[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.