X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the President, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did persist to obstruct, as far as in him lay, every advance towards an accommodation between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan; and particularly on the 16th of September, only eight days after the said Hastings, in, conjunction with the other members of the Select Committee of Bengal, had publicly testified his _satisfaction_ in the prospect of _an accommodation_, and had _hoped_ that "his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed to conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his government _by acceding to lenient terms_," he, the said Hastings, did nevertheless write, and without the consent or knowledge of his colleagues did privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other _contradictory hopes_, namely, that the commander-in-chief _had resolved on prosecuting the war to a final issue_,--"because" (as the said Hastings explains himself) "it appears very plainly that Fyzoola Khan and his adherents _lay at your mercy_, because I apprehend much inconveniency from delays, and because _I am morally certain that no good will he gained by negotiating_": thereby artfully suggesting his wishes of what might be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they were "in a very strong situation," and "combating for all." XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further endeavor to inflame the commander-in-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and evasive"; and knowing the distrust which the Nabob Fyzoola Khan entertained of the Vizier, the said Hastings did "expressly desire it should be left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by _his own agents_ and _in his own manner_,"--though he, the said Hastings, "by no means wished the Vizier to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since it would be more effectual, more decisive, and more _consistent with his dignity, indeed with his honor, which he has already pledged_, to abide by his first offers, to dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit only an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal, from his adversary": thereby affecting to hold up, in opposition to and in exclusion of the substantial claims of justice, certain ideal obligations of dignity and honor,--that is to say, the gratification of pride, and the observance of an arrogant determination once declared.