The former amounts are given in the Parliamentary Reports, vol. iii.
p. 145.; and we find a public letter from Clive, under date the 8th of
July, to Mr. Franckland, to the following purport:--
"Please to acquaint the gentlemen of the Council, not of the Committee,
that the Nabob has been so generous as to make them a present of 6 lacs
of rupees, which is to be paid in like proportions as the public money;
viz. half is paid down in money and plate, and the other half will be
paid as soon as his circumstances will admit of it."
[164] Letter to Clive, June 26th, 1757.
[165] The officers and men so excluded became, in consequence, entitled
to no more than their share with the naval force in the river, to whom
was allotted half the donation given by the Nabob. This share appears
to have been less than that of corresponding ranks in the army, with
which they had acted, and with whom they had an undoubted right to be
put on an equal footing.
[166] Maudipoor, June 26th, 1757.
[167] Cossimbazar, June 27th, 1757.
[168] June 23d. The very day on which the battle of Plassey was fought.
[169] Supposing Bussy neither came to Bengal, as was expected, nor sent
any reinforcements to his countrymen, the strength of the party under
Law was above two hundred men, and a large proportion of officers.
Clive's whole strength of Europeans in September (the earliest time at
which the season permitted his sailing to Madras) was only five hundred.
[170] Mr. Pigot was governor, and Colonel Lawrence commanded the troops.
[171] Sufficient evidence of their incompetency appears in this
narrative. I refrain from quoting passages in the correspondence before
me, in which more serious charges than those of incapacity are stated.
[172] Mr. Orme was, at this period, one of the Council at Madras.
[173] I leave, however, this question to the judgment of my readers,
who will also decide on the assertion of Mr. Mill, that "Clive, on
beholding an opening for exploits both splendid and profitable in
Bengal, overlooked all other considerations, violated his instructions,
and remained." This unqualified assertion appears to be a gratuitous
assumption of motives of action, in no degree borne out or warranted by
the facts of the case.
[174] In 1753 gomastahs (or agents) were sent to several parts of
the country, where the cloths for the Company's investment were
manufactured.
[175] The name of this messenger was Narraindass. He was brother to the
Nabob's head spy.
[176] Orme, from whom we have taken the above facts, adds, "His
(Omichund's) brother-in-law, Hazarimul, who had the chief management
of his affairs, concealed himself in the apartments of the women until
the next day, when the guard, endeavouring to take him, was resisted
by the whole body of Omichund's peons and armed domestics, amounting
to three hundred. Several were wounded on both sides before the fray
ended; during which the head of the peons, who was an Indian of high
caste, set fire to the house; and, in order to save the women of the
family from the dishonour of being exposed to strangers, entered their
apartments and killed, it is said, thirteen of them with his own hand,
after which he stabbed himself, but, contrary to his intention, not
mortally."
[177] Omichund received, upon the spot, one half of this amount: the
date of the payment of the remainder was deferred, and it was probably
to gain time to recover this sum, that he created those delays in the
proceedings of the confederates, of which Mr. Watts accused him.
[178] Purneah is a province of Bengal.
[179] Orme, vol. ii. p. 182.
[180] Lord Clive's evidence goes to prove, that Admiral Watson
did not object to his name being put by Mr. Lushington to the
fictitious treaty; and his knowledge of the transaction, at the
period it occurred, is established by the direct testimony of Mr.
Cooke, Secretary to Government, who stated, "That, after the battle
of Plassey, he waited upon Admiral Watson with a message from the
Select Committee: that, among other things, the fictitious treaty was
mentioned in conversation; and that the Admiral said he had not signed
it, but left them to do as they pleased."--Parliamentary Reports, vol.
iii. p. 152.
[181] One month after Omichund was informed of the fictitious treaty,
Clive, in a letter to the Committee at Calcutta, requests their
support to enable Omichund to perform his contract for the supply of
saltpetre at Patna: and in a subsequent letter (dated August 6th, 1757)
to the Secret Committee of the Directors, after stating that he had
recommended Omichund to pay a visit of devotion to Maulda, he adds,
"He is a person capable of rendering you great services, therefore not
wholly to be discarded." These notices of this man do not imply that
his reason was, at this period, so much affected as might be concluded
from the perusal of Orme's narrative.
[182] History of India, vol. iii. p. 170.
[183] An author for whom I entertain sincere respect, and with whose
sentiments my own, in most points, coincide, startled at the means
taken to deceive Omichund, expresses an opinion, "That the principles
of honour and integrity should have prescribed a more open conduct,
even at somewhat greater expense of danger."--Grant's Sketches of
India, p. 162. We should quite agree in this opinion, if the danger
was personal to the individuals; but when it was that of the State, we
should find it as difficult to point out the exact line of demarcation
to be observed by men entrusted with its interests, as to define what
should be the conduct of a lawyer in a particular case, where his
personal feelings and general principles of action were in opposition
to his duty to his client and to his professional reputation.
[184] I received from Lord Powis several trunks full of his father's
papers unexamined by himself. In these were documents of every
description, from copies of all his despatches, to the most private
notes: and I have not discovered one line that can justify the sweeping
assertion of Mr. Mill.
[185] Pol. India, vol. ii.
[186] A remarkable instance of this mode of paying those concerned in
such important transactions, is afforded in the treaty of peace with
Tippoo Sultaun, concluded by Lord Cornwallis in 1792. Thirty lacs
of rupees were demanded, and given as _Durbar khurutch_ (or Durbar
expenses), avowedly to be distributed amongst the officers concerned in
settling the treaty. Lord Cornwallis, it may be observed, obtained no
share of this money: but it may be answered, that while a commander, in
Lord Clive's situation, had not 3000_l._ per annum of direct salary,
and could have no expectation of pecuniary reward in England, Lord
Cornwallis had 30,000_l._ per annum, besides a donation of 100,000_l._
from the Government he so ably served; which, with a liberal wisdom
that does it honour, after that nobleman's death gave 60,000_l._ to his
son and successor.
[187] Political India, vol. ii. p. 188.
[188] 180,000_l._
[189] It appears from his papers and accounts that he gave away large
sums, not only to those who had personal claims upon him, but to others
whose merit, as public servants, had not, he thought, been sufficiently
rewarded.
[190] Mill's History of British India, vol. iii. p. 454.