The natives of Bengal, as yet ignorant of the construction of the English government, ascribed every thing to Clive. They considered him as the exclusive author of the success which had attended the English arms; and with his life many expected it to terminate. The existence of such sentiments gave probability to the reports of plots said to have been formed, both at Moorshedabad and at Patna, for his assassination; and he was warned of them by persons who deemed their information authentic. But he does not appear to have given such warnings any attention. He continued steadily to pursue his object of supporting the Nabob he had raised to the throne, while at the same time he took every measure to save the interests of his country from the dangers to which they were exposed from the vacillating weakness, or the excited feelings, of that prince.
When Clive arrived at Moorshedabad with Roy Dullub, he found the Nabob's son Meeran in a state of great irritation, at the restoration of that Hindu influence, which it was the real though concealed object of Meer Jaffier's expedition to Patna to destroy. The disposition of this young man, as far as it had yet developed itself, was sanguinary and rapacious. He was, as has been related, the cause of Suraj-u-Dowlah's being put to death: and this act, with the more recent assassination of the son of that Prince, and the imprisonment of his mother, had made him unpopular with the more peaceable part of his father's subjects, particularly the Hindus, who dreaded his cruelty and violence. But the Mahommedan chiefs and soldiers, whose pride had been wounded, and who were checked in their licentious habits, hailed these qualities, which, combined with Meeran's known jealousy and hatred of the English, gave them hopes of recovering, through his means, their lost influence and power.
Meeran had entered warmly into his father's feelings of jealousy of the rising consequence of Clive, increased as it had been by his success in quelling, through the influence of his personal character, the three rebellions which lately threatened the state; but the chief subjects of irritation were his open protection of Roy Dullub, and his travelling with that minister to Moorshedabad. The Prince felt, or affected to feel, alarmed at their approach: he commenced levying troops, and declared to Mr. Scrafton, that unless Clive gave him a solemn promise of protection, he would be compelled to have recourse to arms, to avert the danger with which his life was threatened by the hostility of Roy Dullub. He not only made these sentiments public, but went out of the city in apparent alarm as Clive entered it. Clive, who had received a private letter from Mr. Scrafton[207] informing him of Meeran's conduct, was not prepared for this step, which threw Moorshedabad into the utmost consternation. To this was added the receipt of intelligence of a French squadron on the coast of Coromandel, and of the superiority which that nation had acquired in land forces. To counteract the bad impressions which such news might make at so critical a moment, Clive exaggerated a slight naval success which had been obtained by the English into a complete victory.[208] He also wrote to the Nabob on the same day, complaining of the strange behaviour of Meeran, and stating that he could not continue in Bengal, if his zeal to support him was to be rewarded with suspicion and distrust. But before an answer was received, the Prince, persuaded of his error, had returned to the city, and made the most submissive apologies for his conduct.
Clive remained only a few days at Moorshedabad. Soon after his arrival at Calcutta, a vessel[209] from England brought out the arrangements made by the Directors subsequently to their receiving the intelligence of their misfortunes in Bengal. The first measure, adopted in August, 1757, was the appointment of a temporary Committee of five, in which Clive was to preside. This was changed in November; and it was resolved to dismiss Mr. Drake, upon whose incompetency all appear to have been agreed; and a council of ten was nominated, the four senior members of which were to preside alternately, each for three months. In this second arrangement no mention whatever was made of Clive; and as the letter of August did not reach Bengal before that of November, he received at the same moment the account of his first appointment, and of the subsequent marked neglect of the Directors. But their last resolution was of little consequence, as circumstances rendered its execution impossible, except at the serious hazard of all the great advantages which had been obtained. This sentiment was universal; but by none was it felt so strongly as by the gentlemen appointed to the Council, and above all by those who were advanced by the Court of Directors to a share in the divided office of Governor. I shall spare the reader all comments upon this extraordinary expedient, which was no doubt the crude offspring of faction and mistrust. It is a more pleasing task to record the better feeling and better understanding of the true interests of their country which pervaded the councils of the local government.
I am induced to insert the following letter to Clive from the new Council, not more from its containing an excellent summary of the reasons which led them to request he would fill the station of their President, than because I deem it alike honourable to their zeal and disinterestedness.
"Sir,
"Our most serious attention has been devoted to the commands of our honourable employers per Hardwicke, naming a rotation of Governors for the future management of their affairs at this settlement; and, having duly weighed the nature of this regulation with all its attending circumstances, a sincere conviction of its being, in our present situation and circumstances, repugnant to the true interest of our honourable masters, and the welfare of the settlement in general, obliges us (though with the utmost respect and deference) to believe, that had our employers been apprised of the present state of their affairs in this kingdom, they would have placed the presidentship in some one person, as the clearest and easiest method of conducting their concerns, as well as preserving and maintaining the weight and influence the late happy revolution has given us with the Soubah of these provinces; on which influence, at the present period, the interest and welfare of the Company depends in the highest degree, at this settlement.
"The difficulties we may be liable to by a rotation in the executive part of government, with its consequences, are sufficiently obvious in our present state of affairs; we will, however, mention only a few points: the treaty with the Nabob not perfected in all its branches, the possession of the lands incomplete, the settlement in no posture of defence, the French considerably reinforced with a military and a fleet, their designs with respect to Bengal hitherto unknown, and the impossibility of impressing a proper idea of this divided power on the minds of the Soubah and others of this kingdom, who have, at all times, been accustomed to the government of a single person. A little reflection will introduce many more, and clearly evince the necessity of this address.
"The gentlemen nominated Governors in the Honourable Company's commands per Hardwicke, have the highest sense of gratitude for the honour conferred on them by our employers in their appointment; but deem themselves in duty bound, at this juncture of affairs, to wave all personal honours and advantages, and declare, as their sentiments, that a rotation in the executive part of Government, for the foregoing reasons, would be extremely prejudicial to the real interest of the Company; in which opinion we unanimously concur, and judge it for the welfare of our honourable employers, and of the settlement in general, to deviate in this instance from the commands of our honourable masters, and fix the presidentship in a single person till we hear further from Europe.
"Your being named as head of the General Committee (in the letter of the 3d of August last) established at that time for conducting the Company's affairs in Bengal, your eminent services, abilities, and merit, together with your superior weight and influence with the present Soubah and his officers, are motives which have great force with us on this occasion; and all concur in pointing out you, at the present, as best able to render our honourable employers necessary service at this juncture, till they shall make their further pleasure known by the appointment of a President for their affairs here.
"These reasons urge us to make you an offer of being President of the Company's affairs in Bengal, till a person is appointed by the Honourable Company; and we flatter ourselves you will be induced to accept of our offer, from your wonted regard to the interest of our honourable employers, and zeal for the welfare of their affairs, which we doubt not you are, as well as ourselves, convinced will be much prejudiced by a rotation in the executive part of government. "We wait your reply, and have the honour to be,
"Sir,
"Your most obedient,
"and most humble servants."Fort William,
"26th June, 1758."
Clive appears to have been so much hurt by the conduct of the Court of Directors, that he had determined not to accept the station offered him. Mr. Watts, whose name was first upon the list of the Rotation-government (as it was termed) wrote him a private letter, in which he entreated him, by every consideration for the public interests, not to refuse his services at so critical a period. His answer to this letter is remarkable, as it shows the feelings under which he acted.
"I have considered[210]," he states, "what you proposed to me, and judge myself under a necessity of declining the Government. Both the public and my private advices, I think, plainly discover that the Presidency of Bengal was by no means intended for me by the Court of Directors; and a temporary acceptance can only expose me, upon the further alterations which may arrive from Europe, to circumstances of disgrace in the eyes of the Country Government, which, I believe it is unnecessary for me to remark, might be prejudicial to the Company's affairs. At the same time I cannot sufficiently express my sense of the disinterestedness which you, and the gentlemen of the Council have shown in this generous offer, and of the honour you have thereby conferred on me."