In the first general letter to the Governor in Council, at Bengal, dated 21st of January, 1761, the Directors write, "We have taken under our most serious consideration the general letter from our late President and Council of Fort William, dated 29th of December, 1759, and many paragraphs therein contain gross insults upon, and indignities offered to, the Court of Directors, tending to the subversion of our authority over our servants, and a dissolution of all order and good government in the Company's affairs. To put an immediate stop, therefore, to this evil, we do positively order and direct that, immediately upon receipt of this letter, all those persons still remaining in the Company's service, who signed the said letter,—viz. Messrs. John Zephaniah Holwell, Charles Stafford Playdell, William Brightwell Sumner, and William M'Guire,—be dismissed from the Company's service; and you are to take care that they be not permitted, on any consideration, to remain in India, but that they are to be sent to England by the first ships which return home the same season you receive this letter." Footnote 97: 7th of September, 1759. Footnote 98: 7th of January, 1760. Footnote 99: 22d of January, 1760. Footnote 100: Meeran. Footnote 101: 20th of October, 1759. Footnote 102: The letter of congratulation, from Mr. Sulivan, is dated the 20th of February, 1758. The following are the concluding paragraphs:—"If your health would allow of a stay sufficient to fix the government of Calcutta (recovered and infinitely extended by Col. Clive) on a solid and lasting basis, the Company are deeply interested in their wishes that you would remain to cherish and establish this noble colony beyond the reach of danger. But should your own preservation determine a return to your native country, may you live to receive the personal thanks of your employers, together with higher honours intended you." Footnote 103: 29th of December, 1758. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAP. XI.