Mr. Payne further informed Clive that the Duke of Newcastle had written to the Court of Directors, regarding the propriety of conferring upon him a distinguished mark of the royal favour; but, as this was unaccompanied by any suggestion of a similar honour being intended for Admiral Watson, he thought it would embarrass the Directors; and he had, therefore, with the Duke's concurrence, withheld the communication. He expressed his confidence that Clive would approve of what he had done; and, at all events, that he would be acquitted of having been actuated by any little motive in the part he had taken on that occasion. "Be assured, Sir," Mr. Payne concludes, "I shall always be as ready to propose as to concur in any measures that may be hereafter thought of to do you honour or pleasure; and that it is a great one to me to reflect, that your attention to the service you are engaged in, by exposing your person on so many different occasions, may and has been attended not only with the honours and laurels that adorn the brow of a conqueror, but with some more solid fruits of your labour; which may in some degree compensate for the toils that precede victory and success." This communication could not but be agreeable to Clive; and, in his reply, he expresses satisfaction with Mr. Payne's conduct on all those points which related to his personal honour and preferment. He also states, that a knowledge of the favourable sentiments which were entertained of his conduct by some of the principal members of the Court was his chief inducement for accepting the proffered station of President. The Court of Directors had formed this Government of Rotation at a period when they could not have anticipated the great changes which had taken place in Bengal: that this was the case, is proved by the fact of the subsequent appointment of Clive to the station of Governor, the moment they heard of the battle of Plassey. They appear, also, to have recognised the high and disinterested motives which induced the Council to invite him to be their President; and, though sufficiently alive on such points, we cannot discover from the records, that they ever viewed the setting aside of their arrangement on this extraordinary and unprecedented occasion as a measure that evinced contempt for their judgment and authority.[213] FOOTNOTES: [191] 22d August, 1757.