The fatigue, bodily and mental, which Clive underwent during the second year of his residence in India, when engaged in counter-acting the seditious movements of the civil and military services, had the unfavourable effects that might have been expected on a constitution so exhausted as his; yet the strong invitations which he then received from the Directors to remain another year in India, and his own desire to strengthen and confirm the government which he had saved from anarchy, and perhaps from ruin, induced him to revolve in his mind the possibility of complying with their request; and in some of his letters, written in the summer of 1766, he intimates a doubt whether he may not attempt to remain another year to complete his work.

But in the end of October he was attacked by a bilious disorder, which, increasing in severity, rendered him, early in November, incapable of attending to business. It is, indeed, surprising that this attack should have been so long delayed. From the moment he arrived in Bengal, his mind had been kept invariably on the stretch, by a succession of painful and trying exertions. He had travelled much in the midst of the monsoon, and in the hottest season. On one occasion, he writes to Mr. Verelst[111], "I have not had three hours' sleep any day or night, since I left Mootyjil," a fortnight before; and, even during the period when he thus travelled in a burning climate[112], he continued anxiously corresponding at every interval of his journey, on the subject of an alarming mutiny, which threatened destruction to all his plans of public improvement. He had difficulties to encounter on every side, reforms to be made, in which he was obliged to depend for success, more on the energy of his own mind, than on the support of the service, or of his coadjutors. He had the ungracious office of interfering at every step with the pecuniary emoluments of the majority of his countrymen of every class. Few constitutions could have supported the anxiety he endured. A less vigorous mind would have sunk under the fret and annoyance of nearly two years' warfare of this exhausting kind: his constitution only sank under the fatigue. The strongest proof how severe his illness became, is afforded by the total interruption of his correspondence from the 29th of November to the 27th of December, during which period no letter appears to have been written by himself, the correspondence being entirely conducted in his name by Mr. Strachey. It has already been remarked that his regularity and constancy in correspondence were quite exemplary. His letters of business were answered the moment they were received. This steady regularity, too often despised by inferior men, was one of the means by which he did so much. With him it was grown into a habit; but the habit was a proof of the energy of a mind eager to accomplish, in the most perfect way, the business in which it is engaged.

It was during this illness that the letter, already alluded to, from the Court of Directors, arrived[113], disapproving of the Society of Trade, but loading him with praises for his beneficial management of their affairs, entreating him to continue in the government for another year, and holding out the hope of ample remuneration for the sacrifice he was invited to make. It must be acknowledged, that the request of the Court of Directors was couched in terms sufficiently flattering. They approve of all that he had done. "When we consider," say they[114], "the penetration with which your Lordship at once discerned our true interest in every branch, the rapidity with which you restored peace, order, and tranquillity, and the unbiassed integrity that has governed all your actions, we must congratulate your Lordship on being the happy instrument of such extensive blessings to those countries; and you have our sincerest thanks for the great and important advantages thereby obtained for the Company."—"We have the most perfect sense of your Lordship's disinterestedness in every part of your conduct, and we shall not fail to represent this to the proprietors, and shall, at the same time, inform them of the many great advantages your Lordship has obtained for the Company; but we fear, my Lord, past experience will teach them, as it does us, that the permanency of those advantages will depend much on your Lordship's continuing in India till you have seen the regulations firmly established for the conducting those important affairs. Another year's experience, and peaceable enjoyment of our acquisitions, might fix them on a basis that might give hopes they may be as lasting as they are great; and there is no doubt, my Lord, but the general voice of the proprietors, indeed, we may say, of every man who wishes well to his country, will be to join in our request, that your Lordship will continue another year in India. We are very sensible of the sacrifice we ask your Lordship to make, in desiring your continuance another year in Bengal, after the great service you have rendered the Company, and the difficulties you have passed through in accomplishing them, under circumstances in which your own example has been the principal means of restraining the general rapaciousness and corruption which had brought our affairs so near the brink of ruin. These services, my Lord, deserve more than verbal acknowledgments; and we have no doubt that the proprietors will concur with us in opinion, that some solid and permanent retribution, adequate to your great merits, should crown your Lordship's labours and success."

Clive was not insensible to the voice of praise, and still less to the call of ambition; but no principle was stronger with him than a sense of duty. He had truly observed, some time before, in writing to Mr. Palk[115], "It seems I am strongly solicited to remain in India another year, and a promise is to be made me about perpetuating my jaghire. If I could render the Company more essential service by stopping than returning, and the situation of affairs made such a sacrifice necessary, I should not hesitate one moment about complying with their request, without being tempted by the bait of a jaghire. This does not appear to be the case at present; and, I think, all that depends on me will be effected in the space of two or three months; and, if the necessity of continuing another year does not appear in a stronger light than it does at present, I shall most certainly depart in January or February next." The letter of the Directors, just quoted, arrived on the 8th of December, after his complaint had made an alarming progress; and it appears, by a letter of Mr. Strachey, of the 13th, that Lord Clive had made up his mind, as a matter of necessity, to embark for England in about a month from that time. In a letter to his friend Mr. Palk, of the 30th of the same month, he says, "My state of health will not permit me more than to acknowledge the receipt of your several favours of the 20th, 27th, and 30th of September, and 7th, 11th, and 27th of October. The discussion of political points I cannot attempt at present, though I find myself recover daily. The Court of Directors have been very strenuous in soliciting me to continue another year in India. They have loaded me with compliments, and given me as much additional power as I could have wished. But the situation of the Company's affairs does not require that I should sacrifice another year in this climate; and even if it did call upon me to make such a sacrifice, it would be in vain. The very severe attack of bile that I have been struggling with for many weeks puts it beyond a doubt, that I could not survive, and be of use to the Company in India another year."

His constitution from his youth had been subject to nervous attacks. He now suffered from derangement of the biliary system, which affected his health to a degree from which it never fully recovered, and which may be considered as having finally hastened his end. It was occasionally attended with spasms, of which the violence endangered his life. In the intervals of comparative ease, however, he continued to direct the affairs of the government. He had used great exertions to improve the civil service, on which depended the prosperity of the country. Many of those then at the head of it, from various causes, were unfit to have any great share in conducting the administration of public affairs. Some were too exclusively devoted to self-interest, and were lax in their principles. The rapid fortunes that had been made of late years had sent home a considerable proportion of the most active of the older servants; others had been forced to resign, or had been dismissed for malversation in office; and many others had fallen in the massacre of Patna. Those next in succession were in general young men of no experience, of luxurious and dissipated habits, who, having been brought up in a bad school, were strangers to subordination and to the restraints of duty. Clive, sensible that to place such men near the head of a government, was to undo all that he had done, and that no government can be carried on without fit instruments, had asked from the Madras Government four of its ablest civil servants[116], who were accordingly sent, and placed in Council. This necessary act made him unpopular, and created many and powerful enemies. But Clive was not a man to shrink back from his course when supported by conscious rectitude, and by a firm persuasion that he was acting for the benefit of his employers and of the public. He supported the Madras servants against all the combinations formed to disgust and annoy them, and at his departure left them all high in office. By that, and similar acts of energy, he did all that one individual could do to remedy a vicious system; and had his plans been firmly executed by his successors, and supported instead of being opposed and tampered with by the Court of Directors, the history of India for the ensuing twenty years might have afforded a brighter and more pleasing retrospect than, unfortunately, it now does.

Clive was in particular most desirous that, after his departure, the Select Committee, the real engine of government, should be composed of the ablest and most upright men in the country. He left the chief direction of affairs with perfect confidence in the hands of Mr. Verelst, a man of honour and intelligence[117]; but he was anxious to add to his strength by placing about him other men of talent. Among these he was particularly desirous that Mr. Sykes, in whom he had great confidence, should reside in Calcutta, to be near the seat of government: but that gentleman preferred remaining in the situation he then held as resident at Moorshedabad. Clive's remonstrances on this occasion are very honourable to him:—"I have received your letter," says he[118], "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 persuaded, 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 convenience 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 sentiments 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 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 departure. I have given you my sentiments, which are consistent with my friendship for you, and my duty to the Company."

A letter to Mr. Cartier, one of the last he wrote in India, shows a similar anxiety for the public interest. Mr. Cartier, like Mr. Sykes, wished to take no active share in the general concerns of the government, but to remain, performing local duties, at an out station. Lord Clive, who had a favourable opinion of his qualifications, had urged him to conquer this repugnance; and Mr. Cartier finally gave his consent. "The receipt of your friendly letter[119]," says Lord Clive, "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 fallen 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 declining 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.

"The General, myself, and other friends, take our departure on Monday next.

"I remain, dear Sir,
"Your affectionate friend, ever,
"Clive."

Lord Clive had always intended to return home overland, and had arranged with several of his friends to accompany him; but the state of his health put an end to this long-cherished project.

When he was thus preparing to embark for his native country, broken as he was in health and constitution, and numerous as the enemies were whom his conduct had raised up against him, he might still look back with proud and generous satisfaction on the great sacrifice which he had made, and the splendid effects which it had produced. In the short space of twenty months he had quelled the opposition of the civil service, had dismissed the most culpable, and endeavoured to infuse a better spirit into those left; by his firmness, and, perhaps, still more by the magic influence of his name, he had subdued the dangerous spirit of mutiny among the military officers, after it had broken out in overt acts; had sent off the ringleaders without resistance; had introduced new officers in their room, pardoned the less guilty, and restored them to their rank and confidence; he had concluded an advantageous peace with the Nabob-Vizier, by which he secured a large contribution for the Company, to pay the expenses of the war, and gained two provinces for the emperor, our ally; he had farther secured for him an annual tribute out of Bengal; he had acquired for the Company a grant of the dewannee, or rather, in reality, of the revenues and government of the three great provinces; by means of which, and of an agreement with the Nabob, the whole political power came into the hands of the English, who, from that moment, were sovereigns, and the effective arbiters of India: for the names of Nabob and Emperor, unsupported by adequate military force, were but sounds. The Company's debts in India had been reduced, and nearly extinguished; their large investments provided, chiefly without drawing on home; the expenses of the various establishments had been examined and reduced with a liberal economy; the forces were never in a more efficient state, and never supported at so small an expense. His perfect knowledge of every part of the service, and his resolute determination, produced a silent acquiescence in reductions proposed by him, which, perhaps, would have excited the loudest murmurs had they come from any other quarter. And, after all reductions had been made, he might justly boast that he left the various services the best and most liberally paid in the world. He had checked the misrule which had desolated the provinces, and imposed fetters on the cupidity of the ruling caste, which were, unfortunately too soon removed after his departure: he had restored the course of justice to its original channel, and the natives to their wonted trade and commerce. Their political power was, indeed, gone; hardly a semblance of it remained; but the ordinary and daily aspect of society, which had been so rudely broken in upon for four or five years, by the interference of the English and their servants in the internal trade and concerns of the country, was once more restored. No man but Clive could have achieved such changes; and he derived his power to effect them from his own energetic character, and from the glory which his former exploits had diffused around him.

He held that the interest of England was best consulted by stopping the career of conquest, and by confining ourselves to Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; rich, compact, and defensible provinces, that, by good management, could be governed at little expense, and leave a large surplus revenue. His policy in regard to the native princes he himself explains. He never came into contact with the Mahrattas, the grand disturbers of India, but was strongly urged by the Emperor Shah Aulum to enter into an alliance with them, and accompany him to Delhi. This, we have seen, he obstinately declined. "As I proceed up the country," says he in a letter[120] to Mr. Palk, "if I find the Mahrattas discontented and disposed to be troublesome, I shall endeavour to form an alliance with the Jauts, Rohillas, and Suja Dowla, to keep the country on this side Delhi in tranquillity. This alliance is most earnestly wished for by the three above-mentioned powers, and will, if any thing can, intimidate the Mahrattas from committing ravages and disturbances in Hindostan; for certain it is, if we should all unite and attack their country, they could not stand one minute before us." He had also speculated on the possibility, if necessary, of setting up the Rajah of Nagpore (whose vakeels had waited on him at Calcutta to ask an alliance) in opposition to the Peshwa, with whom that Prince was then on bad terms, and in that way trusted to secure domestic peace by dividing the force of his enemy.[121] He did not, however, provoke hostilities; and his great military reputation probably preserved him safe from the attacks of these freebooters, as well as from all other foreign annoyance.

In his intercourse with the chiefs of the different European factories in Bengal, French, Dutch, and Danish, though he never yielded the minutest portion of the rights of his employers, he seems, from his correspondence, to have lived on the most friendly and courteous terms with them all, and to have conciliated them by his fairness and urbanity. But never did he allow any consideration of private interest to interfere with his public duty. We have already seen that, while nearly the whole of his large fortune was in the hands of the Dutch, he attacked and destroyed an armament of that nation, at a moment when he might, without reproach from his Government, have abstained from acting, and when, indeed, he hazarded the censure of his employers, and of the British Government, by the bold and decided measure. Another very characteristic instance of a similar nature occurs in his correspondence. M. Vernet, the Dutch chief of Chinsura, had applied to him to procure the release of some boats which had been stopped by the Nabob's officers, for some informality or evasion. "I have the honour," he says[122], "to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 7th and 9th instant. In consequence of the latter, I have spoken to Mahommed Reza Cawn, who will this day give orders for the release of such of the Dutch boats as are furnished with your dustucks, and contain no greater quantity of goods than are therein specified. But should any of the boats be found laden with merchandise not mentioned in the dustucks, you cannot but confess, from what I have already written you, that it would be highly improper for me to interfere." He immediately adds, "You favoured me, some time ago, with your promise for bills for the amount of two lacs of rupees by your second ship. I am now to request bills for one other lac, if you can conveniently grant them." With him the separation between his public duty and private interest was always complete: he never permitted the latter for a moment to influence his conduct in the other.

The same urbanity and consideration which he showed to foreign Europeans, secured to him the attachment and affection of most of the natives of rank with whom he had occasion to treat. He behaved to them uniformly with the deference and respect that were considered as their due, by the usages of the country. In writing to a friend concerning an increase which had been made to the revenues of Bengal, we have seen[123] that he urged the necessity of stopping, that we might not trench on the fund necessary for the support of the higher class of native families. He was anxious that the regular gradation of ranks should be preserved as it then was, that it should be exposed to no sudden disruption. It would have been well if such beneficent and politic maxims had always been acted upon in future years.

In his choice of men for public situations, he was guided by a regard to their talents, and their capacity of being useful. Though no man was more ready to attend to the recommendation of his friends, such recommendation with him held but the second place, and was listened to only in affairs of detail. All the higher offices, and such as required superior abilities, he, like every other man who has a mind made for command, filled from considerations of merit only. Even some men whom he personally disliked, as for example, Colonel Richard Smith, he constantly employed and encouraged from a sense of their useful qualities.

Among other eminent men whom he patronised, he found Rennell, then a lieutenant of engineers, employed in various surveys, encouraged him to complete the general survey and map of Bengal, communicated to him all such previous surveys as were to be found in the public offices, furnished him with a proper establishment, gave him every assistance in his power, and finally, young as he was, bestowed on him the office of surveyor-general, which seems to have been created for him. Clive's mode of treating officers in whom he could repose confidence, and his means of securing the speedy and effectual execution of the orders he gave, are illustrated by one of his letters[124] to Rennell. He had ordered a general map of the provinces to be completed. "If you have occasion for any assistants, name them, and I will order them to attend you."

He also directed an accurate survey to be made of every mouth of the Ganges, every channel, and every creek, ascertaining at the same time the soundings of each; a survey which, in his instructions, he justly remarks, was likely to afford many new and advantageous directions for our navigation.[125] Till then, our acquaintance with the mouths of the Ganges was very imperfect.

Among those who were introduced into the service by his interest, may be mentioned Mr. Gladwin, one of the first of the English in Bengal, who communicated to the public his acquirements in the eastern languages. He had gone out as a volunteer, in which situation he attracted the notice of Clive, who procured for him admission into the civil service. Clive's conduct, in this instance, is very characteristic of his friendly and energetic temper. Mr. Strachey writes Mr. Gladwin[126],—"His Lordship directs me to assure you, that if the recommendations he gave you, some time ago, should not procure you an appointment in the Company's service, he will further exert his interest in your behalf, nor desist till the point be attained."

Though a steady friend, he was not blind to the faults of those whom he patronised; and his correspondence contains many letters, in which he freely gives his opinions on their conduct, and his candid advice. An extract from a letter to Mr. Middleton[127] may be given as an example. "I have received your letter of the 19th of September," says he, "in which you express your concern at the censure passed upon you by the board, and imagine you may have done something to 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 diligence 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 introduced so much luxury, extravagance, independency, and indolence into Bengal, that every effort upon our part to reclaim this settlement is looked upon as a hardship, or an act of injustice; although it be absolutely necessary for the salvation of the whole." After some observations on the wrongheaded opposition which had been made by some of the younger servants, and the danger they thereby incurred, he adds:—

"To set aside the Governor, and speak as a friend, I entertain 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 inconveniences. 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 eyewitness 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. After 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 sentiments 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. Perhaps they may not be looked upon in that light by said young men. If not, I wish future experience may not convince them to the contrary."

Such friendly remonstrances, from a man like Lord Clive, from one who had a right to command, should have had their effect; and, at all events, are creditable alike to his heart and understanding.

In the same spirit, and from a firm persuasion of the noxious effects of expensive habits in young men in the lower branches of the service, we find him refusing dustucks for the conveyance of a chariot and barouche to gentlemen who were only writers, as being quite unjustifiable.

Many of the imprudent and ill-advised officers who had been engaged in the mutinous proceedings, applied to him to be reinstated. This he peremptorily refused, as injurious to the public service: but, from his private letters we find that, in numerous instances, he advanced sums from his private purse, to enable them to subsist after their dismissal, and to convey them to their native country.

On the 16th of January, 1767, Lord Clive was well enough to attend, for the last time, a meeting of the Select Committee. On this occasion he laid before them a letter, in which, after mentioning that he had no prospect of recovering health, or even of preserving life, but by an immediate embarkation for his native country, and that this necessity would be most painful to him, did he not leave the country in peace and in a flourishing state, and in the hands of an upright and able government, he proceeds to exercise his authority for continuing the Select Committee, filled up the vacancies in its members, and laid down regulations for its guidance. He advises them not to be anxious to increase the revenues, especially where it could only be effected by oppressing the landholders and tenants, for that so long as the country remained in peace, the collections would exceed the demands. He points out some difficulties likely to result from the state of the currency, and strongly recommends that all Company's servants and free traders should be recalled from the interior; as, until that was done the natives could hardly be said to be masters of their own property: that the orders for the abolition of their salt trade being express, must be punctually obeyed.[128] "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 incitement 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."

He evinced great apprehension (says Sir John Malcolm[129], speaking of Lord Clive's farewell letter,) of the danger to which the empire would be exposed by the revival of that spirit of corruption and insubordination which he had, with so much difficulty, subdued. "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 purpose 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 attempts that have been made in the civil and military departments to overcome our authority, and to set up a kind of independency against the Court of Directors. Reflect also on the resolute measures we have pursued, and their wholesome effects. Disobedience to legal power is the first step of sedition; and palliative 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, diligence, 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 discipline and subordination: 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 principles 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 consequences."

"Such," continues Sir John, "was the parting advice which Lord Clive gave to his former colleagues: but the task of reform which he had commenced could have been completed by his own commanding talents alone, aided by the impression of his high personal character. It was far too great for the strength of those on whom it devolved."

On the 23d of January he wrote an additional letter to the Select Committee. It was for the purpose of recommending a measure which he had omitted to mention in his letter of the 16th, but which he considered as essentially necessary to the interest and honour of the Company. "The people of this country," says he, "have little or no idea of a divided power; they imagine all authority is vested in one man. The Governor of Bengal should always be looked upon by them in this light, as far as is consistent with the honour of the Committee and Council. In every vacant season, therefore, I think it expedient that he take a tour up the country, in the quality of a supervisor-general. Frauds and oppressions of every sort being by this means laid open to his view, will, in a great measure, be prevented, and the natives preserve a just opinion of the importance and dignity of our president, upon whose character and conduct much of the prosperity of the Company's affairs in Bengal must ever depend."

Lord Clive finally embarked for England in the Britannia, in the end of January, 1767. In the East all his endeavours had been crowned with brilliant success. His operations, from the moment he appeared on that theatre till he quitted it, formed a great era in the history of England, of India, and of the world. The rapidity and ease with which the richest provinces in India were subjugated, threw a new light on the nature of the intercourse between Europe and Asia. The veil which Bussy had in part lifted up, he removed. Men, who till now had appeared in the humble garb of merchants and suitors, henceforward assumed the reins of government, and took their place in the direction of nations and of states where they had lately been strangers. The power of the East was once more, as in the days of Alexander, brought into collision with that of the West, and once more quailed before it. The grand secret of oriental splendour and weakness was confirmed; and Clive had sufficient greatness of mind to forego the tempting occasion of being the conqueror of the Mogul empire, and to content himself with a more moderate and less brilliant, but to his country, infinitely more useful triumph. He had the rare, and, in a successful soldier and conqueror, almost unparalleled magnanimity, to place his ambition under the guidance of his judgment and his duty.

CHAP. XVII.

Lord Clive landed at Portsmouth on the 14th of July, 1767, and reached London on the following day. Though the sea-voyage probably preserved his life, it still left his constitution very much shattered; and, on his arrival in London, his physicians immediately recommended that he should repair to Bath, for the purpose of drinking the waters. He remained in town, therefore, only a few days to be presented to their Majesties, to whom he had brought letters and presents from the Nabob of Arcot; and, in the first days of August, he set out for Bath, taking in his way Wotton, the seat of his friend Mr. George Grenville. His disorder was a severe bilious complaint, attended with spasms, loss of appetite, and indigestion; a continuation or consequence of that derangement of the liver from which he had already suffered so much in Bengal.

On his arrival, he was warmly welcomed, not only by his family and numerous private friends, but by the men most distinguished for rank and talent in England, and by the Court of Directors, who owed him so much. While conducting the affairs of his country with such distinguished honour and success in India, he had not been forgotten in Europe, where his name occupied a high rank among those of the illustrious men, who had raised the fame of England to so high an eminence at that glorious period. His statue, with those of Admiral Sir George Pocock, and of General Lawrence, had been placed in the India House.[130] The first part of Orme's "History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan," had appeared in 1763, and had spread the renown of the hero of the story wherever the English language is read. When Clive, during his second government, had enlarged so much his own fame, and the fame and power of his country, he felt a natural desire that the elegant historian should continue his work, and commemorate these great events; and accordingly he furnished him with all the materials that he possessed for aiding his progress. "What think you," says he, with a just pride, in a letter to Orme, "of closing the third volume of your history with an account of the King (of Delhi's) being at last placed in a situation of affluence and grandeur, the Vizier Sujah-u-Dowlah being obliged to sue for peace, which was granted upon very honourable terms, and the Company being in possession of the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, amounting to 4,000,000l. sterling per annum, and the country in a state of perfect tranquillity?"[131] The subject was a fine one, every way worthy of the historian's talents; and the proposed enlargement would have given a suitable close and unity to his former labours. But Orme did not delight in bold and rapid sketches; and the perhaps excessive detail in which he indulged in his most interesting historical work, prevented him from at all entering on the history of these memorable transactions; so that, at the close of his third volume, he had not advanced beyond the year 1760, the time when Clive left the country after his first government. At the same time, it is not to be supposed that Clive escaped a large share of that envy, and of the consequent abuse, that generally attend the triumph of a fortunate commander. The many enemies whom he had made, filled the public papers, to a more than ordinary degree, with acrimonious attacks; and scattered pamphlets, full of misstatements and personalities, which affected his sensitive mind more than they deserved.

Though Lord Clive now filled so large a space in the eyes of his countrymen and of foreign nations, he was yet only in his forty-second year; an age at which he might still have looked forward to a long career of public service and of glory. It is much to be regretted that, circumstanced as he was, in possession of an ample fortune, with his talents in their fullest vigour, and with one of the first reputations of the age, he did not confine himself to the high ground on which he stood, and shun being once more forced into the dark, and unsatisfactory circle of Leadenhall Street politics. He was, however, unfortunately pressed by too many immediate interests, both of his own and of his friends, to suffer him to adopt a course which would have contributed so much to his future peace. He had spent his whole life in Indian affairs, which naturally, in his estimation, had a peculiar importance; and perhaps his active mind could not at once break off the ties which had so long attached him to the Company and its concerns.

He found, on his return, the affairs of the East India Company considerably more complicated than he had left them. The two parties of Mr. Rous and Mr. Sulivan still divided the Directors; but the accounts of the great accession of wealth acquired for the Company in Bengal had excited the cupidity of the British Government, which, impoverished by the expenses of a war carried on in every quarter of the globe, eagerly looked for a partial relief to the treasures that were to flow into England from her Eastern dominions. The same expectation naturally roused the Proprietors of India Stock, who insisted on enjoying the benefit of the happy change in the most obvious way, by an increase of their dividend. To embroil still more these adverse interests, the servants of the Company, who had resigned or been dismissed, in consequence of their malversation in office, returned to England, breathing revenge against the man whose honest vigour had stopped them in their career; and having employed, in the purchase of Company's stock, a part of the great wealth which they had accumulated, were able, by throwing their interest into the scale, to influence the proceedings of the Court of Proprietors, and, therefore, ultimately that of the Directors.

Three years before, Lord Clive had left England, immediately after gaining a victory over Mr. Sulivan and his party. But as that gentleman had long managed the Company's affairs, was widely connected, and still retained many friends, the new Directors had by no means an easy part to act. For the first year, Mr. Sulivan's interest continued to be so strong among the Directors, that Mr. Rous, the new Chairman, sometimes found it difficult even to muster a sufficient number to sign his ordinary letters. In the election of 1765, Mr. Boulton was chosen Chairman; and the stability of the party in office seeming to increase, considerable defection, as is usual in such cases, took place from the ranks of their opponents. They also carried the election in the following year (1766) completely, when Mr. Dudley was elected Chairman. Still, however, the party of Sulivan continued to be strong; and when Lord Chatham's ministry was formed, in July, 1766, Sulivan was understood to be favoured by them, through the interest of Lord Shelburne, who was his friend.

We have seen the alarming aspect of the Company's affairs, when Clive was induced[132] to forego the comforts of home, and once more to visit Bengal, for the purpose of retrieving them. He had not been long absent when the drooping hopes of the Proprietors having revived, they demanded an increase of the dividend. Clive, ever sanguine, was of opinion that they ought to have been indulged; but the difficulties were considerable. "Believe the word of a Director," says Mr. Scrafton, writing[133] to him, before the news of his great success had reached England; "Believe the word of a Director, 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 Mahommed Ali's debt, the vast fortifications, the fatal Manilla expedition, and the sum locked up in the support of French prisoners, for which no instalments are yet settled, all form prodigious deductions, which a year's revenue of the whole province of Bengal will barely replace; not to mention the dreadful breach in the Company's capital before the battle of Plassey." And Mr. Dudley, at a still later period, acknowledges[134] that the Company had contracted several hundred thousand pounds of debt at home during the war, for which demands were urgent.

But when the news reached England of the re-establishment of the Company's affairs, and of the great advantages that had been gained for them by the various treaties concluded by Clive, the joy of the Proprietors was extreme; the price of stock rose, and there was a general and more clamorous demand for an increase of dividend. During the war in India, it had been reduced from 8 to 6 per cent. The more prosperous state of affairs seemed now to justify a considerable increase.

On this point, unfortunately, the Directors and Proprietors differed. While the Directors, as managers of the general stock, and intimately acquainted with the difficulties amidst which they were placed, looked to the clearing off of their burdens, and, the better to effect this object, had, not very wisely, attempted to conceal the expected extent of the new revenues, the Proprietors, who, by various channels, had gained information, probably exaggerated, of the recent addition to the Company's means, clamoured for an instant rise of dividend. The Directors saw that the change which had taken place in the Company's affairs in Bengal, however favourable, could not at once operate in Europe. The immediate demands on the Company were great, while a considerable period of time was requisite to allow the capital sent from Bengal to China, and elsewhere to be invested in goods, returned to England, sold, and the proceeds realised. The Company might be in great affluence abroad, and bankrupt at home. Demands to the amount of 2,600,000l. became payable between Michaelmas and Midsummer (1766), while only 2,000,000l. were available to discharge them. It was therefore necessary to borrow in order to pay even the ordinary dividends.

The Court of Directors did not show much ability in extricating themselves from the dilemma in which they were placed. Had they fully weighed the difficulties of their situation, and the necessity there was, even for the sake of the prosperous management of the Company's funds, and the payment of its lawful creditors, that the Court of Proprietors should be conciliated and unanimity preserved, they would themselves, without concealing their difficulties, have proposed some moderate increase of the annual dividend, and have held out the prospect of a farther rise at some future and not very distant period. Instead of acting on some such plan of politic conciliation, they shunned meeting the Proprietors, and exerted every endeavour to continue the low dividend then payable, so very disproportioned to the price to which stock had now risen. Their situation was delicate, but their conduct was injudicious, as they were liable to be overruled by the Court of Proprietors in any contest with whom they must inevitably fail.

A party of considerable strength had lately sprung up in the Court of Proprietors. We have seen that when, on Lord Clive's arrival in Bengal, an investigation had been commenced into the transactions that attended the death of Meer Jaffier and the accession of Nujm-u-Dowla, and particularly as to the large sums of money paid to the members of Council on that occasion. Mr. John Johnstone, the most active agent in these proceedings, had resigned the service, and so placed himself, for the time, beyond the reach of the Company; and that some other members of the Council had afterwards been dismissed. They, with many of lower rank in the civil and military services who had resigned or been discharged, in consequence of Lord Clive's inquiries and reforms, had, as already mentioned, purchased a large amount of India stock, the better to enable them to wreak their revenge on the man who had obstructed their plans of wealth.

The Court of Directors, desirous of punishing the infraction of their orders, and of supporting Lord Clive in his exertions to fulfil their instructions, directed a case to be laid before the Attorney and Solicitor-General, and the Company's law-officers, who gave an unanimous opinion, that the orders of the Company for the execution of the covenants against accepting presents, having been received and laid before the board, prior to the death of Meer Jaffier, the delay in the execution, for purposes the object of which was so evident, could form no justification; that the covenants were binding in equity, and that suits ought to be brought for restitution of the pretended presents. In consequence of this opinion, bills were filed at the instance of the East India Company against Mr. Johnstone, and the other members of Council in England; and orders were sent to India to adopt corresponding measures against such as were still in that country.

Mr. Johnstone, who was not only a man of family, but of uncommon resolution and considerable talent, was strongly supported by several large proprietors of stock. When the time approached that his answers were to be given in, his brother, Mr. William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney, waited on the Chairman, Mr. Dudley, and delivered a copy of a motion intended to be made at the General Court to be held the next day, recommending to the Court of Directors to confirm the presents received by the Company's servants in Bengal, before the 9th of May, 1765, when the covenants were presented to them to be signed, and to countermand all prosecutions against them. The Chairman was at the same time informed, that, if this motion was rejected, the conduct of Lord Clive should be called in question. Mr. Dudley replied, that they were welcome to exhibit any charge against Lord Clive, but that the prosecutions could not be withdrawn. Next day, however, the opposition, probably finding that they had not strength enough to carry their motion, did not bring it forward; and Mr. Pulteney himself seconded a motion for adjournment.

But the determined resistance of the Directors to any increase of dividend gave their enemies great advantages over them in the Court of Proprietors. The Directors had themselves caused a motion for an increase of 2 per cent. to be brought forward in June, 1766, when they succeeded in getting it negatived; and thus, in consequence of particular rules, which regulated the Court's proceedings, gained some time. But this delay did not check the determination of the party in opposition, which daily gained strength. Lord Holland, and several other great proprietors, joined it, and Mr. Johnstone and his friends threw all their weight into the scale. Only two days before the Quarterly Court, in September[135], the party split 125,000l. stock into shares, and, by their exertions, succeeded in carrying the dividend to 10 per cent., in opposition to the expressed wish and advice of the Court of Directors. But a consequence of this difference of opinion between the Courts was, that this declared increase of dividend had no influence in raising the price of their stock.

At this period, party animosity ran very high, and produced its usual effects of mutual abuse and recrimination. The opposition started a paper, called the India Examiner, which the Directors answered in the India Observer.

Although it was on occasion of the vote for this increase of dividend that the Government began to intermeddle in the affairs of the Company, it may be most convenient, before attending to the proceedings of the Ministry, to conclude the narrative of the contest of the Directors with the Court of Proprietors.[136]

Mr. Johnstone and his friends had trusted to be relieved from the prosecutions instituted against them, by exerting their influence to effect a change of Directors. In April, 1767, however, their efforts for that purpose again failed: the elections were still favourable to the old Directors, and Mr. Rous was again chosen Chairman. Lord Clive was then on his passage home. Mr. Johnstone's party, seeing that nothing was to be looked for from the Directors, adopted the resolution of attempting to work on the Proprietors, who were still, in general, discontented on the subject of the dividends. At the General Court, therefore, held on the 6th of May following, Mr. Pulteney moved, that the dividend should be raised to 12½ per cent.; a proposition which met with very general concurrence. Mr. Pulteney having thus secured the good-will of the Proprietors, Mr. Franks then moved to dismiss the prosecutions which had been instituted against Mr. Johnstone and other persons, for their alleged unwarrantable receipt of money in Bengal. The Chairman in vain proposed that the opinion of the lawyers should be read: the Court, displeased with the Directors, and elated with the measure they had carried against them, with the assistance of Mr. Johnstone and his friends, refused to hear it. Seeing them so determined, and so strong, no opposition was attempted by the Directors, nor even a ballot demanded. The motion of indemnity was carried without farther examination; a great victory to the accused members of Council, and a severe blow on the authority of the Court of Directors and of the Indian governments. It declared indemnity abroad to all who at home had powerful friends connected with the India House; an intimation that was not long disregarded.[137]