Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/723

 Chap. XII.] PROHIBITION OF PRESENTS. 68i)

This opprobrious epithet is by no means inappropriate ; for in every class of the a.d. ives. Company's servants, from the highest to the lowest, the great actuating prin- ciple was avarice, manifested without any regard to decency, and in the form comiiaions most insulting and oppressive to the native population. It is impo.ssible, how- t„,„','!ai.y« ever, to forget how much of the corruption might have been traced to the bad "*"""**■ example which Clive himself had set, and there is therefore something painfully incongruous in the high-flown style which he sometimes employs. Thus, in a letter written to General Carnac, three days after he had entered upon office, he says, " To-morrow we sit in committee, when I make no doubt of discover- ing such a scene as will bo shocking to human nature. The council," he adds, " have all received immense sums for this new appointment (of a nabob), and are so shameless as to own it publicly. Hence we can account for the motive of paying so little respect to me and the committee ;" and then, warming as he proceeds, breaks out into the following exclamation: — "Ala.s! how is the English name sunk ' I could not avoid pajdng the tribute of a few tears to the < leparted and lost fame of the Briti.sh nation (irrecoverably so, I fear). However, I do declare, by that Great Being who is the searcher of all hearts, and to whom we must be accountable, if there must be an hereafter, that I am come out with a mind superior to all corruption, and that T am determined to destroy those great and growing evils, or perish in the attempt.' The cutting retort to which he laid himself open in using this language seems never to have occurred to him.

The covenants which interdicted all the servants of the Company from Attempt to accepting presents had arrived in the previous January, some weeks before the death of Meer Jaffier, and consequently were in possession of the council when they set them at defiance, by taking presents on the succession of Nujum-ud- Dowlah. They had endeavoured to evade the obligation by the very bold but Himsy device of allowing the covenants to remain unexecuted. When ques- tioned on the subject, they hypocritically pretended that their a]>parent contempt of authority was, in fact, an act of deference to it, for the signing of the cove- nants was a matter of so much consequence that they could not think of settling anything final about them till Lord Clive's arrival. That this ludicrous excuse miijht no longer avail, one of the first resolutions of the select committee was that " the covenants be executed innnediately." When this resolution was read to the council they argued strenuously for delay, and only yielded on being told that the only alternative was to sign or be suspended the service. It is not unworthy of notice that when the covenants were afterwtirds trans- mitted to the army for signature, General Carnac, though commander-in-chief, and a member of the select committee, refused. It was, however, on special grounds. He had received a present of 80,000 rupees from Bulwant Sing, Rajah of Benares. The covenants bore a date antecedent to that of the present ; but, as he was not aware of their existence, he refused to sign till the date was altered, so as not to lay him open to the charge of having violated them. Vol. I. 87

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