Bristow do forthwith return to his station of Resident at Oude, from
which he has been so improperly removed."
Upon the receipt of these orders by the Council, Mr. Francis, then a
member of the Council, moves, "That, in obedience to the Company's
orders, Mr. Bristow be forthwith appointed and directed to return to his
station of Resident at Oude, and that Mr. Purling be ordered to deliver
over charge of the office to Mr. Bristow immediately on his arrival, and
return himself forthwith to the Presidency; also that the
Governor-General be requested to furnish Mr. Bristow with the usual
letter of credence to the Nabob Vizier."
Upon this motion being made, Mr. Hastings entered the following minute.
"I will ask, who is Mr. Bristow, that a member of the administration
should at such a time hold him forth as an instrument for the
degradation of the first executive member of this government? What are
the professed objects of his appointment? What are the merits and
services, or what the qualifications, which entitle him to such an
uncommon distinction? Is it for his superior integrity, or from his
eminent abilities, that he is to be dignified, at such hazards of every
consideration that ought to influence members of this administration? Of
the former I know no proofs; I am sure that it is not an evidence of it,
that he has been enabled to make himself the principal in such a
competition; and for the test of his abilities, I appeal to the letter
which he has dared to write to this board, and which, I am ashamed to
say, we have suffered.
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