offended no law, when he injured neither the interests of individuals nor of the state, to reject ungraciously the munificent reward spontaneously proffered to him by a prince, who, though he had already enriched him with a liberal share of the treasures which he distributed to the English government and its army when they placed him upon the throne, now owed him an obligation of almost equal magnitude? For there could be no doubt, the defenders of Clive would argue, that to him Meer Jaffier was exclusively indebted for the successful issue of the late campaign: and his merits and claims were enhanced from his having, by his qualities of a soldier and a statesman, and by the influence of his great name, reaped all the fruits of the most decided victory without shedding one drop of blood. Such were the arguments by which the great majority became satisfied with Clive's conduct on this occasion. Their force cannot be denied; nor can their validity be impugned on any ground unconnected with his peculiar situation and extraordinary achievements. It is, assuredly, a great injustice to his memory, to view his conduct on this and similar points without the fullest reference, not only to the singular circumstances in which he was placed, but to the usages of the service to which he belonged, to those of Eastern governments, and to the principles of action which, at that period, governed the Directors of the East India Company. Besides, if, even with ourselves, there is not a man who thinks the more meanly of Cornwallis or Wellesley for the large pecuniary donations which they received from the Company, or of our Marlborough and our Wellington for the splendid estates which they received from the government of a grateful country; can it be deemed honest or fair to apply a different rule to the similar testimony of gratitude which Clive received from the prince (the sole representative of the government) whom he had so eminently served? According to the ideas of that country, the reward was not excessive: no native of the East certainly deemed it so. And, if it be objected to as conferred by a foreign potentate, Clive must be content to share, in his fortunes as his fame, the fate of the Prince of Mindelheim, the Duke of Bronte, and the Duke of Vittoria. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. LONDON: Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE, New-Street-Square. FOOTNOTES: [214] Orme, vol. ii. p. 363. [215] The country usually known by the name of the Northern Circars, which had been ceded by the Soubah Salabut Jung to the French. [216] A modern writer has noticed Clive's conduct on this occasion in less favourable terms:--