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102 very loudly did the fact proclaim itself to the astonished citizens of Calcutta. The Chief Justice, in his letters to Lord Thurlow, bitterly complained of 'the hauteur, insolence, and superior airs of authority which the members of the new Council use to the Court .' Hastings fought them with patient courage, week after week, in speeches, Minutes, protests, and earnest letters to friends and official patrons at home. Both parties indeed kept up an incessant fire of written documents against each other, both in the Council-room and in their private dwellings. In the war of Minutes, the Governor-General was more than a match for his assailants, but the latter could appeal to much more powerful friends at home.

When the violence of the majority passed all bounds of endurance, Hastings and Barwell would save their dignity by leaving the Council-room for that day. But nothing checked the headlong pugnacity of the triumvirate. They never lost a chance of wounding their President's pride, ignoring his authority, or undoing his work. Almost every detail of his past policy was shown up as a crime or a blunder by the men who had been specially warned to work harmoniously with their future colleagues. The extent of their rancour against the Governor-General may be measured by their mode of pressing their enquiry into the circumstances of the Rohillá War, and by the tenour of their dealings with the ruler of Oudh. The officers of Champion's force were invited to bear witness against