"The aumils [collectors] demanded that a clause should be inserted in their engagements, that they were to be in full force for the complete term of their leases, _provided that no foreign authority_ was exercised over them,--or, in other words, _that their engagements were to cease whenever they should be interrupted in their functions by the interference of an English agent_.

This requisition was officially notified to me by the acting minister, and referred to me in form by the Nabob Vizier, for my _previous_ consent to it.

I encouraged it, and I gave my consent to it." And the said Hastings has been guilty of the high presumption to inform his said masters, that he has taken that course to compel them not to violate the assurances given by him in their name: "There is one condition" (namely, the above condition) "which _essentially connects the confirmation of the settlement itself with the interests of the Company_." LXXVIII.

That the said Warren Hastings, who did show an indecent distrust of the Company's faith, did endeavor, before that time, at other times, namely, in his instructions to his secret agent, Major Palmer, dated the 6th of May, 1782, to limit the confidence to be reposed in the British government to the duration of his own power, in the following words in the fifth article.

"It is very much my desire to impress the Nabob with a _thorough_ confidence in the faith and justice of our government,--that is to say, _in my own_, while I am at the head of it: I cannot be answerable for the acts of others independent of me." LXXIX.