However that may be, just a fortnight before the meeting of Parliament, Lord Clive, without having had any previous communication made to him on the part of the Directors, received a dry official letter[173] from the Company's Secretary, informing him that the Court of Directors had lately received several papers containing charges respecting the management of the Company's affairs in Bengal, wherein his Lordship was made a party; enclosing copies of them, and acquainting his Lordship, that if he had any observations to make, the Court of Directors would be glad to receive them as expeditiously as might be convenient for his Lordship. Lord Clive, on perusing these charges, which were anonymous, at once perceived the purpose for which they were thus seasonably made and communicated. In his answer, which he addressed to the Court of Directors, he remarks,--"You have not been pleased to inform me from whom you received these papers, to what end they were laid before you, what resolution you have come to concerning them, nor for what purpose you expect my observations upon them. "I shall, however, observe to you, that upon the public records of the Company, where the whole of my conduct is stated, you may find a sufficient confutation of the charges which you have transmitted to me; and I cannot but suppose, that if any part of my conduct had been injurious to the service, contradictory to my engagements with the Company, or even mysterious to you, four years and a half since my arrival in England would not have elapsed before your duty would have impelled you to call me to account." The charges were those which he afterwards enumerated and repelled in his speech in the House of Commons on the 30th of March following.