"I have referred many of my friends to you for information; but you will communicate to them what you think proper, Mr. Grenville excepted, to whom I have been very explicit, having inclosed him a copy of my letter to the Court of Directors, translation of the treaty of peace, and a map of Bengal, with some marginal explanations. "You will therefore lay before him, without reserve, all papers of a public nature; such as relate to individuals, and are not made public, you may not think proper to reveal to any one. There is only one paper which I could not send you, viz. the letter from the Select Committee to the Court of Directors, being bound by oath not to make any of our proceedings public until laid before council, or communicated to the Court of Directors; neither of which being yet done, with respect to the committee's letter, is the reason I cannot send you a copy; but you will, undoubtedly, obtain a sight of it from Scrafton. "Had I known Mr. Sumner as well as I do at present, I would never have consented to his being appointed my successor, let the consequences be what they would. I did, indeed, entertain hopes, that my example and instructions might furnish that gentleman with a plan of conduct and political knowledge, which would have enabled him to fill the chair with honour, and me to leave it with satisfaction to myself. But I am sorry to inform you, that I had been but a short time on board the Kent, before I discovered him to be a man no ways fit to be my successor. His ideas of government differ widely indeed from mine; add to this, his judgment is weak, timid, and unsound, and resolution he has none. "Nor was my opinion of him changed on our arrival here; for I was frequently mortified with instances of his conduct, which made me look forward with regret to the day on which he was to be intrusted with the government of Bengal. "When affairs of the utmost consequence to the Company were transacting by me, at the distance of seven hundred miles from the presidency, Mr. Sumner, governor for the time being, would have yielded up some of the most material privileges of the committee to Mr. Leycester, Gray, and Burdett, the most factious among the counsellors; and, if I had not written to him very severely on the subject, and prevailed on Mr. Verelst to hasten down from Burdwan to remonstrate to him on the weakness of his conduct, I verily believe he would have joined with those gentlemen in endeavouring to abolish the power of the committee.