§ The Speaker informed the House that he had received a letter, dated Calcutta, October 6, 1819, from the marquis of Hastings, which, with the permission of the House, he would then read.
§ "Sir; "Calcutta, Oct. 6, 1819.
§ "I have to acknowledge the honour of your letter, conveying to me the high distinction of thanks from the House of Commons on the issue of the campaign in Central India.—So proud a reward is very gratefully received by me, although the terms confine the approbation to my military management. I would fain assure myself the honourable House could not but be satisfied that the endeavour to extinguish the Pindarries was imposed on this government by the most direct necessity; that the contest with the Mahrattas, though guarded against as a risk involved in the other undertaking, was altogether unsought by us, and that the events distinctly prove there could have been no previous plan for extending the honourable Company's territories in deviation from the expressed judgment of the legislature.—Sensible as I should still have been to the generosity of the House of Commons in discriminating and noticing favourably my professional exertions, I could secretly have cherished little pride in the honour, had I felt myself open to the imputation of having wilfully entailed war by indulging a perverse or illicit policy: but I most respectfully venture to rest upon the opinion of the honourable House as to my not having forgotten, in a case of exigency, the spirit of the rules prescribed to me, and what was due to the character of my country—I have notified to lieut. general sir Thomas Hislop, to the other general officers, and to the 39 troops employed in the campaign, the approbation which the House of Commons has been pleased to express of their services. The gratitude with which such a testimony of satisfaction from the honourable House will be received can be confidently asserted by me.—The obliging terms which you personally have had the goodness to add, in communicating the resolutions to me, are truly flattering to me; and I have the honour to remain, &c. HASTINGS."