Chapter XV (4)

Our attention has hitherto been too exclusively directed to Lord Clive's civil and military reforms, to admit of any connected view of the very important treaties which he negotiated with the native powers, and which really changed the face of India. We have seen that one of his first objects, after his arrival in Bengal, was to conclude a peace with Sujah-u-Dowlah, the Vizier, Nabob of Oude, and to make some arrangement with our ally, the King. The war, though successful, had long been carried on at an expense ruinous to the Company's finances. With these objects he resolved to combine a settlement with the young Nabob of Bengal (whose finances were in disorder), so as to place his and the Company's affairs on a definite and solid basis. Clive had left Calcutta on the afternoon of the 25th of June, 1765, and on the 9th of July writes to the Select Committee, that the business of Nujm-u-Dowlah's durbar was perfectly finished. By the arrangement then entered into, provision was made for the management of public affairs at the Nabob's court, and in the three provinces, the immediate administration of which was committed to Mahommed Reza Khan, Doolubram, and Jugget Seit, and regulations were signed by them and the Nabob for that purpose. A barrier was thus provided against the shifting policy and intrigues of a corrupt court, and a weak and ignorant prince. At the same time Lord Clive procured from the Nabob a sunnud for the reversion in perpetuity of his jaghire to the Company. But he now plainly saw that things could not stop where they were. The truth is, that it was now clear enough, that two independent governments could not exist in the country at the same time. The one must swallow up the other; and the Company having the sword in their hand, and not being disposed to recede, it was necessary to reduce the Nabob to a cipher. Two days afterwards[91] Clive writes to the Select Committee;--"We have often lamented that the gentlemen of the Council, by precipitating the late treaty, had lost the most glorious opportunity that could ever happen of settling matters upon that solid and advantageous footing for the Company, which no temporary 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 Nabob we are bound by treaty to support. A maxim contrary to this has of late been much adopted; and from that fundamental 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 government, the large sums due for restitution, and to the navy, together with an annual tribute, which he will be under a necessity of paying to the King, hath consented, and I have agreed, provided it should obtain your approbation, that all the revenues of the country shall be appropriated to those purposes, 50 lacs of rupees excepted. Out of this sum is to be defrayed all his expenses of every nature and denomination. Mahommed 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 dependents 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 support the dignity of his station, so far as is consistent with the true interest of the Company.

"The particulars of this matter may be farther adjusted in my absence by Mr. Sykes, to whom I have communicated my ideas, 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 empowered, by the nature of their office, as well as by the King's consent, to settle every point."

Writing the same day to Mr. Verelst, Lord Clive sufficiently characterises the Nabob by a single trait. "He received the proposal of having a sum of money for himself and household at his will with infinite pleasure; and the only reflection he made, upon leaving me, was, 'Thank God! I shall now have as many dancing girls as I please.'"

It is not to be supposed that the Select Committee would object to a plan which threw the greater part of the revenue of Bengal into the hands of the Company, and the treaty was finally concluded in the course of the same month. The allowance made to the Nabob was raised to something more than 53 lacs of rupees.

Lord Clive, proceeding up the river, met the Vizier, as has been mentioned, at Benares. The fortune of war had been against him; his armies had been repeatedly defeated, and his capital, Lucknow, taken. He had given himself up to General Carnac, and was eager for peace. So early as the 2d of August, Lord Clive had an interview with him, and intimated his intention of restoring all his dominions, except Allahabad, worth 10 lacs yearly, and perhaps Corah, valued at 18. "His expressions of joy and gratitude upon this occasion," say Lord Clive and General Carnac, in a joint letter to the Select Committee[92], "were many and warm. Such an instance of generosity in a victorious enemy, exceeded his most sanguine expectations, and we doubt not will be the best foundation of that union and amity which we so earnestly wish to secure. He consents to pay to the Company 50 lacs for indemnification. These terms we think moderate and equitable, both for him and the Company."

This matter being arranged, Lord Clive hastened on to Allahabad, to meet the King: the first visit took place on the 9th of August. The King's demands were numerous, but Clive was steady to his purpose. The demand on the Nabob of Bengal for 32 lacs of rupees as arrears, and of 5-1/2 lacs annually of jaghires, were refused, with several others. It was finally settled, on the 11th, that the King should receive annually, as revenue from Bengal, the sum of 26 lacs, with the countries of Allahabad and Corah, yielding a farther revenue of 28 lacs, from Sujah-u-Dowlah, as a royal demesne for supporting his dignity. "This last cession," says Lord Clive and General Carnac, writing to the Select Committee[93], "we very readily consented to, as Sujah-u-Dowlah made not the least objection, well knowing that, after our departure, he could easily settle this matter with the King, to the satisfaction of both parties." Lord Clive had, it seems, wished to restore Corah to the Vizier, making over Allahabad only to the King.

"We then presented the King with two arzies (petitions), desiring he would grant to Nujm-u-Dowlah the Nizamut of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and to the Company, the Dewanny of the same provinces; to both of which His Majesty has signed his fiat, and the proper instruments for both are now drawing out."

The King, at the same time, granted firmans confirming to the Company for ever all the lands round Madras and elsewhere assigned to them by the Nabob of Arcot; as well as a free gift of the five northern Circars. This was the first formal grant or confirmation by the King to the Company, of these territories. The grant of Lord Clive's jaghire, to the Company, was likewise confirmed.

The King was eager to induce Clive to march to Delhi and replace him on the throne. But this was steadily refused. Clive's policy was to interpose a friendly native power between our territories and the Afghans, and as far as possible the Mahrattas. He saw that the King, from his weak character and large pretensions was quite unfit for such a purpose; and that none was so proper, both from character and power, as Sujah-u-Dowlah. This was one cause why he was anxious to have strengthened him, by restoring Corah. He wished to induce the King to reside quietly in the Company's territories; but finding this impracticable, gave him to understand that the Company could not join him as a party in any of his ambitious enterprises, beyond the limits of their own territories.

Such was the conclusion of these important negotiations, by which the English East India Company became the real sovereigns of Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, and other extensive territories. In these provinces they now stood in the place of the Nabobs, and had gained a right to levy and dispose of the whole revenues under some very moderate burthens. They were no longer dependent on the regularity of native princes for the payment of their troops, or support of their establishments. The Nabob of Bengal was become a puppet in their hands, of little use, but as a cover to their dealings with European powers. Clive estimates the annual clear gain to the Company, including their former possessions of Burdwan, &c., and after paying the King, the Nabob, and all other expenses, as not short of 122 lacs, or 1,650,000_l._[94]

Clive had received from the King, in 1758, a sunnud appointing him to the high rank of a munsubdar of six thousand foot, and of five thousand horse, with the title of Zubdit-al-mulk, Nazir-ed-Dowla, Sabat Jung, Behader.[95] The title of Sabat Jung he had originally, as already mentioned, received from the Nabob of Arcot, for his gallant exploits in that prince's service, and by that title he always continued to be known in Bengal. He now received some augmentation of sounding titles, but what they were does not appear.

While Clive was engaged in these public duties he did not intermit in the regularity of his correspondence with his friends in England. Some extracts from his letters will show the light in which he considered his own situation and transactions.

[96][The following letter[97] to Mr. Salvadore, whom he employed as a man of business, merits to be preserved as a proof of Clive's disinterested conduct during this his last period of service in India:--

"I return you many thanks for your obliging letter, and for the very favourable opinion you are pleased to entertain of my abilities, as well as disposition to do my duty to the Company. It must be my own fault if I do not answer the expectations of all the real and disinterested proprietors; as for the occasional ones, and those who act from resentment and selfish principles, I hold them in too much contempt to cast away one thought about them.

"If I was to dwell upon the situation of the Company's affairs in Bengal, both civil and military, a volume would not be sufficient. However, I have the satisfaction 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 affairs 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_l._ per annum at their command, 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 every thing; and I am the 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 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_l._ sterling per annum, and their civil and military expenses in future never shall exceed 700,000_l._ per annum, in time of peace, and 1,000,000_l._ 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 landing, 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 formerly possessed."

Clive's correspondence with his historian Orme appears at this period to have revived, and he evidently looks to him as the transmitter of his fame to posterity[98]:--

"I have wrote so many letters, and gone through such a scene of public business, that I cannot attempt describing to you any part of our proceedings in this part of the world. Scrafton, Walsh, and Colonel Smith will furnish you with abundant matter of surprize and astonishment. Let it suffice to say, that fortune seems determined to accompany me to the last; every object, every sanguine wish, is upon the point of being completely fulfilled, and I am arrived at the pinnacle of all I covet, by affirming the Company shall, in spite of all envy, malice, faction, and resentment, acknowledge they are become the most opulent company in the world, by the battle of Plassey; and Sir Hannibal Hotpot shall acknowledge the same.

"I am preparing plans in abundance for you. You shall have very exact charts of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and of the Mogul empire as far as Delhi at least. A map of the Ganges likewise, and all the other rivers of consequence."

The following letters to his cousin Harry and to his father are pleasing proofs that his important occupations never cooled his mind from his duties and feelings as a relation or a friend:--

"I have received[99] your letter of 22d 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 contributing 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 resigning this government; and nothing but my death shall prevent it. General Carnac, myself, and the rest of our family, 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 Stycke 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 Clive's reception. The only concern I feel arises from a conviction of what she must suffer from so long an absence.

"With regard to myself, I have full employment, and enjoy my health rather better than in England, though I find I cannot bear the heat so well as formerly, which makes me determined to quit the country as soon as possible."

"I rejoice," he writes[100] 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 the goodness of your constitution will carry you through life with ease and satisfaction 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_l._ sterling per annum for them for ever; and, what is more, I have put them on a way of securing this 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_l._ sterling. What trifling emoluments 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_l._ already. This ship, sent express, will bring the Company the most important news they ever received; and, if they are not satisfied with mine and the Committee's conduct, I will pronounce there is not one grain of honour or integrity remaining in England. The reformation I am making, in both the civil and 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 Sempill 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."

In numerous other private letters he dwells upon the same subject.][101]

* * * * *

Much of Clive's time was devoted to examining and improving the details and management of different branches of the public service. The increasing expense of the military establishment had been called to his notice by the Directors, before he went to Bengal; and he entered with great activity into the task of devising plans for reducing its expenditure. Besides the heavy charge for double batta, he found the charges for buildings and fortifications exhorbitantly high, and the work never completed. Of the surgeons' accounts, too, he repeatedly complains as enormous; and mentions that, on investigation, it was found that men had been charged for, as being in the hospital, months after they were dead. These abuses he attempted firmly and assiduously to correct; and his known experience in military matters, joined with the particular knowledge of commissariat concerns acquired while he served in that department, enabled him to place the whole on a better footing.

Though less conversant with revenue matters, he applied his powerful mind to that subject also. It was his uniform practice to promote the most intelligent and active men to the head of each line; and in the revenue department he seems to have been fortunate in having the co-operation of Mr. Verelst and Mr. Sykes. His plan, in revenue concerns was, to innovate as little as possible; to avoid all impositions burdensome to the cultivator, however productive; and to support the respectability and usefulness of the upper classes of natives, by maintaining them in as easy and opulent circumstances as was practicable. He saw the mischief of the frequent changes in the demands made upon the ryots, and proposed to introduce the system of leases for their protection. The revenue seems to have been very flourishing; and the ryots in easier circumstances in his time than they were some years afterwards. Writing to Mr. Verelst[102], he says, "The 20th of this month we hold the punah; and, by what I can learn, the kistabundy for next year will amount to 172 lacs, which is 12 lacs more than this year; to which, if you add 12 lacs of rupees which Mahommed Reza Cawn proposes cutting off from the Nabob's allowance, being for useless horse, elephants, buffaloes, camels, &c. the increase will be 24 lacs. If we mean to avoid giving umbrage to the European powers, and to keep up the appearance of the present form of government, we ought not to exact one farthing of revenue more from the province. For my own part, I think, after we have made this year's experiment, and, by the regular payment of the rents, find we have not over-rated the countries, that if Bengal was let out for five, six, or seven years, it would be for the advantage of the Company, of individuals, and add stability to our possessions by inspiring the inhabitants with just ideas of our justice and moderation." Writing, a few days after[103], to Mr. Palk, he touches on the same subject:--"Abundance of business, and a good deal of bad health arising from the heat of the weather, hath prevented me from being so punctual a correspondent as I promised to be when I took my leave of you at Madras. However, I will now acknowledge the receipt, as well as return you thanks for your last letters of the 24th March and 4th April. We have been already near a month at this place, in order to ascertain the revenues of Bengal for next year. Upon the whole, what with cutting off useless expenses and unnecessary kistabundy, the Company will receive an increase for Bengal only of 24 lacs. Here, in my opinion, we should hold our hands. To attempt farther increase will be drawing the knot too tight. It will neither be to the honour or advantage of the Company. In the end, it would be impolitic: individuals who are of good families, who have been used to live in state, and who have been intrusted with power, must have wherewithal to support some part of that dignity which has always been kept up in this country." In the course of the same year, in answering the letter of a public servant who had proposed a plan for increasing a particular branch of the revenue, he writes[104], "The Company's revenues are already immense; nor can I think of increasing them by the least oppressive mode. If, however, the abuses you mention be real, and can be remedied without distressing the ryots, they shall not escape unnoticed." He was decidedly hostile to the plan, which had been already introduced, of letting lands by auction; and was anxious that the ryot should labour in his fields at ease, free from the apprehension of change.[105]

It is quite unnecessary, as it would be painful, to enter into particulars regarding the corruption which prevailed at this time in every rank of the service: the fact is sufficiently known. Clive's efforts to check it made him many and powerful enemies. In a letter to Mr. Verelst, he mentions a member of council who, he found, had conditioned to receive 150,000 rupees from the Rajah of Burdwan: he desires that gentleman to ascertain the facts. "It may be necessary to have such anecdotes," says he[106], "to frighten people into their duty to the Company, if no other use be made of them. I hear a certain gentleman employs spies to watch all our actions, yours and Sykes's in particular; but we may serve him as Scipio did those sent by Hannibal, lead them at noonday through every department in which we are concerned, and then dismiss them, telling them they may go and tell their masters all they know." Writing, on another occasion[107], to Verelst and Sykes, when thwarted, from corrupt motives, by a man at the very head of affairs:--"If you think," says he, "that I am endeavouring to stem this torrent of corruption which threatens to overwhelm the whole settlement, and if you feel within your own breasts that pleasing satisfaction which I enjoy from a consciousness that I am acting upon principles of honour and integrity, I am persuaded you will support the measures we have so zealously adopted; and we shall at last triumph over bad hearts and bad heads."--"Our disinterested conduct," says he to another correspondent, when concluding the treaties with the King and Vizier[108], "must be admired and applauded by all virtuous and good men; and if there be men base enough to disapprove of what we are about, we may all retire to live happy, and upon the testimony of a good conscience." He frequently, in the midst of the opposition and annoyances to which he was exposed, seeks for consolation in this manly and honourable strain of thinking.

No man knew the sepoy force of India better, or employed it more successfully, than Clive; and it is interesting to ascertain his ideas, both on its composition, and the dangers that might be supposed eventually to attend its use. "You mention the number of sepoys as an alarming circumstance," says he, writing, after his return to England[109], to one of the committees of Directors, "and I allow that the Company's chief danger arises from thence, and from the discipline. But I am of opinion, that so long as they are regularly paid, treated with humanity, and not flattered with promises never meant to be performed, no danger is to be apprehended. Sepoys are the most faithful and attached people in the universe; and being also men of reason, they are thoroughly convinced, that they are upon a much better footing with us than they can be with any of the natives, be their rank what it may. Their attachment, as I have observed, is strong; but they know no other than to those who feed and clothe them. Much of the supposed danger is avoided by our having separated and divided our sepoys into three brigades, so that they can never make a revolution general, nor can they hold cabals of an alarming nature. The best additional security I can think of, is to have each battalion composed of an equal number of Gentoos and Mussulmen, and to encourage a rivalship of discipline between them."--"There is one step[110]," says he, on another occasion, "to be taken with regard to the sepoys, which, I think, will bring them to the greatest perfection sepoys can be brought to; viz. the officers commanding the sepoys to run in that corps only; by which means, all the officers will understand the language, without which it is impossible to bring the sepoys to that pitch of discipline which will make them truly formidable." It will be recollected that at this early period of the service, regiments were but recently formed and brigaded; and the officers were taken for the sepoy corps from the European infantry, and were not yet attached permanently to the former.

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."