Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/188

182 of the money stipulations should be paid immediately; two thirds of this half in coin, and one third in jewels, plate, and effects, at a valuation; but the other half should be discharged in three years at three equal payments; Roydoolub was allowed a commission of five in the hundred on the sums for restitution, which amounted to 17,700,000 rupees, and this was one of the gratuities which had been held out to Omichund. The conference being ended, Clive and Scrafton went towards Omichund, who was waiting in full assurance of hearing the glad tidings of his good fortune; when Clive said, "It is now time to undeceive Omichund:" on which, Scrafton said to him in the Indostan language, "Omichund, the red paper is a trick; you are to have nothing." These words overpowered him like a blast of sulphur; he sunk back, fainting, and would have fallen to the ground, had not one of his attendants caught him in his arms; they carried him to his palankin, in which they conveyed him to his house, where he remained many hours in stupid melancholy, and began to shew some symptoms of insanity. Some days after, he visited Colonel Clive, who advised him to make a pilgrimage to some pagoda; which he accordingly did soon after, to a famous one near Maulda: he went, and returned insane, his mind every day more and more approaching to idiotism; and, contrary to the usual manners of old age in Indostan, still more to the former excellence of his understanding, he delighted in being continually dressed in the richest garments, and ornamented with the most costly jewels. In this state of imbecility, he died about a year and a half after the shock of his disappointment. Grounded on his importance, by knowing the secret, he held out the terror of betraying it, to secure his own advantages. Whether he would have betrayed it, if refused, is uncertain: for part of his fortune was in the power of the English, and he had the utmost vengeance of Jaffier and his confederates to fear. However, the experiment was not to be tried. But, on the other hand, as his tales and artifices prevented Surajah Dowlah from believing the representations of his most trusty servants, who early suspected, and at length were convinced, that the English were confederated with Jaffier; the 2,000,000 of