It was never communicated to the
Persian translator of the Company, Mr. Colebrooke, who had a salary for
executing that office. It was secreted, and kept in the private cabinet
of Mr. Hastings; from the period of 1781 to 1785 no part of it was
communicated to the Council. There is nothing, as your Lordships have
often found in this trial, that speaks for the man like himself; there
is nothing will speak for his conduct like the records of the Company.
"_Fort William, 19th February, 1785._
"At a Council: present, the Honorable John Macpherson, Esquire,
Governor-General, President, and John Stables, Esquire.
* * * * *
"The Persian Translator, attending in obedience to the Board's
orders, reports, that, since the end of the year 1781, there have
been no books of correspondence kept in his office, because, from
that time until the late Governor-General's departure, he was
employed but once by the Governor-General to manage the
correspondence, during a short visit which Major Davy, the military
Persian interpreter, paid by the Governor's order to Lucknow; that,
during that whole period of three years, he remained entirely
ignorant of the correspondence, as he was applied to on no occasion,
except for a few papers sometimes sent to him by the secretaries,
which he always returned to them as soon as translated.
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