of 15 November accepting resignation the teller
De Exter
a man otherwise
of a
A
af
then perfectly satisfied with his Private Secretary up to the moment of parting with him, although the Governor would have had us believe that Dr Estète's dismissal was delayed only whilst there was a prospect of his proving Sir Johnson's inaccuracy, failing which he was obliged to part with him.
was
D'Ester's letter
of the 7th of January to his successor
evinced that the communications
which he received from the Governor about his private affairs
were
forced upon him and
heard
contrary
to the
express
condition upon which he had
accepted the Private Secretaryship
viz that they
should not
be mentioned
This is not denied by the Governor
who meets all definite incriminating
148
Statements with nothing but general imputations of inaccuracy.
I see everything
in favour of the presumptions that the Governor told Dr Eitel to do and say all that he said and did, with the Exception of particularising the book, and that he did not tell him not to do so till the last moment. D'Ester did not at first do it. He only did it when he was cross-examined by Sir Johnson. Afterwards, when he was before two peers, he committed the great error of impugning
the accuracy
of Sir Johnson's
on this point, which he finally admitted. Some allowance is perhaps to be made for the position in which he found himself. He did not deny the whole of the story till the Governor had first done so. We have no means of knowing on which occasion the Governor told the truth, viz whether when he first told the
Story afterwards denied it
See 3495
or when he
1.27/2