“I frequently sat with him in a room adorned with marble pillars, opening into the garden, which though not large, as it could not be in the fort, was neatly laid out with trees which were grafted and bore two kinds of fruit, rows of cypresses, fountains, etc. Observing a number of youths carrying earth in the garden, I inquired respecting them and was told that Hyder had established a battalion of boys, all of whom were orphans and whom he had taken under his protection, boarding and clothing them and furnishing them with wooden guns for the purpose of their exercise. This care of poor orphans really pleased me and I wish our Government would in this particular imitate the example and improve upon it, particularly as to religious instruction, so as it becomes Britons and as God will certainly require it at our hands, who hath armed us with power, that we should use it chiefly for His service and glory and not merely for our own. On the last evening, when I took my leave of Hyder, he requested me to speak Persian before him, as I had done with some of his attendants. Of this language he understood a little, but he does not speak it. I did so and explained the motives of my journey to him. ‘You may perhaps wonder,’ said I, ‘what could have induced me, a priest, who has nothing to do with political concerns, to come to you, and that on an errand which does not properly belong to my sacerdotal functions. But as I was plainly told that the sole object of my journey was the preservation and confirmation of peace, and having witnessed more than once the misery and horrors attending on war, I thought within my own mind how happy I should esteem myself if I could be of service in cementing a durable friendship between the two Governments, and thus securing the blessings of peace to this devoted country and its inhabitants. This I considered as a commission in no wise inconsistent with my office as a missionary of religion of peace.’ He said with great cordiality, ‘Very well, very well! I am of the same opinion with you, and my only wish is that the English would live in peace with me. If they offer me the hand of peace and concord I shall not withdraw mine provided ----.’”