CHAP. VII.
From causes which we have already been repeatedly called upon to observe,—the unity of action of Europeans, and the want of it in their Indian enemies,—the most extraordinary advantages have often been gained by apparently the most inadequate means. The work of force is easy; violence and strength can cast down, but wisdom alone can rebuild. This task is always far more difficult than the first, especially when the materials of which the new fabric is to be constructed must be taken from the ruins of the old. These are, in such cases, too often impaired and rendered unfit for use by the previous shock they have sustained.
Clive soon found the truth of these facts. Meer Jaffier had no qualities but as a soldier: his son was a headstrong youth; and his brother, whom he wished to employ, was weak and incompetent. These, and the Nabob's other relations and Mahommedan adherents, were alike desirous of removing and plundering the wealthy and experienced Hindus who were at the head of the administration, and governed the richest provinces of Bengal. Roy Dullub, who saw that his ruin was their object, had fenced himself round with his followers, and withdrawn from all personal communication with the Nabob. Addul Sing, the Rajah of Purneah, Rajah Ram, the Manager of Midnapore, and Rajah Ram Narrain, the Ruler of Patna, were within a few months driven to rebellion by acts of violence, which too plainly indicated that successful opposition was their only road to safety. The defection of Ram Narrain, at this period, was more unfortunate, as it afforded a safe progress towards Oude to the French party under Law, in pursuit of whom a detachment had marched, commanded by Major Coote.
The events which led to this general spirit of rebellion took place while Clive was at Calcutta, whither he had been called by urgent public and private concerns. His first melancholy duty after his arrival was to attend the funeral of his brave associate Admiral Watson. That gallant officer was seized, on the 12th of August, with a putrid fever, which terminated his existence in four days. No man appears to have felt more deeply than Clive the loss which was sustained by this event. In a letter to the Committee of the Direction, written immediately subsequent to its occurrence, he observes:—
"Mr. Watson is no more. Every one here received the melancholy news of his death with much concern: his generosity, disinterestedness, and zeal for the service, must for ever endear his memory to the Company. Unhappy fate! after having escaped all the risk of war, to be thus untimely cut off in the midst of his successes, crowned with glory and reputation. This is but one of the many lessons given us of the instability of human nature. Concern for this good man's death hastens me to a conclusion."
It appears from Clive's letter[191] to the Court of Directors from Calcutta, that he still cherished a hope that he might be able to return to Madras when the season admitted. "Your Honours may be persuaded," he observes, "that next to this province, the Carnatic takes up the whole of my attention. It gives me much concern the gentlemen on the coast should be displeased at my not returning a part of the forces: had I done so, nothing could have been effected here. Your Honours, who bestow an impartial attention upon all the Company's settlements, will, I hope, approve of my conduct. The time draws near when we may expect to hear of the new Soubah, Meer Jaffier's confirmation from Delhi, and that the Mahrattas are satisfied with the present change. I shall then proceed to the Carnatic with a force which, I hope, will give our arms the superiority in those parts. I make no doubt of being there soon after the breaking up of the monsoon, which will be as early as the two contending parties can take the field; and upon my arrival there I shall with pleasure resign the sword to my superiors."
During the period Clive was at Calcutta he was much occupied in settling the distribution of the sums allotted for the remuneration of losses, and the donation to the army and navy. The former appears to have been arranged on the justest principles, and to have given universal satisfaction, but the discussions regarding the latter, though they had been once settled, were revived, and took a more acrimonious shape; and it was not till after much trouble and vexation that they were ultimately adjusted.[192]
Clive, after having settled these disputes, found himself compelled to make preparations to accompany the Nabob to Patna; for, independent of the three rebellions before alluded to, Sujah-u-Dowlah, the Vizier of Oude, now threatened the frontier. This Prince, who held (like the Nabob of Bengal) a delegated power from the Emperor of Delhi, had become, like others, independent of the weak superior to whom he continued to give a nominal obedience. His territories, bounded on the west by the river Jumna, and on the east by the mountains of Nepaul, stretched to near Delhi on the north, and on the south bordered on Bahar, one of the richest provinces subject to the rule of Meer Jaffier. Sujah-u-Dowlah was to be dreaded both from his character and resources: he had, besides, the aid of the French party, and was believed to have established the ties of friendship with Ram Narrain, the discontented ruler of the country he was expected to invade.
Clive's force was at this period greatly reduced from sickness: he could not bring into the field more than five hundred and fifty Europeans, and fifteen hundred natives. He complains, in all his letters, of the bad effects the prize-money had produced, both on the health and discipline of those under his command. He had applied for, and obtained leave of the Admiral, Sir George Pocock, to employ the detachment of His Majesty's troops in Bengal; but the conduct of the officers (with two exceptions) made him decline accepting their unwilling services.
"Notwithstanding your offer," he observes in his reply[193] to the Admiral, "of putting the King's detachment under my command on this expedition, I am sorry to inform you I cannot accept it, without prejudicing the service; for all the officers (Captain Weller[194] and Captain Coote excepted) have expressed by letter a disinclination to go upon it. Under these circumstances, I think it is better for the Company to be served by those who are willing, and may be attached to their service, than by persons who seem to have lost all remembrance of what they owe to them! For my own part, though I have before represented to you the many disadvantages I must labour under, during the present expedition, I shall endeavour to surmount them, and be ready to render the Company all the service, which every wellwisher to his country is bound to do."
The rising talents of Major Coote were already employed in the command of a detachment. The death of Major Kilpatrick, an officer who had been highly distinguished throughout the scenes above described, occasioning a vacancy in the command of the military at Bengal, Clive recommended that the station should be offered to Colonel Forde[195], an officer of whom he entertained the highest opinion. The terms, in which this offer was conveyed, are honourable to the reputation of him to whom it was made, and reflect great credit on Clive's discernment; for no opportunities had been yet afforded to Colonel Forde of developing those talents as a soldier, which soon afterwards rendered him so distinguished. Notwithstanding the encouragement offered, from the distinction obtained by Coote and Forde, when Adlercron's regiment went to England a short time after, none of the other officers belonging to it availed themselves of the option given them, of remaining in the Company's service, except Captain Carnac, who joined Clive, by whom he was early noticed; and his subsequent career in Bengal did ample credit to the judgment of his penetrating commander.
I have deemed it of importance to dwell on these particulars. In nothing does the power of genius more strikingly display itself than in the selection of persons most fit to be employed, and in the application of their peculiar talents to the work for which they are suited. The personal efforts of one man can do little; but aided by the power of creating and employing subordinate instruments, can effect every thing. The sphere of Clive's selection, however, was very limited; and there are, in his private letters of this period, continual complaints of his being forced, from want of aid, to make personal efforts injurious to his health[196], which had never been good, and which he now represents as declining from the effects of a nervous complaint, to which he had been subject from his youth.
Affairs at Moorshedabad had, from the moment Clive left that city, become worse. Besides other evils, the Nabob had hitherto evaded compliance with several of the most important articles of the treaty; and he every day showed less disposition to comply with the reiterated demands made for its speedy fulfilment. Mr. Scrafton, who was at this period acting as political resident at his Court, urged Clive to hasten to Moorshedabad, with or without his force; as his presence appeared the only means of averting confusion and ruin.
"I shall march," said Clive, in answer[197] to several of Mr. Scrafton's letters[198], "with the whole army. I have wrote to the Nabob and Ram Narrain, of which copies are enclosed you. Do not suffer yourself to be unquieted beyond reason at the situation of affairs, but consider them coolly, and give me daily accounts of what is passing. The march of the army is absolutely necessary, as well to support the Nabob against his enemies, as to see justice done ourselves."
After Clive had joined the Nabob at Rajahmahul, he received a letter from the Select Committee, stating that as Sir G. Pocock was about to leave the river, were he to proceed to Patna the safety of Calcutta might be endangered. Clive observes in reply; "Without a foreknowledge of events, we cannot be at any certainty, whether the steps we take may or may not be for the advantage of the Company. By accompanying the Nabob to Patna, it is very possible, though I think not probable, for a French squadron to push up the river, and endanger Calcutta, and in consequence all of the Company's possessions in these parts; and by refusing to lend the Nabob our assistance, we must lose that influence with him which seems essentially necessary to obtain his fulfilling the rest of the treaty, and his continuing to us our valuable possessions.
"Yesterday the Nabob and his minister paid me a visit. After discoursing for some time on the promising prospect of his affairs, he desired I would march with him to Patna. This I consented to, on condition he gave us security for paying the rest of his debts. The orders upon Burdwaun, Nuddea, Hooghley, and Fugellie are making out, which I hope to send you in a day or two: I have reason to think you will receive in ready money the full of the half-year's payment. As Ram Narrain[199] refuses to trust his person in the Nabob's power without a letter from me, I have wrote him that he may come with safety, having the Nabob's authority for so doing, and I am in great hopes there will be no necessity for marching further than Telliagully. If the affairs of Patna can be settled in this manner, it will save the Nabob an expense which he is not well able to bear, and ease you of all apprehensions from the arrival of a French squadron."
In Clive's letter[200] from Rajahmahul to the Select Committee of the Directors, we find a concise and clear account of the condition of the Nabob's government, as well as the measures which were adopted for its settlement.
"In laying open the state of this government," he observes, "I am concerned to mention that the present Nabob is a prince of little capacity, and not at all blessed with the talent of gaining the love and confidence of his principal officers. His mismanagement threw the country into great confusion in the space of a few months, and might have proved of fatal consequence to himself, but for our known attachment to him. No less than three rebellions were on foot at one time; one at Midnapore, headed by Rajah Ram; another at Purnea, under Addul Sing; and a third at Patna, under Ram Narrain: all which may be very well attributed to the Nabob's own imprudence. Rajah Ram's two brothers, after being invited to Moorshedabad, were imprisoned, which was quite sufficient to deter him from surrendering himself as he intended. Meer Azuffee was appointed to the government of Purnea to the general satisfaction of the people; but soon laid aside for Cuddum Hussein Khan, a relation (it is true) of the Nabob, but a tyrannical, rapacious fellow, and odious to the last degree to the Purneans. As for Ram Narrain, after he made his submission, and the Nabob had sworn to continue him in his government, apparent measures were taken for his overthrow.
"The prime minister, Roy Dullub, who was one of the chief instruments of the Nabob's promotion, and had received in return solemn assurances of continuing his Dewan, was suspected to be engrossing the power in his hands, and rather to have encouraged the rebellions than endeavoured to suppress them. It is very certain that Roy Dullub had a powerful party in the state, and more than probable that he took measures to strengthen it, according to the common policy of all Dewans. However this might be, the Nabob's jealousy of him was arrived to such a height, that Suraj-u-Dowlah's brother, a young lad, and almost an idiot, was suddenly cut off, on a surmise of Roy Dullub's intending to make him Nabob, and having sent his own brother to Chandernagore to engage me in the design, which is altogether groundless. Roy Dullub no sooner knew of this sudden execution, and the motives for it, than he began to fear for his own life; and open hostilities might possibly have ensued if we had not been a check upon each party. The Nabob, who at this time was encamped in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad, accompanied by a detachment of our troops, excuses himself from any knowledge of the transaction, and lays the whole blame on his son, who was left in government of the city; but many circumstances induced us to believe otherwise. Roy Dullub, on pretence of sickness, was still at Moorshedabad, having a large body of his own troops with him, as is usual in these governments; but it is not improbable the chief reason for his remaining behind was a view to his own safety. Affairs were in this situation when I arrived at Moorshedabad. I would willingly have engaged Roy Dullub to accompany me to the Nabob's, that I might have effected a reconciliation between them; but his illness not admitting him to set out immediately, I could only assure him of my protection, and engage his promise to follow me as soon as possible.
"The 3d instant, our army came up with the Nabob's at Fettiapoor, near Rajahmahul, where we still continue encamped, chiefly to wait the minister's arrival. I should have acquainted you that some days before I set out from Chandernagore, Rajah Ram, the Midnapore rebel, came and delivered himself up to me; on promise of the Nabob's pardon and our protection. This first unlinked the chain of the three rebellions, the chiefs of which had held a correspondence, and were connected together. Rajah Ram's submission may be deemed a very fortunate event in all respects; for his good sense, long experience in the affairs of this government, and the great influence he has in the country, would have made him as dangerous an enemy to the Nabob as he is now a useful friend to us. Upon our approach, and some of the Nabob's troops having passed the river into the Purnea country, the rebels of that quarter quitted their intrenchments and dispersed, but some of their chiefs were overtaken and made prisoners; so that two of the rebellions are effectually quieted, and the third is in a fair way of being peaceably accommodated. If it is in my power to bring about the thorough reconciliation which I intend between the Nabob and Roy Dullub, all domestic troubles may be fully put an end to in this country. As for any apprehensions of a foreign enemy, they are not very strong at present. The Vizier, with the assistance of the Mahrattas, drove Nujeeb Khan, the Affghân Bukhshee, out of Delhi; but the latter being reinforced with a large body of Patans, who are the Affghans that have settled for some time in Hindustan, is again making head in the neighbourhood of Delhi, and will be joined by Sujah-u-Dowlah, the Nabob of Oude. So that all the powers from whom any danger might be expected are too much engaged among themselves to bend their thoughts this way for the present. The Nabob's confirmation is not yet procured at Delhi, nor can I judge when it will. The difficulty is in the price.
"I have waited for Roy Dullub's arrival with great impatience, as Durbar business cannot be transacted without him; and we have some points to settle of great consequence to your interest. We have already had occasion to observe the difficulties attending every application for money to the Durbar, and I foresee they will increase as the Nabob grows stronger, and we become less necessary; therefore I have determined not to leave this ground till I procure sufficient assignments on the revenues of some country near Calcutta for the annual payment of the money still due by treaty; together with proper writings from the Zemindars of such country for the regular discharge of the same, which we may enforce if necessary. We have already obtained the Nabob's promise to comply as soon as his minister arrives; but it was not without much private opposition from Jugget Seit, who, following the same method with regard to all debts due to him from the government, has already demands on most of the Zemindars. However, on being threatened with the loss of our friendship, he desisted. It is not impossible but we may find Roy Dullub likewise averse to our carrying this point, as he may become, by it, a good deal less necessary to us, than when our applications were to be directed to him; but as the Nabob has given his promise, and the matter now wholly rests with him, he cannot find any way of evading a compliance, without a manifest breach of friendship, which I think he would not venture on in his present situation."
Major Coote, who pursued M. Law, till the French party passed Benares, made a complaint of the conduct of the ruler of Patna, from whom he states that he met with obstruction instead of aid. This letter was dated on the 8th of August, a period when Ram Narrain had sufficient proofs of the hostile disposition of the Nabob, but was ignorant what part the English commander meant to take. The moment he received the assurance of protection which Clive gave him, he not only submitted, but went to Meer Jaffier's camp, which had then reached the vicinity of Patna.
Intrigues were commenced, which, notwithstanding the promises made to him, had for their object, the removal of this powerful Hindu, in whose place the Nabob desired to put his brother. On the other hand, Ram Narrain united his interests with Roy Dullub, who, though assured of protection from the English, appeared still to entertain doubts of his own safety. All parties looked to Clive, who was encamped at Bankapore, a village a few miles west of Patna.
While affairs were yet unsettled, an affray occurred in the market between some of the English sepoys and Ram Narrain's horsemen, in which several lives were lost. The excited state of men's minds was such, that this trifling dispute had nearly been attended with the most serious consequences. Apprehension of the recurrence of such accidents induced Clive to move his troops to an island in the Ganges, opposite to his former position.
Though Meer Jaffier does not appear to have entertained, at this period, the treacherous designs imputed to him, he continued irresolute, until Clive, in a personal conference, succeeded in convincing him that both his honour and his interests were concerned in the re-establishment of Ram Narrain. Clive has stated what occurred on this occasion in a letter[201] to the Court of Directors. "The Nabob," he observes in this despatch, "applying to me to accommodate between him and Ram Narrain, and promising that if he would submit himself, his life and property should be secure, and his government continued to him, I wrote him conformably, engaging myself to be security for the Nabob's promise. On receipt of my letter, he immediately left Patna, and met me the 25th ultimo at Hybut-Gunge. It was the 29th before he could wait on the Nabob, for want of a lucky day, and then I sent Mr. Watts to introduce him. The wavering disposition of the Nabob, and the ear he gives to evil counsellors, who endeavour to inspire notions into him of our having too great an influence in the country, have occasioned me some trouble in these mediations. However, as he perceives in the end that my endeavours are entirely directed to his good and the public quiet, his jealousies are quickly effaced. The distance between us during the march prevented any interview from my leaving Rajahmahul till our arrival at Patna; which time was industriously made use of, by the envious and self-interested, to alienate him from the English, and induce him to break his promise to Ram Narrain. Their artful suggestions were too easily admitted; and many signs appeared of coolness towards us, as well as an intention of giving the province of Bahar to his brother Meer Cassim Ali Khan. Having occasion, however, to wait on the Nabob the 14th instant, to congratulate him on his entry into Patna, I represented to him the impossibility of retracting the promise he had made through me to Ram Narrain; and intimated, as well as the nicety of the subject would bear, the advantage of trusting the government to a person of his moderate and peaceable disposition, rather than putting it into imprudent, and at the same time dangerous, hands. My discourse had weight, and Ram Narrain was confirmed."
In a private letter, written the day after this despatch, to his friend Mr. Pigot, Clive gives a forcible description of the actual condition of affairs at Meer Jaffier's court, and of his own situation at this period. He observes, "The Nabob's conduct is weak beyond conception; and you may be assured, whenever we are wanting in a force to overawe and protect him, ruin will ensue. You cannot imagine the trouble I have had these three weeks past, in our march to this place; and, since his arrival, he has been wanting to make his brother, who is a greater fool than himself, Nabob of Bahar, in prejudice of Ram Narrain, a Gentoo, universally beloved and respected, and that in breach of his promises to me, whom he desired to write to him to engage him to come down and pay his respects. Not one of his rajahs would come to or treat with him, without letters of assurance from me. His Prime Minister, Roy Dullub, who has more than half the army under his command, is entirely in our interests, as is Ram Narrain and all Bahar; so that, in spite of his folly, we can oblige him to act for his own interest and that of the Company.
"Though there is nothing I so earnestly wish for as returning to the coast, that I may have a good plea for quitting the service entirely, yet I have set my heart so much upon a happy conclusion of the Moorshedabad expedition, that I am determined to stay in Bengal another year, if no news from England prevents it; for there is such a connection between the Nabob, myself, and his great men, that I greatly fear my absence would throw all into confusion, and there would be an end of the remaining part of the debt and of the fortifications. Whereas, by staying till this time twelve months, two thirds of the debt will be paid, and the fortifications in great forwardness. Besides, so large a sum has been advanced by the Company to the navy and army, I think myself bound to see the major part of it repaid by the Nabob. By that time eighteen of the twenty will be received.
"I hope my good friend will acquit me of the crime of vanity in expressing my apprehension of the evil consequences of quitting Bengal at this juncture. These foolish people ground their opinions and confidence in one man's abilities alone. Before we took the field, it was with the greatest difficulty he could be prevailed upon to issue out of his treasury 10,000 rupees; and since my joining him he has already paid twenty-five lacs, and given security for the payment of ten more."
Clive's negotiations with the Nabob were finally attended with all the success that such a court and so weak a character allowed. A supply of money was procured for the extraordinary expenses of the army; the perwannah, or grant of lands yielded to the Company, was passed in all its forms; orders were issued for the immediate discharge of all arrears on the first six months of the Nabob's debt, and the revenues of Burdwan, Nuddea, and Hooghley assigned over for payment of the rest: "so that," says Clive, writing[202] to the Court of Directors, "the discharge of the debt is now become independent of the Nabob, which precaution is become absolutely necessary, as his calls for money are greater than he can answer. Nothing but a total revolution in the government can well interrupt your payments." These matters being settled to his satisfaction, he had accompanied the Nabob, at his urgent request to Patna, that by his presence he might assist him in settling that province, and by showing himself on the frontier along with the Nabob, and his numerous army, he might at once awe all foreign enemies, and hasten down the Sunnud in favour of the Nabob, from Delhi. "All domestic troubles," he adds in the same letter, "are now happily ended; and the Nabob seems so well fixed in his government, as to be able, with a small degree of prudence, to maintain himself quietly in it. For ourselves, we have been so fortunate in these transactions as to attach to us the most considerable persons in the kingdom; and, by the constancy with which we successively supported Rajah Ram, Roy Dullub, and Ram Narrain, to acquire the general confidence, and make our friendship be solicited on all sides. On the whole, we may pronounce, that this expedition, without bloodshed, has been crowned with all the advantages that could be expected or wished, both to the Nabob and the Company."
Clive, nevertheless, saw every moment more and more the necessity of the English permanently emancipating themselves from dependence upon their native allies. The Select Committee at Fort William, alarmed lest the French should make an attempt on Calcutta, wished him to apply to the Nabob to send a large force to Hooghley, to act in co-operation with them in the event of an attack. The reply from Clive, and Mr. Watts, who was associated with him in his civil and political duties, while it exposes the impolicy of such an application, shows their opinion regarding the little reliance that could be placed on the friendship of Meer Jaffier, however recent and great his obligation to the English.
"We cannot," they observe[203], "avoid differing greatly in opinion from you, gentlemen, on the subject of requesting the Nabob to have a large force down at Hooghley, to be ready for assistance against our enemies the French. Such a publication of our fear and weakness would, we think, be a step the most impolitic and most prejudicial to the Company's interest that could possibly be taken. Meer Jaffier (according to the practice of all Mussulmen) has long since forgot the services rendered him by the English, and looks upon them as encroachers upon his power, reputation, and authority. It is now some months, gentlemen, that we have been fully convinced that the Nabob has looked upon the English with an envious eye, and that he is influenced by his fears only to do them justice.
"The consequence of our application to the Nabob would occasion a great coolness in his behaviour towards us, and a refusal to fulfil the rest of his treaty; neither does this prospect of danger appear to us so near as to oblige us to make known our apprehensions to the whole province."
The same feeling of the necessity of the Presidency of Bengal providing for its own security, led Clive at this period to express to the Select Committee at Fort William his pointed disapprobation of their delays in repairing their fortifications.
"I cannot conclude," he observes in a letter[204] written the day he left Patna, "without representing to you, gentlemen, in the strongest terms, the great stake the Company have in Bengal, and how much that stake is exposed for want of a fortification. It gives me concern, beyond what I can express, to hear from all hands that the works go on very slowly. At a time like this, no private workmen should be allowed, but all employed for the public service; and if the want of hands arise only from the want of a few pice[205] more, I think such a saving does not merit one moment's consideration, or that such economy can meet with the Company's approbation at this juncture. Be assured, gentlemen, if Calcutta be left defenceless through any neglect of ours, and should fall into the hands of our enemies a second time, we shall entail upon ourselves a censure never to be effaced."
Clive obtained, before he quitted Patna, a monopoly of the saltpetre of that province for the Company. This grant was, in every respect, very advantageous to the English; and no less so to the Nabob, who received as much revenue, and more certain payment, than he had done before. The officers of Meer Jaffier were, however, discontented with an arrangement by which they lost the bribes and presents which they formerly received from the contractors for that article. After this and other matters were settled, Clive proceeded to Moorshedabad, accompanied by Roy Dullub, with whom he had to adjust many points connected with the full performance of the treaty.
The object of Clive, throughout this short expedition to Patna, was to reconcile, as far as he could, the jarring interests which distracted the court of Meer Jaffier, and threatened to disturb the peace of the country. His honour, and the public interests, strongly attached him to the Nabob; though, at the same time, it was not only politic, but indispensably necessary, to keep the power of that prince within limits. He felt himself especially bound to protect Roy Dullub from the enemies by whom he was threatened. That minister, it will be recollected, was one of the chief instruments in effecting the revolution; and had subsequently received, both from Clive and Meer Jaffier, the fullest assurances of safety to his life and property.
Clive, on the expedition to Patna, and on all other occasions, communicated with Meer Jaffier upon every subject. He often visited him; and giving scope to the natural bent of his temper, entered into his amusements. But it was impossible to reconcile that prince to his condition; which was more humiliating from the circumstance of his presenting to his countrymen the first instance, in Bengal, of the power of a proud Mahommedan sovereign being overshadowed by that of a body of merchants, who, before this great change, had never appeared at the court of his predecessors but as humble supplicants endeavouring to obtain commercial privileges. Many of the nobles and generals by whom the Nabob was surrounded had been, a year or two before, courted by bribes and flattery to protect the persons, or to promote the trade, of the very English agents on whose pleasure or policy their fortune and character now depended. To add to the strong and rankling feelings which such a change must have excited, the Mahommedan prince and his chiefs found themselves deserted by the wary and pliant Hindus, who, possessing greater foresight, and expecting security and advancement from the change of masters, were ready, on the first alarm of danger to their life or property, to seek the protection of the English. This the latter were in many cases under the necessity of granting; for, from the first, they had not intrinsic strength which could enable them to cope with those with whom they were hourly exposed to come in collision. They could not have remained in Bengal without the means of self-defence; they could not repel or retaliate an attack without counteracting and defeating their enemies; they could not retreat without ruin, from the ground to which their successes had advanced them; and they could only maintain themselves by forming and improving their connections in the country. Though the cultivation and support of the ties, which this course led them to establish, created divisions among those whose union would have been their destruction, it had at the same time the evil of cherishing feuds, rebellions, and revolutions. Supposing those who had lost all but the name of authority by our progress had been so well satisfied of our decided superiority as to become patient wearers of the degraded trappings of state, could they have reconciled their proud followers to obedience and submission to those whom they deemed foreign upstarts, and whose power became every day more galling from the abuses committed by the meanest of the natives[206] of India employed in their service, or guarded by their protection?
It is not meant, by these observations, to question the necessity which compelled our advance to power in Bengal. There was no alternative between its attainment and abandoning that country altogether; but while we do justice to ourselves, we should not be unjust to those who opposed us by intrigue or in battle. We should, at all events, judge them according to their habits, their knowledge, and the feelings and opinions of the community to which they belonged. Alarm for their lives, hatred and distrust of each other, or the lust of power, might make them confederate with us for the purpose of the moment. To this they might also be induced by that arrogant confidence, which is ever the concomitant of ignorance. They might hope to direct or command those with whom they had combined to destroy their enemies. But when this dream of self-delusion was dispelled, when they found that they themselves had been made the instruments of subverting the dominion of the race to which they belonged, and that their power was now controlled by the very persons by whom it had been so recently established,—it became natural for them, and for all whose fame and fortune were associated with them, to seek, through every means, emancipation from such humiliating thraldom. I have expressed my sentiments very strongly upon this subject, and may be condemned by those who, alike regardless of usage and of feeling, are guided in their judgment of every public and private act by partial principles, and by a local and limited scale of moral rectitude; but I shall appeal from such a decision to all who, true to the feelings and affections which are implanted in every breast, cherish attachment to their family, their tribe, and their country. I ask of these, what would have been their conduct, if placed in the depressed and degraded condition of Meer Jaffier, his kindred, his nobles, and their followers?
Clive was fully sensible of the character of the motives by which the latter were influenced. He saw and felt for their condition, and imputed their intrigues and conspiracies, less to their personal characters than to the general causes to which I have alluded. He did not, therefore, expect any sudden change in their sentiments; but he tried, by every act in his power, to render that control which it was necessary to exercise less irksome. His conduct, however, had often the effect of lowering those he desired to exalt; for it brought his actions into strong contrast with the weak machinations of men, who could neither conceal their jealousy of his power, nor their own inability to cope with his superior mind.
The natives of Bengal, as yet ignorant of the construction of the English government, ascribed every thing to Clive. They considered him as the exclusive author of the success which had attended the English arms; and with his life many expected it to terminate. The existence of such sentiments gave probability to the reports of plots said to have been formed, both at Moorshedabad and at Patna, for his assassination; and he was warned of them by persons who deemed their information authentic. But he does not appear to have given such warnings any attention. He continued steadily to pursue his object of supporting the Nabob he had raised to the throne, while at the same time he took every measure to save the interests of his country from the dangers to which they were exposed from the vacillating weakness, or the excited feelings, of that prince.
When Clive arrived at Moorshedabad with Roy Dullub, he found the Nabob's son Meeran in a state of great irritation, at the restoration of that Hindu influence, which it was the real though concealed object of Meer Jaffier's expedition to Patna to destroy. The disposition of this young man, as far as it had yet developed itself, was sanguinary and rapacious. He was, as has been related, the cause of Suraj-u-Dowlah's being put to death: and this act, with the more recent assassination of the son of that Prince, and the imprisonment of his mother, had made him unpopular with the more peaceable part of his father's subjects, particularly the Hindus, who dreaded his cruelty and violence. But the Mahommedan chiefs and soldiers, whose pride had been wounded, and who were checked in their licentious habits, hailed these qualities, which, combined with Meeran's known jealousy and hatred of the English, gave them hopes of recovering, through his means, their lost influence and power.
Meeran had entered warmly into his father's feelings of jealousy of the rising consequence of Clive, increased as it had been by his success in quelling, through the influence of his personal character, the three rebellions which lately threatened the state; but the chief subjects of irritation were his open protection of Roy Dullub, and his travelling with that minister to Moorshedabad. The Prince felt, or affected to feel, alarmed at their approach: he commenced levying troops, and declared to Mr. Scrafton, that unless Clive gave him a solemn promise of protection, he would be compelled to have recourse to arms, to avert the danger with which his life was threatened by the hostility of Roy Dullub. He not only made these sentiments public, but went out of the city in apparent alarm as Clive entered it. Clive, who had received a private letter from Mr. Scrafton[207] informing him of Meeran's conduct, was not prepared for this step, which threw Moorshedabad into the utmost consternation. To this was added the receipt of intelligence of a French squadron on the coast of Coromandel, and of the superiority which that nation had acquired in land forces. To counteract the bad impressions which such news might make at so critical a moment, Clive exaggerated a slight naval success which had been obtained by the English into a complete victory.[208] He also wrote to the Nabob on the same day, complaining of the strange behaviour of Meeran, and stating that he could not continue in Bengal, if his zeal to support him was to be rewarded with suspicion and distrust. But before an answer was received, the Prince, persuaded of his error, had returned to the city, and made the most submissive apologies for his conduct.
Clive remained only a few days at Moorshedabad. Soon after his arrival at Calcutta, a vessel[209] from England brought out the arrangements made by the Directors subsequently to their receiving the intelligence of their misfortunes in Bengal. The first measure, adopted in August, 1757, was the appointment of a temporary Committee of five, in which Clive was to preside. This was changed in November; and it was resolved to dismiss Mr. Drake, upon whose incompetency all appear to have been agreed; and a council of ten was nominated, the four senior members of which were to preside alternately, each for three months. In this second arrangement no mention whatever was made of Clive; and as the letter of August did not reach Bengal before that of November, he received at the same moment the account of his first appointment, and of the subsequent marked neglect of the Directors. But their last resolution was of little consequence, as circumstances rendered its execution impossible, except at the serious hazard of all the great advantages which had been obtained. This sentiment was universal; but by none was it felt so strongly as by the gentlemen appointed to the Council, and above all by those who were advanced by the Court of Directors to a share in the divided office of Governor. I shall spare the reader all comments upon this extraordinary expedient, which was no doubt the crude offspring of faction and mistrust. It is a more pleasing task to record the better feeling and better understanding of the true interests of their country which pervaded the councils of the local government.
I am induced to insert the following letter to Clive from the new Council, not more from its containing an excellent summary of the reasons which led them to request he would fill the station of their President, than because I deem it alike honourable to their zeal and disinterestedness.
"Sir,
"Our most serious attention has been devoted to the commands of our honourable employers per Hardwicke, naming a rotation of Governors for the future management of their affairs at this settlement; and, having duly weighed the nature of this regulation with all its attending circumstances, a sincere conviction of its being, in our present situation and circumstances, repugnant to the true interest of our honourable masters, and the welfare of the settlement in general, obliges us (though with the utmost respect and deference) to believe, that had our employers been apprised of the present state of their affairs in this kingdom, they would have placed the presidentship in some one person, as the clearest and easiest method of conducting their concerns, as well as preserving and maintaining the weight and influence the late happy revolution has given us with the Soubah of these provinces; on which influence, at the present period, the interest and welfare of the Company depends in the highest degree, at this settlement.
"The difficulties we may be liable to by a rotation in the executive part of government, with its consequences, are sufficiently obvious in our present state of affairs; we will, however, mention only a few points: the treaty with the Nabob not perfected in all its branches, the possession of the lands incomplete, the settlement in no posture of defence, the French considerably reinforced with a military and a fleet, their designs with respect to Bengal hitherto unknown, and the impossibility of impressing a proper idea of this divided power on the minds of the Soubah and others of this kingdom, who have, at all times, been accustomed to the government of a single person. A little reflection will introduce many more, and clearly evince the necessity of this address.
"The gentlemen nominated Governors in the Honourable Company's commands per Hardwicke, have the highest sense of gratitude for the honour conferred on them by our employers in their appointment; but deem themselves in duty bound, at this juncture of affairs, to wave all personal honours and advantages, and declare, as their sentiments, that a rotation in the executive part of Government, for the foregoing reasons, would be extremely prejudicial to the real interest of the Company; in which opinion we unanimously concur, and judge it for the welfare of our honourable employers, and of the settlement in general, to deviate in this instance from the commands of our honourable masters, and fix the presidentship in a single person till we hear further from Europe.
"Your being named as head of the General Committee (in the letter of the 3d of August last) established at that time for conducting the Company's affairs in Bengal, your eminent services, abilities, and merit, together with your superior weight and influence with the present Soubah and his officers, are motives which have great force with us on this occasion; and all concur in pointing out you, at the present, as best able to render our honourable employers necessary service at this juncture, till they shall make their further pleasure known by the appointment of a President for their affairs here.
"These reasons urge us to make you an offer of being President of the Company's affairs in Bengal, till a person is appointed by the Honourable Company; and we flatter ourselves you will be induced to accept of our offer, from your wonted regard to the interest of our honourable employers, and zeal for the welfare of their affairs, which we doubt not you are, as well as ourselves, convinced will be much prejudiced by a rotation in the executive part of government. "We wait your reply, and have the honour to be,
"Sir,
"Your most obedient,
"and most humble servants."Fort William,
"26th June, 1758."
Clive appears to have been so much hurt by the conduct of the Court of Directors, that he had determined not to accept the station offered him. Mr. Watts, whose name was first upon the list of the Rotation-government (as it was termed) wrote him a private letter, in which he entreated him, by every consideration for the public interests, not to refuse his services at so critical a period. His answer to this letter is remarkable, as it shows the feelings under which he acted.
"I have considered[210]," he states, "what you proposed to me, and judge myself under a necessity of declining the Government. Both the public and my private advices, I think, plainly discover that the Presidency of Bengal was by no means intended for me by the Court of Directors; and a temporary acceptance can only expose me, upon the further alterations which may arrive from Europe, to circumstances of disgrace in the eyes of the Country Government, which, I believe it is unnecessary for me to remark, might be prejudicial to the Company's affairs. At the same time I cannot sufficiently express my sense of the disinterestedness which you, and the gentlemen of the Council have shown in this generous offer, and of the honour you have thereby conferred on me."
The representations of all ranks and parties, and the conviction of the truth of the grounds on which they were founded, led Clive to alter this resolution, and to write the following letter to the Council.
"Gentlemen,
"I have received your letter of this day's date, and cannot sufficiently express the grateful sense I have of the favourable opinion you are pleased to entertain of me, which has induced you to desire my acceptance of the Presidency at this critical juncture.
"Though I think I have cause to be dissatisfied with the Court of Directors, for laying me aside in their new form of Government, without any reason assigned, after having named me as head of the General Committee in the letter of the 3d of August last, yet, animated by the noble example of public spirit which you have set me, I have determined to wave all private considerations, where the general good is concerned; and as there is no doubt but the government of a single person, involved as we are now with the country powers, must have infinite advantage over that complicated form of government established from home, I shall, from that motive (though both my health and private concerns strongly require my returning to Europe), accept the offer you have done me the honour to make me, till such time as our employers have appointed a President in the usual form.
"I cannot omit testifying my acknowledgments, Gentlemen, to you all in general, for the zeal you have discovered for the service of our masters upon this occasion; but in particular to you who have been nominated to be in the rotation of governors. You have made such a sacrifice, that few, if any instances can be given of the like. You have, of your own accord, parted with the dignity of government, and all the advantages thereunto annexed, because you apprehend that the Company's affairs could not be properly conducted under a government so constituted.
"Unequal as I am to the weighty task of directing this Presidency, especially in civil matters, to which I have never been able to give due attention, on account of my military avocations, I am now, Gentlemen, to beg the assistance of your advice, and therefore hope you will persevere in the zeal you have hitherto so abundantly shown, and that none of you, but more particularly Mr. Watts, who can render me considerable services from his thorough knowledge of the politics of the country, will entertain a thought of leaving me, till affairs are finally determined from home.
"I am, Gentlemen,
"Your most obedient, humble Servant,
(Signed) "R. Clive."Calcutta,
"June 26th, 1758."
Clive states that he was in a great degree induced to change his first resolution, by the tenor of a letter from Mr. Payne, the Chairman of the Court of Directors, which satisfied him that, notwithstanding what had occurred, there was a strong feeling, in some of that body, as well as the principal members of the administration in England, to treat him with favour and distinction.
"I have a perfect sense[211]," Mr. Payne states, "of the many disagreeable circumstances that may have attended the several expeditions of this year, wherein you have had so great a share; nor can any one have felt more experimentally than myself the difficulty of pleasing every one, with the most disinterested conduct and the warmest pursuits for that purpose; nor have I been wanting in reflections on the many mortifications you may have met with, from the jealousy that the almost unlimited powers you were vested with by the Select Committee at Fort St. George gave rise to. I must confess, I should think them dangerous, in other hands than yours, and such as, I really think, our Court of Directors could scarce have been justified in giving to any one person whatever. Had the powers been more limited, I think you could not have had it less in your power to show and exercise your readiness and abilities in serving the Company, which I am persuaded you have done without mean or selfish views."
The Chairman, after noticing in this communication the difficulty the Court of Directors have had in framing a temporary arrangement for Bengal, and expressing a hope that the expedient they had fallen upon would answer better than was expected, states their intention of adopting every means to add to their military force.
"After being disappointed," he observes, "in various attempts for raising recruits in Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and England, His Majesty has been pleased to order us a battalion of about one thousand men out of the new regiments. Mr. Pitt was the first to propose the measure to His Majesty. Upon his mentioning it the next day to me, I took the liberty of suggesting to him the many difficulties and evils we had been exposed to, during the stay of Colonel Adlercron's regiment, in instances which I certainly need not point out to you. He stopt me very short, by saying, he would forestall me in regard to any apprehensions I might have by the clashing of different commands; as it was his intention the troops should be under Colonel Lawrence and your command."
Mr. Payne also informed Clive in this letter, that Mr. Pitt and Lord Barrington had hinted a desire to send Clive a Colonel's commission; but that, while he had expressed thankfulness for this intended mark of favour, he had suggested the name of Colonel Lawrence also. "I could not be unmindful," he adds, "of your most genteel and disinterested conduct on a former occasion in England, in regard to that mark[212] of the Company's respect for you, which you rather declined and were unwilling to accept of, without Colonel Lawrence sharing with you. I am well persuaded you will continue to act and think upon the same generous principles; and that you must be so sensible of that gentleman's good services, and the need the Company still have of the continuance of them, that you will be far from looking with a jealous eye on the mention I have made to those Honourable Gentlemen of my apprehension of our being entirely deprived of the Colonel's future services, if he should be taken no notice of, though he was not immediately concerned in the late actions, which had particularly attracted His Majesty's attention in regard to yourself."
Mr. Payne further informed Clive that the Duke of Newcastle had written to the Court of Directors, regarding the propriety of conferring upon him a distinguished mark of the royal favour; but, as this was unaccompanied by any suggestion of a similar honour being intended for Admiral Watson, he thought it would embarrass the Directors; and he had, therefore, with the Duke's concurrence, withheld the communication. He expressed his confidence that Clive would approve of what he had done; and, at all events, that he would be acquitted of having been actuated by any little motive in the part he had taken on that occasion. "Be assured, Sir," Mr. Payne concludes, "I shall always be as ready to propose as to concur in any measures that may be hereafter thought of to do you honour or pleasure; and that it is a great one to me to reflect, that your attention to the service you are engaged in, by exposing your person on so many different occasions, may and has been attended not only with the honours and laurels that adorn the brow of a conqueror, but with some more solid fruits of your labour; which may in some degree compensate for the toils that precede victory and success."
This communication could not but be agreeable to Clive; and, in his reply, he expresses satisfaction with Mr. Payne's conduct on all those points which related to his personal honour and preferment. He also states, that a knowledge of the favourable sentiments which were entertained of his conduct by some of the principal members of the Court was his chief inducement for accepting the proffered station of President.
The Court of Directors had formed this Government of Rotation at a period when they could not have anticipated the great changes which had taken place in Bengal: that this was the case, is proved by the fact of the subsequent appointment of Clive to the station of Governor, the moment they heard of the battle of Plassey. They appear, also, to have recognised the high and disinterested motives which induced the Council to invite him to be their President; and, though sufficiently alive on such points, we cannot discover from the records, that they ever viewed the setting aside of their arrangement on this extraordinary and unprecedented occasion as a measure that evinced contempt for their judgment and authority.[213]