Letter from Warren Hastings, London, to Lord Cornwallis, 1788 March 26 : autograph manuscript draft signed.

Thanking him for kindness to his "old Domestics" and congratulating him on his administration; saying "I hear with Pleasure from all Quarters and even form the disappointed, Testimonies of the highest Approbation bestowed on your Lord'p's Administration, & sincerely hope that you will meet with the due Return of Justice and Gratitude form your Country. My Example holds out no Encouragement for the Exertion of a Level beyond the Bounds of prescribed Duty; but I give your L'p Credit for a Mind that does not require external Impulses; and I do yet believe that there is a Spirit of national Honor subsisting in this Kingdom, which will ultimately prevail against all the Efforts of a Faction, however supported by powerful Combinations, respected Talents, popular Influence, and the baseness of political Connivance. I beg your L'p to excuse the Liberty which I may be compelled to use in troubling you with Letters of Introduction for your Recommendation. These (though I have not been very importunate in that way), will be sometimes unavoidable. I have ventured to solicit your Countenance in a more particular Manner to Mr. Touchet & Mr. Imhoff, who go passengers on the [blank space], & earnestly repeat my application in their Favor."