For we find, that, in a
letter from Captain Poynting, of the 26th May, he states it not possible
for him to proceed to sea with the smallest degree of safety without a
supply of anchors and cables, and most earnestly requests they may be
supplied from Calcutta; and on the 28th May we find a minute from the
Secretary of the Council, Mr. Auriol, requesting an order of Council to
the master-attendant to furnish a sloop to carry down those cables;
which order was accordingly issued on the 30th May. There requires no
other proof to show that the Governor-General had the means of sending
this letter seven days after he wrote it, instead of delaying it for
near seven months, and because no conveyance had offered. Your Committee
must also remark, that the conveyance by land to Madras was certain; and
whilst such important operations were carrying on, both by sea and land,
upon the coast, that dispatches would be sent to the Admiralty or to the
Company was highly probable.
If the letter of the 22d May had been found in the list of packets sent
by the Resolution, the Governor General would have established in a
satisfactory manner, and far beyond the effect of any affidavit, that
the letter had been written at the time of the date.
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