July the very words he had used in February. He had either a treacherous memory or his prejudices were too strong for his good faith[1].
'I am not Governor;' wrote Hastings to Sulivan — 'all the powers I possess are those of preventing the rule from falling into worse hands than my own.' His opponent's timely illness left Hastings free for the moment to take his own way. Popham was not recalled, Gwalior was captured, and Carnac's column marched into Málwá.
Returning health brought no improvement in Francis' temper. At last, Hastings' patience was worn out by fresh provocations. On the 15th August, 1780, in a gravely worded reply to one of Francis' Minutes, he spoke out thus: 'I do not trust to his promise of candour, convinced that he is incapable of it. ... I judge of his public conduct by my experience of his private, which I have found to be void of truth and honour.'
This charge he made 'temperately and deliberately,' in justice to the public and himself. 'The only redress for a fraud for which the law has made no provision is' — he averred — 'the exposure of it.'
A copy of the Minute containing these words had been sent to Francis the evening before. After the Council-meeting Francis challenged Hastings to fight a duel.
On the morning of the 17th they exchanged shots, and Francis was carried off the field with a bullet in his side. By the end of August he had so far
- ↑ Gleig, Merivale, Forrest.
