Clive, independent of the share of the donation to the Select Committee, of which he was a member, was offered a present of sixteen lacs of rupees[188] by Meer Jaffier, after he had placed that prince on the throne; and he took it, as a boon which he deemed himself fully warranted in accepting. He acquired, on this occasion, as he stated, great wealth; but its acquisition injured no interests either of individuals or of the state he served; and did not, in the slightest degree, compromise the obligations of public duty; for the gift was unsolicited, free, and unconditional.
Of the sense Clive entertained of this transaction we have the best proof, not only in his private, but in his official letters, in which he announced this sudden and surprising influx of riches. In his letter, under date the 20th of August, 1757, to Mr. Mabbot, one of the principal Directors, after giving an account of the revolution he had effected, he adds, "I have the pleasure to acquaint you, that the greatest success at Golconda could not have equalled the present one for advantages, either to the Company or myself."--"Indeed," he concludes, "there is nothing but the good of the service can induce me to stay in this unhealthy climate." In all his letters to his attorneys, to his friends and relatives, we find the amount of this donation represented as great; and he distinctly states in one letter, that he had no desire whatever to conceal the Nabob's liberality, which he thought was as honourable to that prince as to himself. There is, however, no document which more fully establishes the character of this donation, and the view that he took of it, than his letter to Mr. Payne, of the 25th of December, 1757. After alluding to the envy which his good fortune had excited, he observes, "The Nabob, of his own free will, for the service rendered him, made me a present much beyond my expectations; part of which I bestowed on those immediately about me, and one or two of the principal officers. I never made the least secret of this affair, but always thought the world ought to be acquainted with the Nabob's generosity. If I had been disposed to grow rich by receiving presents from any other hands but those of the Nabob, surely no one had ever the like opportunity; but there is not that man living, among the daily temptations which offered, who can accuse me of receiving any thing of value but from the Nabob himself. I have troubled you with these particulars," he concludes, "because among some it may be considered as a crime my being rich. If it be a crime, you, Sir, are truly acquainted with the nature of it."