The life of Robert, first lord Clive

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m MEMOMAM
Henry Morse Stephens

t \

{y^-^Al^^^

THE »LIFE ^^'^'

EGBERT. FIRST -LORD CLIYE. '

i

BY THE REV. a K GLEIG, M.A.,

CHAPLAIN GENERAL TO THE FORCES,

, LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1848.

I

DS^-ll

(:-5

MSAII^Y MORSE STCPHCH*

>v''

London : Printed by William Clowes and Soxs, Stamford Street.

.re ' "' *

P E E F A C E.

It has been my object, in the following pages, to treat Khej
individual of whom I write as a strictly historical charactey
I have endeavoured to describe his proceedings fairly ; to assign
no other motives to his actions than the circmnstances of each
separate case should seem to warrant ; to obscure no virtue, to
hide no £iult, but to paint the man in his life and in his death
with the same forgetfulness of all things except the requirements
of truth which would actuate me were I dealing with the career
of a statesman or a hero who had flourished in some remote age
or in a foreign country. Considering that two entire generations
have passed away since Lord Clive quitted the stage of life, I
hope that I shall not be accused, while following this course, of
any want of delicacy towards the feelings of individuals. The
time must come, in every instance, when our natural jealousy
of the reputation of an ancestor shall yield to the still higher
demands of historical verity ; and if the lapse of more than seventy
years do not bring matters to this level, I am at a loss to con-
ceive when either the historian or the biographer shall be &ee
to instruct without deceiving the world. Lord Clive was a man
fiir above the common measure in every feature of his character.
If his excellences were conspicuous, it cannot be said that his
&ults shunned the light. It has been my earnest desire neither

a 2

511659

iv PBEFACE-

to overshadow the former nor to explain away the latter, and
I hope that I have succeeded.

The sources from which I have sought to collect materials
for my work are so numerous and diversified that I abstain from
all attempt to particularize them. It is right to state, however,
that I did not trouble the family with any application for
papers, because I have in my possession a letter from the late
lamented Lord Powis, dated so long back as 1831, in which
I am informed that the whole of the Clive collection had been
intrusted to the care of Sir John Malcolm. I need scarcely add
that Sir Jofin IMalcolm's volumes have been beside me through-
out the progress of my laboiu^, and that I have found them of
inestimable value.

I/mdon, March, 1848.

( ^ )

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PACK

* I. Birth— Early Education— Arrival in India • • • 1
II. Joins the Army — Early Military Services • . • 8

III. General View of tiieAffurs of India • • . .16

IV, Qiganjtic S<jheme? of Dupleix — Their Progress towards

Success . i • . 25

V. Capture and Defence of Arcot— General Operations . . 33

VI. Marriage— Goes to England — Brief Career there — Eetum to

India—Fall of Calcutta ...... 44

VII. Proceeds to Bengal— Recovery of Calcutta— Attack of the

Nabob's Camp— Peace with the Nabob . . .63.

VIII. Capture of Chandernagore — intrigues for the Deposition of

Suraj-u-Dowlah ••••••• 62

IX. Advance of Clive— Battle of Plasscy . . . .76

. X. Meer Jaffier made Nabo)) — Treaty with the English— Fate of

Omichund ^ 84

XI. Fresh troubles in Bengal — Colonel Forde's Expedition to the

Northern Circars — Clive*s Jaghire or Feof . . .95

XII. Colonel Forde's Expedition to the Northern Circars — Opera-
tions in the Camatic — Destruction of the Dutch Force in
the Ganges ........ 106

XIII. Clive proposes to return to England— His Views for the future

Management of British India 116

XIV, Clive's immense Wealth— His Generosity — He prepares to

quit Bengal ..•••••. 127

XV. Clive's public Career in England— His private Habits . .134
XVI. Retrospect of the course of Afiairs in Bengal • • .148

Ti CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

XVII. War with Cossim Ali — Restoration of MeerJaffier— Plans of

Clive for a Reform of the Government of Bengal . .162

XVIII. Clive reaches Calcutta — Proceedings in Council • .173

XIX. Clive's Reforms continued 186

XX. Treaty with tHe Nabob— Grant of thd Dewannee— Corre-
spondence 194

XXI. Commencement of Military Reform — Alarm of Mutiny . 210

* XXII. Progress and Suppression of the Mutiny — Letters to various

Correspondents 220

X3Cni. Trial pf Sir Robert Fletcher— Civil Servants implicated in

the Conspiracy • • • 234

XXIV. Summary of Lord Clive's Administration — Opinion of the

Court of Directors . • . . . • . 243

XXV. Clive's parting Address 263

XXVI. Returns to England— Reception 261

XXyil. I^rd piive .in E^roper-His State of Health— Progress of

Public Opinion • . . . . . .271

XXVJII. Clive's Position in Parliament and at the India House — Bad

News from India 281

XXIX. Qonfusion in the. Company's Affairs — ^Parliamentary Pro-
ceedings 292

XXX. Charges brought against Clive in the House of Commons —

They are rejected 300

XXXL Death of Lord Clive— His Character . . . .309

LIFE OF LORD CLIVE.

CHAPTER I.

Birth — "Earlj Edmcatioii — Arrival in India.

The name of Clive does not appecir to have been connected with
any historical event of importance, till the exploits of the
founder of the British Empire in India achieved for it the
eminence to which it latterly attained. A family in Shropshire,
of long standing but little note, answered to it throughout many
generations. We hear of them first in the reign of Henry II.,
as proprietors of the small estate of Styche, in the parish of
Moreton Say, near Market Drayton ; and in the reign of
Greorge II. they retain their local habitation and their rank among
the minor landed gentry of the county. The father of Lord
Clive, whose Christian name was Richard, succeeded to the
inheritance on the death of an elder brother, and continued for
many years to practise the profession of an attorney, to which
he had been bred. He married Miss Rebecca Gaskill, the
daughter of a Mr. Gaskill of Manchester, by whom he had a
£unily of six sons and seven daughters, and of these, Robert,
the subject of the present memoir, was the eldest, having been
bom, in the manor-house of Styche, on the 29th of September,
1725.

Without assigning any particular cause for the arrangement,
the iamily records inform us that Mr. and Mrs. Clive sent
Aeir eldest son to reside with one of his uncles-in-law before h^
bid arrived at the third year of his age. This gentleman, whose
oame was Bayley, and who had married a sister of Mrs. Clive
ki 1717, inhabited a place called Hope Hall, near Manchester.
Be seems to have behaved with great kindness to the child, who

. •l^If ^ t)li LORD

CLIVE. [chap. I.

was.a1;t€ick^4jvith,a.danfferpus*iilness soon after his arrival, and
wU& W<5^':l^*U**t&: nWlnt\j^sRptoms of that impetuosity and
waywardness of temper which distinguished him through life.
These facts we learn from certain fragments of Mr. Bayley's
early correspondence, which speak of the malady, and the means
that were used to remove it ; and describe the little patient
as meek and gentle under suffering, yet more than ordinarily
cross and self-willed as soon as the process of recovery set in.
We gather likewise, from the same source, that the organ of
combativeness began to develop itself very early in the cranium
of the infant hero. Mr. Bayley, writing in 1732, when his
charge could not as yet have completed his seventh year, says,
« iHe has just had a new suit of clothes, and promises by his
reformation to deserve them. I am satisfied that his fighting
(to which he is out of measure addicted) gives his temper a
fierceness and imperiousness, that he flies out upon every trifling
occasion : for this reason I do what I can to suppress the hero,
that I may help forward the more valuable qualities of meekness,
benevolence, and patience. I assure you, sir, it is a matter of
concern to us, as it is of importance to himself, that he may be
a good and virtuous man, to which no care of ours shall be
wanting."

Young Clive appears to have acquired the rudiments of his
education in an exceedingly desultory manner. He was con-
tinually changing his schools, the first of which, at Lostock in
Cheshire, he entered when very young, and quitted again before
he had completed his eleventh year. We are not told how he
acquitted himself at Lostock, nor indeed was he celebrated either
there or elsewhere for application to his studies ; but one master.
Dr. Eaton, was so far struck by him as to predict that, " if his
scholar lived to be a man, and opportunity for the exertion of
his talents were afforded, he would win for himself a name
second to few in history." Next we find him at Market
Drayton, under the tutelege of the Rev. Mr. Burslem. From
that seminary he removed to Merchant Tailors' school in
London, where, however, his residence was not protracted ; and
last of all he became one of the pupils of Mr. Sterling, the
keeper of a private academy in Herael Hempstead. In each of
these places he established a reputation for daring intrepidity.

CHAP. I.] EARLY EDUCATION.

and an invincible spirit of command. It is told of him, at
Market Drayton, that, for the purpose of getting a smooth stone
out of a water-spout, with which to make ducks and drakes, he
ascended to the top of the church-tower, and let himself down over
the parapet wall, to the distance of at least three feet. He is
described as putting himself at the head of all the good-for-
nothing lads in the same town, and, after a series of petty out-
rages on the tradespeople, compelling them to pay a sort of
black-mail as the price of the discontinuance of the nuisance.
Finally, his determination of purpose was shown when, on the
breaking down of a mound of turf by means of which his ban-
ditti were labouring to turn a dirty water-course into the shop-
door of an obnoxious dealer, he threw himself into the gutter,
and filled the breach with his body till his companions were in a
condition more effectually to repair the damage. Such anec-
dotes, if related of one who lived and died unknown, would
excite as little interest in him who should listen to them as they
would be accepted as creditable to their subject. But Clive rose
to greatness through the display of qualities which fall to the
lot of few ; and exploits, which when performed earned for him
the character of " an unlucky boy,'* came to be regarded as
foreshadowings of that genius which found scope for the exercise
of its powers in nothing less than the conquest of kingdoms.

It had been the design of Mr. Clive to bring up his son
Bobert to the profession of which he was himself a member.
The exceeding distaste of the young man, however, for seden-
tary pursuits, and the little progress which he made in scholastic
learning, induced a change of plan, and interest was made, not
unsuccessfully, to procure for him a writership in the service
of the East India Company. Through what particular channel
the appointment was procured I have not been able to ascertain ;
but as writerships were in 1743 very different from what they had
become in 1843, it is not necessary to assume that any powerful
interest was necessary to command it. The truth indeed is,
^t at the former period the Company was nothing more than
1. trading corporation. Its territory consisted of a few square
siles round each of the fectories which its agents had esta-
Uished, and for which, as well as for the factories themselves,
mit was paid to the native governments. A handful of troops

B 2

4 LIFE OF LOBD CLIVE. [chap, i,

sufficed to man, but imperfectly, the ill-constructed forts by
which the warehouses were protected ; and -the native portion of
this force, by far the most numerous, was not only not dis*
ciplined after the European ^hion, but lacked other arms than
the sword and shield, or else a bow and arrows. The civil servants
of the Company, too, were neither counsellors nor judges, col-
lectors nor diplomatists, but clerks, whose duty it was to keep
accounts, to take stock, to make advances to weavers, to ship
cargoes, and to prevent, as much as possible, the interference
of interlopers with the monopoly of the India trade, which
acts of parliament had secured to them. Moreover, the writers,
as they were called, or junior clerks, received such miserable
pay that to avoid getting into debt, except by the exercise of
extreme self-denial, was impossible. No doubt there were
great prizes in store for such as might survive these early
hardships. Private trade — that is, the trade of individuals on
their own account — was then in the height of its luxuriance;
and large fortunes were made by such as could embark in it at
the expense of the interests of their employers. But oppor-
tunities of this sort did not come till after long years of residence
in the country ; and these were, even under the most favourable
circumstances, years of suffering and of drudgery. A writer-
ship was not, therefore, considered a hundred years ago in the
light of a handsome provision for the younger son of a noble
£miily, or of a Director, and was therefore, much more than it
is now, within the reach of persons of far less pretension.

Young Clive received his nomination in the early spring of
1743, and embarked soon afterwards for Madras. He was then
in the eighteenth year of his age, and, in spite of an ill-regulated
temper, appears to have possessed strong natural affections
and a warm heart. His aunt Bayley had died in 1735, but
Hope Hall did not cease on that account to be his home ; indeed
he retained both then and afterwards a lively recollection of the
happy days which he had spent there, and parted from its sur-
viving inmates with great regret. His voyage, besides being
tedious and expensive, was not devoid of danger. The ship in
which he took his passage put in at Brazil, where it was detained
nine months, and suffered a second detention, though not so
protracted, at the Cape of Good Hope. The consequence was.

CHIP. I,] ARRIVAL IN INDIA. 5

that the autumn of 1744 had set in ere our adventurer reached
the place of his destination. But it tells in Olive's &vour that
he did not allow the opportunity which presented itself at
Brazil of acquiring some knowledge of the Portuguese language
to pass unimproved. An accurate Portuguese scholar he never
became ; indeed he would appear to have been deficient in that
<mier of talent which gives to its possessors a facility of ac-
quiring languages ; for it is a curious fact that he, who more
than almost any other Englishman understood the character of the
natives of India, and exercised unbounded sway over them, was
never able to hold a lengthened or serious communication with
them, either by writing or in conversation, except through the
medium of an interpreter. But he managed to pick up more
than a smattering of the tongue in which Camoens wrote, and in
after-life his knowledge, imperfect as it might be, was more than
once of use to him.

Two results, both of them of evil consequence to Clive,
arose out of the extraordinary length of his outward passage :
he had expended the whole of his ready money before he
reached Madras ; and a gentleman to whom he carried letters of
introduction, and who would have assisted him in the strait,
had already quitted the place and returned to Europe. Under
these circumstances Clive was driven to borrow from the captain
of the ship in which he had come out ; and he complains, pro-
bably not without reason, of the exorbitant interest which the
lender exacted. He felt himself, likewise, alone as it were in
a new world ; for though in those days, not less than now, hospi-
tality was a virtue largely practised by the Company's servants
in the East, Clive, being shy or proud, and destitute of recom-
mendations to any of the residents at Madras, kept aloof from
them all, and was of course in his turn neglected. His irritable
temper did not soften down amid the comparative solitude in
which he lived, and he soon began to experience a depression of
spirits which, as it was constitutional, never afterwards wholly
left him. As a specimen of the manner in which his proud dis-
position worked, it may be stated that he had not been long at the
desk when he quarrelled with a superior functionary, and gave
such proof of his contempt for the rules of the service that the
Governor, being appealed to, commanded him to apologize.

6 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. i.

Clive could not refuse to obey, because any attempt to evade
the order would have cost him his place ; but he made his sub-
mission with a very bad grace, and would never again return to
habits of familiar acquaintance with th^e secretary. When the
latter, desirous of burying the dispute in oblivion, asked him one
day to dine, he replied, " No, sir ; the Governor desired me to
apologize, and I have done so; but he did not command me to
dine with you."

Besides being wayward and irritable to a degree which ren-
dered him often impatient of control, and not always safe as a
companion, Clive began already to labour under occasional fits
of low spirits, during the paroxysms of one of which it is said
that he twice made an attempt to destroy himself. He had been
improvident, it appears, and his pecuniary affairs were involved.
The restraints of the office chafed him ; and he took in ill part
both the advice and the remonstrances of such as prompted him
to greater exertion. In this humour he withdrew one day to his
own room in Writers' Buildings, and there shut himself up.
An hour or two afterwards one of his companions knocked at
the door, and was admitted. He found Clive seated in a remote
corner of the apartment, with a table near him, on which lay a
pistol. "Take it, and fire it over the window," said Clive,
pointing to the weapon. His friend did so ; and no sooner was
the report heard than Clive, springing from his seat, exclaimed,
" I feel that I am reserved for some end or another. I twice
snapped that pistol at my own head, and it would not go off."
Strange as this story may read, it is not unlikely to be true.
The explosion of a pistol at last which has previously missed
fire is an event of too frequent occurrence to stagger the most
sceptical ; and the after-career of the man affords sufficient ground
for believing that there were many moments in his life when the
thought of self-destruction was not unlikely to be present with
him. On the other hand, it is certain that, though often refer-
ring to the events of his early Indian career, he was never
known to allude to this occurrence. His conversation, on the
contrary, when it took that turn, became lively, anecdotical, and
replete with good feeling. Every act of kindness done to him-
self, as well as the persons and names of the parties to whom he
had been indebted for it, were brought out pleasantly, as if from

CHAP. I.] HIS EARLY LIFE IN INDIA. 7

the storehouse of a grateful memory ; while recollections of a
different kind appeared all to have £uied away, or to be dismissed.
At the same time his correspondence shows that his mind was
at this period oflen ill at ease. He appears to have felt acutely
that he was not suited for the occupations of detail and routine
to which he had been called. A temperament such as his re-
quired strong, if not constant, excitement ; his powers of mind
languished for want of more congenial objects on which to exer-
cise themselves. He even pined for home, and the endearments
of the domestic circle, with an intensity of which his boyhood
had given no promise. Writing to one of his cousins, he says,
" I have not enjoyed one happy day since I left my native coun-
try." In another of his letters we find him declaring, <' I must
confess, at intervals when I think of my dear native England,
it affects me in a very particular manner. If I should be so &r
blessed as to revisit again my own country, but more especially
Manchester, the centre of all my wishes, all that I could hope
for or desire would be presented before me in one view." These
are touching avowals to come from one who had been noted even
in childhood rather for the firmness of his resolves than for the
clinging nature of his feelings ; but they exhibit a true picture
of his sentiments : for Clive had no touch of affectation about
him. However, the writer was not without a solace amid his
cares more creditable than those upon which functionaries of
his standing were for the most part accustomed to fall back.
The Governor had a good library, to which he permitted Clive
to have free access ; and the young man, devoting much of his
leisure time to study, acquired in that apartment almost all the
knowledge of books of which he seems ever to have been

y

LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. n.

CHAPTER II.

Joins the Army— Early Military Services.

Such was the manner of Clive's existence when an event befell,
which, threatening at the outset to cast a blight over his pros-
pects, proved, in point of fact, to be the turning-point whence
his march to eminence began.

The war of the Austrian succession, which had for some years
desolated Europe, was extended in 1745 and 1746 to Asia. Eng-
land and France had taken opposite sides in the quarrel ; and,
the fleets of the latter obtaining, in the Indian seas, a temporary
ascendancy, Labourdonnais, the able and accomplished Governor
of Mauritius, determined to make the most of the circumstance.
It will be recollected that France had at this time her East India
Company, to the full as rich and influential as that of England.
She was the mistress, also, of settlements more extensive, and in
some respects better placed, than any which flourished under the
protection of the British flag ; and her local authorities aspired,
as is the habit of their countrymen, far more after political
influence than increased ^cilities of trade. Almost all the Spice
Islands, including that over the destinies of which Labourdonnais
presided, belonged to her. The chief seat of her power was,
however, Pondicherry, where Dupleix — a man of greater ambi-
tion and almost equal talent with Labourdonnais— held rule ;
and she was strong in a military point of view — not only because
of the number of regular troops which she kept on foot, but
because she had already begun to arm and discipline battalions of
sepoys after the European ^hion, and found them trustworthy.

The possessions of England, on the other hand, though not
inconveniently situated for purposes of trade with the interior,
were all on the continent of India. On the Malabar side she
held Bombay, which had been ceded by Portugal to Charles II,
as part of the dowry of Queen Catherine. At the mouth of the

CHAP. n.J HOSTILITIES WITH THE FRENCH. 9

Hoogley, a branch of the river Granges, Calcutta belonged to
her ; but Calcutta was as yet so little accounted of, that it had
only just ceased to be a dependency on the more important presi-
dency of Madras. Lastly, along the Coromandel coast were
scattered Madras, Fort St. David, Cuddalore, and two or three
lesser stations, all of which were more or less important on
account of the treasures which their storehouses contained,
though none were considered capable of being maintained, for a
single day, against the power of the native princes, should it be
put forth in earnest.

The rival Companies were thus circumstanced when Labour-
donnais, after compelling the English fleet to abandon the coast,
landed with an army and put Madras in a state of siege. The
place, after a weak resistance, capitulated, and the keys of the
ibrt were given into his hands. Whatever property was accu-
mulated in the Company's warehouses became the prey of the
conquerors ; but it was stipulated that the town should be spared,
and that on payment of a ransom, which Labourdonnais pledged
himself to fix at a moderate amount, it should be given back to
its former proprietors. Meanwhile the English inhabitants were
to suffer no molestation ; but, considering themselves prisoners of
war upon parole, were to abide quietly in their houses.

There had been jealousies between Dupleix and Labourdonnais
ever since the nomination of the former to the presidency of
Pondicherry. These the success of the expedition against
Madras greatly inflamed ; and Dupleix, asserting that the
Governor of Mauritius had exceeded his powers — inasmuch
as all conquests effected on the continent of India were at his
own disposal — refused to ratify the capitulation. He even went
so £u* as to threaten that the works of Fort St. George should be
blown up ; and, despatching one of his own officers to act as
Governor, called upon the English residents to renew their parole
oi honour to him. Indeed he did more : with no other apparent
object in view than the indulgence of a small national vanity, he
caused the English Governor, with some of the chief members of
the factory, to be conveyed, under a guard, to Pondicherry, and
inarched them, somewhat after the manner of captives in a Koman
procession, through the town. So gross a violation on one side
of the terms of the treaty was regarded on the other as absolving

10 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. h.

men from their engagements ; and many, among whom Clive
was one, no longer considered their parole to be binding. These
escaped as they best could from Madras ; Clive, with a friend,
fleeing in the disguise of Mussulmans, and taking shelter at F6rt
St. David.

For some time after his arrival in the latter place Clive
appears to have led a life of unprofitable idleness. His services
were not required in a fiictory already overstocked with clerks,
whom the progress of hostilities compelled, in a great measure,
to suspend their commercial undertakings ; and he sought some-
times at the gaming-table that escape from dejection which he
could not find either in study or the duties of his station. It
happened upon a certain occasion that two officers with whom he
had been engaged in play were detected in the act of cheating.
They had won considerable sums of money from various persons
present, and among the rest from Clive ; but he, having satisfied
himself of the nature of their proceedings, refused to pay. A
quarrel ensued, and one of them demanded satisfaction. The
combatants met without seconds to settle the dispute, and Clive,
having the first fire, delivered it to no purpose, and stood at
the mercy of his adversary. The latter, walking up, presented
his pistol at Clive's head, and desired him to ask his life. This
was done without hesitation; but when the other went on to
demand an apology, and the retractation of the charge of cheating,
Clive refused to give either. " Then I will shoot you," ex-
claimed the bully. " Shoot and be d d !" replied Clive. ** I

said you cheated, I say so still, and I will never pay you." The
officer, declaring the young man to be mad, threw away his
weapon, and there the matter ended ; for Clive, when urged to
bring the whole case under the cognizance of the authorities,
declined to do so, and religiously abstained from referring, even
in private society, to the behg^viour of his late opponent at cards.
" I will not do him an injury on any account," was his answer.
" I will never pay what he unfairly won ; but he has given me
my life, and from me he shall take no hurt under any circum-
stances."

Whether the occurrence just related 'had any other influence
upon Clive's fortunes than to win for him, on account of his
desperate bravery, the admiration of his young companions, does

CHAP. II.] JOINS THE ARMY. 11

not appear; but we find him soon afterwards taking steps to
exchange the pen for the sword, and succeeding in obtain-
ing an eosigncy in the Company's army. Doubtless he had,
in some measure, earned his commission by the good service
which he rendered during the siege of Fort St. David ; for when
Dupleix, hoping to profit by the consternation which the fall
of Madras had occasioned, marched against the latter place,
Clive, though a civilian, shouldered a musket, and took his turn
of duty with the rest of the garrison. But whatever the imme-
diate occasion of the arrangement may have been, his ensigncy,
which bore date in the spring of 1747, did not remove him from
the civil service. It enabled him, however, to witness almost
all the petty operations in which the autumn of 1747 and the
spring of the following year were wasted, and attached him to
the force which in 1748 co-operated with Admiral Boscawen's
army in the attack upon Pondicherry. The latter enterprise, as
is well known, signally failed. It could not indeed do other-
wise, for, undertaken at an improper season, it was pushed
forward without either energy or skill. Nevertheless, it fur-
nished Mr. Clive with more than one opportunity for the display
of that personal coolness and intrepidity which may be described
as the groundwork of all other military virtues. It involved
him, likewise, in a new quarrel ; and would have brought him
again into personal conflict with a brother oflScer, had not the
latter, under somewhat peculiar circumstances, declined the chal-
lenge. Mr. Clive, it appears, had the command of one of the
advanced batteries which were opened against tlie works of Pon-
dicherry. The fire proving hot, his ammunition expended itself;
and he, in his eagerness to renew the fight, ran to the rear for a
fresh supply. It is not usual for officers to go in person upon
such errands ; and the circumstance being noticed by one whose
q:)eech seems to have been but imperfectly under the control of
his reason, insinuations hurtful to the character of Clive as a
soldier were thrown out. The young man lost no time in de-
manding an explanation, and, the author of the scandal failing to
give such as Clive felt that he had a right to expect, a demand
for instant satisfaction followed. As the parties were moving
to their ground, Clive's opponent, irritated by some circumstance
which has not been stated, struck him. Clive drew upon the

12 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. u.

spot ; but the place being public, the duel was prevented. A
judicial inquiry followed, which led to the condemnation of the
individual who had given the blow, and imposed upon him the
necessity of making a public apology in front of the battalion ;
but with this Olive did not rest content. The original ground
of quarrel had not been removed, and the fiery young soldier
returned to it. His adversary, however, asserting that one apo-
logy was enough to wipe out all offences, declined to meet him ;
whereupon Olive shook a cane over his head, and told him he
was a coward. The result was that Olive came off without the
slightest stain on his character, while the originator of the fray
was obliged to resign his conmiission.

I repeat these anecdotes as I find them told, more at length,
by the authorities which, in the compilation of the present me-
moir, it has been necessary to consult ; but I entirely dissent
from the opinions of those writers who seem to regard them as
creditable to the subject. Brawls and duels, however frequent in
the last century, had not the effect even then of elevating men's
reputation for courage ; in these days they are regarded both
justly and happily as manifestations of bad taste and an Unregu-
lated mind. Let us not, however, be too severe upon Olive.
His duel with the gambler admits of no excuse. It was the last
act in a series of indefensible outrages' on both morals and man-
liers, and there is nothing to admire about it except the headstroi%
determination of the man, who would rather submit to be put to
death than retract a word which he had once uttered. But the
affair beside the lines of Fondicherry is at least more intelligible,
though even that can hardly be spoken of except with regret. A
quiet remonstrance would have probably gained all the reparation
which so palpable and admitted a wrong required ; for Olive's
reputation for courage was already such as to render a loose
insinuation to the contrary innocuous ; and had the contrary been
the case, there was surely no need, after the humiliation to which
the other party had been subjected, to force a dormant quarrel
upon him. Still here the stories are ; and as I believe them to
be authentic, and desire no more than to draw a faithful picture
of a very remarkable personage, I cannot refuse to transfer them
to these pages. The reader will doubtless find as he goes on
other proofs that Olive, however great in the recognised meaning

CHAP.u.] EARLY MILITARY SERVICES. ^13

of that term, was by no means, either in his public or private
character, a perfect being.

The British army had not long returned from its abortive
attempt to reduce Pondicherry when tidings arrived from Europe
of the cessation of hostilities. The immediate consequence of
this announcement, as regarded public affairs, was the restora-
tion of Madras by Dupleix to the East India Company. Upon
the career of Clive it produced this effect, that it restored him
for a brief space to his peaceful occupations in Writers' Build-
ings. But the love of a military life was by this time so rooted
in him, that at the first intimation of hostilities, no matter
against whom to be conducted, he again volunteered to serve.
Accordingly, when in 1 749 an expedition was fitted out for the
ostensible purpose of restoring an exiled rajah to the throne of
Tanjore, Clive joined it. The circumstances of the case were
these : —

The district of Tanjore, comprising an extent of seventy or
eighty miles in length, and lying within or immediately adjoin-
ing to the several moutlis of the Cavery, constituted, at the period
of which I now write, a Hindoo principality, which the Maho-
medans, though nominally establishing their dominion over it,
had been content to govern, even in the height of their vigour,
through the agency of its native sovereigns. In the reign of
Arungzebe, Sivaji, the illustrious founder of the Mahratta con-
federation, won it with his sword and left it as an inheritance
to his children. During four generations these swayed the
sceptre, the son succeeding the father without interruption ; but
the successor of the last of them, being an infant, was put to
death, and then began a scramble for the throne. First Sahujee,
the legitimate son of Tuckojee, and as such the uncle of the
murdered child, won the prize. He did not keep it long, how-
ever, because the same influence which had raised set him aside,
and Fritauba Sing, also a son of Tuckojee, though by a concubine,
reigned in his stead. It does not appear that the people of
Tanjore took any objection to the rajah*s title. He made various
treaties with the English likewise in the course of several years,
frbich he kept faithfully, and his tenure appeared to be as secure
as that c^ any other of the princes of India. But, soon after the
cenation of the war with France, Sahujee, the exile, presented

14 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. ii.

himself at Fort St. David and besought the English to assist
him with a portion of their troops in an attempt to recover his
kingdom. No doubt his assertion of the justice of his title, and
the assurances which he gave of being supported by a majority
of the people, had due weight with the English authorities ;
but there is reason to believe that a promise, in the event of
success, of the town and harbour of Dovecotta, at the mouth of
the Coleroon, told at least as eflfectually as either argument.
Be this however as it may, a resolution of council was passed
to the effect that it would be expedient to assist the rajah in the
prosecution of his claim, and a force was ordered to proceed
under the command of Captain Cope for that purpose.

Cope's little army, consisting of 430 Europeans, 1000 sepoya,
and a few heavy guns, took the field in the month of April.
Clive, now promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, went with it,
but the issue proved unfortunate ; a storm dispersed the squadron
in which the guns with the heavy baggage had been sent round
to the mouth of the Coleroon, and the infantry either could do
or did nothing without the artillery. Cope, therefore, after
losing a good many of his fighting-men and almost all his coolies,
returned to Fort St. David discomfited. He brought back,
indeed, a piece of intelligence which, if it surprised his Go-
vernment, ought not to have done so ; he assured them that
their prot^e had not a single adherent in the country. But,
however mortifying the discovery that they had been imposed
upon in regard to this matter, there were cogent reasons in force
for persevering in the war for a while. Their arms had sustained
a reverse, and the credit which they had lost must be recovered.
Accordingly a new expedition was contemplated, of greater
force both in men and materiel, and Major Lawrence, an officer
of distinguished name in eastern warfare, assumed the command.
This time operations were carried on with vigour. After sur-
mounting many difficulties, among which the passage of the
Coleroon on a flying-bridge in the face of the enemy deserves to
be enumerated. Major Lawrence sat down before Dovecotta,
and, his batteries opening with effect, a breach was in due time
declared practicable. Mr. Clive solicited and obtained the
honour of leading the forlorn hope. He was charged by cavalry
while advancing to the bottom of the breach, and not fewer

CHAP, n.] EARLY MILITARY SERVICES. 15

than thirty out of the thirty -four Europeans who accompanied
him fell. But the sepoys in support showed a good front, and,
Lawrence bringing up the whole of his European battalion,
the place was entered sword in hand. A second triumph, at
a fortified pagoda about five miles distant from the town^
induced the reigning prince to sue for peace, which was granted
on condition that Dovecotta should remain in the hands of its
captors, and the pretender be pensioned at a rate which would
enable him to spend the remainder of his days comfortably in a
private station.

Immediately on the ratification of this treaty Major Lawrence,
leaving a sufficient garrison in Dovecotta, returned to Fort St.
David, whence, in a short time, he proceeded for the settlement
of his private aflfeurs to England. Clive likewise, in the per-
suasion that there would be no further need for him in the field,
resumed his civil functions at Madras, where he was admitted to
the same rank at which he would have arrived had not the exi-
gencies of the public service withdrawn him for a while from
the factory. This was a high but not an unmerited compliment
to his talents^ of which, however, for the present he was prevented
from making any use, for a severe nervous fever attacked him
before he could return to habits of business, and he was forced
to seek refreshment during the cold season in Bengal. It appears
that the effects of this inroad on his constitution were as enduring
as they were mischievous. He became more than ever subject to
fits of depression of spirits, and, when not occupied with affairs
which filled and engrossed his thoughts, was often so miserably
low as to shrink from the idea of being left alone. Of what
strange materials are the best of us composed ! How narrow is
the line which separates that which we call genius from insanity !
But it is time to look beyond these comparatively trifiing details,
that we may trace the course of events which were about to
give a new aspect to the politics of India, and to call into opera-
tion the highest order of talent of which the rival Companies of
England and France in that part of the world could boast.

16 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. hi.

CHAPTER III.

General View of the Affiurs of India.

When a handful of English merchants proceeded, in the year
1612, to occupy the countinghouses and stores which were
allotted to them for the transaction of business in Surat, their
astonishment at the spectacles, moral, political, and financial,
which were opened to their view on every side defies description.
They found themselves not only without weight or influence in
the country, but mere tolerated denizens, and nothing more, of
what appeared to them the greatest and wealthiest empire which
the world had ever seen. An Emperor, of whom they saw nothing,
but who was described as dwelling in luxury and splendour at
Delhi, governed the whole extent of the Indian peninsula, from
the Himalaya mountains to Cape Comorin. A thousand deputies,
rising in degree one above another, managed the afiairs of the
innumerable provinces into which his empire was divided. These
had large bodies of revenue officers and police in their pay,
judges and magistrates under them, with standing armies and all
the other appliances of sovereign power ; and they maintained at
their Courts a degree of state which nothing about those of Euro-
pean princes seemed to come near. The habits of the people, like-
wise, were, as far as strangers could judge of them, civilized in
Ithe extreme. The labouring classes might go about well-nigh
I in a state of nudity, and be content to dwell in earthen huts,
I without any other furniture than a few mats on which to sleep,
' and a gourd or a pitcher wherewith to draw water from the wells.
But their manners were gentle and polite in the extreme, while
their ingenuity as weavers, and their skill in the mechanical and
agricultural arts, excited the admiration of persons bom in Kent
and brought up in Manchester or London. Meanwhile the
Indian aristocracy inhabited palaces gorgeously decorated and
of vast extent. Their temples, too, and market-places — the

CHAP. iiL] VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 17

tombs of the dead, and the monuments erected to commemorate
the virtues of the living — ^all appeared to the wondering eyes of
our countrymen superb. In like manner the density of the
population in the cities, and the perfect order which prevailed —
the awe with which rulers seemed to be regarded — and the pomp
and dazzling splendour of their processions — rwent far to confirm
the impressions which a consideration of other more shadowy
objects had made. The letters of our first factors to their
correspondents at home were filled with accounts of the great-
ness of the princes under whose protection they lived ; while
their employers lost no opportunity of urging upon them the
necessity as well as the wisdom of paying implicit obedience to
every mandate which might be issued by these all-powerful
potentates, or their representatives.

The truth, however, is, that this empire, extensive and power-
^1 as it seemed to be, carried in its bosom, from the date of its
first establishment, the seeds of an early dissolution. Not even
the genius of Baber, nor the extraordinary administrative talents
of Akbar, could give to a machine so constituted the elements of
durability. An Oriental despotism, tainted with all the vices f
that are inseparable from the dominion of race over race, can i
never be held together but by the hand of a giant. The first
symptom of weakness in the chief is sure to operate on his sub-
ordinates as a signal of insubordination, which, whether it take
the form of an armed insurrection, or be content to work out its
ends by the process of passive resistance, cannot fail, more or less
speedily, to succeed. This fact, sufiiciently demonstrated on various
occasions during the interval which divided the reigns of Akbar
and that of Arungzebe, passed, after the demise of the fallen
prince, into a rule. Indeed the means adopted by Arungzebe
himself — perhaps the ablest of all the monarchs who derived
their descent from Timour — to obtain the throne, set the seal
to its validity. The youngest of a family of brothers, he rose,
as is well known, to power after a lengthened struggle with the
other members of his father's house. It was one of the inevitable
consequences of such a civil war that the chain of connexion
which bound its lieutenants to the Imperial throne should be
weakened. Opportunity was likewise given to Hindoo tribes,
impatient of a Mussulman yoke, to withhold their tribute ; and

c

18 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [ohap. ixl

in the heart of the empire bands of robbers organized themselves,
which fell by degrees into political shape, and took rank among
the most powerful of the Indian commonwealths. Arungzebe
himself, therefore, had through life a part to enact which few
princes either of ancient or modern times could have played at
all, and which even, he played imperfectly. But on the day of
his death the foundations of the whole fabric gave way, and the
ruin which followed was as complete as it was rapid. The
state of India during forty years which followed the demise of
this great man has been so admirably described by an eloquent
and well-known writer, that I cannot deny myself the gratifi-
cation of transferring to these pages the whole of the passage.

^* The history of the successors of Theodosius bears no small
analogy to that of the successors of Arungzebe. £ut perhaps
the fall of the Carlovingians furnishes the nearest parallel to the
fall of the Moguls. Charlemagne was scarcely interred when
the imbecility and the disputes of his descendants began to bring
contempt on themselves and destruction on their subjects. The
wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand pieces.
Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the abject
heirs of ^an illustrious name — Charles the Bald, and Charles the
Fat, and Charles the Simple. Fierce invaders, differing from each
other in race, language, and religion, flocked, as if by concert,
from the farthest corners of the earth, to plunder provinces which
the Government could no longer defend. The pirates of the
Baltic extended their ravages from the Elbe to the Pyrenee*,
and at length fixed their seat in the rich valley of the Seine.
The Hungarians, in whom the trembling monks fancied that
they recognised the Grog and Magog of prophecy, carried back
the plunder of the cities of Lombardy to the depth of the
Pannonian forest. The Saracen ruled in Sicily, desolated the
fertile plains of Campania, and i^read terror even to the walls
of Rome. In the midst of these sufferings a great internal
change passed upon the empire. The corruption of death
began to ferment into new forms of life. While the great
body as a whole was torpid and passive, ev^ separate member
began to feel with a sense and to move with an energy all its
own. Just here, in the most barren and dreary part of European
history, all feudal privileges, all modern nobility, take their

CHAP, ra.] VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 19

source. To this point we trace the power of those princes who,
nominally vassal^, but really independent, long governed, with
the titles of Dukes, Marquesses, and Counts, almost every part
of the dominions which had obeyed Charlemagne.

^^ Such, or nearly such, was the change which passed over the
Mogul empire during the forty years which followed the death
of Arungzebe. A series of nominal sovereigns, sunk in indo-
l^ice and debauchery, sauntered away life in secluded palaces,
chewing bang, fondling concubines, and listening to buffoons.
A series of ferocious invaders had deseeded through the western
passes to prey on the defenceless wealth of Hindostan. A
Persian conqueror crossed the Indus, marched through the gates
of Delhi, and bore away in triumph those treasures of which the
magnificence had astounded Roe and Bemier; the peacock
throne on which the richest jewels of Golconda had been disposed
by the most skilful hands of Europe; and the inestimable
mountain of light, which, after many strange vicissitudes, lately
shone in the bracelet of Runjeet Sing. The Affghan soon
followed to complete the work of devastation which the Persian
had begun. The warlike tribes of Rajpoots threw off the
Mussulman yoke ; a band of mercenary soldiers occupied Rohil-
cund ; the Seiks ruled on the Indus ; the Jauts spread terror
along the Jumna ; the highlands which border on the western
sea-coast of India poured iforth a still more formidable race ~ a
race which was long the terror of every native power, and which
yielded, after many desperate and doubtful struggles, to the
fortune and genius of England. It was under the reign of
Arungzebe that this wild clan of plunderers first descended ^m
the mountains ; and, soon after his death, every corner of his
wide empire learned to tremble at the mi^ty name of the
Mahrattas. Many fertile vice-royalties were entirely subdued
by them ; their dominions extended across the Peninsula from
sea to sea. Their captains ruled at Poonah, at Gualior, in
Gnzzerat, in Berar, and in Tanjore ; nor did they, though they
had become great sovereigns, therefore cease to be freebooters ;
they still retained the predatory habits of their forefathers.
Every region which was not subject to their rule was wasted by
their incursions. Wherever their kettle-drums were heard the
peasant threw his bag of rice on his shoulder, hid his small

c2

20 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. hi.

savings in his girdle, and fled with his wife and children to the
mountains and the jungles — to the milder neighbourhood of the
hysena and the tiger. Many provinces redeemed their harvests
by the payment of an annual ransom ; even the wretched
phantom who still bore the imperial title stooped to pay this
ignominious ' black-mail.' The camp-fires of one rapacious
leader were seen from the walls of the palace of Delhi ; another,
at the head of his innumerable cavalry, descended year after
year on the rice-fields of Bengal : even the European factors
trembled for their magazines. Less than a hundred years ago,
it was thought necessary to fortify Calcutta against the horsemen
of Berar, and the name of the Mahratta ditch still preserves the
memory of the danger."

The eloquence of this description is only exceeded by its
remarkable accordance with fact, and the passage in which the
author goes on to explain the relative positions of the Emperor
and his lieutenants during this interval of anarchy is to the full
as trustworthy. " Wherever the viceroys of the Mogul," he
says, " retained authority, they became sovereigns. They might
still acknowledge in words the superiority of the house of Tamer-
lane, as a Count of Flanders or a Duke of Burgundy would
have acknowledged the superiority of the most helpless driveller
among the later Carlovingians ; they might occasionally send
to their titular sovereign a complimentary present, or solicit
from him a title of honour ; but they were, in truth, no longer
lieutenants removable at pleasure, but independent hereditary
princes. In this way originated those great Mussulman houses
which formerly ruled Bengal and the Carnatic, and those which
still, though in a state of vassalage, exercise some of the powers
of royalty at Lucknow and Hyderabad."

One of the most important of the greater lieutenancies into
which the Mogul empire was divided, is known in history as the
Deccan. It included the whole extent of territory which has
for its limits the Nerbudda on the north, and on the east, south,
and west the Indian Ocean. To the government of that province
one of the ablest of his oflicers, by name Nizam-ul-Mulk, had
been appointed by Arungzebe ; and the souhbadar, surviving by
many years the emperor to whom he was indebted for his eleva-
tion, did not fail, as soon as the opportunity offered, of rendering

CHAP. HI.] VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 21

himself virtually independent of the throne of Delhi. Nizam-
ul-Mulk had, however, difficulties of his own to contend against ;
the Deccan was under his rule subdivided into lesser lieutenancies
as the empire was divided into greater, and of these several were
extensive enough to demand cunning as well as force in their
management. The lower Carnatic, or principality of the Nabob
of Arcot, formed one ; it stretched along the entire Coromandel
coast, from the Northern Circars to Cape Comorin ; and though
narrow, because the ghauts which interpose between it and the
territories of Hyderabad and Mysore form its inland boundary,
it comprised, nevertheless, all the settlements which both the
English and the French had established in that quarter of India.
In ancient times the Carnatic had been governed by a cluster of
Hindoo princes. One of these held his court at Arcot, another
at Vellore, a third in Trichinopoly ; but they had latterly
acknowledged their dependence on a common superior, who,
like other viceroys of the second order, derived his power,
through the souhbadar, from Delhi, and kept his court at
Arcot.

In the year 1710, Nizam-ul-Mulk being Souhbadar of the Dec-
can, Sadat Oolla, Nabob of the Carnatic, died. Having no children
of his own, he adopted two nephews, the elder of whom, by
name Doost Ali, declared himself successor to the Nabob ; while
the younger, called Banker, became governor of the strong
fortress of Vellore. Nizam-ul-Mulk was offended with the pre-
sumption of Doost Ali, and took care that his title should receive
no confirmation from Delhi. But Doost Ali retained his place
notwithstanding, and married two of his daughters, one to
Mortaza Ali, the son of his brother at Vellore, the other to
Chunda Sahib, an individual of whom further mention will be
made, and who became soon afterwards Dewan or prime minister
to his father-in-law.

Time passed, and the Hindoo prince of Trichinopoly, one of
the lesser divisions which was held under the Nabob of Arcot,
died ; and Doost Ali sent his Dewan with an army to demand
tribute for the Rana or widow. This was in 1736. But the
real object of the Nabob being to possess himself of Trichino-
poly, Chunda Sahib received instructions accordingly, and obeyed
them. The Hindoo family were driven into exile, and Chunda

22 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. m.

Sahib remained master of the place. Already, however, had
dreams of the establishment of political power £or his nation in
the east entered into the mind of the French governor of Pondi-*
cherry. He had been no inattentive observer of the progress of
decay which was going on in the heart of the Mogul Empire ;
and seems to have made his first move by opening a friendly
communication with Chunda Sahib. That personage, it is cer-
tain, passed some days at Pondicherry; and the £ftct of his
subsequent refusal to hand over Trichinopoly to his father-in-
law leaves little reason to doubt that, whether instigated by M.
Dupleix or otherwise, he had already begun to aspire to inde-
pendence, and probably looked to the dignity of Nabob.

Besides his two daughters, Doost Ali had two sons, one of
whom, by name Sufder Ali, had accompanied Chunda Sahib to
Trichinopoly. He did not, however, continue there; but, re-
turning to Arcot, found a new Dewan in office i^eside his father,
— and a plan in order of arrangement for the expulsion of his
rebellious brother-in-law from the conquest which he had just
achieved.

While these things were in progress, a body of ten thousand
Mahrattas, led on by a celebrated chief called Bagojee Bhonsela,
made an inroad into the Carnatic. They were incited to this
partly by the Bajah of Tanjore, one of their own countrymen,
partly by the solicitations of the Hindoo f&mily which had been
expelled from Trichinopoly ; and in the first encounter with the
troops of Doost Ali, they gained a sort of victory, and killed
Doost Ali himself. Sufder Ali at once assumed the Nabobship ;
but, being doubtful of the issue of the war, he removed his family
and treasure to Pondicherry, whither also Chudah Sahib had
sent his property. At the termination of hostilities Sufder Ali
took his family away : not so Chunda Sahib. He had two ene-
mies to fear ; the Mahrattas on the one side and the Nabob on
the other ; and being informed that they were preparing to com-
bine against him, he preferred leaving his children under the
protection of Dupleix. He judged wisely. The Mahrattas,
invited by Sufder Ali, soon returned. They took Tiichinopoly
after a siege of three months, and, sparing Chunda Sahib's
life, carried him away, and threw him into prison at Sat-
tarah.

CHAP. HI.} VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 83

Though he had accomplished this purpose, Sufder Ali was
by DO means at ease. He knew that Nizam-uI-MuIk had been
dissatisfied with his father's assumption of power, and he antici-
pated with alarm the visit from that great man with which he
had been threatened. Under these circumstances he sent his son
and &mily to Madras ; for the French, in consequence of their
patronage of Chunda Sahib, could not be trusted ; and giving
out that he intended to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he shut
himself up in Vellore. Meanwhile there was much discontent
in the Camatic on account of the heavy assessment which the
Nabob found himself compelled to levy for the purpose of rid-
ding the country of the Mahrattas ; and a conspiracy being got
up, at the head of which Mortaza Ali, the cousin and brother-in-
law of Sufder Ali, placed himself, Sufder Ali was assassinated.
The character of Mortaza Ali was not, however, such as to con-
ciliate the people in his favour. It wad alleged, also, that in
seeking to get the son of Sufder Alt into his power, he medi-
tated another murder; and when the English refused to give the
child up, his principal officers revolted from him. He fled in
disguise to Vellore, and the infant Mahomed Seid, the son of
the deceased Sufder Ali, was proclaimed. Before any steps
could be taken, however, to provide a regency or consolidate
its power, a new actor had appeared on the stage. Nizam -ul-
Mulk, at the head of an enormous army, marched into the Car-
natic ; and the claims of rival chie&, whether Nabobs, Bajahs,
or by whatever other titles known, dissolved at his presence.

Nizam-ul-Mulk was a very old man when he undertook this
expedition. He seems to have had, nevertheless, a perfect com-
mand of his faculties ; and, admitting the son of Sufder Ali into
his presence, he treated him kindly, and promised that he should,
when of age, become Nabob. He would not, however, permit
the youth to return to the protection of the relative who under-
took to watch over him, but put him in charge of one of his
own ofiScers, whom he nominated to conduct the government
during the Nabob's minority. This officer never entered upon
the duties of his command. He was found dead in his bed the
morning of the day on which he had been appointed to carry the
young prince to Arcot, and a soldier of fortune, brave and ex-
perienced, of the name of Anwar-u-deen, succeeded to the

24 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. iu.

charge. Auwar-u-deen proved to be either very rash or very
treacherous. The child, whose guardian he had become, was
murdered in his presence, and he himself received from the
Souhbadar a confirmation of his right to the vacant principality.
The revolutions which brought Anwar-u-deen, or, as he is
called in the correspondence of the day, Alaverdy Khan, to the
supreme power in Arcot, and sent Chunda Sahib to prison,
occurred just before the breaking out of hostilities between the
English and French settlements in India. When the last-men-
tioned event befell, the French, who at first were weaker by sea
than their rivals, applied for and obtained the protection of the
new Nabob ; but when in a little while they obtained the as-
cendancy, they denied the right of this prince to interfere
between them and their enemies, and attacked, as has already
been explained, and made themselves masters of Madras. It
was now the turn of the English to ask for protection. The
petition was not refused ; but partly because they neglected to
offer the customary present, and partly that Dupleix worked
upon the Nabob's cupidity by promising to make over to him
the sovereignty of Madras, no assistance came. By and bye,
however, Anwar-u-deen, discovering that Dupleix sought only
to deceive, sent ten thousand men under his son to retake Madras.
This corps suffered a signal defeat ; and for the first time since
the arrival of Europeans among them the native generals and
chiefs appear to have been awakened to a sense of the superiority
of discipline over mere numbers. Then followed the siege of
Fort St. David by the French, towards the interruption of which
the Nabob contributed with little effect. But time was not
afforded for the consolidation of an alliance which Anwar-u-
deen seemed at this time disposed to contract with the English
against their rivals. The peace of 1748 deprived the belli-
gerents of further excuse for the prosecution of hostilities ; and
Madras having been restored to its first owners, both parties were
content to scheme — the one for the attainment of a small and
worthless town at the mouth of a navigable river, the other for
the establishment of paramount influence over the whole of the
Deccan.

CHAP. IV.] SCHEMES OF DUPLEIX. 25

CHAPTER IV.

Gigantic Schemes of Dapleix — ^Their Progress towards Success.

In the year 1748 died Nizam-ul-Mulk, Souhbadar of the
Deecan, one of the most remarkable men whom the Mogul
empire in the decadence of its glory had produced. He left
behind him a family of six sons to contend among them-
selves for the succession, as well as a grandson, the child of a
favourite daughter, whom he is said to have pronounced to be
his heir. The eldest of these sons, by name Nazir Jung, being
in possession of his father's capital and treasures, caused himself
immediately to be proclaimed. He was acknowledged by his
brothers, as well as by the English, between whom and his de-
ceased father he had acted as a medium of communication. He
hastened to equip an army wherewith to oppose his nephew,
Merzapha Jung, who was at the head of a powerful party.
Meanwhile great discontent prevailed in the Carnatic. Anwar-
u-deen never overcame the prejudice which the murder of the
son of Sufder AH had raised against him ; and partly on this
account, partly because the family of Doost Ali had governed
well, and were much beloved, a desire arose to set the usurper,
as he was called, aside, and to fill his place with some relative or
connexion of the old stock. Mortaza Ali was out of the ques-
tion : his hand had struck the blow which deprived the people of
the infant Nabob ; and he was well known to be as cowardly as
he was cruel ; but Chunda Sahib still lived ; and, though a
prisoner among the Mahrattas, he deserved to be looked to as
the legitimate representative of the house of Sadat Oolla. Of
this feeling on the part of the people of the Carnatic Dupleix
was soon informed ; and his fertile imagination concocted out of
it, in combination with the civil war which was already begun
between the rival branches of the house of Nizam-ul-Mulk,
plans as romantic as they were magnificent. "What if he should

26 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. it.

be able to give both a Nabob to the Carnatic and a Nizam or
Souhbadar to the Deccan ? Was not Chunda Sahib his creature
already ; and if he could only manage to deliver him from cap-
tivity among the Mahrattas, might he not be rendered still more
subservient as well as infinitely more useful ? The game was a
noble one, yet it involved slight risk. Some expense would indeed
be incurred ; but for that, in the event of success, he should take
care to find compensation ; and rightly judging that the English
would remain neutral during the fray, he could not doubt that
success would reward his endeavour. The plan was no sooner
matured than be set about its accomplishment. For a while the
Mahrattas rejected his proposals to deliver up Chunda Sahib
into his hands; but the offer of seven lacs of rupees (70,000/.
sterling) overcame their scruples, and the rival of Anwar-u-deen
for the throne of Arcot obtained his liberty.

Chunda Sahib saw at once that he cmild succeed in the Car-
natic only in the event of the success of Merzapha Jung in the
Deccan. He felt also that both Merzapha and himself would be
powerless without the aid of Dupleix ; nevertheless the pride of
a soldier induced him to avoid joining the Nizam in expectancy
till he should be able to do so at the head of a respectable body
of troops. Money he procured from Pondichcrry ; and in those
days the adventurer who possessed a little money and plenty of
courage could never be at a loss in finding retainers who would
follow him upon any enterprise in which it should be his pleasure
to embark. Chunda Sahib offered his own arm and the arms of
his band to a Rajah of Chettledroog in a war which he was
waging against the Rana or queen of Bednore, and was so un-
lucky in the first encounter as to lose his son, who fell by his
side, and himself to be made a prisoner. But fortune had not
deserted him. He fell into the hands of some Mahomedan
officers, whom he persuaded not only to release him, but to join
his standard ; and hastening to Adoni, where Merzapha Jung
lay encamped, he made his obeisance, and was accepted. His
next measure was to persuade Merzapha Jung that to march at
once into the Carnatic was the wisest step which could be taken.
He spoke of the strength of his own party there, and of his in-
fluence with the French ; and Merzapha Jung, perceiving that
there was truth in the argument, acted on his su^estion. Ap-

CHAP, nr.] DISPUTED NATIVE SUCCESSION. %7

plication was immediately made for assistance to Dupleix, who
sent four hundred French troops and two thousand disciplined
sepoys to the support of the adventurers. They advanced into
the Carnatic. Anwar-u-deen marched out to give them battle.
The French greatly distinguished themselves^ and were the chief
causes of the victory which crowned this passage of arms.
Anwar-u-deen was slain. His eldest son, Maphuze Khan, fell
into the enemy's hands ; and his youngest, Mahomed Ali, with
difficulty escaped at the head of a handful of fugitives to Tri-
chinopoly.

The result of this decisive victory was to throw the game
entirely into the hands of the conquerors, whose object would
have douhtkss been attained, without further trouble, had they
known bow to make the most of the opportunity which fortune
offered them. This, however, they failed to do. Instead of
laying immediate siege to Trichinopoly, which Mahomed Ali was
in no plight to maintain, they contented themselves with levying
contributions from vark)us Eajahs ; artd after publishing to the
world that the one had become Nizam of the Deccan, the other
Nabob of the Carnatic, they began, somewhat prematurely, to
act as if the struggle were at an end. It was not so with Nazir
Jung. He put his army in motion for the Carnatic, called upon
Mahomed Ali to join him with all the force which he could raise,
and requiring the support of the English also, in virtue of their
theoretical dependence on his authority, was joined by six or
eight hundred disciplined troops under Major Lawrence. His
rumoured advance induced Merzapha Jung and Chunda Sahib
to retreat to Pondicherry. They were cordially received by
Dnpleix, who, nowise forgetful of the object of the movement,
reinforced his European corps in their service till it numbered
two thousand men. The hostile armies came into presence, and
io convinced was Major Lawrence of the inability of his allies to
cope with their enemies, that he besought Nazir Jung to avoid
a battle; but that proud though weak prince refused to be
guided by the opinion of his counsellor, and drew out his troops
for the attack. That which the undisciplined valour of the
Patans and Mahrattas in Nazir Jung's service never could have
effected was accomplished by the treachery of the French
cheers. A large number of these gentlemen took the opportu-

28 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. iv.

nity of a coming battle to mutiny because certain demands of
theirs had not been granted, and time to restore order ere the
shock came failed the commander. The consequence was that he
retired from the field without firing a shot ; and that the native
army, which depended almost entirely upon him, dissolved itself.
Chunda Sahib retreated with his French allies to Pondicherry.
Merzapha Jung, despairing of better things, gave himself up,
on the promise of good treatment, to his uncle. Such promises
are so continually broken in the East that only men of desperate
fortunes pretend to rely upon them ; and on the present occasion
Nazir Jung exhibited no extraordinary respect for the sacredness
of an engagement. He did not put his nephew to death, which
he might have done ; but he transferred him at once from his
own presence to a dungeon. Nor was he more considerate of
the rights of his allies than of the claims of kindred. While
negotiating for their assistance, he had promised to the English
certain tracts of country adjoining to their settlement at Madras.
Now that the victory was in his opinion achieved, he declined to
redeem his pledge. Upon this Major Lawrence marched home,
while Nazir Jung, as if there had been nothing more to do,
relapsed into his customary habits of indolence. Very different
was the conduct of Dupleix and his faithful ally Chunda Sahib.
The mutiny in the French army was soon repressed and the
mutineers punished. The army itself immediately took the field ;
and one stronghold after another in the Carnatic being reduced,
Chunda Sahib's star was again in the ascendant. It was in vain
that Mahomed Ali called upon the English to help him. They
had refused in the beginning of the struggle ; and, though
alarmed, continued the refusal, till by the promise of a large
increase of territory he overcame their scruples ; but the Nabob
having hazarded a battle before they could come up, and suffered
a defeat, they did not consider that they would be justified, unless
paid in advance, to go further. Meanwhile Dupleix opened a
communication with some of the Patan chiefs in Nazir June's
army. He easily won them over, and arranged a plan for the
surprise of that weak prince's camp ; and though by some mis-
management the French attack took place prematurely, the
issues of the affair answered all his expectations. Nazir Jung
was assassinated by his Patans while urging them to support the

CHAP. IV.] M. BUSSY. 29

outposts. In a moment the fighting ceased, and Merzapha
Jung, the puppet of Dupleix and Chunda Sahib, was brought
forth from his prison and raised to the throne. Thus, by the
exercise of a wise courage, and through the inexplicable supine-
ness of the Governor of Fort St. David's, Dupleix appeared to
have realised the wildest of his day-dreams. He had given both
a Nizam to the Deccan and a Nabob to the Carnatic, and he lost
no time in extracting from the circumstances glory to France,
and to himself and his brother officers enormous profit. The
new Nizam and Nabob paid him a visit at Pondicherry, where
he entertained them with more than oriental pomp, and was
honoured by them as their benefactor. He was declared Go-
vernor, under the Souhbadar, of all India from the Krishnah to
Cape Comorin. Authority was given to him above that of
Chunda Sahib, and he was appointed to the high honour of being
commander of seven thousand horse. The only mint hence-
forth permitted in the Carnatic was to be at Pondicherry. Of
the treasures which the Viceroys of the Deccan had accumulated,
a large portion was transferred to the coffers of France; and
Dupleix received, as his own share, ,'two hundred thousand
pounds in coined money, besides jewels and robes of silk and
tissue of inestimable value. In fact there seemed to be no limit to
his gains. He was the absolute ruler of thirty millions of people.
No favours could be procured from the Government except at
his request ; no access [could be obtained, by petition or other-
wise, to the Nizam unless through his intercession.

Merzapha Jung survived his elevation only a few months.
Having completed the arrangements which were exacted of him
at Pondicherry, he proceeded with his followers towards Hyder-
abad. M. Bussy — one of the ablest and most honest men whom
France has ever produced — accompanied him at the head of
three hundred Europeans and two thousand sepoys; a force
which, however numerically small, was deemed sufficient, through
the respect which its valour and discipline commanded, to ensure
at once his safety and his fidelity. But the same Patau chiefs
who had raised him to the throne took offence at his refusal to
comply with some of their exorbitant demands, and broke out
into a mutiny, during his endeavour to suppress which, the
Nizam was slain. Ordinary men would have been confounded

80 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. it.

' by this catastrophe. Bussy knew how to deal with the army,
and acted on the suggestions of a sound judgment. He found
one of Nizam-ul-Mulk's sons, Salabut Jung, in prison, and,
leading him forth to the people, at once declared him Souhbadar
of the Deccan. The grateful prince did not hesitate to confirm
all the privileges which his predecessor had granted to the French
chiefs and nation ; and the gigantic schemes of the former, in-
stead of falling into confusion, were not so much as checked for
a moment. On the contrary, while Bussy played a bold and vic^
torious game in Hyderabad, Dupleix more and more gratified his
own vanity and that of his people by the most extravagant de-
monstrations of triumph nearer home. These, though they
offended the English almost as much as they dazzled the natives
and delighted his own countrymen, might perhaps have passed un-
noticed had not the exuberance of his folly carried him one step
too far. The inhabitants of Fort St. David and Madras, who had
noticed nothing out of the way in the vicinity of these settlements
over-night, awoke one morning to observe that a number of white
flags had been planted close to their bound-hedges, and here and
there within them — an unmistakable token that Dupleix claimed
as the property of France all the fields which lay on his side
of these epitomes of the Bourbon standard. This was indeed
to add insult to injury. The authorities of Fort St. David could
no longer resist the conviction that the consolidation of French
supremacy in the Deccan was incompatible with the continuance
of their existence. They had witnessed with alarm the fall of
one place after another to Chunda Sahib. They had even at-
tempted to recover Madura, one of the last of Mahomed All's
strongholds, after his rival had taken possession of it, and suf-
fered a repulse. They knew that Trichinopoly alone remained to
their ally ; and his continued entreaties that they would come to
his assistance warned them that the siege must be close and severe.
Still they wavered ; their troops on the Coromandel coast were
much inferior in point of numbers to those of their rivals.
Major Lawrence, the oflicer on whom they placed their chief
reliance, was absent; and having no orders from home which
had other than a peaceful tendency, they experienced a great
and natural reluctance to engage in war except for the purposes
of self-defence. A little calm reflection, however, satisfied the

CHAP. 1Y.5 CLIVE MADE CAPTAIN. 31

new Governor, Mr. Saunders, that the only chance of escape from
ruin for the Company lay in giving assistance to Mahomed All
against his enemy. He accordingly consented, on Mahomed
Ali's undertaking to cede a considerable territory, and to defray
the expenses of the contingent, to support him with a body of
troops ; and five hundred Europeans, a hundred CafFres, and
a thousand sepoys were ordered to assemble for the purpose
of raising the siege of Trichinopoly. This was in May, 1751,
by which time CKve had fully regained his strength, and was
engaged in the discharge of new duties, which his nomination,
through Major Lawrence's good offices, to the post of commis-
sary to the troops, had imposed upon him. Though his former
military rank remained, this new office hindered him, unless dis-
tinctly ordered to the contrary, from exercising any military
commands It is necessary to state this in order that he may be
acquitted of all share in the disgrace which befell the British
arms on the present occasion, for he accompanied the force of
which Captain Gingen took the command, and witnessed its dis-
comfiture under the walls of Volconda. But he at once separated
himself from the fugitives, and returned alone to Fort St.
David, while they took shelter in Trichinopoly. There he ceased
not to urge upon Mr. Saunders the necessity of taking fresh
measures for the relief of the besieged ; and when a convoy was
sent out for the purpose under charge of a civilian member of
council, Clive volunteered to go with it. The troops and stores
reached the beleaguered town in safety, and remained there. It
was not so with Mr. Pigot and Mr. Clive, who, after delivering
over their charge to Captain Gingen, set out, under a slender
escort, to return ; for being attacked on the march by a cloud of
Poligars, they were forced, after expending their last cartridge,
to save themselves by flight. Out of twelve sepoys who formed
their guard, seven were slain, and Clive and Pigot escaped a
similar fate only by the fleetness of their horses.

Clive's conduct during this little afiair had been so gallant,
and contrasted so remarkably with that of some other officers
of a superior rank, that, while they were recommended to quit
the service, he was promoted to be a captain. As such he led a
second relief party through Tanjore, and, not without a sharp
encounter with a French detachment, conveyed it to Trichino-

32 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. iv.

poly. But the result of his present visit to the scene of hosti-
lities was to convince him that unless some more decisive steps
were taken to recall Chunda Sahib from the siege, Trichinopoly
must fall, and with it the hopes of the English, which were
bound up in the maintenance of Mahomed Ali as Nabob. He
therefore sought out Mr. Saunders immediately on his return
to Fort St. David, and proposed to him a plan which, after
mature deliberation, was approved, and of which the execution,
as good policy as well as justice required, was intrusted by the
government to its author.

CHAP, v.] DEFENCES OF ARCOT. 33

CHAPTER V.

Capture and Defence of Arcot — General Operations.

Aecot, the capital of the Carnatic at the 'period when the Car-
natic formed a separate province of the Souhbadarry of the
Deccan, stands upon the left bank of the river Palar, and, like
most other Indian cities of similar importance, consbts of a
pettah or town and a citadel. The present city is of modern
growth, having been built by the Mahomedans in 1716 on
or near the site of the Soramundalum of Ptolemy. The
citadel, of which the outlines still remain, was accounted,
even in the middle of the last century, a place of no great
strength. It had the defect, not uncommon in eastern for-
tresses, of being surrounded on all sides by the town, of which
the houses came up to the foot of the glacis, and commanded the
ramparts. It was very extensive, too, measuring upwards of a
mile in circumference ; and of the towers which flanked the
defences at intervals, several were in ruins, while the remainder
were so circumscribed in their dimensions as not to admit of
more than a single piece of ordnance being mounted on each. The
walls, badly built at the first, were already loose, and portions
had fallen down ; the ramparts were too narrow to accommodate
even a field-piece in action ; a low and slight parapet imperfectly
screened them ; and the ditch, besides being more or less choked
up, had a space of ten feet between it and the bottom of the
counterscarp, intended, without doubt, for a fausse braye^ but
left unfinished. Finally, the two gates by which the fortress
communicated with the town were placed in clumsy covered
ways, which projected at least forty feet beyond the walls, and
opened upon causeways or mounds run through the ditch with-
out any cut or opening for the span of a drawbridge having been
let into them.

In this place, of which the population might be estimated at a
hundred thousand souls, or more, the Nabobs of the Carnatic

34 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. v.

were accustomed to hold their court. They inhabited a gor-
geous palace, and looked round from it upon streets, narrow as
those of eastern towns generally are, but built with considerable
regularity. The bazaars or market-places were good, and well
supplied ; and a manufactory of cloth, besides giving employment
to a portion of the inhabitants, brought in a considerable revenue
to the vice-regal treasury. All these had fallen into the hands
of Chunda Sahib immediately after the battle which had cost
Anwar-u-deen his life ; and the place was occupied by a garrison
of his troops, of which the strength was represented as amount-
ing to eleven hundred men.

The proposal which Clive made, and to which Mr. Saunders
gave a favourable consideration, was this — that, since the Eng-
lish were not strong enough to fight Chunda Sahib and his
French allies under the walls of Trichinopoly, they should en-
deavour to withdraw them from the blockade of that place by
making a dash at Arcot. To be sure the amount of force dis-
posable for such a purpose appeared very inadequate ; for, aft;er
reducing the garrisons of Fort St. David and Madras — the
former to a hundred, the latter to fifty men — only two hundred
Europeans with three hundred sepoys could be mustered. But,
nowise daunted by the numerical odds that were against him,
Clive undertook, at the head of this little band, to enter upon the
enterprise ; and the results fully justified the calculations of his
own hopes and the expectations of the government which trusted
him.

On the 26th of August, 1751, Clive marched from Madras,
where his little army had assembled. Three light field -pieces
constituted his artillery train, and he had eight European officers
to assist him, of whom six had not previously been under fire ;
and on the 29th the whole arrived at a place called Conjeveram,
forty miles inland. On the 3 1st, after encountering a furious
storm of thunder and rain, he halted within ten miles of Arcot,
and, by the mere terror of his presence there, overcame what-
ever resistance the garrison had been expected to make ; for spies
from the town, having seen Clive*s column hold on its way in
spite of the fury of the elements, made such a report of their
movements, that Chunda Sahib's commandant despaired of being
able to do anything against such assailants. He therefore eva-

CHAP, v.] SIEGE OF ARCOT. 35

cuated the citadel, which was immediately taken possession of by
the English.

The prize, though soon won, was not, as Clive easily foresaw,
to be retsdned without a struggle. He at once, therefore, made
preparations to resist a siege. He had already sent to Madras
for a couple of 18-pounders ; and, finding eight cannon of dif-
ferent calibres in the place, he lost no time in arming both the
^ towers and the curtains. Store of provisions was laid in ; and to
the people who inhabited the fortress, in number about three or
four thousand, the utmost kindness was shown. No private pro-
perty was either seized or injured : indeed the discipline which
he maintained was so strict that merchants from the town com-
mitted their stocks of goods to his keeping. And the conse-
quence was that the whole multitude preserved both then and
afterwards a perfect neutrality, except when, by the promise of
reward or the offer of pay, they were prevailed upon to assist in
repairing the dilapidated portions of the walls.

The first blow in this memorable siege was struck by Clive
himself, who, ascertaining that the fugitive garrison was en-
camped near Fort Timery, about six miles from Arcot, marched
out on the 4th of September to give them battle. They stood
till the English arrived within the range of musketry, and ex-
changed some cannon-shot with Clive's gunners, but they avoided
a close contest by fleeing to the hills. A second sally on the 6th
brought Clive into collision with the same people, now increased
to two thousand, and a sharp affair took place. But though he
defeated them in the field, Clive, having no battering guns,
could not reduce the fort into which they threw themselves, and
he therefore returned to Arcot. During the ten subsequent days
his operations were strictly defensive, which so emboldened the
enemy that they approached with three thousand men within
three miles of the glacis ; but a sortie at midnight, on the 14th,
totally routed them without the loss to the English of a single
life.

Soon after this Clive learned that the 18-pounders for which
he had sent were on their way ; and that the enemy, hoping to
intercept them, had occupied Conjeveram in force. Reserving
only thirty Europeans and fifty sepoys to guard the fort, he sent
out the whole of his garrison to the succour of the convoy, of

d2

36 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. ▼-

which the enemy were no sooner informed than they hurried
back, and endeavoured to carry the citadel by assault. But, in
spite of the numerical weakness of his garrison, Clive ofltered
such a stout resistance that no entrance could be effected, and at
dawn the following day he had the satisfaction to receive within
the gates both the troops which had been sent out and the guns
and stores which they were employed to escort.

The occupation of Arcot produced the effect which Clive had
expected from it. Chunda Sahib detached largely from the
corps with which he was blockading Trichinopoly ; and the
fugitives from the late battle coming in, Kajah Sahib, the son of
Chunda Sahib, sat down before Arcot with ten thousand men,
of whom one hundred and fifty were Europeans. For fifty days
he pressed the siege with all the vigour of which an Indian
general was capable. A constant fire of musketry from the
houses on the glacis swept the ramparts. Heavy guns battered
in breach till they brought down a wide extent of wall ; and the
utmost vigilance was exercised in order to prevent supplies of
provisions frdTn being conveyed into the place. Clive, on his
part, was indefatigable, and the devoted coun^e of his handful
of troops passes all praise. Indeed, here, as in our own time in
the noble defence of Jellalabad, European and native rivalled each
other in heroism and endurance. It was during the height of
this siege that an instance of self-devotion on the part of the
native soldiers occurred, of which the memory can never fade
away. The stock of rice beginning to fail, the sepoys waited
upon Clive, and besought him that he would restrict his issues to
their European comrades. All that they desired, or indeed would
accept, was the water in which the grain had been boiled ; and
upon this thin gruel they sustained the labours of the siege for
many days.

Aware of the importance of recovering his father's capital,
Rajah Sahib tried every expedient of negotiation, threat, and the
offer of a bribe, to induce a surrender ; but Clive was deaf to hb
arguments. He spurned, the offered bribe, derided the threats,
and refused to enter into any negotiation with the enemy. Nor
was his defence altogether passive. He made repeated sallies, of
which one or two were supposed to be at least as bold as they were
judicious ; and, though sacrificing some lives, he well kept up

CHAP, v.] ASSAULT ON THE CITADEL. 37

the spirits of the survivors by the proceeding. An attempt was
made to relieve him from Madras, but it failed ; and Lieutenant
Innis, with the party of which he was in command, retreated to
a fort about fifteen miles from the place whence he had set out.
At last Olive managed to communicate with Morari Row, a
Mahratta chief who had been hired, with his corps of six thou-
sand men, to assist Mahomed Ali, but who up to this period had
lain inactive on the frontiers of the Carnatic, as if waiting the
issue of the siege of Trichinopoly, that he might take part with
the victor. This robber-chief, admiring the bravery of Clive
and his people, agreed to come to their assistance, and on the 9th
of November his advanced parties were seen in the neighbour-
hood of Arcot. Now the Rajah Sahib felt that he must strike a
decisive blow, or relinquish his undertaking. Having again
failed to overcome Olive's firmness by promises of reward and
threats of vengeance, he issued his orders and made ready to
hazard a general assault.

The 14th of November is a day kept holy by the worshippers
of Mohamed, in honour of the murder of the brothers Hassan
and Hosseen, two of the most illustrious of the saints and martyrs
in their calendar. The festival is observed in Hindostan with
exceeding fervour, the devotees deepening the sentiment by the
free use of bang, an intoxicating drug, of which one of the
effects is either to stupify altogether, or to inflame the individual
who is under its influence into madness. Rajah Sahib fixed this
day for his final assault on the citadel of Arcot, in the well-
grounded conviction that numbers who, under ordinary circum-
stances, might have done their duty and no more, would, when
inspired by the combined influence of religious zeal and intoxica-
tion, force their way through all opposition, or perish in the
attempt. He could not, however, conceal his purpose from
Clive, who made every necessary disposition to thwart it, ^nd
who lay down to rest only afler he had seen that all was in
readiness for the storm. It came with the dawn of the morning,
and lasted in its fury about an hour. Four columns advanced to
the attack of four different points — two assailing the breaches,
two endeavouring to force open the gates. The latter process
they attempted by driving before them ele[»hants having their
foreheads covered with plates of iron ; the former they executed

38 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chaf. v.

— ^some by passing over the ruins that choked the ditch, others
endeayouring to cross where the water was deep upon a raft.
The elephants, galled by the musketry fire of the garrison, turned
round and trampled upon their own people. The assailants who
endeavoured to clamber over the fallen masses of rubbish were
cut down by discharges from behind the parapet; and Clive,
directing with his own hand a field-piece at the raft, cleared it in
a moment. In a word, the enemy was repulsed at every point,
in spite of the frantic attempts of those who led them on ; — and
drew off, leaving not fewer than four hundred dead bodies in the
ditch, or scattered over the piece of ground which interposed
between it and the bottom of the wall.

Clivers loss in this encounter was very trifling. It amounted
to no more than five or six men ; and well was it for him that
the casualties did not prove more serious. His corps, originally
small, had become so reduced by hard service, that there re-
mained to meet this final assault no more than eighty European
and one hundred and twenty sepoy soldiers ; while the whole of
his officers, with a solitary exception, were placed hors de combat.
Perhaps, too, he had reason to be thankful that the enemy, dis-
couraged by the extent of their losses, and fearful of an attack
from the Mahrattas in their rear, did not renew the attempt.
They continued, however, throughout the day, and till the night
was far advanced, to harass him with a constant musketry fire
from the houses, which they intermitted only for an hour or
two in order to bury their dead. But this suddenly ceased about
one or two o'clock on the iporning of the 15th, when intelligence
came in that they had retreated, and a patrol sent out to ascertain
whether the case were so, brought back a report that not a man
remained in the town.

A valuable booty in treasure, guns, and military stores fell
into the hands of the victor, who however did not permit success
to lull him into indolence. He was no sooner joined by a rein-
forcement from Madras than he took the field, and, carrying a
portion of Morari Row's warriors along with him, made himself
master of the fort of Timery, and fell upon a corps which had
been despatched from Trichinopbly to Bajah Sahib's assistance,
which he destroyed. He next accepted the surrender of
Arnee, and with it seven hundred disciplined natives, whom he

CHAP, v.] BATTLE OF COVEESPAK. 39

took into the English service ; and, after a short cannonade, re-
duced Conjeveram, into which the French had thrown a garrison.
This done, he proceeded to Fort St David, as well to report to
Government the particulars of his services as to arrange a plan
for further and more important operations.

The effect produced on the natives by Clive's successful con-
duct of the war was marvellous. Many who had declared for
Chunda Sahib abandoned him, and not a few of the waverers
gave in their adhesion to the cause of his rival. But the same
thing happened here which occurs on almost all other theatres of
war, whatever be their scale. Only one master-mind was pre-
sent ; and, wherever that happened not to be, affairs went wrong.
Mahomed Ali and Captain Gingen continued to be cooped up in
Trichinopoly, and made no effort to free themselves. Mean-
while Rajah Sahib gathered together a new army, which the
addition of four hundred Frenchmen rendered very formidable ;
and, after laying waste the districts which adhered to Mahomed
Ali, fell upon Poonamalee, and destroyed both it and the country
residences of the P^nglish gentlemen at St. Thomas's fort. This
was in January, 1752, and Clive was at once sent out to put a
stop to the annoyance. Though greatly superior both in numbers
and artillery, the enemy retreated as he advanced ; and it was
not without difficulty that he forced them ,to give battle at a
place called Coverspak. But to bring an enemy to action and to
overthrow him were with Clive events of never-failing sequence.
Nine pieces of cannon fell on this occasion into his hands, as
well as sixty European prisoners, and the bodies of fifty French-
men and three hundred of Eajah Sahib's sepoys were counted on
the field. Nor was Clive's loss trifling : it amounted in killed
to forty Europeans and thirty sepoys, with a much larger number
of both classes wounded.

Having accomplished the object for which he had been sent
out, Clive marched back with his victorious army towards Fort
St. David, on his way to which he passed a town which Dupleix,
in the pride of his first successes, had founded and called after
his own name. It was built round about a monumental column,
the four fronts of which were designed to sustain tablets on
which, in four different languages, the exploits of the founder of
the French empire in the East were about to be inscribed.

40 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. v.

Clive, justly regarding this as much more than a display of mere
personal vanity, caused both town and column to be levelled
with the earth. He knew too well the susceptible nature of the
Indian temperament not to perceive that such a memorial was as
likely to bind the native princes to French interests as victory
itself; and he resolved that they should never have it in their
power to say that an English general and his army saw yet
passed it by untouched. This done, he continued his progress to
Fort St. David ; but he had not rested there many days ere a
summons called him to Madras, where the seat of the English
Government in this part of India was now established.

Affairs were not going well at Trichinopoly. Captain
Gingen confined himself to the castle ; and Mahomed Ali, whose
palace was protected by the guns of the fort, remained with his
troops in the town. It was determined to force the enemy's
lines from without ; and to the command of the troops about to
be employed on this service Clive was nominated ; but before
he had time to organize his corps and commence his march Major
Lawrence arrived from England, and the command, as was
fitting, devolved at once upon him. Clive, however, ^took his
own share, and played a very conspicuous part in the operations
which followed. It was the object of Lawrence to force his way
into Trichinopoly ; it was the obvious business of the besiegers
to prevent this ; and a smart afair occurred, of which the brunt
fell on Clive's division, and of which the results were unfevour-
able to the enemy. Lawrence made good his entrance into the
beleaguered city, and began at once to change the whole order of
the war. His force, if somewhat inferior in point of numbers to
that of the enemy, was better organised and far better com-
manded; indeed Dupleix complained, and not without reason,
that there was nobody at his disposal to execute the plans which
he formed ; and if they in their turn charged Dupleix with per-
sonal cowardice, his exceeding carefulness never to bring himself
imder fire seems to indicate that they too had justice on their
side. But however this may be, the movements of M. Law, to
whom the blockade of Trinchinopoly had been intrusted, both
dissatisfied his superior and indicated on his own part a grievous
lack of military talent. He suffered himself, with all his army,
to be shut up in the island of Seringham : he made a false move

CHAP, v.] CLIVE ATTACKED AT SAMIAVERAM. 41

under the idea of helping M. d'Auteuil, whom Dupleix de-
spatched at the head of a separate corps to relieve him ; and in a
night action, rashly brought on, sustained a heavy loss. As the
part played by Clive in this latter affair was a remarkable one,
it is necessary that I should describe it more at length.

The island of Seringham is formed by the severance of the
river Coleroon into two branches, which would again unite at no
great distance from Trichinopoly, but that an artificial bar has
been created by the erection there of a huge earthen mound. The
island is holy ground in the eyes of the Hindoos, and contains one
of the most celebrated pagodas of which southern India can boast.
There M. Law established his head-quarters, Chunda Sahib in-
habiting a separate wing of the pile. Clive suggested that
between the passages of the Coleroon and the roads which lead
to Pondicherry a strong post should be established ; and Law-
rence consenting, the author of the design was put at the
head of the detached corps and took up his ground at the vil-
lage of Samiaveram, which, with its two pagodas, he pro-
ceeded to fortify. He was in this position — ^very strong, and
commanding with his heavy guns all the approaches to- the
island — ^when the advance of M. d'Auteuil was reported to
him. He determined to attack the enemy on his march ; but
D'Auteuil, having received tidings of Clive's intention, hastily
retreated to Utatore ; and Clive, not finding his enemy where he
expected him to be, returned to his lines. Meanwhile M. Law
had been informed of Clive's manoeuvre. He .calculated,
fairly enough, that the English camp would be left in charge of
a weak guard, and he resolved to strike at it. With this view
he sent a corps across the river as soon as it became dark, which
arrived about midnight at the English piquets. The corps in
question consisted of seven hundred sepoys and eighty Europeans
— of whom forty were deserters from the English army. These
being in front answered the challenge of the English sentries,
and the column was permitted to pass. The scene which fol-
lowed baffles all attempt at minute description. Not aware that
Clive with his main body was returned, the officer in command
of the French detachment moved on as far as the lesser pagoda,
and might have done almost what he liked, had not his Euro-
peans opened their fire too soon. Clive sprang from his bed, a

42 LIFE OF LORD OLIVE. [chap. v.

musket-ball having broken a chest on which his head was sup-
ported. He ran to the greater pagoda, where the European part
of his force lay, and found them already under arms. Neither
party seemed to be aware for a considerable length of time of the
real nature of their respective positions. Clive, running among
the French sepoys, scolded and struck at them as if they had been
his own men, till he received from one of them a wound in the
thigh. He pursued his assailant, who took to his heels, as far as
the lesser pagoda, and there for the first time discovered that an
enemy was in the heart of his camp : but his presence of mind
never forsook him. He told the French sentinel who stood at
the door that he came to offer terms, and, several soldiers of that
nation throwing down their arms, Clive gave them into the
charge of a guard of sepoys. The sepoys carried their prisoners
to what they assumed to be their own stronghold, and handed
them over to a French sergeant who was in possession of it, and
who in his turn was so completely confused, that he permitted
the sepoys to depart unhurt. By degrees, however, things took
some form. Clive, divining all that had happened, kept his
troops in hand till daylight came in, and then, attacking the
enemy on all sides, cut them to pieces. He had a narrow escape,
however, ere the business ended : for one of the deserters, while
parleying about submission, fired at him, and killed two non-
commissioned officers on whose shoulders he leant, loss of blood
having rendered him unable to stand upright.

Of all that followed Lawrence, and not Clive, was the chief
director ; it may therefore be epitomised in few words. Chunda
Sahib, seeing that hia affairs were become desperate, requested
his followers to shift for themselves, and, entering into a secret
negotiation with the leader of the Tanjorean contingent in the
camp of the besiegers, put himself into his hand for the purpose
of being passed, in disguise, beyond the lines. The Tanjorean,
according to the usage of his nation, proved false. He threw
Chunda Sahib into chains, and made a boast of the value of the
prize which he had won ; but he gained little by this proceeding.
The English, Mahomed Ali, and the Mahrattas all claimed the
captive ; whereupon the Tanjorean, rather than submit to the
humiliation of giving him up, put the unfortunate Nabob to
death. Meanwhile the operations against M. Law had not been

CHAP, v.] CAPTURE OF FORTRESSES. 43

suspended for a moment. Post after post was wrested from him,
till in the end he shut himself up in the pagoda, and there waited
till relief should come ; but it never came at all. A second
attempt by M. d'Auteuil to reach him was intercepted by Clive,
the French detachment dispersed, and the castle of Volcondali
taken. M. Law now felt that his case was desperate ; and, after
the endurance of great suffering for lack of provisions, he laid
down his arms on capitulation.

The destruction of this army was a heavy blow to Dupleix,
yet he did not sink under it. On the contrary, he threatened,
bribed, intrigued, and expended his private fortune in stirring
up dissensions among the allies of the English, and, the
elements of discord being rife, he fully succeeded. He could
not, however, prevent Major Lawrence from winning a decided
victory over his nephew under the walls of Gingee, nor stay
the progress of Clive, who, at the head of such an army as pro-
bably no ofHcer except himself would have trusted, reduced in
succession the two strong fortresses of Chingliput and Covelong.
The force which was set apart for the performance of this service
comprised five hundred newly-raised sepoys and two hundred
recruits from London, the sweepings of the streets and of the
jails. So entirely unsoldierlike were these people in all their
habits, that, when their new commander first brought them into
the field, they ran away at the sound of their own fire ; and once,
when a cannon-shot struck a rock near them, and, by the splin-
ters which flew off, killed and wounded a few, the panic became
such as even Clive could with difficulty arrest ; indeed, one of the
heroes disappeared altogether, and was not found till next day,
when they discovered him hidden at the bottom of a well.
Still, by judiciously accustoming them to danger, and bringing
them little by little under fire, Clive raised their spirit in the end
to such a height that he took one castle by assault, and, after
destroying in an ambuscade a party sent out from the other,
compelled it to surrender. But he had overworked himself by
these gigantic exertions, and found it necessary to seek repose.

44 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vi.

CHAPTER VI.

Marriage — Goes to England — Brief career there — Return to India—
Fall of Calcutta.

Worn out with the great exertions which he had made, and re-
joicing in the consciousness of a well-merited renown, Clive
returned, towards the end of 1752, to Madras, where he soon
afterwards married Miss Margaret Maskelyne, a lady to whom he
was much attached, and who is described as possessing many
attractions, mental as well as personal. She was the sister of one
of his earliest and most intimate friends, and stood in the same
relation towards Dr. Nevil Maskelyne, the celebrated mathema-
tician, who at a subsequent period became Astromomer Royal. It
was a union productive to Clive of almost all the real happiness
which he seems to have enjoyed through life ; for his love for
his wife never fell away, and she repaid it by sustaining when
she could not cheer, and bearing with him through many a season
of anguish of which the world never heard. Moreover, the con-
dition of public afiairs in the Carnatic was by this time so
flourishing, that he did not hesitate to apply for leave to return
to England. It was readily granted, and in February, 1753, he
embarked with his bride at Madras.

Clive's reception in London was such as rarely falls to the lot
of any one who, however prosperous, has not yet reached the
twenty-eighth year of his age. His name had been before the
public ever since the siege of Arcot ; and each new report of
hostilities tended more and more to raise it in general estimation.
The Court of Directors had already noticed him in ' their com-
munications with the Governor at Fort St. David by express-
ing, to use their own words, " the great regard we have for
the merit of Captain Clive, to whose courage and conduct the
late turn in our affairs has been mainly owing : he may be assured
of our having a just sense of his services." They were now pre-
pared to greet him with all the marks of respect to which a

CHAP. VI.] VISITS ENGLAND. 45

career so brilliant entitled him. He was the honoured guest at
one of their great public dinners : he received from them a dia-
mond-hilted sword of the value of five hundred guineas, which,
it is worthy of remark, he declined to accept till Lawrence, his
old commander, had been voted a similar mark of their good will.
Moreover, the plaudits which they heaped upon him gave a
strong impulse to that current of popularity which in this
country runs with the strength of a spring-tide in such cases,
and for the most part ebbs again as rapidly as it rose. Nor were
his personal friends and relatives backward in making a display
of their sense of his merits. His father, who appears to have
looked upon him at the period of his departure for India as a
confirmed dunce, could not find words in which adequately to
express his pride. . When the first tidings of *^ Bobby V triumphs
reached him, he smiled and said that " the booby had some sense
after all." He was now beside himself at the thought of his son's
greatness, and spoke and wrote as an elated father is apt to do
whose feelings are too powerful for his judgment. Mrs. Clive
bore herself difierently. She was a sensible, discreet, and right-
minded woman, of whom her son invariably spoke as having
done more for him in his childhood than all the tutors under
whom he was placed, and now, in the day of his first exaltation,
she took care to add her praise to that of the world in a tone
which, without casting a shade over his honest triumphs, had a
tendency to keep him from being carried away with them. And
in truth no man ever stood more in need than Clive of this sort
of counsel, judiciously applied. Naturally headstrong, and
embued with violent passions, he was much better calculated to
fight his way through difficulties than to bear with equanimity
the burden of success; and his weakness in this respect soon
began to show itself by the somewhat ostentatious manner in
which he met the advances of society. He had realized a hand-
some but not an extravagant fortune during his ten years' resi-
dence in India, and used it well, in so far as he applied a portion
of it to redeem the debt with which his paternal estate was en-
cumbered, and to render the latter days of his father and mother
comfortable. But the moment he began to aim at making a
figure in feshionable circles he committed an error. He was
not rich enough to bear the expense of the brilliant equipages

46 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vr.

and costly liveries by which his presence or that of his wife in
the different resorts of the gay world soon began to be noticed ;
and the gay world repaid this attempt to dazzle and eclipse with
affected contempt and real envy. But the culminating point of
his weakness was not reached till he permitted himself to be
involved in the expense of a contested election. The matter
befell thus: —

Clive returned to England at a period when the Government
was in a state more anomalous than had affected it since the
accession of the House of Hanover. There was no ostensible
opposition in either house of parliament. The Jacobites, broken
down by the recent failure of Charles Edward's expedition, held
aloof from public life, or disguised their sentiments when forced
to mix in it. The Tories, having no leader, nor indeed any
definite rallying point, lay as it were upon their arms, and left
the affairs of the nation to be managed by a cabinet compounded
of the most discordant materials that ever came together. On
one side stood the Duke of Newcastle, trusted by none, person-
ally loved by few, yet maintained in his place through ap-
prehensions of his rival. On the other was Lord Sandwich,
dependant mainly on Henry Fox, a bold, able, and most unscru-
pulous politician, who, though he held but a subordinate place
in the administration, exercised immense influence over the
House of Commons. Through some inducement or another — it
does not exactly appear what — Clive was persuaded to throw in
his lot with this latter or ultra- Whig party ; and hence, when
the Duke of Newcjastle, at the general election of 1754, set up
his two candidates for the borough of St. Michael, in Cornwall,
Clive took the field against one of them. Thanks to a lavish ex-
penditure of his private means, and the free use of the Sandwich
interest, Clive was returned, but a petition was immediately got
up against him. Now, whatever we may think of the manner
of appointing the committees which in our own day try the
merits of disputed returns, during the half-century which suc-
ceeded the accession of the first George there was not so much
as a pretence of impartiality about them. Disputes about
seats were mere battles of party, and the prevailing party in the
House packed its juries as regularly as juries were called for. A
fierce struggle took place on the present occasion — for the

CHAP. VI.] RETURNS TO INDIA. 47

strength of the Newcastle and Sandwich cliques was nearly
balanced — in which Sandwich prevailed. Fox was a member of
the committee, and no head could be made against his eloquence.
But it was necessary that the House should confirm the decision ;
and here Newcastle turned the scale. The Tories, who, dis-
liking both, preferred the Duke to the friend of the victor at
CuUoden, threw their weight into his scale, and Clive was
unseated. The decision operated as a severe disappointment to
an ambitious young man, and seriously affected him in another
quarter. His pecuniary circumstances became embarrassed ; and,
all hope of winning a way to eminence in political life being set
aside, he felt himself compelled to look about for honourable
employment elsewhere.

It chanced that at this time the relations between England and
France were again become unsettled. Leading men in both coun-
tries anticipated a speedy rupture ; and nobody could doubt that
war once begun in Europe would not be slow in extending its
ravages to India. Besides, though the English had so &r pre-
v£uled as to give a Nabob to Arcot, at Hyderabad Bussy was still
all-powerful, and, so long as French influence guided the policy
of the Soubahdar, the tenure by which Mahomed Ali held his
seat must be insecure. The Court of Directors therefore felt that
the sooner their army on the Coromandel coast was put upon a
respectable footing the better chance there would be of success
in a contest which must come sooner or later, and would proba-
bly be a decisive one. Under these circumstances they gladly
availed themselves of Olive's offer to serve again in the field of
his recent &me ; and, the better to fit him for playing his part
with vigour, as well as to guard against the evil effects of a jea-
lousy which prevailed then to a ridiculous extent between the
officers of the King's and those of the Company's army, they ob-
tained for him a lieutenant-colonel's commission from the Crown.
A higher compliment to his merits could not have been paid ;
and Clive, justly gratified by it, hurried forward his preparations,
and quitted England for the second time in 1755.

Clive carried with him on the present occasion three compa-
nies of royal artillery, and three hundred European in&ntry.
His directions were to conduct them to Bombay, whence, after
being reinforced by. all the disposable troops in that Presidency,

48 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vi.

he was, in conjunction with the Mahrattas, to attack the French
and their allies in the Deccan. But the jealousy of which men-
tion has just been made interposed to frustrate this arrangement.
Colonel Scott, an officer brought up in the service of the Crown,
who had come to India the preceding season in the capacity of
chief engineer, was, at the instance of the Duke of Cumberland,
nominated from home to command the expedition ; and Clive,
whose permanent position was that of Governor of Fort St.
David, with a contingent right of succession to the government
of Madras, applied for permission to proceed at once to the
proper scene of his labours. This, however, the Directors re-
fused to grant. They believed him to be the only officer in the
service who by a combination of natural talent and local expe-
rience was qualified to conduct such a war as they anticipated,
and they made a point of his directing his course to Bombay, in
the hope that some lucky accident might throw the chief power
into his hands. By a strange coincidence their dream received,
to a certain extent, its fulfilment. When Clive reached Bom-
bay he found that Colonel Scott was dead, and at once he as-
sumed the command of the little army. But he could not march
into the Deccan : a convention had been entered into between
Mr. Saunders, Governor of Madras, and M. Godeheu, Dupleix's
successor at Pondicherry, which barred both the French and the
English Companies from interfering in the quarrels of the
native princes ; and, there being no other excuse for the medi-
tated inroad ^ th^^j the necessity of supporting the Mahrattas
against the Soabahdar, the project was abandoned.

The harbour of Bombay constituted at this time a rendezvous
for the English fleet in the Indian seas, and the town was full of
troops. Admiral Watson, a brave, rough seaman of the old
school, commanded the squadron, and, feeling not less than Clive
that such a brilliant armament ought not to be broken up with-
out accomplishing some useful end, he agreed to co-operate with
Clive in an attack upon Gheriah, a rocky fortress, where a pirate
chief called Angria resided. This rover— who boasted of a
lineal descent from the celebrated leader of the Mahratta fleet
which during the height of the contest between that people and
the Mogul wrought such harm to the latter — had long been the
scourge of the Malabar coast. His barques swept the narrow

CHAP. VI.] DESTRUCTION OF GHERIAH. 49

seas, making prizes of the traders of all nations ; while from time
to time his men would land, burn and plunder a town on the
beach, and escape i^iu to their ships ere an alarm was given.
Glive and Admiral Watson, having received the sanction of the
authorities in Bombay, determined to extirpate such a noxious
swarm of outlaws ; and it is characteristic both of the men and of
the theatre on which they operated, that a council of war was
held previously to the departure of tlie expedition, in order to
fix the proportions according to which the spoil which they
counted on securing was to be divided* For this it is which casts
its darkest-shadow over the entire seri^ of events which led for-
ward the East India Company from its original state to that in
which we now find it. Plunder seems to have been the one
great object sought by leaders of armies and of fleets throughout
the whole of our earlier wars in the East ; and it not unfre-
quently came to pass, that, having achieved conquests and gained
honour in the field, th^ ran some risk of losing at least the
latter in squabbles over the booty* On the present occasion the
gnmd question mooted was said, in some way or other, to touch
Ae honour of the sister services. The army claimed for Clive
as its leader a share equal to that which should be given to the
leader of the fleet. The navy insisted that Clive should pocket no
more than the amount to which his professional rank entitled
him ; in other words, the same amount of rupees which were
given to a naval captain under three years' standing. Let jus-
tice be done both to Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive. The
firmer would not abate one jot of the rights of his profession,
but he oflRered to make up Clive's share out of his own to the
same amount with that of Rear- Admiral Pococke. Clive, on
the other hand, would not disturb the unity without which com-
bined expeditions never end successfully. He pressed hb claim
without quarrelling about it ; and when it was reused, he de-
clined to take advantage of Admiral Watson's liberality.

At last the expedition sailed, and Gheriah, afler oflering a
stout resistance for a couple of days, was taken and razed to the
ground. The capture of other fortresses followed, as well as
the entire destruction of the pirate fleet ; but the Mahrattas, who
were to have assisted in the operations and shared in the spoil,
were shut out from both. This done, Clive pursued his voyage

£

60 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vi.

westward, and reached Fort St. David on the 20th of June, 1756.
It was the very day that witnessed the capture of Calcutta and
the suppression of the Company's settlement on that side of
India ; and in two months subsequently Clive was summoned to
give his counsel in Madras in regard to the measures which it •
would be necessary to adopt for the purpose of repairing so
grave an evil. It may be well to give, in a few words, an out-
line of some of the principal events which exercised so remark-
able an influence over the fortunes of the English in India.

The provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, constituting the
most fertile and populous of the viceroyalties into which the
Mogul empire was divided, had been for fifteen years subject to
the active and able government of Aliverdy Khan. His death
/^ the month of April, 1756, made way for the accession of his
j grand-nephew, Suraj-u-Dowlah, a young man conspicuous
/ even amongst the princes of the East for cruelty, rapacity, and
( avarice ; — whose hatred of the English had been concealed dur-
ini^ the reign of Aliverdy Khan, but now broke forth with irre-
sistible fury. He scarcely felt himself secure in his seat when
he made preparations for expelling the obnoxious settlers from
the kingdom. Apprehending a war with France, the chiefs of
the English settlement' on the Hooghly had taken steps to
strengthen the works of Fort William. He commanded them to
desist, and threatened, in the event of disobedience, to level Cal-
cutta with the earth. By and by he sent to require that they
would deliver up to him one of his subjects, whom he charged
with having robbed the public treasury and fled with his booty
to Calcutta. His messengers were assured that the English
would reserve the person of the accused for his Highness's plea-
sure, while at the same time proof was given that he had brought
no treasure with him. Suraj-u-Dowlah would listen to no ex-
cuses. He assembled a numerous army, enticed Mr. Watts, the
chief of the factory at Cossimbazar, into his power, cast him into
prison, and marched to the attack of the factory itself. This he
soon reduced, after which he moved towards Calcutta ; and on the
18th of June drove in the piquets, and took possession of the
outworks. Meanwhile the alarm and confusion within the walls
were extreme. Nobody appeared to have the slightest confi-
dence either in himself or others. In this quarter of India there

CHAP. VI.] FALL OF CALCUTTA. 51

still existed that dread of native prowess and numbers which the
experience of better things had destroyed in the Carnatic ; and
hence, when the face of the country was seen to be covered with
the Nabob's troops, governor, commanding officer, and men in
the fort felt their hearts sink within them. A hasty resolution
to abandon the place was come to ; yet such was the effect of
terror on men's minds, that no measures were taken to concert
even an orderly retreat. On the contrary, the Governor, Mr.
Drake, set the example of flight by jumping into a boat, and
pushing off for the ships. Captain Minchen, who commanded
the troops, acted in a similar manner ; and then all who could,
ran, without thinking of anything except their own personal
safety, to the beach. About one hundred and fifty Europeans,
among whom Mr. Holwell was one, found themselves without
the means of escape. The last boat had pushed off; and its
crew, in spite of the cries of the deserted, refused to turn back.
Nothing therefore remained for this unhappy company but to
try the effect of a negotiation, during the progress of which the
Nabob's troops rushed through the gates, and the fort, with all
its inhabitants, became their prey.

The fate which overtook these miserable captives is well
known. Carried before Suraj-u-Dowlah, they are said to have
been spoken to kindly — at all events it is certain that Mr, Hol-
well's hands were unbound, and that hopes were held out to him
of protection ; but the means taken to guard against an attempt
at escape eflectually marred them. The guard to whose care
the Europeans were intrusted, in sheer wantonness, or because
they could not discover in the place a more convenient prison,
thrust the whole into the common jail. It was a filthy, low-
roofed^ underground apartment, measuring in space about twenty
feet square, and ventilated through several air-holes, narrow,
and made secure by the insertion of iron bars into the
mnllions. When told to enter there, the prisoners laughed at
the suggestion as a joke ; but they soon discovered their mistake.
Forced through the aperture, and having the door closed and
bolted upon them, their sufferings became in a few moments such
as no language can describe ; and their shrieks and cries for
mercy were not only disregarded, but seemed to afford great
amusement to the guard. But it is useless to go on with the

e2

52 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vi.

horrible description. Let it suffice to state, that, after strug-
gling to burst open the door, and treading one another down in
their agony, one after another died raving mad ; so that when
morning came, and the Nabob issued his order to bring them
forth, there were but twenty-three living men left to profit by it.
The rest lay where they had sunk, and the process of decomposi-
tion was already begun upon many of them.

It is not clear that this hideous massacre was perpetrated by
the command or even with the cognizance of Sur^-u-Dowlah.
It seems, on the contrary, to have arisen out of the indifference
of his soldiers to the sufferings of their European captives, and
their fear of disturbing the Nabob in his sleep ; for the guards,
though offered large sums of money, refused to awaken their
sovereign. But the tyrant's behaviour to the few survivors
when brought before him next day showed that he cared as
little for the past as he experienced anxiety about the future.
They were cast into more airy prisons, and fed upon grain and
water. This done, he wrote a pompous letter to his nominal
sovereign at Delhi, in which he boasted of having extirpated the
English out of Bengal ; and, leaving a garrison in Fort William,
with strict orders that no European should be permitted to settle
in the neighbourhood, he gave up the town of Calcutta to plun-
der, and marched back with the bulk of his forces to his own
capital.

CHAP. VII. j MILITARY PREPARATIONS. 53

CHAPTER VII.

Proceeds to Bengal — Recovery of Calcutta — Attack of the Nabob's Camp-
Peace with the Nabob.

Tidings of the fall of Calcutta reached Madras on the 1 6th pf
August. They created the greatest consternation and resent-
ment everywhere, and on the 18th a despatch was sent off to
Fort St. David requiring Clive's immediate presence at the seat
of government. It was determined to retake the captured factory,
and to punish the tyrant who had so cruelly abused his power ; and
General Lawrence being an invalid, Clive was at once selected as
the fittest person to command the troops which should be employed
on that service. There was at this time at Madras a Colonel
Adlercron in command of a King's regiment, whom the au-
thorities did not judge it expedient to employ, partly because he
refused tobe at their disposal in regard to the period of his return,
partly because he would not pledge liimself to reimburse the
Company's losses out of the booty, whatever it might be, which
the army might acquire. This gentleman forthwith set himself
to baffle, as far as he could, the preparations that were making,
and went so far as to insist upon the relanding of a train of
royal artillery after it had been put on board, and the trans-
ports were on the point of sailing. But neither Colonel Adler-
cron 's opposition, nor the apprehensions which were entertained of
a French war, preventeii Mr. Saunders and his council from de-
voting the whole strength of the Presidency to one purpose.
Admiral Watson lay in the roads with five King's ships — one of
which, the '* Cumberland," was a 74. These gave accommoda-
tion to as many officers and men as could be conveniently
stowed ; and, five of the Company's vessels being fitted up as
transports, nine hundred European infantry, fifteen hundred
sepoys, and a few field -pieces, were embarked. The whole
sailed from Madras on the 11th of October, and on the 22nd of
December the head-quarters of the expedition reached Fulta.

54 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vii.

Here, in a village on the left bank of the Hooghly, about twenty
miles below Fort William, the fugitives from Calcutta were
assembled, their small military force being under the orders of
Major Kilpatrick, an excellent officer, who had arrived in the
Ganges some weeks after the fall of the place, and looked anxi-
ously for the coming of such reinforcements from the coast as
should justify him in attempting its recovery.

Though two of the ships of the squadron had been separated
from the rest in a gale of wind, and two hundred and fifty Euro-
peans, four hundred sepoys, the greater part of the guns, and
almost all his military stores were missing, Clive did not delay
the commencement of operations one hour. Having failed to
procure boats for the transport of his men, he marched through
the jungle upon Budge-Budge, ^before reaching which he en-
countered a strong body of the enemy at a disadvantage, and
overthrew them. Budge-Budge immediately opened its gates,
whereupon he continued his progress to Fort William ; and,
while the fleet battered it from the river side, he occupied all the
approaches from the land. On the 2nd of January, 1757, it
submitted. And here again the jealousies of service towards
service showed themselves. Admiral Watson refused at ^ first
to permit a Company's officer or soldier to come within the walls,
and was with difficulty prevailed upon to make over the military
command to Clive, though aware that the latter held a Lieu-
tenant-Colonel's commission in the service of the King. Nor
was it in this quarter alone that Clive had many prejudices to
surmount. Ever since the evacuation of Calcutta the affairs of
the Company in that part of India had been managed by a com-
mittee of merchants, who, thinking more of their own losses
than of the blow which had been struck at the influence of their
employers, objected to the plenary powers with which Clive
appeared to be vested, and did their best to resist them. But
Clive was made to contend against difficulties and to overcome
them. His correspondence both with the Admiral and with the
committee, though couched in language sufficiently respectful,
was uniformly firm ; and so well was his character understood,
even at this early stage of his career, that none ventured to con-
test a point which he showed himself determined to carry.
Meanwhile the Nabob was beginning to effect the discovery that

CHAP. VII.] CAPTURE OF HOOGHLY. 55

the expulsion of the English from bis dominions would be no gain
to him. The revenue fell off from day to day so remarkably that
he was prepared to make with the fugitives fresh treaties, when in-
telligence of the arrival of the squadron in the Hooghly reached
him. He had never calculated on any such occurrence as this. In
the plenitude of his ignorance he used to assert that there were
not ten thousand men in all Europe, and the possibility of an
attempt being made by Europeans to retaliate such injuries as he
might inflict on them seems never to have struck him. Indig-
nation, not upmixed with fear, took possession of him now. He
ordered all his disposable troops to assemble at Moorshedabad ;
and began, as soon as a sufficient force had beep collected, his
march upon Calcutta.

But Clive and Watson were not idle. Having ascertained that
the town of Hooghly, situated above Fort William, on the same
branch of the Ganges, was full of rich merchandize and slen-
derly garrisoned, they determined to surprise it. With this
view one hundred and fifty Europeans and two hundred sepoys
were placed under the command of Major Kilpatrick and Captain
Eyre Coote, and directed, with a light squadron of armed ships,
to move up the stream. One of the armed vessels happened to
get aground on a shoal, and the expedition was delayed so long
that Suraj-u-Dowlah found time to throw considerable reinforce-
ments into the fort ; but the fort itself was not placed thereby
out of the reach of danger. On the contrary, some hours of
cannonading from the water having beaten down a wide extent
of wall, the land-forces at early dawn on the 11th gave the
assault, and after a feeble resistance the British Hag floated in
triumph over that of the Nabob. An inconsiderable booty, not
more, it is said, than 15,000/., rewarded the captors for tlieir
exertions. This they secured, and, after destroying some stores
of rice which had been laid up in an open village about three
miles distant, the troops were re-embarked, and the expedition
returned to Calcutta.

The attack on Hooghly was undertaken rather with a view to
alarm than to inflict any serious injury on the Nabob. To a
certain extent this object was served ; but anger more than
kept pace with the growth of fear : and, while the negotiations
continued, the march upon Calcutta suffered no delay. It was

66 ' LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. tii.

not judged prudent, even by Clive, to impede or interrupt it. On
the contrary, he permitted the Bengalese army to pass more than
one defile which it was competent to him effectually to block,
and encouraged the committee to use every legitimate argument
of conciliation. And in truth there were many • circumstances
which combined to repder a policy of peace in Bengal a wise
policy for the Engli^ at this moment. The long-expected
breach with France had occurred, and the authorities at Madras,
in daily expectation of being attacked, were without the ^neans
of offering a steady resistance should the enemy approach them
in force. Again M. Bussy, after having been driven to defend
himself with the strong hand in Hyderabad, was become so
powerful in the Deccan that he was able, with a thousand Euro-
peans and a large army of well-disciplined natives, to threaten
the English factory at Yizagapatam. Moreover, there was a
French settlement in Bengal itself which created a good deal of
uneasiness, and not without reason, in men's minds. Chander-
nagore had always been an eyesore to the Company's represent-
atives on the Ganges. It absorbed a considerable portion of
the inland trade, and, being better supplied with troops than
Calcutta, its political position, however apparently isolated,
could not be regarded as a feeble one. It would have convicted
the English authorities of absolute in&tuation had they not,
undeir such circumstances, been earnestly desirous of peace with
the Nabob. But the character of the Nabob inspired no confi-
dence. They could not trust to his promises, feir less to bis
generosity ; they were, therefore, driven to treat with arms in
their hands, even while they abstained from using them. It is
just to the character of Clive — a man sufficiently open to censure,
and seldom spared either in his own day or subsequently — to
state, that such were precisely the views which he took of public
affairs at this crisis. He counselled peace, yet ceased not to
anticipate war, and made the best disposition of his force which
circumstances would warrant, to meet either emergency. It was
becoming that there should be no open exhibition of distrust in
the Nabob. Clive therefore disentangled his field force from the
town and its suburbs, and, encamping just so far apart as that he
might be able, in case of need, to come to the assistance of the
r^ular garrison, he there awaited the development of plans

CHAP. TH.] ATTACK ON THE NABOB'S CAMP. 57

which the Nabob seemed either to keep immature, or to be at a
loss how best to execute.

There was constant intercourse all this while by accredited
agents between Suraj-u-Dowlah and Mr. Drake; nevertheless
the march of the "Nabob's army was not suspended. "With forty
thousand men he marched upon Calcutta till he placed it virtu-
ally in a state of siege. He interposed likewise between Clive's
camp and the town, and pushed some of his people into the very
streets. It was clear to all reflecting persons that forbearance
on the part of the English would soon reach its limits. On the
4th of February Clive sent to remonstrate against these encroach-
ments, and to desire that the Nabob would fall back ; but the
Nabob scarcely condescended to admit the English messengers
into his presence, and treated them so roughly when there,
that they were glad to escape with their lives. This was enough.
Having ascertained that the Nabob's battering-train lay in an
enclosure called Omichund^s Garden, beside the Mahratta ditch,
in the hostile camp which was established there, Clive resolved
to capture it if he could. With this view he applied for a rein-
forcement of seamen, which, to the extent of six hundred men,
was afforded, and at three o'clock in the morning of the 5th he
led out one thousand three hundred Europeans and eight hundred '
sepoys to the attack.

The affiiir that followed, though not free from military errors,
as well in the plan of the operation as in its execution, seems so
entirely characteristic of the genius of him who devised it, and
produced so strong a moral effect upon his own mind, and upon the
minds of others, that it well deserves to be narrated at length.
And as I have given in another publication what I believe to be
an accurate sketch of the encounter — as accurate, that is to say,
as any account of a military operation can be which is compiled
from the disjointed narratives of others — I shall take the liberty,
<m the present occasion, of quoting my own words : —

" About an hour before dawn — about three or four o'clock in
the morning — the English army, ccmsisting of six hundred and
fifty European soldiers of the line, one hundred artillery-men,
eight hundred sepoys, and six hundred seamen, formed in a
single column facing towards the south. One wing of the sepoy
battalion led ; this was followed by the European infantry ; the

58 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vit.

other sepoy wing came ne*t ; the artillery, six field-pieces, drawn
partly by seamen, partly by Lascars, succeeded ; and the rear was
brought up by a party of small armed men from the fleet; their
especial business was to guard a party of coolies on whose
shoulders loads of spare ammunition were laid. Clive himself
took post beside the European battalion, and, like the rest of the
European officers, marched that day on foot.

" It was yet dark when the head of the column fell upon
the enemy's outposts, which, after discharging a few match-
locks and rockets, retreated; though not till, by the explo-
sion of a sepoy's cartouch-box, on which one of these missiles
fell, some conftision had been created in the English ranks.
Order, however, was soon restored, and the column passed on, a
fog overspreading them like a canopy as the day broke, and
rendering objects quite invisible at a yard's distance from the
eye. By and by they came opposite to Omichund's garden,
where, in the interior of the Mahrat(a ditch, the Nabob had fixed
his head-quarters ; and here, for the first time siqce the advance
began, they became aware of a threatened attack. The sound of
horses in movem^^nt was heard. It approached rapidly from the
direction of the ditch : and the fog opening, as it were, for an
instant, a well-mounted line of horsemen was seen within twenty
yards of their flank. The column halted, gave its fire with ter-
rible eflecf, and swept the enemy away as dust is swept aside by
the wind when it suddenly rises. Once more the men resumed
their march, moving slowly, and firing at random by platoons ;
while the artillery from time to time discharged round-shot
obliquely, as if with a view to clear the course of the column,
and protect its progress.

" The troops had now reached a causeway, which, being ele-
vated by several feet above the level of the surrounding country,
led through some swampy rice-fields, across the Mahratta ditch,
and so into the Company's territory. The causeway was under-
stood to be entrenched, and it formed part of Olive's plan first to
carry this barricade by assault, and then, countermarching on the
inner side of the Mahratta ditch, to double back upon Omichund's
garden, and enter it from the rear. The leading sections ac-
cordingly clambered up the ascent, and, facing to the right,
prepared to make the rush. But the artillery, now in the rear,

CHAP, vn.] ATTACK ON THE NABOB'S CAMP. 59

not being aware of this change of front, continued to fire as here-
tofore ; and the shot, striking full among their own people, forced
them to seek shelter by leaping down into a ditch on the oppo-
site side of the causeway. Great confusion ensued. Each new
company, as it arrived, followed the example of that which went
before, till by and by the whole were thrown into a shapeless
mass together, quite out of the direction which their leader had
proposed to follow. Nor did the mischief end here. A couple
of heavy guns from a small bastion on the ditch opened with
canister-shot at a short distance, and the first discharge killed or
disabled twenty-two Europeans. Clive saw that it was useless
to think of rallying in such a position. He therefore gave the
word to push on, and made for another elevated mound or cause-
way a full mile and a quarter to the south, and by so much out
of the line of his proposed attack.

** The execution of this movement was much retarded by the
damp nature of the soil, over which, interrupted by numerous
gaps or channels of irrigation, it was necessary to drag the guns.
By nine o'clock, moroever, the fog dispersed, and, the false
position of the English becoming evident, the enemy's horse
repeatedly endeavoured to charge. And now was seen the
obstinate courage of the men, who kept up such a steady and
well-directed fire that not a horseman ventured to face it. On,
therefore, they marched, till, having reached the second cause-
way, they made a face to the right, and were by and by car-
ried beyond the Mahratta ditch. Clive had it now in his
power either to attempt, at a palpable disadvantage, his original
design, by marching upon Omichund's garden, or to avail himself
of the communication with Calcutta which he had opened, and
to lead his people into the town. He preferred the latter course,
to which, indeed, the exhausted condition of his people strongly
urged him : and about noon, or a little later, jaded and footsore,
though not disgraced, the column penetrated within the walls."

Clive's loss on this occasion was, considering the extent of his
resources, very severe. It amounted to 120 Europeans, 100
sepoys, and 2 pieces of cannon, while the object for which the
movement had been avowedly made was not attained. Never-
theless, the Nabob was so much astonished at the boldness of the
attempt, that he hastily evacuated that portion of the town which

60 LIFE OF LORD CLIYE. [chap. vn.

he had seized, and encamped some space without on the open
plain. Here he renewed his overtures of peace ; and Clive, in
spite of Admiral Watson's reasoning to the contrary, conceived
that he was not in a condition to reject the proffered terms.
He therefore ratified a treaty which bound the Nabob not only
to restore the English to all the rights which the Imperial
charter conferred upon them, but to give back their villages, to
make compensation for all losses incurred during the war, private
as well as public, to pass their merchandize through his territories
duty-free, and to sanction the setting up of a mint in Calcutta.
In return for these concessions, the English agreed to consider
the Nabob's enemies, wherever situated, as their own, and to
furnish such aid in troops as their means would allow whenever
he should see fit to call for it.

We need not now affect to be ignorant that both parties, when
they signed this treaty, counted little, if at all, upon its observ-
ance one moment longer than should suit the convenience of the
strongest. Clive, in a letter informing the Chairman of the
Court of Directors that hostilities were ended, urged the keeping
up of a respectable force in Bengal on this plea, ^' that it cannot be
expected that the princes of this country, whose fidelity is always
to be suspected, will remain firm to their promises and engage-
ments from principle only." In like manner Suraj-u-Dowlah,
ere the seal was /ippended which testified to his acceptance of
an English alliance, had begun to correspond with M. Bussy and
M. Law on the subject of the expulsion of these allies from Bengal.
Still, according to Clive's judgment — and surely none could be
more impartial — the arrangement was in every respect advan-
tageous to his countrymen. " If I had only consulted the interest
and reputation of a soldier," he says, " the conclusion of this
peace might easily have been suspended. I know at the same
time there are many who think I have been too precipitate
in the conclusion of it ; but surely those who are of this opinion
never knew that the delay of a day or two might have ruined
the Company's affairs by the junction of the French with the
Nabob, which was on the point of being carried into exe<5ution :
they never considered the situation of affairs on the coast, and
the positive orders sent me by the gentlemen there to return with
the major part of the forces at all events : they never considered

CHAP. VII.] PEACE WITH THE NABOB. 61

that, with a war upon the coast and in the province of Bengal at
the same time, 'a trading company could not exist without a
great assistance from the Government : and, last of all, tliey
^ never considered that a long war, attended through the whole
course of it with success and many great actions, ended at last
with the expense of more than fifty lacs of rupees to the Company."
These arguments, however strange they may sound in our ears,
who have seen " The Company " lavish, without appearing to
feel the expenditure, not fifty lacs of rupees, but fifty millions of
pounds sterling, upon its wars, were founded, at the period when
CKve lived and wrote, upon the soundest view of the state of
public affairs. We were but traders and adventurers then in the
land where our rule is now absolute ; we could not fight, or were
supposed to be incapable of fighting, a Nabob of Bengal, ex-
cept at a disadvantage. We shall see, as we proceed, with what
a sure yet rapid pace new and bolder conceptions entered into
men's minds.

62 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. viii.

CHAPTER VIII.

Capture of Chandernagore — Intrigues for the deposition of Suraj-u-Dowlah.

Up to the period in his history at which we have now arrived,
Clive deserves to be considered only in one point of view. He
had acted hitherto ajs a soldier with equal bravery. and skill.
Whatever instructions he received from the Government under
jivhich he served he had accomplished with consummate ability.
But a new page in his public life is now turned ; success in war
would seem to have sharpened his Acuities and inspired him with
greater confidence in his own perceptions and judgment than in
those of his political superiors. He began to think for himself, and
gave indications of a will not easy^tobue-Controlled, by first evading
and then positively refusing obedience to the orders which were
transmitted to him from the coast ; for, ever since they received
official information of war between England and France, the
Madras Government had been urgent in their demands for Clive's
return, and Clive had rfepeatedly promised that, as soon as
ifiatteTs could be arranged, he would obey them. But otherl
views of what would best promote the interests of the Company /
began gradually to open upon him. He resolved not to leave
behind him such a formidable nucleus of evil as the French
settlement at Chandernagore ; and, remembering that its reduc-
tion had been suggested to him ere he sailed from Madras, he
made up his mind to effect the conquest now. He informed his
friends on the Coromandel coast of this design ; and added, that
till it should have been accomplished it would be idle for them
to expect that he or any portion of his army would come among
them.

The moment for entering upon this enterprise was not un-
favourable. In the hour of his own weakness Clive had proposed
to the French Governor of Chandernagore that a treaty of neu-
trality between that settlement and Calcutta should be formed,

CHAP, vra.} ANTICIPATED HOSTILITIE& 63

and the French Governor appeared nowise disinclined to accede
to the proposition. But Bussy's success in the Deccan, and, as
Clive had good reason to believe, the intrigues of Suraj-u-
Dowlah, led to procrastination and something like a change of
mind on the subject. It was obviously as unsafe as it would
be impolitic to leave matters in so unsettled* a state, and Clive
pressed the representative of the French Company to give him
a decided answer. The answer came, and amounted to this—
that the writer was very willing to enter into an armistice in the
province of Bengal, but that he had no power to pledge himself
for its observance by the Governor of Pondicherry, or by those
acting under his orders. There was no mistaking the real
purport of such a communication, and Clive took his measures
accordingly.

Ever since the capture of Cossimbazar, Mr. Watts, who when
Suraj>u>Dowlah fell upon the factory happened to be its chief,
had resided in a sort of honourable captivity at Moorshedabad.
The Nabob put no restraint upon his movements, and often
admitted him into his presence ; indeed Mr. "Watts came at last
to execute functions not dissimilar to those which used to be dis-
charged by English residents half a century ago at the courts of
native princes ; but he was interdicted from returning to Cal-
cutta. He managed, however, chiefly through the instrument-
ality of an individual of whom further notice will be taken
presently, to keep up a regular and even a confidential corre-
spondence all the while with his own Government. This gen-
tleman was employed by Clive to solicit the Nabob's sanction
for an attack by the English on Chandemagore. He met for a
while with no encouragement ; but by and by the dread of an
Affghan invasion caused the Nabob to hesitate, and hopes were
held out that the request would be acceded to. Still the Nabob
was very unwilling to sacrifice the French. He looked to them
as to the only power which was capable of counterbalancing the
influence of the English ; and, with the fickleness of a barbarian,
not unfrequently anticipated that the time would come when he
should be able, through their assistance, to expel the obnoxious
race from his dominions. But he was equally unwilling to oflend
a power which recent experience had taught him to respect,
especially at a moment when the value of their alliance, offensive

64 LIFE OF LORD CLl VE. [chap. viir.

and defensive, was about to be tested. He made a demand for aa
English corps to help him against the Affghans. It was readily
furnished ; and the English army began its march ; but Clive, who
went with it, saw his opportunity, and took advantage of it.
On the 7th of March he addressed a letter to the Nabob, in
which he represented the danger to which his countrymen would
be exposed were he to leave an enemy's settlement between them
and the force which he was conducting to his Highnesses support.
He further stated his purpose of halting in the vicinity of Chan-
dernagore till his Highn^s should have given a decisive answer
to the proposal already made to him through Mr. Watts.
Meanwhile Admiral Watson had written in strong terms, and to
the same effect ; but the tone of the sailor served rather to irritate
than to persuade ; for, instead of acceding to the demand, Suraj-
u-Dowlah marched an army to Hooghly. A good deal of un-
easiness in Calcutta and elsewhere followed this movement. The
Committee declared against a breach with the Nabob, and Ad-
miral Watson inclined to their opinion. But Clive's resolution was
fixed, and he adhered to it. He moved on ; and no sooner was
the Nabob made acquainted with this advance than he recalled
his troops from Hooghly. Mr. Watts immediately informed
Clive of all that had occurred, adding an assurance that the
Nabob had given a verbal assent to the proposed attack- on
Chandeniagore ; and Clive, whom no considerations of delicacy
were ever known to bend from a purpose previously considered
and fully determined on, was content with the assurance. He
invested Chandernagore from tlie land on the 12th ; and, the
fleet moving up as ^t as the wind and current would allow, the
operations of the siege began. They were conducted with great
vigour. On the 23rd of March Chandernagore capitulated ; and
the whole of the European garrison, with the exception of about
one hundred persons who were permitted to depart on their
parole, became prisoners of war.

It is impossible to over-estimate the value of this conquest to
the English East India Company. The time had arrived when
their continued existence, even as a trading corporation, was
clearly incompatible with the success of the schemes to which
the French had committed themselves ; and the utter overthrow
of one or other of these rival communities became a mere matter

CHAP, vm.] CAPTURE OF CHANDEKNAGORE. C5

of calculation. It was a great point to have extinguished on
the side of Bengal such an important settlement as that which
had just ^len ; and it now remained to follow up the blow with
vigour, and to take away from the enemy all hope of recovering
his lost ground. At the same time, Clive was unable to hide
from himself that an active prosecution of the French war in this
part of India would inevitably involve the Presidency in a war
with the Nabob ; for the Affghans had not persevered in their
threatened invasion. A considerable money-bribe had prevailed
upon them to return to their own country ; and now Mr. Watts
reported that Suraj-u-Dowlah, furious at the fall of Chanderna-
gore, was in constant and active communication with M. Law
and M. Bussy. Indeed the former of these officers had arrived
with a small corps within the principality, and many fugitives
from the garrison of Chandernagore had broken their parole to
join him. The latter was understood to be at Cuttack, whence
a march of two hundred miles or less would carry him to the
banks of the Hooghly. Clive at once determined to play the
bold game. The letters of recall which began to pour in upon
him from Madras he answered by stating, that to quit his present
sphere of action at such a moment was impossible. Neither
would he fall back upon Calcutta, though repeatedly urged to do
so by the Nabob. He was aware of the entangled state of that
wretched man's affairs, and soon took a prominent part in hur-
rying forward their crisis.

No attentive reader of Oriental history need be told that the
dominion of the Moguls in India was everywhere, a»d at all
stages of its continuance, a government of the sword. The
power of life and death, of imposing taxes, of commanding
armies, and, to a certain extent, of dispensing criminal justice,
the Mussulmans kept in their own hands ; but all the details of
finance and of accounts, from the management of the public
treasury down to the stamping and assaying of money, they com-
mitted, as in some sort beneath their care, to the more subtle
and effeminate Hindoos. The bankers in large cities, the
money-lenders in little villages, had always been Hindoos.
These men, though attended by less parade and state than their
Mussulman neighbours, exercised extensive influence in the
country, and were on that account treated, in the ordinary

p

66 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vin.

course of things, with some consideration by their rulers. At
the same time, neither Emperor nor Viceroy hesitated to fieece
a Hindoo subject whenever the wealth of the latter appeared to
have accumulated too much, or his own exigencies required it ;
and the Hindoo, well aware of the fact, though he might dis-
countenance insurrection for its own sake, was ready at any mo-
ment to conspire against his prince, provided it could be shown
that he would personally benefit by the measure. '^ I prefer
Hindoos as managers and renters to those of my own religion,"
said Ameer-ul-Omra, the second son and able minister of Maho-
med Ali, Nabob of the Carnatic, ^^ because a Mahomedan is like
a sieve and a Hindoo like a sponge. Whatever you put into the
one runs through'; the other retains it all, and you may recover
it at any moment by the application of a little pressure." On the
same principle the thrifty Hindoo lent all the aid which cunning
and the influence of wealth could command to keep men faithful
to the supreme ruler so long as he left his renter or manager
unmolested. But, at the first appearance of a coming storm, the
renter prepared to work against it, and was just as ready to use
his wealth in raising an enemy to the throne as in keeping upon
it the prince through whose favour he had grown rich. In such
a state of society there could be very little confidence, and no
sentiment of honour, on either side. The ruler would oppress
the subject as often as it suited his convenience to do so ; the
subject would cheat the ruler habitually if he could, and had no
scruple about destroying him if necessary for his own purposes.
Suraj-u-Dowlah succeeded to a full treasury by the same event
which placed him on the viceregal throne of Beng-al. His capi-
tal likewise could boast of several wealthy bankers, all of whom,
being Hindoos, were open, as a matter of course, to be
dealt with according to the Nabob's pleasure, provided he
should exercise but a little discretion in the use of it. Suraj-u-
Dowlah, however, had no discretion. He squandered upon
mean pleasures the wealth which his predecessor had painfully
accumulated, and suffered no consideration of justice or ordinary
prudence to restrain him in seeking to replace it. His exactions
from the great Hindoo bankers of the capital were horrible.
Now, though a patient race, the Hindoos are both avari*
cious and vindictive, and in the present instance they had not

CBAP, vni.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST SURAJ-U-DOWLAH. 67

even the principle of fear to restrain them. They knew that the
man who oppressed them had no hold upon the country. His
troops, mutinous for want of pay, were ready to rise against him,
and all his great officers of state his cruelty or his pride had
alienated. They entered, therefore, into conspiracies which
might or might not have led to serious results, but which were
brought to a point mainly through the instrumentality of one to
whom I had occasion to allude a short time ago, and of whom a
few words will give all the account which the purpose of the pre-
sent narrative seems to require.

Among the money-getting, money-loving, and intriguing
Hindoos of that day there was none more noted for his avarice
and his talents than Omichund. He had carried on the business
of a merchant in Calcutta, and been useful to the English in
procuring for them good investments, and in helping them, ere
yet the fury of Suraj-u-Dowlah overtook them, in evading the
Nabob's taxes. By the fall of Calcutta he had been a sufferer to
a considerable extent, and could therefore lay claim to a share
of the compensation which the Nabob had promised. On the
return of peace this man had removed to Moorshedabad, where,
1^ dint of cunning and a ready adaptation of his own views to
those of the Nabob, he managed to ingratiate himself into the
&vour of Suraj-u-Dowlah. He kept up, at the same time, a
good understanding with his co-religionists, and soon took a for«
ward place in the conspiracy to which they were committed. It
is worthy of note that in all their plotting these men never en-
tertained the most distant idea of substituting a Hindoo for a
Mussulman government. They desired only to exchange one
Mahomedan master for another, and cared for few other quali-
ties in their candidate than a respectable name, high station, and
so much strength of character as should justify their hopes of suc-
cess. The object of their first choice was one Khuda Yar Khan
Lattee, a man powerfully connected, and high in the service of
the Nabob. With him Omichund happened to be on familiar
terms, and, being admitted into his confidence, he played his
game for him. But, for some reason or another which has never
been fully explained, the conspirators in a short time threw their
first favourite aside, and, without consulting Omichund, made
overtures to Meer Jaffier, the Nabob's commander-in-chief. The

p2

68 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vm.

wily merchant pf Calcutta, though offended at this slight, loved
the wages of iniquity too well to make a public exhibition of
his sentiments. When the pressure of ^circumstances forced the
party to offer him a renewal of their confidence, he did not de-
cline it, though he seems even at this stage in the business to
have determined that they should pay for the indignity which
they had put upon him.

It was natural that men so circumstanced should look round
in every quarter for support ; and the conspirators were not slow
in determining that in the English they would find allies at once
zealous and powerful. They opened a commimication with Mr.
Watts as soon as their plans were matured, and employed Omi-
chund to conduct it. Omichund was too ambitious to be con-
tent with the humble part that was at first assigned him. He
got all their secrets out of them, and forthwith placed himself in
the first rank of the conspiracy. His object was to convince
Mr. Watts and Colonel Clive that nothing could be done with-
out him ; and up to a certain point in the transaction he appears
to have succeeded. Nor would it be fair even to his bad me-
mory were we to deny that he had a great deal from first to last
in his power. By making himself useful to the Nabob in various
ways, he contrived to have free access to his person, and was
therefore in a position not only to betray him to his enemies, but
to betray his enemies to the Nabob. Moreover, it is very cer-
tain that, up to the critical moment, the intelligence which lie
communicated was of vast importance. Mr. Watts, indeed, was
personally a witness to many outbursts of temper ; but Omichund ^
saw more ; for the secret, and, as far as such a man could deli-
berate calmly, the calm deliberations of the Nabob for the de-
struction of the English were not kept back from him. These
he took care to describe in glowing terms both to Mr. Watts
and Colonel Clive ; and the consequence was, that they came by
degrees to consider him, what he certainly was not, the moving
spring in the great revolution which they had resolved to bring
about.

Time passed, and this game of plot and counterplot went for-
ward bravely. The Nabob, profligate, cruel, and avaricious,
though he had no hold at all upon his native subjects, yet re-
solved at all hazards to get rid of his English allies. Towards

CHAP. viiT.] CONDUCT OF SURAJ-U-DOWLAH. 69

the end of March, just after the fell of Chandernagore, he wrote
to M. Bussy in these terms : — ** This news'* (the news of the
advance of the French army towards his position) " gives me
pleasure. The sooner you come here, the greater satisfaction I
shall have in meeting you. What can I write of the perfidy of
these English ! They have, without ground, picked a quarrel
with M. Renault, and taken by force his fectory * • » *
When you come to P&llasore T will then send M. Law to your
assistance, unless you forbid his setting out. Rest assured of my
good will towards you and your Company ; and, to convince you
of my sincerity, I now send perwaunahs to Deedar Ali and Ram-
majee Punjet, and to Rajaram Singh, that, as soon as you enter
their province, they meet and render you all possible assistance."
In the same spirit he loaded M. Law and the fugitives from
Chandernagore with favours, and positively refused to deliver
them up to the English. Meanwhile he expressed himself in
terms of strong indignation on the subject of Clive's continu-
ance with his army at Chandernagore. It was an act, he said,
of exceeding audacity to capture that place without hb sanction ;
but to persist in keeping an army so far in advance of the Com-
pany's territory was a thousand times worse. Accordingly he
directed Meer Jaffier to proceed to Plassey at the head of fifteen
thousand men, and to reinforce the division which was already
there under the orders of another of his officers, while at the
same time he did his best to close the navigation of the Ganges,
and spoke openly of marching upon Calcutta. The most un-
guarded of these expressions were retailed to the parties affected
by them with elaborate minuteness. Clive was told that the let-
ters which he wrote were torn by the Nabob and trampled under
foot. The next post brought the Nabob's answers to these very
letters couched in the most fulsome style of Oriental rhetoric.
Mr. Watts complained that one day he was driven from the
durbar with a threat of being impaled —that the next, he was
sent for in order to listen to an abject apology. In a word, it
was evident that hatred and fear strove against each other in the
mind of this weak and wicked man, and that as soon as the latter
feeling could be overmastered the English in Bengal would
experience the effecls of the former to their utmost conceivable
limits.

70 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. vin.

Under all these circumstances, Olive gave it as his opinion
that no terms could any longer be kept with Suraj-u-Dowlah.
It was a game of life and death between him and the English ;
and to play such a game timidly would be to lose it. He there-
fore threw himself with all the vigour of his nature into the
schemes of the conspirators, and urged his colleagues in the
committee to adopt a similar course. They wavered long, but
at last yielded to the combination of the influences which assailed
them. It was agreed that, on certain conditions, they should
assist Meer Jaffier in his attempt to wrest the sceptre from the
unworthy hand which held it ; and it must be confessed that,
with whomsoever originating, the conditions were marvel-
lously favourable to themselves. They pledged the Nabob
in expectancy to all manner of pecuniary obligations. Now
in the shape of ^compensation for losses already sustained, now
under the head of gratuities to the army, to the navy, to the
members of Committee — indeed to every European or native
functionary connected with the Company — Meer Jaffier under-
took to pay, as the price of his elevation, much more than the
resources of his principality could produce; but the native
princes were in those days as reckless of their promises as the
European settlers were exorbitant in their demands : and the
results are, that they and the parties bribed by them have long
ago changed places.

Matters had proceeded thus fer when three events befel, any
one of which would have deterred a man of less iron nerve than
Clive from pushing them further. In the first place, the Com-
mittee of Government took fright at the threatening attitude
assumed by the Nabob, and wrote to Clive not only to caution
him against committing himself in his correspondence with Mr.
Watts, but to entreat that he would return with all his forces to
Calcutta. As timid men are apt to do, however, they rested
their argument for the latter course on a fictitious ground, and
spoke of the cost to the Company of keeping the troops in the
field. Clive's answer is too characteristic to be given in any
other words than his own. After turning into ridicule their
cautions in respect to his correspondence, he goes on to say, —
" By your manner of expressing yourselves with regard to
putting the troops into garrison, it somewhat appears as if X had

CHAP, vra.] OBSTACLES TX) THE PLOT. 71

uooecessarily kept them in the field. Give me leave to say,-
gentlemen, I am equally desirous with you of ftaving every
possible expense to the Honourable Com))any, and that it is long
that I have waited for an opportunity of going into quarters ;
but let me ask you whether the situation of afiairs has admitted
of it hitherto ? I fully intend in a day or two to put the coast
troops into garrison at Chandernagore, and to send the rest to
Calcutta, if nothing very material occurs to prevent it. The
former are entirely under my command, and you may be assured
that, as I shall never make use of the power vested in me to the
injury of the Honourable Company's affidrs, I shall be as
far from suffering you to take away any part of it. I say thus
much to prevent further disagpreeable intimations, which can
tend to no good end/'

The second obstacle which presented itself at this stage in the
business came in the shape of a positive refusal on the Admiral's
part to share in the responsibility of the undertaking. He
ex{Hressed himself willing and ready to give all the aid which
the fleet could afford in men and in the means of transport ; but,
anticipating an unfavourable result, he would not be a party to
an enterprise so pr^nant with danger to the Company's interest
by professing to approve of it. Clive was annoyed, but did not
therefore abandon his purpose. He treated the Admiral's com-
munication as if it had been all that he desired, and persevered
in his career. A little more of caution, perhaps, he found it
necessary to exercise ; and his letters to the Nabob became in
consequence more and more conciliatory every day. But these
might have failed in accomplishing their object had not circum-
stances enabled him to make a display of magnanimity which
proved as effective in its results as in design it was hollow.
Clive received at this moment letters from a Mahratta chief,
which, after denouncing the conduct of the Nabob, proposed, in
co-operation with the English, to invade Bengal ; and engaged
not only to cover all the losses of the Company twice over, but
to secure to them the exclusive commerce of the Ganges. Now,
nobody knew better than Clive that from a Mahratta alliance,
even if the offer were genuine, nothing but evil could come ;
and his own mind, fruitful in expedients, led him to suspect that
the whole might be neither more nor less than a stratagem of

/

72 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. nn.

Suraj-u-Dowlah for the purpose of throwing upon the English
the odium of a rupture. He therefore sent the despatch to
Moorshedabad, and the effect more than realized his expectations.
The Nabob, pleased with such a signal exhibition of good £dth,
not only spoke but acted for a brief space as if his confidence in
the English had returned, and the conspirators were enabled to
push forward their preparations with increased facility and
boldness.

The plan agreed upon by the confederates amounted to this :
that, as soon as he should be informed of the maturity of his
friends' preparations, Clive would advance to Plassey; that
Meer Jaffier, instead of giving him battle, should join him with
his whole corps ; and that the allied armies, marching upon
Moorshedabad, should seize Suraj-u-Dowlah in his palace, and
raise Meer JafBer to the throne. Meanwhile, the better to
deceive the object of their plot, Clive, towards the end of April,
announced his intenlion of putting his troops into quarters.
He entreated Suraj-u-Dowlah to imitate his example by with-
drawing his people from Plassey, and received in return
promises which were never accomplished. Here, then, was a
fair excuse for throwing off the mask ; and an ill-advised attack On
a boat which was proceeding with a supply of arms and ammuni-
tion from Calcutta to Cossimbazar added to its weight. Clive's
tone immediately changed. He wrote to Mr. Watts that
"the Nabob was a villain." He desired that Meer Jaffier
would be secured by a prompt ratification of the treaty that was
between them, and then went on as follows ^—

" To-morrow we decamp : part of our forces go to Calcutta, the
other will go into garrison here *' (at Chandernagore) ; " and, to
takeaway all suspicion, I have ordered all the artillery and tumbrils
to be embarked in boats and sent to Calcutta. I have wrote the
Nabob a soothing letter ; this accompanies another of the same
kind, and one to Mohun Lai " (a creature of Suraj-u-Dowlah),
" agreeable to your desire. Enter into business with Meer Jaffier
as soon as you please. I am ready, and will engage to be at
Nusary in twelve hours after I receive your letter, which place
is to be the rendezvous of the whole army. The Major who
commands at Calcutta has all ready to embark at a moment^s
warning, and has boats sufficient to carry artillery and stores to

CHAP. VIII.] OMICHUND'S TREACHERY. 73

Kasary. I will march by land and join him there ; we will
then proceed to Moorshedabad, or the place we are to be joined
at, directly. Tell Meer Jaffier to fear nothing; that I will
join him with 5000 men who never turned their backs ; and that,
if he fidls seizing him, we shall be strong enough to drive
him out of the country. Assure him I will march night and
day to his assistance, and stand by him while I have a man
left."

It is impossible, perhi^s, to carry on political intrigues of any
sort without doing more or less of violence to the laws of integrity
and honour. Indeed, the duplicity of statesmen and diplomatists
has passed, even in Europe, into a proverb, less just, probably,
in its application now than it was a century or two ago, and
growing, we are willing to hope, more and more inapplicable
every day. But to the web of deceit in the weaving of which ClivB^^
took the part which has been here imperfectly described, there ^
is not, as far as I know, any parallel even in Eastern story. No
doubt our countrymen had this to say for themselves, that their
wits were in duel with the cunning of one to whom the very
meaning of the term truth was unknown ; and that, unless they
stooped to fight him with his own weapons, their destruction
and the ruin of the affairs of their masters were inevitable ;
and perhaps the conventional morality which sets life and goods
above honour may force us to accept their excuse. But for
the crowning act of wrong in which Clive, in his own person,
involved them, no apology can be admitted. I have spoken
elsewhere of Omichund, and of the unworthy part which he
played in the course of these most discreditable transactions.
In heart and soul a villain, this man, after bringing matters to a
point whence there could be no retreat, suddenly turned round
upon his employers. It had already been agreed that, in
addition to the fullest compensation for the losses which he had
sustained in the capture of Fort William, he should receive
a handsome reward for services performed in the course of the
present negotiation. He had, besides, by awakening the Nabob's
fears, though in a wrong direction, obtained from him a grant
of 40,000/. He now waited upon Mr. Watts, and told him
that, unless he were assured of receiving 300,000/. sterling, as
the recompense of his agency, over and above the enormous

74 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. viii.

sum already promised, he should inform Suraj-u-Dowlah of all
that was in progress, and cause the conspirators, English as well
as native, to be arrested on the spot. The communication of
this fact to Clive constituted the third of those obstacles to
success of which I have spoken as scarcely to be surmounted by
any other individual than himself. It did not stand in Olive's
way for a moment : " Promise all that he seeks," was the tenor
of his reply, " and draw up any form of engagement which shall
satisfy him and make us secure against his treachery." This was
done ; and, articles of agreement being drawn up were sent back
to Clive for ratification. The rest of the story, as &r as concerns
this portion of it, cannot be better told than in Olive's own
M'ords : —

" I have your last letter," he writes to Mr. Watts, " including
the articles of agreement. I must confess the tenor of them
surprised me much. I immediately repaired to Calcutta, and, at
a committee held, both the Admiral and gentlemen agree that
Omichund is the greatest villain upon earth, and that now he
appears in the strongest light, what he was always suspected to
be, a villain in grain. However, to counterplot this scoundrel,
and at the same time to give him no room to suspect our inten-
tions, enclosed you will receive two forms of agreement — ^the
one real, to be strictly kept by us, the other fictitious. In short,
this afl&ir concluded, Omichund shall be treated as he deserves.
This you will acquaint Meer Jaffier with."

Enough is stated in this extract to show that, if Omichund
was capable of extreme baseness, he was no match in duplicity
for the European statesmen with whom he had to deal ; but the
writer is not quite so explicit as he might have been in giving
credit where it was due. The Committee had many scruples in
adopting this device, and do not seem to have been persuaded
into an acquiescence in it till there were spread out before them
two treaties — one upon white paper, from which Omichund's
name was omitted ; the other upon red, where all that he had
stipulated for was granted. It would scarcely be fair to assume
that the hesitation of these gentlemen had its root in any mis-
givings respecting the practicability of the device which was
suggested to them. They could not surely be so innocent as to
believe that the preparation of a two-fold treaty was impossible.

CBAP. THi.] CLIVE'S DUPLICITY. 75

Bat, whatever the ground of their doubts might be, they seem
to have yielded to the exhibition of the red and white documents
as soon as they were placed before them. The Admiral was less
plastic : he had condemned the scheme from the first ; he would
have no concern in it now ; and when reminded that the absence
iji his signature would rouse suspicion and might mar all, he still
refused to sign. iWhat was to be done? Clive took upon
himself the ultimate arrangement of the afiair : he forged the
Admiral's name, and sent off both deeds duly executed, at least
inform.

(^

LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. ix.

CHAPTER IX.

Advance of Clive — Battle of Plassey.

/I HAVE recorded these facts — for facts they unfortunately are —
with deep regret — with more of regret than of indignation. It
would be vain to oifer for them any apology ; they will admit of
nothing of the sort ; yet is it certain that never to the end of his
days could Clive be brought to see that he had committed the
slightest outrage upon principle. When charged with these acts
as a crime, he denied the criminality while he admitted that he had
performed them. His manner of reasoning is certainly hard to
follow, but there can be no doubt that it was consistent with
itself. We can scarcely suppose that any circumstances would
have led him to falsify his own solemn engagements in England,
far more to forge the name of another ; nevertheless he appears to
have thought nothing of the guilt of such proceedings in Bengal,
as if moral right were as contingent as the complexions of
men upon climate ; and that transactions which in Europe would
cover the actors with infamy, might in Asia be consummated
with impunity. At the same time, justice compels us to add,
that, if such were really his sentiments, he was not the only
person of his own age, and on his own scene of busy life, who
seemed to be guided by them. His colleagues in office, the gen-
tlemen of the Committee, and even the Admiral, however squeam-
ish at the outset, soon got rid of their scruples. The most
rigid had no objection to praise the deceiver when his deed was
done, and to become partakers in the benefits arising out of the

(^^eceit.

All these preliminaries having been settled, and Mr. Watts
fully instructed in the course which he was expected to follow,
Clive set himself, with his usual industry, to prepare for action.
The accounts from Moorshedabad continued to be unsatisfactory.
Meer Jaffier either feared to commit himself, or wavered in his
faith. Omichund was just as likely to prove a traitor at the

CHAP. IX.] ADVANCE OF CLIVE. 77

eleventh hour as at the ninth ; but things had gone too far to
admit of further procrastination, and to procrastinate unneces-
sarily was not Olive's humour. On the 12th of June all the
troops stationed in Calcutta, together with one hundred and fifty
armed seamen from the fleet, proceeded to Chandernagore. Here
a junction was formed with that portion of the army which a
short time previously had been distributed in quarters through
the town ; and the whole, leaving behind them an hundred
seamen to guard the place, resumed their march on the morrow.
The better to keep the Europeans fresh, they, with the artillery
and stores, moved up the river in boats : the sepoys moved in a
parallel column by land, and were always within sight of their
comrades; and so the whole proceeded. On the 14th they ar-
rived at Culna, where Mr. Watts, who had escaped the preceding
day firom Moorshedabad, found them. The 16th carried them to
Patlee ; and on the l7th Major Coote made himself master,
after a brief resistance, of the fortress of Cutwa. There, on the
plain by which the castle is surrounded, they pitched their tents ;
but on the 19th the weather broke with imexpected violence,
and, in order to escape the fury of the storm, the troops were
forced to shelter themselves among the huts and villages near.

Meanwhile Suraj-u-Dowlah was in a state of the greatest in-
dignation and alarm. He had for some days entertained a
suspicion that all was not as he desired it to be, and on the
14th sent to require Mi-. Watts' presence at court. To his
amazement he found that the bird was flown. Omichund was
next summoned ; but Omichund also, though he had been with
him at a late hour on the preceding day, was gone. By and by
a messenger arrived laden with a packet from Clive, which, when
the Nabob had opened and read, removed from his mind what-
ever doubt might have still lingered there. In a letter which
he despatched from Chandernagore the day previous to the ad-
vance of the army, Clive spoke out without reserve or equivoca-
tion. He reproached the Nabob with his French connexion —
upbraided him on account of the non-fulfilment of his engage-
ments — charged him with meditating an attack on Calcutta as
soon as Admiral Watson and himself should have quitted the
Ganges — and made a formal recapitulation of all the injuries
which he had already inflicted on the Company. " For these

78 LIFE OP LORD CLIVB. [chap. ix.

reasons," continued the letter, "I have determined, with the
approbation of all who are charged with the Comany's af&irs, to
proceed immediately to Cossimbazar, and to submit there our
disputes to the arbitration of Meer Jaffier, Roydullub, Juggeit
Seit, and others of your Highnesses great men. If these decide
that I have deviated from the treaty, I swear to give up all
further claims upon your Highness ; but if it should appear that
your Highness has broken faith, then I 8hall demand satisfaction
for all the losses sustained by the English, and all the chai^;es
of the army and navy." This remarkable epistle, of which the
ol^ect could not be mistaken, concluded with an announcement
at least as startling as any of the clauses which preceded it — that,
^^ as the rains were now near at hand, and it required many days
to receive an answer, the writer would not linger where he was,
but would wait upon his Highness immediately in his capital."

The Nabob read this letter with feelings of mingled indigna-
tion and alarm. He saw that the crbis to which he seems for
some time to have looked forward had arrived, and gave orders
for the immediate advance of his army to Plassey. The whole
moved without the slightest hesitation, and took up its ground
as directed ; for though it had been agreed between Olive and
Meer Jaffier that the latter should pass over to the English with
his division, the fears of the conspirator prevailed over his am-
bition, and in the hour of difficulty he stood fast. Meanwhile
Clive suffered much from anxiety and doubt. His entire force
numbered only three thousand men, of whom less than one
thousand were Europeans, and his artillery train did not exceed
eight six-pounders and a howitzer. It seemed little short of
madness to risk, with a handful of troops, however good, a battle
in the open plain against fifty thousand adversaries — and at less
than fifty thousand nobody rated the host which lay between him
and the accomplishment of his wishes. Accordingly his letter
to the Committee of Government, dated from Cutwa, on June 19,
1757, says — " I feel the greatest anxiety at the little intelligence
I receive from Meer Jaffier, and, if he is not treacherous, his
sang-froid or want of strength will, I fear, overset the expe-
dition. I am trying a last effort, by means of a Brahmin, to
prevail upon him to march out and join us. I have appointed
Plassey as the place of rendezvous, and have told him at the

CHAP. IX.] CLIVE AT CUTWA. 79

same time that, unless he gives this or some other sufficient
proof of the sincerity of his intentions, I will not cross t^^e river.
This, I hope, will meet with your approbation. I shall act with
such caution as not to risk the loss of our forces ; and whilst we
have them we may always have it in our power to bring about a
revolution, should the present not succeed. They say there is a
considerable quantity of grain in and about this place. If we
can collect eight or ten thousand maunds" (eight or ten hundred
tliousand pounds), " we may maintain our situation during the
rains, which will greatly distress the Nabob, and either reduce
him to terms which may be depended upon, or give us time to
bring in the Beer-Boom Rajah, the Mahrattas, or Ghazee-u-
Deen.* I desire you will give your sentiments freely how you
think I should act if Meer Jaffier can give us no assistance."

The danger could not be trifling which was capable of wringing
fr<Hn a man of Olive's nerve such avowals as these — nor indeed
was it trifling. There he stood, isolated as it were, with a hand-
ful of men, the slightest disaster falling upon whom must lead
not only to their destruction, and the disgrace of their leader,
but to the entire ruin of the Company's aflairs in India. Be-
tween him and the enemy ran that branch of the Ganges which
flanks on one side the island of Cossimbazar, across which, in its
present state, it would be easy to march, but which a few days'
rain would render impassable. Below him, no doubt, the country
was open, and he had supplies enough within reach to avert all
hazard of famine. But delay, now that the mask was thrown
aside, would operate, as he well knew, far more favourably for
the Nabob than for him. Plassey was distant not more than
ten days' march from the scene of operations ; and on the Coro-
mandel coast the greatest alarm was felt lest an expedition, long
looked ibr from Europe, should arrive and attack Madras while
yet unprepsMied. The tone of composure, therefore, in which he
wrote of maintaining himself at Cutwa during the rains could
not be other than assumed ; and the measure to which he resorted
on the 21st testifies that it was not enduring. On that day, for
the first and last time in his life, he assembled a council of war,
and proposed to it the question — " Whether, in our present

♦ Native powers, who were equally willing to assist in tearing the Nabob
oi Bengal in pieces.

80 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. ix.

situation, without assistance, and on our own bottom, it would
be prudent to attack the Nabob ; or whether we should wait till
joined by some country power ?" Of the sixteen officers com-
posing this court nine voted for delay and seven for an imme*
diate attack. Among the majority ^"ere Olive himself, and
Major Kilpatrick, his second in command ; Major Eyre Ooote,
afterwards so celebrated in Indian warfare, took his place with
the minority. The conclusion was accepted by all as definitive^
and the conclave broke up.

But Olive, though he had been the first to give his advice in
£ivour of timid counsels, was not satisfied with the decision. He
wandered away alone from the camp ; he sat down under a
clump of trees, and continued in deep thought for more than an
hour. He rose at the termination of that space of time im-
pressed with a conviction that the policy of delay was unwise.
Meeting Major Ooote on his way back to camp, he told him
that he had changed his mind ; and orders were forthwith issued
to prepare for crossing the river on the morrow. It is said that
just at this moment letters from Meer Jaffier reached him which
removed in some degree his doubts of that officer's good faith ;
but, besides that the rumour in question rests on no very sure
foundation, it is certain that his resolution to advance could not
possibly have been formed in consequence of such communication.
The fiict is, that Olive saw then what we clearly understand now,
that any appearance of misgiving on his part would prove as
serious as a defeat itself. He could not permit the decision of a
council of war, or his own personal responsibility in acting
against it, to weigh for a moment where so much was at stake.
He therefore treated the vote of the morning as if it had not
been given, and looked to the final issues for a justification.

At dawn of day on the 22nd the army began to cross the
river; by four in the afternoon the last division was safely
across. No halt ensued. The boats being towed against the
stream with great labour, the infantry and guns pushed forward ;
and after a march of fifteen miles the whole bivouacked about
three in the morning of the 23rd in a grove or small wood not
far from Plassey.

Olive's intelligence had led him to expect that the enemy were
in position at Oossimbazar. A rapid march had, however,

(WAP. IX.] BATTLE OP PLASSEY. 81

carried them on to Plassey, where they occupied the lines or
entrenched camp which, during the siege of Chandemagore,
Roydullub had thrown up ; and scarcely were the British troops
lain down ere the sound of drums, clarions, and cymbals warned
them of the proximity of danger. Piquets were immediately
pushed forward, and sentries planted, and for an hour or two
longer the weary soldiers and camp followers were permitted to

Day broke at last ; and forth from their intrenched camp the
hosts of Suraj-u-Dowlah were seen to pour. 40,000 foot,
armed, some with matchlocks, others with spears, swords, and
bows, overspread the plain ; 50 pieces of cannon moved with
them, each mounted upon a sort of wheeled platform, which a
long team of white oxen dragged, and an elephant pushed
onwards, from the rear. The cavalry numbered 15,000; and it
was observed that, in respect both to their horses and equip-
ment, they were very superior to any which Clive and the
soldiers of the Carnatic had seen on their own side of India.
The fact was, that this force consisted almost entirely of
Rajpoots, or Patans, soldiers from their childhood, and indi-
vidually brave and skilful with their weapons. But among them,
not less than among the infantry, the bond of discipline was
wanting ; and, placing no reliance one upon another, their very
multitude became to them a source of weakness. On the other
hand, Olive's small but most pliable army stood silent as the
grave. It consisted of about 1000 Europeans, inured to toil and
indifferent to danger ; and of 2000 sepoys, who, trained in the
same school, had imbibed no small share of the same spirit. Of
these Europeans a portion of Adlercron's regiment constituted,
perhaps, the flower. The name of Adlercron has long since ceased
to be had in remembrance ; but the gallant 39th still carry with
them, wherever they go, a memorial of that day — the word
" Plassey," and the proud motto " JPrimus in Indis,'' standing
emblazoned upon their colours, beside many a similar record of
good service performed in Spain and in the south of France.

The battle of Plassey began at daybreak, and was continued
for many hours with a heavy cannonade on the part of the enemy,
to which the guns of the English warmly replied. The fire of
the latter told at every round ; that of the former was much

o

82 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. ix.

more noisy than destructive, partly because Clive sheltered his
men behind a mud fence which surrounded the grove, partly
because the Nabob's artillerists were as unskilful as their weapons
were cumbrous. No decisive movement was, however, made on
either side, for Clive felt himself too weak in numbers to act on
the offensive. Besides, he still expected that Meer Jaffier would
come over to him, and, till some indication of the anticipated
move were given, he did not consider that he would be justified
in quitting his ground. The Nabob's troops, on the other hand,
were such as the ablest general could not pretend to manoeuvre
under fire, and able generals were wholly wanting to them.
Under these circumstances Clive, whom excessive fatigue had
worn out, lay down and slept, though not till he had given di-
rections that, in the event of any change occurring, he should be
immediately called. Accordingly, about noon, one of his people
awoke him and said that the enemy were retiring. He started
up : the day, it appeared, being overcast, a heavy shower had
fallen, which so damaged the enemy's powder that their artillery
became in a great degree useless ; and, as they trusted entirely
to their superiority in that arm, they no longer ventured to keep
the field. In a moment Clive gave the word to advance. There
was one little band attached to the Nabob's force which served
him in good stead that day. It consisted of about 40 French
soldiers, European and native, the remains of the garrison of
Chandernagore, with four light field-pieces. Against these Clive
first directed an attack to be made, and, though they resisted
stoutly, he drove them from a redoubt in which they were esta-
blished, and seized their guns. With the apparent design of
preventing this, the Nabob's people again sallied forth; but
they came on, this time, in a confused mass, and a well-directed
fire from the English guns first checked and then turned them.
Advantage was promptly taken of the panic ; no respite was
given to the fugitives, for the victors, entering with them pell-
mell into their camp, soon converted the retreat into a flight.
In an hour from the first movement of the English beyond the
exterior of the grove, a battle, on which may be said to have
hung the destinies of India, was decided.

r^ Military operations, such as that which has just been described,
as they set all the rules of calculation and probability at defiance.

CHAP. ix.J BATTLE OF PLASSEY. 83

so they are placed out of the pale of sober criticism. Proceedings ^
which in any other quarter of the world, and in the feice of any
other enemy, would have convicted a leader of sheer insanity,
were shown by the result to have been in Olive's case as judicious
as they were bold. No doubt he was encouraged to place him«
self in contact with the Nabob by assurances from Meer Jaffier
of support ; and Jaffier, though he did not fulfil his promise as
he ought to have done, unquestionably held aloof in spite of
repeated orders to the contrary. Indeed, there seems no cause i
to doubt that apprehensions of treason within the camp operated J
as powerfully as terror of the English army to take away from
Suraj-u-Dowlah the slender share of courage and presence of
mind which nature had bestowed upon him. But be the causes
what they might, never was a victory so important in its political I '
consequences gained at such a trifling loss of human life. Of
the conquerors there fell that day 22 killed and about 50
wounded, chiefly sepoys. Not more than 500, out of the rabble
of 60,000 or 70,000 men that marched under the Nabob*s
standard, died in the battle. Their dispersion was, however,
complete, and guns, tents, baggage, with an enormous booty of
every sort, became the prey of the conquerors.

o2

84 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. x.

CHAPTER X.

Meer Jaffier made Nabob— Treaty with the English — ^Fate of Omichund.

While the fighting, such as it was, went on, Clive observed a
large body of troops on the left of the enemy's line gradually
withdraw from communication with their comrades, and move
obliquely round his own right. They sent no messenger to
communicate with him, nor endeavoured by any other process to
explain their intentions ; they were therefore fired upon more
than once when their eccentric evolutions threatened to bring
them nearer to the grove than seemed desirable. No sooner
was the battle ended, however, than horsemen came in to an-
nounce that the suspicious column consisted of Meer Jaffier's
corps, and that Meer Jaffier heartily congratulated his friend on
the results of the struggle. That night the two armies en-
camped close to one another, and early on the following day
Meer Jaffier visited Clive in his tent. Whether conscious that
appearances, if not facts, were against him, or being moved by
the common feeling of his countrymen on such occasions, he
exhibited strong symptoms of uneasiness when a guard turned
out to receive him ; but these Clive made haste to dispel. He
went forth to meet him, embraced him in the presence of his
people, saluted him as Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and
ushered him into his tent. There Meer Jaffier explained the
circumstances which had prevented an earlier fulfiln^ent of his
engagements ; and described the Nabob as having laboured for
many days under a degree of excitement which came little short
of insanity. The last act of this miserable man had indeed some-
thing very touching about it. After upbraiding and threatening
Meer Jaffier up to the morning of the attack, he sent for him,
just as the columns were filing out of their entrenchments, and,
pulling off his turban, cast it in the general's lap, and implored
him to do his duty. To pull off the turban and lay it in the lap

CHAP. X.] SURAJ-U-DOWLAH BEHEADED. 85

of another is the last act of humiliation and confidence which a
Mussulman can perform ; and Meer Jaffier, probably moved by
the proceeding, swore to defend the turban and its wearer to the
death. But the oaths of Orientals are not oflen more binding
than the promises to pay of traders in a state of bankruptcy ; and
Meer Jaffier no sooner quitted the presence than he forgot the
scene which he had witnessed there. How he bore himself
throughout the contest has already been explained.

While Clive and his protege were discussing the events of the
past and plans for the future, Suraj-u-Dowlah fled, well-nigh
unattended, to Moorshedabad. He shut himself up in his palace,
and listened for a while to the advices of such of his friends as ac-
companied him from the field or joined him from the city. Now
he determined to give himself up to the English, being persuaded
to believe that with them his life at least would be safe ; now he
resolved to try again the fortune of war, and to prevail or perish
in the defence of his capital. But he had not courage enough
to sustain him in the accomplishment of either purpose. As
soon as darkness set in he disguised himself in the dress of a
mechanic, and, taking a casket full of valuable jewels in his
hands, let himself down. from a window in the palace and got
into a boat, which he desired might carry him towards Patna.
He did not, however, succeed in making his escape. Though
his flight was not discovered for some days aflter it had occurred,
a vigilant search was immediately made in all directions, and,
being found or betrayed in the neighbourhood of Rajahmahal,
he was seized, carried back to Moorshedabad, and there be-
headed.

Meanwhile Clive and Meer Jaffier, having arranged their plans
of operation, proceeded without an hour's delay to carry them
into execution. Meer Jaffier pushed on at once to Moorsheda-
bad, where he arrived some hours before Suraj-u-Dowlah quitted
it. Clive, directing the main body of his troops to follow,
marched in the same direction at the head of two hundred Euro-
pean and three hundred sepoy infantry. Not a sword was drawn,
not a spear levelled, to oppose the progress of the successful
conspirator towards the palace. But the ceremony of instalment
he would not permit to go on till Clive had come up to take
part in it. It was the Englishman's hand which led the new

86 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, x-

Nabob to his throne ; and amid the stupe&ction occasioned by
such a rapid succession of marvellous events, neither Maho-
medan Nabobs nor Hindoo bankers appeared to look with sur-
prise on the proceeding. This lull in feelings which were as
acute, a century ago, among the native arbtocracy of India as
they are now among ourselves, could not, however, be expected
long to continue. Their pride, if not their patriotism, sooa
awoke. They could not bear to have the conviction forced on
them that adventurers whom, till now, they had never beheld
in their presence except as petitioners for commercial advantages
or protection against danger, should enter the halls of their
princes armed to the teeth, and give a ruler to their country.
And if, in due time, even Meer Jaffier began to think more
of the degradation to which his race was subjected than of the
benefits conferred personally on himself, he must take but a
limited view of human nature, and the springs of action which
stir it, who can affect either surprise or indignation at the cir-
cumstance.

R^ret and indignation rarely find scope to exercise them-
selves amid the excitement of a successful revolution. Whatever
he came by and by to feel, Meer JafHer was for the present full
of gratitude; and the satisfaction which he experienced was
shared with him by the leading men who had been his advisers
and friends during the progress of the c<nispiracy. Whatever
terms Clive proposed they urged the new sovereign to accept,
and he did accept them. That these were extravagantly severe
will not, it is presumed, be in our days disputed. Clive and the
gentlemen who had the largest share in his confidence did not so
r^ard them; because they laboured under a mistaken belief
that there were no limits to the wealth of the native princes.
Indeed, Messrs. Watts and Walsh, whom Clive, to use his own
words, '^ sent forward to inquire into the state of the treasury, and
to watch proceedings in the palace," gave such an exaggerated
account of the riches accumulated by the Nabobs of Bengal, that
there can be no wonder if both they and he should have overshot
the mark. The consequence was, that, when the final treaty came
to be arranged, it promised to the Company advantages which
went as far beyond their wildest expectations as they exceeded
the power of Meer JaflHer to confer without ruin to himself and

CHAP, x.] TREATY WITH MEER JAFFIER. 87

to his provinces. The following details I extract from Clive's
official letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors,
dated at Moorshedabad on the 26th of July, 1758:—

^^ The substance of the treaty with the present Nabob is as
follows : —

<^ 1. Confirmation of the mint, and all other grants and pri-
vileges in the treaty with the late Nabob.

" 2. An alliance, offensive and defensive, against all enemies
whatever.

^^ 3. The French factories and effects to be delivered up, and
they never permitted to resettle in any of the provinces.

'^ 4. One hundred lacs of rupees to be paid to the Company in
consideration of the loss at Calcutta and the expenses of the
campaign.

^' 5. Fifty lacs to be given to the English sufferers at the loss
of Calcutta.

^' 6. Twenty lacs to Gentoos, Moors, and black sufierers at
the loss of Cakutta.

" 7. Seven lacs to the Armenian sufferers. These three last
donations to be distributed at the pleasure of the Admiral and
gentlemen of Council, including me.

" 8. The entire property of all lands within the Mahratta
ditch, which runs round Calcutta, to be vested in the Company ;
also six hundred yards all round without the said ditch.

" 9. The Company to have the Zemindarry of the country to
the south of Calcutta lying between the lake and the river, and
reaching as far as Culpee, they paying the customary rents paid
by the former Zemindars to the Government.

" 10. Whenever the assistance of the English troops shall be
wanted, their extraordinary charge to be paid by the Nabob.

" 11. No forts to be erected by the Government on the river-
side from Hooghly downwards.

" 12. The foregoing articles to be performed without delay,
as soon as Meer Jaffier becomes Soubahdar."

It is impossible for us, who are accustomed to think of the
East India Company as sovereigns of the whole extent of territory
which lies between Cape Comorin and the Himalaya Mountains,
to conceive the importance of such an arrangement as this to the
same Company, being as yet traders and merchants in the land.

88 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, x.

Comparatively small as the Zemindarry conceded to them might
be, it established them in the country as a substantive power —
bound, indeed, to pay to the Nabob a stipulated tribute, but
absolute masters, after this should have been discharged, of all
the revenues, from whatever source arising, which they could
collect throughout their territory. The value of these Clive, in
the letter from which I have just quoted, calculates at ten lacs,
or 100,000^. sterling. The expulsion of the French, also, and
the entire disarming of the river, ensured to the Lords of Fort
William and its dependencies the monopoly of the trade of all
the districts through which the Ganges held its course : and the
pledge taken that English troops should be liberally paid for as
often as the Nabob might require their services amounted well-
nigh to an engagement that the Company's army would be main-
tained at the expense of the sovereign of Moorshedabad. In
like manner the pecuniary grants made, in the shape of compen-
sation for damages received, fell not short of 1,770,000/. But,
enormous as this outlay seems, we have not yet completed our
list of payments. The army and navy both expected to share in
the riches that seemed to descend from heaven in a shower, and
one million more of sterling -money was thus added to the Na-
bob's debt, which went on accumulating as members of Council,
political agents, and I know not how many other functionaries
besides, put in claims, and had them agreed to. Meanwhile
Omichund flattered himself that 650,000/. were secured to him,
and Clive was already in possession of 160,000/. which Meer
Jaffier, in the first burst of his gratitude, had presented to him.
And now came the question — How were all these pecuniary
obligations to be discharged ? The treasury, which Mr. "Watts
had described as crammed with 4,000,000/. in bullion, besides
jewels of inestimable value, was found, on examination, to con-
tain in all 1,500,000/. The obligations given, without taking
into account Omichund's claim, the claims of the Committee,
or the gift already accepted and received by Clive, amounted to
2,700,000/. — if the two latter sums be added, to upwards of
3,500,000/. Whence were the means of liquidating so pro-
digious a debt to be derived, and how was the Nabob to keep his
own army in a state of subordination by paying up even a por-
tion of the arrears which were already due to them? The

CHAP. X.] EXTORTIONS OP EUROPEANS. 89

question was full of difficulties, and could not have been answered
at all, had not Boydullub, the finance minister, and Juggeit Seit,
the wealthy Hindoo banker, come to the assistance of the unfortu-
nate Meer Jaffier. By the assistance of these persons the Nabob
proposed to pay one half of the amount immediately — two-thirds,
of this portion in coined money, the other third in plate, jewels,
and goods ; while the other half he engaged to liquidate in the
course of two years by equal instalments. Clive writes of this
arrangement so early as the month of July in the following
terms : — ^^ The part to be paid in money is received, and safely
arrived at Calcutta ; and the goods, jewels, &c., are bow deli-
vered over to us, the major part of which will be bought back
by the Nabob for ready mon^, and in the remaining there will
be little or no loss. A large proportion was proposed to be paid
us in jewels ; but as these are not a very saleable article, we got
the amount reduced one-half, and the difference to be made up
in money.'*

It is not pleasant to put upon record the memorial of such ^
transactions as these. The glory of conquest seems to be obscured |
by them, and patriotism and high emprise degenerate, as we read, \
into sordid impulses and the mere lust of gain. Let us not, '
however, bear too hardly upon the individuals who thus cared
for their own interests. They acted in the spirit of the age in
which they lived. India appeared then to the people of England
pretty much what Mexico and Peru were held by the Spaniards
to be when they first discovered them — a mine of wealth which
could not be exhausted ; and if Clive and his friends considered
that they were justified in gathering as large a portion of the
produce as circumstances would allow, perhaps they took a view
of their own case not different from that which most men so .■
situated would have taken. But there is a darker shadow on ^
their fame which I must not shrink from describing. Of the
double agreement with Omichund notice has already been taken.
That, as well as the subscription of the Admiral's name by a
strange hand, both the Committee and the officer most deeply
affected by the transaction had forgiven ; and it now only re-
mained to inform the Hindoo of the extent to which he had been
duped. On the morning of the day when Clive met Meer Jaffier
and his counsellors in order to arrange for the payment of the new

90 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. x.

Nabob's debts, Omichund joined the conclave. He suspected no
fraud : not an act or word of Clive or any of his colleagues had
ever led him to harbour a suspicion of their double dealing;
and, after hearing the white treaty read, he waited, expecting
that the red document would in its turn be produced. Clive felt
that the time was come for putting an end to the delusion. " It
is now proper," said he in English to Mr. Scrafton, one of the
Company's servants who was present, " to undeceive Omichund.
You may tell him how the case stands." Mr. Scrafton at once
undertook the office of interpreter. " Omichund," he quietly
observed in the language of the country, " the red treaty is a
sham : you are to have nothing." The wretched man fell, as if
shot, insensible, into the arms of an attendant. He was carried
out into the air and revived ; but the blow proved more severe
than his faculties could sustain. He never uttered a complaint,
but passed by rapid degrees into a state of idiotcy. It is said
that Clive pitied and spoke kindly to him, advising him to go
upon a pilgrimage to some holy shrine, and offering to pay his
expenses. It is even hinted that, in spite of all that had oc*
curred, he entertained serious thoughts of again employing the
Hindoo in the public service ; but the Hindoo did not compre-
hend the nature of either proposition. After surviving a few
months, in the course of which he squandered the residue of his
fortune in trinkets and jewels and rich garments, he died ; and,
amid the busy scenes of that busy stage in Indian history, ceased,
at least for a while, to be remembered.

As it seems desirable to get rid of so painful a portion of my
narrative, I may be permitted, perhaps, to give in this place
an outline of the proceedings which occurred when the plunder
of the new Nabob came to be divided among his allies, even
though I be compelled somewhat to anticipate, in so doing, the
chronological order of events. With respect to the presents
bestowed upon the Committee, there seems to have been no re-
markable difference of opinion anywhere. Clive, as president of
the body, received by common consent a larger share than any
of the rest. It amounted to two hundred and eighty thousand
rupees, or 28,000/. sterling. The members were satisfied each
with two hundred and forty thousand rupees, or 24,000/. sterling ;
while subordinate agents — such as Messrs. Watts, Walsh, and

CHAP. X.] DISGRACEFUL RAPAaXY. 91

suchlike, came in for their douceurs. One name, and onlj one
— that of Warren Hastings — does not appear in the list of reci-
pients of the Nabob's bounty. Yet Hastings fplayed his part,
though of course a subordinate one, in the money-making
drama.

Again, the spirit by which the whole body of these adventurers
was animated showed itself in the exhibition of a mean jealousy
of the army against the navy, and of the officers in the service
of the Crown and of the Company — one class towards the other.
It makes onft blush to read^ even at this distance of time, how
coutfcilTof war assembled that they might wrangle and fight over
the distribution of the spoil of one for whom they professed to
have drawn the sword. Among other disgraceful resolutions,
there was one which decided that the seamen who accompanied
the expedition, and helped to drag the guns, should receive, not
as soldiers, but only as sailors belonging to the fleet. This, of
course, reduced their share much below that of men whose
dangers and hardships they h^ shared ; and, though Olive seems
to have severely censured this resolution, even he had not in-
fluence enough to compel a reversal of it. But another out-
rageous proposition he did curb ere it could be carried into eflect.
The officers composing this council demanded to be put at once
in possession of the sums granted to both services, in order that
they might distribute them without the intervention of prize-
agents, and protested against Clive's refusal to yield the point.
The Colonel must tell his own story on this occasion, for rapa-
city must have gone beyond all limits of toleration when it drew
from Clive such declarations as the following : —

** I took the first opportunity," he says in a letter to Admiral
Watson, "of a little spare time to call a council of war for the
division of that share of the prize-money which belongs to the
army. I am sorry to say that several warm and selfish debates
arose ; and I cannot help thinking that the officers belonging to
the navy with the expedition here have had injustice done them
in not being allowed to share agreeable to the land division,
which was carried against them by a great majority. Enclosed
I send you the proceedings of the council of war. The last
article, after having been in a manner agreed to, was again
brought upon the carpet ; and, notwithstanding that I represented

1

92 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. x.

to the gentlemen in the strongest terms that the money could
not be divided till it was shroffed, and the agents of both parties
present, without the greatest injustice to the navy, they still
persisted in giving their opinions for an immediate division of
the money ; upon which I overruled the votes and broke up the
council of war."

Clive overruled the votes of his officers, but did not overcome
so easily the spirit in which they originated. A protest was sent
in against his decision ; to which he replied, first, by putting in
arrest the individuals who presented it, and then by addressing
to the body for whom they acted the following note : —

** Gentlemen, — T have received both your remonstrance and
protest. Had you consulted the dictates of your own reason,
those of justice, or the respect due to your commanding officer,
I am persuaded such a paper, so highly injurious to your own
honour as officers, could never have escaped you.

"You say you were assembled at a council to give your
opinion upon a matter of property. Pray, gentlemen, how
comes it that a promise of a sum of money from the Nabob,
entirely negotiated by me, can be deemed a matter of right and
property ? So fiir from it, it is now in my power to return to
the Nabob the money already advanced, and leave it to his
decision whether he will perform his. promise or not. You have
stormed no town and found the money there ; neither did you
find it in the plains of Plassey after the defeat of the Nabob.
In short, gentlemen, it pains me to remind you, that what you
are to receive is entirely owing to the care which I took of your
interest. Had I not interfered greatly in it, you would have been
lefl to the Company's generosity, who perhaps would have
thought you sufficiently rewarded in receiving a present of six
months' pay ; in return for which I have been treated with the
greatest disrespect and ingratitude, and, what is still worse, you
have flown in the face of my authority, for overruling an opinion
which, if passed, would have been highly injurious to your own
reputation, being attended with injustice to the navy, and been
of the worst consequences to the cause of the nation and the
Company.

" I shall therefore send the money down to Calcutta, give

CHAP. X.] REBUKE TO THE OFFICERS. 93

directions to the agents of both parties to have it shroffed ; and
when the Nabob signifies his pleasure (on whom it solely de-
pends) that the money be paid you, you shall then receive it, and
not before.

'^ Your behaviour has been such that you cannot expect I
should interest myself any further in your concerns. I therefore
retract the promise I made the other day, of negotiating either the
rest of the Nabob's promise, or the one-third which was to be
received in the same manner as the rest of the public money, at
three yearly equal payments.

" I am, Gentlemen,

" Your most obedient, humble servant,
(Signed) " Rob. Clive.

" Moorshedabadj

5th July, 1757."

This sharp rebuke produced the full effect that was desired.
The officers knew better than to hold out against a chief of
Olive's temper, and withdrew their protest, offering at the same
time an ample apology for having presented it. Much gratitude
was likewise expressed by the Admiral for the care which was
taken of the seamen's interests ; and all sourness on account of the
forged signature, if indeed any such feeling ever existed, died out.
" The Admiral," wrote Captain Latham, his confidential aide-de-
camp, " drinks every day a bumper to your health " — the surest
token, a hundred years ago, of friendship on the part of the
drinker. Nevertheless, Clive, though seeming to prosper in all
to which he put his hand, was not without his causes of anxiety.
The authorities at Madras had repeatedly recalled him, and each
new letter brought with it proofs more strong than another
that impatience was deepening among them into discontent. The
Committee of Government at Bengal, with Mr. Drake at its
head, began in like manner to discover that they were likely to
find in the commander of their armies more of a master than of a
colleague. They, too, harassed him with their communications,
and spoke of ^he necessity of providing for the defence of Fort
William on the very day when he gained for them the decisive
battle of Plassey. Clive had no hesitation in treating such remon-
strants with the contempt which they merited. He told them, in

c^

LIFE OF LORD CLIVK [chap. x.

point of fact, that he was a better judge than they of what would
best conduce to the well-being of the settlement, and pursued his
own course. But with the Madras Government his game was more
delicate ; he played, however, with boldness, and he won. He
assured them that his presence in Bengal was of more im-
portance now to the Company's interests than it had ever been,
and declined sending back a man till the negotiations on which
Jxe had entered should be complete. Posterity has never blamed
. him for this. He had made a move from which there was no
\ retracting : he had brought the affairs of his employers into such
a state that there was no alternative for him or for them except
complete success or entire ruin. The degree of responsibility
which he was bold enough to assume would have crushed, by the
bare thought of it, almost any other man than himself. Yet the
results justified his measures ; and, as public men have in alVages
been tried rather by the issues than the strict propriety of their
plans, so he won for himself a proud name by a process which
might have subjected him to the last penalty of the law. Out
/ of such materials are heroes and conquerors formed.

CHAP. XI.] ABUSES IN CALCUTTA. 95

CHAPTER XI.

Fresh troubles in Bengal — Colonel Forde's expedition to the Northern
Circars — Clive's Jaghire or Feof.

Having placed the affairs of Moorshedabad in such a train as
promised to lead to a satisfactory settlement, and engaged a
powerful interest to obtain for Meer Jaffier a formal acknow-
ledgment from the Emperor of his title as Nabob, Clive, whose
presence in Calcutta seems to have been much required, returned
to that city. He found it, as settlements are wont to be on
which unlooked-for prosperity has fallen with a strong tide, filled
with people who could not sufficiently rejoice, but neglected by
its rulers, who, equally with the inhabitants, appeared to imagine
that reverses could never come again. Not a step had been
taken to repair or enlarge the fortifications, though the right
to do so was accounted one of the most important of the articles
included in the treaty. Nobody knew or had adopted measures
to ascertain the geographical limits of the Zemindarry of which
the Company had become possessed ; and a great influx of
wealth had produced its usual consequences in those days, by
relaxing the bonds of discipline among the military classes, and
lowering the tone of morals — already low enough — ^in every
other. Clive set himself to remedy these abuses with the vigour
which appertained to his character, and did not permit the death
of Admiral Watson, though he deeply and sincerely lamented
it — for the time at least required in doing honour to the funeral
— to interfere with his public duties. But his measures of reform
were yet very incomplete when pressing calls in other quarters
carried him again to a distance. It soon became apparent that
neither by natural talent nor yet on account of the embarrassment
of his circumstances was Meer Jaffier suited for the station
to which accident had raised him. His treasury being exhausted,
and his troops clamorous for pay, he could devise no better

96 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xr.

means of replenishing the one or satisfying the other than
by plundering the more wealthy of his subjects. This was aa
old game, for which the Hindoo bankers and the governors of
provinces could scarcely be unprepared ; and they consequently-
assumed, as with one accord, the attitude of men who were
determined to play it out. Roydullub, who had much befriended
him while conspiring against his master, withdrew from attend-
ance on Meer Jaffier, and fenced himself round with friends.
The Rajah of Purneah, the Manager of Midnapore, and the
Ruler of Patna, all went into rebellion ; and, to complete the
difficulties of the Nabob's position, Sujah-u-Dowlah, the Viceroy
of Oude, assisted, as was believed, by the latter of these nobles,
made preparations to invade the provinces. Moreover, the Viceroy
of Oude, who was doubly formidable because of his well-known
connexion with the French party, had at his own disposal
resources not inferior to those which in his palmiest days the
Nabob of Bengal could command. Thus threatened on every
side, Meer Jaffier sent repeated entreaties that Clive would
hasten to his assistance. The latter could not refuse to comply,
though the disposable force which he was able to muster
amounted to no more than 500 Europeans and 2000 sepoys.
Nevertheless, as he well understood the causes of these disorders,
and had the best reason to believe that the Hindoo chiefs were
far more disposed to look to him as their protector than to the
Nabob as their enemy, he entertained no misgivings about the
result. His reasoning proved to be as sound in this case as it
usually was. No sooner was it known that Clive came to me-
diate between parties, than first one and then another of the
malcontents threw themselves upon his protection. He did not
reject them, while at the same time he spared, as far as it was
possible so to do, the feelings of the Nabob ; and the result was,
first, a progress by Meer Jaffier and the English leader and his
troops through the disaffected provinces, and, by and by, the
full re-establishment of that Hindoo influence at 'court which the
Nabob had hoped, by the assistance of the English, to overthrow.
There is no doubt that, by the part which he took in these
domestic quarrels, Clive wrought the Nabob good service. It
is equally certain that he did not forget either the Company or
its servants. He unquestionably extricated the former out of

CHAP. XI.] ARRANGEMENTS WITH MEER JAFFIER. 97

perplexities from which he never could have extricated himself;
— ^but he did so on his own terms. He caused Meer Jaffier to
make an assignment of the revenues of certain districts for the
purpose of liquidating the residue of the debt still due to the
Company and to individuals ; and he obtained, over and above,. a
grant of the monopoly of saltpetre, which b produced to a con-
siderable extent in the province of Patna. Finally, the neces-
sary forms for investing the Government of Calcutta with the
Zemindarry were made out. In a word, " We may pronounce,"
as he himself expresses it, ^^ that this expeilition, without blood-
shed, was crowned with all the advantages that could be expected
or wished, both to the Nabob and the Company."

Clive patched up the afiairs of the Nabob's government on
the present occasion as well as he could. He seems to have felt
that his own personal honour was in some measure pledged to
the maintenance of Meer Jaffier on the throne ; and he probably
conceived that the time was not yet fully come for playing
a bolder game: nevertheless, there is good reason to assume
that he had already begun to look fuither, and that plans for
the substitution of a direct in the room of an indirect sovereignty
in the Company which he served were maturing themselves in
his mind. This is shown as well by various expressions in his
letters, as by the line of policy which he counselled and enforced
on more than one delicate occasion. For example: a report
of the speedy arrival of a French armament in the Ganges was
about this time spread. The Committee of Government took
the alarm, and wrote to Clive, begging that he would enforce
the terms of his alliance with Meer Jaffier, and prevail upon the
latter to send an army to their assistance. Clive refused to do
anything of the sort ; he pointed out, in his answer to the Com-
mittee's application, that the relative positions of the Company
and the Nabob were changed in Bengal. The Nabob owed to
them his throne ; he depended upon them for support, or be-
lieved that he did so, and hated, in consequence, the very power
without which his sovereignty, as then conducted, was not worth
an hour's purchase. So long as they held towards him an atti-
tude of superiority things would thus continue ; but the moment
they became suppliants— -especially suppliants for protection
against a foreign enemy — ^a revulsion of feeling on his part

98 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xi.

would arise. Promising' whatever should be sought, without so
much as intending to keep the promise, he would assume the
same air of superiority which his predecessors used to wear, and,
either with or without the assistance of the French, would do
his best to govern alone. Olive's reasoning prevailed; no
application was made to the Nabob for aid. Inched, an en-
counter at sea between the English and French squadrons soon
afterwards taking place, of which the issues were doubtful,
if indeed they did not tell rather against than in &YOur of the
former, furnished hiin with an occasion, which he took good
care to improve, of boasting about the resistless power of his
country by sea as well as by land. The Nabob, accepting his
testimony, could only congratulate himself on having secured
the friendship of such a people ; and certain advances which
Bussy had begun to make were repulsed without ceremony.

Olive remained but a few days subsequently to these transac-
tions at Moorshedabad. Early in June he returned to Oalcutta,
and began to make arrangements for carrying help to the
Presidency of Fort St. George. He was thus employed, when
the arrival of the '^ Hardwieke" East Indiaman, with despatches
from the Oourt of Directors, paralysed, for a moment, the whole
machine of government. The despatches in question contained
the Honourable Oourt's plan for the mans^ment of the a£&irs
of their settlements on the Hoc^hly, of which it is not too much
to say, that arrangements more ridiculously incapable of working,
except for harm, could not have been devised. By some curious
perversity of intellect or purpose, too, the plan was not simple,
but complex. One document, signed in August, and drawn up
immediately pn receipt of disastrous intelligence from Fort
William, aj^inted a Oommittee of five to conduct the govern-
ment, of which Olive should be president. Another, dated in
the month of November following, when the re-capture of the
fort seems to have been known, dismissed Mr. Drake, of whose
incompetency there could be no doubt, and nominated a council
of ten. From the names of the gentlemen appointed to this
charge that of Olive was omitted ; and it was directed that the
office of president should be held in a rotation of three months
respectively by the four senior members. Of the policy which
could thus, with malice prepense, subject the executive to certain

CHAP. XI.] CLIVE PRESIDENT OF CX)UNCIL. 99

feebleness, if not to a worse end, it is not worth while to speak.
Only men in their dotage, or else so blinded by suspicion as not
to see an inch before them, eonld have adopted it ; but the omis-
sion from the Hst of rulers of the name of that particular person
whom the Court acknowledged to be the ablest among their
servants could not have occHtred exeept designedly. It is said,
and I believe with truth, that already had that jealousy which
waited upon Clive at every stage in his extraordinary advance-
ment begun to show itself. Whether reports of his contumacy
from Fort St. George operated to his hurt, or that mediocrity
waged war in Leadenhall-street, as it does everywhere else against
genius, the result was the same. Though all felt that they could
not do without him, the majority of the Directors would appear
to have decided that it would be prudent to keep such an aspir-
ing soldier as far as possible in the background. But whatever
the policy of the Court might be, the state of public feeling in
Calcutta, as well as the real exigences of the settlement, interposed
an insuperable bar to its accomplishment. The ten gentlemen
nsuned as counsellors, with the four presidents elect at their head,
passed a resolution that a form of government such as that dic-
tated in London would never work at Bengal. They further
decided that Clive, and only Clive, was capable of conducting
matters under existing circumstances to a triumphant issue ; and
they drew up a paper in which they entreated him to accept at
their hands the o6&ce of president, and to discharge its duties till
time should be afforded for communicating further with the Court
of Directors. Clive, indignant at the slight which seemed to be
put upon him in London, refused at Brst to accede to this pro-
position ; but the feeling in favour of the arrangement ran so
high in Calcutta, that he was constrained to yield. In a hand-
some reply to a very handsome address, he expressed his readi-
ness to undertake the charge, and entered immediately upon the
government with as much courage as if the authority which he
wielded had come to him from Leadenhall-street, or the Court
of St. James's itself.

I must not pass on from the consideration of this subject with-
out observing that there was one member of the Court of Direct-
ors — Mr. Payne, the chairman — who seems to have escaped the
contamination of the feeling, whatever it might be, which

h2

100 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xi.

arrayed lib colleagues at the present juncture against Clive.
His letters to the hero of Plassey are in existence j and they
show that he entertained for his correspondent equal respect and
regard. He says, indeed, that the " almost unlimited powers
with which the select committee of Fort St. George " had armed
Clive on first proceeding to the Ganges, as they had alarmed
others, so they had staggered even himself; and expresses an
opinion that Clive, in taking advantage of them, though it were
even for the public good, had stirred the jealousy of the home
authorities. But he so delivers his views as to leave a decided
impression on the mind that he, at least, would have been glad
to see Clive where Clive's coadjutors in the local government
placed him. Indeed Clive himself, when referring to the cir-
cumstances in after-life, declared that Mr. Payne's letters went
no inconsiderable way to induce his acceptance of the presi-
dency which the local Council pressed upon him. There can be
no doubt now that it was this arrangement, and nothing else,
which laid the foundation of a British empire in India ; and both
they who waived their own rights, and he who did not shrink
from governing without a commission, deserve honourable re-
membrance. Moreover, the event proved that, in taking so
decisive a step, Clive and his friends only anticipated the wishes of
their superiors. The next despatches which arrived, having been
drawn up with a knowledge of the battle of Plassey and of its
results, did full justice to the character and services of the victor
in that fight. Clive became, by virtue of a commission from
Leadenhall-street, Governor of Bengal, with powers more ample
than had ever been conferred before on any of the Company's
representatives in India.

/ Meanwhile matters were not going on very prosperously either
in the Camatic or elsewhere. The French, having received a
considerable accession to their strength, advanced against Fort
St. David and took it. They made preparations next to invest
Madras itself, which Lawrence, now less vigorous than he once
was, found much difficulty in counterworking ; and the demands
for Clive's return, or at all events for a return of the coast divi-
sion of troops, became very urgent. Clive was not inattentive
either to these matters or to the proceedings of the enemy in
other quarters. He had seen with regret and alarm the pro-

CHAP. XI.] EXPEDITION TO THE ^OiiT]iJ^ ;C1RC A^S// 101

gress which Bussyhad made in those . pro viisc^wiai(?iv Be i^pt}feen
Madras and the mouths of the Gattgtes,"aiid^lnc6dVe fciio\J'ii ^'thc
Northern Circars ; and it now occurred to him that the best mode
of succouring Madras would be to invade these^ conquests from
Bengal. Even this proposal, when he made it, however, met with
strong opposition in the Council. The arrival of a French fleet
in the Hooghly was anticipated from day to day. Fresh causes
of uneasiness, of which I shall speak presently, were springing
up at Moorshedabad ; and M. Law, who after the defeat of Suraj-
u-Dowlah, had escaped into Oude, was reported to be organizing
a force wherewith to take advantage of them. The Council
therefore opposed themselves to a plan which, though it might
not carry any portion of the army beyond the reach of recall,
would undoubtedly cripple the military resources of the province
to an extent which they could not contemplate with equanimity.
But Clive had made up his mind, and, according to usage in
such cases, prevailed. . Not blind to the weakness, perhaps
natural in persons circumstanced as they were, which led the
rulers of each province to think of the Company's interests as
absolutely bound up in the safety of their own settlement, he
agreed with the Council in refusing to detach a man to Madras ;
and he gave as his reason a belief that the authorities there
would do as he had done — keep the troops after they had got
them, let the wants of Bengal become as urgent as they might.
At the same time he felt that the Bengal Government was bound,
on every account, to succour the sister presidency to the utmost ;
and he came to the conclusion that the safest mode of doing so
would be to attack the enemy in their newly-acquired possessions
in the Northern Circars. Accordingly, having selected Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Forde, an officer of promise, though as yet untried
in the field, to command the expedition, he caused five hundred
European infantry, two thousand sepoys, with six field-pieces, and
as many heavy guns, to be told off ; — and sent them by sea to
co-operate with the native ruler of Vizagapatam in the defence
of that province against the French. This left him with barely
two thousand four hundred available men of all arms, of whom
four hundred and fifty, and no more, were Europeans. Never-
theless, he abated not an inch of his attitude of command ; and,
while he wrote cheerfiiUy to Mr. Pigot, the Governor of Madras,

X02 •" y- \ . I^IFB PR LORD CLIVE. [chap. xi.

ftdvifing iiiai:k<Mr*$Q ^eI4 hU- military resources, and encoii-
ragilig^ ^i»**itf»iook*fer-'duciWbs, he himself entered, without
hesitation, into a by^play, of which the aspect was at one time
disagreeable, and the issues well-nigh to the last uncertain.

The reconciliation which Clive had brought about between
Meer Jaffier and his Hindoo bankers, Ms minist^ of finance, and
subordinate chiefs, lasted only till the presence of the irresistible
pacificator was withdrawn. Almost immediately on being left
to himsdlf, Meer Jaffier began again to form plans for the plun*
der of these functionaries. RoyduUub was the first to experience
the pressure — of which, indeed, the Nabob's son, a tyrannical
and capricious man, was the chief cause ; and it was only through
the vigilance of Warren Hastings, now Mr. Watts's substitute at
the court of Moorshedabad, that the unfortunate man escaped
with his life. Juggeit Seit, and other wealthy bankers, were
next threatened ; and in due time the Nabobs or rulers of
Purneah, Midnapore, and Patna were, or believed th^nselves to
be, threatened as before. Indeed there were chiefe nearer to
the person of the Nabob who began to act as if their safety
were compromised ; and how the matter might have ended had
the Nabob been left to shift for himself it is hard to say. But
Clive, who honestly desired to keep things as they were for
the present, interfered. He invited the Nabob to visit him at
Calcutta, and prevailed to obtain leave for Roydullub to bear
him company. Indeed he went further. After reminding Meer
Jaffier of the services which , the Minister had rendered to
him during the conspiracy, and assuring him that the Ekiglish
never deserted those to whom their faith was once plighted, he
caused the wives and children of that functionary to be released
from the restraint which the Nabob's son had put upon them,
and they also made their way to Calcutta. This done, he so
wrought upon the Nabob's fears, as well as upon whatever sense
of right might belong to him, that, when the latter set out on his
return to his own capital, it was with an expressed determination
to govern on a principle of equity, and to fulfil his engagements
to his benefactors. . But no great while elapsed ere a storm-
cloud began to collect in a new quarter.

The sceptre of Arungzebe, divested of all except the shadow
of its former lustre, was wielded at this time by the Emperor

CHAP. XI.] INCURSION OF SHAH ALUM. 103

Alum jeer the Second, a weak princey over whom the vizier or
minister, Ghazee-u-Deen, the grandson of the celebrated Nizam-
ul-Mulk, exercised sway. The latter used no moderation in his
dealings with any one, and by his misconduct drove the Emperor's
eldest son, the Shah Zada, or^ as he is more generally called
by English writers, Shah Alum, into exile. This young man,
fleeing from Delhi, soon gathered about him a band of ad-
yenturers, whom he was persuaded to lead towards the frontier
of Bengal, with the avowed puipose of displacing Meer Jaffier,
and establishing himself upon the throne of that kingdom. The
province of Bahar, of which Patna is the capital, lies between
Delhi and Bengal Proper, and upon it the fury of the invasion
first fell. This inroad was encouraged, with little attempt at
concealment, by the Viceroy of Oude ; and the young prince,
declaring that he fought in his Other's name, Meer Jaffier, not
without good cause, became alarmed lest his discontented chie&
would fall off from him. He wrote urgent letters to Clive,
entreating that he would come to his support. He charged
Kamnarrain, Eajah of Bahar, with harbouring treasonable de-
signs, and with being ready to deliver up Patna as soon as Shah
Alum should appear before it. Clive, though loth to credit this
report of Kamnarrain, was a good deal shaken by an evasive
answer which that chief sent back to one of his communications ;
and, perceiving that the crisis was a serious one, ordered the
remains of his army into the field, and put himself at its head.
He marched upon Moorshedabad, where his presence soon
restored discipline in the Nabob*s troops — the most discontented
of the native leaders being satisfied with his assurance of redress,
the most timid being encouraged to repose implicit trust in his
protection ; for Olive's authority over the minds of all classes
was by thb time more absolute than appertained to any native
prince of which the annals of Bengal make mention. To be
sure, it was the individual, and not the system, of which the
natives stood in awe. They could not, in those days, understand
that power, as Europeans, or at least Englishmen, wield it is a
concrete and not a special essence. To the name of Clive they
all looked as to the cause and sole support of European influence
in Bengal : and more than once, it is said, they entered into
conspiracies to cut him off", in the full assurance that with

104 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xi.

him would fall the strange dominion which he had erected.
But matters had not yet come to this. On the contrary, Meer
Jaffier still looked to him as to a being of a superior order.
" Are you yet to learn," said he one day to one of his nobles,
whose people had engaged in a brawl with some of Olive's
soldiers, ** who this Oolonel Olive is, and what station Grod
has given him? How can you venture to affront one so
favoured ? " I !" replied the chief, " I affront the Oolonel I I,
who never get up in the morning without making three low
bows to his jackass !" Accordingly, the determination of Olive,
while he supported the Nabob, to protect all good subjects
from wrong, and all rich ones from robbery, was no sooner
made known than confidence took the place of distrust about the
royal person, and the march of the combined forces for the
relief of Patna was as amicable and as orderly as such move-
ments generally are.

Ramnarrain was not a traitor at heart ; he merely respected,
as all Indians still did, the Emperor's name ; and not knowing how
far even Olive would take part with Meer Jaffier in a war
against Shah Alum, he wished to provide a loophole of escape
for himself in every emergency. No sooner was he made aware,
however, of the advance of the English, than he took his line.
He resisted Shah Alum's attacks with the utmost vigour of
which he was capable, and received, as he deserved, warm praise
from the English leader for having done so. The consequence
was, that, when Olive's advance touched the outposts of Shah
Alum's army, Patna still held out, and the descendant of
Arungzebe, not venturing to risk a battle against 3500 disci-
plined troops, with their famous leader at their head, raised the
siege and retreated.

The sequel of this story may be told in few words. Shah
Alum, deserted by the Nabob of Oude, and seeing troop after
troop fall off from his standard, at last applied to Olive for the
help which he could not find elsewhere. Olive, though de-
termined to sustain Meer Jaffier against all enemies, was not
sorry to receive at this time a communication from Ghazee-u-
Been, which informed him that Shah Alum was acting contrary
to the Emperor's wishes, and desired that he might be seized and
delivered over to be dealt with as the Emperor might judge

CHAP. XI.] CLIVE'S JAGHIRE. 105

expedient. This Clive had no desire to do ; but when the
young man subsequently entreated for leave to seek an asylum
in Calcutta, it was refused. Clive contented himself with
sending the fugitive about one thousand pounds in money, by
which the son of an emperor was enabled to keep a few
followers near him, and to escape from the fury of the vizier.

Clive did Meer Jaffier excellent service at this time. He
saved not only his sovereignty but his purse ; for when the
frightened Nabob proposed to purchase the retreat of Shah Alum
with a large sum of money, Clive withstood him, and argued
against the arrangement with as much wisdom as effect. '^ If
you do this," he wrote, " you will have the Nabob of Oude, the
Mahrattas, and many more, come from all parts of the confines
of your country, who will bully you out of your money till you
have none left in your treasury. I beg your E^tcellency will
rely on the fidelity of the English and of those troops which are
attached to you." His Excellency did so trust, and was very
grateful for the result. While the Emperor marked his sense
of Clive*s forbearance to espouse the cause of Shah Alum by
raising him to the rank of an Omra, and the commander of
5000 horse and 7000 foot, Meer Jaffier determined that a jaghire
or grant — ^not of land, for land is never granted in India, but of
the government share of the produce or the rent — should be
made to him, that he might support in a becoming manner the
expenses incident to his new dignity. After casting about for
such an arrangement as might best agree with the convenience
of all parties, he resolved that Clive should receive the rent of
the Zemindarry which he had not long previously conferred
upon the East India Company. ^^ Clive did not, of course, decline •»
to accept what Meer Jaffier had the fullest right to bestow — for I
Meer Jaffier was by this time confirmed in his position as Nabob [
by firman from Delhi — and thus became possessed of an income i
from his estates in Bengal of not less than 30,000/. per annum* * /

106 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xn.

CHAPTER xn.

Colonel Forde*8 expedition to the Northern Circars — Operations in the
Carnatic — Destruction of the Datch force in the Ganges.

It will be necessary, in order to understand aright the policy
which guided Clive at this juncture to support the Madras
Government by a diversion rather than by detaching largely
from his own force, that the reader should be put in possession
of a general view of the state of affairs south of the Nerbudda,
as these arranged themselves subsequently to the renewal of
hostilities between England and France. Of the successful
operations of Bussy, and the influence which he established for
his country in the Deccan, sufficient notice has been taken
elsewhere. An attempt, on the part of some native chiefs to
shake off the yoke, which he signally defeated, served but the
more to render the Souhbadar dependent upon him ; and with
such exceeding judgment was his influence wielded, that the'
native Government and people, not less than the French East
India Company, largely benefited by it. Among other services
which he rendered about the period of Olive's expedition
to the Hooghly, the reduction of the Northern Oircars to
the dominion of the Nizam deserves especial mention ; for
though this fertile district had from time immemorial been in-
cluded among the provinces over which the Viceroy of the
Deccan held sway, it was a sway which, in the eyes of many
of its chiefs, was already more nominal than real, and had
ceased, amid the confusions consequent upon civil war, to be
acknowledged at all. Bussy obtained leave from the Souh-
badar, though not without diflSculty, to march with the main
strength of his army against the malcontents. He overthrew
them one after another, attacked and took their towns, and
was in the full career of conquest when letters reached him
from Suraj-u-Dowlah and from his countrymen in Bengal,
urging an advance into that province. He proceeded as far as

CHAP. XII.] PROCEEDINGS OP BUSSY. 107

the frontier^ expecting that Suraj-u-Dowlah's agents would
meet Mni there, and that arrangements would be made for
securing to him a safe passage through Cuttack ; but instead of
these came intelligeoce of the fidl of Chandemagore — a blow
from which Bussy was too clear-sighted not to peroeire that the
French interests in Bengal would never recover. Then followed
the revolution, which he could only watch from afar, without
interfering in the most remote degree to prevent it. Next,
he saw the throne filled by Meer Jaffier, on whose feeble mind
he strove indeed to work, though covertly, but from whom he
was all along certain that assistance against the English was not
to be expected except in the event of such an invasion from
Europe as would give to the invaders a decided superiority
without him. Under these circumstances, Bussy returned to his
operations in the Gircars, and, after a sharp siege, compelled
Yizagapatam, with its English Victory, to surrender. He marched
thence upon Rajamundry, whence tidings of a new conspiracy
at Hyderabad recalled Mm to that capital. Here his presence
restored order, though two of the Nizam's brothers were en-
gaged in the plot ; and he was on his way to Golconda, Salabut
Jung attending him, when the Marquis de Conflans arrived in
his camp, and presented to him a despatch which imposed an im-
mediate and most ungracious term upon his career of glory.
The truth is, that Bussy had become an object of envy, and there-
fore of dislike, to the worthless Court and the contemptible
Company which he served. These, in sending out M. Lally to
be at the head of their affidrs in the East, placed power in the
hands of one who was not likely to use it discreetly, and whose
first act was to deprive of his command the only officer in the
French army who knew what Eastern politics were, and was
capable of bending them to his own purposes,

Bussy obeyed the orders of hi» superior at once. He resigned
his trust to M. Conflans, and marched as directed with the
bulk of his troops to join Lally. He left, indeed, a handful of
men with the new general in Hyderabad, and placed a garrison
in Masulapatam ; but the Circars were well-nigh denuded of
troops, and Yizagapatam was but slenderly provided for. Now,
the Northern Circars were kept quiet only by the terror of
Bussy's name and army ; and no sooner were these removed than

108 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xii.

its chiefs began to communicate with Clive in BengaL It Vas
in consequence of these communications, and because he found a
ready ally in Nizam Ali Khan, one of the Souhbadar's brothers,
that Clive resolved upon making a diversion in favour of
Madras by sending an expedition into the Circars ; and Lieu^
tenant-Colonel Forde, an officer of much promise and some
experience, was selected to direct the operations of the little
army*

While Clive was thus arranging matters, Lally opened the
campaign in the Carnatic with great apparent energy. He in-
vested Fort St David the evening of the day of his landing : and
that place, though recently strengthened and well supplied with
men, surrendered after two days of open trenches. Lally
razed the fortifications to the ground and burnt the town, after
which he proceeded, first to Tanjore, where he met with a re-
pulse, and next to Arcot, of which he made himself master.
But Lally did not care merely to harass : his object was to root
out the English name from the Carnatic, and with this view he
determined to lay siege to Madras itself In order to have at
his disposal means sufficient to press that operation with vigour,
he exhausted the public treasury in hiring Mahratta horsemen
and infantry from Mysore : he even advanced large sums from
his private resources for a like purpose ; and when he found that
there was still a deficiency of funds wherewith to provide beasts
of burden, and that coolies were wanting, he recklessly endea-
voured to accomplish by violence what he found himself unable
otherwise to effect. He issued orders to press, without regard
to caste or station, all the country-people and their cattle into
the service of the commissariat. It was a grievous error, from
the consequences of which Lally never recovered. Death is fiur
less dreaded by a Brahmin and a man of the military caste than
that he shall be compelled to do the work of a pariah ; and the
individual or the power which seeks thus to degrade him becomes
to him an object of unmitigated abhorrence* Every village along
the line of Lally's march was deserted as he approached ; and he
sat down in consequence before Madras with a good army, indeed,
of nearly three thousand Europeans and four thousand sepoy
troops, but comparatively destitute of means of transport, ' and
dependent for all his supplies upon Admiral d' Ache's squadron.

CHAP, xn.] SIEGE OF MADRAS. 109

To raise his force to this amount, Lally had called in all h»
detachments, including the bulk of the corps which Bussy had
commanded in the Deccan, with Bussy himself at its head. The
English, in like manner, concentrated their troops at Madras ;
and had now, with the force in Fort George, about eighteen
hundred European and four thousand native soldiers. Now,
five thousand eight hundred disciplined men, under the com-
mand of such a leader as Colonel Lawrence, were more than
sufficient for the defence of Fort St. George; and Clive,
being convinced of that fact, steadily refused to risk the safety
of Bengal by either coming in person or detaching largely
to the assistance of Madras. He knew, moreover, that a
powerful expedition must shortly arrive from England, which,
including the 84th King's regiment, of which Eyre Coote, now
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, was at the head,
would give to his countrymen a decided preponderancy in the
Carnatic. But, while he adhered to this policy so long as cir-
cumstances seemed to recommend it, he was not unprepared to
act contrary to his own wishes should an emergency arise. His
final directions to Colonel Forde were, that he should make him-
self master of Vizagapatam and as much of the Northern Circars
as possible, in the first place, and then, in the event of pressing
instances from Madras, march to the relief of that presidency.
The result showed that Clive's views were as sound as his energy
in the execution of them was untiring. The garrison of Madras
stood its ground, not without obtaining many brilliant successes
in the sorties which were occasionally hazarded, till the arrival
of Admiral Pococke on the coast compelled the French squadron
to withdraw, and deprived M, Lally of all hope of success. On
the night of the 16th of February, 1749, he raised the siege as
abruptly as he had formed it ; and, leaving all his sick and
wounded, together with his battering train, fifty pieces, and a
large store of ammunition, to be taken possession of by the gar-
rison, retreated towards Pondicherry.

Meanwhile Forde was justifying, by the skill and vigour of

his operations, the wisdom of the choice which had put him at

the head of the expedition into the Circars. He soon confirmed

the Rajah of Vizagapatam in possession of that place. He

. marched thence to Rajamundry, where, in a sharp affair, he de-

no LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xn.

feated M. Conflans, taking almost all his artillery and the whole
of his camp equipage. His next proceeding was to invest Ma-
sulipatam, of which the garrison greatly exceeded in numbers
the army that sat down before it ; and he pressed the siege with
so much vigour that three practicable breaches were soon ef-
fected. M. Confians, who had thrown himself into the place,
was invited to capitulate, but refused. He trusted to the pro-
mised support of Salabut Jung, and looked daily for the arrival
of a French force from Pondicherry : he therefore treated Forde's
overtures with disdain. Upon this, the English commander,
whose position was critical ia the extreme, resolved to hazard an
assault. He attacked the whole of the breaches at midnight,
forced his way into the town, and found, when the morning
broke, that three thousand and thirty-seven men, of whom five
hundred were Europeans, had laid down their arms to nine
hundred. Moreover, Forde stormed Masulipatam with a timid,
perhaps a treacherous, ally, the Eajah of Yizagapatam in his
own camp, Salabut Jung being distant only fifteen miles ; — ^and
M. Moracin, from Pondicherry, arrived with three hundred men
within a day's sail of the harbour. The effect was miraculous.
M. Moracin did not so much as land, but sailed towards the
north ; Salabut Jung hastened to propose a treaty ; the French
were finally expelled from the Deccan ; and Masulipatam, with
eight valuable districts adjacent to it, became the property of the
English.

The delight of Clive at the success of Colonel Forde's oper-
ations was such as every great mind experiences in witnessing the
fulfilment of hopes which it had cherished of individuals, and
finding that its plans for the advancement of the public good are
advancing. His letters both to Mr. Pigot at Madras, and to
the Chairman of the Court of Directors in London, are filled
with praises of the successful soldier. Nevertheless he did not
relax an iota in his exertions. Having settled the Circars, he
instructed Forde to detach a portion of his army to the Car-
natic, and to return himself with as many of the residue as could
be spared to Bengal, where, indeed, on several accounts, his pre-
sence was needed, and at which place he arrived with the regu-
larity which marked all his public proceedings.

A disinclination to interrupt the thread of the principal nar-

CHAP, xnj QUARRELS IN THE ARMY. HI

lative has caused me as jet to pass by, without notice, certain
minor transactions, in the management of which, however,
Olive's characteristic firmness was not less clearly shown than in
the coiMluct of points of far more perceptible importance. For
example, he had scarcely put down that spirit of captiousness
which was exhibited in the proceedings of the councils of war
that sat upon the distribution of the Moorshedabad prize-
money, ere fresh cause of uneasiness appeared in a struggle for
precedency among the oflScers belonging to the different services
of which his army was composed. At this period in Anglo-
Indian history the highest rank to which an ofiScer actually in
the service of the East India Company could attain was that of
captain. Captains, however, commanded battalions, and the
European subalterns serving under them were few in number ; so
that the privation to which these gentlemen were subjected de-
served to be accounted more nominal than real, and told pain-
fully only when they were brought immediately into contact with
officers bearing commissions from the Crown. There were,
however, three distinct presidencies then as there are now ; and
it did not often occur that the troops of all tbese were or could
be associated together on the same service. It happened, how-
ever, that, during the campaigns of Fort William and Plassey,
Madras troops came to the succour of the troops of Bengal, and
that both were reinforced by a detachment from Bombay. Clive
was too much of a soldier not to perceive that the three little
armies would become much more handy when blended into one :
he therefore issued orders that the distinctk>ns of presidency should
cease, and that the officers should take rank according to the
dates of their commissions, no matter at what station subscribed.
Strange to say, there was murmuring at this ; indeed, to so great
a height did the feeling of discontent arise, that the Bengal
officers ventured to remonstrate against the arrangement as
unjust. Clive made very short work with such a temper. A
sharp reprimand, accompanied by a threat of further pro-
ceedings, soon brought the dissentients to their senses, and the
army was remodelled, without further opposition, according to
his wish.

This matter had been settled some time, and Colonel Forde
was returned, though in bad health, from Masulipatam, when

112 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xii,

fresh ground of alarm arose in a quarter from which Clive, at
least, was slow to believe that danger to the interests of the
English at Bengal could threaten. Though the nature of my
subject has hitherto led me to speak only of the French and of
the Englbh as settlers in India, and rivals both for its commerce
and for influence at the courts of its princes, the reader of history
will not need to be told that the Dutch, the Portuguese, and
even the Danes, had their factories and trading stations at
various points along the shores of the Indian peninsula. The
Dutch, indeed, besides having established a firm footing in
Batavia and Ceylon, were masters of more than one dep6t on
the continent, among which Chinchura, a town situated on the
Ganges, though considerably higher up than Fort William, or
even than Chandernagore, was the chief. Here they had a
governor with a considerable garrison, who seems personally to
have lived on the best terms with Clive, but who could not, of
course, refuse to adopt, in his official capacity, whatever line of
proceeding might be dictated to him by his superiors. It was
whispered in many circles that this gentleman, Mr. Bisdom, had
much communication with Meer Jaffier, and that the tone of
their correspondence was the reverse of friendly to the English,
But that either had conceived a design for the extermination
of a power which had just raised the one to his throne, and
offered to the other no molestation, the most invidious appear to
have discredited, till rumours of the approach of a Dutch arma-
ment to the Ganges b^an to circulate. Then, indeed, a good
deal of alarm was felt. Men remembered that the latest ac-
counts from Europe referred to differences between the Cabinets
of St. James's and the Hague ; and, nothing doubting that war
had either been declared, or was looked upon as certain, they
came to the conclusion that a blow was about to be struck in
Bengal. Clive alone discredited, or affected to discredit, these
stories. He professed to believe that the armament which was
preparing in Batavia would be employed against the native
princes of Ceylon ; and he gave the best evidence of the sincerity
of this persuasion by purchasing bills to a large amount on the
Dutch East India Company, and sending them to be cashed and
remitted to England in a Dutch trader.

It is worthy of remark that for some time after the accession

CHAP. XII.] PROCEEDINGS OF THE DUTCa 113

of Meer Jaffier to the throne the Dutch refused to recognise his
title by paying to him the compliments which they had been
accustomed to pay to his predecessors. This necessarily involved
them in disputes, which led, among other annoyances, to the
stoppage of their trade, and caused them to apply to Clive for
his intercession to have the embargo removed. It was readily
granted, notwithstanding that their chief ground of offence with
the Nabob took its rise from his having granted to the English
a monopoly of the saltpetre-mines in Patna. But, though ex-
pressing themselves grateful for the moment, the majority in the
Council no sooner discovered that Meer Jaffier and his son were
chafed than they did their best to aggravate the feeling. They
seem, indeed, to have gone so far as to hold out hopes of aid
from Batavia, in case he should require it ; and they unquestion-
ably put matters in such a light before the Government of that
island that the latter counted on little else than the ascendancy
of Dutch influence at the Court of the Nabob. With a view to
promote this, they embarked about seven or eight hundred
European soldiers, with as many Asiatics, and a train of artillery,
in a squadron of five large ships, of which three were armed like
men-of-war, and sent them, without assigning any reason for
their movement, into the Granges. This was in the month of
October, 1758, when the force at Clive's disposal happened to
be unusually small, some of his troops having been left in Ma-
sulipatam, part being detached at Patna, and others sent on to
assist Colonel Coote in his brilliant campaign on the Coromandel
coast. But Clive, feeling how necessary it was to prevent the
junction of the new-comers with the original garrison at Chin-
chura, applied for and obtained an order from the Nabob pro-
hibiting the Dutch ships from ascending higher up the stream
than Fulda. The better to enforce obedience to this mandate,
he equipped all the little forts which had been established on the
banks of the river with heavy guns, placed the militiamen of
Calcutta under arms, and ordered back the detachment from
Patna, while at the same time his guard-boats stopped every
small craft which showed itself, and would allow nothing to pass
on board of which were either troops or military stores. The
Dutch remonstrated, complained, and were vehement in their
professions of meaning no harm ; but Clive adhered to his pur-

I

lU LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xh.

pose, and got the Nabob at last to issue an injunction for the
immediate departure of the strangers from his territories.

The Dutch would not move. On the contrary, it was
ascertained that they had agents at various places, who had raised
recruits for their service, and sent them by twos and threes
either to Fulda or Chinchura. It was manifest to Clive that evil
must shortly come, either upon his own Government or upon
these strangers ; and he was not slow in resolving that his own
Government should not be the sufferer. To be sure there was
no war as yet between England and Holland ; neither, in strict
justice, was it competent to him to determine how many or how
few troops the Dutch East India Company should maintain at their
settlement of Chinchura. But the game was one of policy, not
of justice, on both sides ; and Clive, prevailing to liave the Nabob
as his partner, played it without fear. He assembled a force of
300 or 400 Europeans and 800 sepoys, which, with six pieces of
cannon, he sent, under Forde's orders, to cut off the communica-
tion, by land, between Chinchura and the Dutch anchorage.
Forde conducted the enterprise very ably ; he crossed the river,
received a skirmish in the outskirts of Chandernagore, and drove
back a party from the garrison into Chinchura. He had
hardly done so when intelligence reached him that the Dutch
had landed frorit the vessels, and were marching towards him.
He wrote himself to inform Clive, adding this hint, " that, if he
had only an order of Council, he would attack the Dutch, and
had a fair prospect of destroying them." Clive happened to be
engaged in a rubber of whist when this important communication
reached him. He did not so much as rise from the table, but
wrote with a pencil on a slip of paper, " Dear Forde, fight them:
immediately, and I will send you the order of Council to-
morrow."

Forde, trained in a school which had no overweening dread
of responsibility, acted without hesitation on these instructions.
He attacked the Dutch at a place called Bridona, defeated them
with great slaughter, made prisoners of fifteen officers, among
whom was the chief in command, and forthwith placed Chin-
chura itself in a state of siege. Of these memorable transactions,
^nd of the circumstances which led to them, Clive gave a
detailed account to the Court of Directors in a document

CHAP, xn.] DEFEAT OF THE DUTCH. 115

which is still extant. H^ there states that the Dutch had
left him no alternative ; that first upon a small scale, and in
the commencement of hostilities, they forced him to appeal to the
sword ; and that, having drawn it, his duty to the Company re-
quired that he should use it effectually. Accordingly, he
equipped and armed three merchant- vessels which lay near
Fort William, and, sending them against the Dutch squadron,
fought a naval battle almost simultaneously with Forde's action
at Bridona. It ended in the perfect triumph of the English
arms; whereupon the Dutch, thoroughly cowed, prayed for
pardon, and obtained from his clemency the deliverance of
Chinchura from destruction.

Perhaps there is no series of transactions in Clive*s eventful
Kfe which redounded more to his honour as a soldier and a
citizen than those of which I have just spoken. Whatever he
did was done from the purest patriotism ; for he risked both
good name and a large amount of private property in the
adventure. Had he failed, there is no telling how the Company
or the English Government would have taken it ; and success
itself, considering the relations in which England and Holland
stood, was full of hazard. Yet he preferred running all
these hazards, and put in jeopardy his large investments, of
which the Dutch had charge, rather than expose the in-
terests of those whom he served to the perils with which they
seemed to be threatened. Fortune favoured the brave in this as
she does in most instances. The Dutch, too conscious of their
own evil designs to affect indignation, made no remonstrance on
account of their losses. On the contrary, they apologised for
the misconduct, as they termed it, of their officers, and proposed
to defray the expenses of the war, provided the English would
be satisfied. It is hardly worth while to add, that the proposals
were willingly acceded to.

i2

116 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xiu.

CHAPTER XIII.

Clive proposes to return to England — His views for the fntore management
of British India.

The affairs of British India (if I may be permitted to anticipate
a term) were now in a state of great prosperity and still brighter
promise. Bengal, elevated by the genius of one man to be the
chief of the Company's settlements, took well-nigh a distinct
place among the substantive powers of Hindostan. On the Coro*
mandel coast a series of gallant exploits had turned the scale so
entirely against the French, that rivalry between them and the
English nation at any future period was become, in that part of
the world, next to impossible. The battle of Wadewash destroyed
the last hope of Lally, and, by leaving Bussy a prisoner in the
hands of the victors, deprived him of the only officer in his army
who was capable, had circumstances favoured him, to retrieve
the fallen fortunes of his country. Then followed the siege and
capture of Pondicherry itself, which, being razed to the ground^
ceased to hold rank even as a second-rate town in the Camatic.
Meanwhile the tide of fortune flowed with equal steadiness and
force on the side of Bombay. Not only was the commerce of
that important station daily enlarging itself, but the state of the
adjacent districts encouraged the Governor to undertake military
operations ; from one, at least, of which he derived very sub-
stantial profits.

The ancient town of Surat stands at no great distance from
Bombay. It had been the seat of the earliest settlement which
the English had formed on the shores of the Indian seas, and
was much valued by the Mahomedans as the port where pil-
grims annually assembled on their way to worship at the tomb
of the prophet. The Court of Delhi was in the habit of equip-
ping here a vessel which should convey the devout to the Red
Sea ; and the ship in question, as well as the commerce of the

OTAP. xm.] PROPOSED RETURN TO ENGLAND. 117

place, had been for some time committed to the care of a neigh-
bouring chief, who was honoured with the title of Admiral to the
Emperor. The Admirals of the Emperor, however, had their
stipulated remuneration, namely, an assignment of three lacs, or
thirty thousand pounds, per annum, on the revenues of the town ;
and, on the plea that it was not regularly paid, one of them
seized the castle, and gave law to the town. The consequence
i^as^ that Surat and its commerce soon became profitless to the
Emperor. One-third of the revenues was appropriated by the
Seedee or Admiral ; another third went to bribe the Mahrattas
into the maintenance of peace ; and the remainder was divided
among the officers who governed in the Emperor's name. This
division of authority, together with the intrigues and disputes to
ivhich it gave rise, proved as troublesome to the English
residents as it was ruinous to the town and its inhabitants. The
Council of the factory therefore applied to their countrymen
for help ; and the principal native merchants and local authorities
undertaking, on their suggestion, to pay two lacs of rupees
annually as the price of English protection, the Government of
Bombay readily undertook to interfere. An expedition was
fitted out against the Seedee, which proved successful ; and the
Emperor, looking &vourably upon the' enterprise, confirmed
by firman the right of the English to this revenue, and appointed
them governors of the castle and admirals of the imperial
fleet.

Having largely contributed to bring matters to this issue, and
conceiving that he could render better service to the cause
which he had much at heart in Lfondon than at Calcutta, Clive
began at this time to meditate a return to Europe. The
announcement of this design created much alarm both among
the Company's servants and at the court of Meer Jaffier ; for the
former were fully alive to the importance of having such a man
at their head, and the latter believed that, were Clive to abandon
him, he could not sit upon the throne for a year by himself.
Indeed, his pecuniary circumstances had become so involved, and
so many difficulties beset him both from within and from without,
that, even with Clive to counsel, and, if need be, to protect him, his
seat was the reverse of a firm one. In the first place, he was driven,
by the engagements into which he had entered with the English, to

118 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xiU.

part with his revenues almost as soon as he had collected them ;
and not possessing either the firmness or the power which were
needed to enforce a system of economy at home, he fell day by
day more into arrear with the payments of his own troops and
with his civil functionaries. In the next place, the growing
dissatis&ction of the native gentry with the vassalage to
which the European connexion had reduced them could neither
be concealed nor explained away. They saw that all real
power was passing rapidly into the hands of strangers; and,
though too little united among themselves to arrange a plan for
arresting the progress of the evil, they complained of the Nabob
for failing to do that which it would have been ruinous to him,
unless assured of their hearty co-operation, so much as to attempt.
In the next place, there had sprung up among the Company's
agents, as well Asiatic as European, wherever scattered through
the provinces, a spirit of domineering and a desire to take undue
advantage of the privileges which their situations afforded them
which was quite intolerable. So offensive, indeed, was tiieir
conduct in some cases, that Clive found himself under the
necessity of interfering to put a stop to it ; and in many of his
letters, public as well as private, he complained bitterly of the
seeds of mischief which they were sowing. Nor was this all.
The Shah Zada, or eldest son of the Emperor, had again gathered
retainers about him ; and, encouraged by promises of support
from the Viceroy of Oude, was reported to be upon his march:
for the invasion of Bahar. All these circumstances rendered
the Nabob uneasy, and were not without their effect upon the
mind of Clive himself. Nevertheless, after looking attentively
at all sides of the question, the latter came to the conclusion
that the aspect of the immediate future was not such as could
justify the abandonment of the plans which he was devising, and
which he could hardly expect to put in progress towards execu-
tion except by personal communication with the home authorities.
What these plans were will be best understood after I shall
have given a slight sketch of the constitution of that body-
under whose direction the affairs of the English in India were
in those days managed.

The history of the rise and progress of the East India Com-
pany has been too often told, and is now too generally known, to

CHAP.xin.] ORIGIN OF THE COMPANY. • 119

demand from me in this place more than a very brief allusion to
it. Stirred to emulation by the successful adventures of the
Dutch and the Portuguese, and distrusting the ability of indivi-
duals to enter into competition M^ith them, a body of enterprising
men applied for and obtained, in the year 1600, a charter of in-
corporation from Queen Elizabeth ; and, under the title of the
London Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies, un-
dertook to extend the commerce and navigation of their country
in the seas and among the islands and continents east of the
Cape of Good Hope. They enjoyed the monopoly precisely a
hundred years, at the expiration of which period a second com-
pany arose, which, like the first, obtained a charter, and between
which apd the old Company a rivalry, at once mischievous to
themselves, and, as was then believed, hurtful to the mother
country, arose. William the Third, who incorporated the
latter body, interfered to put a stop to this state of things. The
two firms were persuaded to come to an understanding with one
another ; and a new charter raised them into the corporate body
which still exists as ^^ The United Company of Merchants of
England trading to the East Indies.''

The objects for which these gentlemen were associated being
purely conmiercial, they gave to the Company and to its Direct-
ors, or managing body, such' forms and powers as promised to
facilitate the ends of a successful trade, and were not, perhaps,
calculated for much beyond it. The Company consisted of in-
dividual subscribers of capital to the amount of 500/. or upwards,
each of whmn, whether male or female, was oititled to vote
and take part in such discussions as might arise at general meet-
ings—or, as the charter called them, '^ General Courts of Pro-
prietors." The Court of Directors, on the other hand, consbted
of twenty-four members, elected by the proprietors out of their
own body. Those omlj were qualified whose stock amouDted to
to 2000/. at the least, and their tenure of ofike did not go be-
yond twelve months, for they were elected aniniallj. Thirteen
Directors formed a quorom, and, when assembled, btcame a Court.
It was necessary that a Greneral Court — or Court of Proprietors —
should be held once in every quarter of a year; and a Committee
was empowered to firaune by-laws, which, so fSv as tlie dnapenj
and its servaols w^e conceroed, were deekred by the chsarier to

120 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xm.

have the same force as Aet3 of Parliament, so long as they did
not contradict statutes already in existence.

It is clear that, in framing such a constitution as this, neither
the merchants, nor the Crown, which conferred upon them their
privileges, could have looked to any other results than those
which the title of the incorporated body pointed out. That they
had leave to purchase lands in India wherever the exigences of
the trade might require is indeed true ; and their factories and
settlements soon b^an to spring up in various provinces. But
these were simply what they professed to be— dep6ts or stores,
in which the goods brought down from the interior might be
laid up and kept till the ships intended to transport them to
Europe should arrive. Hence all their transactions, both at home
and abroad, were entered upon and followed up in the spirit of
barter, which looks for gain on mercantile speculations, not for
territorial aggrandisement; and, however well calculated to
maintain discipline in counting-rooms and shops, is not exactly
fitted to administer the bSsAts of a great empire.

As commerce gradually merged in political operations abroad,
the Courts of Proprietors and Directors at home seemed in some
sort to alter their character. At first alarm, and nothing but
alarm^ prevailed in Leadenhall-street. But when the victories
of Clive and of Coote opened out before them larger prospects,
the bearing of the Courts to which Clive and Coote were ser-
vants underwent a change. Some members rejoiced honestly in
the results of the military operations, especially in Bengal.
Others were overwhelmed with terror, expecting to hear by
every fresh ship that the whole power of the Mogul Empire had
combined to expel their agents, and that their trade was ruined.
A third party took a middle line ; and, while they praised the
valour of the soldiers who had fought for them, deprecated a
continuance in the policy of aggrandisement. A fourth, envious
both of the renown and of the large fortunes which their foreign
representatives were acquiring, seemed to care for little else than
that they should be plundered, and their property thrown into
the common heap. It was owing to the struggles of these seve-
ral parties in the Direction that so many contradictory orders
reached Calcutta in regard to the management of that Presidency.
When the timid or envious sections of the Court happened to be

CHAP, xra.] CONSTITUTION OF THE CX)MPANY. 121

in the ascendant, such instructions as those which set the Kota-
tion Government on foot went forth ; as soon as the more san-
guine, and, perhaps, the more generous, parties prevailed, justice
was done to the claims of individuals, and a practicable scheme
of management devised. But though all parties conceded the
first place to Cliv^, there was a steady disposition among
the Directors to fall back, in the event of his refusing the Go-
vernment, on the Rotation system. Mr. Holwell, who^ returned
home after his deliverance out of Suraj-u-Dowlah's hands, seems
to have been the chief adviser of this project : Mr. Payne, at
that time Chairman of the Court, gave it his steady support.
These were opposed by Mr. Lawrence Sulivan, Deputy-Chair-
man, and Mr. Stephen Law, both men of considerable talent ;
and Mr. Sulivan secured in consequence the friendship of Clive
for a season. But Clive was not slow to discover that such a
constitution as that which admitted of factions in the supreme
governing power was not capable of being made applicable to
the state of things which he had already begun to anticipate.
He knew the weakness of the native powers, and considered that
the advance of the English to political supremacy in India was
a mere question of time ; he therefore turned over in his own
mind the possibility of connecting the soil of British India with
the British nation, and establbhing a more intimate relation than
as yet existed between its civil and military government and the
supreme government at home. His views on these heads are so
weU and so fiilly set forth in a letter addressed by him at this
time to the Prime Minister, that a sense of justice to his me-
mory urges me to transcribe the document entire :—

" To the Bight Bon. William Pitt, one of Hi» Majesty's Principal
Secretaries of State,

" Sib — Suffer an admirer of yours at this distance to congratu-
late himself on the glory and advantage which are likely to
accrue to the nation by your being at its head, and at the same
time to return his most grateful thanks for the distinguished
manner you have been pleased to speak of his successes in these
parts, &r indeed beyond his deservings.

" The close attention you bestow on the affairs of the British
nation in general has induced me to trouble you with a few par-

122 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xni.

ticulars relative to India, and to lay before you an exact account
of the revenues of this country, the genuineness whereof you
may depend upon, as it has been faithfully extracted from the
minister's books.

"The great revolution that has been effected here by the
success of the English arms, and the vast advantages gained to
the Company by a treaty concluded in consequence thereof,
have, I observe, in some measure, engaged the public attention ;
but much more may yet in time be done, if the Company will
exert themselves in the manner the importance of their present
possessions and future prospects deserves. I have represented
to them in the strongest terms the expediency of sending out
and keeping up constantly such a force as will enable them tp
embrace the first opportunity of further aggrandising them-
selves; and I dare pronounce, from a thorough knowledge of
this country government,* and of the genius of the people, ac-
quired by two years' application and experience, that such an
opportunity will soon offer. The reigning Subah, whom the
victory at Plassey invested with the sovereignty of these pro-
vinces, still, it is true, retains his attachment to us, and proba-
bly, while he has no other support, will continue to do so ; but
Mussulmans are so little influenced by gratitude, that, should he
ever think it his interest to break with us, the obligations he
owes us would prove no restraint : and this is very evident from
his having lately removed his Prime Minister, and cut off two
or three principal officers, all attached to our interest, and who
had a share in his elevation. Moreover, he is advanced in years ;
and his son is so cruel, worthless a young fellow, and so appa-
rently an enemy to the English, that it will be almost unsafe
trusting him with the ^succession. So small a body as two thou-
sand Europeans will secure us against any apprehensions from
either the one or the other ; and, in case of their daring to be
troublesome, enable the Company to take the sovereignty upon
themselves.

" There will be the less difficulty in brining about such an
event, as the natives themselves have no attachment whatever to
particular princes ; and as, under the present Government, they

* The application is here limited to the government of Bengal,

CHAP, xni.] LETTER TO MR. PITT. 123

have no security for their lives or properties, they would rejoice
in so happy an exchange as that of a mild for a despotic govern-
ment : and there is little room to doubt our easily obtaining the
Mogul's sunnud (or grant) in confirmation thereof, provided we
agreed to pay him the stipulated allotment out of the revenues,
viz. fifly lacs annually. This has, of late years, been very ill
paid, owing to the distractions in the heart of the Mogul Em-
pire, which have disabled that court from attending to their
concerns in the distant provinces : and the Vizier has actually
wrote to me, desiring I would engage the Nabob to make the
payments agreeable to the former usage ; nay, further ; applica-
tion has been made to me from the Court of Delhi, to take
charge of collecting this payment, the person intrusted with
which is styled the King's Dewan, and is the next person both
in dignity and power to the Subah. But this high office I have
been obliged to decline for the present, as I am unwilling to
occasion any jealousy on the part of the Subah ; especially as I
see no likelihood of the Company's providing us with a sufficient
force to support properly so considerable an employ, and which
would open a way for securing the Subahship to ourselves.
That this would be agreeable to the Mogul can hardly be ques-
tioned, as it would be so much to his interest to have these coun-
tries under the dominion of a nation £imed for their good faith,
rather than in the hands of people who, a long experience has
convinced him, never will pay him his proportion of the reve-
nues, unless awed into it by the fear of the Imperial army march-
ing to force them thereto.

" But so large a sovereignty may possibly be an object too
extensive for a mercantile company ; and it is to be feared they
are not of themselves able, without the nation's assistance, to
maintain so wide a dominion. I have therefore presumed. Sir,
to represent this matter to you, and submit it to your considera-
tion, whether the execution of a design, that may hereafter be
still carried to greater lengths, be worthy of the Government's
taking it into hand. I flatter myself I have made it pretty clear
to you that there will be little or no difficulty in obtaining the
absolute possession of these rich kingdoms, and that with the
Mogul's own consent, on condition of paying him less than a
fifth of the revenues thereof. Now I leave you to judge whe-

124 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xiii.

ther an income yearly of upwards of two millions sterling, with the
possession of three provinces abounding in the most valuable
productions of nature and of art, be an object deserving the
public attention ; and whether it be worth the nation's while to
take the proper measures to secure such an acquisition, — an ac-
quisition which, under the management of so able and disinter-
ested a minister, would prove a source of immense wealth to the
kingdom, and might in time be appropriated in part as a fund
towards diminishing the heavy load of debt under which we at
present labour. Add to these advantages the influence we shall
thereby acquire over the several European nations engaged in
the commerce here, which these could no longer carry on but
through our indulgence, and under such limitations as we should
think fit to prescribe. It is well worthy consideration that this
project may be brought about without draining the mother
country, as has been too much the case with our possessions in
America. A small force from home will be sufficient, as we
always make sure of any number we please of black troops, who,
being both much better paid and treated by us than by the coun-
try powers, will very readily enter into our service. Mr. "Walsh,
who will have the honour of delivering you this, having been
my secretary during the late fortunate expedition, is a thorough
master of the subject, and will be able to explain to you the
whole design, and the facility with which it may be executed,
much more to your satisfaction, and [with greater perspicuity,
than can possibly be done in a letter. I shall therefore only
further remark, that I have communicated it to no other person
but yourself; nor should I have troubled you. Sir, but from a
conviction that you will give a favourable reception to any pro*
posal intended for the public good.

^^ The greatest part of the troops belonging to this establish-
ment are now employed in an expedition against the French in
the Deccan ; and, by the accounts lately received from thence,
I have great hopes we shall succeed in extirpating them ^m
the province of Golconda, where they have reigned lords para-
mount so long, and from whence they have drawn their principal
resources during the troubles upon the coast.

" Notwithstanding the extraordinary effort made by the
French in sending out M. Lally with a considerable force the

CHAP. Mil.] MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY IN 1759. 125

Jast year, I am confident, before the end of this, they will be
near their last gasp in the Carnatic,* unless some very unforeseen
event interpose in their favour. The superiority of our squadron,
and the plenty of money and supplies of all kinds which our
friends on the coast will be furnished with from this province,
while the enemy are in total want of everything, without any
visible means of redress, are such advantages as, if properly
attended to, cannot fail of wholly effecting their. ruin in that as
well as in every other part of India.

" May the zeal and the vigorous measures projected for the
service of the nation, which have so eminently distinguished
your ministry, be crowned with all the success they deserve, is
the most fervent wish of him who is, with the greatest respect.
Sir, your most devoted humble servant,

(Signed) « Rob. Clive.

« Calcutta,
** 7th January, 1759."

The above is a very remarkable document. It shows that the
views of the vrriter extended a great way beyond the circum-
stances by which he was surrounded, and exhibits him in the
light of a £ir-seeing and deep-thinking politician. Doubtless
the constitution of the government under which he immediately
acted has undergone many important modifications since the
letter was drawn up. The establishment of a Board of Control
has given power to the Crown through its ministers — if not to
originate, certainly to modify and direct, all measures of regula-
tion intended for the management of the afiairs of India : while
at each renewal of the charter Parliament has more and more
broken in upon the monopolies secured to the Company by pre-
vious grants. But let it not be forgotten that in 1759 there was
no Board of Control in existence, and that the Directors were as
independent both of the Crown and of the Houses of Parliament
as if they had belonged to a foreign state, and were intrusted
with its government. Now, no man possessed of Clive's know-
ledge in Indian affairs could look upon such a state of things
with complacency. Anticipating, as he did, constant accessions

♦ dive's prediction of the result of affairs in the Camatic proved, as has
been shoTrn, true to the very letter.

7

]

126 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xin.

of territorial empire to his country, and foreseeing that this must
inevitably lead to an entanglement more and more complicated
in Asiatic policy, he was desirous that the mainspring of action
should be established where it was likely to move with a vigor-
ous and a consistent impetus : and being without experience of
any other source of political power than the Crown, he desired
to place at once the territories won by the valour of the King's
subjects under the protection, and of course under the control,
of the Crown and its Ministers. There is no knowing what the
consequences might have been had Mr. Pitt listened fiivourably
to the proposition. But Pitt, though he acknowledged the
practicability of the plan, was deterred from adopting it by 9.
consideration, at that time exaggerated, of the difficulties which
seemed to beset both its principle and its detaib. Clive's project
thus fell to the ground. But Clive's views are so rooted in
wisdom and common sense, that sooner or later we may calcu-
late on their adoption ; and it is more than probable that a late
exercise of power by the Court of Directors, in the recall of a
Governor- General without any reason assigned, or any reference
made to the wishes of the Queen's Ministers, will tend to ac-
celerate the issue.

CHAP. XIV.] ' CLIVFS WEALTH. 127

CHAPTER XIV.

Clive's immetise wealth — His generosity — He proposes to quit Bengal.

Having waited till the few clouds which hung in the political
horizon were dispersed — having fully instructed Major Carnac
and Colonel Forde how to deal with Shah Zada should he not
be induced by the defeat of the Dutch armament to abandon his
design upon Fatna, Clive, after taking formal leave of the
Nabob at Moorshedabad, returned to Calcutta, and began to make
preparations for an immediate departure for Europe. He was thus
en^ged when a despatch arrived from the Court of Directors,
of which both the style and the substance gave serious and on
the whole just offence to the chiefs of the local government.
Such a communication was not calculated to remove the con-
victions on which Clive's letter to the first Minister of the Crown
jiad been founded ; and in the reply, which he is understood
mainly to have dictated, no disguise was put upon the sentiments
of the parties wronged. I have thought it necessary to refer to
this circumstance, because the entire transaction, from its- first
stage to its last, is eminently characteristic of the body which
took the lead in it. To Clive, indeed, neither the folly nor the
insolence of the Directors was now of any moment. He had
made his fortune ; and it was a princely one. He had earned a
name second only to that of Wolfe — if second even to his — in the
estimation of his countrymen ; and being on the point of quitting
their service, it mattered little to him how they might receive
that reproof which their servants conveyed to them. But on
the £ite of India it told seriously ; for, the wrath of the Honour-
able Court being excited, they forthwith dismissed from their
employ the ablest and most trustworthy of Clive's colleagues.
Of their intention to act in a manner so well calculated to
involve their own affairs in confusion he knew nothing, when,
after handing over the government to Mr. Holwell, he took final

f'

128 LIFE OF LORD CLI VE. ' [chap. xiv.

leave of his colleagues and of the inhabitants of Fort William.
On the 5th of February, 1760, he embarked with his family on
board of ship, and the following day was making head with a
favourable wind and current down the Ganges.

There are few instances on record of such success in life as
that to which Clive had by this time attained. Beginning the
world without a shilling in his purse, he was now, at the age of
four-and-thirty, one of the wealthiest subjects of the British
Crown. In hard cash he had received, partly as gifts from the
Nabob, partly as his legitimate share of prize-money, about
300,000/. To this must be added no trivial amount of acca*
mulations arising out of the interest of moneys invested, wad
savings on his regular pay ; while the returns of the jaghire or
feof are put down by himself as averaging fidl 27,000/. annually*
They whose wish to state his income at the lowest admit that
he must have been in the receipt of at least 40,000/. a-year.
Others, probably as well informed, and who have no apparent mo-
tive to deviate from the truth, rate it at 60,000/. In either case
the amount would be enormous now ; in the middle of the last
century it had few parallels even among the revenues of (mnces.
It is due to the memory of this remarkable man to state that he
made, upon the whole, an excellent use of his wealth. His
liberality to his parents, and indeed to all who by the ties of
blood or of friendship had the most dbtant claim upon his kind-
. ness, was unbounded. Hearing that his old commander. General
wrence, was but indifferently provided for in the world, he
settled upon him an annuity of 500/. He paid his Other's
debts, which seem to have amounted to more than 9000/., and
allowed him an income more than handsome for his station in
life, and desired a coach to be kept for his use. He presented
to each of his five sisters a portion of 2000/., and was generous
even to his aunts, to his cousins, and to the cousins and aunts
of his wife. Still, when all was done, he remained the richest
commoner of his day. Clive, however, was rich only because
money came to him more quickly than he was able to spend it.
He was not only not of a niggard disposition, but his personal
habits ran into the opposite extreme. It is amusing to read the
orders for fine dresses and rich wines which he sent home to his
agents in England : — " I must trouble you," he writes to Mr.

y.. nes

CHAP. XIV.] OLIVE'S GENEROSITY. 129

Orme on the 1st of August, 1757, '^ with a few eomiDissioM
concemiog fiiaiily afikirs. Imprimis^ what you can provide
must be of the best and finest you can get for love or money :-*-
two hundred shirts, the wristbands worked, some of the ruffles
worked with a border either in squares or points, and the rest
plain ; stocks, neckcloths, and handkerchief in proportion ;
three corse (sixty pairs) of the finest stockings ; several pieces
of plain and spotted musliu, two yards wide, for aprons ; book-
muslins ; cambrics ; a few pieces of the finest dimity ; and a com-
plete set of table-linen of Fort St. David diaper made for the
purpose." In the same spirit his friend. Captain JLatham of
the Royal ^avy, whom he appears to have employed among
the tailors, writes to inform him that he, the Captain, had pre-
pared for the Governor a court-suit — namely, a fine scarlet
cloth coat, with handsome gold lace, ^' which he preferred to the
common vwear of velvet," and a rich brocade waistcoat to match.
The pliant commissioner adds — ^' It is my design to line the
•coat with parchment, that it may not wrinkle." Nor must I
forget to add, while referring to this subject, that, a wig being
then indispensable to the equipment of a gentleman^ Clive had
A whole boxfuU of this species of head-gear sent out to him.
The individual who could thus care for his own dress and out-
ward appearance was not likely to stint his wife in her wardrobe,
or to shut his doors against friends, or indeed against any who
were jentitled by their rank in the service to visit him. Clive's
hospitality was unbounded ; and though he never appears him-
self to have exceeded in wine, he placed at the disposal of his
guests ample means of indulging a taste which was then more
prevalent than it happily has become since. In like manner he
betted freely at cards and in the cock-pit — the latter amusement
(a most brutal one) being much in vogue among the gentlemen
of India in those days ; and his horses, equipages, <&c., wete
fA numerous and as brilliant as '^ love or money could procure."
It must iiot be supposed, however, that such subjects as these
^occupied his thoughts for one moment to the exclusion of graver
matters. C live'° ^'Ijppf p^««on ly^ amhitinn. He never won al
st^ in the fadder of fame or of social position without imme- /
diately seeking to ascend beyond it. Being Governor of Bengal, *
he desired his &ther to ascertain by inquiring among his friends

130 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. . [chap. xiv.

whether or not it might be practicable to obtain an appointment
♦ as Governor-General of British India. When satisfied that the
time was not yet come for such an arrangement, he avowed his
determination, as soon as he should return home, to obtain a seat
in the House of Commons, and to go with the Ministry. The
same spirit it was which urged him to correspond with many of
the leading men of the day, among whom may be enumerated
Lord Chancellor Northampton, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Lord Barrington, and Mr. Henry Fox. And yet he, who
evidently desired to keep well with the great, and had, perhaps,
too much courted them during his first sojourn in England, never
forgot the companions of his youth, or persons who might have
been kind to him while in obscurity. His old friend and brother-
in-law, Captain Maskelyne, seems to have made no figure as a
soldier ; yet Clive, though he would not promote him to places
of trust which he was unequal to fill, added 10,000/. to his
savings, and sent him home with a competency. To Mr.
Chauncy, a gentleman of no note, who, having been connected
with the India Company, was instrumental in procuring for
Clive his writership, the letters of this successful commander
are uniformly grateful and generous : " If I have been any way
instrumental in the late revolution," he says, writing to this
worthy man about the overthrow of Suraj-u-Dowlah, " the merit
is entirely owing to you, who countenanced, favoured, and pro-
tected me, and was the chief cause of my coming to India in a
station which rendered me capable of serving the Company.
Accept, sir, of my gratitude and 'sincerest wishes for your wel-
fare. May you enjoy the blessings of peace and retirement, and
may success and every other happiness in this life forsake me
when I forget how much I am obliged to you."

Meanwhile the fame of Clive's great exploits, and of the im-
portant services he had rendered to his country, was filling
every circle in the empire. His own relatives and personal
friends were of course loud and incessant in his praises ; indeed,
the anxiety of his worthy father, that the shadow of a shade
should nowhere be permitted to obscure his son*s merits, was as
apt at times to place the object of the good man's adulation in a
false point of view, as it jarred against both the policy and the
better taste of Clive himself. The truth, however, is, that Clive

CHAP. XIV.] OLIVE'S FAME. 1.31

stood an no need of such blowers of bubbles to render his name
illustrious. It was in everybody's piouth ; at Court ; and every-
where else ; and the most forward to load him with praise seems to
have been George the Second himself. In the year 1758, when
^ disaster attended all the military operations of England by land
and sea, and the Duke of Cumberland was forced, by public
opinion, to retire from the office of commander-in-chief. Lord
Ligonier, who succeeded him, took occasion one day to ask the
King's permission for the young Lord Dunmore to serve as a volun-
teer in the army of the King of Prussia. Leave was refused, upon
which the Commander-in-chief went on to say, " May he not
join the Duke of Brunswick^ then ?" " Pshaw !" replied the
King, " what can he get by attending the Duke of Brunswick ?
If he desire to learn the art of war, let him go to Clive." But
higher renown befell him than this when the illustrious Pitt
spoke of him as a heaven-born general* — as the only officer who
by land or sea had sustained the reputation of the country and
added to its glory. All these anecdotes, and many more which
the limits of the present work compel me to omit, were repeated
to Clive in the letters which he received from home. But it is
not in the nature of things that so much good should come upon
any man unalloyed by evil. There is a degree of renown and an "7
extent of prosperity which command the admiration of all
without stirring in any the feelings of envy ; but no sooner are
these exceeded than a host of enemies hang, as it were, upon the
skirts of the prosperous, and endeavour to pull him down. Had
Themistocles done less good service to Athens, he would not
have died in exile ; George Canning might have retained the
political friendships of his youth to old age had he been content
to play a subordinate part to men who soon went a thousand
miles beyond him in the career of liberalism. In like manner,
Clive, whom all men had welcomed with applause on his return
from the defence of Arcot, became, as victor of Plassey, and the
arbiter of the destinies of crowned heads in the East, an objectj
of undisguised jealousy to many. Among the Directors of the
India Company in particular, this bad feeling seems to have

• ♦ This remarkable expression of the father, when speaking of Lord Clive,
etme to be applied in after years to the son as a minister. The late Mr.
Pitt was called "a heaven-bom minister" in his yontb, for the purpose of
travestying Lord Chatham's adulation of the victor of Plassey.

&2

132 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xiv.

struck root; and Olive's &ther, who delighted in nothing so
much as retailing gossip of every sort to his son, took care that
the latter should not be ignorant of the &ct.

Olive's nature was not so framed as to take any very deep or
painful impression from the exertions of the ^ivious. He loved
praise, and was open to flattery ; but detraction only roused him
to deal out blows at least as heavy as the enemies of his good
name endeavoured to inflict upon him. He wae, however, a man
of the world ; and, knowing how apt injudicious laudation is to
stand in the way of the party praised, he did his best to restrain
the zeal of the friends who vied with one another in iightmg
what they conceived to be his battles in his absence. In a letteSr
to one of his agents, in which he discusses at length his own
past career and future prospects, this point is strongly pressed.
" As this good news," he says, " may set my father upon exerting
himself too much, and paying too many visits to the Duke of
Newcastle, Mr. Fox, and other great men, I desire you will
endeavour to moderate his expectations ; for although I intend
getting into Parliament, and have hopes of being taken notice of
by his Majesty, yet you know the merit of all actions is greatly
lessened by being too much boasted of. I know my father's
disposition leads this way, which proceeds from his affection for
me.

Besides these embarrassments, which may be considered to a
certain extent as inseparable from the career which he had run,
Olive was subjected at this time to trials of a different description,
which he fdt acutely. I have elsewliisre explained that he was
very happy in his marriage. There was not much uxoriousness
about him, to be sure, neither was his taste of such a nature as
led him particularly to delight in the prattle of babes or the
sports of very young people ; but he was sincerely attached to
Mrs. Olive, as indeed it well became him to be, and had a
father's honest affection for the children whom she brought him.
One of these, an in&nt boy, died just as he was about to depart
the second time for India. Another, also a boy, was so ill at
the period of his embarkation to return home in 1760, that it
was found necessary to leave the little fellow behind. Mr.
FuUerton, a friend of the father, took charge of the invalid, and
laid him in his grave soon after the ship which bore the rest of

CHAP. XIV.] RETURN TO ENGLAND. 133

the family to England had begun her voyage. Olive's lette][f
show that these visitations, and especially the latter, were not
unfelt by him : nevertheless, the tone of his correspondence upon
private afi^rs is generally cheerful ; giving proof that his home
was a hi^py one — so £ir, at least, as a man of his temperament
can be t^aid to find sources of real happiness anywhere. His
own health, however, was not good ; he had suffered much
during the latter months of his stay in Bengal from rheumatism,
and feared at one time that it would end in gout. His appre-
hension on that score soon vanished, it is true, and he describes
himself, at the period of his departure from Calcutta, as being in
excellent health. But he had not been in England many weeks
ere another and a more alarming illness overtook him. He
appears on this occasion to have suffered greatly from that de-
pression of spirits to which he had been liable from boyhood.
The malady was not, however, on the mind, but in the body ;
and for some months his medical attendants entertained serious
misgivings as to the issue. But it may be well to devote a
separate chapter to a sketch of his manner of life from the
autumn of 1760, when he reached London for the second time,
to the early summer of 1764, when for the last time he quitted
it to return to the scene of his early glories^

134 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xt.

CHAPTER XV.

Clivers public career in England — His priyate habits.

I HAVE not been able to ascertain the exact date of Olive's
landing in England. It seems to have been some time in the
month of September or of October 1760, and enough remains on
record to show that his first reception both at Court and in the
India House was very flattering. Clive himself, indeed, never
affected to hide his disappointment ''at the limited extent to
which honours were conferred upon him by the Crown. In a
letter to Major Carnac, dated the 27th of February, 1762, he
more than insinuates that he had expected to receive the red
ribbon, and to be raised at once to the British peerage ; instead
of which an Irish peerage only was offered, though it was
accompanied by a sort of assurance that his Majesty had higher
things in store for so distinguished a subject. But in attributing*
the circumstance to the severe illness with which, as I have just
explained, he was attacked almost immediately on landing, he
probably judged aright. Out of sight out of mind is a form of
speech which may be applied as freely in cases like this as in the
more vulgar affairs of visiting and acquaintance. The gratitude
of men in power, like the hospitalities of the gay and wealthy,
seldom seeks out for objects on which to expend itself.
They who desire to take advantage of either must, at all events,
keep themselves in the way not to be overlooked.

Though not a member of the House of Lords, Clive soon
established for himself a large share of influence in society. He
fought his own way into the House of Commons, and surrounded
himself there with a phalanx of friends, who, owing their seats
to him, were devoted to his interests. His first essay in political
life had attached him to the party of which Fox was at the
head. The commanding genius of Pitt in a short time won him
over ; but his true devotion was to George Grenville, whom he

CHAP. XV.] CLIVE'S CAREER IN ENGLAND. 135

continued to support, whether in ofRce or out of it, with all the
strength which he could command. Accordingly, when Lord
Bute prevailed upon the young King to separate himself from
Pitt, and by and by to throw the Duke of Newcastle and his
section of the Cabinet overboard, Clive, though requested in
some sort to name his own terms, refused to support the new
Administration. " Now that we are to have peace abroad,"
he writes in November, 1762, " war is commencing at home
among ourselves. There is to be a most violent combat at the
meeting of Parliament whether Bute or Newcastle is to govern
this kingdom ; and the times are so critical that every member
has an opportunity of fixing a price upon his services. I still
continue to be one of those un^hionable kind of people who
think very highly of independency, and to bless my stars indul-
gent fortune has enabled me to act according to my conscience.
Being very lately asked by authority if I had any honour to ask
from my Sovereign, my answer was, that I thought it dbhonour-
able to take advantage of the times ^ but that, when these Parlia-
mentary disputes were at an end, if his Majesty should then
approve of my conduct by rewarding it, I should think myself
highly honoured in receiving any marks of the royal favour."

Eefusing to co-operate with the Government of the day,
Clive was, of course, treated by it with coldness. He was not
even consulted while negotiations with France were pending
respecting the terms on which it would be proper to insist in
order to protect the interests of the English in Bengal ; his case
thus offering a remarkable contrast to that of Bussy, who no
sooner returned on parole to his own country than he became
the chief adviser of the French minister on all points relating to
Indian politics. But Clive resembled the Duke of Welling-
ton in this, that, wherever he conceived that by volunteering
advice he could effect a public good, he did not hesitate to state
his views, even to a hostile Administration. Accordingly, he
drew up a paper or memorial, which he forwarded to Lgrd Bute,
setting forth, in clear and forcible terms, tha outlines of the
political systems of France and England in the East, and ex-
plainingin detail the extent to which, and no further, concessions
might be made, in the event of peace, by the latter power to tlie
former. He is particularly urgent in this document on two

136 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xr.

points— namely, that in the Carnatic the French shall be limited'
as to the number of tfoops which they are pennitted to keep on
foot, and that they shall not, on any account whatever, be re-
admitted into Bengal except in the character of merchants.

Lord Bute could not but see the force of his correspondent's
reasoning, and expressed himself much obliged by it. He
adopted Lord Olive's project, likewise, so far, that the French
Government, in the treaty of 1763, agreed not ta maintain any
troops either in Bengal or in the Northern Circars. But, at the
suggestion of an influential member of the Court of Directors
who had long ceased to be on a friendly footing with Clive, the
Minister had well-nigh marred his own work by stipulating for
the recognition of Mahomed Ali Khan as Nabob of the Car-
natic, and agreeing consequently to acknowledge the right of
Salabut Jung to the Souhbadarry of the Deccan. By mere acci-
dent Clive learned what was in progress, and did not scruple
to expose the absurdity of mixing up questions so entirely ex-
traneous with matters which concerned the French and English
nations, and these only. The clauses were withdrawn, and the
treaty, thus amended, received the sanction of both Courts.

I have alluded to the change of feeling which had arisen-
between Clive and an influential member of the Court of Di-
rectors with whom he had formerly been on terms of amity.
The individual in question was Mr. Lawrence Sulivart, a man
of undeniable talent, and of clear though somewhat limited
views, but of a disposition so peculiar that he could not bear to
be either thwarted in his purposes or helped to the accomplish-
ment of them by any hand except his own. Having spent some
time in India, he brought into the Direction, when called to a
seat in that Court, a qualification which was possessed by few, if
any, of his colleagues — namely, a practical acquaintance with the
wants and circumstances of the country which he assisted to
govern. Admiring Clive while at a distance, he had given him
a general* support, which Clive repaid by throwing the whole of
his influence among the proprietors into Mr. Sulivan's scale.
And chiefly through their exertions Mr. Sulivan was placed in
the chair, where he soon succeeded in establishing a moral
supremacy over the body. No sooner, however, was the fact of
Clive's intended return to England made known than Mr.

CHAP. XV.] POLITICS OF THE INDIA HOUSE. 137

SuHvan took the alann. He foresaw that, should Clivers
ambition point in the direction of the India House, his own
influence there would soon be cast into the shade, and he
determined, by every means in his power, to avert the cata-
strophe. His course of action was obvious enough, and he
followed it. The offensive letter from Bengal served as a peg on
which to hang a general charge of pride and insubordination.
Nobody brought this openly forward, it is true, because the
object of it was beyond the limits of the Court's jurisdiction ;
but it was cautiously infused by one mind into another till the
whole became conscious of its power, and of the angry feelings
which it stirred. Again, Clive had become too rich. The Com-
pany, and not the individual, ought to have reaped the reward of
the Company's exertions ; and, above all, this jaghire, which their
servant had accepted, was intolerable. It ought not to be per-
mitted to continue — and it should not. At the same time, neither
Mr/Sulivan nor any other member of the Court could deny, that
whatever it was competent to Meer Jaffier to give, it was com-
petent to Lord Clive to accept ; and the necessity of acting
with caution and delicacy was admitted. Mr. Sulivan does not
appear, at 'this stage in the business, to have desired to go
further. By alarming CHve fbr the continuance of his jagliire,
he hoped to keep him out of the vortex of Leaden hall-street
politics, and for a time he succeeded. Clive accepted the warning
which Sulivan gave in good part, and for a whUe held aloof
from interference with the proceedings of a body which tacitly
pledged itself, through its chairman, to abstain on these terms
from interfering with him.

Clive was willing to purchase the quiet enjoyment of his
jaghire by leaving to others the general management of affairs
at the India House ; but it was not in his nature to forget old
friendships, nor perhaps to suffer old antipathies to die out. As
most men in high command are apt to do, he desired to promote
the interests of those who had served immediately undei'his own
eye, and made their merits conspicuous to him. Others, whose
claims might be of equal weight, though differently established,
he overlooked ; and in one memorable case, at least, he carried
the principle to an inexcusable extent. Colonel Forde was au
especial fiivourite with Clive, as indeed he deserved to be ; so

138 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xv.

was Major Carnac ; so was Captain Calliaud ; and so was a
Captain Knox— of one of whose exploits I shall have occaisi<Hi
to speak in another portion of this memoir. But Colonel Coote
had not even his friendship, and he scarcely did justice to that
gentleman's services on the Coromandel coast in his eagerness
fo advance Forde at Coote's expense. It happened that Mr.
Sulivan and he took different views of this subject. Many of
those whom Lord Clive recommended to the Court's protection
Mr. Sulivan disliked ; almost all whom Clive disliked Mr.
Sulivan was anxious to patronize. Collision on points like this
uecessarjly leads to estrangement and mutual distrust ; and the
step from distrust to hostility, in tempers like that of Clive, is
never a wide one. In November, 1762, I find his Lordship
writing to his old friend Mr. Vansittart in the following
terms :— •

" There is a terrible storm brewing against the next general
election. Sulivan, who is one of the Directors this year, is
strongly opposed by Hous and his party, and by part, if not all,
of the East Indians (particularly the Bengallese), and matters
are carried to such lengths that either Sulivan or Rous must give
way. I must acknowledge that in my heart I am a wellwisher
for the cause of Rous, although, considering the great stake I
have in India, it is probable I shall remain neuter. Sulivan
might have attached me to his interest if he had pleased ; but he
could never forgive the Bengal letter, and never has reposed
that confidence in me which my services to the East India Com-
pany entitled me to. The consequence has been, that we have
all along behaved to one another like shy cocks— at times out-
wardly expressing great regard and friendship for each other."

Time passed, and the daily recurrence of contrarieties, for I
cannot call them bickerings, more and more embittered the feel-
ings of these two gentlemen towards one another. Mr. Sulivan
was a protege and firm supporter of Lord Bute ; Lord Clive
took the side of Granville, having despaired of the return of
Pitt to office. He disapproved of the peace of 1763, and voted
with the minority in the House of Commons which condemned
it. Lord Bute was much annoyed ; and, seeking about for some
means of diminishing Clive's influence, he found in Mr. Sulivan a
willing instrument wherewith to work ; — for Sulivan had become

CHAP. XV.] ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. 139

doubly jealous of his rival, as he now considered him, in con-
sequence of the credit which the latter received among the
proprietors for having guarded their interests by the amendments
which he had introduced into the treaty of peace with France.
As a matter of course, hostility on one side begat indignation
and the wish to retaliate on the other, till at last Clive threw
himself, with all jiis might, into the arena. It was clear to him
either that he himself must cease to have weight in the councils
of India, or that Mr. Sulivan's authority must be absolutely
struck down. He determined to aim at the latter alternative.
With this view he set himself, at the election of 1763, to resist
the retur/i of that gentleman to the Directory. He left no
means untried to effect his object. He purchased 100,000/.
worth of stock, and, dividing it among friends on whom he could
rely, into 500/. shares, he commanded such a retinue of voters
as had never before followed one man to the India House. All
on whom he had or was believed to have a claim were solicited
to go with him likewise ; and at the show of hands the majoiity
in his favour was prodigious. Writing to Mr. Vansittart on the
19th of March, 1763, he says — "The tremendous day is over.
I need not be particular about it. You will have it from many
hands. I should imagine there were present not less than eight
hundred proprietors. Numbers of neutral parties went off; and
no small number of our friends, thinking our majority so great
that there was no occasion for their presence. Indeed, upon the
holding up of hands, I thought we were at least two to one.
This is really a great victory, considering we had the united
strength of the whole Ministry against us."

If gigantic exertions, and the risk of much pecuniary loss,
deserved to secure a victory of this sort, Clive ought clearly to
have come off a conqueror. He availed himself to its utmost
limits of the iniquitous law which sanctioned — or rather of the
absence of the law which ought to have prevented — the creation
of fictitious votes. Of the two hundred proprietors who, for the
purposes of the election had each his 500/. stock, probably one
hundred and ninety were pledged, as soon as the contest was
over, to restore their qualifications to him from whom they had
borrowed them. But Clive's opponents were neither less dili-
gent nor more scrupulous than he ; and above all, there was the

140 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xv.

test of the ballot-box to be sustained. It decided against Olive,
and he W9s soon made to feel that not to prevail in such a con-
test was to expose himself to trouble and mortification. One of
the first acts of the new Court was to address a letter to the
Governor of Bengal, in which he was conraianded not only to
pay into the Company's treasury the amount of dive's jaghire
for the current year, but to make out a statement of the sums
paid to Clive since the jaghire was first granted^ with a view to
compel restitution to be made. Olive's indignation, when the fact
of such orders having gone forth first reached him, was extreme ;
nevertheless he bore himself with greater appearance of com-
posure than might have been expected in a man of his naturally
impetuous temper. He wrote to his friends in India, urging^
them to delay compliance with the Court's instructions in case
the slightest loop-hole should be afforded of escape from prompt
compliance with them. His next step was to apply to the Court
of Directors for a copy of the proceedings on which a measure
so deeply afiecting his interests was founded ; and on their refusal
to furnish the infcmnation sought, he filed a bill against them in
Chancery. There could be little doubt as to the issue of the
trial, had it come on. All the most eminent lawyers of the day,
including Mr. Yorke, then Attorney- General, and Mr. Fletcher
Norton, the Solicitor-General, had given Jheir opinion that the
Court of Directors had no case ; indeed, that their own tenure of
the Zemindarry rested on the same ground which assured to Clive
his rents or reserved revenue arising out of such Zemindarry,
But before matters could be brought to an issue, circumstances
arose which threw both the Court of Directors and the Company
itself in some sense at Olive's feet. There had been mismanage-
ment and confusion in the province of Bengal ever since Clive
resigned his seat as President of the governing body. Without
a head to direct, or an arm vigorous enough to restrain them, the
Company's servants, as well European as native, had been guilty
of all manner of abuses. Eevolutions had been brought about at
Moorshedabad by processes and with a view to the accomplish-
ment of objects which were alike unjustifiable ; and the con-
sequence was, an interruption of the Company's trade, and the
entire cessation of means wherewith to pay the dividends. Now,
to hit the proprietors here was to wound these gentlemen in.

CHAP. XV.] OFFERED THE GOVERNOR-GENERALSfflP. 141

vital parts. They were not very careful to investigate the
claims of rival Indian princes to their thrones ; whether the
subjects of these princes throve or went to ruin was a question
with which they took little concern; and the peculations of
their own friends and relatives, so long as they were confined
within moderate limits, afflicted them not : but to touch the
dividends was to dry up the current of their blood at its fountain-
head. The wildest alarm pervaded the whole body. They
demanded inquiry ; and the more the case was investigated the
less were they satisfied with the results. What was to be done ?
As if actuated by one feeling, the proprietors met in full Court,
and determined that CHve alone could save them from ruin.
They entreated him to return to Bengal, and assume once more
the management of their afiairs in that quarter. Indeed, they
urent furth^. If he accepted the trust which they pressed upon
him, he was to go, not as President of the Governing Council of
Calcutta, but as Governor*Geneial and Commander-in-Chief
over the whole of the Company's possessions in the East. And
that there might be no plea for declining the offer because of the
unsettled state of his dilute with the Court of Directors, the
Court of Proprietors proposed that the jaghire should be at once
restored, and Clive's right to its continued possession ofi&cially
recognised. This was indeed the triumph of talent and genius
over envy. But Clive declined to avail himself of the Court's
enthusiasm. He said that he had his own proposal relative to
the jaghire to make, on the compliance of the Court of Directors
with which one obstacle to his acceptance of the important trust
offered to him by the proprietors would be removed. This he
briefly stated ; and, when the Court accepted it by acclamation,
he went on to say that there was yet another point which they
must concede to him, otherwise he must decline entering again
into their service. He differed, he said, so much from Mr.
Sulivan in opinion of the mea^res necessary to be taken for the
good of the Company, that he could not consider that gentleman
as a proper Chairman of the Court of Directors ; that it would
be in vain for him to exert himself as he ought, in the office of
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of their forces, if his mea-
sures were to be thwarted and condemned at home, as they
probably would be, by a Court of Directors under the influence

142 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xv.

of a Chairman whose conduct, upon many occasions, had evinced
his ignorance of East India affairs, and who was also known to
be his personal and inveterate enemy ; that it was a matter
totally indifferent to him who filled the chair, if Mr. Sulivan
did not ; but that he could not, consistently witli the regard he
had for liis own reputation, and the advantages he should be
emulous of establishing for the Company, proceed in the ap-
pointments with which they had honoured him, if that gentleman
continued to have the lead at home.

Mr. Sulivan seems to have been ill prepared for this direct
attack. He knew his man too well to hope, that, having made
the move, Clive would ever withdraw from it ; and, fearing lest
his influence should be utterly destroyed, he endeavoured to
protect himself by a display of zeal in the cause of others.
After expressing his concurrence in the opinion of the General
Court as to the talents of Lord Clive, with whom he could con-
ceive no reason why he should be at variance, Mr. Sulivan
proceeded to represent the impropriety of superseding (by the
civil and military powers proposed to be granted to his Lordship)
Mr. Vansittart, Governor of Bengal, and Major-General Law-
rence, who had lately been induced to return to Madras. He
also stated the disappointment which the nomination of Lord
Clive would occasion to Mr. Spencer, a Bombay servant lately
nominated to the head of afi^drs at Bengal. But the General
Court were in no temper to listen to such reasoning, and with
one voice insisted upon the Directors making the appointment.
The Directors, as a last resource, desired to try the question by
ballot ; but the by-laws of the Company establish that no
ballot shall take place except by a requisition of nine pro-
prietors. Though upwards of three hundred were present, this
number could not be found to sign their names to such a requisi-
tion ; and the Court, in consequence, adjourned.

The Court of Directors, thus compelled to attend to the wish
of the Court of Proprietors, nominated Lord Clive Governor
and Commander-in-Chief of Bengal. There was some hesitation
about the military commission interfering with that of Major-
General Lawrence, who, though advanced in years, and infirm,
had accompanied his near relative, Mr. Palk, when that gentle-
man was appointed Governor of Madras. But Clive intimated

CHAP. XV.] DISPUTES WITH THE DIRECTORS. 143

that it was far from his wish to supersede his old commander :
all he required was, that neither Major- General Lawrence nor
any other officer should have the power of interfering with his
command in Bengal.

'-'- Lord Clive received his appointment* within a month of the
general election ; and the Directors hurried their preparations
for his departure, from a desire that he should leave England

•before that event took place ; conceiving, no doubt, that his
doing so would evince a confidence in their support, and prevent
that opposition which several of them expected on the ground
of their known hostility to the popular Governor. A letter was,
in consequence, written to Lord Clive by the Secretary, inform-
ing him that a ship was ready to receive him. He replied, that,
for reasons he had assigned at the General Court, he could not
think of embarking till he knew the result of the election of
Directors, which was to take place in the ensuing month. The
Directors, when they received this answer, declared that they
considered it as a resignation of the government. They there-
fore summoned a General Court, at which one of the proprietors
in their interest moved, that, as Lord Clive declined the govern-
ment of Bengal, they should proceed to a new nomination ; but
his Lordship's declaration at the late Court had made too deep
an impression to be easily erased. The proprietors saw nothing
in his conduct but manly consistency with the sentiments which
he had previously avowed ; and, viewing the conduct of the Di-
rectors as an unworthy artifice to evade compliance with their
wishes, they threw out the proposition with violence and
clamour.

Strong in the support of the Proprietors, and firm in his pur-
pose of excluding from the Direction the individual against
whom he now cherished a feeling more bitter, perhaps, than
even his conduct merited, Clive remained in England till the
election of the 25th of April 1764 was over. It did not give to
him a triumph so decided as he had hoped for. Mr. Sulivan was
still a popular man with the East India body, and therefore,
though no longer supported by ministerial influence (for Lord
Bute was by this time out of office), he contrived to carry twelve

* March, 17C4.

144 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xv.

out of tweuty-four seats, his own being one of the number.
The remaining twelve were filled by Olive's friends ; and when
the struggle for the Chair arose, they prevailed. Mr. Rous be-
came Chairman, and Mr. Bolton, a member of the same party,
was appointed to be Deputy.

A Court so constituted was not likely to resist any reasonable
proposition on the subject of hb jaghire which Clive might
make. His right of possession was confirmed for ten years,
should he live so long, and the Zemindarry still remain in the
Company's hands ; whilst the ultimate disposal of the property-
was passed by as an arrangement which would be most conve-
niently settled when the occasion arose. Neither were his plans
for the better management of the province assigned to him in
any degree thwarted. The emergency which had caused his no-
mination to office led to his being intrusted with very extensive
powers. He was permitted to name his own Committee of
Council. His recommendations of different military officers
were also attended to. The King's troops being at this period
recalled, all officers in his Majesty's service were ordered to
England. Major Calliaud, promoted to the rank of Brigadier-
General, had been appointed to Madras ; Major Camac's services
were rewarded with a similar commission, and the command of
the troops in Bengal ; Sir Robert Barker was appointed to com-
mand the artillery ; Majors Richard Smyth and Preston were
nominated Lieutenant-Colonels of the European corps ; and
Major K(iox advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, to
command the sepoys.

The victory which Lord Clive obtained at the India House
was followed up by his friends, who, on the next general elec-
tion (1765), strengthened their party among the Directors very
considerably ; and Mr. Sulivan, notwithstanding the active exer-
tions of hb adherents, was again defeated. This success gave
Clive the support which he required during his short but important
administration of the afiairs of Bengal. It laid, however, the
foundation of the future troubles of his life ; for those over whom
he now triumphed cherished their resentments ;* and their ranks

* Mr. Sulivaa wag not defeated withont an active straggle. Mr. Walsh,
in a letter to Lord Clive of the 5th April, 1765, speaking of the conies^
observes — " Lord Bute joined him (Mr. fiolivan) very strenuonslj, and got

CHAP. XV.] CLIVES PRIVATE HABITS. 145

were early recruited by numerous malcontents from India, whom
Olive's reforms had either deprived of the means of accumulat-
ing wealth, or exposed to obloquy. The efforts of his confe-
derated enemies will be noticed hereafter : the subject is men-
tioned here merely as a consequence of his engaging personally
in the politics of Leadenhall-street. How far that step was one
of wisdom, or of necessity, it is very difficult to determine.

Having thus described the public life of Lord Olive during
the interval between his second return to England and his de-
parture for the last time to the scene of his early labours, it
seems necessary, in order to fill up the outlines of the portrait,
that some notice, at least, should be taken of his personal habits,
and the state of his a£&drs as a domestic man, and a member of
general society. Olive was enormously rich, and he indulged
the passion for display which was natural to him without reserve.
His horses were the finest, his equipages the most brilliant, of all
that appeared at Oourt. He was a good deal about the palace
likewise, and was greatly flattered when the Queen proposed to
stand godmother for one of his children. He made rich presents
to multitudes of people, and did not forget either the King or
the Queen. An anecdote is told of him in reference ta this
weakness which seems to me to deserve repetition. George the
Third had a great fancy at this time for strange animals, — and
elephants, antelopes, hog-deer, and such like, were not then so
common in Europe as the zoological societies of various coun-
tries have since caused them to be. Olive wrote to several of
his friends in India, requesting that they would send him " curi-
osities " of the sort, which he might present to the King. For a
good while no ^^ curiosities " came ; but at last he got a letter
from Mr. Yansittart, in which tbat gentleman informed him that
he had sent home two elephants, a rhinoceros, and a Persian
mare, and requested that his Lordship would, with the writer's
brother, Mr. Arthur Vansittart, present them to his Majesty.
Olive did not quite understand the meaning of this communica-
tion till the animals had actually arrived. But when Mr. A.
Yansittart requested that his Lordship would accompany him to

the Dnke of Northumberland to do the same. This change may appear
extraordinary ; but abject submissions on the one part, and tender solicita-
tions on the other, are said to have brought it about V*

146 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xv.

Court in order to fulfil his brother's wishes, the wrath of the
great man burst forth. He sat down and answered the note of
his correspondent in a tirade, of which I subjoin a short spe-
cimen :—

•* Upon the receipt of your letter, enclosing a copy of a para-
graph from your brother, I can plainly perceive that Mr. Van-
sittart, .declining to comply with the request I made him, of
purchasing and sending home, on my account, an elephant to be
presented to hb Majesty by me, has taken that hint to send one
home on his own. This unkind treatment I neith^ deserved
nor expected from Mr. VansittarL I am persuaded his Majesty
will not think I am wanting in that respect which is due to him,
if I decline presenting, in anoth^ person's name, an elephant
which I intended to present in my own. At the same time, I
shall take care that his Majesty be informed of the cause of my
desiring to be excused attending you to his Majesty with Mr.
Vansittart's presents."

This sharp rebuke, as subsequent explanations proved, had
really not been deserved. But the captain of the ship in which
the animals were brought home had blundered in describing the
designs of Mr. Yaosittart in embarking than. And it may serve
to illustrate the state c^ Olive's feelings when I add, that he
never could be persuaded out of the belief that Mr. SuHvan put
the unhieky seaman on this method of giving annoyance to his
enemy.

If Olive was ostentatious in some of bis proceedings, he was
eminently generous in others. I say nothing of the eiq)eiiditure
of 60,000^. in electioueering within the space of eighteen months*
He had the purposes of party and personal amHtion to serve in
this : but his presents to poor rdb,tives and friends continued to
be princely. He s^tled 2000Z. additional on each of his sisters^
and rendered his brothers independent. He micouraged Major
Oarnac to continue in the service in spite of the, neglect which
he had suffered, by assuring him that he had done what he eould
for him, besides leaving him in his will 500L a-year. Styche
had long become his. He caused the old hoi»e to be fitt^ up
and enlarged ; but, finding it still too small, he purchased the
estate of Walcot, and built upon it a palace alter the design and
under the superintendence of Sir Rdbert Ohambers, on« of the

CHAP. XT.] OLIVE'S PRIVATE HABITS. UTi

most celebrated architects of his day. The spacious house in
Berkeley-square, in which, till very lately, his descendants con-
tinued to reside, he purchased on a lease of ninety years, and
fitted it up in a style of oriental magnificence. But it was not in
such channels as these exclusively that Olive sought for and
found a fiur share of happiness. His letters betoken a mind,
morbid, indeed, and restless, but capable of strong domestic
affections ; and we cannot doubt that the indulgence of these
operated beneficially on his temper. Moreover, he had some
friends, a» well as a host of enemies, and was gratified by the
assurance that a statue would be raised to him in the IncHa House
n» a mark of the Company's sense of his services ;^and a medal
was actually struck to commemorate the great victory of Kassey.
We cannot know all this without assuming that, if it be within
the compass of honour and prosperity in this life to fill up the
measure of man^s longings. Lord Clive had little to desire.
That they did not satisfy him is, however, certain : have they
ever satisfied any man's mind, which had the power, whether
exercised or not, of rabing itself for an instant above the things
of sense?

l2

148 LIFE OF LORD CLIVK [chap. xvi.

CHAPTER XVI.

Retrospect of the coarse of afiBftirs in Bengal.

I MUST crave the reader's indulgence for a brief space while I
endeavour, at this stage in my narrative, to sketch the outlines
of the more important of the events which occurred in Bengal
between Colonel Clive's resignation of the government of that
province in 1759 and his return as Lord Clive in 1765, with
powers largely increased, to the scene of his early glory. The
task, though the reverse of agreeable, is imposed upon me by
the necessity of accounting for that sudden burst of popular en-
thusiasm which, as already described, lifted the subject of it in
one moment above the malice of his enemies; while of the
revulsion of feeling which began ere long to manifest itself, and
which led in due time to proceedings both in Parliament and
elsewhere, it is impossible to speak, with a knowledge of the
facts which we now possess, except in terms of strong reproba-
tion.' If ever Clive served the Company and the country well,
it was during his last administration of the affidrs of Bengal.
If ever he had a right to count upon receiving marks of his
employers' gratitude, and honours from the Crown, it was when
for the last time he had rendered up the trust which the Court
of Proprietors had in some measure forced him to undertake.
But as the motives which induced the Company to pu^itself and
its affairs absolutely into his hands were not of the most exalted
kind, so his efforts to do justice to the native population of
Bengal, as well as to the proprietors of stock and their European
srepresentatives, minds inferior to his own had no power to
appreciate. Far be it from me to stand forward as the indis-
criminating advocate of Lord Clive's good name. Few men
filling so large a space in the public eye have committed
graver offences against moral right. His faults of temper and
taste, and perhaps of something more important than either,

i

CHAP. XVI.] AFFAIRS IN BENGAL. 149

seem to have been innumerable. But the offences to which I
allude had been at least forgiven, if indeed the seal of public
approval was not put upon them in 1762; and for errors of
another sort he was surely not accountable to the tribunal hefoTe\J
which he was arraigned.

For some time previously to the meeting of the Court which
declared that Clive, provided he would accept the government
of Bengal, should be allowed to dictate his own terms, all the
accounts received from British India had been of the most
nnsatis&ctory nature. From Bengal, especially, tidings arrived
with every ship of decaying commerce, foreign wars, anarchy in
the ruling body, and, as a necessary consequence, misgovern*
ment everywhere. Mr. Vansittart, who had been nominated to
succeed Clive, was a Madras servant, and therefore unpopular
with his colleagues. Though a well-meaning and in some
respects an able man, he was not possessed of sufficient energy
of character to grapple with the difficulties in which he became
immediately involved. He was greatly misled likewise by Mr.
Holwell, who, as senior member of Council, occupied in his
absence the President's chair, and who, though by and by
removed from the service, continued long enough after Mr.
Vansittart's arrival to embue that gentleman with some of his
own worst prejudices. Among other points which he laboured
too successfully to accomplish, Mr. Holwell succeeded in esta-
blishing in the mind of the President a rooted antipathy to Meer
Jaffier. Doubtless, that wretched man had many £iults. He
had earned the character of a good soldier while serving as
commander-in-chief under Suraj-u-Dowlah ; but his unfitness to
administer the afiairs of a kingdom became manifest almost im-
mediately on his accession to the throne. Still Meer Jaffier's
difficulties had been gigantic from the outset. He promised
more, as the price of his elevation, than he found himself able to
perform, and, in order to gain time and conciliate the forbearance
of his benefectors, he was forced to connive at endless abuses by
their agents and servants. I have elsewhere alluded to the
steps which Clive took with a view to check, if he could not
wholly put a stop to, these abuses. As long as he remained the
evil was at least endurable ; but no sooner was the master-mind
withdrawn than the English community in Bengal, like a

160 LIFE OF LORD CUVB. [chap. xin.

watch of which the maimpiing is broken, became utterly con-
fused. Everybody thought of enriefaing himself; nobody cai^
to inquire whether to the native sovereign or his people, or to
the int^ests of the Oompany, damage was Ukdy to arise firom
his efforts to accomplish this purpose. The fyatem of private
trode^ which I shall take oeoaftion to describe by and by, was
pushed to a large extent Meer Jaffier, eut off by it from the
ordinary ehaiinsls of his revenue, Ml into arrear in his payments
to the English, to his civil functionaries, and to his troqis. The
Bhab Zada, known as Shah Alum, now raised by the murder of
his &ther to the throne of the Moguls, was marching to the
attack of Pati^ ; and the Bajah of Purneah, with the Yiearo j
of Oude, the latter being juat appointed Yizier of the empire,
had e^>oused his cause. Had Mr. Holwell been leit under such
im accumulation of unfkvourable circumstanees to fight his own
battle^ the chances are that he would (have fought it unsuocess-
iiilly. But Clive, who foresaw the gatherii^ of the cloud in the
uorth, had f^ovided for the consequence of it previously to his
depai*ture. Colonel Oalliaud marched to support Bamnarndn.
This faithfbl friend of the English risked a battler previously to
C^liaud's arrival, and was defeated, but he shut himself up in
Patna, and maintained it against the Emperor with great resolu-
tion. The junction of his European allies gave him, as a matter
of course, the auperiority. Anoth^ battle was fought uii*>
favourably for the invader; when, after a vain attempt to
surprise Moorshedabad, and a second attempt, equally fruitless,
to make himself mast^ of Pataa, he was compelled to retreat
towards Delhi, and t4> leave the provinces for a little while
unmolested*

Meanwhile Meer Jaffier, and his son the Prince Meeran, were
making preparations to operate against the rebel Bajtih of
Purneah. In these they were anticipated by the activity of
Captain King, who pushed at the head of his detachment to
mci^t the enemy, and overthrew him in a decisive battle ere
the Nabob had time to make a couple of marches from his
capital. But the satb&ction arising from this victory was a
good deal diminished by an event of which the consequences
proved &r more serious than any one could have anticipated.
Prince Meeran, Meer Jaffi^'s son, was killed by lightning while

CHAP. XVI.] TROUBLES OP MEER JAFFIER. 151

resting in his tent. Though crud and very ill-disposed towards
the £kiglish, Meeran possessed courage and energy, and, for an
Indiaa prince, good &ith. Whatever he promised to do he at
least strove to per£cnrm ; and the army, of which he was at the
head, rq)06ed great confidence in him. It was his assurance that
they would sooner or later receive their pay which kept the troops
quiet in ^te of the heavy balanoe due to them ; and hii undis*
guised abhorrence of the state of debasement to which strangers
had reduced their country gave him much influence among the
nobility and gentry of the kingdcmi. His death seemed to bring
about at once a dissolution of all the bonds which held society
together. The army, in a state of mutiny, surrounded the
Nabob's palace, and clamoured for their wages. The heads of
the police and revenue departments declared that they would act
no longer. It was now that Meer Jaffier felt whaJt it was to
have lost the friend on whom he was accustomed, on every
emergency, to rely. Tha*e was no longer a Clive at Fort Wil-
liam. NcF^lheless, Olive's successor was there, and the Nabob
fondly flattered himself that the promises made by one repre-
sentative of the Company would be regarded as sacred by
another. He entreated Mr. Yansittart therefore to come to his
aid ; and Mr. Yansittart, with the entire approbation of his other-
wise intractable Council, determined to get rid of him.

The revolution which set aside Suraj-u-Dowlah and raised
Meer Jaffi^ to the throne of Bengal was, I believe, inevitable.
It was dictated to the English by the strongest of all instincts—-
self-preservation ; and, had it been managed with more modera-
tion in regard to the sums of money extracted from Meer
Jaffier as the price of his elevation, it might have proved as
fortunate for the native peculation as it was advantageous to the
Company. It was an experiment, likewise, which with all the
drawbacks attending it, the Bengal Government was justified
in making for once ; and it undoubtedly met with the approval
of the leading men of the provinces. But Meer Jaffier had jione
nothing to incur the penalty of deposition. He was in debt,
doubtless ; so was almost every other native sovereign of India
at that time; and if his debts rested upon him with greater
weight than theirs, it was because the English claimed a right
to interfere with the collection of his revenues. Surely he

152 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xvr.

was no object of legitimate censure on that account ; surely the
English, and not he, were to blame ? But Mr. Yansittart and
his colleagues viewed the matter in a different light. The thea
Governor or President of Bengal compiled, as is well known,
a narrative of his administration, in which the circumstances
which led to the dethronement of Meer Jaffier are explained ;
and the event itself is elaborately, if not very successfully, de-
fended. The following extract from his work will show with
what sort of logic the king-makers of the last century were in
the habit of satisfying their own consciences : —

" The season had now begun," says Mr. Yansittart, " when
our forces were to take the field against a powerful enemy,
whilst we had scarce a rupee in our treasury to enable us to put
them in motion. The easy channel in which the Company's
aH^irs ran whilst the sums stipulated by the treaty (with Meer
Jaffier) lasted had diverted their attention from the distresses
which must unavoidably fall on them whenever that fund should
be exhausted ; and, continuing to act on the same extensive plan
in which they set out, they now foynd themselves surrounded by-
numerous difficulties, which were heightened ^ by the particular
circumstances of the country at this period, and weighed down
with the very advantages Which they had acquired, — that is, an
establishment which had lost the foundation on which it was
built ; a military force proportioned to their connections and
influence in the country without the means of subsistence ; a
fortification begun upon the same extensive plan, at a vast
expense ; and an alliance with a power unable to support itself,
and threatening to involve them in the same ruin." Mr. Yan-
sittart adds, that, had indolence and weakness been the Nabob's
only faults, destructive as they were to the welfare of the country
and of the Company, he would have lamented more the necessity
of measures the tendency of which was to dissolve the engage*
ments between him and the Company ; but that, in addition to
this, Jie found a general dissatisfaction to his Highnesses govern-
ment, and detestation of his person and principles, in all ranks
of people. This statement hardly deserves the degree of credit
which we give to Mr. Yansittart's previous argument. But if
it were as fully established as the fiict that Meer Jaffier lived and
died, I cannot see that the case is at all altered by it. That stands

CHAP, xvi.] DEPOSITION OF MEER JAfTIER. 15S

exactly where it was, and well merits the judgment which was
given against it — that the measure ^^of not only breaking a
solemn treaty without previous warning and negotiation with
the prince with whom it was contracted, but even of dethroning
that prince, without attempting to remedy by some convention
the temporary evils complained of, was a rash and unjustifiable
measure, particularly where the change and all the articles of
the new treaty were so obviously for the advantage of one of the
parties only."

Having arrived at the conviction that Meer Jaffier ought no
longer to reign in Moorshedabad, the first step taken by Mr.
.Yansittart and his friends was to look about for an individual
ambitious enough to seek the Crown, and sufficiently eager for it
to accede to the terms, whatever they might be, which the Eng-
lish Government should propose. They were not long in finding
their man. Cossim Ali, the son-in«law of Meer JafiSer, though
sure of the succession at his father-in-law's death, was too impa-
tient to wait the ordinary course of nature ; and, with the impro-
vidence of his race, came at once into the terms of those who
offered to raise him to the throne. These implied the fulfilment
of all the engagements into which Meer Jaffier had entered, and
the surrender to them besides of the fertile provinces of Burdwan,
Midnapore, and Chittagong, while the interests of individuals
were not overlooked, nor the example set by Clive and his coad-
jutors in the former revolution forgotten. The Nabob elect
undertook to pay to eight individuals the sum of 200,000/., of
which 58,000/. were to go to Mr. Vansittart ; and would have
pledged himself to double the amount, had not a minority in the
Council disapproved of the whole arrangement, and therefore
declined to accept any share of the booty.

When these arrangements were all complete, Mr. Vansittart
proceeded to Moorshedabad, carrying with him two hundred
European soldiers, six hundred sepoys, and four pieces of cannon.
He went, as he himself has told us, in the hope of being-^ble
to persuade Meer Jaffier of the fitness of the proposed change —
in other words, he was desirous, if possible, to cajole the Nabob
into a resignation of his dignities, and thus avoid the scandal of a
forcible deposition. That he was not unprepared, however, for
any extremity, the narrative of an eye-witness explains. Mr.

154 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xvr.

Lushington, who accompanied the troops as interpreter, after
describing their entry into Moorshedabad, and the preliminary
negotiations which followed, goes on to say, —

'^ We waited all the next day ; but, no answer eonung, the
Governor thought it proper not to lose any time, and tharefore
ordered Colonel Calliaud to go by ¥^ter with his detachment so
early that he might surround the palace at daybreak ; sending at
the same time a letter, acquainting ^e Nabob that he had sent
the Colonel to settle those a£^s which he had conferred with
him about, and to which he had promised to give an answer, but
none was brought. The Nabob sent word to the Colonel he
would give no answer until the troops retu!med to Moraudbau^,
as he never expected such treatm^it from the English. Some
few conferences w^e afterwards held l^ Mr. Hastings and my-
self with several of the Nabob's ministers ; but as nothing could
be agreed on, I was sent back to Moraudbaug, to give an account
of our proceedings to the Governor, and to have his final order
whether we should storm the palace in case the Nabob revised to
comply. He answered he wished not to spill the blood of a man
whom he had raised to such dignities, but that the afiair must be
finished before minset. With this I returned ; and found, to my
great surprise, Cossim Ali Khan's standards, and the nobits*
beating in his name. Colonel Calliaud now told me that the
Nabob had sent out the seals to Ms son-in-law, and offered to
resign the government if the English would be security for his
life. This was immediately agreed to, and a meeting was held
between the Colonel and the Nabob, who made the following
speech, as well as I can remember:*— ^ The English placed me
on the musnud ; you may depose me if you please. Tou have
thought proper to break your engagements. I would not mine.
Had I such designs, I could have raised twenty thousand men,
and fought you if I pleased. My son, the Chuta Nabob (Mee^
ran), forewarned me of all this. I desire you will either send
me to Sabut Jung (Lord Clive), for he will do me justice, or let
me go to Mecca ; if not, let me go to Calcutta, for I will not
stay in this place. Tou will, I suppose, let me have my women
and children ; therefore, let me have budgerows and be carried

* Large drams.

CHAP, xvu] C0S8IM ALI MADE NABOR 155

immediately to Momudfaaug.' The Governor saw him 0000
after this, and be made much the same speech to him, addmg, he
could be nowhere safe but under the English protectkm/'
. That Mr. Lushington did not concur very cordially in the
Hteaaures described, may be inferred from his concluding obser*
vations. " The Company," he observes, " are to receive the
countries of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, for this ser-
vice. I therefore should be gkd to know how this Nabob will
be any more able to pay his people than the old man, after hav-
ing given away a third pcurt of his revenues."

There can be but one 4^inion in regard to the moral turpitude
of this transaction, which brought with it, however, its own
punishment, and was very soon felt to be as impolitic as it had
been iniquitous. Meer Jaffier was not indeed put to death :
that would have been a climax too atrocious under the circum-
stances. On the contrary, he was removed with his women and
children to Calcutta, where, upon a pension granted to him out
of the revenues of the ceded provinces, he dwelt in retirement.
But the golden age to which the promoters of this scheme pro-
fessed to look never came at all. They had much mistaken the
character of their puppet. Willing he might be to fulfil lus public
engagements ; at least he rigidly rede^cned the pledges which he
gave to individuals ; but, as Mr. Lushington has well observed,
the power was wanting to him« And then, instead of dealing
fairly by him~ in his straits, they who raised him to the throne
began ixamediately to talk of further changes. But Cossim Ali
was not the sort of man to be set aside without a struggle. He
conducted it fiercely, no doubt, as Indian princes generally do,
and became, on account of the atrocities which he committed, an
object of abhorrence to the English. But let it not be forgotten
that he was driven to madness by the conduct <^ individuals of
that nation. He was first raised to power rashly by one faction in
the Council, which proved too weak to support him in its exer-
cise, and then, in the pursuit of its own interests, and the promo-
tion of its own p<diticsd views, it considered all means justifiable
that promised to accelerate his downfsdl.

The first year of the new Nabob's reign was marked by sue*
cess against his foreign enemies. Major Carnac, who now com-
manded the English troops in Bengal, defeated the Emperor in

156 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xvx.

person ; and a rebellion of the Chief of Beerboom and Burdwan
was suppressed with the aid of a detachment under Major York.
In the former of these engagements M. Law, the last represent-
ative in India of the band of heroes who had fought for supre-
macy there, and well-nigh won it, fell into the hands of the
victor. He was treated by Major Carnac as the brave in success
are in the habit of treating the brave in misfortune, as indeed
was the Emperor himself, on whom, after his defeat. Major
Oamac waited, that he might show him all the marks of respect
that were due to his high station. Such conduct to the fallen,
however rare among semi-barbarous chiefs and natives, is not
lost upon them. The Emperor made peape with Cossim Ali,
and the same year granted him investiture as Soubahdar of
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, on condition that the new Soubahdar
should pay into the imperial treasury an annual tribute of
240,000/.

It is characterbtic of the sort of faith which Indian princes
/^keep with one another, that the Emperor, at the same time that
« he was confirming Cossim Ali in the Soubahdarry of Bengal,
offered to the English, as the price of their assistance in esta^
blishing himself on his father's throne, to confer upon them the
Dewanee, or chief management, of the whole of the financial
L aflairs of the three provinces of which Cossim Ali had become
supreme ruler. I state this fact, because it seems to prove that
the policy subsequently pursued by Clive was no wanton outrage
on the rights of any one — at all events, that the Court of Delhi,
with which in theory if not in fact the right of determining all
questions of the highest import rested, was not opposed to it ;
but for the present the proposition could not be entertained*
The Bengal Government had no funds at its disposal wherewith
to enter upon so remote an expedition ; and the fear of increasing
the alarm and embarrassments of the Company added weight to
the objection. Accordingly, the financial management, not less
than the judicial and military control of the kingdom, devolved
upon the new Nabob ; and he was not slow in convincing both
his allies and his native subjects that, if the exchequer was
doomed to remain empty, it would not be for the lack of endea«
vours on his part to fill it.

One of the first acts of Cossim Ali, after he felt himself secure

<MAP. xvi.l ' MURDER OP RAMNARRAIN. 157

in his seat, was to crush Ramnarndn, the Nabob or Governor of
Patna, who, through evil report and through good, had remained
true to his faith with the English ever since, in the arrangement
of Suraj-u-Dowkh's deposition, he had pledged it. This was
done in the belief that there would be found at Patna treasure
enough to discharge his many obligations ; and, to the disgrace
of Mr. Yansittart's administration, it met with no opposition
from that quarter. To be sure Major Carnac first, and after-
wards Colonel Coote, being successively in command of the
troops, refused to take any part in the transaction — a proceeding
for which, as military men, they were without excuse, however
sound we may feel their views of abstract justice and even
policy to have been. But the only result of their disobedience
of orders was, that they were both superseded, and that Bam-
narrain, falling into the hands of the Nabob, was first imprisoned
and then put to death. Never had judicial murder, more wan-
ton and more unproductive, been perpetrated in India. The
unfortunate Hindoo was found to possess no hoarded treasure ;
and the ignominy attending a gross breach of £uth was all that
resulted from his death both to Cossim Ali and to the English.

Meanwhile the abuses of private trade, to which I have referred
as disturbing the whole course of Meer Jaffier's reign, grew to a
height which could no longer be tolerated. They had their
origin in the short-sighted policy of the Court of Directors,
which, sending gentlemen to India with salaries so small that it
was quite impossible to provide out of them the commonest
necessaries of life, left their servants at liberty to rush into com-
mercial speculations on their own account, and-to make of such
adventures what profit they could. It cannot be said, in extenu^
ation of this error, that it was committed unadvisedly. So early
as the reign of James the First, Sir Thomas Boe had warned the
Company against sanctioning so mischievous a practice. ^^ Ab-
solutely prohibit the private trade," he says ; "for your business
will be better done. I know this is harsh. Men profess they
come not for low wages. But you will take away this plea if
you give great wages to their content; and then you know
what you pay for."

This excellent advice was not followed. From age to age the
Company adhered to the old system, paying low salaries and

158 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xvr.

conniving at the by -gains of its servants. The pay of a member
of Council, at the period of which I now write, was barely SOOL
a-year ; and it was notorious that such a functionary could not
exist in India upon less than ten times that amount. As to lay^
ing by, with a view to spend his latter days at home, that wasr
out of the question, unless, indeed^ he took large advantage of
the facilities of making a fortune which the customs of the ser-
vice afforded. Now no man went to India then — no man goes^
to India now---^xcept in the hope of earning a competen<^ there
on which he may ultimately retire. That, therefore^ which the
Company's servants seek now by competing honourably for site*
ations of responsibility and profit, they sought eighty (ht ninety
years ago by trade ; and the enormous fortunes which most of
them realised proved that they seldom sought in vain. For a
while this system wrought harm only to the body which, sanc-
tioned it. The Company's dividends were diminished in pro-
portion to the amount of profits realised l^ individuals ; and the
servants grew rich whUe the maetera complained of beii^ in dif-
ficulties. But as soon as the Company began to ch^ige its
charaet^, and to stand fotth in the light of a governing body,
the ease was altered. Its sarvaats might retain their old titles
of faetors, junior merchants, and senior meschants; but they
wielded the powers of proconsuls,, proprietors^ and procurators of
extensive provinces* They would have beeu more tham human,
receiving the salaries which they did, had they not abused their
powers. Henceforth the system of private trade became the
fruitful source of q[>presabOQ to the native, and constant pecm*
niary embanrassmeat to the KngliA govenimeiits. And the
cause was this :—

From time immemorial customs had be^i collected all over
India on the transit of goods from one kingdom or province to
another through the inten<H* of the country. The practice pre*
vailed in Bengal, as well as everywhere else; and, as the
importance of the C<Hnpany's dealings increased, it produced
much annoyance and led to many quarrels in consec^uienoe of the
many toUs and inspections to which the merchandize was liable
when in progress to and from the marts of purchase and of sale.
To obviate these inconveniences, it was arranged with the
Nabobs, in explanation of the Emperor's firman, that the Com*

CHAP, xn.] PRIVATE TRADE, 159

paDy's flag and dustuck (or written permit) covering its boats
or other conveyances should secure the goods contained in them
from search; and as the Ckmipany's trade consisted solely of
goods horn foreign parts for sale in the country, or of country
goods for foreign exportation, the privilege only partially inter-
fered with the trade of the interior. So long as the Nabobs and
their officers were in full power, any abuse of this privilege was
easily checked. But wh^ alter the accession of Meer Jaffier,
the English had become all-powerful, and it was dangerous to
interfere with their acts, or to question their proceedings, the
Company's servants, who had still the privilege of trading on
their own account^ not only covered their private adventures
by passports under the Company's name, but all their servants
and dependents claimed an exemption from internal duties on
the same plea, and entered into the internal trade of the country
to an extent which was quite unjustifiable. During the vigorous
administration of Clive such attempts had been rare ; but when
all fear of correction was lost in the increasing weakness of his
successors, men set no linuts to their efforts to enrich themselves.
The Nabob's revenue was injured, and his authority insulted,
in every quarter of his dominions, by the exemptions claimed ioT
the trade of European agents, and the respect demanded for the
persons of the lowest of their servants. Against the pretensions
and excesses of these parties the Nabob made most forcible re-
monstrances, but in vain. Many of the persons of whom he
complained were members of Council ; and complaints against
members of Council, when Clive was not present to receive
them, obtained no hearing. Cossim Ali became impatient of
delay ; and finding his representations produce no effect, and that
the orders of the Grovemment were either evaded or disobeyed,
he himself took and authorised measures of violence to be taken
that increased the discontent and hostility of the party opposed
to Mr. Yansittart ; lor, many of them being the persons chiefly
benefited by the abuses complained of, they of course charged
their obnoxious President with leaving British subjects and
public servants of the Company at the will and mercy of a
capricious tyrant whom he had unjustly raised to the throne.

To remedy these evils, Mr. Vansittart negotiated a treaty by
which, while some advantages were secured for the servants of

160 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xvj*

the Company, many of the privileges hitherto claimed by them
were done away. This treaty, though exceptionable in some of
its clauses, might have operated well enough had Mr. Yansit-
tart's Council been disposed to listen to reason, and .Cossim All
been more temperate. But the Council was not reasonable^
neither was Cossim Ali temperate. The latter trusted to his
judicious and active administration of the customs as one of the
sources out of which he was to discharge the heavy pecuniary
obligations under which he had come to the English ; and as he
adopted the strictest measures for enforcing their collection, the
adjudication and enforcement of all fiscal demands had (unfor-
tunately as afiairs stood) been left in his hands, and numerous
collisions instantly ensued. *' In truth," says Mr. Verelst,* a dis-
passionate observer, ^^ it soon became a personal quarrel. Meer
Cossim, in the orders issued to his officers, distinguished between
the trade of his friends and of those who opposed him, treating
individuals with indecent reproach." This was undoubtedly
true to a certain extent ; but the fault did not rest wholly with
the Nabob. The English traders were as extravagant in their
demands as he was fierce in his measures to resist them ; and the
opponents of Mr. Yansittart, who thought their interests injured,
and who now formed the majority of Council, combined in
measures which soon led to an open rupture.

Meantime the claims set up by the English and their native
servants, for carrying their goods free from the duties paid by
the Nabob's own subjects, became excessive and unbearable.
The whole commerce of the country was thrown, indeed, into
confusion, and ruin was threatened to the Nabob's finances. As
a measure of justice to his own subjects, and to prevent
the daily breaches of the peace which occurred, he saw no
remedy left but to abolish all customs throughout his dominions.
An order was accordingly issued to this efiect ; and the English
private traders, whom it deprived of their iniquitous monopoly,
became furious. The Council took the matter up, exclaimed
against the arrangement as an infraction of the treaty, and sent
two agents, Messrs. Hall and Amyatt, to demand its annulment.
Neither were they content to abide the issue of their own re-

♦ Verelsf s View, p. 47.

CHAP, xn.] 150 EUBOPEANS PUT TO DEATH. 161

monstrance. Having called in most of the heads of factories
£rom the out-stations, and largely increased thereby their ma-
jority over the Governor's party, they began to debate the
propriety of a third revolution, and instructed their people to
arrest the Nabob's revenue officers because they ventured to
obey the orders given to them by the government which they
served. The Nabob became, as might be expected, exceedingly
angry. His indignation was increased by the overbearing tone
which Mr. Ellis, the chief of the Company's establishment in
Patna, assumed towards him ; and he adopted measures which
his enemies in the Council were not slow to accept as a virtual
declaration of war. Two boats, laden with arms, which had
been despatched from Calcutta for the use of the detachment
at Patna, he seized upon the river. He next required that Mr.
Ellis and his armed force should be withdrawn from the city ;
and when Mr. Amyatt proceeded to remonstrate with him on
the proceeding, he broke out into loud complaints of the in-
justice which the English had done him. Mr. Ellis, who had
already obtained permission from the Council to act vigorously
in case of need, seized the citadel. He was instantly attacked
there, and, with the whole of his force, made prisoner ; where-
upon a series of outrages began, which caused every other feel-
ing to merge at Calcutta in that of horror and indignation towards
the perpetrator of them. Mr. Ellis, Mr. Amyatt, and about
150 British subjects more, of whom 50 were officers in the civil
or military service of the Company, were put to death : afler
which the Nabob, evacuating his capital, retired as the British
army advanced, and took refuge at last within the territories of
the Viceroy of Oude.

163 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap< xvWI

CHAPTER XVIL

War vith Cosdm Ali— Restoration of Meer Jaffier— Plans of Clive ibr «
Beform of the Goyemment of Bengal.

It was at this unfortunate moment, when Mr* Yansittart was
already opposed by a majority of his eouncil, that the [Court*»
reply to the offensive letter of 1759 reached Calcutta, and thiU
the four senior members — of whom three were his supporters-
received intimation that they were no longer in the service oi
the East India Company. Feeble before, the President became
henceforth powerless; and a tyrant majority pursued its own
plans to the utmost. It was proposed and carried by vote in
Council that Cossim Ali, having violated his engs^ments, had
ceased to reign. Measures were then taken to -provide an occut
pant of the throne of Bengal ; and the unanimous choice of the
Company's representatives fell upon Meer Jaffier. The prlc^
paid by that weak man for leave to resume the trappings of
royalty was, to be sure, sufficiently high. He made presents to
individuals, confirmed the Company's title to the provinces of
Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, and restored the trade
of the kingdom to its former footing — ^yielding to the English
whatever they demanded, though not unaware of the ruinous
consequences both to the native merchants and to himself. But
Meer Jaffier seems never to have abandoned the hope that Clive
would yet return to Bengal : and when rumours of the event
began to circulate, he took courage to dare everything. He did
not live to witness the realisation of these hopes. After a short
and uneasy reign he died, though not till he had marked his
sense of Clive's merits and of his own esteem and regard for that
great man by bequeathing to him a legacy of not less than
70,000/. sterling.

Meer Jaffier died in February, 1765; and the question was
immediately mooted at Calcutta on whom the succession ought

cWAP. xvn.] NUJEEM-UD-DOWLAfl. 168

to devolve. There were two representatives of the femily of the
deceased Nabob whose claims were supposed to be pretty equally
balanced. Nujeem-ud-Dowlah, the son of Meer Jaffier, had
attained to his twentieth year, and was therefore assumed to
be competent to discharge the functions of royalty in person ;
the grandson of the deceased, being the son of Prince Meeran,
was an in^t of only six years of age. After some delibe-
zation the Council decided that it was better that the soil
of the late Nabob should succeed his &ther ; and the terms on
which he was to be maintained on the throne were proposed,
and, as a matter of course, accepted. They included ail the
privil^es which by former governments had been secured to the
English — that is to say, presents, trade on advantageous terms,
the revenues derived from provinces, and such like; and they
had the new Nabob under other restrictions such as had never
been thought of by his predecessors. Distrusting either his will
or his power so to manage the financial afBurs of the kingdom
ffes that they should suffice to meet the many demands that would
be made upon the royal exchequer, the Council stipulated, first,
that the military defence of the country should devolve wholly on
the English, the Nabob keeping no more troops in pay than might
be necessary for purposes of show ; and next, that he should
i^point as his minister or vicegerent an individual of whom
€faey, the members of Council, might approve. It is right to
observe, however, that this latter article of treaty was not quite
new at the elevation of Nujeem-ud-Dowlah. Meer Jaffier had
been obliged, as part of the price of his restoration, to ac-
cept a similar dry-nurse; and in defiance of the protest of
Mr. Vansittart, was encouraged by the majority to nominate
Nundcomar, a Hindoo of the worst character. But Mr. Van-
sittart had quitted Bengal previously to the demise of Meer
tfaffier ; upon which the Council, as if to make the whole world
aware of the real nature of the principle on which they acted,
icast their own worthless instrument aside. Nujeem-ud-Dowlah
was advised to take into his service Mahommed Eeza Khan,
a Mahommedan nobleman of talent and reputed integrity ; and
Mahommed Beza Khan became in consequence Naib Subah or
minister to the new Nabob.

Meanwhile the spirit of insubordination and rapacity which

m2

164 LIFE OP LORD CUVE. [chap.

'■• 1 II ■ II. J mil II I ■■ _ . . _^-

prevalled among the civil servants of the Company was not sloif
in gaining an ascendancy over the military classes in like mann^»
I have already had occasion to speak of the refusal both of Co*
lonel Calliaud and Colonel Coote to obey the instructions oobt
veyed to them by the supreme government. They set an exampfo
in this which their inferiors were not slow to follow, till by an<}
by orders came to be either obeyed or disregarded, according as
they happened to fall in with the humours or supposed interestf
of the parties receiving them, or the reverse. Both officers and
men likewise learned to regard their pay as a very inconsiderably
portion of the remuneration to which they were entitled. At
each change in the person of the Nabob or his minister they
claimed and received their share in the presents that were going;
while the idea of taking the field, except upon the assurance of
a good douceur at the end of the campaign, would have been
scouted. It was a necessary consequence of this state of feeling,
that the bands of discipline were everywhere relaxed. Desertioof
from the ranks became frequent ; indeed to such a height warn
the matter carried, that from the force which Major Munro com*
manded at Patna, and with which he operated against Cossim
Ali, a whole battalion endeavoured to pass over, with its arm^
and accoutrements, to the enemy. Major Munro acted with gresxi
decision in the case. The battalion was intercepted and broug^
back ; the ringleaders in the mutiny were tried upon the ^pc^
and 24 persons received sentence of death, which was to be car-
ried into execution by blowing them away from the mouths of
cannon. Four grenadiers who happened to be among the parties
doomed claimed as their right the privil^^ of leading the way ia
this march into eternity. Their courage and the spirit which
dictated such an unusual request were much admired, but tbe
executions went forward notwithstanding. The mutiny was sup-
pressed, and the troops behaved ever afterwards with their cos*
tomary valour.

Into the details of the military operations which followed I am
not called upon to enter. They resulted in the entire defeat of
Cossim Ali and his ally Sujah-u-Dowlah, who, being driven out
of Oude, was forced to take refuge among the Rohillas. The
contest was, however, more severe than any in which the Englidi
had as yet been engaged with native troops ; for Cossim Ali had

ckAF. xvu.] OLIVE'S LETTER TO DIRECTOBS. 165

paid great attention to his army, and brought it to a state of very
respectable discipline. But the final issues were so decisive
as to leave the victors little to desire except the discovery of
some fund whence their exhausted treasury might be supplied.
At Madras likewise, as well as in the direction of Bombay, the
foreign politics of the Company prospered, though not without
well-grounded charges against the former Presidency of forget-
ting old friends and services of former years, in the anxiety of
its rulers to extend their power and increase their revenues. But
<^ the issues of the contest into which the Bengal government
had entered nothing was yet known in London, when Lord Olive,
at the urgent request of the Court of Proprietors, consented to
undertake the difficult task of reducing chaos into order. I am
not friendly to the habit of introducing into such narratives as
this long extracts from official correspondence, provided it be
possible, by another and a shorter process, to set the views of the
subject of a memoir on important subjects in a clear light. But
Lord Clive*s letter to the Court of Directors, bearing date the
27th of April, 1764, seems to me so important, that it would be
not more unjust to the character of the writer than unfair towards
my readers were I to withhold it. It is a masterly production,
embracing every difficult point of Indian policy, as well for the
time being as in reference to the future ; for neither the exi-
gencies of the military service nor the evils resulting from the
transfer of officials with superior rule from one Presidency to
another are overlooked in it. And serving, as it will be found
to do, as the sort of text according to which his Lordship's sub-
sequent proceedings when in power were framed and fashioned,
I conceive that, upon the whole, the purpose of my present work
will not be accomplished, unless it be enriched by something
more than a meagre outline of the contents of this important
document.

" In obedience to your commands," he writes, immediately
before joining the ship which was to convey him to the scene
of his labours, " I now transmit the purport of what I had the
honour to represent to you by word of mouth at the last Court
of Directors, with some other particulars which slipped my me-
mory at that time.

*^ Having taken into consideration your letter sent me by the

166 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xtMU

Secretary, as also the request of the General Court of PropHe*
tors, I think myself bound in honour to accept the charge oi
your affiurs in Bengal, provided you will co-operate with, and
assist me in such a manner that I may be able to answer the ex-
pectations and intentions of the General Court.

'^ As an individual, I can have no temptation to undertake this
arduous task, and nothing but the desire I have to be useful to
my country, and to manifest my gratitude to this Company, couM
make me embark in this service, attended as it is with so many
inconveniences to myself and my fiimily. I cannot avoid ac^
knowledging that I quit my native country with some degree of
regret and diffidence, on leaving behind me (as I certainly do) a
very divided and distracted Direction, at a time, too, when una-
nimity is more than ever requisite for the carrying into execution
such plans as are absolutely necessary to the well-being of the
Company.

'^ I shall now enter into a short discussion of your political,
commercial, and military afi^rs in Bengal. Without searching
into the causes of the unhappy revolution in favour of Cosdm
Ali Ehan, I shall only remark, that if the same plan of politics
had been pursued, after he was placed upon the throne, as that
which I had observed towards his predecessor, he might with
great ease have remained there to this day, without having it in
his power to injure either himself or the Company in the manner
he has lately done. Indeed, Mr. Yansittart's ideas in politics
have differed so widely from mine, that either the one or the
other must have been totally in the wrong. Soon after Cossim
Aii Khan was raised to his new dignity, he was suffered to retire
to a very great distance from his capital, that our influence might
be felt and dreaded as little as possible by him : — ^he was suffered
to dismiss all those old officers who had any connexion with, or
dependence upon us ; and, what was the worst of all, our faithful
friend and ally, Ram Narrain, the Nabob of Patna, was given
up ; the doctrine of the Subadar's independency was adopted,
and every method was put in practice to confirm him in it. We
need seek for no other causes of the war ; for it is now some
time that things have been carried to such lengths abroad, that
either the princes of the country must in a great measure b^
dependent on us, or we totally so on them. That the public and

caup. XVII.] CLIVB^ LETTER TO DIRECTORS. 167

oontiBued disapprobadon of Cossim Ali Khan's advancement to
the government, expressed by the gentlemen of Calcutta, in*
creased the Nabob's jealousy, is most true ; and that it was the
duty of every one, after the revolution was once effected, to con-
cur heartily in every measure to support it, cannot be denied. It
is likewise true, that the encroachments made upon the Nabob's
prescriptive rights by the Grovemor and Council, and the rest of
the servants trading in the articles of salt, beetle, and tobacco,
together with the power given by Mr. Yansittart to subject our
gomastahs (or agents) to the jurisdicticHi and inspection . of the
country government, all concurred to hasten and bring on the
late troubles; but still the groundwork of the whole was the
Nabob's independency. It is impossible to rely on the mode-
ration and justice of Mussulmen. Strict and impartial justice
should ever be observed ; but let that justice come from our-
selves. The trade, therefore, of salt, beetle, and tobacco having
been one cause of the present disputes, I hope these articles will
be restored to the Nabob, and your servants absolutely forbid to
trade in them. This will be striking at the root of the evil. The
prohibition of dustucks to your junior servants will, I hope, tend
to restore that economy which is so necessary in your service.
Indeed, if some method be not thought of, and your Council do
not heartily co-operate with your Governor to prevent the sudden
acqubition of fortunes, which has taken place of late, the Com-
pany's afiairs must greatly suffer. What power it may be. proper
to vest me with, to remedy those great and growing evils, will
merit your serious consideration. As a means to alleviate in
some measure the dissatisfaction that such restrictions upon the
commercial advantages of your servants may occasion in them,
it is my full intention not to engage in any kind of trade myself;
so that they will divide amongst them what used to be the Go-
Yemor's portion of commercial advantages, which was always
very considerable."

The next subject to which Lord Clive refers is the state of the
Company's military afiairs in Bengal, of which, while he does
full justice to the gallantry of the native troops, he points out
all the defects. He says, what every other officer of experience
has said since his day, that, however efficient as a supplementary
force the sepoys might be, they were not, except when acting side

168 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [okap. xts;

by side with Europeans, altogether to be relied on. " F<mp tto
good of the Company, therefore," he continues, ^^ I would propose
that you should siways have in Bengal 4000 or at least 3000 Euro*
peans, to consist of three battlions of 700 each, four companies of
artillery of 100 each, and 500 light horse.'' Moreover, as the
King's troops had all been withdrawn, he recommends that, io
order to establish a more effective system of subordination in the
Company's battalions, there should be an immediate increase of
European officers, and that three field-officers should be given to
each of them. '^ I would recommend," he says, ^' the appointing:
three field-officers to every battalion, a colonel, lieutenant-colonel,
and major, and the officers I would choose to command the
battalions should be Majors Camac, Richard Smith, and Preston.
Tou have already done justice to Major Carnac's character by
reinstating him in the conmiand of your forces in Bengal, and l^
acknowledging his services in the most public manner. This
gentleman will, I flatter myself, stand as high in your esteem as
Brigadier-General Calliaud ; and will, I hope, have the same
rank and appointments. The military merits of the other two
gentlemen you are likewise well acquainted with, having both-
received from the Court marks of approbation for their dis-
tinguished services. To command your artillery I would
recommend Sir Robert Barker, whose abilities in that depart*
ment have been exceeded by no officer that ever was in your
service. Tour sepoj8 are already commanded by Major Knox,
whose merits I could wish to have rewarded with a lieutenant**
colonel's commission. Tour horse, when raised, should be com*
manded by a lieutenant-colonel, or major.

<<I have very strong reasons to wish this idea of la-
menting your troops may take place ; for without such a sub*
ordination I shall not be able to enforce your orders for the
reduction of your military expenses, which have been a constant
dead- weight, and have swallowed up your revenues. I could
wish, that whatever emoluments are unavoidable may fidl to
those few who, having been long, are high in your service,
whether civil or military. Thus will the expense be scarce felt
by the Company, in comparison to what it is at present, whrni,
for want of due subordination, every one thinks himself entitled
to every advantage ; and the juniors in your service be excited

CBAP. xvn.] CLIVE'S SUGGESTIONS. 169

to exert themselves, from a certain knowledge that application
and abilities only can restore them to their native country with
fortunes honourably acquired."

These are explicit and statesmanlike suggestions. Neither are
liOrd Clive's views of the best manner of recruiting for the Indian
army unworthy of being placed upon record, especially at a time
when the wants and wishes of the British soldier are attracting
the degree of public attention which has been too long withheld
from them. Lord Clive, like every other officer of experience
and strong mind, condemns the crimping system which prevailed
in his day, and has not, we are afraid, as yet altogether ceased
to be acted upon. His project was to obtain permission of the
Crown to keep on foot in England two battalions of Company's
troops, each 500 strong, with its due proportion of officers,
which might serve as a nucleus round which volunteers might
gather, in order to be taught, ere they should be sent to India,
some knowledge of their drill, and the rudiments, at least, of
soldier-like habits. He further advised that the services of
Colonel Coote and Colonel Forde should be rewarded by placing
them at the head of these battalions respectively.

Last of all, he notices the distracted state of the Government
Councils at Calcutta, and accounts for them. ^'The heart-
burnings and disputes, which seem to have spread and overrun
your settlement of Calcutta, arose, I must fear, originally from
your appointment of Mr. Yansittart to the government of Bengal
from another settlement, although hb promotion was the effect
of my recommendation. The appointment, therefore, of Mr.
Spencer from Bombay, can only tend to inflame these dissen-
sions, and to destroy all those advantages which the Company
only can expect from harmony and unanimity abroad. The
resignation of Messrs. Verelst, Cartier, and many other of the
senior servants, which must be the consequence of Mr. Spencer's
appointment, will deprive me of those very gentlemen on whose
assistance Tdepend for re-establishing your afiairs in Bengal."

Lord Clive was not, however, satisfied with j^oiuting out
defects : he avowed his determination, if rightly supported from
home, to provide a remedy for them. After deprecating all
attempts at extending too &r the territorial dominion of the
Company, and advising such a course of general policy as

170 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE [cmap. xvi»

should convince the Nabob, whoever he might be, and his prin'^
cipal officers, that the Company had both the power and the wil}
to protect them, not only against foreign enemies, but each against
the unjust aggressions of the other, he thus expresses himself :--i

<< To carry this balance with an even hand, the strictest .in-
tegrity will be necessary in every one who shall have a vote in
your councils abroad. I found myself every day assaulted by
large offers of presents, from the principal men of the province^
not to support the Nabob in resolutions contrary to their in-
terests ; and from the Nabob, to sacrifice them to his capricious
resentments. . .

^^ But even this conduct alone will not be sufficient to keep us
from giving umbrage. During Mr. Yansittart's government^
all your servants thought themselves entitled to take large
shares in the monopolies of salt, beetle, and tobacco, the three
articles, next to grain, of greatest consumption in the empire.;
The odium of seeing such monopolies in the hands of foreigners
need not be insisted on ; but this is not the only inconvenience :
it is productive of another, equally, if not more prejudicial to the
Company's interests ; it enables many of your servants to obtain^
very suddenly, fortunes greater than those which in fonner times
were thought a sufficient reward for a long continuance in your
service. Hence these gentlemen, thus suddenly enriched, think
of nothing but of returning to enjoy their fortunes in England,
and leave your affiiirs in the hands of young men, whose san-
guine expectations are inflamed by the examples of those who
have just left them.

" This, therefore, will be the greatest difficulty which I shall
have to encounter ; to persuade, or, if necessary, to oblige your
servants to be content with, advantages much inferior to those
which, by the prescription of some years, they may think them-
selves entitled to. Yet if this is not done, your a£&irs can never
be settled on a judicious and permanent plan. My fortunes, my
family, and the other advantages I may be possessed of, will
naturally make me wish to accomplish my intentions for the Com-
pany's service abroad as soon as possible, that I may return to my
native country, which, it. cannot be imagined, that I quit without
some regrets ; but if I should meet in your councils abroad men
whom private interest may render averse to my maxims, I shall,

CHAP, xvn.] CLIVE^ SUGGESTIONS. 171

p^haps, instead of settling your affidrs as may be expected from
me, find myself harassed and over-ruled in every measure by a
majority against me in council.

^* It therefore rests with the Court of Directors to consider,
aeriously, whether they should not intrust me with a dispensing
power in the civil and political affidrs ; so that whensoever I
may think proper to take any resolution entirely upon myself
tthat resolution is to take place. The French Company gave
Mr. Godeheu sole and absolute control over all their settlements
to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, at a time when their
affairs were not in a worse condition than ours are at present.
In India we ourselves have had examples of supervisors. I
myself was intrusted with great powers by the gentlemen of
Madras, when I went down to Bengal against Suraj-u-Dowlah ;
the use which I made of these powers will, I hope, justify my
opinion, that I may, without danger, be intrusted with an au-
thority so highly necessary at present. The occasions of exerting
it will rarely happen, but will certainly happen at times, when
^11 may be lost for want of it. Moderation, I will venture to
say, was always a part of my character in political concerns ; and
as a means to induce the gentlemen abroad to contract their
views of private advantage within the bounds essentially neces-
sary to the interests of the Company, the first step. I shall take
will be, to give up to them every commercial advantage, as I
did during my last residence in Bengal. I need not mention
that these advantages are, to a Governor, great, and adequate to
his station.

^* To prevent dissensions, I am willing to receive a military
commission inferior to General Lawrence's ; but that gentleman
has received from the Court of Directors so very extensive a
power over all their forces in India, that the presidency at which
he resides, is, in fact, little less than the residence of a Governor-
General over all your settlements in India. If ever the appoint-
ment of such an officer as Governor-general should become ne-
cessary, it is evident that he ought to be established in Bengal,
as the greatest weight of your civil, commercial, political, and
military affairs will always be In that province. It cannot,
therefore, be expected that I should be subject to have any part
of the military forces allotted for that province recalled or with-

172 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xvni

held from me at the will of an officer in another part of India ;
or that even the presence of that officer in Bengal should, in any
way, interfere with my military authority in that province. It
will likewise be necessary (at least until affairs in Bengal are
restored to perfect tranquillity) that whatever troops, treasures,
or other consignments may be destined from England to that
presidency^ shall not, as usual, be stopped and employed by any
of the other presidencies at which they may chance to arrive in
their passage towards the Granges."

With the dictatorial powers here applied for, the Court of
Directors did not judge it expedient to intrust Lord Clive ; but
they took a course which, for all practical purposes, gave pro-
mise of a happy result. A select committee was appointed at
home, with power to supersede the authority of the President and
Council ; and such gentlemen being nominated to serve as were
understood to be both personally and on principle attached to
Clive, and steady advocates of his opinions, no serious opposition
to his views could well be anticipated. The committee in ques-
tion consisted of Lord Clive, General Camac, Mr. Verelst,
Mr. Sumner, Mr. Sykes,— of whom the two latter accompanied
Lord Clive from England, and gave him, from first to last, an
unwavering support.

M«te

CHAP, xym.] PKEPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 178

CHAPTER XVIII.

ClWe reaches Cmlcutta— Proeeedings in Conndl.

There were one or two points which Clive was very desirous to
settle previously to his departure for India. Foremost among
these may be accounted the arrangement of a plan for the entire
depression of the individual whom he hated with no ordinary
Tancour ; and who, to do him justice, returned the feeling, if
with less ostentation of bitterness, with at least as much of its
reality. Clive had succeeded in excluding Mr. Sulivan from
the chair by making such exclusion one of the terms on which
alone he would consent to re-enter the service of the Company.
He now besought his friends to use every possible exertion to
fihut him out from the direction altogether. In this he did not
imcceed ; for Mr. Yansittart, immediately on his return to Eng-
land, took Mr. Sulivan's part, and inflamed, by so doing, into
hostility the estrangement which had already b^^n between
himself and Lord Clive. Clive's next proceeding — which proved
more easy of accomplishment — ^was to separate himself from all
political connexion with the parties in Parliament. His personal
T^ard for Mr. Grenville continued unabated; and he de-
sired the seven members whom he returned to the House of
Conuuons to vote on all subjects as he himself would have done
— that is, so as to strengthen the hands of his friend. But nei-
ther the Administration as such, nor Lord Bute and his partisans,
exercised, at this time, any influence upon his sympathies. He
was therefore well pleased to be set free from all ties except
those of personal predilection, and acted with great judgment in
the matter. Finally, his more private and family concerns, in
some measure, arranged themselves. Lady Clive remained at
home to superintend the education of his children ; and of his
estates, houses, and money — agents in whom he reposed con-
fidence took charge. Thus relieved from anxiety in regard to

174 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap.'

matters in Europe, he turned hb thoughts earnestly and ex^
sively to the East, whither he was proceeding, with no vie?
make additions to his already princely fortune, but simply ;
solely in order to accomplish great public good, and to encoa
both obloquy and opposition in the process. I

On the 4th of June, 1764, Lord Clive, attended by Me _
Sumner and Sykes, embarked at Portsmouth on board the Kent| .
and just before sun-set the same evening the ship got undeil*
weigh. They had the satisfaction of knowing that preparationf
were in some measure made for the course of stem yet necessary
reform on which they were about to enter. The Directors, con*
vinced that the great moving cause of all the revolutions which
had succeeded the first in the kingdom of Bengal was the expecta*
tion, encouraged by members of Council and others, of growing
rich upon the plunder of newly-made Nabobs, had already issued
an order that no more presents should on any account whatever
be accepted by their servants from native princes or their mi-
nisters. They had followed up this regulation by transmitting
a form of engagement, which all persons acting under their
authority were required to ratify, and of which the effect was to
bind the parties so signing to pay into the Company's treasury,
on pain of dismissal, the full amount of such gifts as, subse*
quently to the receipt of the Court's order, might have been forced
upon them. These facts were well known to Clive and his col*
leagues, who had besides ample time to discuss the defects of the
existing 'system of management, and consider the means of remiedy
which presented themselves. And, as the best understanding
subsisted among them, they were strengthened to undertake the
task by the reflection, that, so long as they should act honestly
and vigorously together, it was always in their power, by com-
manding a majority of votes, to command at the same time suc-
cess, at least at the outset.

* The outward voyage of the Kent, without being attended with
any positive danger, was tedious and disagreeable. It occupied
eleven months ; and the ship, either compelled by stress of wea-
ther, or being forced to seek a supply of water and fresh pro-
visions, put in at Rio Janeiro. It is well known that at this time
ihe alliance between England and Portugal was, for obvious rea-
sons, close and strict. Portugal having everything to fear from

CHAP.XTin.] ABBIVAL AT CALCUTTA. 175

her nearest neighbour, could not look, except with extreme jea-
lousy, at the fiunily compact, which, whatever might be its object
in other directions, exposed her independence to be assailed at
any moment by the united forces of France and Spain. She
therefore clung to England with a confiding tenacity, of which
the stronger power took no undue advantage, and enlisted, by so
doing, the sympathies of English statesmen of every party in
her fiivour. Among others, Lord Clive seems to have bestowed
upon her ticklish concerns some small share of his parliamentary
care; and now, being brought into personal contact with the
most important of her transatlantic settlements, he examined it
with a soldier's eye, and made a report of its helpless state to the
King's government. The report, which was conveyed in a private
letter to Mr. Grenville, is eminently characteristic of the man :-«
^^ I should think myself," he says, << deserving of everlasting in-
£uny if I did not, with a single battalion of infiuitry, make
myself master of Rio Janeiro in 24 hours." Lord Clive, it will
be observed, wrote and spoke on all occasions as he always felt,
and generally acted, in extremes. His judgment in regard to
the worthlessness of the defences of Rio Janeiro seems, however,
to have been correct; and the Home Government advertising
the Cabinet of Lisbon of the fact, the ^works were put in a better
state, and armed with guns less << unserviceable and honey*
€3ombed."

It was towards the end of April, 1765, ere the vessel in which
Lord Clive had taken his passage entered the Hooghly. On the
morning of the drd of May he himself reached Calcutta, and the
same afternoon b^an to study the Minutes of Council, in order,
as he expresses it, that ^' by seeing what had been done he might
be able to form a clearer opinion of the plan of operations on
which it would be necessary to act." He was not slow in dis-
covering that a gross and flagrant breach had been committed of
the Company's orders on a point concerning which no evasions
or subterfuges could any longer be admitted. The Lapwing
packet conveying the covenant, of which I have elsewhere spoken,
as well as the Court's explanation of the same, had arrived at
Calcutta on the 24th of January. From that day forth, there-
fore, practices heretofore connived at, because nowhere forbidden,
became illegal ; and parties falling into them lay open to the pe-

176 LIFE OF LOBD CLIVE. [chap. xwxj%

nalties which in the Court's letter were threatened. It further
appeared that the letter in question had been read, criticised,
and partially acted upon. It conveyed instructions for the r^^*-
lation of the private trade, as well as urgent notes concerning
the issue of batta, or field-allowances to the troops, and to these
the Council paid some attention. But a third subject, more Im-
portant than either of which the despatch treated, seemed to have
been passed over in silence. Meer Jaffier died on the 6th of
February, that is to say, thirteen days subsequently to the receipt
of the communication which prohibited the Company's servants
from accepting presents. Within a day or two of the decease
of his fether, Nujeem-ud-Dowlah was communicated with, and a
bargain struck, whereby, on his engaging to pay to the GovenHMP
and Council the sum of 200,000/. sterling, his succession to the
vacant throne was secured to him. Nothing could exceed the
indignation of Clive when this atrocious fact forced itself on his
notice. He saw that no terms could be kept with men who
were capable of thus setting the declared will of their superiors
at nought ; and he took the earliest opportunity of convincing
them that the powers which he had received from their common
masters in London he was prepared to wield unflinchingly. Ott
the 5th of May a meeting of Council was held ; of the remark^
able proceedings at which Clive, and Clive alone, must give aa
account. Having described in a letter to^Greneral Carnac how
the different commands in the army were distributed, and corre-
sponding rank bestowed upon its principal officers, he goes on to
say : —

" After this matter was settled, I desired the Board would
order those paragraphs relative to the power of the committee
to be transmitted to the chiefs and council of the subordinate
settlements, to the Commander-in-chief of the army, and to the
two presidencies of Madras and Bombay, that they might know
what powers the committee were invested with. I then ac-
quainted the Board, that the committee was determined to make
use of the power invested in them, to its utmost extent ; that the
condition of the country, and the very being of the Company
made such a step absolutely necessary. Mr. Leycester seemed
inclined to enter into a delmte about the meaning and extent <rf
those powers, but I cut him short, by informing the Board, that

c^AP. xvin.] CLIVBTS FIRMNESS. 177

1 would not suffer any one to enter into the least discussion
abo^t the meaning of those powers ; but that the committee
alone were absolutely determined to be the sole and only judges ;
but that they were at liberty to enter upon the face of the con-
sultations any minutes they thought proper, but nothing more.
Mr. Johnstone desired that some other paragraphs of the letter
might be sent to the different subordinates, &c., as tending, I
believe, in his opinion, to invalidate those orders. Upon which
I asked him, whether he would dare to dispute our authority ?
Mr. Johnstone replied, that he never had the least intention of
doing such a thing ; upon which there was an appearance of very
long and pale countenances, and not one of the council uttered
another syllable. After despatching the current business, the
Board broke up, and to-morrow we sit in committee, when I
make no doubt of discovering such a scene as will be shocking
to human nature. They have all received immense sums for
this new appointment, and are so shameless, as to own it pub-
licly. Hence we can account for the motive of paying so little
respect to me and the committee ; and, in short, every thing of
benefit to themselves they have in this hasty manner concluded,
leaving to the committee the getting the covenants signed, which
they say is ofsuch consequence, that they cannot think of set-
tling any thing final about them until Lord Clive's arrival.

^^ Alas ! how is the English name sunk ! I could not avoid
paying the tribute of a few tears to the departed and lost fame
of the British 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 here-
after, that I am come out with a mind superior to all corruption,
and that I am determined to destroy those great and growing
evils, or perish in the attempt.

" I hope, when matters are a little settled, to set out for the
army ; bringing with me full power for you and me to settle
every thing for the best."

Bold, imperious, intolerant of contradiction, Clive was the
very man to deal with a state of society so demoralized as that
on which he had now fallen. It mattered nothing to him that
the advocates of corruption pleaded his own example as the
groundwork of the system on which they acted. He had argu-

178 LIFE^OP LORD CLIVE. [chap.

m^nU at command wherewith to rebut their reasoning, which,
whatever weight they might receive from others, appeared per-
fectly satisfactory to himself. In the first place, he contended
that the original conspiracy which broke the line of succession to
the throne of Bengal could be considered as nothing more than
an experiment* Large gifts were accepted on that occasion from
Meer Jaflier, because everybody believed the wealth of the king-
dom to be inexhaustible ; but experience had demonstrated the
fallacy of this opinion, and it became not more unjust than im-
politic to burthen the successors of Meer Jaffier with obliga-
tions which none knew better than the members of Council, who
imposed them, that they could not discharge except at the
expense of ruin to the Nabob and incalculable damage to the
interests of the Company. In the next place Clive affirmed
that the overthrow of Suraj-u-Dowlah, and the elevation of
Meer Jaffier, had been the work of the people of Bengal them-
selves, the English taking part in it as allies and subordinates
only. It was not so with the deposition of Meer Jaffier, and
still less with tiie advancement of the reigning Nabob to the
throne ; and in the case of Cossim Ali, however necessary his re-
moval might have latterly become, he was clearly at the outset
j^ther a sufferer from the wrongs of others than an abuser of
the privileges which appertained to his office. The revolution,
therefore, which had displaced his own protege Clive condemned
as uncalled for and iniquitous, which was only to be accounted
for by looking to the cupidity of those who had been parties to
it. But Clive, while he reprobated the whole transaction as a
violation of policy and good feiith, brought no special charges
against the recipients of Cossim All's booty. They did what
they were not prohibited from doing ; they enriched themselves
by a process which, however reprehensible, had not yet been
condemned by the voice of authority. The case was different
with regard to the transactions which accompanied the establish-
ment of the reigning Nabob in his seat. In the face of a Court's
order, the representatives of the Company had set up the crown
of Bengal for sale, and put the purchase-money into their own
pockets. They had hurried forward the transaction, too, with a
precipitation which showed that they were aware of its ill^ality,
and feared lest, by the arrival of the Committee, it might be in-

CHAP, xviii.] OPPOSITION IN COUNCIL. 179

temipted. Clive used no measured language in liis condemna*
tion of the whole proceeding, and looked anxiously about for
means whereby to compel the chief actors in it to disgorge their
ill-gotten gains.

Lord Clive had few friends in the Council. General Camac
was, indeed, attached to him by the ties of old association, and
Mr. Yerelst, besides that his views were shown to be more sound
than those of his colleagues in general, might be expected to go
with the select committee, of which he had been nominated a
member. But all the rest, with here and there an exception —
in which latter class I ^must not forget to state that Warren
Hastings ranged himself — abhorred the new Governor's prin-
ciples as much as they dreaded his power. An attempt was
therefore made to get up an opposition to the Committee, of
which two members of Council, Messrs. Johnstone and Ley«
eester, put themselves at the head. It proved imminently un-
successful. I have already introduced Lord Clive to the reader's
notice as chronicler of the circumstances which attended his first
i4)pearance at the Board. The following portion of a letter, ad-
dressed on the 11th of May to Mr. Palk, at that time Governor
of Madras, will show that the writer was not disposed to lose, by
hesitation or delay, whatever advantages had accrued to him
from an energetic commencement of his labours. His business
on the occasion here referred to was to exact from each of the
gentlemen present a personal ratification of the covenant, which
had been permitted to lie over since the 24th of January, and to
send it forth to the out-stations, in order that it might receive the
signatures of the chiefs of factories and their subordinates : —

" At the first meeting, the gentlemen began to oppose and
•treat me in the manner they did Vangittart, by disputing our
power, and the meaning of the paragraph in the Company's ge-
neral letter. However, I cut that matter short, by telling them
they should not be the judges of that power, nor would we allow
them to enter into the least discussion about it ; but that they
might enter their dissents in writing, upon the face of the con-
sultations. This brought matters to a conclusion, and spared us
the necessity of making use of force, to put the Company's inten-
tions into execution. We arrived on Tuesday, and effected this
on Thursday. On Friday we held a committee ; and on Monday

n2

180 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [ghap.xtiSI^

was read before the council the following resolution from th9
committee book : — * Resolved, that it is the opinion of this com*
mittee, that the covenants be executed immediately by the rest
of the Council, and all the Company's servants.' After maajr
idle and evasive arguments, and being given to understand they
must either sign or be suspended the service, they executed the
covenants upon the spot. From this you will see what I had the
honour to inform you of, that I am determined upon an absolute
reformation ; but here we must act with caution, until a peace is
established, which I do not despair of accomplishing during tim
rains.

" It gives me infinite concern to inform you that Mr. Spencer
(of whom I had the highest opinion) is by no means the man of
integrity or abilities that I took him to be ; being deeper in the
mire than the rest, and who appears to me to have been seduced
and led astray by Johnstone and Leycester, having never had
any will or opinion of his own, since he came to the chair. In-
deed, the dignity of governor is sunk even beyond contempt
itself; and the name of Council only heard of in these parts.
Would you believe that in his letters to the Nabob and others he
has submitted to write, * I and the Council ?'

" We are waiting the arrival of the Nabob and his ministry^
to determine whether we shall suspend them (the obnoxious
members) the service, or represent matters in a general light,
leaving to the Directors to determine their state ; though I am
persuaded they will never wait such a decision, having all of
them received large fortunes, which they barefacedly confess,
for absolutely and precipitately concluding the late treaty with
the young Nabob ; not waiting for our approbation, or leaving
it in our power to rectify the least tittle, without being guilty of
a breach of faith.

" The large sums of money already received, and obligations
given for the rest, on account of this treaty, are so very notorious
through the whole town, and they themselves have taken such
little pains to conceal them, that we cannot, without forfeiting
our honour and reputation, possibly avoid a retrospection as fer
back as the receipt of the- covenants and Meer Jaffier's death. If
we should call upon you hereafter for the assistance of Messrs.
Broke, Russell, Kelsall, Floyer, and two or three more, we are

CHAP, xvm.] SOURCE OP REVENUE. Igt

persuaded your zeal for the service will not let you hesitate a
moment about sending them by the first conveyance. However,
you will keep the contents of this paragraph to yourself, till you
hear from the committee or me upon the subject."

The sale of the musnud, or throne of Bengal, was an affair
completed. A good deal of mystery, likewise, had been pre-
served by the chief agents in the transaction regarding the sums
of money which fell to the share of individuals ; and Clive,
though burning with anxiety to punish, and, if possible, strip
the delinquents of their ill-gotten gains, found difficulty in bring-
ing the matter home to them in a moment. It was not so in
reference to the private trade, in which every man professing to
be in the service of the Company, whether white or black, mem-
ber of council or junior writer, was engaged to an enormous ex-
tent. The three articles in which these persons chiefly dealt
were salt, beetle-nuts, and tobacco, of which the value may be
estimated when I state, that out of the duties, by no means im-
moderate, levied upon the two latter, and the monopoly which
they had from time immemorial enjoyed on the former, the Na-
bobs of Bengal derived no trivial portion of their revenues. To
a share in the profits arising from this trade none of the Com-
pany's servants ever thought of admitting the Company itself.
The general commerce was carried on by the exchange of goods
manufactured in Europe for Indian silks, cottons, and other com-
modities, which might be turned to account in European mar-
kets — or for specie, or specie's worth, which, being conveyed to
China, enabled the masters of ships to lay in their cargoes of
tea, the sale of which in London realized in a great measure their
dividends for the stockholders. The particular or private trade
was in articles of which the consumption went on in the country
itself, and the unfair advantages which they possessed in con-
ducting it, enabled the Company's servants to drive every native
merchant out of the market. I have elsewhere taken occasion
to state, that so long as Clive presided over the afl^irs of Bengal,
this abuse, if not absolutely repressed, was kept within narrow
limits. But immediately on his departure the very semblance of
moderation was dropped ; and the consequences were such as the
course of this narrative has made apparent.

It k due to the Court of Directors to state that, mistaken in

182 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [caAP. xnu^

their views as they often were, they gave no coantenanc^, hot
the reverse, to such proceedings. Many of their letters speak
of the system in terms of strong condemnation ; and two in par-
ticular, written about this time, are expressed in language s^
becoming, that they well deserve transcription. But the reader,
while he follows these, will do scant justice to the subject if
he forget that the Court had made no motion towards rabing thiy
salaries of their servants in Bengal from the miserable pittances
at which they had hitherto stood. It was manifest, likewise, from
their manner of replying to Olive's suggestions on this subject^
that the idea of disbursing largely out of their own funds met
with little encouragement among them. Now Clive knew, what
indeed could not but be known everywhere else, that to expect
honesty from ill-paid functionaries, to whom safe opportunities
of enriching themselves by underhand means are abundant, is to
expect more than the frailty of human nature will sanction.
What was he to do ? On the one hand, his own sense of right,
not less than his duty to the Oompany, required that at all ha*
zards he should put a stop to the private trade system ; on the
other, his knowledge of mankind assured him that all the regula^^
tions which he could frame would be snapped like the withes in
the hand of the giant, unless the parties affected by them were
assured in some other way of earning a competency.

Let me, however, before I go further, put the court in a fimr
light by transferring to these pages portions of two despatches
which Olive received during the first year of what may be called
his reform government of Bengal. The former, which is dated
the 26th of April, 1765, refers to the arguments of those who
endeavoured to defend their right to trade in the three commo*
dities specified above, by reference to the old imperial firman or
licence.

** Treaties of commerce are understood to be for the mutual
benefit of the contracting parties. Is it then possible to suppose
that the Oourt of Delhi, by conferring the privilege of trading
free of customs, could mean an untaxed trade in the commodities
of their own country at that period unpractised and unthoug^t of
by the English, to the detriment of their revenues and the ruin
of their own merchants ? We do not find such a construction
was ever heard of till our own servants first invented it, and

I

CHAP. XVIII.] THE COURT'S LETTERS. 183

afiterwards supported it by violeoce. Neither could it be claimed
by the subsequent treaties with Meer Jaffier, or Cossim Ali,
which were never understood to give one additional privilege of
tirade b^ond what the firman expressed. In short, the specious
arguments used by those who pretended to set up a right to it
convince us they did not want judgment, but virtue to withstand
the temptation of suddenly amassing a great fortune, although
acquired by meaas incompatible with the peace of the country,
and their duty to the Company.

" Equally blameable were they who, acknowledging they had
BO right to it, and sensible of the ill consequences resulting from
assuming it, have, nevertheless, carried on this trade, and used
the authority of* the Company to obtain, by a treaty exacted by
violence, a sanction for a trade to enrich themselves, without the
least regard or advantage to the Company, whose forces they
employ^ to protect them in it.

^^ Had this short question been put, which their duty ought
first to have suggested, * Is it for the interest of our employers ?*
they would not have hesitated one moment about it ; but this
criterion seems never once to have occurred.

^^ All barrios being thus broken down between the English
and the country government, and everything out of its proper
channel, we are at a loss how to prescribe means to restore order
£rom this confusion ; and being deprived of that confidence which
we hoped we might have placed in our servants, who appear to
have been the actors in these strange scenes, we can only say,
that we rely on the zeal and abilities of Lord Clive, and the gen*
tlemen of the Select Committee, to remedy these evils. We
hope they will restore our reputation among the country powers,
and convince them of our abhorrence of oppression and rapa*
ciousness."

In a second letter, of date 19th of February, 1766, the Court
again writes—

" With respect to the treaty with Nujeem-ud-Dowlah, it is
prc^r here to insert, at length, the fifth article, which runs in
these words : — ' I do ratify and confirm to the English the pri-
vilege granted them by their firman, and several husbul-
faookums, of carrying on their trade, by means of their own
dustueks^ free from all duties, taxes, or impositions, in all parts

184 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xvm.

of the country, except in the article of salt, on which the duty
of two and a half per cent, is to be levied on the Rowana or
Hooghley market price/ This fifth article is totally repugnant
to our own order, contained in our general letter, by the Kent
and Lapwing, dated the 1st of June, 1764 ; in which we not
only expressed our abhorrence of an article in the treaty with
Meer Jaffier, literally corresponding with the present fifth article,
but in positive terms directed you, in concert with the Nabob,
to form an equitable plan for carrying on the inland trade,
and transmit the same to us, accompanied by such explanations
and remarks as might enable us to give our sentiments and direc-
tions thereupon. We must remind you, too, that in our said
general letter we expressly directed, that our orders, in our letter
of the 8th of February preceding, which were to put a final and
effectual end to the inland trade in salt, beetle-nut, and tobacco,
and in all other articles produced and consumed in the country,
should remain in force, until an equitable and satisfactory plan
could be found and adopted. As, therefore, there is not the
least latitude given you for concluding any treaty whatsoever
respecting this inland trade, we must and do consider what you
have done as an express breach and violation of our orders, and
as a detrimental resolution to sacrifice the interest of the Com«-
pany, and the peace of the country, to lucrative and selfish
views.

" This unaccountable behaviour put an end to all confidence
in those who made this treaty, and forces us to resolve on mea-
sures for the support of our authority, and the preservati<Hi of
the Company. We do therefore pronounce, that every servant
concerned in that trade stands guilty of a breach of his covenants
with us and of our orders ; and in consequence of this resolution,
we positively direct, that if that treaty is now subsisting, you
make a formal renunciation, by some solemn act to be entered
on your records, of all right under the said treaty, or otherwise,
to trade in salt, beetle-nut, and tobacco ; and that you transmit
this renunciation of that part of the treaty, in form, to the Na-
bob, in the Persian language* Whatever government may be
established, or whatever unforeseen occurrences may arise, it is
our resolution to prohibit, and we do absolutely forbid, this trade
pf salt, beetle-nut, and tobacco, and of all articles that are not for

CHAP, xvra.] THE COURTS LETTERS. 185

export and import, according to the spirit of the firman, which
does not in the least give any latitude whatsoever for carrying
on such an inland trade ; and, moreover, we shall deem every
European concerned therein, directly or indirectly, guilty of a
breach of his covenants, and direct that he be forthwith sent to
England, that we may proceed against him accordingly. And
every native who shall avail himself of our protection to carry
this trade on, without paying all the duties due to the govern-
ment equally with the rest of the Nabob's subjects, shall forfeit
that protection, and be banished the settlement ; we direct, that
these resolutions be signified publicly throughout the settle-
ment."

This letter, of the abstract justice of which it is impossible to
speak too highly, was written under a misapprehension of the
circumstances of the country, and of the end to which Olive's
able policy was tending, I have inserted it only for the purpose
of showing that, however they might err in regard to the reme-
dies fit to be applied, the Court of Directors were not at this
time disposed to sanction the iniquitous proceedings or their ser-
vants ; and it is proper that the reader should be fully alive to
this fact, otherwise he will fail to notice the true source of the
persecutions to which Lord Olive, afler his return to England,
became exposed. But before it reached Olive's hands he had
taken his own course; and knowing it to be the best which
under existing circumstances lay open to him, he declined to be
drawn out of it. I will endeavour to explain, in few words,
what he desired to do, what he actually did, and what were the
consequences, immediate as well as remote, of the arrangements
into which he entered.

186 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [cttAP. xt**"

CHAPTER XIX.

Olive's reforms continued.

It was Lord Olive's deliberate opinion that no person employed
in the service of the East India Company should be permitted,
under any circumstances, to embark in trade on his own account*
He believed, with Sir Thomas Roe, that the Company would
gain far more than individuals by the arrangement. Difficulties
would doubtless attend the attempt to eradicate a system which
was as old as the existence of the Company itself; but there was
needed in his opinion, only firmness, Combined with liberality on
the part of the Home authorities, to overcome them. In the
first place, a revision of salaries would be indispensable. To
every youth entering the service, whether as a civilian or a sol-
dier, such pay must be allowed as would enable him to support,
with economy, his proper position in India, and assure to him —
with the fair chance of promotion which he would be supposed
to enjoy — a reasonable prospect of retiring after he should have
attained to middle life, with a decent competency to the land df
his birth. In the next place, the practice of making promotion
depend altogether on seniority ought to be set aside. In ordi-
nary cases men of faithful and long service ought never to be
passed over ; but to adhere absolutely to the rule of age was to
take away all spur to exertion, and to render inevitable a steady
supply of mediocrity in places where more than mediocrity-
might sometimes be required. On the other hand, Clive con-
ceived that excess of remuneration to the junior ranks, whether
of the civil or military branch of the Company's service, could
not but operate prejudicially ; and, if the argument held good
where regular pay alone was given, it told with infinitely greater
weight against arrangements which threw young men in the way
of accumulating, by commerce or otherwise, large fortunes in
the course of a few years. Individuals so favoured never found

CHAP, XIX.] OLIVE'S EMBAKRASSMENT. 187

it worth while to hang on, under the pressure of an unhealthy
climate, in order that they might ultimately succeed to places of
power to which no proportionate emolument was attached. No
sooner had they realized as much as promised to support them at
home in the style to which their ambition pointed, than they
threw up the service ; which was thus left to be managed by a
succession of raw lads, under the control of functionaries either
too rich to care very much about it, or too greedy of gain to
withdraw their attention from the management of their own
business. But, to counterbalance this clipping at one end, Lord
Clive was most desirous of adding largely to the other. As
men rose from the rank of junior to that of senior merchant,
their pay should be increased. When they went forth as clerks
into the remote Stories, an increase ought to take place on a
still more liberal scale ; and finally, as Members of Council and
Government secretaries, it was fitting that they should be raised
not only above the annoyance of everything like want for the
present, but be relieved of all anxiety in regard to the future.

Of the working of this principle as he desired to apply it to
the army, I shall take occasion to speak when I come to describe
his dealings with that body. My present business is with the
civil service exclusively, which he urged the Court of Directors
to put upon a proper footing, pointing out to them that their
position in India was wholly changed, and that rules which had
answered imperfectly for the guidance of commercial establish-
ments were altogether inapplicable to the condition of a sub-
stantive and political power. But the time had not yet arrived
for the accomplishment of so important a change. Neither the
Directors nor the Proprietors were able to realize the fact that
they occupied ground in India very different from that which it
had entered into their most sanguine anticipations to desire ;
and while^they saw and denounced the wrongs of which their
trading representatives were guilty, they refused to close the
door of commerce against them by such a process as Lord Clive
recommended. How was he, under such circumstances, to pro-
ceed ? He could not say to Members of Council, " You must
live henceforth on your salaries. The Company forbids you to
trade. I have no power except to see that their orders are
carried into effect. You must therefore do as well as you can

188 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xnt.

with your 300/. per annum apiece, or resign the service." And
as to the writers, the junior and senior merchants, and so forth,
all these were equally secured against the application of so stern
a rule by the poverty of the stipends which they drew out of
the Company's treasury. Clive pondered the subject carefully,
and arrived at the conclusion that, being debarred from doing
that which was positively best, he was bound to do the best
which under the circumstances might be practicable. He caused
an order of Committee to be issued, which took away, at a
stroke, all power in individuals to grant dustucks or passes for
th^ transport of goods, and restricted the right of issuing such to
certain constituted authorities. By this arrangement the ma-
nagement and control of all private as well as public trade was
kept in the hands of the government. A stop was likewise
put to the vicious proceedings of those who, calling themselves
the native agents of European traders, had been in the habit,
without exhibiting any passes at all, of forcing the Nabob's
revenue stations ; and such a check was imposed upon the entire
system of private trade, that, wherever carried on, it could
hot any longer operate to the serious injury of any one. At the
same time as the ordinary sources of the revenues of individuals
were thus effectually dried up, Clive found himself obliged to
make some compensation for the injury, and he adopted the fol*
lowing expedient to do so.

Of the three branches of private trade to which the mercantile
men of Bengal looked as repaying them for exile, and the many
privations which attend it, the trade in salt was by far the most
important. Clive determined to convert that which had been
hitherto a cause of unmixed evil into an instrument of good.
With this view he arranged that it should become a monopoly
in the hands of the Governor for the time being, and the mem*
bers of Council and other specified functionaries, and that the
profits henceforth should be divided among them in equal shares,
according to the stations and rank in the service which those
entitled to partake in it might respectively hold. Among these
the Governor was to reserve an entire portion to himself; a se-
cond portion was to fall to the members of Council collectively ;
a third took in colonels of the first rank, chiefs of factories, and
such like ; a fourth became the property of field-officers, chap*<

CHAP. Jox.] PECUNIARY COMPENSATIONS. 189

lains, &c. ; and the gross value of the whole may be guessed
when I state that Clive estimated a colonel's portion«-he being
but one out of a numerous body — at not less tlian 7000/. sterling
per annum.

Clive, however, was not so careful of the interests of indivi^
duals as to be forgetful all this while of the Company's claims,
The salt monopoly, be it remembered, had from time imme
morial been possessed by the Nabob. So long as the Nabob
should continue to collect the revenues, he was entitled to the
duty, whatever that might be, which the makers or growers of
the commodity had been accustomed to pay. But Clive was
already meditating that master-stroke of policy which he soon
afterwards completed ; and he drew up his regulations so that
they might agree rather with what was to be than with what
actually existed. For example, he decreed that the Company
should receive as its share of the monopoly an ad valorem duty
of 35 per cent. ; which, allowing 10 per cent, as profit on the
product, and 5 per cent, to cover losses, would give one half of
the gain to the ruling body and the other half to their servants.
The letter which I quoted in a previous chapter shows that the
Court of Directors were not satisfied with this, to them, most
advantageous arrangement ; but Clive had scarcely begun to put
his own law in force ere he received proof that the individuals
whom he desired to serve were prepared to resist both it and
him to the uttermost.

Another of Lord Clive's reforms had reference to the consti-
tution of the ruling body, which he looked upon as too numerous
in itself for any practical purpose, and which he particularly
objected to on account of the manner of disposing of their time,
which custom had sanctioned in a large proportion of the
members. The old constitution of Bengal required that the
government should be carried on by a President and sixteen
councillors. The number sixteen Clive held to be preposterously
great ; and he was fortified in the conviction by observing that
naost of these left the business of government to be transacted by
four or five individuals ; while, being appointed to the charge of
factories, or becoming supervisors of provinces, they themselves
proceeded into the interior that they might devote their energies
to the more agreeable occupations of private trade, or the levying

190 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap, xdb

of contributions, by a shorter process, on the native princes and
nobility. Nor was it the least objectionable feature in this arrange-
ment that the gentlemen thus employed at a distance still kept
their seats at the council-board, and were ready, as often as occa*
sion required, to come down and vote in support of the Action to
w^hich they belonged. Clive had not been a careless observer of
the current of public events under the administration of Mr.
Vansittart. He saw how that gentleman was perpetually con-
trolled and thwarted by the votes of persons who had no oppor-
tunity of examining the merits of many of the questions which
they came from afar to decide ; and, looking forward to the time
when the extraordinary powers of the select committee would
cease, he proposed that the council should hereafter consist of
not more than 12 members at the most. The point, however,
which he was most anxious to settle in reference to this matter
was, that, be the members of council many or few, none of them
should be permitted to accept stationary offices in the interior.
The Commander-in-chief must of course go with the army when-
ever it should take the field, but seats in the Council ought not
for the future to be tenable by the chie& of factories or super-
visors. As might be expected, innovations such as these were
looked at with extreme abhorrence by the parties whose interests
they thwarted. Yet the opposition which he met with here was
but as a breath of summer air when compared with the hurri-
cane which fell upon him so soon as he began to inquire into
past abuses.

I am at a loss how to convey, in words of my own, any idea to
the minds of my readers of the state of moral feeling which ap-
pears to have held sway at this time among the English^ residents
in Bengal. The Court of Directors have, however, described it
so accurately, that in justice to my subject I am constrained to
make an extract from one of their letters, written soon after the
graver of the abuses had been put down : — '* When we look
back," they say, " to the system that Lord Clive and the gentle-
men of the Select Committee found established, it presents to us
a subah (a Nabob) disarmed, with a revenue of almost two mil-
lions sterling, (for so much seems to have been left, exclusive of
our demands on him,) at the mercy of our servants, who had
adopted an unheard-of ruinous principle, of an interest distinct

CHAP, xix,] MAHOMED REZA KHAN,

191

from the Company. This principle showed itself in laying their
hands upon every thing they did not deem the Company's pro-
perty.

*< In the province of Burdwan, the resident and his council
took an annual stipend of near 80,000 rupees per annum from
tlie Rajah, in addition to the Company's salary. This stands on
the Burdwan accounts, and we fear was not the whole; for we
apprehend it went further, and that they carried this pernicious
principle even to the sharing with the Rajah of all he collected
beyond the stipulated malguzary, or land revenue, overlooking
the point of duty to the Company, to whom, properly, everything
belonged that was not necessary for the Rajah's support. It has
been the principle, too, on which our servants have falsely endea-
voured to gloss over the crime of their proceedings, on the acces-
sion of the present Subah ; and we fear would have been soon
extended to the grasping the greatest share of that part of the
Nabob's revenues which was not allotted to the Company. In
short, this principle was directly undermining the whole fabric ;
for whilst the Company were sinking under the burden of the
war, our servants were enriching themselves from those very
funds that ought to have supported the war."
/Determined to lay the axe to the root of the tree, and bent
upon exposing to public scorn the delinquencies of those high in
office, Clive took the bold step at this time of inviting the Nabob,
Mahomed Reza Khan his minister, and some of the principal
bankers of Moorshedabad, including his ancient comrade Roy-
dullub, to visit him in Calcutta. They all came, and the disclo-
sures which they made more than confirmed the worst suspicions
he had harboured. Of the Nabob himself Clive saw enough to be
convinced that he was in every respect unfitted for his situation.
His ministers, as well as the dependants whom he encouraged to
come about him, were equally wanting in talent or integrity;
but that which gave to Clive the greatest amount of annoyance
was the open way in which this miserable puppet and his satel-
lites brought charges of corruption against the most influential
persons in the Company's service, which the latter were unable
to refute. As a specimen of these, the Nabob reported officially
to Clive, that since his father's death a distribution had taken
place of 20 lacs of rupees by Mahomed Reza Khan, for the pur-

192 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, ^m

I I i.*V

pose of securing such interest as should maintain him in his dtii«
ation, and that members of the Council had participated in these
gifts. This was too serious an accusation to be passed by withoat
a strict investigation ; and the matter was accordingly discussed
in open Council. The parties implicated sought to defend thenit-
selves by accusing Clive and the select committee of acting frcm
the worst motives. ^^ It seems," says Mr. Johnstone, in a minute
bearing date the iTtTi of June, 1765, " the aim of the select
committee to render the proceedings of the late President and
Council, if possible, obnoxious, instead of striving to promote
the cordiality so much to be wished. To what cause must we
attribute this temper of the committee ? One would almost think
they were piqued to find the interest of the Company so well
secured before their arrival; only they must know that their
coming at all was doubtful, and the gentlemen who had felt
the defects of the former treaty were full as well qualified to
remedy them in the new one, and have no doubt their masters
will approve their services. I have heard that the Governor has
expre^ed much chagrin that the affiiir of his jaghire has been
settled, according to his agreement with the Company, without
his interposition, though a better opportunity could not have
occurred to get it done. Mr. Spencer, than whose merit none
stands in a fairer light with the Company, was, if I may so call
him, the darling of that party — of that party which in England
opposed Lord Clive and the gentlemen of the committee. Any
attack of him or his measure is an attack of the pairty who
espoused him ; and though I would not assert that any such sen-
timents influenced any member of the board, yet I cannot help
being surprised at the uncommon neglect and disregard shown to
Mr. Spencer by Lord Clive."

A more ill-advbed species of attack than this upon a man of
Lord Clive's iron nerve and strong feelings cannot well be con-
ceived. The allusion to a matter which did disturb him, and on
account of which he had just reason to be disturbed — the un-
called — for interference of Mr. Spencer in the matter of his jaghire,
which, if Mr. Johnstone spoke true, appeared to have been
suggested by Clive's enemies at home — excited his warm in-
dignation. He recorded a minute in reply, which spoke his
mind plainly ; and, finding that neither that nor anything else

\

CHAP, xix.] SUSPENSION OF CIVIL OFFICERS. 193

short of extreme measures would do, he used the power with ^
which he was invested by suspending Mr. Johnstone, Mr. Spencer,
and several others of the senior civil officers, from the service.
All these, as a matter of course, became forthwith his personal
enemies ; and most of them sailing to England, and purchasing
largely of India stock, found an opportunity, as will be shown by
and by, of making him feel that they were suchylBut in the mean
while he went forward without faltering in his wurse of stern but
Naecessary refo rm^ Pis temper was often ruffled, his mind wea-
ried, his body fatigued, his spirits depressed — yet none of these
things could stop him in his honourable career. ^^ Let me but
have health sufficient," he says, in a letter to General Camac,
** to go through with the reformation we intend, and I shall die
y^ith satisfaction and in peace."

194 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap.jpu

CHAPTER XX.

Treaty with the Nabob— Grant of the Dewannee — Correspondence.

In bringing these several results to bear — in putting a stop to
the iniquitous practice in high places of receiving bribes — in
striking at the root of the system of private trade, alike fatal to
the prosperity of the country and injurious to the Company's
interests — ^in bringing back to the capital a swarm of European
adventurers, who, under various denominations, were spread
through the interior, and preyed upon the weaknesses of all with
whom they came in contact — in checking the insolence of the
native agents, and putting the commerce of the country once more
upon an intelligible footing, — Clive had accomplished more in
two short months than the most sanguine of his admirers ven*
tured to expect from the whole of His administration. But his
views of civil reform did not stop there. He had long foreseen,
and more than once predicted, that the farce of maintaining at
the Company's expense a government which was unable either
to protect itself from foreign enemies, or to manage its own in-
ternal affairs, could not continue long ; and, conceiving that the
proper moment was come for putting an end to the absurdity, he
set himself, with characteristic ardour, to accomplish that im*
portant object. The circumstances under which he acted were
these: —

I have abstained from entering into a detailed account of the
military operations which ensued upon the massacre of Patna,
and the retreat of Cossim Ali into the territories of Oude. These
are not so intimately connected with the subject of the present
narrative as to require that I should deviate from this rule fur-
ther than by stating, that they involved the Bengal government
in a very heavy expense, and threatened at one time to become
interminable. The vizier could not, indeed, even afler Cossim
Ali joined him, keep the field against the English. He sustained

CTAP. XX.] CLIVE PROCEEDS TO MOORSHEDABAD. 19S

repeated checks, and was at length driven from Lucknow itself.
There remained for him, after this, no other course than submis-
sion ; and having given time to Meer Cossim and a European
adventurer named Sumroo, who was supposed to have been the
chief instigator of the Nabob's cruelties, to escape into the
country of the Kohillas, he opened a communication with General
Camac, and professed himself anxious for peace. There can be
no doubt that tidings of Olive's arrival in India helped to hurry
forward this consummation. Olive's name among the natives
was that of a man irresistible in war. The title which he had
received from the Nabob of the Oarnatic, in commemoration of
his exploits on that side of the peninsula, had followed him to
Hindostan ; and in Bengal, and indeed as &r as the limits of the
Mog^l Empire extended, Sabat Jung's fame was everywhere
spread abroad. But Olive's policy, like that of every other
Englishman who has much distinguished himself in the field,
was pacific. He knew what war was, and could not desire, ex-
cept in the last extremity, to incur its hazards and force on its
innumerable evils. He therefore wrote to Oarnac, advising him
to encourage by all means the friendly disposition of the Vizier,
and promised to come up in order to assist in the arrangement of
a permanent treaty, as soon as the state of affairs in Oalcutta
would permit. " I hope," he says, in a letter bearing date the
20th of May, 1765, " 15 or 20 days will enable me to put affairs
in such a channel that the gentlemen may go on with the re-
formation during my absence, and upon my arrival we must
heartily set about a peace ; for the expense is now become so
enormous (no less than 10 lacs per mensem, civil and military),
that the Oompany must inevitably be undone if the Mahrattas or
any other power should invade Bahar and Bengal ; for it will
then be impossible to raise money sufficient to continue the war.
This is a very senous consideration with me, and will, I make
no doubt, strike you in the same light."

In pursuance of this tesolution, Olive no sooner brought mat-
ters into shape at Oalcutta than he set out to join Oarnac at
Benares. He had, however, important business to settle at Moor-
shedabad, whither the Nabob with his ministers had returned,
and he resolved to take that city on his way ; for a slight per-
sonal acquaintance with Nujeem-ud-Dowlah had sufficed to con-

o2

196 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. XJL

vince him that the young man was wholly disqualified, both l^
the natural weakness of his character and the total absence of
cultivation from his intellect, to conduct the affairs of govern-
ment for one day. It was clear that he must always be the
tool of somebody. But, indeed, the relations between the Nabob
and the Company were become by this time so entangled, that
no exercise of ability on the part of the former could cause the
machine to go smoothly. Clive conceived that, the time had
come for applying a decisive remedy to the disease. Considering
that the Englisli had already taken upon themselv^ the military

(defence of the kingdom, that they were become masters t)f its
trade, and lords to all intents and purposes of its revenues, ,he
came to the conclusion that the surest means of preventing wrong
to individuals, as well as guarding against a breach of J&iendship
between the two governments, would be to take all the power
into his own hands, leaving to the Nabob only the shadow. To
his great satisfaction, perhaps a little to his surprise, he foimd
that there was no indisposition in the Nabob to act upon the
suggestion. On the 9th of July he had written from Moorshe^
dabad to inform the select committee that the durbar or admi-
nistrative council of the Nabob was settled according to th^
wishes. Mahomed Eeza Khan, with two other public men in
whom the English had confidence, were accepted by Nujeem-ud-
Dowlah as his ministers, and a set of regulations were drawn up
and signed, in accordance with which the business of the king-
dom should henceforth be conducted. But, even while penning
the letter which communicated this intelligence, Clive felt that
matters could not stop there. The continued existence of two
independent governments in the same country at the same time
was impossible ; and he, who perfectly understood this, lost no
time in getting rid of the difficulty. A second letter to the com-
mittee, dated the 11th of July, contains the following statements.:
— " We have often lamented that the gentlemen of the Council,
by precipitating the late treaty, had lost the most glorious oppor-
tunity that could ever happen of settling matters upon that solid
and advantageous footing for the Company which no temporaiy
invasion could endanger. The true and only security for our
commerce and territorial possessions in this country is, in a
manner, always to have it in our power to overawe the very

CHAP. XX.] PROVISION FOR THE NABOB. 197

Nabob we are bound by treaty to support. A maxim contrary
to this iias of late been much adopted ; and from that funda-
mental error, as I may call it, have sprung the innumerable evils,
or at least deficiencies, in our government, which, I have now
the pleasure to inform you, are in a fair way of being perfectly
removed.

" The Nabob, upon my representation of the great expense of
such an army as will be necessary to support him in his govern-
ment, the large sums due for restitution, and to the navy,
together with an annual tribute, which he will be under a neces-
sity of paying to the King, hath consented, and I have agreed,
provided it should obtain your approbation, that all the revenues
of the country shaH be appropriated to those purposes, 50 lacs of
rupees excepted. Out of this sum are to be defrayed all his ex-
penses of every nature and denomination. Mahomed Reza
Khan, however, being of a disposition extremely timorous, is
desirous of having the payment of the cavalry and sepoys pass
through his hands, though included in the said 50 lacs. This, I
think, will be complied with,

" I am of opinion also, that certain stipends, out of the above-
mentioned sum, should be fixed for the Begum, for the Chuta
Nabob, and for the rest of the Nabob's brothers and nephews,
Miriam's* son included ; or else we must be subject to frequent
complaints from those quarters; for I am persuaded that the
dependants and parasites of the present Nabob will always keep
him in distress, be his income what it may. Although the sum
proposed to be stipulated for the Nabob, considering the present
great expenses and demands, may appear large, yet, by what I
now learn, his expense exceeds the sum to be allowed; and
although it is certain that neither his education nor abilities will
enable him to appear to any advantage at the head of these great
and rich provinces, yet, I think, we are bound in honour to sup-
port the dignity of his station, so far as is consistent with the
true interest of the Company.

** The particulars of this matter may be further adjusted in my
absence by Mr. Sykesj to whom I have communicated my ideas,

♦ Miriam or Meeran, the eldest son of Meer JaflSer, had perished, as I
have* elsewhere described, and his son was in consequence the rival of
Kujeem-ud-Dowlah for the throne.

198 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap.mu

if the plan be approved of by the select committee; and the
whole may be finally concluded to our satisfaction, upon the
Company's being appointed the King's Duan, who will be em-
powered, by the nature of their office, as well as by the King's
consent, to settle every point."

Of the character of the prince thus pensioned into insignifi-
cance, a just estimate will be formed after reading Olive's account
of the light in which the projected change was viewed by him : —
" He received the proposal of having a sum of money for him*-
self and household at his will with infinite pleasure, and the only
remark he made upon leaving me was, ^ Thank God, I shall now
have as many dancing-girls as I please.' "

So far a large measure of success had attended ulive's endea-
vours. A stop was put to numerous abuses at Calcutta. The
Company's relations with the Nabob were placed upon a more
intelligible footing, and both parties had reason to be pleased
with the arrangement. The last sentence in his letter of the
11th shows, however, that Olive looked beyond the point to
which he had now attained ; and he lost no time in seddng to
realize the scheme which had long, though indistinctly, been
pondered. As a step towards the accomplishment of this scheme^
he desired to conclude a peace, on honourable terms, with the
Vizier. For this purpose he proceeded to Benares, and on the
2nd of August, he and Sujah>u-Dowlah had their first meeting.
It proved eminently satisfactory to both. The Vizier, expecting
to be treated as one native power treats another which it may
have overcome in war, was as much surprised as delighted at the
modest bearing of the conqueror. He gladly consented to sur-
render the province of Allahabad, of which the annual revenue
was estimated at 10 lacs, or 100,000/. sterling, and he ofiPered no
objection to the loss of Corah likewise, should this further sacri-
fice be required, though the revenues of Corah csxae up to 18
lacs. Besides this, he agreed to pay to the Company 600,000/.
as compensation for expenses incurred in the war, and was
grateful for being allowed to make good the payment in two
equal instalments. Everything, moreover, appears to have been
done in the best spirit. " His expressions of joy and gratitude
on the occasion," writes Olive to the select committee, *' were
many and warm. Such an instance of generosity in a victorious

CHAP. XX.] MEETING WITH SHAH ALUM. 199

enemy exceeded his most sanguine expectations, and we doubt
not will be the foundation of that union and amity which we
wish to secure." But Olive's tour of negotiation was not yet
ended. After ratifying the treaty with the Vizier, he pushed
forward to Allahabad, where the fallen Emperor, the repre-
sentative of a long and illustrious race of conquerors, waited
under the protection of an English brigade to receive him. Olive
and Shah Alum met for the first time on the 9th of August,
when the demands of the Emperor were innumerable. He re-
quired that an arrear of thirty-two lacs of rupees, due to him, as
he alleged, from the Nabob of Bengal, should be paid up. This
was refused, as well as an extravagant claim on the score of
aanuid tribute ; but it was finally settled that his Majesty should
receive the annual sum of 26 lacs per annum out of the reve-
■ues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa ; and that the provinces of
Corah and Allahabad, yielding between them 28 lacs more,
should be made over to him in perpetuity. This done, it be-
came the turn of the representatives of the East India Company
to put in their claims. They were acceded to without hesita-
tion, and incloded firmans or deeds which established the right
of holding for ever the lands round- Madras and elsewhere
which had been assigned to them by the Nabob of the Camatic,
and gave them full possession in proprietary of the Northern
Circars. The revenue of Olive's jaghire, also, whenever it
should lapse, was secured to the Company. But the most im-
portant article of all was that erf which Lord Clive, writing to
one of his correspondents, thus speaks : — " We then presented
the King with two arzies (petitions), desiring he would grant to
Nujeem-ud-Dowlah the Nizamut of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa ;
and to the Company the Dewannee of the same provinces ; to
both of which his Majesty has signed his fiat, and the proper in-
struments for both are now drawing out."

It is impossible to over-estimate the importance to the East
India Company, and indeed to the English nation, of this arrange-
ment. The Dewannee, as I have elsewhere taken occasion to ex-
plain, included the right of collection and general management
of the whole of the province or kingdom over which it extended ;
and, great as the power of the sword may be, especially in the
East, he who holds the purse-strings commands the means of

200 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chab^

directing the sword in its gyrations. And if this rule held iff
native states, where the Nizamut retained its original prerc^ar
tives, much more stringent was the rule in Bengal, where a pre-
vious treaty had reduced the Nabob's influence to the shadovr oi
a shade. The Nizamut, let it be borne in mind, included the
right of arming and commanding troops, of managing the police,
and administering civil and criminal law throughout the country*
Now the treaty of the 11th of July had divested Nujeem-ud'-
Dowlah of the whole of these prerogatives, and settled him as a
pensioner on the bounty of the Company. His name indeed
still remained ; the English feeling that it might be useful Id
case circumstances should threaten to bring them into collision
with the French or Dutch. But of power not a shred rested with
him — none at least beyond that which they in their generosity
might be inclined to concede. Moreover, most of the abuses s^-
tendant on the commercial operations of the Company's servants
were effectually struck at. When the question of payment of
duties came to be agitated between individuals on the one hand
and the Company on the other, there was little doubt to which side
the balance would lean ; and private trade, to whatever extent
conducted, must, it was agreed, be managed henceforth as the inte-
rests of the governing body should require. By many brilliant
exploits in the field, by the application of rare administrative talents
to the adjustment of their affairs, Clive had often made the Com-
pany his debtor ; but in this last act he surpassed himself. The
signing of the deed which secured to the Company the right of
collecting and managing the public revenues of Bengal, Bahar,
and Orissa, raised them at once to the condition of a substantive
Indian power. It was the first great step in that march of do-
minion which has since carried them from Cape Comorin to the
Indus, and seems destined, sooner or later, to spread the English
language and the civilization and the faith of England over the
whole of Central Asia ; and yet no ceremony was ever performed
in the East with less of the parade of circumstance and show. A
common bell-tent, pitched in an open field, served for the hall of
state, in which the Emperor of Hindostan should admit to an
audience the successful English general ; and a few cushions laid
upon an ordinary dining-table constituted the throne where the
Mogul sat, to convey, by a stroke of his pen, to a company of

1

CHAP. XX.] OLIVE'S DIPLOMACY. 201

merchants irom the west, the sovereignty over a kingdom of
which the population did not at that time fall short of 15 millions
of souls.

Olive knew that he had wrought a good work. His own
vigorous understanding assured him of this, and his chief anxietj
was that it should be perpetuated. Neither had his been a war
against prejudices. He had smitten down abuses in high places ;
and though the device by which he accomplished his purpose
may appear clumsy to us who live in a world a century older
than that which he inhabited, a moment's attentive consideration
of the necessities of his case will force from us an acquiescence
in its fitness. The pains which he took in his dealings with
the native princes to conform on all occasions to the long esta-
blished customs of the country, marked him for a statesman as
prudent as be was bold. Had he chosen to act upon a different
principle, the power of gratifying a misplaced vanity was quite
within his reach. Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and indeed the
kingdom of Oude likewise, had been conquered by the sword ;
and with the sword he might have kept them. But the open
assumption of royalty in the name of England, besides that it
would have combined against him the whole of the native
powers, must have involved England herself in immediate disputes
with every other European nation which had a commercial set-
tlement in the provinces. France could hardly be expected to
hold Chandemagore, nor Holland Chinchura, at the mere will
of the English East India Company; and France and Holland,
as allies of the Emperor of Hindostan, might have given great
annoyance. "V\''hereas, by adhering strictly to recognised usage,
and accepting only such powers as the Emperor had a right to
confer, — by observing all the customary forms of vassalage, and
maintaining the ostensible Nizamut in the person of the Nabob,
he took away ground of complaint from both natives and Eu-
ropeans, and made himself absolute without appearing to do so.
If the device appear clumsy, perhaps ridiculous, when looked
at without considering the circumstances which advised it, its
wisdom, taking these into account, admits of no question. Nor
can his arrangements for the suppression of abuses among Euro-
pean functionaries be spoken of in different terms. Let us not
forget that the Company had refused to raise the salaries of

202 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap, jafo

their servants to an amount at all corresponding with the 6xi<'
gences of their position, while they required at the same time
that these same servants should not, under any circumstances,
mix themselves up with the internal trade of the country. Now
Clive could not expect members of Council to content them-
selves with salaries of 300/. a-year ; nor was it possible to throw
back senior and junior merchants, warehousemen, writers, and
such like, on the pittances which were doled out to them from
Leadenhall-street. But while he compelled these latter classes
to be content, with such additions to their pay as a legitimate com*
merce afforded, he took away from the former every temptation
to trade at all, by dividing among them a large portion of the
proceeds of the government monopoly in salt. The government
share of the profits arising from this branch of trade was, to be
sure, on after consideration, commuted for an annual payment
of 100,000/. ; nevertheless, the right to the monopoly remained
where from time immemorial it had been— in the government;
and Clive, by the manner in which he dealt with it, did injury
to no one. But Clive was not content with this. He enter-
tained too mean an opinion of human nature, as it showed itself
at least in Bengal, to leave to the principal gainers from this
traffic any right of interference in its management. He fixed
the places to which the salt should be brought for sale; he
settled the price at which, be the season what it might, the ar-
ticle should be sold ; and he passed a regulation by which all
details of business, the borrowing of money, the raising of capital
by subscription, the making of bye-laws, and indeed every other
transaction which could be required as pertaining to barter, were
intrusted to a sub-committee of four. It was Clive's especial
wish that from becoming a member of this sub-committee the
Governor should be prohibited. In all his communications, as
well with the Court of Directors as with his personal friends be-
longing to their body, he pressed this point with great earnest-
ness. He saw in it the best preservative that could be devised
against a recurrence to practices which, though he had possessed
influence enough to put them down, were but too likely to revive
under a less energetic successor ; and he was the more anxious
on this head because, in spite of the weeding which it had under-
gone, the majority of the old council was still against him. It

CHAP. XX.] LETTER TO MR. SALVADORE. 20S

iqppears, too, that about this time one member at least of the
select Committee began to play fa^t and loose ; and unfortunately
be was the very man to whom, as much at his own suggestion as
because of the good opinion generally entertained of him, Clive
had been instructed to deliver over the government whenever he
should feel inclined to relieve himself of the burthen. But it
is best, in such a case, to let the chief actor in the complicated
drama speak for himself. I therefore subjoin two letters-— one
addressed to a Mr. Salvadore, which describes the general results
of Olive's negotiations with the native powers ; the other to his
friend, Mr. Walsh, wherein the writer's views of the characters
of individuals are stated, and suggestions thrown out in regard
to measures which in his opinion ought to be adopted if the
Company desired to keep the Bengal provinces from falling back
into a state of anarchy.

To Mr. Salvadore he writes on the 25th of September, 1765,
the following letter : —

** If I was to dwell upon the situation of the Company's affiiirs
in Bengal, both civil and military, a volume would not be suffi-
cient. However, I have the satis&ction of informing you, that
I have already made a great progress towards reforming those
enormous abuses of power which cry aloud for redress. The
inhabitants have been laid under contribution by both civil and
military, their goods taken from them at an under price, and
presents of money have either been extorted from them, or given
for interfering in the affiiirs of government by insisting on men
of high employments being turned out, and others appointed in
their room. The gentlemen having the revenues of the country,
amounting to upwards of 3,000,000/. per annum at their com-
mand, were making such hasty strides towards independency,
that in two years' time I am persuaded the Company would not
have had one servant upon this establishment above the rank of
a writer. In short, if the Directors do not behave with spirit
and integrity, and the Proprietors lay aside their animosities,
they will become answerable to the nation and to Parliament,
for being the cause of losing the greatest advantages which ever
have happened to England since it has been a nation.

" As for myself, although tempted on all sides by offers of
riches without bounds, I have refused everything : and I am the

204 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap.

greatest villain upon earth, if either I or any one dependent
upon or belonging to me, with my knowledge, either directly or
indirectly, benefit ourselves with the value of one farthing,
except what shall be specified in an account current which I
intend laying before the Directors, upon my arrival in England.
Indeed, if I suffered myself to be corrupted, I could not with
any face undertake (in conjunction with the Committee who
have heartily and unanimously joined me) the reformations
which are essentially necessary for the Company's welfare. ,

" The King has granted to the Company for ever, with the
approbation and consent of the Nabob, all the revenues which
shall remain after paying him a certain tribute, and allowing a
sum sufficient for the dignity and support of the Nabob. The
Company's income exceeds 2,000,000/. sterling per annum, and
their civil and military expenses in future never shall exceed
700,000/. per annum, in time of peace, and 1,000,000/. in time
of war. For further particulars, let me refer you to Mr. Walsh.
With regard to the French forces, I shall put those of the
Company upon so respectable a footing that all the powers of
Europe can have no chance of succeeding, without first landings
and being supported by the powers of the country ; and that
appears very impracticable, since I have lately acquired a grant
from the King of five northern provinces, those the French for-
merly possessed."

His letter to Mr. Walsh bears date five days subsequently to
the preceding. I subjoin an extract from it.

" Had I known Mr. Sumner as well as I do at present,
I would never have consented to his being appointed my suc^
cessor, let the consequences be what they would. I did, indeed,
entertain hopes that my example and instructions might furnish
that gentleman with a plan of conduct and political knowledge,
which would have enabled him to fill the chair with honour, and
me to leave it with satisfaction to myself. But I am sorry to
inform you that I had been but a short time on board the Kent
before I discovered him to be a man no ways fit to be my
successor. His ideas of government differ widely indeed from
mine ; add to this, his judgment is weak, timid, and unsound,
and resolution he has none.

" Nor was my opinion of him changed on our arrival here ;

A

CHAP. XX.] LETTER TO MR. WALSH. 205

Ibr I was frequently mortified with instances of bis conduct,
which made me look forward with regret to the day on which
he was to be intrusted with the government of Bengal.

^' When affairs of the utmost consequence to the Company
were transacting by me, at the distance of seven hundred miles
from the presidency, Mr. Sumner, Governor for the time being,
would have yielded up some of the most material privileges of
the Committee to Mr. Leycester, Gray, and Burdett, the most
factious among the counsellors ; and, if I had not written to him
very severely on the subject, and prevailed on Mr. Verelst to
hasten down from Burdwan to remonstrate with him on the
weakness of his conduct, I verily believe he would have joined
with those gentlemen in endeavouring to abolish the power of
the Committee.

" Whether his behaviour arose merely from timidity of
temper, or from a consideration that his actions formerly, in the
Burdwan country, could not bear a scrutiny, if the resentment
of those whom he had been obliged to join in condemning should
prompt them to retaliate, I cannot say ; but it is certain that
his attention to those gentlemen, guilty as they had been of the
most notorious acts of oppression, was mean and absurd. His
conduct, upon the whole, convinces me that, had he been in
council during the late transactions, he would have stood next to
Mr. Johnstone in the donation list, which I almost wbh he had,
since the Company and I should, by that means, have been freed
from the apprehensions we now labour under, on account of his
succeeding me in the government.

^^ Imagine not that I have exceeded the bounds of truth in
this description. A due regard to my own honour, as well as
to the advantage of the Company, obliges me to be thus plain ;
but it is not my intention to impress you with ideas so far to the
disadvantage of Mr. Sumner, as that he may be set aside from
the government. I think I cannot go such lengths without
hurting my own reputation. I must make a point of his succeed-
ing me according to his appointment ; and I hope aii^irs will go
on very well, as long as he has a good committee or council to
watch him.

. " If you can prevail upon the Court of Directors to empow^
me alone, or me in conjunction with the Select Committee, to

206 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chaf.

regulate matters, I will be responsible for his good behavioor;
if not, I much fear things will fall into the old channel ; and toi
the advantages arising from salt will be added every other tfai^
can be grasped at.

^' Remember the oath and penalty bond mentioned in my
public letter. If, by increasing the Govemoi's salary, «r
ordering his proportion of salt to be greater, there was a par*
ticular oath for the Governor, whereby he should not be allowed
the liberty of private trade at all, but obliged to attend to tlw
affairs of the Company only, leaving trade to the second, ^bc, T
think the plan of government would be much more perfect, a^
it would be less liable to abuses from the head.

" I have hinted to Dudley only my sentiments of Mr. Sumner,
and he knows from me that I have explained myself to yon.
Consult, therefore, together about the matter ; settle it, if
possible, in such a manner that I may not be taxed with breach
of promise to Mr. Sumner, and I may at the same time resign

the government without apprehension for the consequences.

« « « « «

^' It would be endless for me to send you the particulars of
every act of extortion and corruption. I had prepared a great
many, under the hands and seals of the several zemindars and
phousdars, in order to make it impossible for such men to
succeed in any of their future designs ; but the total overthrow
of Sulivan and his party makes such authentic proofs unnecessaiy,
especially as we have sent home sufficient to convince every
Impartial Director of the general corruption and profligacy c^
their servants in Bengal."

The language of these letters is stem and uncompromising^
enough. It cannot be said to belie in any respect the nature of
him who made use of it ; and yet I think it would be unjust to
the memory of a very remarkable man were we to assume that
he had not his amiable weaknesses too. Clive seems to have
loved as he hated — without stint, and sometimes without much
discrimination. We find him often repenting of the predilec*
tions which he had been induced to form ; and denouncing as
idiots men whom for a while he had represented as worthy of a
world's admiration. Mr. Sumner is an instance in point ; so is
Mr. Vansittart ; and even General Camac, as I shall have

n

CHAP. XX.] CLIVE TO HIS RELATIONS. 207

oeeasioa by and by to show, narrowly escaped being classed in
tbe same cat^ory. Neither does his more private correspond-
ence breathe on any occasion that tone of deep domestic feeling
which we find in the home communications of many other men
hardly less distinguished than he. There are no letters of his
^tant resembling those which Warren Hastings addressed to his
wife ; there are none that bear the slightest affinity to the touching
passages in which, when writing to Lady Munro, Sir Thomas
used to bewail his own solitude. Still Clive had a rude regard
^r his relatives^ as his liberality to them in the shape of money-
gifts seems to prove ; and he wrote to them familiarly likewise.
Let the reader judge from the following specimens of the extent
to which he permitted the love of home and its endearments to
influence him. On the 25th of September, 1765, he writes to
his cousin, as follows : —

" I have received your letter of the 22nd of November, 1764,
by which I find you are all in health, though not so happy as
when I was among you. I make no doubt of once more con-
tributing towards that happiness, though not quite so soon as I
expected, when in England, owing to the length of our passage.
I have pitched upon the beginning of December, 1766, for
reselling this government ; and nothing but my death shall
prevent it. General Carnac, myself, and the rest of our fiimily,
propose coming most of the way overland ; and shall, in all
probability, be in London some time in April, 1767.

" I have been seven hundred miles up the country, and have
established a firm and lasting peace, I hope, with the Great
Mogul and his vizier Shuja Dowlah. I have seen much of his
Majesty, and he has appointed me one of his first omrahs, or
nobles, of his empire, with an immense title, not worth sixpence
in England, Touching all these matters I must refer you to
Mr. Walsh.

*< I am glad you have put a stop to Styche expenses : they
became enormous, and it will be time enough to go on with
them upon my arrival in England ; but I approve greatly of
your repairing Walcot, and making it fit for Lady Olive's
reception. The only concern I feel arises from a conviction of
what she must sufier from so long an absence.

" With regard to myself, I have full employment, and enjoy

208 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. XX.

my health rather better than in England, though I find I cannot
b^r the heat so well as formerly, which makes me determined
to quit the country as soon as possible.*'

" I rejoice," he writes* to his father, " to hear from others,
though not from yourself, that, notwithstanding the accident
which has happened to one of your eyes, you retain both your
spirits, appetite, and health. It is impossible, without a miracle,
to enjoy the blessings of life in that perfection in our latter days
as in the days of youth : but I really think your temperance and
tlie goodness of your constitution will carry you through life
with ease and satbfaction to yourself to an age nearly equal to
that of your aunt Judy.

" Although I enjoy better health than in England, India is
by no means agreeable to me, separated as I am from my wife,
children, and dearest relations. The length of our passage will
make my absence one year more than I intended, but this you
may be assured of, that nothing shall detain me in Bengal
beyond the beginning of December, 1766; and I hope to see
you all in good health and spirits some time in April, 1767.

'^ I have been seven hundred miles up the country, and have
been very conversant with his Majesty, the Great Mogul. He
has made me one of the first omrahs, or nobles, of his empire.
I have concluded a peace for the Company, which I hope will
last, and obtained from the King a grant of a revenue of
2,000,000/. sterling per annum for them for ever ; and, what is
more, I have put them on a way of securing thb immense
revenue, in such a manner that it is almost impossible to deprive
the Company of it, at least for some years to come.

" With regard to myself, I have not benefited or added to
my fortune one farthing, nor shall I ; though I might, by this
time, have received 500,000/. jsterling. What trifling emolu-
ments I cannot avoid receiving shall be bestowed on Maskelyne,
Ingham, and Strachey, as a reward for their services and
constant attention upon my person. I am much obliged to the
Doctor for his care of my health: he is worth about 2000/.
already. This ship, sent express, will bring the Company the
most important news they ever received ; and, if they are not

♦ 24th September, 1765.

CHAP. XX.] CLIVFS CORRESPONDENCE. 209

satisfied with mine and the Committee's conduct, I will pro-
nounce there is not one grain of honour or integrity remaining
in England. The reformation I am making, in both the civil
an^ military branches, will render the acquisition of fortunes not
so sudden or certain as formerly. This, added to the shortness
of my stay in India, induces me to think Captain Semphill had
better stay in England, where we may serve him by our interest
at home. Remember me in the most affectionate manner to my
mother. She has acted a great part in life. The uniformity of
her conduct with regard to her children must, at the same time
it affords her the most pleasing reflections, influence them to
entertain the highest respect and veneration for so deserving a
parent. I will most certainly write to her, and to my brothers
and sisters, who have my most affectionate wishes.'*

210 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. Icbajp. xxt

CHAPTER XXI.

Ck>]nmencement of Military Reform — ^Alarm of Mutiny.

In his struggle with the friends of corruption in civil life, Lord
Clive had triumphed. If some abuses still remained, they were
few in number and comparatively of slight importance, while the
storm of opposition with which he was assailed on his first arrival
nad died away. Indeed Clive took good care that the political
atmosphere immediately about himself should be cleared of the
worst elements with which it was charged. Messrs. Johnstone,
Leycester, Burdett, and others of less note were summarily dis-
missed the service and sent home. This left in Bengal, in the
regular line of succession, only very young men, on whom,
because of their inexperience, Lord Clive could repose little con-
fidence. He therefore applied for leave to bring round from
Madras and Bombay, to fill the vacant places, gentlemen accus-
tomed to business, and willing, as he hoped, to take their tone
in its management from himself. As was to be expected, a
rumour of his intentions in regard to this matter no sooner got
abroad than it united in a common feeling of hostility against
him almost all who saw in the proposed arrangement a serious
hindrance to their personal advancement. These junior malcon-
tents appear, however, to have learned wisdom from the fiite of
their seniors. Whatever they might feel, they were careful not
to make any needless or premature display of Indignation ; nor
was it until the results of his endeavours to carry the principle of
reform into the military establishment of the province became
apparent, that the existence of so strong a feeling among the
younger civil servants of the Company was suspected. How the
truth came to light, and in what manner Clive dealt with it, I
now proceed to relate.

The army of the East India Company had arrived at the state
in which Lord Clive now found it by a process which could
hardly fail of affecting injuriously the moral tone of its European

CHAP. XXI.] A RETROSPECT. 211

members. Accidental in its origin, and forced on to maturity
against the will of the body which maintained it, there was per-
haps no armed force in the world of which the officers were more
completely thrown upon the resources of their own ingenuity in
order to maintain a respectable station in society. For more
than a century the military defence of the factories had been in-
trusted to persons armed, like the attendants of native magis-
trates and princes, with swords and shields and spears. By and
by the European merchants and their clerks enrolled themselves
into companies of militia ; and when this service proved too
severe, they hired runaway seamen from the fleets of all nations,
and employed them sometimes as soldiers, and sometimes as
labourers in their warehouses, according as the exigences of the
moment might seem to require. Of these people, when under
arms, one or more of the Company's factors took the command,
jfor which a slight addition to his regular salary was made, with-
out, however, any restrictions being imposed upon his privileges
of private trade, or any exemption afforded from attendance in
the Company's counting-house.

In proportion as the current of events swept the Company
more and more within the influence of Indian politics, the repre-
sentatives of that body were compelled to increase their military
force. More deserters were taken into pay; and when this
source of recruiting was found to be insufficient, crimps were
employed to pick up the scum of London in the streets, and to
send out the sweepings of jails and workhouses to swell the ranks
of the Indian army. Such an influx of ragamuffins into their
settlements abroad compelled the Court of Directors to set up a
corps of military officers as a body distinct from their civil ser-
vants. But the gentlemen of Leadenhall-street could not as yet
cease to regard themselves as traders, and nothing more. They
therefore paid their military officers on a scale proportionate to
that which had been framed for the remuneration of their civil
servants ; and being aware that it was inadequate, they applied
the same remedy to the evil in one case which had served to
counteract, if not to remove it, in the other. Military officers,
like senior and junior merchants, were permitted to improve their
fortunes by trading on their own account.

As long as the settlements enjoyed peace, this system worked

p 2

212 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxi.

well enough for individuals. The officer, when not required on
parade (and parades were few, and barrack duty marvellously
light), worked like any other clerk at his books, or amused him-
self with cards, horse-racing, cock-fighting, or any other of the
sports which were then in fashion. But these sources of emolu-
ment and recreation alike failed him when the army took the
field. It was necessary, likewise, in order to ensure his effi-
ciency, that he should go forth provided with tents, canteens,
baggage-animals of every sort, and horses; and with most of
these he could not, while doing garrison duty, be expected to
encumber himself. Accordingly he sought and obtained an
allowance which, under the head of batta, was supposed to be
sufficient to reimburse the first cost of the necessary articles, and
to keep them up, as well as to remunerate the native servants
who looked after them, and to put a little extra pay in the offi-
cer's pocket during the whole season of his absence from the
capital or presidency. Prize-money likewise was conceded to
him ; nor were any objections made to. his acceptance of such
presents as might be offered by native chiefs. And if he con-
trived all the while to keep his commercial dealings in activity,
the government not only did nothing to interrupt the process,
but gave him credit for more than an average share of talent,
and rejoiced in the success which attended its exercise.

It was the obvious consequence of such a system to dull the
edge of chivalrous honour among the gentlemen brought up
in the military service of the Company. Soldiers, like other
men, must have enough whereon to live ; but the commercial
and the military spirit seldom go long together; and tlie
temptations to indulge the one at the expense of the other
became at last, especially in the Bengal army, so great, '^ that
flesh and blood," to use one of Lord Olive's expressions,
" could not stand it." Moreover, the occurrences of every new
day gave to this sordid principle a stronger impulse. When
Clive entered into the conspiracy to dethrone Suraj-u-Dowlah,
and Meer Jaffier, the better to encourage the English army to be
hearty in his cause, promised, out of his own resources, to double
the batta, or field-allowance granted by the Company, no one
considered it necessary to decline the offer ; and, from a prece-
dent of this sort, once set, he would have been a bold Nabob

CHAP. XXI.] A RETROSPECT. 213

who should have ventured to recede. The consequence was,
that from the commencement of the march, which ended in the
battle of Plassey down to the date of Clive's return to Calcutta
as Governor and President of a Select Committee, double batta
had been regularly received by the Bengal army. It is true
that the Court of Directors more than once protested against the
arrangement. So long, indeed, as the payments came out of the
pockets of the Nabob they held their peace. He was pledged to
defray the costs of the military force which kept him on the
throne ; and if he chose to go to unnecessary expense in doing
so, the loss was his — they had nothing whatever to say about it.
!But as soon as an arrangement was made for transferring the
jmyment of the troops to the Company, the Directors denounced
the double batta system as iniquitous. They gave repeated
orders to the local government that the abuse should cease ; and
more than one feeble, and therefore vain, attempt was made to
carry them into execution.

The Court's letter which required an engagement from their
civil servants to accept no more presents, and to put the .trade of
private persons on a reasonable footing, had especially enjoined a
cessation in the issue of double batta to the troops. The dis-
tricts which Cossim Ali had made over being accepted in lieu of
all pecuniary contributions to the army, it became a point of
importance with the Company to maintain the latter body on a
scale as economical as should be consistent with its efficiency ;
and as double batta was confessedly an arrangement between
the Nabob and the English officers, the Court of Directors de-
cided that there was no obligation on their part to continue the
practice. The project of reduction was not, however, taken up
with any degree of spirit at Calcutta ; indeed Mr. Vansittart had
been early given to understand that any attempt on his part
to diminish the customary emoluments of the military classes
would lead to consequences more serious than either he or the
Directors* counted upon. Accordingly, Mr. Vansittart, and the
government which succeeded his, both gave way, and double
batta continued to be issued to men whp, feeling their power,
had in more ways than one begun to abuse it. But Clive was
made of different materials. He had warned the army at the
outset that the indulgence which Meer Jaffier granted to them

214 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxi*

could not be enjoyed for ever. He had more than once reverted
to the subject during his first administration of the a^rs of
Bengal, and abstained from advising the Nabob to stay hiift
bounty only because he was unwilling to interfere with arrange*
ments which, while they benefited his brother officers, did no
injury to the masters whom they served. He had now, however,
a specific duty to perform, and he set himself about it. Havii^
redressed the grievances of which the Court complained in the
civil branches of the service, he applied himself next to the cchc^
rection of military abuses, of which one of the most striking had
indeed been remedied by the same process which took away from
members of council their right of private trade, and divided
among them the profits of the salt monopoly.

I have adverted elsewhere to a proposal made by Lord Clive
while in England to alter and improve the organization of the
troops which the Company kept on foot for the defence of its
territories in Bengal. It had already to a certain extent been
acted upon ; so that the Bengal army was now told off into rai-
ments of European and native infantry, and had its artillery and
cavalry — the latter as yet being an inconsiderable force— distri-
buted into batteries, or, as they were then called, companies of
guns, — and squadrons of horse. The whole were, besides, told off
in three brigades ; of which the first, under Colonel Sir Robert
Fletcher, occupied quarters at Monghir ; the third, under Sir
Robert Barker, was cantoned at Bankepore ; while the second,
of which Colonel Smith was at the head, lay, in compliance with
the united request of the Emperor and the King of Oude, in
observation of the Mahrattas at Allahabad.

Such a convenient distribution of the military force of the
province concurred with the ratification of a treaty of general
peace in affording to Lord Clive as good an opportunity as he
could have desired of entering upon the course of military reform
which he had made up his mind to pursue. An order accordingly
£^peared towards the end of September, 1765, which warned the
troops that from the 1st of January, 1 766, the right of European
officers to draw double batta should cease. Forasmuch, how-
ever, as the distance from Calcutta to Allahabad was great, and
that the officers attached to the brigade doing duty at the latter
station were put to heavy charges, the Governor and Council

CHAP. XXI.] DISAFFECTION OF THE ARMY. 215

consented to their continuing to draw as heretofore so long as they
should remain in the field ; but it was provided at the same time
that whenever the regiments went into cantonments this privilege
should cease, and that the principle of economy which prevailed
elsewhere should come into operation at Allahabad likewise.
Meanwhile the troops at Fatna and Monghir were to receive
half-batta, subject to similar restrictions ; while those doing duty
at the presidencyVere put upon the same footing with the troops
on the Coromaiidel coast — that is to say, they were to draw no
batta at all.

There is no order of persons with whom, under common cir-
cumstances, greater liberties may be taken by the governing power
than with soldiers. Where the spirit of discipline has been well
preserved, soldiers obey, through the force of custom, commands
which they feel to be unjust ; and submit to wrongs, grumbling
perhaps all the while, yet never dreaming that to go beyond a
little idle complaint is possible. But the army of Bengal was not
at this time in a state of high discipline. Indulged and pampered
by the native princes, the officers had learned to regard them-
s^ves, rather than the civil power, as supreme ; and were con-
firmed in this idea from finding that the Governor suid Council
sever ventured to enforce obedience to an order against which
they or their chiefs protested. A body of men, actuated by such
a spirit, and bearing the sword, formidable everywhere, and in
India resistless, might have been regarded as not exactly the
class of persons on whose forbearance it would be safe to make a
rash experiment. Nevertheless Clive, partly perhaps because he
scarcely counted on resistance, partly because it was not in his
nature to shrink from a contest in whatever source originating,
or by whatever adversary offered, published his decree with-
out so much as inquiring how it was likely to be received. It
was greeted in every military station throughout the provinces
with a howl of condemnation. Remonstrances poured in, as
heretofore, to which officers of every rank in the service affixed
their names ; and the more sanguine flattered themselves that a
pimilar result would attend the present movement which had fol-
lowed upon others of the same sort. The more thoughtftil knew
better ; and Olive's answer to the protest neither surprised nor dis-
appointed them. The officers of the army were informed that the

216 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxr.

Governor and Select Committee had special instructions from the
Court of Directors to act as they were doing ; and that, not
being able to find any loop-hole through which to escape from
paying obedience to their superiors, they had only to express a
hope that the remonstrants would follow the example which they
set. The remonstrants did not act on this wise suggestion. But
perceiving that the parties with whom they had to deal were made
of less flexible stuff than the governments which they had been ac-
customed heretofore to overawe at their pleasure, they entered into
a regular conspiracy to compel a compliance with their wishes.

Their plan, which seems to have been formed originally at
Monghir, and diffused from that station over the rest of the can-
tonments, amounted simply to this : that on a given day they
should all resign their commissions, and steadily refuse to serve
any more unless (he old allowance of double batta were restored.
At first it would appear that the officers of the second brigade,
which held, as it were, the outposts at Allahabad, refused to
become parties to the conspiracy. They considered themselves,
as they stated, in the enemy's presence, and could not, therefore,
without sacrificing their personal character, quit the service till
relieved. But the feeling of honour, if such it was, which
swayed them, soon yielded to the remonstrances of their com-
rades. Hints were thrown out of men's usual indifference to the
wrongs of others so long as they themselves are not sufferers by
them ; and the gentlemen of the second brigade, rather than be
accounted guilty towards their comrades of treason, consented to
betray their country. It was accordingly arranged that on the 1st
of June the commissions of all should be given up simultaneously
to the commandants of their respective brigades, and that till the
fifteenth day of the same month the parties thus ceasing to be
officers should serve as volunteers. But this respite being granted
for the simple purpose of affording time for the Government to re-
lent, it was further resolved that beyond the 15th no inducement
short of an absolute concession of the point at issue should keep
them to their colours. Moreover, the conspirators bound them-
selves by oath to secrecy, and came under engagements, which
they ratified by a like pledge, to defend with their lives the lives
of any of the body who might be condemned to suffer death by
sentence of a court-martial. Nor was this all. In order to

CHAP. XXI.] UNPLEASANT INTELLIGENCE. 217

escape the guilt of mutiny, they resolved to decline accepting
the advance of pay which it was the custom of the service to
make on the first day of every month. Finally, as if distrustful
of their own oaths, each man gave a bond of 500/. to another
that he would not take back his commission till the double batta
was granted ; while all entered into a subscription, in which
arrangement several civilians joined them, in order to provide a
fund out of which such as should be dismissed the service and
sent home might be provided for.

This frightful mutiny, to which, as it afterwards came out,
ofHcers of high rank were privy, if they did not positively lend
themselves to promote it, was in full operation, when intelligence
aiTived of the advance of 50,000 or 60,000 Mahrattas towards
Corah. The second brigade, being within 100 miles of the
point threatened, was ordered to hold itself in readiness for ser-
vice ; and Colonel Smith, with the sepoy battalions, encamped
as f&T in advance as Serajahpoor. But the European regiment
abode still in its quarters at Allahabad — exposure to the intense
heat which prevails in that quarter of India in the spring of the
year being considered as too severe a risk to be incurred except
in case of emergency.

Such was the state of the army of Bengal in the month of
March, 1766. Neither Lord Clive nor General Carnac seems to
have entertained the slightest suspicion of the truth, when they set
out for Calcutta together in order to regulate, with Mr. Sykes,
the amount of revenue to be collected at Moorshedabad and Patna
for the ensuing year, and to receive from the King of Oude the
balance of the 50 lacs of rupees which, by the treaty of August,
1765, he had bound himself to pay. They had a further object
in view — namely, to form alliances with the princes of the em-
pire against the Mahrattas, whose encroachments threatened evil
consequences to all ; and they were all, but especially Clive, who
rejoiced in the apparent success of his policy both foreign and
domestic, in the highest possible spirits. They reached Moorshe-
dabad in April, and had not been there three weeks ere a
despatch arrived from Calcutta which troubled them. It con-
tained a remonstrance from the third brigade, signed by 9 cap-
tains, 12 lieutenants, and 20 ensigns, against the reduction of
batta, to which, as Mr. Verelst and the Council reported, they

218 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxi.

did not feel themselves competent, without communicatioii
with the Grovemor, to give any reply. Lord Clive, conceiving
that this was a mere repetition of the device which had been
concerted some months previously without leading to any
serious results, directed that the remonstrance should be sent to
Sir R. Barker, by whom the brigade was commanded, and that
the gentlemen from whom it came should be iinformed that the
Supreme Council could not take notice of any petition or appeal
from officers unless it came to them through the regular channel.
At the same time,^in order that every possible contingency might
be provided against, he communicated his views in detail to the
Committee. They were in substance the same with those on
which he had acted when the first remonstrance reached him ;
and he recommended, in the event of a duplicate document being
sent in, through the brigadier, that it should be answered in a
like spirit.

Clive's letter was written on the 22nd of April. On the 28th
he received a despatch from Sir Robert Fletcher, dated from
Monghir on the 25th, which appears to have awakened the ear-
liest suspicion in his mind that the spirit of the army was not
good. Indeed, I use an inadequate phrase when I thus express
myself. Sir Robert Fletcher's communication stated plainly that
the officers, not of hb brigade only, but of the whole army,
seemed determined to make another attempt for the recovery of
the batta ; and that, though they proposed to serve throughout
the month of May as volunteers, he had reason to suspect that
most of them had bound themselves to one another to send in
their commissions to their respective commandants. In corrobo-
ration of these statements. Sir Robert begged to enclose copies of
a correspondence which had passed between himself and Sir R.
Barker, commanding the third brigade. It related to a quarrel
among 'some officers belonging to the latter corps, and to the
proceedings of a court of inquiry which had sat to investigate the
causes of the difference. Some startling revelations appear to
have been made in the course of these proceedings; but Sir
Robert Fletcher affected to treat the whole matter lightly. In
his reply, to Sir R. Barker, which bore date April 24th, he ob-
serves, "that though he had heard for some days that the
officers had thoughts of resuming their demands, he could not

. xnO DUPLICITY OP SIR R. PLETCHEB. 219

think it deserved much notice ; aad, even if the contrary were
the case, he did not see that any g^eat harm would arise. The
only result/' he continues, ^^ of their proffered resignations will
be, that Lord Olive, who is not likely to change a resolution once
formed, will find a convenient opportunity of picking out the
best officers and getting rid of the bad ones."

220 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxn.

CHAPTER XXIL

Progress and suppression of the Mutiny — Letters to various Correspondents.

I HAVE dwelt at some length on the dawn of this remarkable
military revolt, partly because, without tracing the progress of
the evil from stage to stage, it is impossible to do justice to the
individual who quelled it, partly because the full magnitude of
the danger will not be understood unless by him who observes
to what extent and into what quarters the spirit of disaffection had
spread. Here, for example, was Sir Robert Fletcher, an officer
of high rank and established reputation, who, on account of
former services, had been transferred from Madras to Bengal,
and promoted there over the heads of many of his seniors, writing
from the brigade of which he was in command, as if, on the 25th
of April, he had only for the first time begun to suspect that all
was not as it ought to be, yet professing to hold that the evil was
of so trifling a nature as to justify him in treating the discontent
of his subordinates as a mere matter of raillery. Now, as the
progress of my narrative will show. Sir Robert Fletcher had not
only been conversant with the plans of the disaffected from the
beginning, but he was brought to trial on the charge of encou-
raging, if he did not positively suggest them ; and, being found
guilty, was dismissed the service. Again, Sir Robert Barker,
though exposed to no suspicion of this sort, seems to have been
kept so completely in the dark, that of a conspiracy begun in
December, 1765, he never heard till towards the end of April,
1766; indeed, his correspondence shows that he might have
remained ignorant of the afiair till it exploded, but that the con-
spirators began to quarrel among themselves, and let out by
accident that which it was their business to conceal. Nor is this
all. It was this quarrel, and nothing else, which, forcing on a
premature disclosure of their plot, not only put the supreme
government upon its guard, but afforded time to mature plans

CHAP, xxn.] PROGRESS OF THE MUTINY. 221

for counterworking the designs of the mutineers. The scheme,
as concocted in the latter days of the past year, had reference to
an expected commencement of hostilities, and took into view the
straits to which it was probable that, at such a moment, the
Government would be reduced. Men calculated that the Mah-
rattas would be fairly in the field about the beginning of June ;
and on the 1st of June the commissions of the whole body of
European officers were to be thrown up. What could the Go-
vernment do under such circumstances except yield the point at
issue? But the disclosures effected in the course of the proceed-
ings at Bankepore deranged the whole scheme ; and now, dis-
trusting one another almost as much as they feared the vigorous
interposition of Government, the conspirators resolved that they
should strike their blow on the 1st of May. That their confidence
as to the result had not, however, abated, was proved by the
delivery about this time to Captain Carnac (an officer on Lord
Olive's staff) of a letter signed '* Full Batta," and dated the 15th
of April, in which Captain Carnac was informed of the design in
progress, and requested not only to send his own commission to
a friend, but to add his name to the list of those who were pledged
to provide for the martyrs in the cause. Captain Carnac, as in
duty bound, put the letter into Lord Clive's hand. The latter
read it, and saw at a glance how the land lay. He was by no
means insensible to the danger which threatened ; he was alive
to the inconvenience — not to call it by a Stronger term — which
must fall upon every branch of the public service; but he
does not seem to have wavered respecting the course which it
behoved him to follow. He wrote immediately to the Coimcil
at Calcutta, despatching his letter by express ; and having in-
formed his colleagues of all that had come to his knowledge, he
desired that they would lose no time in sending to Madras and
Bombay for as many officers, cadets, and volunteers as could be
spared. ^' Such a spirit as this which pervades the Bengal
army," he says, " must be suppressed at all hazards, unless we
determine on seeing the government of these provinces pass
from the civil into the hands of the military departments,"
Wherefore it was his deliberate opinion that not one of the 130
individuals, of whose intention to resign he had been made aware,
ought, in the event of carrying their resolution into effect, to be

222 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxn.

re-admitted, under any pretence, into the Company's service.
Meanwhile they must fight the Mahrattas, if to fight they were
compelled, with such means as were at their disposal ; and, the
better to enable them to do so, both the Madras and Bombay
authorities were urged to use all convenient despatch in sending
on the ofi&cers for whom application was about to be made.

Having despatched this letter. Lord Clive proceeded to com-
municate with Sir R. Fletcher and Sir R. Barker. To both he
sent copies of his note to the Supreme Council, and left them at
liberty, if they should deem the course expedient, to make the
substance of it known to the oflftcers under their respective com-
mands. A lingering hope still, however, cheered him that things
might not be in so bad a state as common rumour represented.
Sir R. Barker had never made any direct complaint to himself;
from Colonel Smith at Allahabad no communications whatever
were received. Possibly the contagion might not have spread
beyond the circle, wide enough in all conscience, which was known
to be infected. But this delusion, if such it may be called, soon
gave way to more stern realities. Scarcely were his despatches
to the two brigadiers sent off when a letter from Sir Robert
Barker informed him that the whole of his command was in a
state of dissolution ; that the ofificers had warned him of their
determination to resign on the 1st of May ; and that he enters
tained serious apprehensions of a mutiny among the men. It
appeared, also, that the spirit of disaffection had spread to the
civil servants of the Company, among whom a subscription had
been got up, to the extent of 16,000/., in order to supply the
mutineers with funds, and protect them against the probable con-
sequences of their misconduct. It was impossible, amid such a
complication of diflftculties, to doubt that the whole army was
animated by the same bad spirit, and Clive took his measures
accordingly.

It was necessary, in order to save the arms of England from
defeat, and the newly-acquired provinces from destruction, that
the brigade in advance — in other words, the troops stationed at
Allahabad and Serajapoor, should be kept faithful to their colours.
Clive therefore sent instructions to Colonel Smith to be much upon
his guard ; to yield nothing, to promise nothing, except in the last
extremity ; to put down the mutiny, should it break out in his

<mAB. Mn.] OFFICERS PUT IN ARREST. 223

corps, with a strong hand, if possible ; and to come to no terms
with the mutineers unless the troops could not be brought by
aay other means into the field. At the same time he hurried
forward to Monghir as many officers as could be collected from
Calcutta and elsewhere, and directed them to use their best en-
deavouis, by argument, by persuasion, by the threat of his speedy
arrival, to bring back the malcontents to a sense of duty. To Sir
Robert Barker, however, and Colonel Smith, in both of whom
he appears to have reposed great confidence, he transmitted only
general recommendations that they should break the refractory
spirit of their mutineers, let the consequences be what they
might. Neither Sir Robert Barker nor Colonel Smith failed
him at the pinch. The former put in arrest and sent down to
Calcutta the field-adjutant or brigade-major of his own brigade,
for presuming on the 1st of May to enclose to him the commis-
sions of a large number of officers. To the officers themselves
he sent back their commissions, it is true, but he accompanied
the gift with a threat that, if they did not immediately return to
their duty, the extreme rigour of military law would be enforced
against them ; and such was the influence of his well-known cha-
racter, that, with only three exceptions, the whole of the recu-
sants resumed their places in the ranks. In like manner Colonel
Smith justified, by the energy which marked his proceedings, the
good opinion entertained of him by his chief. By accepting the
resignations of some, and refusing to communicate upon the
subject with others, he managed to keep a sufficient number of
European officers with his sepoy battalions to ensure their
efficiency, and forthwith sent one of these back to the support of
the commandant at Allahabad, where the European regiment
threatened to break into mutiny. The sepoys, marching a hun^
dred miles in fifty hours, reached the cantonments in good time ;
whereupon the mutineers returned to their barracks, and the
officers were almost all put in arrest.

Meanwhile Lord Clive proceeded in person to Monghir, where
the danger was far more imminent than at either of the other sta-
tions. He reached the cantonments on the 15th of May, and was
astounded at the tidings which immediately greeted him. The
officers whom he had sent forward from Calcutta and Moorshe-
dabad had not, it appeared, been idle. They pointed out to their

224 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xx«.

comrades the folly as well as the moral guilt of their proceedlDg^,
and reproached them with acting ungratefully to the Governor,
who, instead of appropriating to his own use the legacy left to
him in the will of Meer Jaffier, had set aside the whole, amount-
ing to not less than 70,000/. sterling, to form a fund out of
which pensions to invalids and to the widows of officers and sol-
diers dying in the service might accrue. The malcontents de-
clared that they had never till that moment heard of Lord Clivers
generosity to the service ; and when reminded that the circum-
stance could not but be well known to their brigadier, they
replied that, whether well known to him or not, the brigadier
had taken care not to make any of their body cognizant of the
fact. Indeed they went further ; for in direct terms some of
them charged Sir Robert Fletcher with giving encouragement to
proceedings from which it was now impossible for them to with-
draw. Moreover, Lord Clive learned that so recently as the
13th there had been a movement among the European soldiers
to support their officers by force, and that they had been diverted
from their purpose only by a distribution of money, and the
assurance which Sir R. Fletcher gave them, that he was not, as
they had been led to believe, about to put himself at their head.
These statements were made to Lord Clive immediately on
his arrival at Monghir ;. and Sir R. Fletcher, being sent for, cor-
roborated them in the main ; but he made, during the interview,
an admission which sank deep into Olive's mind, though with
great self-command he affected at the moment not to notice it.
Sir Robert, it came out, had been cognizant of the designs of his
officers ever since the month of January. He had sent in no
report upon the subject, nor taken any steps to break up the con-
spiracy, because, as he said, it was desirable that nothing should
be done at Bankepore of which he should not possess full know-
ledge ; and he had good ground to believe that premature inter-
ference, instead of checking the sedition, would only render the
leaders more cautious and their followers more determined.
Clive heard, but made no reply to this explanation. He con-
tented himself with ordering the brigade under arms, and ex-
plaining to them the nature of the offence of which too many
officers had been guilty, and its inevitable consequences, had the
conspiracy succeeded, to all classes in the army. This done, he

CHAP, xxn.] HIS DISTRUST AND ANXIETY. 225

sent down the chief culprits under g^ard to Caleutta; and,
having delayed a day or two to satisfy himself that tranquillity
was restored, he pursued his journey to Bankepore.

It would overload these pages were I to describe in detail the
measures adopted by Lord Clive at each of the great military
stations during this alarming mutiny. They were marked in every
instance with the decision and good sense which formed prominent
fsatures in his character, and the most perfect success attended
tbem ; yet it must not be supposed that a task so Herculean was
accomplished without a great deal of mental anxiety and bodily
&tigue. Indeed the whole period of Olive's second administra-
tion of th^ affiiirs of Bengal may be described as little else than
a protracted intellectual fever. '^ Do you think," he asks in a
letter to the Governor of Madras, " that history can furnish an-
other instance of a man, with 40,000/. per annum, a wife and
family, a £ither and mother, brothers and sisters, cousins and
rdations in abundance, abandoning his native country, and all
the blessings of life, to take charge of a government so corrupt,
so headstrong, so lost to all sense of principle and honour as
this ?" It was a natural question for one to put who found in-
subordination and misrule everywhere— a civil service corrupt
and mercenary to the greatest extent — an army insubordinate,
disorganised, and liable at any mom^it to be swayed by the
caprice or ill-humour of its officers into a state of revolt. Nor
was there one among the public men with whom he co-operated
but in some way or another ru£9ed his temper by outraging his
sense of right I have taken occasion to point out the de^ee to
which Mr. Sumner disappointed Lord Olive's expectations when
acting as President of the committee during his lordship's tem-
porary absence from Calcutta. I have shown that General
Carnac himself was the cause to him of uneasiness on more than
one occasion. And with respect to the others — the whole of
the heads of departments, including Brigadiers Fletcher, Barker,
and Smitl^, incurred in one shape or another his displeasure.
They would seem, and especially Sir Robert Fletcher, to have
been but indifferent disciplinarians throughout. For example,
long before the combination to resist the reduction of batta was
entered into, the officers of the Bengal army took deep ofltence
at the introduction of a stranger into their body by a process of

226 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap.

purchase which raised him at once to the rank of captain. CUve
was no party to the arrangement ; indeed in his own breast, aad
in private conversation, he severely condemned it ; but forasmudi
as it was the act of the President and Council, he would not
sanction anything like rebellion against it. Not so felt and
acted the captains and subalterns of the army, or the brigadiers.
The former threatened with one accord to resign the service if
the appointment were not cancelled ; the latter, including Ge-
neral Carnac himself, while they complained of the absence of
discipline among their inferiors, showed that they were them-
selves not more disposed to submit, without repining, to lawfol
authority. How Lord Clive dealt with these gentl^nen under
the very delicate circumstances in which their conduct move
than once placed him, will be best understood by inserting a few
extracts from his correspondence, which explain both his senti-
ments on the important subjects referred to^ and his manner of
expressing them. Writing to General Carnac after the receipt
of a warm remonstrance addressed to the Council, he says : —

" I am concerned at the warmth of your letter to the Board.
Although they have used both you and me extremely ill, and, as
individuals, deserved our utmost contempt, yet I think there is
some indulgence due to their stations. That they have acted
unjustly, as well as contrary to the known rules of the army, in
the case of Captain Macpherson, <;annot be doubted ; yet I can-
not think the officers ought to carry matters so far as to insist
upon a Governor and Council retracting what they have done.
There must be an absolute power lodged somewhere, and that
certainly is in the hands of the Governor and Council, until the
pleasure of the Court of Directors be known. However, if the
account of Captain Macpherson is proved true, I will be answer-
able that he shall act as youngest of the corps he has been intro-
duced to, and take care that no such unjust proceedings shall be
countenanced in future. I hope this will prove satisfactory to
the officers, who, by their gallant behaviour, are entitled to every
mark of attention and distinction from the Company.''

Thb kind and friendly remonstrance, on the part of Lord
Clive, had not the desired effect. On the contrary, it appears
from the following letter to his friend, General Lawrence, that
the anger of the officers was not to be allayed ; and that a spirit

}

CHAP. xxH.] LETTER TO GENERAL LAWRENCE. 227

of insubordination had taken such deep root among them, that
nothing short of a mutiny successfully put down could have
power to overcome it.

" I should have done myself the pleasure of writing to yon
sooner, if I had not deferred it from day to day, in hopes of
being able to entertain you with some important news from
camp. There has, however, but one material circumstance hap-
pened, and that I am sure will astonish you. Some time ago,
the Governor in Council here permitted Captain Whichcot to
dispose of his commission to Captain Macpherson, and appointed
the latter to the same rank among the captains that Whichcot
held. Upon a representation of this grievance, Macpherson was
ordered to take rank as youngest captain ; but the military gen-
tlemen, still dissatisfied, thought fit to remonstrate against his
being appointed to any other than that of youngest ensign. Such
an unreasonable request could^ not be granted, and the con-
sequence of the refusal has been, it seems, a general association
among the officers, captains as well as subalterns ; the former
thinking it incumbent on them to support what they are pleased
to suppose the rights of the latter. The import of this associa-
tion is, that all the officers, captains, lieutenants, and ensigns are
to resign their commissions, unless Macpherson be degraded to
the lowest rank I Civil departments, in every state, will now
and then entertain abuses, in spite of the most vigilant magis-
tracy ; but I appeal, my dear General, to your memory, whether,
in the long experience you have had in military affiiirs, a single
instance can be given of a corps of officers, in time of actual
service and an enemy in the field, uniting in a combination of
this nature. To me it appears so repugnant to every regulation
of discipline, so destructive of that subordination, without which
no army can exist, and above all, so disobedient to the Mutiny
Act and Articles of War, that I am determined to refiise them
the liberty of resigning (I mean those at least whose contract
with the Company is not expired), and break them, or perhaps
proceed to greater extremities by a general court-martial. Th^
expediency of my plan of regimenting the forces, and appointing
the proper proportion of field officers, appears now, I think, in a
stronger light than ever; and in consequence of this mutiny
(must I call it ?) I have already ordered all the corps which I

Q2

228 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. MOJt.

brought from Europe to inarch up to camp, whither I intend to
go myself, as soon as the interior policy of afiairs will permit*
To say truth, every principle of government in this preddenc^
has within these few months past been so debauched, that one
can hardly determine upon the branches which ought first to be
lopped. Pray tell Mr. Palk that I do not write to him by this
post because my politics are not yet ripe for communicaticm, and
I oonnder this as a letter to you both."

Some time before this combination of officers took place,
several efforts were made by Clive to enforce the principles of
subordination, which, we find from his private letters, had been
greatly relaxed in all ranks. He appears to have grounded kb
chief hopes of restoring and maintaining discipline on his plan,
elsewhere referred to, of giving shape to the army, by forming
it into corps and brigades, and placing it under cheers of rank
and reputation ; but his difficulty was to keep those in order who
had been selected to commsmd others. This is strongly evinced
in a letter to Sir R. Fletcher, who, while he recommended the
introduction of better discipline, objected to serve under Sir It.
Barker.

" I have received your letter," Lord Clive obs^ves, " and
agree entirely with you in the necessity of introducing discipline
uid subordination among the officers and soldiers in the service
of the Company, although I see no such difficulty in bringing
this about, since those who decline complying with the r^^ula-
tiond which are to be made will most eertainly be dianissed the
sOTvice.

** I must confess it gives me much concern, that you, who
preach up the necessity of discipline and reformation, should be
the first to act in contradiction to your own declared sentiments,
by declining to serve under Sir B. Barker ; but what surprises
me still more is, that you, who have been removed from one
settlement to another, and have actually superseded numbers,
should object to serve under an officer, who was a captain when
you were only an ensign or volunteer on the same establishment.
Without disparagement to your merit, which I shall always be
ready to acknowledge, it is not in the eyes of the world equal to
that of Sir K. Barker, who has had more time and more oppat*
tunities than you possibly could of distinguishing himself You

csAP. xxn.] SIR R. FLETCHER. 229

think he should have remained in the artillery. That would not
have hindered him from commanding you upon all occasions
when you were both upon service together. Indeed his rank is
so high, that he must always command wherever he is, if Camac
or Smith be not present, which may seldom happen; except,
indeed, by being an artillery officer, he should be thought im^
proper to command the whole ; and by that means an officer of
his rank and merit would be deprived of an opportunity of acting
in the field at all. In short, every one who knows Sir R.
Barker esteems him equal to any command, both military and
artillery ; and as a proof of what I affirm, Greneral Lawrence,
Mr. Palk, and the Nabob* pressed me, in the strongest terms,
to have Sir B. Barker ; promising that he shcmld have both rank
and command next to Colonel Campbell.

^^ I am persuaded that when you reflect upon the merits and
pretensions which Sir Robert Barker has to the Company's
favour, you will not hesitate a moment to give up the point. If
you consider that Mr. Sulivan alone sent you out, in that dis-
tinguished station which you now possess, and that his interest is
at best become a very precarious one, I am sure your own good
sense will prevail upon you not to oppose my appointment ; for I
must irankly tell you, that, though I am really inclined to do
you every service in my power, yet, in this instance, you must
not expect the same indulgence from me which you have received
from General Camac."

In addition to these there are extant several letters from Lord
Clive to Colonel Smith and to Sir B. Barker on the same sub-
ject, of which two at least ought not to be omitted in any work
which professes to give a history of the life and services of the
^nriter. The former officer, who, after Camac, stood highest in
Ijord Clive's estimation in a military point of view, and in point
of seniority came next to Carnac in the service, had incurred the
personal displeasure of the Governor on a previous occasion, and
was treated in consequence with a degree of reserve which
greatly distressed him. Being desirous of coming to an explana-
tion, he availed himself of an official correspondence about th6
re-organization of the army to say — " It remains now in your

* Mahomed Ali, at Madras.

230 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [cHAP.xxm-

breast whether my communications with your lordship in future
shall be simply from the Colonel to the Commander-in-chief, or
whether I shall go beyond that line, and offer my sentiments on
such matters regarding the public service as from time to time
may occur." Clive took for a while no notice of this appealy
whereupon it was repeated ; and then, and only then, he spoke
out, as the following sentences show : — <

" I had resolved," he observes, " to give you an answer to
your letter of the 31st of August last ; but, when I considered
that the explanation required could neither afford you pleasure
nor be of any service to the Company in your present situation, •
I determined to remain silent upon so disagreeable a subject
But as you have called upon me a second time, I will answer
you with a frankness free from all disguise,

" Your behaviour towards Colonel Peach at the Cape, in re-
primanding him for not paying his respects to me through you,
was, in my opinion, assuming an authority which did not belong
to you ; and tended to the lessening of mine. Lieutenant Wen-
thorp, after he had obtained my consent for returnmg to India,
because he did not apply to you first, was discouraged in such a
manner, that he chose rather to forego all the advantages he
might obtain from my promises, than risk the consequences of
your displeasure. Such an authority assumed, and resentment
expressed, could not but give me great offence. The warmth
shown and dissatisfaction expressed (because you were not looked
upon as one of the Committee, and allowed to sign the letter of
instructions to Captain Abercrombie) by immediately connect-
ing yourself with a person whom you had been but very little
connected with before, and who had often declared, in the pre-
sence of many witnesses, that he would never be connected with
you ; the continuance of that very extraordinary connexion the
rest of the voyage ; convinced me at once, I could not be on a
footing of intimacy, without subjecting myself to inconveniences
which a spirit like mine could never brook. These, Sir, among
many other reasons, have occasioned my acting with reserve
towards you. Indeed, in the whole course of so long a voyage,
I could observe a mind too actuated by ambition, — such a ten-
dency in Colonel Smith, to govern and command those who
ought to govern and. command him, that I could not be unre-

CQAF. xxn.] . SIR B. BARKER. 231

served without giving up that authority which I am determined
ever to support ; and although I do, and always have allowed
you many virtues, so long as you continue to give so much
general offence by that kind of behaviour, so long will you be
exposed to mortification and disappointments.*'

. My next extract shall be from a letter to Sir Kobert Barker,
which that officer elicited by applying to be made a member of
the committee of civil government at Patna, not as an indivi-
dual, but as the officer commanding the troops stationed in
Bahar. Sir Robert Barker, be it observed, was personally an
object of great regard to Lord Clive, and this the letter
shows: —

"I must confess," he observes, [" the receipt of your letter of
the 2nd of February has given me infinite concern, because I feel
for you as I should for myself, and there is no officer in this part
of the world for whom I entertain so strong and true regard, or
whom I am so very desirous of serving. I am sure, if it de-
pended upon me, you should, upon Caruac's departure, succeed
to his rank and station; so well acquainted am I with your
merits as a soldier, your moderation and temper as a man.
Your being hurt, therefore, at not having an appointment which
is not in my power to obtain for you, cannot but hurt me. I
am convinced that, great as my interest is, were I to propose
your being joined with Mr. Middleton in directing the collection
of the revenues of the Bahar province, I could not carry that
point. Consider, Barker, how very separate and distinct the
services are ; consider how very jealous the Directors are of
military men, and how very attentive they will be to every
action of mine, whom they look upon in a military more than in
a civil light. Recollect that they would not even allow Coote
to have a seat at the Board to give his advice, except upon mili-
tary matters only. I say further, that were I to take such an
unprecedented step, I doubt whether it would not add such
weight of argument to those counsellors and malcontents, who
are gone home with a full design to exclaim against arbitrary
and military power, that the Company might be induced to dis-
approve of everything I have done for them, from an apprehen-
sion that I meant to accomplish every measure, by the subversion
of civil liberty. Persuaded I am, that the joining with Middle-

232 LIFE OP LORD CLI VE. [chap, xxtt

ton a man of your steadiness, moderation, and discretion, would
be of singular advantage to the Company: notwithstanding
which, I dare not attempt to do it.

** But, let us suppose for a moment that I could gratify yon
in this request, what would be the consequence ? Would not
every officer commanding a brigade insist upon the like [privi-
lege ? What use do you imagine the man of Allahabad would .
make of such a concession ? Indeed, Barker, if such an appoint-
ment were to take place, the letters from this settlement would
occasion such an alarm in Leadenhall-street, that I verily believe
I should be turned o£P my government, and all the field-officers
ordered home in the first ship. Point out to me, my friend, any
method of extending your influence, without prejudice to the ser-
vice we both wish to promote, and no man shall be readier than
I to give the strongest proof of friendship and regard for you.
Middleton shall have orders to consult with you upon all occa-
sions where military duties are in agitation ; so shall Setabroy
and Durge Narain, and be ordered often to wait upon you.**

I cannot better conclude the present chapter than by giving a
short extract from a letter addressed on the 11th of July, 1765,
to Mr. Verelst. It shows what Lord dive's sentiments were In
r^ard to the tone of mind which is necessarily produced by long
habits of command, and deserves to be studied by all military
men, some of whom are supposed to be more jealous than is ne-
cessary of the subordination of the sword to the toga.

" I have at last received a letter from Camac, a copy of
which has been sent you. However, his silence upon particular
subjects convinces me he has too much given way to the warmth
of his passions ; and much I fear he thinks too highly of the ser*
vices, dignity, and authority of the military.

" With regard to the first, although a soldier myself, I am of
opinion that we imbibe such arbitrary notions, by the absolute
power which we are obliged to exercise towards the officers and
soldiers, in order to keep up subordination and military disci-
pline, so essentially necessary for the good of the service, that
we shall always be endeavouring to encroach upon the civil
power, if they do not repeatedly make use of that authority with
which they are invested ; and I appeal to yourself, whether the
Commanding officers, whoever they were, since my departure

CHAP, xxn.] MR. VERELST. 238

from India, until my second arrival in this quarter, have not, by
their conduct, endeavoured to impress upon the minds of the
princes of the country, that the power was rather in the com-
mander-in-chief of the army than in the Governor and Council.
Indeed, a few months more of Mr. Spencer's government would
have made them lords paramount/'

234 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxm.

CHAFTER XXin.

Trial of Sir Bobert Fletcher — Ciyil Servants implicated in the Conspiracy.

The reader will collect from the preceding letters, much more
accurately than from any statement of mine, how just, upon the
whole, were Lord Olive's opinions on all points affecting the go-
vernment both of a nation and of an army. It is now my busi-
ness to explain how he followed up the judicious blows which
were struck at the advance posts, and with what perfect success
he accomplished his object of re-establishing, in every depart-
ment, the authority of discipline.

Though sincerely attached to the profession of which he was
a member, and anxious on all fitting occasions to temper justice
with mercy, Lord Clive knew that such a crisis as that which
had just been surmounted could be made to work out its proper
ends only by making such examples of the more prominent de-
linquents a3 should deter others in all time coming from being
drawn into a similar vortex. He therefore gave orders that the
whole of the captains, with the most conspicuously insubordinate
of the subalterns, should be brought to trial, and that those con-
victed should be sent as prisoners to Calcutta. From various
expressions in several of his letters, it appears that he had made
up his mind to shoot the ringleaders. But as some doubt existed
in the minds of the members of Council in regard to the power
of Courts-martial in India to condemn to death, he consented,
with some reluctance, to avoid that last extremity. In every
instance, however, where the charge of having taken an active
part in arranging the conspiracy was brought home to an officer,
he was cashiered with disgrace, and transported in the first ship
that sailed to England. Nor was justice appeased by dealing
thus with persons holding subordinate rank in the service. In
the course of the many investigations which took place, it came
to light that Sir Eobert Fletcher was completely mixed up with

c»AP. xxm.] SIR R. FLETCHER. 235

the whole series of in subordinate transactions. Olive's resolu-
tion was instantly taken ; and Fletcher, being put in arrest at the
head-quarters of his own command, a court was ordered to
assemble for his trial. It was to no purpose that the accused
pleaded his high rank, and demanded to be tried only by the
Governor and council. Olive would not listen to the appeal.
" Your repairing to Oalcutta," he says, " in order to be tried by
the President and Oouncil upon an accusation, your exculpation
from which depends mainly upon military law, is totally unpre-
cedented, and therefore improper for me to comply with. That
you may not, however, imagine that I intend to take any other
part upon this occasion than my public station requires, be
assured that the court-martial to be held upon your late conduct
will be assembled by an order from the board, and the sentence
confirmed or approved by them."

The court met ; and Sir Eobert being found guilty, on the
clearest testimony, of wilfully concealing the treasonable designs
of others during a space of not less than four months, was sen-
tenced to be dismissed the service. Olive gave immediate orders
that the sentence which the Board confirmed should be carried
into effect. And here it may be worth noticing, that both the
individual then deprived of his commission, and the officer, him-
self implicated in the mutiny, whose evidence went farthest to
bring the charge home, attained, in after years, though by
widely different processes, to eminence in the world. Oaptain
Goddard, being reinstated in his rank, rose, under Warren Hast-
ings, to command a division of the army, with which he per-
formed one of the most brilliant exploits of which the annals of
Indian warfare make mention. Sir Eobert Fletcher returned
to England, degraded and furious ; yet, having a powerful in-
terest at the India House, he soon managed to regain his position
in the service, and in due time appeared upon the stage as Oom*
mander- in-chief at Madras. Whether or not the disposition to
rebel against established authorities was an instinct with him, I
cannot say ; but it is certain that he played successfully at the
latter station a game quite as serious as that in which he had
been interrupted at Bengal. He was the head of the party
which, in 1775, after a long contest with Lord Pigot, placed
him, though governor of the province, in arrest, and kept him a

236 LIFE OP LOKD CLIVE. [chap, xxiifi

prisoner at St. Thomas's both in defiance of the protest of the
admiral commanding on the station, and the known will of tlie
Court of Directors at home.

It is impossible to speak of Lord Olive's conduct throughout
the whole of these most difficult and complicated transactions in
terms of exaggerated praise. Calm, collected, resolute, yet
just, he faced every danger that presented itself, and met every
difiiculty as it rose with a perfect self-possession which ensnred
success. In dealing, likewise, with the guilty, his forbearance
won for him as much of admiration as his firmness. They who
had abused the influence which they derived from their rank and
experience to mislead others had no mercy shown ; the young,
the thoughtless, the repentant, were pardoned and restored to
the service. Moreover, there was manifest in his whole bearing^
that forgetfulness of self which is the surest test of high prin*
ciple in the conduct of public men. Of disrespectful words
spoken about Lord Clive, when repeated to him, he took no
notice. It was the authority of the President and Council, and
of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, which he
desired to maintain ; and on one remarkable occasion he rebuked,
by inference, the parties who had endeavoured to mix up this
principle with considerations of a different kind. An officer — a
Lieutenant Stainsforth — ^was reported to him as having expressed
an intention to put his lordship to death rather than see the con*
qfwracy broken up. Lord Clive refused to take any public
notice of the threat, and only once referred to it when, in his
address to the tro(^s at Monghir, he spoke of the malcontents as
misguided English officers — ^not as assassins. At the same time,
being aware of the publicity which the story had obtained, and
not being able to satisfy himself that some threat of the sort had
never been uttered, he did not consider that it would be becom-
ing to restore Mr. Stainsforth to the service. The letter from
his secretary, however, which conveyed this refusal, was couched
in delicate, almost in kind language ; and it does not appear that
either then or at any subsequent period, Mr. Stainsforth, or
indeed any others of those who had gone furthest to mark theur
hostility to Lord Clive, were treated by him as objects of his re-
sentment.

It was not, however, exclusively by the vigour of his proceed-

CHAP, xxm.] LETTER TO SIR R. BARKER. 237

ings in putting down this mutiny that Lord Clive set an example
to hb contemporaries of what the conduct of military men in
high command ought to be. Certain usages, of some standing,
which, while they bore heavily upon the resources of the private
soldiers, contributed to increase the emoluments of the higher
ranks of the army, came at this time to his knowledge. For
example, it was the practice of commandants of stations to levy
for their own use a trifling duty on every article of consumption
which was sold in the bazar. The impost appears to have been
recognized as a legal perquisite under the euphonious appellation
of Colonel— or Colonel's Gunge ; and, when denounced by Clive,
there were not wanting those who threw in his teeth that he was
become zealous for the suppression, where others were affected
by them, of practices which in former days he had not scrupled
to follow for his own benefit. Among others, his friend Sir B.
Barker seems to have made an insinuation of this sort in a letter
which is partly taken up with explanations of the over^lenient
course adopted by the court-martial of which he was president
on the trial of a Lieutenant Yertue. Clive's answer to this com-
munication is too characteristic, as well as too valuable in itself,
to be omitted. It runs thus : —

" I have received your letter of the 3rd of August, and re-
joice to find that you have recovered your former state of health.
Orders are sent to the commanding officers to appoint a greater
number of members than thirteen, which, I hope, will prev^it
these delays in future.

'^ I am sorry you should think yourself obliged to defend your
own conduct, as well as that of the members of the general
court-martial appointed to sit upon the trial of Lieutenant Yertue.
When I suggested to you my opinion at Bankepore I addressed
myself to you alone, without mentioning the other members.
The liberty I then took very nearly regarded your honour and
reputation, as well as the wel^e of the East India Company, in
which is included the welfare of the nation.

" I must call to your remembrance some particular expres-
sions I made use of that morning at breakfast, as others were
present, and can prove the truth of what I assert. I told you,
that, where conscience was in the case, exclusive of the sacred-
ness of an oath, the world should not bias me to swerve from my

^38 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. XXHI.

opinion ; but where that was not so, and I was convinced in my
own mind a man was guilty, neither apprehensions of law, or
any deficiency in forms, should influence me to act in favour of
those who were not deserving of it. I told you, at the same
time, all the general officers in Great Britain would canvass this
general court-martial, and that their attention would be more
particularly fixed upon you, the President. These were my
words, or words to that purpose ; this also is my opinion, which
I am not ashamed to declare to the whole world. If, therefore,
any busy, intermeddling person has represented to you my ex-
pressions in another light, he has represented a falsity.

" With regard to the bazar duties, you may be assured &om
me, that, when I mentioned the circumstance of Sir Kobert
Fletcher's conduct, I was an utter stranger to any duties what-
ever being collected by the commanding officers on the neces-
saries of life. I never received such myself, or knowingly
suffered others under me to receive them, either upon the coast
or at Bengal; and had Colonel Smith, when he prided himself
upon never having received bazar duties, informed me that he
had allowed Colonel Peach to receive them, it would have been
more consistent with that sincerity which he has always pro-

1

n. -»

" No one has shown himself a greater friend to the field
officers than myself; yet they seem already to forget the great
advantages they enjoy. However, I must remark, that, to an
officer whose pay and emoluments amount to 12,000/. per annum,
the bazar duties can scarce be an object

<* I am surprised to find myself accused of erecting Colonel
. Gunge at Patna. To speak plainly. Barker, I never established
a Gunge in my life, and never will ; because I never approved
of receiving duties on the necessaries of life; although I do not
think those officers much in fault who have done the same from
prescription only. Colonel Gunge was created by Colonel Cal-
liaud, and revived by Colonel Cook. The Committee have
forbid this custom in future.

" To conclude, the style and diction of this last letter is so
contrary to Sir Robert Barker's natural disposition, that I am
persuaded some evil-minded persons, who have their own in-
terests more than your reputation at heart, have been the occa-

CHAP. XXIII.] HIS PRECAUTIONS. 239

sion, through misrepresentation. However, since my friendship
for you is mistrusted, and the regard and attention which I have
shown for your welfare, from the day of your embarkation to
this hour, forgotten, I can only lament your misfortune and
mine, that there should be men in the world who can make these
impressions. For ray own part, I am almost weary of the burden.
I have found the pride, ambition, resentment, and self-interested-
ness of individuals so incompatible with the public good, that I
should have given up the contest long ago, if I had not set the
greatest value upon my own reputation, which is all I must ex-
pect to preserve upon my return to England, after so odious and
disagreeable an undertaking."

There are two more occurrences connected with the revolt
of the Bengal army which I j^feel that I should not be justi-
fied in passing over, though the notice taken of them will
necessarily be brief. When the malcontents discovered that
Lord Clive was neitho* to be cajoled nor threatened into conces-
sions, great fear fell upon them ; and in the height of their alarm
several pondered the wisdom of deserting, and taking refuge
either among the country powers, or in the French or Dutch
settlements on the Ganges. To prevent the execution of the
former of ihese plans, Clive caused the various roads out of the
cantonments to be patroled; and put each officer, as he was
arrested, under a guard of sepoys. To obviate all chance of
carrying the latter into effect, he wrote to M. Law, now Go-
vernor of Chandernagore, and to M. Vernet, the chief of the
Dutch settlement at Chinchura, and begged that neither of them
would afford an asylum to men who had disgraced their country
by insubordination, and proposed to disgrace themselves by de-
serting their colours. There existed at this time an excellent
understanding between the representatives of the French and
Dutch East India Companies and the British Government at
Calcutta ; and as Clive lived personally in habits of familiar in-
tercourse with the two gentlemen just named, hia request met
with a prompt and favourable reception.

Again, Lord Clive attributed, and with perfect justice, no
small measure of his success against the disaffected to the support
which was afforded him by the newly-created field-officers, whom,
in opposition to a strong party in the Court of Directors, he had

240 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [cffAP.

succeeded in attaching to the several battalions of the
army. These gentlemen, it appears, were of the same w:
thinking, and as soon as order became thoroughly restored,
sent in a memorial prayings as the reward of their servic(
be admitted to a share in the profits of the salt trade. Clijce
pointed out the impropriety of this proceeding, and the memojr^pi
was withdrawn. But he could not permit these gentlemen te
suppose that any ill feeling towards themselves personally liad
dictated his opposition to their project. He therefore addressed
to them a complimentary letter, from which the following is wot
extract: —

" Colonel Smith has undoubtedly acquainted you that I de-
clined presenting your memorial to the Board previous to axy
receipt of your application for withdrawing it ; and I conclude
that the arguments I urged against the memorial, in my letter
to him, have convinced you of my wish to preserve the enjoy-
ment of the present emoluments of the field-officers upon tMs
establishment. The general good of the whole, added to the
consideration that every supernumerary Major will succeed, upon
vacancies, to a share in the salt trade, will, I hope, prevail upon
you to rest satisfied with the present distribution.

" I cannot omit this opportunity of mentioning how sensible
I am of the service done by you, and the other field-officers, on
the late mutinous combination ; as witliout such assistance the
resolution of the President and of the Council must have proved
inefiectual. And, perhaps, you will not be displeased upon my
assuring you, that, in my letters to the Court of Directors, I
have represented your conduct, upon that particular occasion, in
the very favourable light it so justly deserved."

And now that I may exempt both myself and the reader from
the necessity of referring any more to this memorable page in
the history of Lord Clive, it may be wdl if I permit him to de-
scribe, in his own energetic way, both the extent to which the
conspiracy had spread, and the feelings with which the contem-
plation of it afiected him. Of the suspicions which were enter-
tained of the co-operation of some of the Company *8 civil servants
with the mutineers in the army, notice has elsewhere been taken.
It will be seen that Lord Clive speaks of the matter as a well-
ascertained fact, and particularizes certam individuals, one of

p. xxni.] LETTER TO MR. VERELST. 241

lom held the responsible office of under-secretary to the su-
jme council, while the others filled important stations in
*alcutta. Against the whole of these, as well as against others
^of less note^ the charges were entirely brought home, and to a
man they were dismissed the service. But Lord Clive must tell
his own tale He writes to Mr. Verelst on the 28th of May,
^^l 1766, in these terms :—

M " Enclosed you will receive two letters, one from Mr. Martin,
^ the other, although not signed, I know to be Higginson's hand-
'^1 writing; so that you see we are betrayed even by our own sub-
secretary; and I make no doubt but the assistant-secretary is
^^ still deeper in the plot.

0^ «< You will observe, in the last general letter, the Directors
'^'^' order us to dismiss, not suspend ; and I think near all the Com-
pany's servants concerned in exciting this mutiny might not only
be dismissed, but sent home in the first ship. Such a behaviour
in England would be high treason to the state, and every man of
them would be hanged.

*' I hope the Council will not hesitate one moment about
turning out of the office both Stephenson and Higginson, and dis-
missing them the service, if concerned in fomenting the late
mutinous combination. Indeed, very few are to be trusted ; and,
in my opinion, the Council should immediately require the
assistance of twelve or fourteen junior servants from Madras and
Bombay ; for, I am fully persuaded this settlement can never be
restored to order, or the honour of the nation or the Company
retrieved, until there be a total change in the morals of indivi-
duals : and that can only be effected by turning out the most
rich and factious, and transplanting others. I have some hopes
the Directors will empower me to take such a step in their
answer by the Admiral Stevens.

"How shocked must Sulivan and those Directors be, who
opposed this appointment of field-officers ! Certain if is that,
without their assistance, we must have given way to the mutiny
amongst the officers ; and it is equally certain, if we had, Bengal
must have been lost, or a civil war carried on to restore to the
Company their lost authority, rights, and possessions ; for it is
beyond a doubt, that men capable of committing such actions as
they have lately done would soon have gone such lengths as

242 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxin.

to have made it impossible ever to return to their native
country.

" There was a committee to each brigade, sworn to secrecy ;
and I have it from undoubted authority, that the officers thought
themselves so sure of carrying their point, that a motion was
made and agreed to, that the Governor and Council should be
directed to release them from their covenants. The next step
would, I suppose, have been the turning me and the Committee
out of the service. In short, I tremble with horror when I
think how near the Company were to the brink of destruction.

" The plot hath been deeply laid, and of four months' stand*
ing. I can give a shrewd guess at the first promoters. One of
them I have already mentioned to you, who will ere long, I
hope, be brought to condign punishment.

" Remember again to act with the greatest spirit ; and if the
civilians entertain the officers, dismiss them the service ; and if
the latter behave with insolence, or are refractory, make them
all prisoners, and confine them in the new fort. If you have any-
thing to apprehend, write me word, and I will come down in-
stantly, and bring with me the third brigade, whose officers and
men can be depended upon."

1OTAP. XXIV.] HIS POLICY. 243

CHAPTER XXIV.

Sammary of Lord Cliye's Administration — Opinion of the Coart of
Directors.

It was now the month of September, 1766, and Lord Clive re-
turned once more to the seat of government at Calcutta, was
able to congratulate himself and the Court of Directors on the
perfect accomplishment of the very difficult task which he had
undertaken to perform. There was peace with all the neigh-
bouring powers, and treaties were in force with some of them
which gave as much promise as in those days Indian treaties
could give, that the good understanding would continue, at least
for a season. With great prudence Clive had resisted the Em-
peror's overtures to march with him to Delhi. He did not feel
that the Company had any commission to settle the government
of Hindostan, or to garrison its capital. They acknowledged
Shah Alum as the legitimate head of the empire, it is true, paid
him a fixed revenue on the provinces over which he had ap-
pointed them to act as his receivers, and treated him on every
occasion with marks of outward respect. But they were not
bound to wage war with the Mahrattas, Affghans, or Jauts on
his account ; and Clive, as the representative of the Company,
declined every invitation and entreaty to do so. At the same
time he permitted a brigade of the army to remain at Allahabad,
in order to secure the territories of Oude, as well as those of
Bahar, from insult.

Again, the corruptions which had so long disfigured both the
civil and military services of Bengal were put down. There was
no more oppression of the natives by jobmasters and agents ; the
eagerness of individuals to enrich themselves at the expense of
the Company's interests was repressed ; order and discipline had
come back to the ranks of the army; and hardened offenders
from both branches of the service having been removed, new

B 2

244 LIFE OF LORD CLIVK [chap. xxiv.

men were brought in from whom better things were to be ex-
pected. Moreover, the closer the examination which Clive gave
to his plan in regard to the salt trade, the better pleased he was
with both its principle and its results. The issues of the first
year's experiment had surpassed even his expectations. So large,
indeed, were the profits accruing, that the share of the Company-
received an increase, while that of the society of trade was dimi-
nished ; yet a commerce which insured to every member of
Council and colonel in the army 7000/. per annum, and settled
the perquisites of majors and factors — the lowest rank of the
officials who shared in it — at 2000/., could not but be satisfac-
tory to the parties embarked in it. At the same time let us not
. forget that, in a pecuniary point of view, all those persons were
losers by the arrangement. The privilege of private trade, as
previously claimed and enjoyed, had been far more profitable
than these dividends : and they expressed themselves well satis-
fied with the new arrangement, simply because they had learned
from experience that whatever Lord Clive believed to be best for
the public service he would do, and compel others to do, whether
they approved of his plan of operations or the reverse.

There was yet a third arrangement, more personal, in one
sense, to himself, though general too, as concerned the benefits
secured by it to the poorer classes of the Company's servants, on
which Lord Clive could not but look with satisfaction. I have
elsewhere spoken of the legacy bequeathed to him by the late
Nabob, Meer Jaffier, and of the uses to which he proposed to
apply it. His acceptance of the boon at all did not, of course,
escape censure. He who sets himself to correct the frailties of
others must lay his account with drawing down upon his own
head a large share of odium : he need not expect that any but
the worst motives will be attributed to his actions, whatever
these may be. It was no sooner noised abroad, for example, in
Calcutta that Clive had accepted a sum of money from Meer
Jaffier's widow, than the tongue of scandal ran loose. Interested
men proclaimed aloud their disbelief in the tale of the dying
bequest. It was a present, and nothing else, given with a pur-
pose, and as a consideration received ; and the acceptance of it
furnished one more proof of the rapacity as well as the tyran-
nical disposition of the man who did not, in his own person,

1

CHAP. XXIV.] HIS GENEROSITY. 245

hesitate to violate the covenant which he compelled others to
observe. So spoke and wrote to one another, and to their friends
in the Direction, the dregs of the party which Clive had broken
up ; but the behaviour of the Court was different. On the 8th
of April Lord Clive had addressed a note to that body, in which
he stated his belief that the Company's order was not intended
to apply to the case in point ; and that he had in consequence
accepted from the Begum an obligation for the sum of five
lacs of rupees. His letter went on to say, ^^ that having de-
termined to add nothing to his private resources out of money
which might come to him in the form of pay or allowances
during his present sojourn in India, he should not appropriate
the amount to his own account, but should decree it to be paid '
into the Company *s treasury, in order that a fund might be
formed therewith, of which the interest should be dispensed to
officers, non-commissioned officers, and private soldiers disqua-
lified by wounds, or disease, or length of service, from further
duty ; and likewise to their widows who might be left in dis-
tressed circumstances.'' The Council, entertaining no doubt as
to the legality of the whole proceeding, replied to this commu*
nication by thanking his Lordship for *' his generous and well-
placed donation ;" and,' the next packet carried from him a report
of all that had been done to the Court of Directors. Here, either
because the poison from Calcutta had begun to work, or that
there were individuals who entertained honest scruples in the
case, considerable hesitation was manifested in regard to the
fitness of acceding to Lord Clive's proposal. But a reference to
the law-officers of the Crown established, by the opinion which
they delivered, the right of the legatee to hb deceased friend's
bequest, and the Court's misgivings ceased. On the 20th of
August, 1767, it was unanimously resolved, " That his Lordship
be empowered to accept of the said legacy or donation ; and that
the Court do highly approve of his Lordship's generosity in be-
stowing the said legacy of five lacs in so useful a charity ; and
they hereby consent and agree to accept the trust of the said
fund, and will give directions that the same be carried into exe-
cution in legal and proper form."

The exact sum presented by Lord Clive to the Company's
hospital at Poplar was 62,833/. To this the Nabob of Bengal

246 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [cbap. xxit.

added 37,700/. ; and the Company allowing interest on the whole
to the amount of 24,128/., a fund was raised which was more than
sufficient at that time t6 place above the risk of destitution all
who had a just claim to look to it for assistance. It must not,
however, be supposed that the hospital itself owes its' origin to
Lord Olive's munificence. The institution at Poplar was founded
so early as the year 1627, as a place of refuge for decayed sea-
men in the Company's service, and continued, so late as 1768, to
provide for that class of persons exclusively ; but this is Clive'd
glory, in connexion with Poplar Hospital, that he first gave an
impulse to that generous regard for the wants of their worn-out
military servants which has long distinguished the East India
Company above every other governing body in the world. Poplar
Hospital is now to the soldiers of India what Chelsea Hospital is
to the soldiers of the Crown.

To have accomplished so much in 18 months could not fail
of being a proud reflection to Lord Clive. His private letters
accordingly show that there was not an act of his brief but suc-
cessful administration on which, at the period in his history at
which we have now arrived, he looked back except with un*
mixed gratification. No wish to benefit himself, no desire to
screen or slur over the faults of others, seems to have been pre-
sent with him throughout* Whatever he did had been done in
obedience to that strong sense of duty which, if we take it as out
sole principle of action in private life, may perhaps stiffen recti*
tude into severity, but which, to public men, is the only guide
that can lead them straight to the point which they ought to
seek — their country's well-being and their own honour as con-
nected with its advancement. Moreover, Lord Clive had so
regulated the expense of his very household, that when the ac-
counts of the government came to be made up, it was found that
the pledge given on accepting the government of Bengal had
been redeemed even to his own hurt. Clive did not undertake
to sacrifice any portion of his private means in striving to benefit
the Company. All to which he bound himself was, that, be his
sojourn abroad longer or shorter, he would return at the end of
it without having made the slightest addition to his private for-
tune ; and now an exact calculation of receipts and disburse-
ments showed that there was a balance against him of upwards of

CHAP. XXIV.] HIS ILLNESS. 247

5000/. The fact is, that he carried no portion of his salary, or
of his share in the salt trade, or indeed of any other sums offi«
cially paid in, to his private credit. Whatever was not required
to cover the unavoidable expenses of his station, he made over
in free gift to the gentlemen of his hmily ; and these, being
three in number, do not appear to have derived from the act any
extravagant addition to their fortunes.

It had been Lord Olive's settled purpose from the outset, as all
his letters, public as well as private, show, to resign the govern-
ment without fail in December, 1766, and to return at once to
England. This resolution, prudent in itself, received additional
force from the severity of an illness with which he was about
this time attacked. The fatigue, both of body and mind, which
he had recently endured, and his frequent exposure to the burning
suns of a burning climate, told heavily upon a constitution which
had never, even in boyhood,^ been robust, and was now much shat-
tered by past services. Towards the end of October, indeed, he
became so alarmingly ill, that for a day or two his life was
despaired of; and the eflPect of the crisis was to leave him en-
feebled to such a degree, that he could take no more share in the
management of public business. Under these circumstances he
retired to a house in the country, where he remained in seclusion,
waiting till despatches which were expected from London should
arrive, and anticipating with eagerness the day which should
relieve him from all further responsibility, and tenable him to
take his passage for Europe.

Such was Lord Olive's state of body and mind when, in De-
cember, the long looked-for packet arrived, bringing two long
official communications from the Oourt of Directors— one ad-»
dressed to the President and Council, the other to the President
alone. They were both written in a spirit of candour whicli did
honour to the feelings of the body which sent them forth ; but,
being drawn up by one ignorant of the eflPects of the changes
which had recently occurred in Bengal, they conveyed instruc-
tions, immediate compliance with which must have resolved so-
ciety into its elements. The Oourt entirely disapproved of the
plan for remunerating its superior servants out of the profits of
the salt monopoly. ** In coming to this conclusion, they were
not so much influenced by views of the particular merits or de-

248 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap.

merits of the new plan itself, as by a consideration of the mis-
chiefs which had for several years attended the general system of
internal trade carried on by the English gentlemen, with a hi^h
hand, free of duties. Their orders, repeatedly sent out, to pay
the l^al duties to the Nabob, and to keep within the meaning
of the Emperor's firman, had been totally neglected or pro-
vokingly evaded. Revolution after revolution had been the con-
sequence, and immense suffering to the country ensued. It viras
the deliberate opinion of the Court that no regulations could be
framed of sufficient stringency to prevent a recurrence of such
abuses ; and they saw no other chance of rest for the country
than in the entire withdrawal of their servants from interference
with the trade in articles which it belonged to the natives exclu-
sively to cultivate, or raise, or bring, after the customs of their
forefathers, into the public market. The Court, however, ob-
served, that the usual duties on salt, tobacco, and beetle, as
forming part of the revenues of Bengal, should still be levied ;
but beyond this it was their wish and express command that their
servants should not interfere with the trade in these articles."

I have given the substance of this despatch rather than the
ipsissima verba, because the style of public documents, and espe-
cially of Leadenhall-street documents, is sometimes more verbose
than attractive ; but the Court's letter to Lord Clive himself re*
quires that it should be more carefully handled. After expressing
the sense entertained of the many obligations under which his
Lordship had laid the Company, by his penetration in discovering
where its true interests lay — by the rapidity with which he had
restored order to the several branches of the service, and the inte-
grity which had governed all his actions, the Directors go on to say
— " The vast fortunes acquired in the inland trade have been ob-
tained by a series of the most tyrannic and oppressive conduct that
ever was known in any age or country. We have been uniform
in our sentiments and orders on this subject from the first know-
ledge we had got, and your Lordship will not therefore wonder,
after the fatal experience we had of the violent abuses committed
in this trade, that we could not be brought to approve it, even
in the limited and regulated manner with which it comes to us
in the plan laid down in the committee's proceedings. We agree
in opinion with your Lordship on the propriety of holding out

CHAP. XXIV.] PRIVATE TRADE. 249

such advantages to our chief servants, civil and military, as may
open to them the means of honourably acquiring a competency
in our service; but the difficulties of the subject, in the short time
we have to consider it, have obliged us to defer giving our sen-
timents and directions thereupon until the next despatch."

The Court which ordered these instructions to be drawn out
must have overlooked the peculiar position of the parties pro-
posed to be a£^ted by them, if indeed it were not entirely igno-
rant on the subject. Take away the share in the salt monopoly
from the Company's chief servants, and there would be left
for them, at this moment, nothing to depend upon but their
salaries. The import trade, from which, when Lord Clive first
arrived in the country, they derived their main profits, was taken
entirely out of their hands. A numerous body of free merchants
— that is to say, of Englishmen protected by licence from the
Directors, had settled of late at each of the presidencies, who,
having nothing to attend to except their :private afi^rs, soon
managed to drive the covenanted servants of the Company out of
the market. This it was, indeed, which in some measure forced
the latter to seek, in a usurpation of the commerce of the Indian
traders, those profits of which their own countrymen had de-
prived them ; and the large returns which they derived from the
new traffic led them on to turn their undivided attention into
this channel. To deprive these gentlemen of their right of
traffic first, and then to take away from them the revenues which
had been granted as compensation for the loss, was in point of
&ct to say, that they should have their bare salaries, and nothing
else to depend upon. Besides, Clive's plan for the management
^ of the salt trade did no wrong to any one. Salt had been from
time immemorial a monopoly in the hands of the native govern-
ment, and the licences were at stated periods hired out to the
best bidder. Clive merely assumed that the Company, as De-
wan, had a right to act as the Nabob's Dewans had acted before
them ; and by making a certain number of senior servants the
Company's farmer, he but pJaced an European corporation in
the room of 'some Indian Zemindar, or, it may be, banker ; sub-
jecting his own countrymen, besides, to restrictions more favour-
able to the native retail dealer than any Nabob or Dewan would
have cared to impose on his lessee. His mortification was

1

250 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxir.

therefore extreme when he found that both his policy and the
reasoning on which it was founded had been misunderstood bj
the Directors, and that he was commanded, in terms which ad-
mitted of no evasion, to reverse it. But Clive was not the man
to undo his own work, and to throw a kingdom into confusioa
merely because those in authority over him required a specific
line of proceeding to be followed. He knew that it was to the
interest of the Company, much more than to that of individuals,
that the Court should have time to revise its judgment and re-
verse its decree, should the results of further examination point
out to them its extreme inexpediency. He therefore directed
the Council to make public the wishes of the home authorities.
But the same order which conveyed this intelligence to the pub-
lic of Calcutta contained an act of Council, by which the grant
to the society of trade was confirmed for one year, and notice
given that on the first of September, 1767, it should terminate.

As the history of this affair, though intimately connected with
the history of Lord Clive's public life, stands like a thing apart^
and is for many reasons deserving of general notice, it may not
be amiss if I endeavour in few words to bring it to an issue*
The Court of Directors were not convinced by the arguments of
the Supreme Council at Calcutta. They therefore, on the 20th
of March, 1767, gave preremptory orders that the society of
trade should be broken up, and the salt-pans sold by a public
auction, at which no Europeans should be under any pretence
permitted to become bidders. At the same time, in order to
compensate the senior servants for the loss thereby inflicted upon
them, they decreed that an allotment of 2J per cent, on the net
revenues of the Dewannee should be made over to them in spe-
cified shares ; and that the pay of captains and subalterns of the
army should, to a trifling extent, be increased. Meanwhile Mr.
Verelst, who had succeeded Lord Clive in the government pf
Bengal, saw no just reason, when September, 1767, arrived, to
act upon the principle laid down in the Order of Council, dated
December, 1766. Under the pretext of affording time to wind
up accounts and collect debts, he prolonged the existence of the
society of trade for another year ; nor was it till September,
1 768, that the monopoly came to an end. But even then mat-
ters were managed very loosely. The local government had

CHAP. XXIV.] LETTER TO THE COURT. 251

received no instructions from home. They only knew tliat the
trade was to be opened, and they threw it open in such a way as
should still secure large advantages to themselves. By and by
there came a despatch from London, bearing date December,
1769, which declared that all residents within the provinces,
whether Europeans or natives, were free to engage in the inland
trade in any manner, and to any extent, which might suit their
own convenience. And, finally, it was proposed that, for the
benefit of the government, a trifling duty should be levied upon
salt, which the manufacturer should pay to the excise officers on
the spot, leaving the wholesale and retail dealers to make as
much profit as they could out of the article after it should have
come into their hands.

Lord Clive, having returned, as we shall presently see, to
liOndon long before matters took this turn, protested against these
arrangements from the beginning. He described the surrender
of the Company's share of the monopoly as a gratuitous sacrifice
of revenue to the amount of 300,000/. per annum, from which no
human being, except the few wealthy individuals engaged in the
manufacture and first sale of the salt, would benefit ; and he
denounced the project of remunerating public servants by a per
centage taken out of the public collections, not more because of
the loss entailed thereby upon the proprietors, than because it
would inevitably lead to the growth of a system of solicitation
from which the worst consequences might be anticipated. " If
you grant a commission on the revenue," he says in a paper sent
in to the Court, " the sum will not only be large, but known to
the world : the allowance being publicly ascertained, every man's
proportion will at times be the occasion of much discourse, envy,
and jealousy, and the great will interfere in your appointments,
and noblemen will perpetually solicit you to provide for the
younger branches of their families."

It is curious to read these prophetic warnings of Clive, and to
compare them with the accomplishment. And it is not less
curious to observe the candour with which individuals in the
Direction admitted the extent to which the thought of their divi-
dends were mixed up in the minds of the holders of India stock
with visions of moral improvement in the newly acquired pro-
vinces. Mr. Scrafton, writing to Lord Clive by the same ship

252 LIFE OF LORD CLIVK [chap. xxjt.

which conveyed the Court's disapproval of the plan of the trade
society, says — " The proprietors have begun to clamour for an
increase of dividend, which the Directors think unsuitable to the
situation of the Company's affairs. This has induced the Direc-
tors to defer the consideration of the gratification of the servants
on abolishing the salt trade. Such considerations could not be
but for a vast sum ; and if it had got wind that such gratifica-
tions were ordered, the proprietors would be outrageous for an
increase of the dividend. Though we cannot open our minds
upon it, yet it appears to me an increase of dividend must take
place at the quarterly court in June ; and then the court will be
under no restraint, but will give a per centage on the revenues,
in which the governor will have a great share in lieu of trade ;
the rest among the committee, council, colonels, and ten below
council, but no lower. ♦ ♦ ♦ Your Lordship may be assured
it will take place; for when the last paragraph was added to
the letter to you, the committee declared it was their meaning
and intention to do it by the next ship."

CHAP. XXV.] REGULATION OF OFFICES. 253

CHAPTER XXV.

Qive's parting Address.

It was the anxious wish of the Court of Directors that Lord
Clive should continue yet a little longer in the government of
Bengal. Their letter of the I7th of May, 1766, concluded with
an earnest request that he would for one year more watch over
the developement of his own plans ; but the arrangements for his
departure were already complete, and the state of his health
would not permit that they should be altered. Not only had the
digestive organs lost their tone with him, but he suffered from
time to time such spasms of acute pain, that a free use of opium,
and that alone, had saved him from sinking under it. Still his
zeal for the public good never grew dull. He had already
weeded out from the civil service its most objectionable mem-
bers ; he still saw with regret that of those who remained, some,
from a too exclusive attention to self-interest, others through a
laxity of principle, which they may have deceived themselves
into regarding as mere easiness of temper, were incapable of
doing justice to his arrangements. Besides, men had made
their fortunes of late on this side of India with such marvellous
rapidity, that the most important offices came to be held by mere
boys. To remedy this evil. Lord Clive took it upon himself to
call in the aid of civilians from Madras; and gave seats in
council to four gentlemen from that presidency very much to the
annoyance of the parties over whose heads they passed. But
this was not all. The Council, though an important body, had
ceased since the late arrangements at home to exercise the
powers of government, which were really, if not nominally,
vested in the Select Committee. To fill the Committee, there-
fore, with gentlemen of experience as well as talent, became an
object of the first importance, and Lord Clive used his best
endeavours, not unsuccessfully, to accomplish it. Not that this

254 LIFE OF LORD CLTVE. [chap. xxv.

was to be done in a moment, or as a matter of course. The
acceptance of a place in the select committee, besides implying
the necessity of relinquishing all other employment that might
have a tendency to withdraw any portion of the individual's care
from his public duties, rendered constant residence at or near
Fort William inevitable. Now there was nothing about Fort
William in those days to bind men's fancy to the place itself, or
to the society which frequented it ; while the opportunities of
saving, if not of making, money were far more abundant at the
best stations in the interior than at the capital. But as Clive
would not, in his own case, allow private feelings to stand in the
way of public duty, so, when he believed that gentlemen were
qualified to serve the Company as members of the Select Com-
mittee, he did not hesitate to demand from them the same sort
of sacrifices which he was willing to make himself. The follow-
ing extracts from letters to his friend Mr. Sykes and to Mr.
Cartier, of whom he entertained a high opinion, will show what
his feelings were in regard to this matter. Mr. Sykes was then
Resident at Moorshedabad, a position of large emolument,
high respectability, and little labour ; Mr. Cartier, as chief of a
factory, had nothing to gain by being transferred to the Select
Committee, and was therefore unwilling to incur the labour and
responsibility. To overcome the scruples of the former, Lord
Clive wrote as follows : —

" I have received your letter, urging many reasons against
your residing at Calcutta, when Mr. Verelst came to the chair.
Your intention of declining the government, I must confess, is
the only one that seems to carry any weight. Your situation, I
believe, is a very agreeable one, and your conduct, I am per-
suaded, will bring advantage to the Company and honour to
yourself. Yet let us not forget, Sykes, the principles upon
which you and I have hitherto acted, of sacrificing private con-
venience to public good. To doubt my friendship, because I
cannot carry it to such lengths, is not to know me. I have
loved you as a brother ; yet a brother cannot alter my senti-
ments of what is right and wrong. If you are fully convinced
that your health will not permit you to live in Calcutta, and for
that reason, among others, you mean to decline the government,
there may be reasons given in abundance for remaining in your

CHAP. XXV.] MR. CARTIER 256

present station; and, among the rest, that of your being the
most fit for such an employment. To conclude: this matter
must be decided by my successor, Mr. Verelst, after my de-
parture. I have given you my sentiments, which are consistent
with my friendship for you, and my duty to the Company."

Mr. Cartier's scruples seem to have been more easily over-
come ; and Lord Clive wrote immediately to express his gratifi-
cation at the circumstance. The subjoined letter, bearing date
the 22nd of January, 1767, was one of the last to which he ever
attached his signature in India : —

" The receipt of your friendly letter and your acceptance of
being nominated one of the Select Committee, with so much
cordiality, has afforded me more real satisfaction than I have felt
for these many months. I can now leave India with satisfaction
to myself, because I leave it in tranquillity, and the chief
management of these important and extensive concerns in the
hands of men of honour and approved probity and abilities.

*' Be assured, my good Sir, you will not have to encounter
many of those disagreeable circumstances which you seem to
apprehend in your letter to Mr. Verelst. That unthankful task
has Mien to my lot. The Select Committee, and Committee of
Inspection, have already made every regulation for the public
good which can be desired or thought of; so that it only rests
with you gentlemen to keep matters in the same channel, and
not to relax in your authority, or let yourselves down, by de-
clining to support the dignity of your station.

" A gentleman endowed, like Mr. Cartier, with a good
capacity and solid judgment, of a generous and disinterested way
of thinking, cannot fail of proving a very deserving servant to
the Company, and of acquiring honour for himself, if he will
but have a little more confidence in himself." After assuring
him that, if he finds his new situation at Calcutta agreeable, he
will use his interest to have him named Mr. Verelst's successor
in the government, he continues : — " The state of my health is
such, that I cannot continue in it (the government) another year,
with any prospect of doing the Company service ; indeed, I do
not think I should survive another month; I have therefore
determined to resign the government."

It was not, however, exclusively by promoting the best interests ")

256 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. {chip. MW^.

^of the great body which he served that Clive won for himself a
^proud name in Indian story. Strange as it may sound, wtei
predicated of one who set up and pulled down princes at his
pleasure, no European was ever more desirous than he to pre-
serve in its integrity the framework of native society. While
he did his best to realize an adequate revenue for the Com-
pany, he deprecated having recourse to measures of which' the
effect must be to trench on the funds necessary to support, in
becoming style, the higher classes of the Indian femilies. £Bs
opinions on this bead are stated in a letter to Mr. Palk,'in which,
bearing date the 25th of April, 1766, he describes, with equal
force and truth, the inevitable results to their country should the
time ever come when there ceased to be a native gentry in India.
I need not quote this document, because the end which Lord
Clive so feelingly deprecated has long ago come to pass, and its
consequences are felt and lamented in proportion as men look
beyond the mere preservation of peace, to the moral and intel-
lectual elevation of 100,000,000 of their fellow creatures.

Another characteristic of Lord Clive's system of government
seems to have been this — ^that, taking no account of personal
affection or personal antipathy, he looked out for the fittest
men to be employed in the higher service of the state, and placed
them where their talents gave the best promise of a pro^eroos
issue. Colonel Richard Smith, as I have elsewhere shown, was
certainly not one of his favourites ; yet he kept Colonel Smith
in high and responsible command, and acknowledged, on every
occasion, the services which he performed. On the other hand,
it was a matter of principle with him never to thrust unqualified
persons into office, nor to spare his dearest friends if, through
any error of judgment or principle, they misconducted them-
selves. Few of the younger servants of the Company stood
higher in his personal esteem than Mr. Samuel Middleton ; yet,
when that gentleman incurred the censure of the Board, Lord
Clive, as President, put his name to the letter of Veproof, and
replied to a private letter from Mr. Middleton in the following
terms :—

" I have received your letter of the 19th of September, in
which you express your concern at the censure passed upon you
by the Board, and imagine you may have done something to

CHAP.xxvJ ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 257

forfeit my friendship. To reason in this way is to know but
little of the duty of a governor in a public station.

** If the Board were unanimous, which they really were, in
thinking you and the other gentlemen had been wanting in dili-
gence and attention to the Company's business, was it in my
power to change or alter their sentiments ? Or could I attempt
such a thing consistently with my duty, or the principles, upon
which I have hitherto acted ? The real truth of the matter is,
that the relaxation of government for some years past, has intro-
duced so much luxury, extravagance, independency, and indo-
lence into Bengal, that every effort upon our part to reclaim
this settlement is looked upon as a hardship, or an act of in-
justice ; although it be absolutely necessary for the salvation of
the whole." Afler condemning the wrong-headed opposition
which had been offered by some of the younger servants, and
remarking on the danger which they incurred thereby, he
adds : —

" To set aside the Governor, and speak as a friend, I enter-
tain no doubt of the integrity of your intentions, and of your
zeal for the service; but you are naturally of an indolent,
good-natured, and hospitable disposition, which in private life
may make you beloved by all that know you : yet, in a public
station, these qualities may subject you to the greatest in-
conveniences. You become responsible, not only to the public
for your want of attention, but for the want of attention
of those acting under you, who will perpetually trespass on
your good nature. The indulgence shown by you to the young
gentlemen of the factory, which I myself was an eye-witness to,
must have this consequence— of their becoming very familiar,
which in your present station they ought not to be ; of being
very supine and very neglectful of the Company's business, in
which your own reputation is more immediately concerned.
And I wish the mischief may only end here. Afler having led
so luxurious, extravagant, and independent a life, there will be
much to fear for themselves after your departure.

" The open manner in which you have expressed your sen-
timents and grievances gives me a right to send you mine in
return, which I do assure you proceeds from real friendship and
regard for the interests of those who are acting under you.

8

258 LIFE OF LORD CUVE. [chap. lar.

Perhaps they may not be looked upon in that light by the said
young men. If not, I wish future experience may not convince
them to the contrary."

Besides thus watching with jealous care over the conduct of
gentlemen employed in the administration of public affidrs, Lord
Clive did his best to promote among Europeans a study of the
native languages, and gave every encouragement to the labours
of scientific men, whether they turned their attention to natural
history, to botany, or to geology. Mr. Gladwin, one of the ear-
liest, and in those days best, of our Oriental scholars, owed the
whole of his success in life to Lord Clive*s patronage, who found
him a volunteer, and transferred him, on account of his acquire-
ments, to the civil service, where better opportunities of prose-
cuting his favourite study were aflPorded. The celebrated Major
Bennell was likewise in the number of his clients. Clive took
him by the liand when a lieutenant of engineers ; and, by em-
ploying him in various surveys, and throwing open to him all the
maps in store at Fort William, made the way clear before him
to future eminence. Moreover, he caused the mouth of the
Ganges, with every channel and creek communicating therewith,
to be examined ; and had charts made out, by means of which a
navigation heretofore difficult, and not unfrequently dangerous,
became as easy as that of any frith or estuary in Europe. But
it is time that I should pass on from this part of my subject,
which I shall do after briefly describing the circumstances which
attended Olive's final severance from the government and the
gentlemen who for 18 months had shared it with him.

On the 16th of January, 1767, Lord Clive for the last time
attended a meeting of the Select Committee. His health, though
somewhat renovated, was still very infirm. He looked as those
do who have not long shaken aside an attack of jaundice, and
walked with an infirm step to his seat at the head of the Council
Board. He carried a paper in his hand, which, after a few
words introductory to the subject, he laid upon the table, and
desired the secretary to read. It was a valedictory letter to the
Committee, in which, after explaining that the duty of striving
to prolong life alone compelled him to quit the country — that be
lamented the necessity, and would have lamented more, but that
afl&urs were in a flourishing state, and in the hands of an i]|»ight

CMAP. XXV.] CLIVE'S PARTING ADDRESS. 259

and aJ>le government — he went on to exercise the authority which
was vested in him by continuing the Select Committee^ filling up
vacancies among its members, and laying down genend rules for
its guidance in time coming. His letter cautions the gentlemen
in authority against being too anxious to increase the revenues,
especially where this could be eflTected only by oppressing the
landholders and tenants ; for that so long as the country remained
in peace, the collections would exceed the demands. He points
tmt some difficulties likely to result from the state of the cur-
rency, and strongly recommends that all Company's servants and
free traders should be recalled from the interior ; because till
that were done the natives could hardly be said to be masters of
their own property. He observes, " that the orders for the abo-
lition of the salt trade being express, there was nothing to be
done except to pay obedience to them. But, as I am of opinion,"
he continues, " that the trade upon its present footing is rather
beneficial than injurious to the inhabitants of the country, and
that a continuation of this indulgence, or some equivalent, is
become absolutely necessary, and would be an honourable incite-?
ment to diligence and zeal in the Company's service, I flatter
myself the Court of Directors will be induced to settle some plan
that will prove agreeable to your wishes."

There seems to have been upon his mind an anxious dread lest
the spirit of corruption and insubordination should revive ; in
whioh case he observed that the very existence of the empire
would be endangered. " It has been too much the custom," he
observes, " in this government to make orders and regulations,
and thence to suppose the business done. To what end and pur-
pose are they made, if they be not promulgated and enforced ?
No regulation can be carried into execution, no order obeyed, if
you do not make rigorous examples of the. disobedient Upon
this point I rest the welfare of the Company in Bengal. The
servants are now brought to a proper sense of their duty. If
you slacken the reins of government, affairs will soon revert to
their former channel ; anarchy and corruption will again prevail,
and, elate with a new victory, be too headstrong for any future
efforts of government. Recall to your memories the many at-
tempts that have been made in the civil and military departments
to overcome our authority, and to set up a kind of independency

82

260 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxy.

against the Court of Directors. Reflect also on the resolute
measures we have pursued, and their wholesome effects. Diso*
bedience to legal power is the first step of sedition ; and pallia-
tive measures effect no cure. Every tender compliance, every
condescension on your parts, will only encourage more flagrant
attacks, and will daily increase in strength, and be at last in
vain resisted. Much of our time has been employed in correcting
abuses. The important work has been prosecuted with zeal, dili-
gence, and disinterestedness ; and we have had the happiness to
see our labours crowned with success. I leave the country in
peace. I leave the civil and military departments under disci-
pline and subordinaticm : it is incumbent upon you to keep them
so. You have power, you have abilities, you have integrity ; let
it not be said that you are deficient in resolution. I repeat that
you must not fail to exact the most implicit obedience to your
orders. Dismiss or suspend from the service any man who shall
dare to dispute your authority. If you deviate from the prin-
ciples upon which you have hitherto acted, and upon which you
are conscious you ought to proceed, or if you do not make a
proper use of that power with which you are invested, I shall
hold myself acquitted, as I do now protest against the conse-
quences."
^ Such was Lord Olive's parting address to his former colleagues
^ in the government. It was worthy of the man who had raised
British India in 18 months from the lowest depth of d^radatiou
to the wealth and importance of an empire ; and had there been
in the body which received it any portion of his genius, it would
not have been delivered in vain. But the Select Committee,
though composed of men of fair average talent, could not boast
of any one commanding intellect among its members. The task,

L therefore, of completing reforms which Clive himself found
considerable difficulty to begin, was too great for it ; and the
Qonsequences soon began to develope themselves.

CHAP. XXVI.] CLIVE RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 261

CHAPTER XXVI.

Returns to England — Reception,

On one of the last days of Jan. 1767, Lord Clive, accompanied
by the gentlemen of his household, and his old and valued friend
General Carnac, embarked on board the Britannia in the Ganges.
On the 14th of July he landed at Portsmouth, and the follo^ng
day reached London. He was admitted almost immediately to
private audiences by the King and Queen, both of whom received
him most graciously ; while the marks of respect shown to him
by the Court of Directors appear to have satisfied his wishes.
Still the greeting awarded to him by his countrymen in general
was not, on the present occasion, what it had formerly been.
His old enemies at the India House continued in power and
great activity ; and their strength had been incre^d of late by
the accession of many new allies, whose violence far exceeded
their own. Not only the pilferers and oppressors whom he had
removed from the public service in Bengal, but relatives of these
men, their friends, and acquaintances, combined to work him
harm. Newspapers, more venal then than they are now, had for
some time past been hired to run him down ; and the tidings of his
arrival in his native country seemed to act as a fresh incitement
to their malevolence. Stories of his cruelty and rapacity, as
incredible as they were hideous, passed current from one ex-
tremity of the kingdom to another. Nor was the rancour of his
enemies mitigated, far less appeased, by this extended system of
persecution. They spent large sums in the purchase of India
stock with the view of wielding against him, when a convenient
opportunity should offer, the weight of the Court of Proprietors ;
and left no means untried to obtain an ascendancy in the Court
of Directors also. It was unfortunate for Lord Clive, in this
state of the public mind, that the party in the Direction which
. he generally supported should have taken the unpopular side in

262 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, -rsn,

a controversy which affected men's personal interests more than
their abstract opinions. The proprietors of India stock were no
sooner informed of the results of Olive's endeavours in Bengal,
than they began to clamour for an advance in the dividends £rom
6 to 10 per cent. ; and Clive himself, writing home upon the
subject, had recommended that their wish should be complied
with. But his friends, either knowing the true state of their
pecuniary affairs better than he, or entertaining strong doubts in
regard to the future, were not to be persuaded. " Believe the
word of a Director," wrote Mr. Scraflon in 1765, " that the
Company must have many lacs before they can increase their
dividend. Consider, my Lord, what a vast sum of their capital
has been locked up without interest in Mahomed Ali's debts, the
vast fortifications, the fatal Manilla expedition, and the SHm
locked up in the support of French prisoners, for which no instal-
ments are yet settled—all form prodigious deductions, which a
year's revenue of the whole province of Bengal will barely re-
place ; not to mention the dreadful breach on the Company^s
capital before the battle of Plassey." In the same spirit another
of Olive's warmest admirers, Mr. Dudley, expresses himself. One
of his letters,*|[ated the 17th of May, 1766, deprecates every pro-
posal of enlarged dividends, on the ground that the Company had
been forced to raise several hundred thousand pounds on loan ; and
that demands for repayment were urgent, and of daily occurrence.
The policy of this section of the Court, of which Mr. Rous was
at the head, whether prudent or the reverse in itself, offered a
&vourable champ de bataille to Clive's enemies, on which they
did not delay to enter. They threw themselves to a man into
the opposite scale, and, spending enormous sums in the purchase
of shares, succeeded by and by in obtaining a majority among
the proprietors. They could not, indeed, command, for a while,
strength enough to nominate their own Director. So late as
April, 1767, Mr. Rous still kept the chair. But the party which
in September, 1766, had forced up the dividend from 6 per cent,
to 10, raised it again on the 6th of the following May to 12^,
and provoked, by so doing, the immediate interference of the
King's government. It would carry me far beyond my proper
province, as the biographer of Lord Clive, were I to give an ac-
count in detail of the parliamentary proceedings which ensued.

CHAP. xxTi.] AFFAIRS IN LEADENHALL-STREET. 263

Cnough is done when I state that a Cabinet too little confident in
itself to act vigorously on any subject, played with the Com-
pany's privileges as it did with the claims of the American
colonists ; and that, lacking courage to transfer the territorial
sovereignty to the Crown, it compelled the Company to purchase
a continuance of present right by agreeing to pay 400,000/. per
annum into the exchequer. The dividend likewise was fixed, by
an authority more stringent than that of the India House, not to
exceed 10 per cent. ; and intimation was given that more would
be done when a convenient season should arrive.

Meanwhile there had been fierce strife in Leadenhall -street as
to the measures which it behoved the Company to adopt in re-
gard to their servants dismissed by the Select Committee, and
convicted of having received presents in violation of the order
acknowledged to have reached them in January 1764. The Di-
rectors, anxious to maintain the authority of their Court, deter-
mined to try the result of a prosecution ; and were confirmed in
their view of the liability of the delinquents by the unanimous
opinion of the Crown's and Company's lawyers. The proprie-
tors, dissatisfied with Kous and his friends, and attributing the
successful issue of their struggle for an increased dividend to the
exertions of the parties threatened, espoused a different side in
the controversy. The prosecution which the Upper Court had
made preparations to begin, they declared to be uncalled for ;
and a vote of indemnity being proposed, it was passed by a large
majority. A heavier blow on the usefulness of the Court of
Directory, and indeed on the power^ of the Indian government
generally, was never inflicted. The decision of the proprietors
gave notice that, so long as they had influential friends at
home, the Company's servants abroad need not care to what
extent they set established regulations at defiance ; and the pro-
gress of a few years served pretty well to show that the inti-
mation was not lost upon them.

There was no feeling at this time of personal ill-will towards
Lord Clive in the great body' of proprietors of India stock.
On the contrary, their predilections were all in favour of one to
whom they justly attributed the flourishing state of their finances ;
and they were ready to mark the sense which they entertained
of his merits by any arrangements which his friends might pro-

264 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xawi,

pose. Enemies he undoubtedly had, both numerous and activep
among them ; but the mass felt towards him as they had done
on the day when they implored him to go out and save from
ruin the province which his valour had achieved for them. It
would appear too, that Lord Olive's private friends, among whom
Mr. Walsh filled a prominent position, took greater pains to
conciliate the favour of the proprietors than to carry the Court
of Directors with them. The former, anxious for large returns,
believed all that was said respecting the money-value of the De*
wannee, and perhaps something more. The latter, still averse
to increase a rate of interest which could not be paid without
adding constantly to the funded debt, sought rather to decry the
importance of the acquisition, in a pecuniary point of view, even
though by doing so they detracted, as Clive thought, from the
importance of his services. Accordingly Mr. Walsh, in bring-
ing forward a proposition that, the Company should testify to
Lord Olive's merits and to their sense of the obligations under
which he had laid them, called upon the proprietors, rather than
the Directors, to decree that t}ie feof or jaghire granted by
Meer Jaffier should be continued to his lordship and his heirs
for a further term of ten years after the current term should
have expired. Mr. Walsh carried his first motion by 243 to
170 open votes — a majority which was very little diminished by
the result of the ballot; but he provoked, at the same time, a
spirit of hostility elsewhere, of which the effects were seen when
the final decision came to be taken. The jaghire was confirmed
to Lord Olive and his successors according to the bpirit of the
original proposition, but the majority which settled the point
amounted to no more than 29 vcftes.

Matters were in this state when Lord Clive reached London.
Of the entire success of his management of the Company's con-
cerns there could be but one opinion ; and the events which
characterized the last months of his administration seemed to
have put the finishing touch to his glory. It was impossible for
the most rancorous of his enemies to get up, under such circum-
stances, the slightest symptom of hostility towards him. But
though their influence was not such as to command a direct
display of dissatisfaction, they managed to throw a considerable
damp upon the enthusiasm with which he expected to be greeted.

c^p. XXVI.] JAGHIRE CONFIRMED TO CLIVE. 265

In more than one of their public letters, but especially in that
which urged him to abide another year at his post, the Directors,
besides expressing themselves in terms of exceeding gratitude
and admiration, had spoken of their intention to mark their sense
of his eminent services by some appropriate grant ; and now that
he was come to claim the performance of the promise, the most
lukewarm felt that to defer redeeming their pledge would be
impossible. Accordingly, having received him immediately
after his audience of the King, and thanked him, through their
Chairman, for all that he bad done, they summoned a general
court to confirm the arrangement previously voted with regard
to the Jaghire ; and this time, at least, he had the satisfaction of
knowing that the proposition was carried without a single vote
having been recorded in opposition to it.

Like other men who have done their country good service.
Lord Clive was jealous both of his personal renown and of the
plans and arrangements which owed their existence to his per-
sonal exertions. An apparent reluctance in the Court of Direct-
ors, therefore, to take the lead in this question of the jaghire
much displeased him. He treated their excessive care of the
Company's finances as a slight offered to himself; and being but
little in the habit of disguising his feelings, he made no scruple
in giving utterance to his indignation wherever the subject was
referr^ to. One of his letters, written from Walcot, about
three months subsequently to his arrival in England, is so cha-
racteristic, that I feel myself constrained to subjoin an extract
from it. He had been in correspoi^dence with his friend Mr.
Scrafton, himself a Director, at that time, and had not spared
the body of which the latter gentleman was a member. Mr.
Scrafton, on the other hand, being anxious that Lord Clive
should not hastily withdraw his support from a body of men who
had stood by him when at a distance, and were still well disposed
in the main, endeavoured to do away with this impression. " If
your lordship," he says, '* conceives any resentment on the con-
duct of the Directors respecting the Jaghire, you will act from
mi^epresentation. One or two were cold on the subject, by be-
lieving themselves the objects of your resentment in consequence
of Whately's story ; but the general sense was, * "We cannot, as
Directors, recommend so large a grant ; the fate the question

266 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [ceiap. xxvi.

met with before proves that many thought it too much ; but we
will give our votes for it.' To conclude, my lord, I really think
it for your own honour and for the interest of the Company to
support the present set/'

To thwart a man of Lord Olive's temperament upon a subject
so nearly touching his self-esteem is seldom a prudent measure ;
and the defence of the Directors by Mr. Scrafton wholly failed
of its object. It drew forth a reply to the following effect : —

^* I received your letter, and return you many thanks for your
congratulatioi^ about the jaghire. However, you will scarce
believe me when I tell you that I was, before it was confirmed,
and am at this time, very indifferent about it. My wish was to
have it brought to a conclusion at any rate; for I could not
avoid observing all parties at work to suspend coming to a con-
clusion ; and many were at greater pains, from rank infernal
jealousy and envy, to conceal and lessen my services, in order to
lessen my influence: but, I thank God, I am now an inde-
pendent man, what I was determined to be at all events.

'^ I cannot but take notice of one paragraph of your letter ;
that the Directors thotight the grant too large, and therefore
would not recommend %t: I am therefore the more obliged to the
Proprietors, who were all of a different way of thinking.

" I am obliged to you for your advice about my conduct
towards the Directors, because I am persuaded you va^n me
well ; but know, Scrafton, I have a judgment of my own, which
has seldom failed me, in cases of much greater consequence than
what you recommend. As to the support which, you say, was
given to my government, when abroad, by the Directors, they
could not have done otherwise, without suffering in their reputa-
tion, and perhaps quitting the Direction. In return, let me ask,
whose interest contributed to make them Directors, and keep
them so ? My conduct wanted no support, it supported itself,
because it was disinterested, and tended to nothing but the
public good. From the beginning it put all mankind at defiance,
as it does at this hour : and had the Court of Directors thought
fit to make my conduct more public than they have done, all
impartial and disinterested men must have done me justice.
However, that remains for myself to make known, when conve-
nient and proper.

lif c CHAP. XXVI.] OLIVE'S INTEREST IN INDIAN AFFAIRS. 267

far- " After having said thus much, I must tell you (though by
}j Ttf your writing you seem to give credit to the report), that what
puff Whately is said to have told Wedderburn is absolutely false, as
is everything else said to have been communicated by Mr. Gren-
sola viUe to Mr. Wedderburn ; and I can attribute these mean
isc*- suspicions of the Directors to nothing but their envy and jea-
6i lousy. However, as I have often said before, and say now,
:> there is nothing the Directors can do shall make me lose sight of
rx the Company's true interest. Upon principle, I would always
%n Stand by the East India Company : I am now farther bound by the
9-: ties of gratitude. This is the ground upon which I now stand,
5: and upon which I will risk my reputation. No little, partial
J.; considerations shall ever bias me."

The sentiments conveyed in the closing sentences of this letter
came from the heart of the writer. The channel into which his
earliest interests were turned never ran dry. In spite of his
high station in this^ country, in spite of the influence which he
possessed in the House of Commons, to which he returned, in-
cluding his own seat, seven members. Lord Olive could not
withdraw his attention, even in part, from the politics of
' Licadenhall-street. He regarded India as by fer the most im-
portant of the dependencies of the British crown ; and en-
tertaining his own views as to the way in which it ought to be
. managed, he ceased not, by peVsonal interference, by swaying
the opinions of others, by splitting votes, and indeed by all other
I practicable means, short of becoming himself a candidate for
I the Direction, to prevent any interference with arrangements
; already made, and to keep those to whom the execution of his
plans had been intrusted up to the collar. A remarkable proof
of his anxiety on this head is given in a letter which he addressed
from Bath on the 7th of November, in this year, to Mr. Verelst,
on whom the government of Bengal had devolved. As the
document in question is a very valuable one on many accounts,
but especially because of the light which it throws on the
writer's principle of action, my reader would scarcely thank me
were I to withhold it. After apologising for the freedom
which he is about to use, and alluding delicately to the share
which he had had in raising Mr. Verelst to the high station
which he filled. Lord Clive goes on to say : —

t68 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxvi,

" But exclusive of the part I take in your success on my own
account, my regard and affection for you lead me to reflect that
the reputation, as well as private satisfaction, of your future life
in England, must grow out of the honour which you may, and
I trust will, acquire by a resolute and unspotted administration
of the Company's afiairs in Bengal. Your integrity and the
goodness of your heart must be acknowledged by all who know
you: and it is with pleasure I observe that you have set out
with a due attention to other necessary and public qualifications.
Continue in the full exertion of that steadiness and resolution
with which you began your government. Your judgment ia
sound. Set a just value, then, upon every opinion of your own,
and always entertain a prudent d^ree of suspicion of the advice
of any man who can possibly be biassed by self-interested
motives. Before I touch upon particulars, permit me to urge,
in general, the necessity there is for you and the whole Council
and Committee to join in holding the military under due
subordination and subjection. The dangerous consequences
which may ensue from the least relaxation of command over a
body so numerous as the English officers, should ever be thought
of with horror, and the good effects of maintaining an inflexible
authority cannot be too often recollected, in the instance of the
late association.

" I am glad to find that you are upon your guard against the
pride and ambition of the Colonel, who, if there be any merit in
the conduct of the military officers, will certainly claim the
whole to himself, and write the world to that purpose. His last,
I should say his first, dispute, whether the Governor or the
Commanding Officer of the troops ought to have the title of
Commander-in-Chief, was such an open and audacious attack
upon the dignity of your office, that I am surprised you let it pass
unnoticed. Had a minute been made of it, he would infallibly
have been dismissed the service.

" It is with great concern I observe that you have consented
to the increase of the military establishment, by the raising of
four regiments of horse, which will be an exorbitant, and yet
useless, expense. General Camac knows, as I do, that black
cavalry, instead of being serviceable, are very detrimental to us.
I am also sorry that you have augmented the artillery. One

CHAP. XXVI.] OLIVE'S ADVICE TO VEEELST. 269

independent company at Calcutta, in time of peace, will answer
every purpose. To have more, either there or at Ghyrotty, is
only sacrificing the lives of so many men without service.
The Directors, I fear, will reprimand you on these matters, for
they seem much inclined to lessen even the establishment I made
for Bengal,

*' The sooner you confine the whole of our force within the
boundary of the Caramnassa the better. The Abdally's invasion
of Bengal must be a mere bugbear. So long a march is next to
impossible, and therefore I think he will never attempt it. The
Mahratta is the only power we have to manage, as invasions
from them must retard our revenues, though they cannot en-
danger our possessions.

" You certainly did well in persevering not to restore the
Monghyr officers ; and I hope you have obliged all, except the
young lads, to embark for England.

" You will have heard that all our letters and proceedings
have been laid before both Houses of Parliament, and publicly
read. Not only the Directors, but every man of consequence
from Bengal, have been examined upon oath before the House
of Lords ; so that thousands of people are now well acquainted
with the revenues, forces, and politics of India, and of Bengal in
particular. Permit me here again, my friend, to remind you of
the conspicuous situation you are placed in. Consider well the
great expectations which this nation entertains of extricating
itself out of its present difficulties, by the skill and conduct of
the Governor of Bengal. You must therefore exert yourself to
the utmost to fulfil its hopes ; for, as I have already observed,
hereupon depends, whether you will be a very- respectable
character, or not, upon your return to England.

" With regard to myself, my health has been very indifferent
ever since my arrival ; but I am now following a regimen which
has done me much service, and will, I hope, recover me entirely.
I have met with the most gracious reception from the King and
Queen, and a very respectful and honourable one from the Court
of Directors ; nor is there any doubt of ray getting an English
peerage, whenever I make application for that purpose, which, I
understand, is always the custom: but the very unsettled
Administration, and my private notions, will not admit of my

270 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xioti.

applying at present. Hereafter, in all probability, the thing
will come to pass.

" With r^ard to the Directors, I tell you frankly, that no
one can entertain a worse opinion of many of them than I do.
They have neither abilities nor resolution to manage such iia-
portant concerns as are now under their care. Of this the
world in general seem very sensible; and yet what to do I
protest I know not. An attempt to reform may throw matters
into greater confusion.

" You see my jaghire is at last continued to me and my re-
presentatives for ten years after the expiration of my preseat
right. I am more obliged to the Proprietors for this grant than
to the Directors, who threw a great deal of cold water upon it.
Indeed, their whole conduct towards me and my associates in
Committee has shown weakness, or something worse ; for they
have upon all occasions endeavoured to lessen the acquisitions
we have obtained for them, and kept everything that might con-
tribute to our reputation as secret as possible ; and, if Parlia-
ment had not brought our transactions to light, mankind would
have been ignorant of what has been done. In short, th^
appear very envious and jealous of my influence, and give ear to
every idle story of my being hostile towards them. Everything
looks as if we were not upon good terms. They have even
asked my opinion upon their affiiirs in such a mean, sneaking
manner, that I have informed one of them, unless I am applied
to in form, and unless more attention be paid to my advice,
I shajl decline giving any whatsoever. Thus stand matters at
present ; but how long they may remain so I know not, nor
what changes. may happen at the next election.

" From the manner in which I carried the extension of the
jaghire, I conclude the Directors will pay more attention to my
opinions than they lately did ; but it will be rather through fear
than inclination. They desired, and I consented to a confer^
ence with them, and intended going to London from Shropshire
on purjK)se ; but my health has obliged me to come to Bath,
where I daily expect a deputation to consult on many important
points, which the gentlemen themselves cannot readily deter-
mine upon.'*

CHAP. XXVII.] STATE OF CUVE'S HEALTH. 271

CHAPTER XXVIL

Lord Clhre in Enrope—His state of Health— -Progress of Pablic OpiDion.

Lord CiiiVB's health was quite broken down before he quitted
India. The sea-voyage appeared, indeed, somewhat to recruit
his strength : but he had not been many weeks iu England ere
the unfavourable symptoms returned with such violence that his
physicians were induced to order an immediate and entire with-
drawal from business. Doubtless the advice was good in the
abstract, for maladies of the nature of those with which Clive
was affected admit of no cure so long as the mind is at work, or
in agitation. Yet in this particular instance it may be doubted
whether both mind and body would not have better recovered
their tone had there been found for the former some sub-
ject agreeable to its tastes, on which to occupy itself in
moderation. Men who have passed their youth and the best
years of their maturity in the turmoil of public life take but ill
with absolute idleness; and Clive, though he had achieved a
European reputation for himself, and conquered kingdoms, was
yet barely in the 43rd year of his age. There was no refusing,
however, to act as the fiiculty advised, and Clive retired, first to
his house of Walcot, in Shropshire, and next to Bath, where he
drank the waters. But neither the air of Walcot nor the
mineral springs of Bath produced the effect which had been
expected from them. He could not be prevailed upon to lay
aside his interest in public affairs ; and the medical men, looking
partly to that circumstance, and partly hoping something from
an entire change of climate and scene, ordered him to go
abroad. He set out, attended by Lady Clive and Mr. Latham,
a relative of Lady Clive, by Mr. Maskelyne, her brother, Mr.
Strachey, and hb own physician Mr. Langham ; and so entirely
was the experiment successful at the outset, that sanguine hopes
were entertained in regard to the future. The opium which he

272 LIFE OP LORD CLIVK Icbap, x^i^I.

was accustomed to take in large doses was gradually diminishefili
and, though never absolutely laid aside, its distressing efieds
upon the moral being of the man became continually less per-
ceptible. The party proceeded to Paris, where, a few days aft«r
his arrival, Lord Clive wrote in excellent spirits to Mr. Verelrt.
" I am certain it will give you infinite pleasure," he says, " to
hear of my safe arrival at this place, and of my recovery b^ond
what either my friends or myself could have expected in so short
a time. The remedy, I believe, was found out before I left
England ; but the travelling and climate have undoubtedly done
me much good. In short, by the time I have spent a feir
months in the south of France, and drank the waters of Spa, I
doubt not of enjoying a better state of health than I have done
for some years.

" I cannot but acknowledge that my recovery gives me a
more particular pleasure from the prospect I have of exerting
myself in favour of the Company next winter, a time very
critical for thfem indeed, since it will then ^be finally deter-
mined upon what footing they are to be in future ; whether a
part, or the whole, or none of the power be lodged in them
hereafter. Let me tell you in secret, that I have the Ejing's
command to lay before him my ideas of the Company's afi^rs
both at home and abroad, with a promise of his countenance and
protection in everything I might attempt for the good of the
nation and the Company. Mr. Grenville also, who, I think,
must be minister at last, paid me a visit at Berkeley Square, two
days before I left London, and did me the honour to say, that,
in his opinion, it was the duty of the Court of Directors to let
no steps whatever be taken, either at home or abroad, without
my advice : and to assure me that either in ministry or out of it,
he would preach that doctrine in the House of Conmions."

It will be seen from this letter that Lord Clive's friendship
for Mr. George Grenville had not grown cold. Though iar
inferior in every respect as a statesman to Lord Chatham, and
filling a less important place as the leader of a party than Lord
Rockingham, George Grenville, through the influence of per-
sonal character and an engaging manner, was still the nucleus
round which a considerable section of the House of Conunons
rallied ; and Clive, won by the attentions which, while yet com-

0HAP. xxvn.] CLIVE RETUKNS TO ENGLAND. 27»

pan^tively obscure, he had received from Mr. Grenville, conti-
nued to the hour of his friend's death to support him with every
rote which he could command. The general election, which
took place in the spring of this year, enabled him to strengthen
Mr, Grenville's hands considerably ; for by great exertion he
added another seat to the number of which he had already ob*
tained the command. But the excitement thence arising, as well
as the anticipation of an Indian discussion in the approaching
session, rend^ed him impatient of a longer continuance abroad.
He had proceeded from Paris to Lyons, and from Lyons to
Montpelier, whare he resided some time. He afterwards re-
tilmed to Paris, and going on to Spa drank the waters with
advantage. But the listlessness attending an existence such as
this became by d^^ees intolerable to him. Though earnestly
entreated to abide where he was till Ihe rigour of the winter
should have passed, he would not listen to the suggestion.
He desired to take his seat in Parliament. He was quite
equal to business; he considered that life itselTwas not worth
,having if the attempt to prolong it must entail the necessity
of doing nothing. He therefore gave orders for preparations
to be made for an immediate departure ; and in the month either
of ^A«gust or September he and his party returned to England.
He plunged at once into the vortex of public life, and suffered
for doing so. The violence of party in the Court of Proprietors,
from which he could not be prevailed upon to stand aloof, chafed
'him exceedingly. He delivered his sentiments in language which,
withoutcgratifying his friends, neither conciliated nor controlled
an enemy. His views were for the most part masterly and com*
prehensive ; but, accustomed to give the law abroad, his irritable
temper could not be brought to sustain the wear and tear of argu*
ment and persuasion at home. His friend, Mr. Grrenville, depre-
cated such a needless waste both of energy and influence ; and
the power which he possessed over the mind of Lord Clive was
never more clearly shown than by the result which attended th^
remonstrance. The question before the Court had reference to a
projected bill in Parliament for the better regulation of the
Company's affairs, and the settlement of the part which the
Crown should take in their management. It was agitated with
all the warmth which comes rather of personal attachments and

T

c

»74 LIFE OF LOED CLIVE. Icbaj?.

antipathies than from a regard to the general good ; and Lori
Clive, than whom no man ever loved or hated more in extreuhe^
threw himself unreservedly into the struggle. He was cautioned
against the process by Mr. Grenville with a delicacy and good
sense which carried the point. " The account which you have
sent to me of what passed at the last Court," he writes on titt
29th December, 1768, " is of itself a sufficient reason, in Bay
opinion, for your declining to attend at the next, while things
are in the state of uncertainty and irregularity in which tb^
appear to me ; and therefore, even if your health would allow it
(the establishment of which must be with me and all your friends
Buperior to every other consideration), yet I should not advise
you to interfere in these questions till they come nearer to an
issue. If these disputes shall be carried to greater lengths, your
opinion will have still greater weight both within doors and
without ; if, on the contrary, they shall all be agreed and settled
before the next meeting, I do not see that your interposition will
be attended with any credit to you or advantage to the publiCb
If this great question is to be brought before the Parliament,
with everything in a state of uncertainty, as it was last year, as
you truly observe that it may be necessary to take some part
there, it seems to me that it would be more desirable for you to
keep yourself at liberty in that case, and not to pledge yourself
beforehand to no purpose at a General Court."

Lord Clive so far acted upon this advice, that his personal
attendance in the Court of Proprietors became rare ; but the
politics of India filled his mind ; and to think continually on any
subject, yet to deal with it in the spirit of a philosopher, was not
in his nature. He bestirred himself, therefore, to retain a pre-
ponderating influence in the Court and elsewhere, and gave back
the blows which Mr. Sulivan and his adherents dealt forth on
every occasion with interest. The consequence was. that through
the columns of the newspapers, and by means of innumerable
pamphlets, the public had received impressions of a grieat na-
tional subject which were as unjust as they were illiberal. Men
fighting for supremacy in the management of the Company's
affairs, scrupled not to blacken and de&me one another before a
wider audience ; till by and by the very name of a Nalx)b — and
such was the generic title bestowed at this time on all persons

iJhap. xxvn.] THE NABOBS. 275

wka had made fortunes in India and returned to spend them in
England — came to be associated with images of oppression and
emelty abroad, and intolerable insolence aad the most unscrupa*
lous corruption at home. a

Theare was little need, on the part of these gentlemen, to raise ^
up a feeling in society unfriendly to themselves ; eauses enough
were already at work to bring them into general disrepute,
which, had th^ been less under the guidance of passion, and
more swayed by reason, they would have laboured rather to
lussuage than to aggravate ; for the Nabob of the last century
was a very different sort of person from his representative in our
own days. Now, the young man who goes to India, whether in
the civil or military service of the Company, may consider him*-
aelf fortunate if he return at the end of 20 or 30 years master of
a moderate competency. You find him, in this case, either settled!
near some country town in Scotland, or it may be in Devonshitt/
or Cornwall ; or eke seeking out his kind in the recesses of Port-
man-street or St John's Wood, where he may share his curry
and his claret with such friends as have escaped, like himself, the
ravages of fever and cholera, and varying the scene by occa-
sional visits to the Oriental Club. Here and there, indeed, an
individual more fortunate than the rest may bring back with him
some 80 or 100,000/., the result of 40 years' savings ; but
100,000/., though amply sc^Ecient for all the comforts and
many of the elegancies of life, do not supply, in this country at
least, the means of extravagant display. The case was widely
different 80 or 90 years ago- Then London was astonished by
finding men thrown day after day upon its surface of whom no-
thing more was known than that they had gone out to India a
few years previously as writers or volunteers, and were now rich
enough to outshine both Lord Mayor and Prime Minbter. More-
6ver, nobody could tell either their lineage or their personal
merit. Their wealth was indeed as notorious as their manner of
using it was ofr(ni(4ve ; for they bought up the country houses
and estates of a decayed nobility, and became, as a matter of
course, the objects of dislike and envy to their neighbours. But
how they had acquired the means of thus supplanting their bet-
ters nobody could tell. Their manners, also, and many of their
habits, offended the more delicate tastes of the aristocracy. Thej

t2

876 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxyiu

strove to command admission into a class of society which re*
pelled them, perhaps the more carefully, because it was ifelt thai
in point of expenditure they were far ahead of it. They wefe
slighted, and they repaid the slight by more and more endeft-*
youring to outvie the parties which affected to look down upon
them. Indeed they did more. They disputed the representation
of counties with families which had been accustpmed time out of
mind to name the members, and bought up boroughs to an extent
which put the landed interests, long accustomed to a monopoly
in that species of traffic, to their wits* end. People of yesterday
— ^mere successful adventurers, whom nobody knew, whom eyeryr
body envied — were pretty sure, in an age so. entirely aristocratic^
to draw down upon themselves a tolerable load of unpopularity ;
and when they began mutually to charge one another with the
commission of enormous crimes, unpopularity soon deepened into
general execration. Mr. Macaulay, in one of his collected es*
says, has well descjibed the progress of the social hurricane : — ,
" The Nabobs," he says, " soon became a most unpopular
class of men. Some of them had in the East displayed eminent
talents, and rendered great services to the state ; but at bom^
their talents were not shown to advantage, and their services
were little known. That they had sprung from obscurity, tha<
they had acquired great wealth, that they exhibited it insolently,
that they spent it extravagantly, that they raised the price of
everything in their neighbourhood, from fresh eggs to rotten
boroughs ; that their liveries outshone those of dukes, that thei^
coaches were finer than that of the Lord Mayor, that the ex-
amples of their large and ill-governed households cyrupted half
the servants in the country ; that some of them, with all their
magnificence, could not catch the tone of good society, but, in
spite of the stud and the crowd of menials, of the plate and the
Dresden china, of the venison and the Burgundy, were still low
men ; — these were things which excited, both in the class from
which they had sprung and in that into which they attempted to
force themselves, the bitter aversion which is the effect of mingled
envy and contempt. But when it was also rumoured that the
fortune which had enabled its possessor to eclipse the Lord-Lieu-
tenant on the race-ground, or to carry the county against the
head of a house as old as ^ Domesday Book,' had been accumu*

<3^p. xxTii.] THE NABOBS. " 377

lated by violating public faith — by deposing legitimate princes,
by reducing whole provinces to beggary — all the higher and
better as well as all the low and evil parts of human nature were
stirred against the wretch who had obtained, by guilt and dis-
honour, the riches which he now lavished with arrogant and ine-
legant profusion. The unfortunate Nabob seemed to be made
t)p of those foibles against which comedy has pointed the most
merciless ridicule, and of those crimes which have thrown the
deepest gloom over tragedy — of Turcaret and Nero, of Monsieur
Jourdain and Richard the Third. A tempest of execration and
derision, such as can be compared only to that outbreak of public
feeling against the Puritans which took place at the time of the
Restoration, burst on the servants of the Company. The hu-
mane man was horror-struck at the way in which they had got
their money, the thrifty man at the way in which they spent it.
The dilettante sneered at their want of taste. The maccaroni
black-balled them as vulgar fellows. Writers the most unlike
in sentiment and style — Methodists and libertines, philosophers
and buffoons — were for once on the same side. It is hardly too
much to say, that, during a space of about thirty years, the
whole lighter literature of England was coloured by the feelings
which we have described. Foote brought on the stage an Anglo-
Indian chief, dissolute, ungenerous, and tyrannical, ashamed of
the humble friends of his youth, hating the aristocracy, yet child-
ishly eager to be numbered among them, squandering his wealth
on pandars and flatterers, tricking out his chairmen with the
most costly hot-house flowers, and astounding the ignorant with
jargon about rupees, lacs, and jaghires. Mackenzie, with more
delicate humour, depicted a plain country femily raised by the
Indian acquisitions of one of its members to sudden opulence, and
exciting derision by an awkward mimicry of the manners of the
great. Cowper, in that lofty expostulation which glows with the
very spirit of the Hebrew poets, placed the oppression of India
£>remost in the list of those national crimes for which God had
punished England with years of disastrous war, with discomfiture
in her own seas, and with the loss of her transatlantic empire.
if any of our readers will take the trouble to search in the dusty
lecesses of circulating libraries for some novel published sixty

178 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxto.

years ago, the chance is that the villain or sub-villain of the story
will prove to be a savage old Nabob, with an immense fortune, a
tawny complexion, a bad liver, and a worse heart."

In the feeling thus raised against his class Clive shared to a
more than ordinary extent. He w&s by far the most conspicuous
of his order — the ablest, the most celebrated, the wealthiest,
the highest in rank. In the boundless expense of his style of
living he outshone them all. He dispensed the hospitality of a
prince at his mansion in Berkeley Square. He had built one
palace on his estate in Shropshire ; and having recently pur-
chased Claremont of the Duchess of Newcastle, he began forth*
with to erect another there. His family residence at Styche,
enlarged and beautified, was generally occupied by some of his
relatives ; and now, as if a man of his consequence could not,
without degradation, occupy lodgings in a watering place, he
obtained at an enormous price the lease of Lord Cliatham's house
in Bath. His munificence, likewise, to relatives, and even to
friends, offended because of the scale on which it was dispensedi;
It was natural, perhaps, that he should desire to draw up bro-
thers, sisters, and cousins into his own sphere ; and if the posses-
sion of ample means had been sufRcient to give them place and
weight in society, they might have secured both. But defects
of manner which society might have overlooked in Lord Clive
were sneered at and censured in his relatives; and the sneer
glanced off, as it is apt in such cases to do, most unfairly upon
his lordship. To Mr, Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Chancellor
IJoughborough, of his connexion with whom I shall have occa*
sion to speak by and by, he made a present of a mansion and the
grounds attached to it in Surrey ; in order, as he said, that he
might, when residing at Claremont, have an agrreeable neighbour
near him. Now the world is not very tolerant, under any cir-.
cumstances, either of the wealth which enables an individual
thus to heap fitvours upon others, or of the disposition which,
urges him so to use it ; and if, as in this instance, the man be
the founder of his own fortunes, he becomes a ready butt for the
shafts of the envious to hit against. Accordingly there is no
end to the frightful and incredible tales of atrocities committed
in distant lands which soon b^;an to circulate concerning Clivew^

coAif. xxvn.] POPULAR RUMOURS CONCERNING CLIVE. 279

Not the aristocracy alone, but all classes of people drank them
in ; and to such a height was the prejudice carried, that the very
helpers in his own stables, and the labouring people who worked
at his houses and on his farms, came at last to look upon him
with terror. Mr. Macaulay, quoting Boswell's ' Life of John-
son,' tells us that Brown, the celebrated landscape-gardener of
that day, whom "Clive employed to lay out his pleasure-
grounds, was amazed to see in his house a chest which had
once been filled with gold from the treasury of Moorshedabad,
and could not understand how the conscience of the criminal
could suffer him to sleep with such an object so near to his
bed-chamber." From the same authority we learn that '* the
peasantry of Surrey looked with mysterious horror on the stately
house which was rising at Claremont, and whispered that the
great wicked lord had ordered the walls to be made so thick in
order to keep out the devil, who would one day carry him away
bodily." And it is well known that William Huntingdon, one
of the most successful of the impostors who have from time to
time abused the credulity of the lower orders in this coun-
try, made Lord Clive the frequent subject of his revelations.
Clive never heard of many of the rumours that circulated con-
cerning him, and would have treated them with contempt had
they been chronicled in his presence ; nevertheless he could
scarcely be ignorant that beyond the circle of his immediate
relatives and connexions he was the reverse of popular ; and to
feel that we are not esteemed in society has little tendency to
soften our manners or enlarge our sympathies. Lord Clive
lived with much ostentation. His entertainments were sump-
tuous, his equipages brilliant^ his style of dress extravagantly
rich; yet somehow or another they failed to win the favour
even of those to whom they were most freely exhibited. The
truth is, that his lordship's manner and personal appearance were
both against him. Generally reserved, often silent, and, as it
appeared, absorbed in thought, he impressed the casual observer
with an idea that some load lay on his mind from which he could
not shake himself free ; while even in his lighter moments there
was an awkwardness about his mirth which rendered it the re-
verse of infectious. We know that these were in a gxeat mea-

280 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. Q

. sure the tesults of a physical malady to which irom boyhood he
I had been more or less subject ; but the world, which grudged
I him his wealth, and hated him on account of his glory, took a
/ different view of the subject. However, events were already i^
f progress which should call once more into active operation his
I talent and energies ; and of these it has become my business to
I give a brief account.

iteAF. xxvm.] POSITION IN PARLIAMEJJT. 281

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Clive's position in Parliament and at the India House — Bad news from

India.

In the month of October, 1768, Lord Chatham resigned his
office of privy seal. A reconciliation immediately took place
between him and Lord Temple ; and Lord Rockingham and Mr.
George Grenville sinking in like manner their differences, the
Opposition, which had heretofore been powerless on account of
intestine divisions^ became very formidable. A great deal of
shifting and jobbing* occurred, as it usually does, in such cases;
and amid the heats of debate the hangers-on for place hardly
knew to what party it might be prudent to attach themselves.
Of this class was Mr. Wedderbum, a gentleman of a good
border family, and more than respectable talents, whom mo-
tives of ambition had urged to exchange the Scotch for the
£nglish bar, where he attained to considerable eminence. At-
tached originally to Lord Bute, and passing over by and by to
Mr. Pitt, he had been one of the most noisy of the advocates of
John Wilkes, and subsided, as the stir on account of that dema-
gogue grew slack, into an adherent of the Grenville section of
the opposition. Amid the confusion incident to the breaking up
of parties in 1768, Mr. Wedderbum was required by his patron
Lord Bute to relinquish his seat for the Rothesay boroughs. In
this emergency Lord Olive, who was aware of Mr. Wedderburn's
value, wrote to Mr. Grenville, and proposed, if agreeable to his
friend, that he would return him to Parliament. The offer was
accepted with gratitude both by Mr. Grenville and Mr. Wed-
derbum; and from that day forth there grew up between the
patron and the client a firm union. That the former dealt with
the latter in a liberal spirit throughout, is shown by the tenor of
their whole correspondence. He appears to have left him at
liberty, on all subjects and on every occasion, to speak and to

aa2 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chaf. xxvio.

vote as his own judgment might direct ; and Wedderbum, to do
hun justice, continued a steady supporter of the Grenville party
as long as George Grenville lived. But the death of this latter
gentleman in November, 1770, appeared to free Mr. Wedder-
bum from all ties except those which a regard to his own int&*
rests might create ; and he began immediately to coquet with
the minister, under whom he eventually accepted office as Soli-
citor-General. The letters which passed between him and Lord
Clive at the commencement of this change of view on his part
are too characteristic to be omitted. On the 14th of November,
1770, Mr. Wedderbum having just learned that their mutual
friend Mr. Grenville was dead, wrote as follows: —

" My dear Lord, — The misfortune we dreaded has at last hap-
pened. I could not prevail upon myself to send you the first
account of it, knowing from my own experience how much you
would feel upon such an occasion. I had it immediately in my
view for three days together, and yet I was shocked with the
event that I had expected.

^' I am not able to send you any distinct account of the open-
ing of the Parliament, for I have not yet been in the House of
Commons ; and if people would impute my absence to its true
cause, a real indi^rence to all that passes there at present, I
should continue for some time in the same ignorance. Mr.
Woodfall has done me the honour of making me refuse an office
that never was offered to me. If it had, your lordship will do
me the justice to believe, that you would not have received the
first intimation of it from a newspaper. Whatever part I may
take in this conjuncture will never be decided without the fullest
communication with you ; and I am persuaded your lordship's
sentiments upon the present unfortunate occasion are so similar to
those I feel, that no circumstance is likely to make us think dif-
ferently. It is possible, I believe, even in these times, for a man
to acquire some degree of credit without being enlisted in aay
party; and if it is, the situation, I am sure, is more eligible than
any other that either a court or an opposition have to bestow.

" If Bath agrees with your lordship, as I trust it does, I
should not wish to see you in town ; but I very much wish that
it were in my power to make you a visit at Bath : I should theti
have the pleasure of hearing your sentiments upon the present

CHAP. XXVIII.] CLIVirS LETTER TO WEDDERBURN. 283

state of afi&irs, which I assure you, without any sort of compli-
ment, but in the plainest sincerity, will always have more weight
with me than perhaps you will wish them to have ; and I should
likewise have the good fortune to escape hearing the sentiments
of people who, in this town, have no other employment than to
speculate for their neighbours.

- ** Lincoln's Inn Fields,

'* Uth November, 1770."

To this communication Lord Clive replied in the following
terms : —

•♦ Both, 18th NoTcmber, 1770.

*' Dear Sir, — If the receipt of your very obliging and confi-
dential letter had not roused me, I doubt much whether I should
Imve prevailed upon myself to put pen to paper, though there is
something within that tells me I shall at last overcome a disorder
so very distressing both to the mind (and to the body). Al-
though the waters agree with me better than any place I have
yet tried, yet by my feelings a journey abroad, I fear, must be
undertaken before I can obtain a perfect recovery of my health.

*^ Mr. Grenville's death, though long expected, could not but
affect me very severely. Gratitude first bound me to him : a
more intimate connexion afterwards gave an opportunity of ad-
miring his abilities, and respecting his worth and integrity. The
dissolution of our valuable friend has shipwrecked all our hopes
for the present ; and my indisposition hath not only made me
indifferent [to the world of politics], but to the world in generaL
What effect returning health may have I cannot answer for ;
but if I can judge for myself in my present situation, I wish to
support that independency which will be approved of by my
friends in particular, and by the public in general. My senti-
ments are the same as yours, with regard to our conduct in the
present times.

" Your delicacy towards me serves only to convince me of
the propriety of my conduct in leaving you the absolute master
of your own conduct in Parliament, free from all control but
that of your own judgment, and I am happy in this opportunity.
Your great and uncommon abilities must sooner or later place
you in one of the first posts of this kingdom ; and you may be

384 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxvot.

assured no man on earth wishes to see your honour and your in-
dq)endency firmly established more than I."

The tone of the preceding letter sufficiently indicates that, ill
regard to the general politics of the empire, Lord Clive hittf
Beyer become in any sense a party man. Views of his own
he doubtless entertained as to the wisdom of the measures which
were in progress to restrain the colonies ; and his letter,"else-
where quoted, on the subject of the defences of Brazil, shows
that even the foreign relations of the country were not indifferent
to him. But it was in India, and the manner of its adniinistfa-
tion, that his interest wholly centered. Amid the disruption of
parties, therefore, he thought only of the effect which the
ascendency of one or the other was likely to have upon the
Company's affitirs ; and nowise doubting that Mr. Wedderburn
would on this question of questions speak and vote as he wished/
he left him free on every other, either to serve in the ranks of
the opposition, as heretofore, or to pass over to the minister.
It was one of CIive*6 greatest misfortunes to have thus sur-
rendered up his energies to a single subject. The importance of
India to the British nation is but imperfectly understood even
now ; at the period when Lord Clive lived and took the lead in
Indian discussions, it was not understood at all. Hence he, who^
stood aloof watching the course which events might take, and
ready to support whatever party should do justice, according to
his view of the case, to India and its rulers, found himself, in the
hour of difficulty or need, without any party at all to support
him. Had Mr. Grenville lived, the chances are, that of Clive's
persecution in the House of Commons I should have had no tale
to tell. The occurrence of that misfortune left him to sustain
single-handed the attacks of enemies as unscrupulous as they^
were implacable ; and the results of the struggle, though in the
main honourable to his character, he never entirely overcame. *

Of the agreement to which, in 1767, the Court of Directors
had come with the King's Government Lord Clive never ap-
proved. He was averse to all half measures ; and though it is by
no means impossible that a well-digested plan for transferring'
the territorial sovereignty of British India to the Crown would
have met with his support, of the sort of compromise to which
the Court assented he always spoke as a discreditable arrange^.

CHAP, xxvin.] POSITION AT THE INDIA HOUSE. 389

ment. He was still more averse to the proposed measure of
1 768-9, and spoke a^inst it in the House of Commons, as he him^*
self says, '' with some applause, but all to no purpose." Now, it was
an object with the Government, pressed on every side for money,
to secure for a term of five years an annual subsidy of 400,000/.
or 500,000/. from the Company. They therefore resented Lord
Clive's opposition exceedingly, and threw the whole weight of
their influence into the scale of his rival, Mr. Sulivan. In
April, 1769, an election of Directors took place. The same
measures for securing a majority of votes which Clive had on a
£>rmer occasion adopted were now used without stint on the
opposite side ; and the result was the triumphant return of Mr.
Sulivan and a majority of his friends to the Direction. To de^
scribe the events that followed belongs rather to the historian
of the East India Company than to the biographer of Clive*
Whatever the Government sought was conceded ; and the
attempt to invest Mr. Vansittart with the authority of Governor-
General haying' failed, a new commission was created, of which
be became a member, and of which the powers were without
limits. Nor indeed were Lord Clive's enemies in the Direction
without a plausible excuse for the decided step thus taken. The
reports received from India by every ship continued to be lesa
and less favourable ; and they who hated Clive were glad at the
opportunity of alleging that the root of the evil lay in the
arrangements which he had effected for its government. Hence
a commission of supervisors was made out, with power to inquire
on the spot into every department of public af^Sis as well as
into the conduct of all public officers ; to suspend, if. necessary^
even the Presidents and Councils of the different settlements,
and to frame such r^^lations as should to them appear suitable
to the exigences of each. It is well known that ihe gentlemen
nominated to act on this important commission never reached
the scene of their proposed labours. The ship in which they
took their passage, the ^^ Aurora " frigate, was last heard of as
touching at the Cape of Good Hope. She spoke no vessel after-
wards, nor visited any port either in South America or Asia, and
doubtless foundered at sea.

Lord Clive was greatly annoyed by the issues of this con-
troversy in the India House. His vexation received no salvQ

286 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxvhl

from the reoewed strife of 1770 and 1771; for Mr. Sulivan's
party continued in the ascendant ; and public prejudice, glided
by the exertions of that cunning individual, ran with increased
violence against his Lordship. The tidings from India likewise
became daily more alarming. Hyder Ali laid the Carnatic
waste ; and in Bengal Sujah Dowlah, the Viceroy of Oude^ was
become an object of great alarm. Besides, the framew<>rk of
internal administration was falling to pieces. Mr. Yerelst, too
good-natured to keep the curb on his subordinates as he .ought
to have done, retired in January, 1770, and was succeeded l^
Mr. Cartier, from whose feeble hands the reins of government
may be said to have fallen altogether. Both these gentlemeo
permitted the expenses of their local establishments to increase
to such an extent that, instead of being able to remit thesurpliia
of the revenues of the provinces to London, they were forced to
draw heavy bills upon the Court of Directors, and even then
declared that the country could not support itself. Of course
they did not stop to explain tbat all these fresh outlays — ^that all
this absurd interference of individuals with the internal trade of
the provinces — was in direct violation of the rules of govern-*
ment which Lord Clive had laid down. On the contrary, they
alluded to them either as necessary precautions, or as mere
matters of routine, while they dwelt with greater show of
reason on the effects of the terrible famine which began about
this time to desolate the whole valley of the Ganges. It was
hard upon Lord Clive that to him should be attributed the
blame not only of blunders which he neither committed nor
sanctioned, but of the consequences of that ^lure of rain
against which no human forethought could have provided ;
nevertheless such was his fate. The newspapers, which teemed
with accounts of the sufferings of the Bengalese, which told of
the earth parched up — of lakes empty— of rivers dried in their
beds^and people dying by thousands — seldom failed to concli^ie
their most exciting sketches by references to the tyranny and
rapacity of the man who had drained a kingdom in order to fill
his own coffers, and was now insulting the British people by the
ostentatious display of wealth stained by the blood of thousands.
These wicked insinuations were not thrown away either upon the
friends or the enemies of him who was the subject of them. The.

€HAP. xrviii.] OLIVE'S LETTER TO HASTINGS. 287

former affected to treat them lightly ; the latter cherished them
-up ; and by and by, when they conceived that the public poind
was ripe for the moyement, they did their best to make use of
them.

Meanwhile, though there was general corruption in Bengal,
-kidividuals were to be found there, high in office, who deprecated
the abuses which they lacked authority to restrain. Among
these Mr. Sykes deserves to be particularized. He early saw
and lamented the unfitness of Lord Olive's successors for the
trust which had been reposed in them, and has the merit of
having been one of the first of Indian statesmen to urge the ad-
TaTicement of Mr. Hastings to high station. He wrote to Lord
Clive on this subject so early as March, 1768. But Hastings
had attached himself to that party in the Direction of which
Mr. Sulivan and Mr. Vansittart wctc the chiefs; and Clive,
however ready he might be to bear testimony to the great ability
of the candidate, could not bring himself directly to support the
friend of his personal enemies. He seems, however, to have
offered no opposition to Mr. Hastings's appointment to be second
in Council at Madras; and consented, afler the loss of the
** Aurora," to his removal, in 1771, as Governor to Bengal. I
cannot deny to my readers the satisfaction of perusing the letter
which Lord Clive addressed on this occasion to the statesman
whose merits, as the conservator of British India, must be con*
sidered as only second — ^if indeed they be second— to those of the
soldier who acquired it.

"Berkeley-Square, Ist August, 1771.
** Dear Sir, — " The despatch of the * Lapwing * gives me an early
opportunity of congratulating with you on your removal to
Bengal ; and as my zeal for the service actuated me to take the
ahare I did in your appointment, the same principle prevails
upon me to offer you a few of my ideas upon the important
Government in which you now preside.

*' Two or three months ago, when the plan of Supervisors was
renewed, Sir George Colebrooke and Mr. Purling desired my
opinion. My advice was, that, as the prosperity of the Company
was now become a matter of very serious national concern, it
behoved them to show that^ in appointments of this nature, they

288 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap.

W

were guided, not by the view of particular friends, but mei
by that zeal which the duty of their station demanded, for prer
serving and rendering permanent our possessions in India : and
that, therefore, they should turn their thoughts towards meo
who stood high in public character and reputation. I proposed
Mr. Wedderburn, Mr. Cornwall, and Sir Jefirey Amherst, to-
gether with you, as Governor, and one of the Council ; and that
these five should be invested with, all the powers civil and
military. Sir Jeffrey Amherst, however, declined. As tp th^
two former, they might be prevailed upon ; but the Directors
do not seem ready to embrace any great comprehensive plan of
supervisorship, so as to make it an object for men of such conse*
quence. My last proposition was, that the Company . should
revert to the plan of my Government, viz. that a Committee of
five should be appointed out of the best and ablest men in Beqgal,
of whom the Governor should be the head ; and this, I imagine,
will be adopted.

<' The situation of affiiirs requires that you should be very
circumspect and active. You are appointed GU)vernor at a very
critical time, when things are suspected to be almost at th^
worst, and when a general apprehension prevails of the mis*
management of the Company's afiairs. The last Parliamentary
inquiry has thrown the whole state of India before the public^
and every man sees clearly, that as matters are now conducted
abroad, the Compapy will not long be able to pay the 400,000^
to Government. The late dreadful famine, or a war, either
with Sujah-u-Dowlah or the Mahrattas, will plunge us into
still deeper distress. A discontented nation and disappointed
Minister will then call to account a weak and pusillanimous
Court of Directors, who will turn the blow from themselves
upon their agents abroad ; and the consequences must be ruinous
both to the Company and the servants. In this situation you
see the necessity of exerting yourself in time, provided the
Directors give you proper powers, without which, I confess, you
can do nothing; for self-interest or ignorance will obstruct
every plan you can form for the public good.

^^ You are upon the spot, and will learn my conduct from
disinterested persons; and I wish your government to be
attended, as mine was, with success to the Company, and with

CHAP, xxvni.] CLIVE'S LETTER TO HASTINGS. 289

the consciousness of having discharged every duty with firmness
and fidelity. Be impartial and just to the public, regardless of
the interests of individuals, where the honour of the nation and
the real advantage of the Company are at stake, and resolute in
carrying into execution your determination, which I hope will at
all times be rather founded upon your own opinion than that of
others.

** The business of politics and finance being so extensive, the
Committee should not be embarrassed with private concerns.
They ought not, therefore, to be allowed to trade. But their
emoluments ought to be so large as to render trade unnecessary
to the attainment of a competent fortune. For this purpose I
am confident the salt will prove very sufficient The Society
should be formed upon an improvement of the plan which was
not perfected in my time. The price to the natives was too
great, and so was the advantage to the servants. Beduce both,
and I am persuaded there will be no complaint of oppression on
the one hand, or want of emolument on the other.

" The Company's servants should all have a subsistence, but
every idea of raising a fortune, till they are entitled to it by
some years' service, ought to be suppressed. If a general system
of economy could be introduced, it would be happy for indi-
viduals as well as for the public. The expenses of the Company
in Bengal are hardly to be supported. Great savings, I am
certain, may be made. Bills for fortifications, cantonments,
contracts, &c. must be abolished, together with every extrava-
gant charge for travelling, diet, parade, and pomp of subor-
dinates. In short, by economy alone the Company may yet
preserve its credit and affluence.

" With regard to political measures, they are to be taken
according to the occasion. When danger arises, every precau-
tion must be made use of, but at the same time you must be
prepared to meet and encounter it. This you must do with
cheerfulness and confidence, never entertaining a thought of mis-
carrying till the misfortune actually happens; and even then
you are not to despair, but be constantly contriving and carrying
into execution schemes for retrieving affairs; always flattering
yourself with an opinion that time and perseverance will get the
better of every thing.

u

r

290 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xmn.

" From the little knowledge I have of you I am convinced that
you have not only abilities and personal resolution, but int^rity,
and moderation with regard to riches; but I thought I dis-
covered in you a diffidence in your own judgment, and too great
an easiness of disposition, which may subject you insensibly to
be led where you ought to guide. Another evil which may
arise from it is, that you may pay too great an attention to the
reports of the natives, and be inclined to look upon things in the
worst, instead of the best, light. A proper confidence in your-
self, and never-failing hope of success, will be a bar to this and
every other ill that your situation is liable to ; and, as I am
sure that you are not wanting in abilities for the great office of
Governor, I must add that an opportunity is now gpiven you of
making yourself one of the most distinguished characters of this
country.

'* I perceive I have been very free in delivering my senti-
ments ; but to make an apology were to contradict the opinion I
profess to have of your understanding, and to doubt whether you
would receive this as a token of my esteem.

" It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that this letter, which I
have written in the fullest confidence, should be kept entirely to
yourself. If a reciprocal communication of our sentiments on
India afl^rs be agreeable to you, you may depend upon my con-
tinuing the correspondence in such manner as to show that I
am, with the sincerest wishes for your honour and success,

" Dear Sir,
" Your very faithful humble servant,

"Cjlive."

No man could be more sensible of the worth of praise from
such a quarter than Mr. Hastings. No man was ever more dis-
posed to put value upon Lord Olive's advice. But Hastings, like
Clive, lived in times when it was difficult, consistently with
men's received notions of duty to their employers, to walk
within the exact line of Christian, or even of European int^rity.
It would be a libel to say of either that he ever swerved from
the path of integrity for the mere purpose of advancing his own
selfish interests. Clive became rich, but won his wealth by a
process of which the fitness was then acknowledged. Hastings

CHAP.xxvra.] CAREER OF CLIVE AND HASTINGS. 291

returned home after long years of sovereignty a poor man, and
died a beggar. Yet there are events in the lives of both on
which we cannot look back without regretting that they should
have occurred, even while we acknowledge that they show but as
spots upon the sun or as a few passing clouds on a summer's sky.
It is certain that the men themselves entertained great respect the
one for the other, and that each played the part on the stage of
Indian life for which nature seemed especially to have fitted him. j

u 2

i92 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxix.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Conf^ion in the Company's Affairs — Parliamentary Proceedings.

Up to this moment the Crown and the Parliament had evinced
little disposition to interfere in a decided manner in the manage-
ment of the Company's affairs. Since the death of Geoi^e the
Second a series of feeble administrations had followed one another,
each of which was in its turn cast aside by the King. Intrigues
in their own bodies, riots in the country, and insurrectionary
movements among the American colonists, had left them no lei-
sure to investigate the politics of India, or deal with the subject
as it deserved. As has elsewhere been explained, their inter-
ference, when it occurred at all, was irresolute, and therefore
injurious ; and the mind to direct, as well as the energy to ac-
complish, a comprehensive plan seemed to be wanting. No doubt
Lord Chatham, during his brief season of power, meditated a
bold and sweeping measure in regard to the Company's posses-
sions. And to this Lord Clive seems to have given his adhesion,
if indeed he may not with truth be said to have been the author
of it. But, just as his arrangements were understood to be com-
pleted, that dark cloud passed over the minister's judgment
which compelled him to withdraw from public life, and out of
the shadow of which he never afterwards escaped, except for a
brief interval. The time, however, was come when, in the policy
of procrastination, no Cabinet could venture to persevere ; and
arrangements were made for bringing before Parliament a com-
plete view of the state of the Company's affairs, as well as a perma-
nent scheme for their future management both at home and abroad.
It was out of the question that any minister of the Crown
should ponder such a design, and entertain serious thoughts of
acting upon it, without consulting Lord Clive. To be sure,
between Lord Clive and the head of the existing Cabinet there
had never been any intimate connexion ; but Lord North, what-

CHAP. XXIX.] THE DIRECTORS ATTACK CLIVE. 293

ever his private sentiments might be, knew too well the worth of
Olive's opinion to overlook it, and employed his Solicitor-Gene-
ral, Mr. Wedderburn, to bring him and the Indian Colossus to-
gether. Mr. Wedderburn conducted this delicate negotiation
with his usual skill. He first proposed that Lord Rochfort should
communicate with his patron, to which the latter at once assented ;
and by and by acted as the mutual friend of Lord Clive and the
Prime Minister. Proceedings of this sort could not be kept
secret from the dominant party in the India House ; and their
fears ^r the consequences, operating upon a harsher feeling,
urged them to lay aside the mask, and to attack their great op-
ponent himself. On the 7th of January, 1772, just a fortnight
previously to the day fixed for the meeting of Parliament, Lord
Clive received from the secretary a dry official letter, informing
him that papers had reached the Court of Directors in which his
Lordship was charged with being a party to the mismanagement
of the Company's afi^rs in Bengal ; and that if his Lordship had
any observations to make upon such papers — of which copies
were transmitted to him — the Court of Directors would be glad
to receive the same as expeditiously as might suit his Loidship^s
convenience. Lord Olive's answer being both short and very
dignified, I think that I am bound to give it in his own words : —

" You have not been pleased," he says, " to inform me from
whom you received these papers, to what end they were laid
before you, what resolution you have come to concerning them,
nor for what purpose you expect my observations upon them. I
shall, however, cAiserve to you, that upon the public records of
the Company, where tlie whole of my conduct is stated, you may
find a sufficient confutation of the charges which you have trans-
mitted to me ; and I cannot but suppose that if any part of my
conduct had Ijeen injurious to the service, contradictory to my
arrangements with the Company, or even mysterious to you, four
years and a half since my arrival in England woidd not iiave
elapsed before your duty would have impelled you to call me to
account."

Parliament met on the 22nd of January; and the King's
speech contained a clause which indicated the intention of the
Minister to propose some measure in the course of the session
which should put upon a better footing the general adminbtra-

294 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxix.

tion of the Company's affairs both at home and abroad. There
was nothing in the Royal speech itself to indicate a bias on the
mind of the Minister one way or another. Clive, in all his state-
ments on the subject, had never hesitated to lay tlie chief blame
of Indian misgovernment on the home authorities. He charged
the Directors with interfering incessantly in matters which they
did not understand ; and was not less indignant with the Pro-
prietors for sheltering delinquents whom the Bengal government
had sent home, and employing them again in places of trust.
Mr. Sulivan and his allies, on the contrary, attributed the whole
of the misfortunes under which the Company laboured to the
misconduct of their servants abroad. The tone of the gentleman
who seconded the address in the House of Commons indicated
pretty accurately to which side in this dispute the Cabinet
leaned. He was eloquent on the delinquencies of the servants
to whom the Company had entrusted the management of its
affairs in India, and loud in his demands that enlarged powers
for restraining and punishing them should be given to the
Directors. Lord Clive heard this speech with amazement. Still,
as the Government kept quiet, and no member connected with it
stirred in the business, he held aloof; and so matters remained,
as the calm precedes a storm, till the 30th of March. But on
that day Mr. Sulivan, who, besides being Deputy-Chairman of
the Court of Directors, had a seat in Parliament, brought in a
bill ^^ For the better regulation of the afi&irs of the East India
Company, and of their servants in India, and for the due
administration of justice in Bengal ;" and Lord Clive, after
listening to the speech which was directed ostensibly to enforce
the adoption of the measure, felt that in point of ^t he was
upon his trial before the great coimcil of the nation.

I cannot pretend, within the limits of a work like this, to give
the details either of the Deputy- Chairman's address or of Lord
Clive's answer to it. The former, professing to deal in general
charges, was yet so constructed as to direct the attention of the
House to the principal events in Lord Clive's public life. The
latter, assuming that such was the real object of the speaker,
met him upon his own ground, and overthrew him sentence by
sentence. With regard to the general object of the bill, it had
Lord Clive's hearty approval. Many of the most important

CHAP. XXIX.] BURGOYNE'S MOTION. 295

changes proposed to be effected by it he had himself suggested to
the Company long before ; but of the minute details on which
they were grounded he in numerous instances disapproved, and
he condemned throughout the spirit in which they seemed to have
been brought forward. No account of his own career, coming
from Clive, would have been genuine had it failed to partake
largely of the grandiloquent ; nevertheless, being just in the
main, the present narrative told ; and its effect would have been
greater, but for the strong and unguarded terms in which the
speaker censured every 'other individual and party who had
taken any share whatever in the management of the Company's
affairs. His own successor in Bengal — the Courts of Directors
and of Proprietors — the ill-disposed persons who, by bribery
and otherwise, had achieved an ascendancy in both — nay, the
King's ministers themselves, on account of the hard bargains
they had driven with the Company, and their repeated neglect
of the advice which he had given — all came in" for a portion of
his censure. It was remarked by his best friends, on this occa-
sion, that he had never spoken with greater eloquence, or with
a more evil tendency as regarded himself. Though the answer
of Governor Johnstone, the brother of that Mr. Johnstone
whom Lord Clive had removed from the service of the Com-
pany at Bengal, and who was now one of the most active of
his enemies in the India House, was as feeble as it was rancorous,
a considerable portion of the House listened to it with favour ;
and inferences were drawn from the circumstance, as the event
proved, not without reason, that the debate would, before it
closed, take a turn more decidedly hostile to Lord Clive than
the nature of the motion on which it was grounded seemed at
the outset to promise.

Leave being granted to introduce the bill, it was laid upon the
table of the House on the 13th of April; upon which occasion
Colonel Burgoyne moved, ** That a Select Committee be ap-
pointed to inquire into the nature, state, and condition of the
East India Company, and of the British affairs in the East In-
dies." Colonel Burgoyne was known, at this time, as a man of
wit, and the author of some dramatic pieces which had obtained
a certain degree of popularity. He had served in Portugal with
some distinction ; and, being free of speech, and of showy parts,

296 LIFE OJ* LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxnc

contrived to impress society with a belief that his military talents
were of a high order. In politics he seems to have been a mere
adventurer, who, being anxious to bring himself into notice, was
not very scrupulous in regard to the means. By what process
Mr. Sulivan and his party contrived to enlist him under their
banner does not appear ; but he played their game, as long as it
suited his purposes, with considerable skill, and did not hesitate,
when the proper moment arrived, to throw them overboard.
Colonel Burgoyne carried his motion, though not without a
struggle ; and Mr. Suli van's bill was dropped after the second
reading. Moreover, Burgoyne took care that to the constitution
of his committee no overt objections should be raised. Lord
Clive and Mr. Strachey were both appointed members of it, as
indeed their welL known acquaintance with the subjects to be
brought under discussion rendered indispensable. But the com-
mittee was scarcely constituted ere the spirit in which it was
designed to act became manifest. Governor Johnstone brought
forward a plan of operations, of which it was the t^idency to
put Lord Clive upon his trial. ,'He proposed that inquiry should
be made into the conduct of individuals who, wheth^ in the
civil or military service of the Company, had amassed great
wealth in India ; and by skilfully dating his researches ^m the
period of the dethronement of Suraj-u-Dowlah, he brought the
object of his own and his brother's hatred at once upon the stage«>
Accordingly, the two first reports of the Select Committee con-
tained only the evidence of well-informed witnesses in regard to
the revolutions of 1757 and 1760 ; the former dwelling espe-
cially on the presents which were received, and the grant of
the jaghire or feof to Lord Clive: the latter embodying a
list of details, wherein were set forth the evil results of the
inland trade, under the government of Mr. Verelst. These
being hurried on, and presented to Parliament on the 26th of
May, were forthwith printed, and circulated from one extremity
of the kingdom to another, with the scarcely concealed purpose
of aggravating as much as possible the prejudices which were
known already to exist against the parties chiefly aflbcted by
them. But the authors of the scheme had somewhat undercal-
culated its effects. The names of Clive and of the rest who had
taken money, or were assumed to have done so, as the priee

CHAP.xxnc.] OLIVE'S CROSS-EXAMINATION. 297

of making and unmaking Nabobs, were indeed greeted with
execration ; but the Company itself fell likewise into dbrepute ;
and the confusion of its pecuniary arrangements, which could
no longer be concealed, instead of awakening sympathy, served
but to deepen the feeling. It was with extreme difficulty that
the Directors managed to ward off the blows which from every
side were struck at them during the remainder of the session ;
and when at length Parliament adjourned, the boldest went
away with a conviction on his mind that a crisis could not be
very distant .> _

In the course of the inquiries which led t({^^the^,j?ep6rts of
which I have just spoken, Lord Clive had been subiected to the
most minute and ungenerous cross-examination. He was ques-
tioned not merely in regard to what he had done, but to the mo-
tives which swayed him, and the purposes which he desired to
accomplish ; while by insinuation — where ground for direct attack
seemed wanting — the committee did its best to resolve every act
of public duty into a selfish or a mercenary endeavour. He bore
himself throughout the whole process with the same unbending
firmness which chaf acterised his proceedings on the stage of more
active life. He denied nothing that he had ever done or said ;
he sought neither to extenuate nor to explain it away. When
charged with the acts whereby he had deceived Omichund, and
accused of forging Admiral Watson's name, he replied that what
he had done occasioned him neither shame nor regret, for, under
precisely the same circumstances, he was prepared to do it all
over again. He admitted that he had received enormous sums
from Meer Jaffier ; but protested that no obligation either of
morality or public faith had been violated by the proceeding.
" Am I not rather," he exclaimed, " deserving of praise for the
moderation which mairked my proceedings ? Consider the situa-
tion in which the victory at Plassey placed me. A great prince
was dependent on my pleasure; an opulent city lay at my
mercy ; its richest bankers bid against each other for my smiles ;
I walked through vaults which were thrown open to me alone,
piled on either hand with gold and jewels ! Mr. Chairman,"
cried he, warming with his subject, and striking his hand against
his brow, ^^ this moment I stand astonished at my own modera-
tion."

29S LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxix.

This high tone of rebuke — this vindication rather than defence
of a line of conduct which, though long previously marked by
the approval both of the Crown and of the Company — it was
now the object of the Committee to hold up to public odium —
stood Lord Clive in good stead out of doors. The multitude
cried him down, it is true ; but the recess was yet young when
he received intimations from more than one quarter that his
name stood as high in the palace as it had ever done. His in-
stallation as a Knight of the Bath, which took place on the 15th
of June, was honoured by the presence of Royalty ; and on the
death of Earl Powis, which occurred in September of the same
year, a way was opened for him to obtain the lieutenancy of the
county of Salop. His friends wished him to apply directly to
the King ; for they, as well as he, were dissatisfied with the con-
duct of the minister during the past session ; but Clive was too
prudent to act on the suggestion. " I cannot," he writes to Mr.
Strachey, on this subject, " be of your opinion, because I think
that things are not yet ripe for an open rupture. Until my con-
duct in Parliament is decided upon, I do not desire the King and
his Ministers to be my declared enemies. HI such a situation I
should certainly not meet with much applause from the House
for my conduct in the East Indies ; and I wish at least that the
members of the House, when they come to decide, may have no
other motive for an unfiivourable decision than envy: that,
indeed, is too strongly implanted in the human breast to be re-
moved." His own desire was to wait till the dignity should be
offered ; but such a course being represented on all sides as un-
precedented, he was with some difficulty persuaded to depart
from it. Lord Rochfort, it appeared, in the first instance, and
by and by Lord North, threw out hints that, provided they were
assured the office would be agreeable to Lord Clive, they should
have much pleasure in bringing his name under the King's
notice. The result was, that, after a little coquetting, Clive did
make a formal application to the Minister ; and he kissed hands
on the 9th of October for the Lieutenancy of Salop, to which, in
the month of December following, the Lieutenancy of Montgo-
meryshire was added.

It was natural that the readiness shown Ijy Lord North to
meet the personal wishes of the new lord-lieutenant should lead

CHAP. XXIX.] COMMITTEE OF SECRECY. 299

to a revival of friendly offices between them. I find, accord-
ingly, that Clive was in communication this winter with the Ca-
binet ; and that he laid before it the outlines of a plan for the
management of the affairs of India, which included a transfer of
the territorial sovereignty to the Crown. The Directors, on the
other hand, were busy negotiating loans in all quarters; and
finding that neither the Bank nor the Government was disposed to
accede to the terms of their request, they had recourse to a fresh
Commission of Supervisors, on which they found some difficulty in
persuading six gentlemen to serve. But before the commission had
embarked, the session of 1773 opened, and a new turn was given
to the course of Indian afl&irs. The Minister asked for and ob-
tained a Committee of Secrecy, with power to examine the Com-
pany's books,, and to report to the House upon the state of debts
and credits set forth therein, as well as on the system of manage-
ment generally ; and forasmuch as it was not considered desirable
that pending such examination any change of system should be
introduced, the Committee was directed to state whether or not,
in their judgment, the Company ought to be allowed to send out
the Commission of Supervisors to India.

To detail, one by one, the memorable events which followed,
belongs rather to the writer of English history than to me. The
Committee of Secrecy met, much to the chagrin of the Select
Committee ; and both pursued their labours — sometimes in direc-
tions widely apart, sometimes by travelling over the self-same
ground. The Committee of Secrecy aflPected to deal with abstract
questions' of financial and mercantile management. The Select
Committee put the public career of individuals to the torture,
till in due time the reports of both threw the Administration
before which they were laid into a fever of uncertainty. At last
the papers were handed over to the then Attorney-General,
Thurlow, who undertook to sifl them during the Easter recess,
and make a proposition. He did so, and it was as curious as it
was sweeping. Having called a meeting of the members of the
Administration, from which, however, the Solicitor-General,
being Lord Clive's friend, was excluded, Mr. Attorney-General
Thurlow informed them that the affairs of the Company were in-
volved beyond the reach of cure, and that he saw nothing for it
except to confiscate, by act of Parliament, all the sums acquired

300 LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxix.

by English public servants, under the head of gifts, grants, or
bequests, from Indian princes. It was clear, he said, that the
Company could never discharge the obligations under which it
had come to the public, and the public had therefore no alter-
native except to act upon the principle which determined that,
whatever was obtained of land, treasure, or any thing else by
the military force of the country, belonged in law to the state.
The Attorney-Greneral's proposal seems to have confounded his
colleagues. Some of them objected to it on the ground that,
when the obnoxious presents were received, there was no law or
regulation in force against them ; others reminded him that it
was too late to stretch the law to its extreme limits now, seeing
that the conduct of those whom his bill would consign to ruin
had been approved and rewarded by the Sovereign, The Attor-
ney-General declared that, after mature deliberation, he had no
better plan to bring forward ; and so the Ministerial conference
broke up.

CHAP. XXX.] CHARGES AGAINST CLIVE. 301

CHAPTER XXX.

Charges brought against Clive in the House of Commons— They are
rejected.

Nbitheb the objects nor the issues of this conference of Ministers
appear to have been communicated to Lord Clive. Colonel Bur-
goyne, however, seems to have been in some way or another made
acquainted with both ; and the proceedings of the committee over
which he presided, as well as of the Ministerial Committee of
Secrecy, took forthwith a turn more decidedly hostile than before.
Charges were brought against Lord Clive on the authority of the
Company's accounts, which bore upon the face of them such a
show of plausibility, that nothing short of the clearest proof of their
groundlessness could have saved the accused party from disgrace.
For example, the Secret Committee, in one of its reports, stated,
that Lord Clive and his Council had paid away a large sum to
individuals, under the head of donation money, though an order
'from the Court of Directors forbidding such payments had been
issued, and was in force at the time. It was fortunate for Clive
that he was able to show that no such order had reached him till
long after the payments were made ; for the packet-ship Fal-
mouth, in which the original document was transmitted, had
been lost at sea, and the duplicate copy, received many
months subsequently, came too late. Again, in reply to some
observations from Lord North, which seemed to rest on
certain statements put forward in a Select Committee^s report,
Lord Clive, after severely handling the Minister, went on
to expose the spirit in which the report in question had been
drawn up. In the course of this si)eech he stated " that one
gentleman, a member of that House, who had long been the
principal manager of the affairs of the East India Company, had,
on the 7th day of November last, in a private conversation with
Mr. Hoole, the Auditor-Greneral, told that functionary that he
desired his assistance in a matter which would be particularly

30a LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxx.

serviceable, and requested him to draw up a complete state
of the civil and military charges of Bengal, and likewise of the
revenues since Lord Olive's arrival in Bengal in 1765 ; and
directed him to refer to all the letters, plans, or regulations of
Lord Clive, noting how far the charges, revenues, &c. agreed
with them ; to trace out the causes of any increase or decrease ;
to draw up the whole historically and progressively, making all
the accounts his own — and, as the individual to whom he alluded
expressed himself — to mark the man ; for, continued he, it is my
wish to show that all the distresses of the Company arise from
him. " Sir," exclaimed Clive, " let me remind the House that a
report drawn up in such a spirit, and materials drawn from such
a source, must be received with exceeding caution ; for against
an engine of such great power no man's reputation is safe."

It is painful to go on with such a subject. It is humiliating
to observe, turn whither we may, and deal with whom we can,
that every question connected with Indian politics — whether the
point mooted be the conquest of a province, or the establishment
of machinery for the due administration of law — resolves itself',
sooner or later,, into a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. If
the object be to crush an Indian statesman, he is accused of
falsifying accounts, or selling justice to the best bidder. If a
soldier acquire wealth by a course of successful warfare, he is
questioned, not regarding hb manner of wielding the sword,
but in respect to the property which he may have acquired
by it. And so completely interwoven with the nature of
Indian politics does this idolatry of gold seem to be, that where
materials for a real charge of peculation are wanting, enemy
seeks to undermine enemy by inventing them. Mr. Sulivan —
for to him it was that Lord Clive on the present occasion alluded
— made no attempt to refute this accusation. He admitted that
it was substantially correct, and justified his own conduct by
stating that, forasmuch as his lordship in a former session had
imputed the Company's distresses to mismanagement on the part
of the Directors, so he, as a Director, conceived that he had a
perfect right to turn the tables, and to lay the blame upon hb lord-
ship, as, with Mr. Hoole's assistance, he hoped that he might
have been able to do. " But to show," continued he, " that the
enmity which has long been between us has never prevailed with

CHAP. XXX.] CHARGES AGAINST CLIVE. 303

me to work his lordship wrong, I will now make a disclosure
which, through delicacy towards him, I have hitherto refrained
from doing." Mr. Sulivan then proceeded to state, that in the
correspondence of Lord Clive with the native powers, during his
first administration of Bengal, a gap of not fewer than sixteen
months was to be found ; that the Directors, suspecting that it
related to the grant of the feof, had repeatedly applied for copies
of the same to no purpose ; and that not even now, when the non-
production of these documents might be said seriously to involve
his lordship's honour, were they forthcoming. This was not
the first occasion on which Lord Clive had been compelled to
notice insinuations of the same sort. In 1763, when driven to
bring an action against the Court of Directors, they had applied
to him for copies of the missing letters, stating their reasons ; and
he had told them then, as he now told the House, that these letters
had nothing whatever to do with the grant of the feof. The fact
was, that he had lent the letters in 1760 to a Mr. Campbell,
who was engaged in drawing up a memorial on Dutch affairs for
the purpose of having it laid before Mr. Pitt ; and from that day
to this, in spite of frequent inquiries, he had never been able to
ascertain whither Mr. Campbell had betaken himself, nor, as a
necessary consequence, what had become of his correspondence.

A story such as this was not likely to be received with im-
plicit faith by the personal enemies of the narrator ; and the
members of the House of Commons could hardly be blamed if
they gave to it no more credit than it seemed to deserve. Yet
its truth was made manifest in the course of a few days ; for Mr.
Campbell, reading in the newspapers an account of all that had
passed, communicated with Lord Clive immediately, and the
whole of the missing letters were restored to him first, and
eventually to the Court of Directors. They were found, on
careful examination, to be complete, and to agree literally with
the description which Lord Clive had given of them.

Thus far, it will be seen, that out of every contest into which
his enemies drew him, Clive came forth, if not scatheless, at
least triumphant. He had skirmished well against their light
troops ; it was now to be seen how he could sustain the weight of
a general action ; for the wrath of the adverse party in the India
House seemed to grow more violent after each repulse, and no-

304 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxxi

thing short of a great effort to crush him would content them.
Accordingly, Colonel Burgoyne, who on the 8th and 29th of
April had brought up the 3rd and 4th reports of the Select
Committee on Indian Afiairs, called the attention of the House
on the 10th of May to the subjects embraced by them, and pro-
posed three resolutions, on which, if the House should approve
of them, he gave notice of his intention, at an early period of
the session, to found a motion. The resolutions in question were
these: —

" 1. That all acquisitions made under the influence of a mili-
tary force, or by treaty with foreign princes, did of right belong
to the state.

'^ 2. That to appropriate acquisitions so made to the private
emolument of persons intrusted with any civil or military power
of the state is illegal.

" 3. Tliat very great sums of money and other valuable pro-
perty had been acquired in Bengal from princes and others of
that country by persons intrusted with the civil and military
powers of the state by means of such powers ; which sums of
money and valuable property have been appropriated to the pri-
vate use of such persons."

Colonel Burgoyne's resolutions were prefaced by a speech in
which all the delinquencies, real and imaginary, of all the civil
and military servants of the Company were set forth. Lord
Clive's dealings in particular ^ith Suraj-u-Dowlah and Meer
Jaffier — his treachery to Omichund — his abuse of Admiral Wat-
son's confidence, were painted in the blackest colours, as were
the proceedings of the Select Committee, out of which, as the
speaker asserted, all the ills which had subsequently oppressed
Bengal and the Company arose. The same line of argument
was followed by Sir William Meredith, by whom Burgoyne's
motion was seconded. And though Mr. Wedderburn spoke well
on the opposite side, and Clive himself vindicated his own cha-
racter with dignity, the feeling of the House ran so strongly in
favour of the oppressed, that the two former of the resolutions
were carried without a division, and the last by a large majority.
It was not so when the niotion which Colonel Burgoyne had
undertaken to found upon them came to be discussed. The
House seemed then to feel that it had gone far enough to vindi-

CHAP. XXX.] CHARGES AGAINST CLIVE. 805

cate the national honour. Clive might have been guilty — and
he surely had been — of some acts which would admit of no
justification. The authority of all the most sacred of the laws
which regulate the intercourse of states and of individuals
must be set aside were they to acquit him of blame. But, on
the other hand, it was certain that he had displayed great talents,
and exercised great virtues ; that he had rendered eminent ser-
vices both to his country and the people of India ; and that it
was not for his dealings with Meer Jaffier or with Omichund
that he was now called in question, but for his determined resist-
ance to avarice and tyranny. Under these circumstances they
came to the discussion of the last point in the argument with
minds perfectly free from that bias which it was the object of the
prime movers in the business to create against him whom they
described as " the great delinquent." Colonel Burgoyne's speech,
therefore, though able of its kind, and ably supported by that of
his original seconder. Sir W. Meredith, fell comparatively
pointless on the House; and when first Mr. Wedderburn, then
Mr. Fuller, and last of all Clive himself, had spoken in reply,
there was no room to doubt how the matter would end. Colonel
Burgoyne had proposed a resolution to this effect: — "That it
appears to this House that the Right Hon. Robert Lord Clive,
Baron of Plassey in the kingdom of Ireland, about the time of
the deposition of Suraj-u-Dowlah, and the establishment of
Meer Jaflfter on the musnud, through the influence of the powers
with which he was intrusted as a member of the Select Com-
mittee and Commander-in-chief of the British forces, did obtain
and possess himself of two lacs of rupees as Commander-in-chief,
a fiirther sum of two lacs and 80,000 rupees as member of the Se-
lect Committee, and a further sum of 16 lacs or more under the
denomination of a private donation ; which sums, amounting to-
gether to 20 lacs and 80,000 rupees, were of the value, in English
money, of 234,000/. ; and that, in so doing, the said Robert
Lord Clive abused the power with which he was intrusted, to
the evil example of the servants of the public, and to the disho-
nour and detriment of the State."

Lord Clive's friends denounced the proposition as both illo-
gical and iniquitous. Lord Clive himself did more. After mi-

X

306 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxx.

nutely recapitulatiDg the services which he had rendered to the
country, and calling the attention of his auditors to the acknow-
ledgments of his merits which had over and over again been
made, — ^afler adverting to the motives in which this prosecution
originated, and dealing out some hard blows to all, whether in
the Cabinet or elsewhere, who suffered themselves to be made
parties to it. Lord Clive spoke at large of the circumstances
under which his last administration of Bengal had been forced
upon him, and of the special Courts which met to thank him on
his return, and to express their regret that he had not continued
longer at his post. He then burst forth into the following apo-
strophe, of which the effect upon the House is described in the
publications of the day to have been electrical : —

" These, Sir, were circiunstances certainly that gave me a full
satisfaction, and a ground to think that my conduct in every in-
stance was approved of. After such certificates as these. Sir, am
I to be brought here like a criminal, and the very best parts of
my conduct construed into crimes against the state ? Is this the
reward that is now held out to persons who have performed such
important services to their country ? If it is, Sir, the future
consequences that will attend the execution of any important
trust committed to the persons who have the care of it will be
fatal indeed ; and I am sure the noble Lord upon the Treasury
bench, whose great humanity I revere, would never have con-
sented to the resolutions that passed the other night, if he had
thought on the dreadful consequences that would attend them.
Sir, I cannot say that I either sit or rest easy when I find, by
that extensive resolution, that all I have in the world is confis-
cated, and that no one will take my security for a shilling.
These, Sir, are dreadful apprehensions to remain under ; and I
cannot look upon myself but as a bankrupt. I have not anything
left that I can call my own, except my paternal fortune of 500/.
per annum, and which has been in the family for ages past. But
upon this I am content to live ; and perhaps I shall find more
real content of mind and happiness than in the trembling afflu-
ence of an unsettled fortune. But, Sir, I must make one more
observation, — that if the definition of the honourable gentleman
(Colonel Burgoyne), and of this House, that the state, as ex-

CHAP. XXX.] CHARGES REJECTED. 807

pressed in these resolutions, is, quoad hocy the Company, then,
Sir, every birthing I enjoy is granted to me. But to be called
upon, after sixteen years have elapsed, to account for my conduct
in this manner, and, after an uninterrupted enjoyment of my
property, to be questioned, and considered as obtaining it unwar-
rantably, is hard indeed I and a treatment I should not think the
British Senate capable of. But, if such should be the case, I
have a conscious innocence within me that tells me my conduct
is irreproachable. Frangas^ nonjlectes. My enemies may take
from me what I have ; they may, as they think, make me poor,
but I will be happy ! I mean not this as my defence, though I
have done for the present. My defence will be heard at that
bar ; but, before I sit down, I have one request to make to the
House, — that, when they come to decide upon my honour, they
will not forget their own."

Tl)e immediate effect of this appeal was to cause an adjourn-
ment of the debate ; its ultimate consequence, to rob Colonel
Burgoyne's resolution of all power to hurt either the honour or
the fortune of Lord Clive. On the 21st of May the subject was
again taken up by the examination of a few witnesses and the
reading of the evidence which Lord Clive had given before the
Select Committee. A second debate followed, which was scarcely
less animated, and more prolonged than the former, and on the
22nd the House decided, by a majority of 155 to 95, that, admitting
all to be true which was stated in regard to the moneys acquired,
" Robert Lord Clive did at the same time render great and merito-
rious services to his country." As the whole spirit of the motion
was changed, on the motion of Mr. Stanley and Mr. Fuller, not
merely by the substitution of a new for the original clause at the
end, but by the omission of certain words from the body of the
second clause, I cannot better conclude the present chapter than
by transferring it entire to my own pages. It stands on the
records of the Commons' House of Parliament thus : —

" That it appears to this House, that the Right Hon. Robert
Lord Clive, Baron of Plassey in the kingdom of Ireland, about
the time of the deposition of Suraj-u-Dowlah, and the establish-
ment of Meer Jaffier on the musnud, did obtain and possess him-
self of two lacs of rupees as Commander-in-Chief, a further sum of

x2

LIFE OP LORD CLIVE. [chap.

^1

two lacs and 80,000 rupees as member of the Select Committee^
and a further sum of 16 lacs or more under the denomination of
a private donation ; which sums, amounting together to 20 lacs
and 80,000 rupees, were of the value, in English money, of
234,000f. ; and that Lord Olive did at the same time render
great and meritorious services to his country."

J

CHAP. XXXI.] CLI\^'S RETIREMENT. 809

CHAPTER XXXI.

Death of Lord Clive^His Character.

Jn the subsequent proceedings, which ended in the granting of a
new charter to the Company, and established Mr. Hastings a^
Governor-General of India, with a Council nominated, as it
seemed, for the express purpose of thwarting him in every-
thing which he might desire to accomplish. Lord Clive took no
part. The persecutions to which he had been subjected appear
to have weighed heavily upon his spirits, and he withdrew in
gloom and undisguised mortification from public life. It is said|
though I cannot find that the anecdote rests upon any sound
authority, that the Government, finding war with the colonies to
be inevitable, pressed him to undertake the command of the
army which they were preparing to send to America. But such
a proposal, if made at all, was declined ; for the state of his
health entirely unfitted him for continuous exertion either of body
or of mind. Probably, too, it was the same sad cause which ope-
rated to restrain him from supplying Voltaire, then in the meri-
dian of his literary renown, with materials opt of which to
compile a history of the Conquest of Bengal. We know, at
least, that the French philosopher applied through Dr. Moore,
the ingenious author of ' Zeluco,' to be put in possession of his
lordship's papers, and that the application was not attended to.
Be this, however, as it may, the events which gave a character
to the remainder of Lord Clive's existence were not of a nature
to admit of minute description ; and I shall therefore content
myself with adverting to them in general terms.

As long as the Parliament pat, Clive continued to reside in
Berkeley Square. Immediately on its rising — that is, on the
17th of June — ^he proceeded to Bath, whence, after a short resi-
dence, he removed to Walcot. There he saw his more intimate
and familiar acquaintances as heretofore, and corresponded occa-

310 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxxi.

sionally with friends at a distance ; but the paroxysms of pain
under wliieh he suflTered became continually greater, and he more
and more had recourse to the frightful palliative of opium, under
the continued use of which his whole nervous system gave way.
Some fragments of letters from him are preserved, which show
that he never ceased to take an interest in those to whom through
life he had been attached. It is said, also, that he had occasional
conferences with Lord North on the subject of Indian affairs ;
and one, at least, of his communications with that minister, written
about six weeks previously to his decease, remains. But the
sword, which had been throughout too sharp for the scabbard,
was rapidly cutting its way through. I do not know why I should
shrink from describing the circumstances under which he died.
The world knows that he committed suicide ; and according as
men have thought of the " self-murderer " while he lived, they are
wont in every case, to blame or to pity, or to do both, after the
deed is done. Now, Olive's manner of perpetrating the stern
act seems to be but in keeping with the whole tenor of his exist-
ence ; and I therefore tell the tale as it has been told to me.

A female friend, it appears, was on a visit at his house. He
had suffered extremely throughout the whole of the 21st of No-
vember, and was driven more than was usual with him to seek
relief in^slrpng doses of laudanum. The same process continued
during the early part of the 22nd ; but that his reason was not
clouded, nor his self-possession taken away, the following &ct
seems to prove. About noon on the 22nd, or a little later, the
lady came into his room, and said, — '< Lord Olive, I cannot find
a good pen ; will you be so good as make me one ?" ^* To be
sure," replied he; and, taking a penknife from his waistcoat
pocket, . he moved towards one of the windows, and mended
the pen. The lady received it back with thanks, and withdrew.
In a short time afterwards, a servant, entering, found Lord
Olive dead ; and the instrument with which he had destroyed
himself proved, on examination, to be the same small knife with
which he had mended his friend's pen.

. It was not to be expected, that a termination so awful to a

\ career of glory and success well-nigh unexampled in English

\history should foil of affecting with deep and painfrd impres^ons

tthe minds of all to whom the event was made known. Many, I

CHAP. XXXI.] DEATH OP CLIVE. 311

regret to say, received the tidings in a spirit which testified as v
little. to their sagacity as to their Christian temper ; many more /
— ^and I confess that I belong to the number — accepted them as/
proof that there may be intolerable world-weariness in the heartt
of him into whose lap the world seems to have poured its richest/
treasures. At all events, the event itself vouches for some- — j
thing amiss, either in the moral or in the physical organization K
of the individual, or in both. For the line which separates ge- I
nius from eccentricity is often so narrow, that, unless there be I
some principle of action more elevated than the world can sup- /
ply, the chances are equal that the one will sooner or lat^f"^
merge in the other. Now, whatever Olive's excellences of cha-
racter may have been, I confess myself unable to detect in him
any trace of the sort of principle of which I am now speaking.
Hi s honour , i n the com monly rft^p1VA/^ anno^iut\r^n r^f f }|o »o>»^ —
west 01^ the tropical line — 4s admitted ; and his generosity to
fri tHdH iiuJ iiilaliroo hoo n ever been called in question. But I
have not succeeded in bringing home to him a solitary acl^I
cannot discover in those portions of his correspondence which I
have perused a single expression — which can be so interpreted as
to lead to the belief that there was any spring or motive of con-
duct within, apart from the prospect of immediate advantage to
his Country, or to himself, or to the authorities whom he served*
Hence life ceased to ha ve an aim for him as soon as the excite-
ment of enterprise was taken away ; and the fatal remedies to
which he had recourse, while striving to blunt the pressure of
bodily suffering, quite broke him down, through the nervous
exhaustion of which they were at once the cause and the effect. I
Looking, on the other hand, to his public proceedings, Tr
seems impossible to refuse to his name a place in the list of those
who have done their country eminent service. To him . belongs i
the merit of having restored, being yet a boy, the tarnish^ |
honour of the English arms, while he saved an important settle^ f
ment from destruction. The foundations of English political
ascendancy in the East were laid by him during the first stage of
his manhood ; and, finally, the wisdom of his more maturedl
counsels, and the energy with which he acted upon them, over-,
came all abuses in the management of the Company's affairs, and i
brought order and system out of their very opposites. " From .

i 1

312 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap, xxxr,

Olive's first visit to India," writes Mr. Macaulay with perfect
truth, " dates the renown of the English arms in the East ; from
his second visit to India dates the political ascendancy of the
English in that country ; from his third visit to India dates the
purity of the administration of our Eastern Empire."

The individual who, with the means at Olive's disposal,
could accomplish all this— who could boast that between the
twenty-fourth and forty-fourth years of his age he had sayed a
province, conquered a kingdom, and substituted in the manage-
ment of its afiairs order for anarchy, and justice for violence and
wrong, deserves to be ranked among the most remarkable men
of his generation. No doubt the qualities which made him what
he was belong rather to the man of action than to the philoso-
pher. He was brave, firm of purpose, full of self-reliance,
indifferent to responsibility, and not over-scrupulous in regard
to the morality of his measures so long as important and suc-
cessful results promised to be obtained by them. He was as
indifferent, likewise, to the feelings of others, as heroes are
usually supposed to be, though certainly not more so. At the
same time it would be unjust to deny, that, if the philosophy of
statesmanship be in any measure based upon a knowledge of
human nature, Olive in his own peculiar sphere of action had

his share of sucli philosophy too. There never lived a Eu-

"^ ropean who more thoroughly mastered than he all the tricks
and artifices of Oriental diplomacy. This it was which so
eminently qualified him to govern where the will of the ruler
is law ; for he permitted no tyranny to be exercised except his
own, and tyranny on his part proved to be in the main only a
stern and uncompromising ministration of justice. The same
turn of mind, however, rendered him incapable of dealing aright
with the passions and prejudices of a free people. Whatever he
sought to accomplish he sought to accomplish by force ; he had
neither the temper nor the talent that are needed to battle with
I greconceived opinion, or to surmount the obstacles of party.
Accordingly, his intrigues at the India House were mere efibrts
to outbuy his rivals, as on another field he would have ridden
them down, or swept them aside by the fire of his artillery.
And in the House of Oommons he never became influential,
because he could not bring himself to give and take, to yield

CHAP. XXXI.] CHARACTER OF CLIVB. 313

a point, it may be of slight importance, in order to ensure the
accomplishment of a great end.

Considered as a poiitican, Clive was essentially oriental ; con-
sidered as a military man, circumstances render the task of
classifying him very difficult. On the whole, however, I am
inclined to think that, on any theatre of operations, whether in
Europe or America, he would have proved a great commander.
No doubt the field on which he played his part was peculiar.
He waged war at the head of a handful of disciplined troops
against hordes of undisciplined warriors, and defeated tliem ; but
he waged it in such a way as to prove that the principles on
which he acted were those which are applicable to every com-
bination of circumstances, and against every description of
enemy. I have elsewhere alluded to the supposed wish of the
Minister to employ him against the North American colonists,
already in a state of incipient revolt. I cannot tell what truth
there may be in the story ; but of this I have little doubt, that,
had the state of his health and the temper of his mind permitted
him to embark upon the enterprise, the dependence of the
United States on the mother-country would have been continued
for at least another half-century.

Lord Olive's reading was not extensive, and his learning a
mere blank. He never acquired even of the languages of India
knowledge enough to be able to correspond or even to converse
in any of them except imperfectly. His general manner in
society was silent and reserved. Still, when a subject was
broached in which he took an interest, that harsh and heavy
countenance of his would light up, and he spoke with a degree
of animation which appears to have told powerfully. Boswell,
in his ^ Life of Johnson,' has placed on record the substance of a
brief dialogue between the moralist and Robertson the historian,
which, because it illustrates two of the statements hazarded in
this risum^ of the great man's character, I may be permitted to
transcribe. " Dr. Robertson," says the biographer, *' expatiated
on the character of a certain nobleman, that he was one of the
strongest-minded men that ever lived ; that he would sit in
company quite sluggish while there was nothing to call forth his
intellectual vigour ; but the moment that any important subject
wus started — for instance, how this country is to be defended

314 LIFE OF LORD CLIVE. [chap. xxxx.

from a French invasion — ^he would rouse himself and show his
extraordinary talents with the most powerful ability and anima-
tion.'* Johnson, — " Yet this man cut his own throat \ The
true strong and sound mind can embrace equally great things
and small."

Johnson might have expressed himself with more delicacy,

but in the main his argument is sound ; for I cannot agree with

Mr. Macaulay in laying any portion of the blame of Lord

Olive's death " on the pangs of wounded honour " arising out of

Jhe Parliamentary persecution to which he had been subjected.

i The sad event appears to me to have been the result of that

\ want of balance in the arrangement of mind with matter which,

J if not produced by a disordered intellect, comes of satiety,

t which is itself a disease in the moral nature of the man, ii^

1 indeed, a total absence of the religious principle may, without

i the misuse of terms, be so spoken of.

V— -Lord Olive's personal appearance was not prepossessing. To
a countenance which was saved from vulgarity only by the ex-
pression of decision and natural intelligence which pervaded it,
he added a figure without symmetry or grace, which he ren-
dered 'doubly conspicuous by the elaborate care with which it
was his custom to adorn it. His social habits were hospitable
and sumptuous in the extreme. He loaded with presents all to
whom he took a fancy, and kept open table both in London and
in the country. Yet he never succeeded in achieving even a
moderate share of popularity, and with a large acquaintance
could boast but of few friends. He was a great man ; and in
tracing his career I have felt that I was following the footsteps
of a giant. I regret that I am not able to add, that I can
think of him likewise as an object of love and personal ad-
miration.

Lord Olive was buried in the church of Moreton Say, the
parish in which he was born. He left a family of two sons and
three daughters to inherit his fortune and his name.

THE END.

London : Printed by William Clowis and Sons, Sumford Street. |

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