It is here to be remarked, that Omichund was no party to the treaty. That treaty was contracted between the Committee at Calcutta and Meer Jaffier; and both these parties were agreeing to the fictitious treaty, which was prepared for the sole purpose of being shown to Omichund, to lull him into security till the hour of danger from his hostility was past. This distinction is important: for, though it does not clear the parties concerned of deliberate deceit towards an individual, it removes all imputation of their having brought a stain on the good faith of the State, by the substitution, to the party with whom they treated, of a false for a real engagement.

Clive was the person who proposed the expedient of a fictitious treaty; and his sentiments were unanimously adopted by the Committee.

Admiral Watson, it is stated, refused to sign this engagement; but it is at the same time affirmed, and apparently on undoubted testimony, that he offered no objection to the signature of his name[180] by another person. The Admiral had withheld himself from taking any active part in the scenes at Moorshedabad; and, in the proceeding towards Omichund, he probably conceived that he was not called upon, by that sense of necessity that influenced others, to lend his name to an act which must have been repugnant to the feelings even of those who deemed themselves compelled by duty to have recourse to such an artifice.

Orme, speaking of the difference which arose between Mr. Watts and Omichund, after explaining the grounds upon which he supposes the latter to have acted, observes, that if his demand had been realised, it would have been 650,000l. "The audacity of the pretension," he adds, "implied malignant art; but it is said he threatened to reveal the conspiracy to the Nabob, if not complied with. If so, the boldest iniquity could not have gone further."

I have already shown, that Omichund did threaten to inform the Nabob. Indeed, nothing but a conviction of his resolution to take that step unless his avarice was gratified, could possibly have called for the extreme measure which was adopted. The author already quoted gives a pathetic account of the effect which the communication of the deception had upon Omichund. He was, Mr. Orme states, overwhelmed by it at the moment, fainted on the spot, was carried home, evinced symptoms of a disturbed reason[181], and subsequently went upon a pilgrimage to a holy Hindu shrine near Maulda, whence he returned in a state of idiotism, from which he never recovered.

The story of the termination of Omichund's life is affecting, and must make an impression upon every well-constituted mind. We view with pity the effects which the sudden dissolution of his golden dreams had upon this wretched, though wealthy Hindu; but we cannot allow the feelings in which we indulge to subdue our judgment. While we give a tear to weak and suffering humanity, we must do justice to those who deemed themselves compelled by circumstances, and by the situation in which they were placed, to repress all private feeling, and even to incur obloquy, in the performance of their public duty. With such sentiments I cannot, like Mr. Mill[182], proclaim my sympathy and regret for this martyr to avarice; and stamp, with the term of "consummate treachery[183]," the expedient by which his exorbitant demands and wicked designs were disappointed and frustrated; far less can I admit the truth of the historian's remark, "That Clive was a person to whom deception, when it suited his purpose, never gave a pang." This general and sweeping assertion, far from being supported by any facts that have come to my knowledge[184], is contradicted by every evidence we possess, and is altogether contrary to the general character of his open and manly, but sensitive mind. I do not pretend to look into the hearts of men, and to pronounce dogmatically upon their inmost thoughts and feelings; but, in admitting that Clive, in the extraordinary situation in which he was placed, resisted art by art, and counteracted the treachery of the enemies of the Government he served, by deceiving them, I am satisfied, from all his own statements, as well as from those of others, that he had recourse to such an expedient only because he considered himself to be called upon to employ it, by the duty he owed to his country. He may, like other men, have erred, both in his objects and in the mode of their accomplishment; but I deem the whole history of his life, and, above all, the unbounded confidence we find placed in him, both by the natives of India and by his own countrymen, to be altogether incompatible with the truth of the charge, that he was a man "to whom deception, when it suited his purpose, never gave a pang."

The wealth Clive acquired by the revolution which placed Meer Jaffier upon the throne, excited envy at the moment, and became afterwards a subject of reproach, and even of accusation; I shall, therefore, offer a few observations upon the subject.

I have elsewhere[185] adverted to this point, and shown that Clive, in accordance with the usages of the Company's service in India, at that period, received presents, as Commander in Chief, to a very large amount. His acceptance of this reward (as it was termed) of his labours and success, was open and avowed; and, though subsequently made the subject of a charge against him, we do not find that at the time any one arraigned, either the amount of the donation, or the principle of receiving it. The fact is, that at that epoch of our Indian government, the public officers of the Company had very limited salaries: their perquisites and advantages, when employed on civil, military, or political stations, appear to have been such as had been enjoyed by native functionaries, performing the duties to which they, in times of conquest and revolution, had succeeded. These, on ordinary occasions, were derived from a per centage on particular branches of revenue, privileges of trade, or presents from inferiors, and were always considerable; but when such events occurred as negotiating a peace[186], or replacing a monarch upon a throne, the money, gifts, and territorial grants to the chief instruments of such changes, were limited only by the moderation of one party and the ability of the other.