SHORTLY after the Battle of Assaye, one morning the Prime Minister of the Court of Hyderabad waited upon him [Sir Arthur] for the purpose of privately ascertaining what territory and what advantages had been reserved for his master in the treaty of peace between the Mahratta princes and the Nizam.* To obtain this information the minister offered the general a very large sum — considerably above £100,000.**
Looking at him quietly for a few seconds, Sir Arthur said, “It appears, then, that you are capable of keeping a secret?”
“Yes, certainly,” replied the minister.
“Then so am I,” said the English general, smiling, and bowed the minister out.
That is, the Maratha Empire and the Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad, monarch of the Hyderabad State.
In terms of purchasing power, £100,000 in 1804 would be roughly equivalent to £8 million today. See Measuring Worth.
Précis
When Arthur Wellesley was serving in India, he brokered a truce between two Indian princes, one of whom was the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Nizam’s Prime Minister offered Wellesley a vast bribe to betray the details, but Wellesley, having raised the minister’s hopes by asking him if could keep a secret, promptly dashed them by saying that he could, too. (60 / 60 words)