which the members of the Council held their offices under the act of the
13th of his present Majesty, and had stated the same as a ground for
retaining his own office, contrary to an express declaration of the
Court of Directors and an instrument under the sign-manual of his
Majesty; and the judges of the Supreme Court, in their reasons for their
decision in his favor, had stated the provisions in the said act,[3] so
far as they related to the matter in dispute, from which it appeared
that there were but four grounds on which the office of any member of
the Council could be vacated,--namely, death, removal, resignation, or
promotion. And as the act confined the power of removal to "his Majesty,
his heirs and successors, upon representation made by the Court of
Directors of the said United Company for the time being," and conferred
no such power on the Governor-General, or a majority of the Council, to
remove, on any ground or for any cause whatever, one of their
colleagues,--so, granting the claim of General Clavering to the chair,
and his acts done in furtherance thereof, to have been illegal, and
criminal in whatever degree, yet it did not furnish to the rest of the
Council any ground to remove him from his office of Counsellor under the
provisions of the said act; and there could therefore remain only his
_resignation_ or _promotion_, as a possible means of vacating his said
office. But with regard to the promotion of General Clavering to the
office of Governor-General, although he claimed it himself, yet, as Mr.
Hastings did not admit it, and as in fact it was even receded from by
General Clavering, it could not be considered, at least by Mr. Hastings,
as a valid ground for vacating his office of Senior Counsellor, since
the act requires for that purpose, not a rejected claim, but an actual
and effectual promotion; and General Clavering's office of Counsellor
could no more be vacated by such a naked claim, unsupported and
disallowed, than the seat of a member of the House of Commons could be
vacated, and a new writ issued to supply the vacancy, by his claim to