional succession to Bengal after Lord Cornwallis. My appointment not having yet been formally made by the Court of Directors, I cannot yet acknowledge my destination to India; you will, therefore, be so good as to speak of the whole matter merely as a vague report until you hear further from me.
Thus, my dear Lord, you will perceive that whatever has been done relating to Hobart in the conclusion of this arrangement for India, has received the sanction of his nearest relations, of persons whose affectionate friendship for Hobart, and just discernment of his interests, will readily be acknowledged by you. In a situation of peculiar delicacy and embarrassment, it has been a great satisfaction to me to have been able to submit every step which I have taken in this affair to the judgment of such a man as Mr. Sullivan.
The various delays which have retarded the conclusion of this arrangement, have rendered it impossible for me to embark with Lord Cornwallis. However, I am in constant habits of the most confidential intercourse with him from day to day; and I mean to pass six weeks or two months with him in Bengal before his resignation of the government. My departure will probably not take place sooner than July or August.