FOOTNOTES:
[66] Letter to Major Stibbert, Bankepore, dated 27th September, 1766.
[67] Dated 4th October, 1765.
[68] He afterwards saw reason to estimate a Colonel's share at 7000l.
[69] Here, unfortunately, Sir John Malcolm's labours close. A few extracts, marked out by him, afterwards occur, where they are pointed out.
[70] End of 1762.
[71] Vansittart's Narrative, vol. ii. p. 164-170.
[72] 10th July, 1763.
[73] 24th April, 1764.
[74] 18th May, 1764.
[75] Verelst's View, p. 113.
[76] 30th March, 1772.
[77] Letter of Directors, 1st June, 1764.
[78] This tax was not on the real value, but on a reduced estimate: and paid before it was carried into the country.
[79] Had the plan been allowed to proceed, the renunciation of trade would have been compulsory.
[80] 14th December, 1765.
[81] Dated 23d November, 1765.
[82] Letter to Select Committee of Bengal, 17th May, 1766. Fourth Report of Secret Committee, App. No. 45.
[83] 17th May, 1766.
[84] See Fourth Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons, App. No. 58.
[85] Fourth Report of Select Committee, App. No. 61.
[86] 15th December, 1769.
[87] Dated 28th August, 1767. Fourth Report of Select Committee, App. No. 59.
[88] Letter dated Bath, 14th November, 1767.
[89] See Clive's speech, 30th March, 1772, which contains an unanswerable defence of his conduct.
[90] See Verelst's View, p. 84.; App. p. 239.; and Sir James Steuart's Principles of Money applied to the present State of the Coin of Bengal, Works, vol. v.
[91] 11th July, 1765.
[92] 3d August, 1765.
[93] 12th August, 1765.
[94] Letter to Court of Directors, 30th September, 1765.
[95] The illustrious, the chosen of the kingdom, arranger of the state, firm in war.
[96] The few pages that follow, enclosed between brackets, contain the last fragment of the Memoir written by Sir John Malcolm.
[97] Dated Calcutta, 25th September, 1765.
[98] Calcutta, 29th September, 1765.
[99] Letter to Harry Clive, Esq., dated Calcutta, 25th September, 1765.
[100] 24th September, 1765.
[101] Vide note on p. 129.
[102] Mootejyl, 19th April, 1766.
[103] Mootejyl, 25th April, 1766.
[104] Letter to Mr. Blomer, Dinagepore, 22d September, 1766.
[105] There can be little doubt that the ryot was in Bengal, as in other parts of India, in reality a proprietor of the land: a circumstance which afterwards, in making the permanent settlement, on English or Mussulman ideas, was unfortunately overlooked. See Colonel Briggs's valuable and too little known work, on the Land Tax in India. Lond. 1830. 8vo.
[106] Letter, 29th December, 1765.
[107] 8th July, 1765.
[108] 10th August, 1765.
[109] 28th August, 1767.
[110] Letter to Colonel Smith, 23d August, 1765.
[111] 21st May, 1766.
[112] Mr. Campbell, writing to Mr. Strachey, who accompanied Lord Clive in his rapid journey to Benares the preceding year, gives a lively idea of the speed of the travellers. "You complain of my silence, but without reason. There are four or five letters on their way to you. But how should the dawks, or the devil himself, overtake you travelling at such a rate? Besides, you are everywhere and nowhere, sometimes travelling by land, sometimes by water. How, or where, am I to address you? The facetious Dean Swift tells Lord Peterborough that the ministry were obliged to write at him, not to him. I must do the same. Like his Lordship, you are in perpetual motion. You are now at Benares: a week hence you will be at Allahabad; a month more will carry you to Delhi. From thence I expect you will shape your course north-east towards China, and give us the slip, by taking your passage to Europe from Canton." Letter, August 10, 1765.
[113] 8th December, 1766.
[114] Letter of the Court of Directors to Lord Clive, 17th May, 1766, pars. 2. and 11.; Third Report of Select Committee; App., No. 74.
[115] 17th October, 1766.
[116] Messrs. Russell, Rumbold, Aldersey, and Kelsall.
[117] Mr. Campbell, in a letter to Mr. Strachey, 18th August, 1765, gives an instance of Mr. Verelst's good temper. "Mr. Verelst is eternally losing by water what he gains by land. While he was at dinner with me yesterday, advice was brought that a vessel of his, worth 14,000 rupees, had foundered at sea. But he is callous to such accidents as would make me run mad. He called for a glass of wine, and said he would get up the loss. This is true philosophy."
[118] 2d October, 1766.
[119] 22d January, 1767.
[120] 25th April, 1766.
[121] Letter to Mr. Palk, 8th September, 1766.
[122] 11th November, 1766.
[123] Letter to Mr. Palk, 25th April, 1766, already quoted.
[124] 4th October, 1765.
[125] Letter to Captain Keble, Master Attendant, 28th April, 1766.
[126] 26th April, 1766.
[127] Letter to Samuel Middleton, Esq., 4th October, 1766.
[128] Lord Clive having, on this occasion, resigned the shares in the salt trade, to which by the scheme the governor was entitled, a commission of 1-1/8 per cent. on the revenues was assigned as an equivalent, to commence 1st September, 1766, and to end 1st September, 1767, the term of the salt society's privilege.
[129] Malcolm's Political India, vol. ii. p. 32.
Lord Clive landed at Portsmouth on the 14th of July, 1767, and reached London on the following day. Though the sea-voyage probably preserved his life, it still left his constitution very much shattered; and, on his arrival in London, his physicians immediately recommended that he should repair to Bath, for the purpose of drinking the waters. He remained in town, therefore, only a few days to be presented to their Majesties, to whom he had brought letters and presents from the Nabob of Arcot; and, in the first days of August, he set out for Bath, taking in his way Wotton, the seat of his friend Mr. George Grenville. His disorder was a severe bilious complaint, attended with spasms, loss of appetite, and indigestion; a continuation or consequence of that derangement of the liver from which he had already suffered so much in Bengal.
On his arrival, he was warmly welcomed, not only by his family and numerous private friends, but by the men most distinguished for rank and talent in England, and by the Court of Directors, who owed him so much. While conducting the affairs of his country with such distinguished honour and success in India, he had not been forgotten in Europe, where his name occupied a high rank among those of the illustrious men, who had raised the fame of England to so high an eminence at that glorious period. His statue, with those of Admiral Sir George Pocock, and of General Lawrence, had been placed in the India House.[130] The first part of Orme's "History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan," had appeared in 1763, and had spread the renown of the hero of the story wherever the English language is read. When Clive, during his second government, had enlarged so much his own fame, and the fame and power of his country, he felt a natural desire that the elegant historian should continue his work, and commemorate these great events; and accordingly he furnished him with all the materials that he possessed for aiding his progress. "What think you," says he, with a just pride, in a letter to Orme, "of closing the third volume of your history with an account of the King (of Delhi's) being at last placed in a situation of affluence and grandeur, the Vizier Sujah-u-Dowlah being obliged to sue for peace, which was granted upon very honourable terms, and the Company being in possession of the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, amounting to 4,000,000l. sterling per annum, and the country in a state of perfect tranquillity?"[131] The subject was a fine one, every way worthy of the historian's talents; and the proposed enlargement would have given a suitable close and unity to his former labours. But Orme did not delight in bold and rapid sketches; and the perhaps excessive detail in which he indulged in his most interesting historical work, prevented him from at all entering on the history of these memorable transactions; so that, at the close of his third volume, he had not advanced beyond the year 1760, the time when Clive left the country after his first government. At the same time, it is not to be supposed that Clive escaped a large share of that envy, and of the consequent abuse, that generally attend the triumph of a fortunate commander. The many enemies whom he had made, filled the public papers, to a more than ordinary degree, with acrimonious attacks; and scattered pamphlets, full of misstatements and personalities, which affected his sensitive mind more than they deserved.
Though Lord Clive now filled so large a space in the eyes of his countrymen and of foreign nations, he was yet only in his forty-second year; an age at which he might still have looked forward to a long career of public service and of glory. It is much to be regretted that, circumstanced as he was, in possession of an ample fortune, with his talents in their fullest vigour, and with one of the first reputations of the age, he did not confine himself to the high ground on which he stood, and shun being once more forced into the dark, and unsatisfactory circle of Leadenhall Street politics. He was, however, unfortunately pressed by too many immediate interests, both of his own and of his friends, to suffer him to adopt a course which would have contributed so much to his future peace. He had spent his whole life in Indian affairs, which naturally, in his estimation, had a peculiar importance; and perhaps his active mind could not at once break off the ties which had so long attached him to the Company and its concerns.
He found, on his return, the affairs of the East India Company considerably more complicated than he had left them. The two parties of Mr. Rous and Mr. Sulivan still divided the Directors; but the accounts of the great accession of wealth acquired for the Company in Bengal had excited the cupidity of the British Government, which, impoverished by the expenses of a war carried on in every quarter of the globe, eagerly looked for a partial relief to the treasures that were to flow into England from her Eastern dominions. The same expectation naturally roused the Proprietors of India Stock, who insisted on enjoying the benefit of the happy change in the most obvious way, by an increase of their dividend. To embroil still more these adverse interests, the servants of the Company, who had resigned or been dismissed, in consequence of their malversation in office, returned to England, breathing revenge against the man whose honest vigour had stopped them in their career; and having employed, in the purchase of Company's stock, a part of the great wealth which they had accumulated, were able, by throwing their interest into the scale, to influence the proceedings of the Court of Proprietors, and, therefore, ultimately that of the Directors.
Three years before, Lord Clive had left England, immediately after gaining a victory over Mr. Sulivan and his party. But as that gentleman had long managed the Company's affairs, was widely connected, and still retained many friends, the new Directors had by no means an easy part to act. For the first year, Mr. Sulivan's interest continued to be so strong among the Directors, that Mr. Rous, the new Chairman, sometimes found it difficult even to muster a sufficient number to sign his ordinary letters. In the election of 1765, Mr. Boulton was chosen Chairman; and the stability of the party in office seeming to increase, considerable defection, as is usual in such cases, took place from the ranks of their opponents. They also carried the election in the following year (1766) completely, when Mr. Dudley was elected Chairman. Still, however, the party of Sulivan continued to be strong; and when Lord Chatham's ministry was formed, in July, 1766, Sulivan was understood to be favoured by them, through the interest of Lord Shelburne, who was his friend.
We have seen the alarming aspect of the Company's affairs, when Clive was induced[132] to forego the comforts of home, and once more to visit Bengal, for the purpose of retrieving them. He had not been long absent when the drooping hopes of the Proprietors having revived, they demanded an increase of the dividend. Clive, ever sanguine, was of opinion that they ought to have been indulged; but the difficulties were considerable. "Believe the word of a Director," says Mr. Scrafton, writing[133] to him, before the news of his great success had reached England; "Believe the word of a Director, that the Company must have many lacs, before they can increase their dividend. Consider, my Lord, what a vast sum of their capital has been locked up without interest in Mahommed Ali's debt, the vast fortifications, the fatal Manilla expedition, and the sum locked up in the support of French prisoners, for which no instalments are yet settled, all form prodigious deductions, which a year's revenue of the whole province of Bengal will barely replace; not to mention the dreadful breach in the Company's capital before the battle of Plassey." And Mr. Dudley, at a still later period, acknowledges[134] that the Company had contracted several hundred thousand pounds of debt at home during the war, for which demands were urgent.
But when the news reached England of the re-establishment of the Company's affairs, and of the great advantages that had been gained for them by the various treaties concluded by Clive, the joy of the Proprietors was extreme; the price of stock rose, and there was a general and more clamorous demand for an increase of dividend. During the war in India, it had been reduced from 8 to 6 per cent. The more prosperous state of affairs seemed now to justify a considerable increase.
On this point, unfortunately, the Directors and Proprietors differed. While the Directors, as managers of the general stock, and intimately acquainted with the difficulties amidst which they were placed, looked to the clearing off of their burdens, and, the better to effect this object, had, not very wisely, attempted to conceal the expected extent of the new revenues, the Proprietors, who, by various channels, had gained information, probably exaggerated, of the recent addition to the Company's means, clamoured for an instant rise of dividend. The Directors saw that the change which had taken place in the Company's affairs in Bengal, however favourable, could not at once operate in Europe. The immediate demands on the Company were great, while a considerable period of time was requisite to allow the capital sent from Bengal to China, and elsewhere to be invested in goods, returned to England, sold, and the proceeds realised. The Company might be in great affluence abroad, and bankrupt at home. Demands to the amount of 2,600,000l. became payable between Michaelmas and Midsummer (1766), while only 2,000,000l. were available to discharge them. It was therefore necessary to borrow in order to pay even the ordinary dividends.
The Court of Directors did not show much ability in extricating themselves from the dilemma in which they were placed. Had they fully weighed the difficulties of their situation, and the necessity there was, even for the sake of the prosperous management of the Company's funds, and the payment of its lawful creditors, that the Court of Proprietors should be conciliated and unanimity preserved, they would themselves, without concealing their difficulties, have proposed some moderate increase of the annual dividend, and have held out the prospect of a farther rise at some future and not very distant period. Instead of acting on some such plan of politic conciliation, they shunned meeting the Proprietors, and exerted every endeavour to continue the low dividend then payable, so very disproportioned to the price to which stock had now risen. Their situation was delicate, but their conduct was injudicious, as they were liable to be overruled by the Court of Proprietors in any contest with whom they must inevitably fail.
A party of considerable strength had lately sprung up in the Court of Proprietors. We have seen that when, on Lord Clive's arrival in Bengal, an investigation had been commenced into the transactions that attended the death of Meer Jaffier and the accession of Nujm-u-Dowla, and particularly as to the large sums of money paid to the members of Council on that occasion. Mr. John Johnstone, the most active agent in these proceedings, had resigned the service, and so placed himself, for the time, beyond the reach of the Company; and that some other members of the Council had afterwards been dismissed. They, with many of lower rank in the civil and military services who had resigned or been discharged, in consequence of Lord Clive's inquiries and reforms, had, as already mentioned, purchased a large amount of India stock, the better to enable them to wreak their revenge on the man who had obstructed their plans of wealth.
The Court of Directors, desirous of punishing the infraction of their orders, and of supporting Lord Clive in his exertions to fulfil their instructions, directed a case to be laid before the Attorney and Solicitor-General, and the Company's law-officers, who gave an unanimous opinion, that the orders of the Company for the execution of the covenants against accepting presents, having been received and laid before the board, prior to the death of Meer Jaffier, the delay in the execution, for purposes the object of which was so evident, could form no justification; that the covenants were binding in equity, and that suits ought to be brought for restitution of the pretended presents. In consequence of this opinion, bills were filed at the instance of the East India Company against Mr. Johnstone, and the other members of Council in England; and orders were sent to India to adopt corresponding measures against such as were still in that country.
Mr. Johnstone, who was not only a man of family, but of uncommon resolution and considerable talent, was strongly supported by several large proprietors of stock. When the time approached that his answers were to be given in, his brother, Mr. William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney, waited on the Chairman, Mr. Dudley, and delivered a copy of a motion intended to be made at the General Court to be held the next day, recommending to the Court of Directors to confirm the presents received by the Company's servants in Bengal, before the 9th of May, 1765, when the covenants were presented to them to be signed, and to countermand all prosecutions against them. The Chairman was at the same time informed, that, if this motion was rejected, the conduct of Lord Clive should be called in question. Mr. Dudley replied, that they were welcome to exhibit any charge against Lord Clive, but that the prosecutions could not be withdrawn. Next day, however, the opposition, probably finding that they had not strength enough to carry their motion, did not bring it forward; and Mr. Pulteney himself seconded a motion for adjournment.
But the determined resistance of the Directors to any increase of dividend gave their enemies great advantages over them in the Court of Proprietors. The Directors had themselves caused a motion for an increase of 2 per cent. to be brought forward in June, 1766, when they succeeded in getting it negatived; and thus, in consequence of particular rules, which regulated the Court's proceedings, gained some time. But this delay did not check the determination of the party in opposition, which daily gained strength. Lord Holland, and several other great proprietors, joined it, and Mr. Johnstone and his friends threw all their weight into the scale. Only two days before the Quarterly Court, in September[135], the party split 125,000l. stock into shares, and, by their exertions, succeeded in carrying the dividend to 10 per cent., in opposition to the expressed wish and advice of the Court of Directors. But a consequence of this difference of opinion between the Courts was, that this declared increase of dividend had no influence in raising the price of their stock.
At this period, party animosity ran very high, and produced its usual effects of mutual abuse and recrimination. The opposition started a paper, called the India Examiner, which the Directors answered in the India Observer.
Although it was on occasion of the vote for this increase of dividend that the Government began to intermeddle in the affairs of the Company, it may be most convenient, before attending to the proceedings of the Ministry, to conclude the narrative of the contest of the Directors with the Court of Proprietors.[136]
Mr. Johnstone and his friends had trusted to be relieved from the prosecutions instituted against them, by exerting their influence to effect a change of Directors. In April, 1767, however, their efforts for that purpose again failed: the elections were still favourable to the old Directors, and Mr. Rous was again chosen Chairman. Lord Clive was then on his passage home. Mr. Johnstone's party, seeing that nothing was to be looked for from the Directors, adopted the resolution of attempting to work on the Proprietors, who were still, in general, discontented on the subject of the dividends. At the General Court, therefore, held on the 6th of May following, Mr. Pulteney moved, that the dividend should be raised to 12½ per cent.; a proposition which met with very general concurrence. Mr. Pulteney having thus secured the good-will of the Proprietors, Mr. Franks then moved to dismiss the prosecutions which had been instituted against Mr. Johnstone and other persons, for their alleged unwarrantable receipt of money in Bengal. The Chairman in vain proposed that the opinion of the lawyers should be read: the Court, displeased with the Directors, and elated with the measure they had carried against them, with the assistance of Mr. Johnstone and his friends, refused to hear it. Seeing them so determined, and so strong, no opposition was attempted by the Directors, nor even a ballot demanded. The motion of indemnity was carried without farther examination; a great victory to the accused members of Council, and a severe blow on the authority of the Court of Directors and of the Indian governments. It declared indemnity abroad to all who at home had powerful friends connected with the India House; an intimation that was not long disregarded.[137]
The Ministry, in the meanwhile, had begun to take a share in the proceedings of the Company, which for a long time before had not been usual. The reported advantages of the trade, and the great fortunes suddenly amassed and brought home, had excited in the country no small envy, and some desire to share in these advantages; while the repeated revolutions in India, the circumstances attending them, with the rapacity and extortions which had distinguished the progress of the inland trade, had, when known, produced general murmurs throughout the nation. When the news arrived of the successful negotiations of Lord Clive, and of the immense territorial advantages said to be acquired for the Company, the question was raised, to whom belonged these dominions, the government of which was apparently so little suited to the system of a trading company; and the financial difficulties which the Ministers so strongly felt, led them to consider in what way the nation could be admitted to share in them. This was particularly observable after the formation of Lord Chatham's administration.[138]
It has been already mentioned, that Lord Clive shared in that excessive admiration of Mr. Pitt, which, during his first administration, and for some years after, may be said to have been felt by the whole people of England. Lord Clive, in his own politics, had, as we have seen, most attached himself to the Right Hon. George Grenville, a man of great knowledge of business, and of much talent and worth, the leader of one great portion of the Whig interest; but who, at this period, was on indifferent terms with his illustrious though overbearing friend. On the great question of the right to territorial acquisitions, Mr. Pitt was disposed to consider them as under the control of the state; but he was not insensible to the difficulties, legal and political, which the question involved, from the nature of the territories themselves, situated in the dominions of an ancient and independent empire; from the influence which such acquisitions, especially from the patronage they afforded, must have on the British constitution, and the minor difficulties of detail attending any change of local management. We have seen that Lord Clive was strongly persuaded of the paramount rights of the state, and had communicated his opinion to Mr. Pitt. Mr. Walsh, who took an active share in the management of his affairs in England, was anxious to have the approbation, or, at least, the opinion of the great commoner on recent events in India. He, in consequence, had occasional interviews with him, the circumstances of which he communicated in his letters to his friend; and though Mr. Pitt, who always entertained the highest opinion of Lord Clive's merits, appears to have cautiously avoided committing himself by any decided opinion, yet, as the letters relate to persons on every account so remarkable, no apology seems necessary for introducing them.
The first of these notices occurs in a letter of Mr. Walsh, written after the news had arrived of Lord Clive's negotiation with the Vizier, and of the subsequent peace, and its advantages to the Company, especially in the possession of the dewannee, which really made them rulers of Bengal. "I am very sorry," says Mr. Walsh, "you did not write a few lines to Mr. Pitt, to conciliate him to your negotiations: he has left us for Pynsent, where he is doing great things. I spoke a few words to him, just as he left the House of Commons, telling him you had, in great measure, carried into execution what I had once the honour of laying before him; to which he answered, that he had heard of the great things you had done; that you had acquired great honour; but that they were too vast: it was some time he had been dissatisfied with our proceedings there: however, he was very glad to hear that Lord Clive was well, and that he had not gone up to Delhi. This was all that passed between us, whilst he was getting on his great coat."—"I should be very sorry," he continues, "to have been adverse to you or your regulations, therefore mention this that due attention may be paid to him. One word from him would go far in making or unmaking the Company; and it is the uncertainty of the public, how far the Company may be supported by the Government, that makes their stock so low, notwithstanding the late events. The renewal of their charter is a serious object; the effecting it may possibly be reserved for you." It gives a grand idea of Mr. Pitt's reputation, and of his influence on the public mind, to consider, that, when this interview took place, he was merely a private member of Parliament, holding no office.
In the interval between this letter of May, and the following of November, Mr. Pitt had come into office with Lord Camden, Lord Shelburne, the Earl of Northington, and Charles Townsend, and had been raised to the peerage. There was some reason to think that the new Ministry were disposed to take part with that portion of the Court of Directors that was hostile to Lord Clive. Lord Shelburne in particular, who was supposed to have much influence with the Premier, had always favoured Sulivan. "Soon after the new administration was formed," says Mr. Walsh[139], "the Chairman and Deputy Chairman were sent for to the Cabinet Council, and were acquainted that, as the affairs of the India Company were likely to be taken into consideration by Parliament, it would be proper for them to be prepared. An intimation of the kind could not fail to alarm, and affect the stock greatly.
"The Quarterly Court being over, I made an excursion to Bath, where Lord Chatham, Lord Camden, and Lord Northington were assembled. My private motive for this journey was to discover their disposition towards the Company; and, by means of my intimacy with Lord Camden, to endeavour to put you on a good footing with Lord Chatham, who, there was some reason to apprehend, was not the best disposed either towards you, the present direction, or the Company. I recollected Lord Chatham's discourse to me about your acquisitions being too vast; and saw Shelburne, Barré, and the enemies of the present direction in the highest employs. Lord Camden immediately removed any apprehensions as to any thing hostile being intended against the Company. I told him that I was ignorant whether the Directors had given the Administration full information concerning the affairs of Bengal: but, whatever their conduct might have been in that respect, I, as acting for Lord Clive, should use no kind of reserve with the Administration; that Lord Clive, though a zealous servant of the Company, ever considered his duty to his country to be the first and greatest obligation upon him; that he had formerly submitted to Lord Chatham's consideration, whether the Bengal acquisitions were an object for the state or the Company; and that, though the Company had in a manner been left to pursue their own measures in that respect, yet it was reasonable that, in such great prosperity as theirs, they should contribute liberally to the exigencies of the state; that your friends would readily concur in such a measure, and that I wished for an opportunity of assuring Lord Chatham of this; but as I knew him, particularly in his present ill state of health, to be inaccessible, I requested his Lordship to report it to him. He advised my writing a note to see Lord Chatham, which I accordingly did, and was admitted, though it was then a favour, as I understood, he had only granted to Lord Camden.
"I should have mentioned that, before I left town, I waited on General Conway[140]; made him the same offer of information; gave him a state of the revenues, and pointed out to him some of the means by which the commerce of the Company might be greatly advanced. He appeared quite unacquainted with these affairs, but very desirous to be informed.
"It was the 11th of last month that I saw Lord Chatham. I told him the occasion of my visit in almost the same words I had used to Lord Camden; in answer to which, after complimenting me on the purity, as he styled it, of my intentions, and of the liberal way in which I had considered this matter, he told me that all matters of fact relating to India would be very acceptable to him, though he did not wish to receive propositions on that head, as the affair was of too extensive and too difficult a nature for Ministers to determine; that they could not undertake to decide between the State and the Company, what was precisely proper for each; that the consideration must of necessity come into Parliament; that by the means of so many gentlemen coming from different parts of the kingdom, and turning the subject different ways in their minds, many new lights might be gathered; that the Crown had nothing to do in the affair, and that its ministers could only interfere in preventing unreasonableness and oppressions on one side or the other; and that the Company, in all cases, must subsist. On my giving him the state of the revenues, he seemed much surprised at the smallness of the amount, saying that Holwell and common report had made it much larger. He spoke very handsomely of you; said that he heard with concern of the virulent publications against you; that it was incumbent on the Company to support you strongly, and likewise to reward you. I mentioned how greatly the Company's commerce might be extended with the assistance of Government; hinted the necessity there was of excluding foreigners from being stockholders and sharing in our benefits; and concluded with observing that every thing I had heard from him gave me the highest satisfaction, except the impracticability that he intimated of any arrangement between the Administration and the Directors before the meeting of Parliament.
"This is the substance of my conversation with this great man, who is certainly not only the most vigorous, but the most comprehensive and judicious, minister this kingdom ever had. I hope, in consequence of what I before wrote you, that you have taken some steps to conciliate and attach him. He has a greatness in himself, which makes him feel and assert the great actions of others.
"I put your public letters into the hands of Lord Camden, who, doubtless, showed them to Lord Chatham. Both one and the other, I am certain, are well satisfied with the confidence. Mr. Grenville has had all the papers laid before him, and part of them, particularly those relative to the conduct of the servants, have been communicated to others."
From these letters, it is evident that Lord Chatham had been yet able to form no plan on the vast subject of Indian affairs; that he was disposed to let matters take their course for some time longer through the intervention of the Company, and that the recent extension of their dominions probably rather embarrassed him; that he was alive, as he had always been, to Lord Clive's splendid merits, and an advocate for the rewards the gratitude of the country ought to bestow. At the same time he was cautiously guarded not to commit himself by any opinions, but rather disposed to gain time and watch what the progress of events might produce. It could hardly fail to gratify him to see all parties contending for his favour, and laying the information they possessed, and a tender of their services, at his feet.
Lord Chatham's administration was formed in the last days of July, and it was in September that the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Company were sent for to the Council, and informed that it was likely that the affairs of the Company would be taken into consideration when the Parliament met. The same notice was soon after communicated in writing.
The Directors, thus put upon their guard, looked eagerly to what was to follow. The movement began in the House of Commons, where Mr. Beckford gave notice of a motion for an inquiry into the affairs of the East India Company[141]; and in the course of his speech, adverting to the burdens laid on the landed interest, and to the rich acquisitions of the Company in the East, congratulated his brother landholders that they should no longer be hewers of wood and drawers of water. The very exaggerated statements of the revenues of Bengal, published by Mr. Holwell and others, had induced the public to look to them for at least a partial relief from their burdens. The Ministers, however, cautiously concealed their intentions, if they had any, and proposed nothing. Lord Chatham was constantly confined by the gout, remained chiefly in the country, and showed himself but little; and his colleagues did not venture, in his absence, to propose any important measure. Matters went on languidly. Indeed, the symptoms of disunion very soon became visible in the motley cabinet which had been formed, and was supported chiefly by Lord Chatham's great name.
His opinions on the Indian question were veiled in impenetrable mystery. Committees were, however, appointed to examine into the state of the Company, and votes were passed that copies of their charters, their treaties with native princes, statements of their Indian revenues, and their correspondence with their servants in India, should be laid before the Committees. On a motion for printing these papers[142], the Directors being alarmed, presented a petition showing the dangers and inconveniences likely to result from making public some part of the papers, especially the private correspondence; when, after a warm debate, that part of the order was discharged. Almost every person of eminence who had been in India, or connected with it, was, however, examined on oath before the House of Lords.
These inquiries inevitably led to the important question of the Company's right to their territorial acquisitions, which a strong party insisted must belong to the Crown. "The Crown," says Mr. Dudley[143], the Chairman of the Directors, "claims a right to all the Company's acquisitions, possessions, and revenues that have been obtained by conquest, which the Cabinet Council, with Lord Chatham at their head, say is the case with respect to every thing we have got from the King, the Nabobs, or other princes of the country for some years past, both at Bengal and Madras."—"We have been, and still are under the dilemma of studying the wants of the Administration, for they themselves will not open their mouths to utter one syllable. They seem to me to determine in their own minds that the right is in the Crown; and, therefore, if the Company have a desire to preserve a share in it, they must acknowledge that right, and pay largely for it." In the numerous debates on Indian affairs that took place in the course of the session, Mr. Beckford, Colonel Barré, and Mr. Nugent pressed upon the Company, while Mr. George Grenville and Mr. Charles Yorke strongly supported its rights, and pleaded the injustice of making any demands upon it in consequence of its conquests, as long as the term of its charter was unexpired. The lawyers were, in general, in favour of the Company; but neither the Ministry nor the Directors wished the dry question of law to be decided: neither party were altogether prepared for its consequences; both rather wished for a compromise, as more favourable to their present ease and their future views. Sir Matthew Fetherstonehaugh, a considerable proprietor of India stock, in a letter to Lord Clive[144], describes some of these debates. "In a question like this," says he, "about the right of property and the forfeiture of a charter, one would have thought that the opinion of almost all the lawyers in the house might have been attended to; but they were called by Colonel Barré 'a sort of heavy artillery, which did very little execution;' for which the Master of the Rolls called him, instead of the honourable gentleman, the valiant gentleman. Mr. Grenville, on both days, defended the Company's rights with a force that was unanswerable, always declaring that, if the Company wanted the renewal of their term, or any other favour from the public, they should be made to pay for it in the best bargain which could be made for the public; but protesting against extorting money from them by the terror and threats of parliamentary power."—"But the finest piece of oratory was Mr. Burke's (late secretary to Lord Rockingham). After pointing out the ill effects which so violent a measure might have on the public credit; 'but, perhaps,' said he, 'this house is not the place where our reasons can be of any avail. The great person who is to determine on this question, may be a being far above our view; one so immeasurably high, that the greatest abilities (pointing to Mr. Townshend), or the most amiable dispositions that are to be found in this house (pointing to Mr. Conway), may not gain access to him; a being before whom 'thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers' (waving his hand all this time over the treasury bench, which he sat behind), 'all veil their faces with their wings. But though our arguments may not reach him, possibly our prayers may.' He then apostrophised into a solemn prayer to the Great Minister above, that rules and governs over all to have mercy upon us, and not to destroy the work of his own hands; to have mercy on the public credit, of which he had made so free and large a use:—'Doom not to perdition that vast public debt, a mass of 70,000,000l. of which thou hast employed in rearing a pedestal for thy own statue.' Here Augustus Harvey called him to order to the regret of many." After a long series of debates, the Directors were finally frightened into a temporary compromise, agreeing to pay to the Government 400,000l., by half-yearly payments, for one year; and an act to that effect passed the house[145], and soon after received the royal assent.[146] A similar agreement was renewed the year after.
It was some time before that the vote of the Court of Proprietors raising the dividend to 12½ per cent. had been passed[147]; on which occasion a message from the Ministry had been read to the General Court, recommending that no augmentation should take place till their affairs, then under the view of Parliament, were considered. The Court having proceeded nevertheless, a bill was introduced, by which this order was rescinded, and the Company prevented from dividing more than 10 per cent. before the next meeting of Parliament.
While these various proceedings were in progress, a measure was proposed that much more immediately concerned Lord Clive's interests. During the discussions that had recently taken place in Parliament, however much the public mind had been excited and disgusted by the reported behaviour of the Company's servants in Bengal, all parties had concurred in loudly praising his conduct and services. When the news of his distinguished success in restoring the Company's affairs reached England, and when the negotiations between the Directors and the Government had begun, many of his friends considered that the proper time had arrived for proposing that some suitable reward should be conferred upon him for his extraordinary services; and accordingly, to prevent his interests from being injured by any subsequent agreement that might be made in the negotiation then depending, a motion was made at a General Court of Proprietors[148], "That it is the opinion of this Court, that the important services rendered to the Company by Lord Clive merit a grateful acknowledgment and return; and that a grant to his Lordship, and his personal representatives, of an additional term in the jaghire of ten years, commencing from the determination of his Lordship's present right therein, would be a proper acknowledgment and return for such important services: and that it be recommended to the Court of Directors, that, upon any future propositions being made, either to Parliament, or to His Majesty's Ministers, this resolution of the General Court be humbly represented."
On this motion being made, Mr. George Dempster, who was one of the leaders of the opposition to the Directors, moved an adjournment, which was negatived by 243 to 170. The main question was then put; when a ballot was demanded by Sir George Colebrooke in favour of it, and by Mr. Dempster in opposition; when Sir George Colebrooke's question was carried by 456 to 264.
The Proprietors having now formed themselves into a general court, Mr. Dempster moved to reconsider the question concerning the additional term of ten years proposed to be granted to Lord Clive in his jaghire, and which was to be considered on the 24th of March. This motion, after some opposition, was finally carried.
On the appointed day, a ballot having taken place, the original motion was carried by 361 to 332. The majority of 29 was small; but some misunderstanding had, unluckily, taken place among the friends of Lord Clive.
Mr. Dudley, then Chairman, in writing next day[149] to Lord Clive, observes, "The question which relates to your Lordship's jaghire might have been carried by a much greater majority, had the question been otherwise stated, and would, at the same time, have answered every purpose intended by it: but Mr. Walsh did not consult any of the Directors in forming it, nor could he be prevailed upon to alter it." Mr. Scrafton, then a Director, was also of opinion that Mr. Walsh, in his zeal to serve Lord Clive's interests, precipitated the question too much, bringing on his motion soon after the news of the acquisitions in Bengal had arrived, without giving time to see the effect of the great things that had been done. Mr. Walsh, on the other hand (perhaps alive to the uncertain operation of public gratitude), eager to accomplish what he had undertaken, and brooking no delay, charges the conduct of Lord Clive's friends, and especially of the Directors, with being hesitating and timid, so as to have thrown a damp upon the matter, and to have rendered doubtful the success of a proposition which would otherwise have received a pretty general concurrence. Lord Clive certainly thought that their conduct was at least lukewarm.
Such was the state of affairs when he arrived in England. Of the singular success of his management of the Company's concerns there was but one opinion; and the last months of his residence in India had added extremely to the reputation which he had previously acquired. It seemed indispensably requisite, therefore, that the Directors should redeem the promises which, at the time of his setting out, and afterwards in their public letters[150], they had made to him. About two months after his return a General Court was held, when the grant of the jaghire for ten years additional, which had been recommended at the previous meeting, was conferred on him by an unanimous vote. His irreconcileable enemies were probably led to decline appearing in opposition to the grant, by the certainty that their efforts would be fruitless.
This affair of the jaghire unluckily tended to alienate Lord Clive more than ever from his friends in the Direction. In truth, their aims were quite opposite. It was Clive's interest, when asking the reward of his services, that the revenues, and other acquisitions gained for the Company, should be published to their full extent: the Directors, fighting against a rise of dividend, were anxious to conceal their amount, and to represent them in as moderate a light as possible. The matter was most essentially important to Lord Clive's interests, and he was at no time very patient of contradiction. They had all along endeavoured to prevent the matter from being brought forward. He felt this conduct very sensibly, and did not conceal his resentment. While he used considerable exertions to secure an ascendency in the Court of Proprietors, he silently left the Court of Directors to follow their own opinions. This gave rise to many reports and groundless surmises. Writing, soon after, to Mr. Scrafton, his very sincere friend, who had differed in opinion from Mr. Walsh as to the management of this affair, he says[151], "I received both your letters at a time when I was too much indisposed to answer them. Neither am I inclined to answer that last part of them at all which relates to a difference in opinion between two friends, both equally hearty and zealous in every thing that concerns my honour and interest. Let it suffice to say, that I never entertained the least doubt of your regard and friendship for me. You are liable to an error of judgment as well as my friend W.; which has been the case sometimes with both of you.—However, I cannot avoid being much surprised at the behaviour of many of the Directors, who, either from jealousy or misrepresentation, or some worse cause, have entertained the injurious opinion that I mean to overthrow them, and be a Director myself. The being a Director may be an object to the Directors, but not to Lord Clive. With regard to overthrowing them I have the interest of the Company too much at heart to attempt any thing of that nature, even if they should behave towards me in the manner which I hear some of them have threatened to do. In short, there are a few individuals whom I never looked upon as my friends, or friends of the Company. Such cannot expect any countenance from me. You have often heard me express myself on that subject."
Mr. Scrafton, before receiving this letter, had written to Lord Clive[152], then at Walcot; and, after congratulating him on the resolution of the General Court on the subject of the jaghire, and wishing him long life to enjoy the prolonged period, proceeds to mention some reports which had reached the Directors, that he had in conversation expressed a wish that the Court were purged of the Chairman, and of many others of the Directors. Mr. Scrafton continues: "I suppose it a very impertinent misrepresentation of something that may have dropped from your Lordship in an unreserved conversation, for I would not wish you really to entertain such a design; for, whatever defects they may have, certainly the present Directors have the merit of having very steadily supported your Lordship while abroad, and are entirely disposed to pay the utmost attention to your advice at home." After pointing out the great evils that would arise from a change of system, the certain consequence of a change of Directors, he continues: "If your Lordship conceives any resentment on the conduct of the Directors respecting the jaghire, you will act from misrepresentation. One or two were cold on the subject, by believing themselves the objects of your resentment, in consequence of Wh—'s story; but the general sense was, 'We cannot, as Directors, recommend so large a grant: the fate the question met with before proves that many thought it too much; but we will give our votes for it.' To conclude, my Lord, I really think it for your own honour, and for the interest of the Company, to support the present set."
This attempt at a justification of the Directors roused Lord Clive, in spite of the state of severe suffering under which he then laboured. "I received your letter," says he in answer[153], "and return you many thanks for your congratulations about the jaghire. However, you will scarce believe me when I tell you that I was, before it was confirmed, and am at this time, very indifferent about it. My wish was to have it brought to a conclusion at any rate; for I could not avoid observing all parties at work to suspend coming to a conclusion; and many were at greater pains, from rank infernal jealousy and envy, to conceal and lessen my services, in order to lessen my influence: but, I thank God, I am now an independent man, what I was determined to be at all events.
"I cannot but take notice of one paragraph of your letter; that the Directors thought the grant too large, and therefore would not recommend it: I am therefore the more obliged to the Proprietors, who were all of a different way of thinking.
"I am obliged to you for your advice about my conduct towards the Directors, because I am persuaded you mean me well; but know, Scrafton, I have a judgment of my own, which has seldom failed me, in cases of much greater consequence than what you recommend. As to the support which, you say, was given to my government, when abroad, by the Directors, they could not have done otherwise, without suffering in their reputation, and perhaps quitting the Direction. In return, let me ask, whose interest contributed to make them Directors, and keep them so? My conduct wanted no support, it supported itself, because it was disinterested, and tended to nothing but the public good. From the beginning it put all mankind at defiance, as it does at this hour: and had the Court of Directors thought fit to make my conduct more public than they have done, all impartial and disinterested men must have done me justice. However, that remains for myself to make known, when convenient and proper.
"After having said thus much, I must tell you (though by your writing you seem to give credit to the report), that what Whately is said to have told Wedderburn is absolutely false, as is every thing else said to have been communicated by Mr. Grenville to Mr. Wedderburn; and I can attribute these mean suspicions of the Directors to nothing but their envy and jealousy. However, as I have often said before, and say now, there is nothing the Directors can do shall make me lose sight of the Company's true interest. Upon principle, I would always stand by the East India Company: I am now farther bound by the ties of gratitude. This is the ground upon which I now stand, and upon which I will risk my reputation. No little, partial considerations shall ever bias me."
For three years previous to this time, Lord Clive's mind had been kept painfully on the stretch. He had been compelled, almost singly, to combat a whole settlement, and especially the highest portion of it, in arms against him, eager to thwart and defeat his plans of reform; he had borne the whole weight of the resentment of the officers of the army, whom he subdued by his force of mind and unrivalled reputation; he had paid off a large portion of the Company's debt; had added an immense sum to their revenue, and had supplied them with an unparalleled investment; he had left their possessions in the East, as he believed, rich and flourishing, and in peace, and had returned with ruined health and a broken constitution. In all his trials, and in very painful circumstances, under which most men would have sunk, he had supported himself by the strong consciousness that he was doing his duty, and meriting the applause of his employers and of the world. It is not surprising, that when he thought himself deserted, and believed that he was the object of the jealousy and slight of the very persons whom he had so illustriously served, his disappointment and resentment should be extreme, and that his sensitive and exasperated mind should almost doubt the existence of human gratitude. But this feeling of disappointment never mingled itself with that of his attachment to the Company itself, as at this very moment, when he was giving vent to the feeling of his wrongs, we find him communicating to the Directors and their committees, with the utmost detail and clearness, his opinions on the whole concerns of the Company, civil, military, and political, in various letters of great length. He did, indeed, feel very acutely some appearances of what he thought want of due respect and consideration on the part of the Directors, in their mode of addressing him; but the whole powers of his mind and experience continued, as much as ever, at the service of the East India Company.
When the business of the jaghire was arranged, Lord Clive set out to visit some of the friends from whom he had been so long separated. In the last days of September, he had, at Birmingham, a very violent attack of bilious cholera, attended with excruciating pain. As soon as he was able he moved to Walcot, and spent the month of October chiefly there and at Styche, in the bosom of his family, and surrounded by his friends. At the latter place, he had another severe attack of the same complaint, attended with very painful symptoms; and it would appear, that he continued freely to indulge in the use of opium, as he had done while in Bengal, to moderate the violence of the paroxysms. His physicians at this time advised his return to Bath, as affording the best hope of promoting the restoration of his health; and he accordingly removed thither in November.
His views of affairs, both in England and India, with some particulars regarding himself, he communicated about this time in a letter to his friend Mr. Verelst. He had doubts whether that gentleman, upright, amiable, and intelligent as he was, possessed sufficient firmness for the difficult situation in which he was placed; and his advice is directed chiefly to encourage him in a bold and decided conduct, the only course by which it was possible to correct the deep-rooted abuses that prevailed in the service. "As my friendship for you," he writes[154] "is too warm and sincere to admit of any reserve, I shall make no apology for the freedom with which I intend, at all times, to communicate to you my sentiments upon the proceedings of your government, wherein your honour and reputation are so deeply concerned." After mentioning his own share in securing the confirmation of Mr. Verelst in his office, he proceeds: "But exclusive of the part I take in your success on my account, my regard and affection for you lead me to reflect, that the reputation as well as private satisfaction of your future life in England, must grow out of the honour which you may, and I trust will, acquire by a resolute and unspotted administration of the Company's affairs in Bengal. Your integrity and the goodness of your heart must be acknowledged by all who know you; and it is with pleasure I observe, that you have set out with a due attention to other necessary and public qualifications. Continue in the full exertion of that steadiness and resolution with which you began your government. Your judgment is sound. Set a just value, then, upon every opinion of your own, and always entertain a prudent degree of suspicion of the advice of any man who can possibly be biassed by self-interested motives. Before I touch upon particulars, permit me to urge, in general, the necessity there is for you and the whole Council and Committee to join in holding the military under due subordination and subjection. The dangerous consequences which may ensue from the least relaxation of command over a body so numerous as the English officers, should ever be thought of with horror, and the good effects of maintaining an inflexible authority cannot be too often recollected, in the instance of the late association.
"I am glad to find that you are upon your guard against the pride and ambition of the Colonel, who, if there be any merit in the conduct of the military officers, will certainly claim the whole to himself, and write the world to that purpose. His last, I should say his first dispute, whether the Governor or the Commanding Officer of the troops ought to have the title of Commander-in-Chief, was such an open and audacious attack upon the dignity of your office, that I am surprised you let it pass unnoticed. Had a minute been made of it, he would infallibly have been dismissed the service.
"It is with great concern I observe that you have consented to the increase of the military establishment, by the raising of four regiments of horse, which will be an exorbitant, and yet useless, expense. General Carnac knows, as I do, that black cavalry, instead of being serviceable, are very detrimental to us. I am also sorry, that you have augmented the artillery. One independent company at Calcutta, in time of peace, will answer every purpose. To have more, either there or at Ghyrotty, is only sacrificing the lives of so many men, without service. The Directors, I fear, will reprimand you on these matters, for they seem much inclined to lessen even the establishment I made for Bengal.
"The sooner you confine the whole of our force within the boundary of the Caramnassa the better. The Abdally's invasion of Bengal must be a mere bugbear. So long a march is next to impossible; and therefore I think he will never attempt it. The Mahratta is the only power we have to manage, as invasions from them must retard our revenues, though they cannot endanger our possessions.
"You certainly did well in persevering not to restore the Monghyr officers; and I hope you have obliged all, except the young lads, to embark for England.
"You will have heard, that all our letters and proceedings have been laid before both Houses of Parliament, and publicly read. Not only the Directors, but every man of consequence from Bengal, have been examined upon oath before the House of Lords; so that thousands of people are now well acquainted with the revenues, forces, and politics of India, and of Bengal in particular. Permit me here again, my friend, to remind you of the conspicuous situation you are placed in. Consider well the great expectations which this nation entertains of extricating itself out of its present difficulties, by the skill and conduct of the Governor of Bengal. You must therefore exert yourself to the utmost to fulfil its hopes; for, as I have already observed, hereupon depends, whether you will be a very respectable character, or not, upon your return to England.
"With regard to myself, my health has been very indifferent ever since my arrival; but I am now following a regimen which has done me much service, and will, I hope, recover me entirely. I have met with the most gracious reception from the King and Queen, and a very respectful and honourable one from the Court of Directors; nor is there any doubt of my getting an English Peerage, whenever I make application for that purpose, which, I understand, is always the custom: but the very unsettled Administration, and my private notions, will not admit of my applying at present. Hereafter, in all probability, the thing will come to pass.
"With regard to the Directors, I tell you frankly, that no one can entertain a worse opinion of many of them than I do. They have neither abilities nor resolution to manage such important concerns as are now under their care. Of this the world in general seem very sensible; and yet what to do I protest I know not. An attempt to reform may throw matters into greater confusion.
"You see my jaghire is at last continued to me and my representatives for ten years after the expiration of my present right. I am more obliged to the Proprietors for this grant than to the Directors, who threw a great deal of cold water upon it. Indeed, their whole conduct towards me and my associates in Committee has shown weakness, or something worse; for they have upon all occasions endeavoured to lessen the acquisitions we have obtained for them, and kept every thing that might contribute to our reputation as secret as possible; and, if Parliament had not brought our transactions to light, mankind would have been ignorant of what has been done. In short, they appear very envious and jealous of my influence, and give ear to every idle story of my being hostile towards them. Every thing looks as if we were not upon good terms. They have even asked my opinion upon their affairs in such a mean, sneaking manner, that I have informed one of them, unless I am applied to in form, and unless more attention be paid to my advice, I shall decline giving any whatsoever. Thus stand matters at present; but how long they may remain so I know not, nor what changes may happen at the next election.
"From the manner in which I carried the extension of the jaghire, I conclude the Directors will pay more attention to my opinions than they lately did; but it will be rather through fear than inclination. They desired, and I consented to a conference with them, and intended going to London from Shropshire on purpose; but my health has obliged me to come to Bath, where I daily expect a deputation to consult on many important points which the gentlemen cannot themselves readily determine upon."
His hopes of the efficacy of the Bath waters for removing his complaints were soon disappointed. Not experiencing that benefit from them which he had expected, his physicians recommended his leaving England for a season, and trying the air of the south of France. In the beginning of January, 1768, he removed from Bath to Berkeley Square; and on the 17th of that month, Mr. Strachey, in a letter to Mr. Verelst, written to recommend a young man, to whom Lord Clive had promised a letter, observes, "Knowing this state of the case, I think myself bound to acquaint you with it, for the physicians have wisely prohibited Lord Clive from all attention to business. He is to-day much better than when I wrote you t'other day; but we are taught not to expect his recovery without the assistance of the south of France."
But the activity of Lord Clive's mind was not easily restrained by bodily suffering. Even during this period he wrote several important letters to the Court of Directors, and to their Committees of Correspondence and Treasury, chiefly on their military affairs. On the 19th, he writes his friend Call at Madras: "I have suffered so much ever since my arrival in England, that I have not been able to interfere so much with public affairs as I could wish; and the bilious disorder is at last arrived at such a height, that there seems no other remedy but that of going to the south without delay; and in two hours I hope to be getting into my carriage for that purpose.
"With regard to the present Court of Directors, I can only say they are universally despised and hated; will certainly be hard pushed next April, and, if I and my friends do not support them, must fall. Their ignorance and obstinacy are beyond conception.
"I write the Nabob Mahommed Ali by this conveyance. The Queen received his presents in the most gracious manner from my hands. I was in private with her Majesty in her closet near an hour; and the chief part of the time was taken up about the Nabob and his prosperity. The Queen has promised me to write to him in the most gracious manner, and assured me at the same time of her disposition to render the Nabob any service in her power.
"We shall come very strong into Parliament this year—seven without opposition, probably one more; Lord Clive, Shrewsbury; Richard Clive, Montgomery; William and George Clive, Bishop's Castle; John Walsh, Worcester; Henry Strachey, Pontefract; and Edmund Maskelyne, probably either for Whitechurch or Cricklade.
"As things were too far advanced in favour of Dupré before my arrival, I take it for granted we shall see you next year, when I shall be glad to receive you with open arms, and assist you with all my interest in your parliamentary or any other views whatever; for, although I suffer excruciating torments from the nature of my disorder, yet, if we may credit the faculty, there is no danger of loss of life."
He set out, accompanied by Lady Clive and a small party, consisting of her relation, Mrs. Latham, Mr. Maskelyne, her brother, Mr. Strachey and Mr. Ingham. The change seems instantly to have produced a beneficial effect; and he had not long left England when we find, from the letters of his friends, that his improved state of health and freedom from pain enabled him to diminish the quantity of opium he had previously been obliged to use.
A few days after his arrival in Paris, he wrote Mr. Verelst as follows[155]:—"I am certain it will give you infinite pleasure to hear of my safe arrival at this place, and of my recovery beyond what either my friends or myself could have imagined or expected in so short a time. The remedy, I believe, was found out before I left England; but the travelling and climate have undoubtedly done me much good. In short, by the time I have spent a few months in the south of France, and drank the waters of Spa, I doubt not of enjoying a better state of health than I have done for some years.
"I cannot but acknowledge that my recovery gives me a more particular pleasure from the prospect I have of exerting myself in favour of the Company next winter, a time very critical for them indeed, since it will then be finally determined upon what footing they are to be in future; whether a part, or the whole, or none of the power be lodged in them hereafter. Let me tell you in secret, that I have the King's command to lay before him my ideas of the Company's affairs both at home and abroad, with a promise of his countenance and protection in every thing I might attempt for the good of the nation and the Company. Mr. Grenville also, who, I think, must be minister at last, paid me a visit at Berkeley Square, two days before I left London, and did me the honour to say, that, in his opinion, it was the duty of the Court of Directors to let no steps whatever be taken, either at home or abroad, without my advice; and to assure me that either in ministry or out of it, he would preach that doctrine in the House of Commons." In the sequel of this letter he advises the Governor to attempt to send home a million, or even two, of gold, and enters at great length into the impolicy of the Directors in their intentions to change the arrangements which he had made regarding the salt trade. His opinions on the latter subject are always clear and consistent; and he was strongly impressed with a conviction of the soundness of the advice which he uniformly offered on this very important point. The former advice proves, as does his whole correspondence, his undoubting belief, that Bengal, if its affairs were wisely and economically administered, would always afford a large available surplus. He complains justly, as many circumstanced like himself have since done, of the general ignorance that prevailed on Indian affairs. "It is certain," says he, writing about this time to a friend[156], "that both the Directors and Parliament are superlatively ignorant of our affairs abroad, notwithstanding the great lights received in the late inquiries; yet still they remain in the dark, and comprehend nothing about it. If my constitution would have admitted of my attending Parliament and General Courts, I am vain enough to think my knowledge and influence would have set things to rights. However, it is certain my own interest, my gratitude and affection for the Company, will not allow me to be silent; and if my constitution will not permit me to speak, I will most certainly write."
From Paris he proceeded to Lyons, and thence to Montpelier, where he resided for some time. Finding his health extremely improved, he returned to Paris, whence it would appear that he visited the Spa; and, in spite of the remonstrances of his physicians, who advised him to pass the winter on the Continent, returned to England, probably in the end of August or beginning of September.
During his absence the Parliament had been dissolved, and a general election had taken place, by the return of several members to which his political influence was considerably increased. He was at this time annoyed, for a moment, by a pamphlet which Sir Robert Fletcher published, regarding the proceedings on his court-martial, and was inclined to answer it; a resolution from which he was, with difficulty, diverted by the representations of his friends; who assured him, that Sir Robert's pamphlet had produced no unfavourable effect; as every military officer was of opinion, from Sir Robert's own statements, that he had been leniently dealt with.
Soon after his return to England, he had taken his place in Parliament for Shrewsbury; and he delivered his opinions in the House with considerable effect on Indian affairs, to which he confined himself. He also occasionally took a part in the proceedings of the Court of Proprietors. At this crisis, the terms of the agreement negotiated between the Government and East India Company became the subject of discussion; and the conditions were agitated by the adverse parties with uncommon heat in the General Courts. Lord Clive's temper, keen and impatient of controul, was but ill suited for such a warfare. He soon felt this, and wrote from Bath, where he had gone for his health, to communicate on the subject with his constant and valuable friend, Mr. Grenville, who gave him the soundest advice.
"Wotton, Dec. 29, 1768.
"My dear Lord,
"I am much obliged to you for the honour of your letter of the 24th of this month, which I received, together with the minutes of the last General Meeting of the East India Company, by the last post. I think that you are extremely in the right in your determination not to leave the care of your health during this short vacation, in order to attend at the next meeting for the consideration of the proposals from the Court of Directors to the Treasury, with the Treasury's answer, and the resolution of the Directors thereupon, which, you tell me, is postponed to the 4th of January next. The account which you have sent to me of what passed at the last Court, is of itself a sufficient reason, in my opinion, for your declining to attend at the next, whilst things are in the state of uncertainty and irregularity in which they appear to me; and, therefore, even if your health would allow it (the establishment of which must be with me and all your friends superior to any other consideration), yet I should not advise you to interfere in these questions till they come nearer to an issue. If these disputes shall be carried to greater lengths, your opinion will necessarily have still greater weight, both within doors and without: if, on the contrary, they shall all be agreed and settled before the next meeting, I do not see that your interposition will be attended with any credit to you, or advantage to the public. If this great question is to be brought before the Parliament, with every thing in a state of uncertainty, as it was last year, as you truly observe that it may be necessary for you to take some part there, it seems to me that it would be more desirable for you to keep yourself at liberty in that case, and not to pledge yourself beforehand to no purpose, at a General Court. These, my dear Lord, are my sentiments upon the general situation; which as you desired to know them, I have given to you with the utmost freedom. As to the particular proposals, I wish to reserve them till we meet, when we may consider them at large; whereas, at present, it is impossible for me, on many accounts, to enter into the discussion of them. I sincerely hope that the Bath waters may be attended with every benefit to you which you can desire from them; or, what is more, which your friends can desire for you. Mrs. Grenville joins with me in these wishes, as well as in presenting our respects to Lady Clive, and our best compliments to Mr. Strachey. I am, my dear Lord, with the most perfect regard and esteem,
"Your most affectionate friend
"and most faithful humble servant,
"George Grenville."
Mr. Grenville reverts to this subject in a future letter, in which, at the entreaty of a friend, he earnestly solicits Lord Clive not to interpose his negative on the proposition for restoring Sir Robert Fletcher to the Company's service. "Since I began this letter[157]," says he, "which I intended to have sent by the last post, but was prevented by an accidental illness, which, I hope, is now over, I have had an account of the bad news which has been received from the East Indies. This answers so exactly to what you foretold in the House of Commons, that it leaves those without excuse who have totally neglected all the means you then pointed out to obviate the evil consequences which are likely to attend their present situation. This event too is, I think, a fresh argument to confirm you in your former disposition, not to interpose in any private disputes, but to keep yourself in the honourable state of a public man, only contributing his advice and assistance when asked, to preserve to this country that great empire which he had so great a share in acquiring. These, my dear Lord, are my sentiments; and whether they are well founded or not, I am sure you will excuse my troubling you with them from the motive of it, which is the sincere regard I bear to you."
Lord Chatham having resigned his office of Privy Seal in October, 1768, and a reconciliation having taken place between him and Lord Temple, as well as between Mr. George Grenville and the Rockingham party, the opposition soon became very powerful, and united the principal talents of the country. Parties ran high, and the debates were often stormy. Lord Clive aided with all his influence his friend Mr. Grenville, to whom, both from public principle and private feeling, he was strongly attached. In one of the many political changes which took place at this time, Mr. Wedderburn was in danger of being deprived of a seat in the House; and from the following letter of Mr. Grenville, it appears that Lord Clive stepped forward in the handsomest manner to preserve to his party the benefit of that gentleman's great and useful talents.
"Bolton Street, May 10, 1769.
"My dear Lord,
"I have this moment received the honour of your letter, whilst Mr. Wedderburn was with me, to whom I have executed your commission. He is extremely sensible of this great mark of your Lordship's esteem and regard, and still more so of the very honourable manner in which you have made the proposition for rechoosing him into Parliament, which he desires me to assure your Lordship shall certainly remain a secret with him, till you give him leave to disclose it, though, as the offer which you made when this extraordinary measure of forcing him out of Parliament was first talked of, is already known to five or six different persons, that secret is not so entire as I now wish it was; however, I hope it will not get out, so as to be attended with the least inconvenience to you. If any thing could give me a higher opinion of your character and conduct than that which I entertained before, it would be your behaviour upon this occasion, which I am fully persuaded, as soon as it is proper to be known, the world will see with the same sentiments of approbation, though not with the same feelings of your constant friendship and kindness, which fill the mind of,
"My dear Lord,
"Your Lordship's most affectionate
"and most devoted humble servant,
"George Grenville."
Mr. Grenville's health had already began to decline, and soon after rapidly failed. His last exertion in the House, that of carrying through the Act which goes under his name for regulating the proceedings in the House of Commons in contested elections, was of itself a great public service. It was passed in April, 1770, and he died on the 13th of November following. This event was communicated to Lord Clive, then at Bath, by Mr. Wedderburn, in the following letter, which is also interesting in other respects:—
"My dear Lord,
"The misfortune we dreaded has at last happened. I could not prevail upon myself to send you the first account of it, knowing from my own experience how much you would feel upon such an occasion. I had it immediately in my view for three days together, and yet I was shocked with the event that I had expected.
"I am not able to send you any distinct account of the opening of the Parliament, for I have not yet been in the House of Commons; and if people would impute my absence to its true cause, a real indifference to all that passes there at present, I should continue for some time in the same ignorance. Mr. Woodfall has done me the honour of making me refuse an office that never was offered to me. If it had, your Lordship will do me the justice to believe, that you would not have received the first intimation of it from a newspaper. Whatever part I may take in this conjuncture, will never be decided without the fullest communication with you; and I am persuaded your Lordship's sentiments upon the present unfortunate occasion are so similar to those I feel, that no circumstance is likely to make us think differently. It is possible, I believe, even in these times, for a man to acquire some degree of credit without being enlisted in any party; and, if it is, the situation, I am sure, is more eligible than any other that either a Court or an Opposition have to bestow.
"If Bath agrees with your Lordship, as I trust it does, I should not wish to see you in town; but I very much wish that it were in my power to make you a visit at Bath: I should then have the pleasure of hearing your sentiments upon the present state of affairs, which I assure you, without any sort of compliment, but in the plainest sincerity, will always have more weight with me than perhaps you will wish them to have; and I should likewise have the good fortune to escape hearing the sentiments of people who, in this town, have no other employment than to speculate for their neighbours."
"Lincoln's Inn Fields,
"14th November, 1770."
Lord Clive's answer is equally creditable to his heart and understanding;
"Bath, 18th November, 1770.
"Dear Sir,
"If the receipt of your very obliging and confidential letter had not roused me, I doubt much whether I should have prevailed upon myself to put pen to paper, though there is something within that tells me, I shall at last overcome a disorder so very distressing both to the mind (and to the body). Although the waters agree with me better than any place I have yet tried, yet by my feelings, a journey abroad I fear must be undertaken, before I can obtain a perfect recovery of my health.
"Mr. Grenville's death, though long expected, could not but affect me very severely. Gratitude first bound me to him: a more intimate connection afterwards gave an opportunity of admiring his abilities, and respecting his worth and integrity. The dissolution of our valuable friend has shipwrecked all our hopes for the present; and my indisposition hath not only made me indifferent [to the world of politics[158]], but to the world in general. What effect returning health may have, I cannot answer for; but if I can judge for myself in my present situation, I wish to support that independency which will be approved of by my friends in particular, and by the public in general. My sentiments are the same as yours, with regard to our conduct in the present times.
"Your delicacy towards me serves only to convince me of the propriety of my conduct in leaving you the absolute master of your own conduct in Parliament, free from all control but that of your own judgment, and I am happy in this opportunity"—(defect in the MS.)
"Your great and uncommon abilities must sooner or latter place you in one of the first posts of this kingdom; and you may be assured no man on earth wishes to see your honour and your independency firmly established in this kingdom, more than,
"Dear Sir,
"Your affectionate friend,
"and obedient servant,
"Clive."
Mr. Grenville's death was felt by Lord Clive as a great and almost irreparable loss. That statesman was the person in public life to whom he had always most closely attached himself. Mr. Grenville's great political experience, his honourable disposition, his warm and unvarying friendship, made Lord Clive ever ready to listen to his advice, and in general willing to follow it. On his death, the party, which had been kept together chiefly by his personal influence, separated, some accepting office with the Minister, among whom was Mr. Wedderburn, who was made Solicitor-General; others joining the Rockingham party, then in opposition. For some time Lord Clive seems to have avoided taking a decided part in public affairs, though his parliamentary interest, independent of the weight of his personal character, would have made him a valuable acquisition to any party. Perhaps, before definitively making up his mind, he wished to ascertain the line that each was disposed to take in Indian affairs. He was thus thrown adrift on the sea of politics. That he belonged to no party bound in honour to support and do him justice, and so was occasionally exposed to the hostility of all, was perhaps one of the greatest of evils to one who had so many bitter enemies as Lord Clive, and was one of the misfortunes which he owed to the death of his excellent friend Mr. Grenville.
His time was not wholly occupied by public business. He gave up much of it to the numerous friends who were warmly attached to him, and he did not neglect his private concerns. He had purchased several noble estates in different parts of the country, and in the choice of them was not inattentive to the object of increasing his parliamentary influence. On these properties he had several mansion houses, though Walcot continued to be his favourite residence. He purchased from the Duchess of Newcastle, the noble property of Claremont, and made several changes on that magnificent place: at Bath he acquired the lease of Lord Chatham's house. In London, he still had his house in Berkeley Square. The old family seat of Styche, now much improved, was generally occupied by some of his relations. He indulged the natural liberality of his disposition by living in a style of considerable splendour, and he laid the foundation of a choice collection of paintings, by the purchase of several master-pieces of the Italian schools.
Though only in his forty-sixth year, his friends were already fast falling around him. He had lost two sisters while he was absent in India. In May, 1771, he had to lament the death of his aged father, as he had of his sister, the Honourable Mrs Sempill, before the year was done.
The occupations which engaged him in public life, whether in Parliament or at the India House, were not of a nature to fill or satisfy a mind like his. He lived at a period when there was a rapid succession of administrations, produced more by intrigue and party arrangements than by any grand national object. There was much indecision, and a remarkable want of any commanding talent in all the various ministries that were formed. Clive, accustomed to an almost unlimited command over many provinces, often sickened almost as much at the inadequate and temporising measures of Parliament, as at the quarrels of the Directors, or the petty but exhausting intrigues of the India House; and in many parts of his correspondence vents his longings for the ease and quiet of a country life; longings perfectly sincere and natural, but the indulgence of which, to one of his ardent and restless character, so long accustomed to the agitations of public business, would probably have failed to bring the happiness which he anticipated.
Affairs in India had in the mean time taken a very unfavourable turn. Even during the three years of the government of Mr. Verelst, a man of good judgment, of industry, and the purest intentions, a deficiency of funds was severely felt. This was not so much from a decline in the revenues, though Lord Clive had perhaps estimated them beyond their real amount, as from various other causes. The civil, military, and commercial expenses were daily increasing, when the steady hand that had checked their natural tendency to excess was removed. Immense sums were spent on building forts, barracks, &c.: the system of overcharge, and waste, from design or carelessness, again pervaded every branch of the service: the pay of the whole superior officers, civil and military, which had formerly been chiefly defrayed by the Salt Society, now fell directly on the revenues. The whole course of commerce, which had been disordered for some years, was disordered still more by the immense investments raised for the Company, not as formerly in exchange for bullion or silver imported from Europe, but from the revenues of the country itself, and with all the disadvantageous circumstances attending a political monopoly; for, while the exportation of bullion to China continued, even the sums formerly brought by foreigners had ceased; as the English, who had large private fortunes to remit home, supplied them liberally with funds in India, in exchange for bills on Europe, which prevented for a time the importation of the precious metals as merchandise. Clive's last act had been to withdraw the Europeans from out-stations, and to limit their interference with the internal trade; a measure which, however exceptionable it would be in a country where equal law existed, had become absolutely necessary where European delinquency had no adequate check, and where the grossest injustice could be practised by white traders and their agents, on the timid and defenceless natives. Soon after the Company had abolished the Salt Society, professedly on the general principle of hostility to monopolies, and to restore the trade to the natives, they published the order declaring the trade open to all, whether natives or Europeans; an act by which, contrary to their intentions, they in reality restored a more grievous and exceptionable monopoly than that which had existed before. Besides all this, the unfortunate and ill-conducted war on the Coromandel Coast, made it necessary to send large sums from Bengal to that quarter.
There is, perhaps, no instance in history of a country that has continued, for any considerable length of time, to send a very large proportion of its revenues, as a regular tribute, out of its own territory. The difficulty is to get a country, however rich, to be able to supply the expenses of its own government. This, even in the most favourable circumstances, is no easy task. A bold, active, and resolute ruler, like Frederick of Prussia, or Lord Clive, may, by the force of personal character, reduce expenses, for a given time, within the narrowest bounds; but the natural tendency of a prosperous country is, to contrive means of consuming on the spot, by indulgences, which come to be considered as necessaries, and by corresponding salaries or allowances, the whole sum that is raised by taxation. A country like Bengal, in which the European, so far as the native was concerned, was subject to the influence of no public opinion, and so far as regarded his own countrymen, to a very imperfect one, was not likely to form an exception to this rule. The golden dreams, in which all parties had indulged from the wealth of the country, were rudely disturbed, though none were quite sure of the exact causes.
We have already seen that an agreement, for one year, was concluded between the Government and the Directors, in 1767, and renewed in the ensuing year, by which the Company became bound to pay 400,000l. in each of these years to the Government. When the agreement was about to expire, the Directors were again strongly pressed by the Government, and after some negotiation a bargain was concluded, by which the Company agreed to pay to the public the sum of 400,000l. annually, for five years longer; besides undertaking to export a certain value of British goods: they were to be at liberty to increase their dividend, during that time, to 12½ per cent., the increase not to exceed 1 per cent. in any one year. If the Company were under the necessity of reducing their dividend, an equal proportion was to be deducted from the annual payment to Government; and if their dividends were reduced to 6 per cent., the payment to the public was to cease altogether. Provision was also made for the case of a large surplus, and its appropriation prescribed.
This agreement was violently opposed in every step of its progress. Among others, Lord Clive, we have seen, was decidedly hostile to it, and used every exertion, not only with the Directors, and in the Court of Proprietors, but in his place in Parliament, to prevent its being concluded. He was of opinion that the Directors sacrificed the interests of the Company to their fears, and that the Ministers extorted unreasonable concessions from their weakness. Writing to his brother-in-law, the Hon. Colonel Sempill, while the Act was in progress, he says[159], "My journey to the south of France and the Spa waters has restored me to more health than I have enjoyed for some years; and I think, in a very short time, I shall be tired of the bustle going on in this busy world, and seek for ease in a retired country life. The newspapers will make known to you the distracted state of affairs in almost every part of the extended empire of Great Britain. It is no wonder that our East India affairs should partake of the same confusion. Administration, and the Directors, seem to think of nothing but the present moment. The one seems resolved to strip the Company of all they can; and the other to submit to any thing, rather than risk their stations, power, and authority at the next general election."—"Parliamentary concerns have embroiled me more than is good for my health, and already I begin to grow tired of them."
He had ceased to attend the General Courts, and did not even ballot upon any question, except that regarding the agreement with Government, which he opposed; but which, after three efforts, the combined force of the Administration and the Directors carried by a majority of 40; 290 for, 250 against.
Writing to Mr. Claud Russell[160], in Bengal, he takes a comprehensive and sound view of national concerns at the turbulent period which immediately preceded the American war. "To describe the situation of our affairs at home," says he, "would require a much abler pen and more time than I am at present master of. We are drawing very fast towards a dangerous crisis, from which we can only be extricated by some first-rate genius, and where to find that genius does not appear at present. Our wide and extended possessions are become too great for the mother country, or for our abilities, to manage. America is making great strides towards independency; so is Ireland. The East Indies also, I think, cannot remain long to us, if our present constitution be not altered. A Direction for a year only, and that time entirely taken up in securing Directors for the year to come, cannot long maintain that authority which is requisite for the managing and governing such extensive, populous, rich, and powerful kingdoms as the East India Company are at present possessed of. So far are our Ministers from thinking of some plan for securing this great and national object, that they think of nothing but the present moment, and of squeezing from the Company every shilling they have to spare, and even more than they can well spare, consistent with their present circumstances. I have drawn out my thoughts on this important subject, but I dare not trust them to so divided, weak, and selfish an Administration. If Lord Chatham and Mr. Grenville should appear once more at the head of affairs (of which there is some prospect), they are the only men capable, in my opinion, of embracing such ideas, which you know are extensive ones.
"Mr. Sulivan," he continues, "still entertains hopes of being a Director, and Mr. Vansittart of being Governor of Bengal; to which ambitious views I shall give every opposition in my power. For, if I could admit, which is far from the case, that both are every way qualified for the stations they are aspiring at, yet, I know their connections to be such, that they must attempt the overthrow of that system which hitherto has been attended with so much advantage to the nation and the Company. The efforts which have been made are great, yet I am confident they will fail in their designs, if the Directors remain united among themselves, which, at present, there is a great probability of, notwithstanding the divisions and dissensions which have lately arisen among them, about the propositions made to Government. I myself am strongly against them, as they stand at present; because I think neither the welfare of the public, nor of the Company, have been consulted, and that the Directors have committed themselves too much to administration, from an apprehension of a Parliamentary inquiry, and from a dread of being again examined at the bar of the House of Commons.
"My best wishes are offered for your speedy return to your native country with health and independency, without which there can be no happiness in this life; and the sooner that event happens, the more pleasure it will afford,
"Yours, &c."
He writes in the same style to several of his friends, and from many of his letters it appears, that the occasional disappointment suffered by a mind so ardent as his, and so little accustomed to be thwarted, had turned his thoughts strongly to retirement. "The conduct of the Directors, in committing themselves in the manner they have done to Administration," he observes in a letter to Mr. Sykes[161], "is unworthy of them, and contrary to their duty as Directors. In my conduct, I have taken up the great line of future advantage, both to the nation and to the Company. I spoke long upon the subject in the House of Commons, and with some applause, but all to no purpose; the necessities of the state, and present gain, weighed down and overpowered all argument."—"In my opinion, the sooner you return to England the better. I know that your fortune is more than sufficient, and that it has been honourably acquired. Come, then, and partake with us in country retirement; and when you want to amuse yourself in town and serve your country, be as we are, a member of Parliament. What can I say more than that I am, &c."
"To tell you the truth," says he, in a letter of the same date, to Sir Robert Barker, "after the next general election, I find myself very much disposed to withdraw myself from all public concerns whatever. My own happiness and that of my family is the only object I have in view, and that can only be obtained by retirement from the bustle and noise of a busy, debauched, and half-ruined nation."
In the April election which followed, Mr. Sulivan's party renewed their efforts to recover their seats and influence in the Direction. Immense efforts had long been making for that purpose. Many of their friends had purchased largely of India stock, and divided what they possessed, for the purpose of making new votes. The ships' husbands, as they are called, a body of great wealth and influence at the India House, who had quarrelled with the Directors, split 150,000l. of stock against them. Lord Shelburne was said to have split 100,000l. of stock to support his friend Sulivan. The Directors had alienated many of the Proprietors by opposing the increase of dividend, and they had violent differences among themselves, so that two of them refused to concur in the proposed House List. The consequence was, that Mr. Sulivan and his friends, who were also supported by the ministry, were brought into the Direction, and a very important change of system followed. The friendship that had long subsisted between Lord Clive and Mr. Vansittart, had been first shaken by the revolution effected in Bengal under Mr. Vansittart's government, when Meer Jaffier, whom Lord Clive had placed on the musnud, and protected, was dethroned: the coolness that followed was increased by Mr. Vansittart's connection with Mr. Sulivan, whom he joined in the politics of the India House; and an open rupture, the particulars of which it is unnecessary to detail, followed, soon after Lord Clive's return to England. Vansittart's great object was to return to Bengal as Governor, or even as Governor-General of India. The restoration of his friends to power was favourable to these views; and the two parties, each of which was able to impede the other, but not entirely to carry its own objects, found it expedient to come to a compromise. The state of India absolutely required that the public affairs there should be placed on a better footing. Instead of sending out an individual, it was finally arranged that a commission of supervisors should be appointed, with very ample powers to investigate on the spot into every department of affairs, and the conduct of the public officers; to suspend, if necessary, even the presidents and councils, and to frame regulations adapted to the exigency of circumstances. To this important trust Mr. Vansittart, Colonel Forde, and Mr. Scrafton, all of whom had distinguished themselves in the country, were appointed; the first by the influence of Mr. Sulivan, the two last by that of Lord Clive. It is well known that the Aurora frigate, in which they sailed, was never heard of after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and is supposed to have foundered at sea. Lord Clive, writing to Mr. Verelst, in the end of this year, alludes to these transactions; "The public papers," says he[162], "and your friends, will explain to you the India politics. The severe blow given the old Directors last year, by the admission of Sulivan and so many of his party, has been the occasion of all that has happened; and we were obliged to compound with Vansittart for his being Supervisor jointly with Scrafton and Forde, to prevent his going out Governor to Bengal, or Governor-General, which was the thing aimed at. Mr. Vansittart received all the support which Ministry, the Court, and Princess Dowager could give, and was very near succeeding in his ambitious designs. When you arrive in England," he continues, "you will find me at Claremont, a delightful place, about fourteen miles from London, and in your way from Portsmouth, if you land at that place."
The same views are contained in his letter of the 15th of February, 1770, to Mr. Kelsall.
"Dear Sir,
"I have received your letter, dated Dacca, January, 1769, and should have given you my sentiments upon the contents, if the appointment of Supervisors with such great powers had not made all reply useless and unnecessary. These gentlemen will, I hope, take into their most serious consideration, the state of the Company's affairs in every part of India, and apply proper remedies to every evil. I do not at all envy them their appointment, being certain they will find it a very difficult task to answer the expectations of the public, without disgusting and disobliging individuals. If they can find the happy expedient of doing strict justice to the Company, and of giving satisfaction to the civil, military, and free merchants, they will have found out an art that I was not master of during my last residence in India.
"I will not trouble you with the situation of affairs in England. Anarchy and confusion seem to have pervaded every part of the British empire. In vain can we expect our affairs shall flourish abroad, when all is going to ruin at home. The Directors are so divided among themselves, and so much taken up in struggling for power at every general election, that they have quite lost sight of the Company's interest, which is daily sacrificed to their own views, and the views of particular Proprietors, to answer their purposes."—
"With regard to myself, having struggled long enough against the tide to very little purpose, I am determined the approaching election shall put an end to my activity, in support of any set of men whatever. It is beyond my power to do the Company any farther service; and the disposition to ease and retirement gains ground upon me daily. The best and soundest advice I can give you is, to return to England rather with a moderate competency, while you have youth and constitution to enjoy it, than by staying longer, lose that youth, and sacrifice that constitution, which no riches can possibly compensate for. Hoping soon to see you in England, I am,
"Dear Sir,
"Your sincere friend and affectionate kinsman,
"Clive."
The elections of April, 1770 and 1771, in which Mr. Sulivan's party was still powerfully supported, had not a tendency to recall Lord Clive's mind from his plan of retreat;—"The loss of the Supervisors," says he, writing to Mr. Henry Moore, Chief of Bussorah[163], "since the last advices from India, is looked upon as certain. I hope the same Providence, which has so often manifested itself in our favour in the East, will continue to watch over us, and extricate us from the almost insurmountable difficulties in which we seem to be involved. It is not unlikely but a new commission may take place; but where the Directors will find men every way qualified to execute such a task, is hard to say." In the conclusion he adds, "I am come to the resolution of withdrawing myself entirely from India affairs, and spending the rest of my days in ease and retirement." These were the natural longings for retreat, and aspirations after repose, of a great and active mind, fatigued with petty exertions, and disappointed in its endeavours to be useful; but it was a repose which Clive was not destined to enjoy.
Meanwhile, the derangements in the various branches of the Company's affairs abroad continued to increase. No one felt more strongly than Lord Clive the evils that resulted from them, or was more aware of the extreme difficulty of applying a remedy; but at the same time his experience taught him, that by a judicious management much might be effected. The chief sources of expense arose from a jealousy of Sujah-u-Dowlah's designs, and from the ill-conducted war against Hyder Ali. In a letter to Sir Robert Barker, written at a time when there was a very general alarm, which produced a great fall of India stock, he gives very distinctly his ideas of the leading principles of our Indian policy;—"Both the Directors and the nation[164]," says he, "are more apprehensive of the consequence of a rupture with Sujah Dowlah than I confess I am, even from your accounts of the state of affairs in that part of the world.
"All the efforts of that ambitious prince must prove vain against our numbers, revenues, and discipline. His sepoys, when they come to action, will never stand against ours, headed by English officers; and, if he trusts to his infantry alone, the loss of a battle will be ruin. But if he makes war upon us in Bengal with them, he may distress us for a time, and lessen both our investments and revenues, which is the greatest detriment the nation and Company can suffer. At present, however, I both wish and hope, he has no views to the southward, but that he bends his thoughts towards Delhi, and wishes to have the King with him. So do I too, if the King's consent could be obtained for that purpose. I was always apprehensive the King would endeavour to embark us, by some means or other, in his extensive views of going to Delhi, and reducing to obedience by our means all Hindostan. This is a plan I have always opposed; and, to tell you the truth, I wish our troops were all in Bengal, and that no other object employed our attention, but that of defending ourselves when attacked. I wish the King was gone to Delhi or any where, so as we had nothing more to do with him; or that he could be prevailed upon to spend the rest of his days and money quietly at Patna. I think the wisest scheme we could pursue would be, to take no open part with these Hindostan princes, but privately promote their quarrelling to all eternity."
His letter to General Joseph Smith on the war in the Carnatic, is too creditable to that gallant officer to be omitted.
"Berkeley Square, 9th March, 1770.
"Dear Sir,
"I have received, and am much obliged to you for your accurate and circumstantial letter of the 15th of June, 1769.[165] Our misfortunes, and I may add, our mismanagements on the coast, have been great indeed: but it is some satisfaction to me to find, that your conduct has been such as all who know you had reason to expect; and that, whoever may have been to blame, no impeachment can be laid against you. I need not enter into reflections upon the fundamental errors of the war. For the honour of the nation and the Company, I wish they could be for ever buried in oblivion, or at least remembered only by ourselves, to warn us upon any future occasion. The measure of sending field-deputies has justly been condemned by every body. Gentlemen in the civil service may be very properly employed out of the presidency in the collection of the revenues; but nothing can be more absurd and pernicious than sending them to a camp, where they can only embarrass or obstruct plans and operations which they do not understand. I sincerely wish that the peace, however ingloriously made, may continue: but this is merely a wish, and by no means my expectation. I am with great regard, &c."
The difficulties in Bengal went on increasing. Mr. Cartier's mild but feeble government, which began in January 1770, was marked by one of those horrible famines which afflict a populous country like Bengal, dependent chiefly on its agriculture, above all others. One third of the natives are computed to have perished by sickness and famine. The revenues and trade of the country, which were suffering before, were still more disordered by this new calamity. The expense of establishments, instead of diminishing, increased; and instead of a surplus revenue to be remitted home, the extent of bills which had been drawn on the Court of Directors in England, during the latter part of Mr. Verelst's Government, was prodigiously increased. On Mr. Cartier's resignation, it was necessary to think of some able successor to meet the difficulties that were so sensibly felt. Mr. Hastings was finally pitched upon. We have seen that that gentleman had served for some time in an important situation under Lord Clive. He was in Council during Vansittart's administration, and his minutes evince the extent of his information and talents. He accompanied Mr. Vansittart home, and had remained in England about four years, when the pressure of narrow circumstances again forced him to think of the East.
Mr. Sykes, in a letter to Lord Clive, dated Calcutta, 28th of March, 1768, observes, "Your Lordship knows my regard for Mr. Hastings, and the intimacy which we have maintained during so many years."—"I have now brought his affairs nearly to a conclusion, and sorry I am to say, they turn out more to the credit of his moderation than knowledge of the world. He is almost literally worth nothing, and must return to India, or want bread. I therefore make it my earnest request to your Lordship, that, even if you cannot consistently promote his reappointment to the Company's service, you will at least not give any opposition thereto." At this time parties ran very high between the Directors and the party of Sulivan and Vansittart, to which Hastings had attached himself. Lord Clive did not, however reject this appeal to his generosity, in behalf of a man for whom he had always felt a kindness; "Mr. Hastings' connection with Vansittart," says he in reply[166], "subjects him to many inconveniences. The opposition given the Directors this year, prevented my obtaining his return to Bengal in Council. Indeed he is so great a dupe to Vansittart's politics, that I think it would be improper that he should go to Bengal in any station, and I am endeavouring to get him out to Madras, high in Council there, in which I believe I shall succeed." In the course of the following year, Mr. Hastings was accordingly sent to Madras, second in Council, and there distinguished himself by his zeal and intelligence. The loss of Vansittart in the Aurora, probably took away the chief objection to his removal to Calcutta; and the disturbed state of public affairs, requiring the presence of a man of the first ability, to restore them to order, and to regain the public confidence, he was actively recommended by Lord Clive, as the man in India the best fitted for the charge. In 1771, he was accordingly appointed Governor of Bengal. The letter which Lord Clive addressed to him on this occasion is too remarkable to be omitted, not only as it concerns the two perhaps, most eminent men who ever held that high office, and throws so much light on the character of both, but as it overflows with the soundest practical wisdom. It is difficult to calculate what effect the influence of the very superior men whom he proposed as a Council, might have had on the future fortunes and history of India. But neither the Directors nor the Ministers were sufficiently advanced in their views of Indian policy, or possessed sufficient expansion of mind to adopt a measure in which the expense of employing first-rate men was as nothing, compared with the results that might have been anticipated.
"Berkeley Square, 1st August, 1771.
"Dear Sir,
"The despatch of the Lapwing gives me an early opportunity of congratulating with you on your removal to Bengal; and as my zeal for the service actuated me to take the share I did in your appointment, the same principle prevails upon me to offer you a few of my ideas upon the important Government in which you now preside.
"Two or three months ago, when the plan of Supervisors was renewed, Sir George Colebrooke and Mr. Purling desired my opinion. My advice was, that, as the prosperity of the Company was now become a matter of very serious national concern, it behoved them to show that, in appointments of this nature, they were guided, not by the view of particular friends, but merely by that zeal which the duty of their station demanded, for preserving and rendering permanent our possessions in India; and that, therefore, they should turn their thoughts towards men who stood high in public character and reputation. I proposed Mr. Wedderburn, Mr. Cornwall, and Sir Jeffrey Amherst, together with you, as Governor, and one of the Council; and that these five should be invested with all the powers civil and military. Sir Jeffrey Amherst, however, declined. As to the two former, they might be prevailed upon; but the Directors do not seem ready to embrace any great comprehensive plan of supervisorship, so as to make it an object for men of such consequence. My last proposition was, that the Company should revert to the plan of my Government, viz. that a Committee of five should be appointed out of the best and ablest men in Bengal, of whom the Governor should be the head; and this, I imagine, will be adopted.
"The situation of affairs requires that you should be very circumspect and active. You are appointed Governor at a very critical time, when things are suspected to be almost at the worst, and when a general apprehension prevails of the mismanagement of the Company's affairs. The last parliamentary inquiry has thrown the whole state of India before the public, and every man sees clearly, that as matters are now conducted abroad, the Company will not long be able to pay the 400,000l. to Government. The late dreadful famine, or a war, either with Sujah-u-Dowlah, or the Mahrattas, will plunge us into still deeper distress. A discontented nation and disappointed Minister will then call to account a weak and pusillanimous Court of Directors, who will turn the blow from themselves upon their agents abroad; and the consequences must be ruinous both to the Company and the servants. In this situation you see the necessity of exerting yourself in time, provided the Directors give you proper powers, without which, I confess, you can do nothing; for self-interest or ignorance will obstruct every plan you can form for the public good.
"You are upon the spot, and will learn my conduct from disinterested persons; and I wish your government to be attended, as mine was, with success to the Company, and with the consciousness of having discharged every duty with firmness and fidelity. Be impartial and just to the public, regardless of the interest of individuals, where the honour of the nation, and the real advantage of the Company are at stake, and resolute in carrying into execution your determination, which I hope will at all times be rather founded upon your own opinion than that of others.
"The business of politics and finance being so extensive, the Committee should not be embarrassed with private concerns. They ought not, therefore, to be allowed to trade. But their emoluments ought to be so large as to render trade unnecessary to the attainment of a competent fortune. For this purpose I am confident the salt will prove very sufficient. The Society should be formed upon an improvement of the plan which was not perfected in my time. The price to the natives was too great, and so was the advantage to the servants. Reduce both, and I am persuaded there will be no complaint of oppression on the one hand, or want of emolument on the other.
"The Company's servants should all have a subsistence, but every idea of raising a fortune, till they are entitled to it by some years' service, ought to be suppressed. If a general system of economy could be introduced, it would be happy for individuals as well as for the public. The expenses of the Company in Bengal are hardly to be supported. Great savings, I am certain, may be made. Bills for fortifications, cantonments, contracts, &c. must be abolished, together with every extravagant charge for travelling, diet, parade, and pomp, of subordinates. In short, by economy alone the Company may yet preserve its credit and affluence.
"With regard to political measures, they are to be taken according to the occasion. When danger arises, every precaution must be made use of, but at the same time you must be prepared to meet and encounter it. This you must do with cheerfulness and confidence, never entertaining a thought of miscarrying, till the misfortune actually happens; and even then you are not to despair, but be constantly contriving and carrying into execution schemes for retrieving affairs; always flattering yourself with an opinion that time and perseverance will get the better of every thing.
"From the little knowledge I have of you I am convinced that you have not only abilities and personal resolution, but integrity, and moderation with regard to riches; but I thought I discovered in you a diffidence in your own judgment, and too great an easiness of disposition[167], which may subject you insensibly to be led, where you ought to guide. Another evil which may arise from it is, that you may pay too great an attention to the reports of the natives, and be inclined to look upon things in the worst, instead of the best, light. A proper confidence in yourself, and never-failing hope of success, will be a bar to this and every other ill that your situation is liable to; and, as I am sure that you are not wanting in abilities for the great office of Governor, I must add that an opportunity is now given you of making yourself one of the most distinguished characters of this country.
"I perceive I have been very free in delivering my sentiments; but to make an apology were to contradict the opinion I profess to have of your understanding, and to doubt whether you would receive this as a token of my esteem."
"It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that this letter, which I have written in the fullest confidence, should be kept entirely to yourself. If a reciprocal communication of our sentiments on India affairs be agreeable to you, you may depend upon my continuing the correspondence in such manner as to show that I am, with the sincerest wishes for your honour and success,
"Dear Sir,
"Your very faithful humble servant,
"Clive."