The representations of all ranks and parties, and the conviction of the truth of the grounds on which they were founded, led Clive to alter this resolution, and to write the following letter to the Council.
"Gentlemen,
"I have received your letter of this day's date, and cannot sufficiently express the grateful sense I have of the favourable opinion you are pleased to entertain of me, which has induced you to desire my acceptance of the Presidency at this critical juncture.
"Though I think I have cause to be dissatisfied with the Court of Directors, for laying me aside in their new form of Government, without any reason assigned, after having named me as head of the General Committee in the letter of the 3d of August last, yet, animated by the noble example of public spirit which you have set me, I have determined to wave all private considerations, where the general good is concerned; and as there is no doubt but the government of a single person, involved as we are now with the country powers, must have infinite advantage over that complicated form of government established from home, I shall, from that motive (though both my health and private concerns strongly require my returning to Europe), accept the offer you have done me the honour to make me, till such time as our employers have appointed a President in the usual form.
"I cannot omit testifying my acknowledgments, Gentlemen, to you all in general, for the zeal you have discovered for the service of our masters upon this occasion; but in particular to you who have been nominated to be in the rotation of governors. You have made such a sacrifice, that few, if any instances can be given of the like. You have, of your own accord, parted with the dignity of government, and all the advantages thereunto annexed, because you apprehend that the Company's affairs could not be properly conducted under a government so constituted.
"Unequal as I am to the weighty task of directing this Presidency, especially in civil matters, to which I have never been able to give due attention, on account of my military avocations, I am now, Gentlemen, to beg the assistance of your advice, and therefore hope you will persevere in the zeal you have hitherto so abundantly shown, and that none of you, but more particularly Mr. Watts, who can render me considerable services from his thorough knowledge of the politics of the country, will entertain a thought of leaving me, till affairs are finally determined from home.
"I am, Gentlemen,
"Your most obedient, humble Servant,
(Signed) "R. Clive."Calcutta,
"June 26th, 1758."
Clive states that he was in a great degree induced to change his first resolution, by the tenor of a letter from Mr. Payne, the Chairman of the Court of Directors, which satisfied him that, notwithstanding what had occurred, there was a strong feeling, in some of that body, as well as the principal members of the administration in England, to treat him with favour and distinction.
"I have a perfect sense[211]," Mr. Payne states, "of the many disagreeable circumstances that may have attended the several expeditions of this year, wherein you have had so great a share; nor can any one have felt more experimentally than myself the difficulty of pleasing every one, with the most disinterested conduct and the warmest pursuits for that purpose; nor have I been wanting in reflections on the many mortifications you may have met with, from the jealousy that the almost unlimited powers you were vested with by the Select Committee at Fort St. George gave rise to. I must confess, I should think them dangerous, in other hands than yours, and such as, I really think, our Court of Directors could scarce have been justified in giving to any one person whatever. Had the powers been more limited, I think you could not have had it less in your power to show and exercise your readiness and abilities in serving the Company, which I am persuaded you have done without mean or selfish views."
The Chairman, after noticing in this communication the difficulty the Court of Directors have had in framing a temporary arrangement for Bengal, and expressing a hope that the expedient they had fallen upon would answer better than was expected, states their intention of adopting every means to add to their military force.
"After being disappointed," he observes, "in various attempts for raising recruits in Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and England, His Majesty has been pleased to order us a battalion of about one thousand men out of the new regiments. Mr. Pitt was the first to propose the measure to His Majesty. Upon his mentioning it the next day to me, I took the liberty of suggesting to him the many difficulties and evils we had been exposed to, during the stay of Colonel Adlercron's regiment, in instances which I certainly need not point out to you. He stopt me very short, by saying, he would forestall me in regard to any apprehensions I might have by the clashing of different commands; as it was his intention the troops should be under Colonel Lawrence and your command."
Mr. Payne also informed Clive in this letter, that Mr. Pitt and Lord Barrington had hinted a desire to send Clive a Colonel's commission; but that, while he had expressed thankfulness for this intended mark of favour, he had suggested the name of Colonel Lawrence also. "I could not be unmindful," he adds, "of your most genteel and disinterested conduct on a former occasion in England, in regard to that mark[212] of the Company's respect for you, which you rather declined and were unwilling to accept of, without Colonel Lawrence sharing with you. I am well persuaded you will continue to act and think upon the same generous principles; and that you must be so sensible of that gentleman's good services, and the need the Company still have of the continuance of them, that you will be far from looking with a jealous eye on the mention I have made to those Honourable Gentlemen of my apprehension of our being entirely deprived of the Colonel's future services, if he should be taken no notice of, though he was not immediately concerned in the late actions, which had particularly attracted His Majesty's attention in regard to yourself."
Mr. Payne further informed Clive that the Duke of Newcastle had written to the Court of Directors, regarding the propriety of conferring upon him a distinguished mark of the royal favour; but, as this was unaccompanied by any suggestion of a similar honour being intended for Admiral Watson, he thought it would embarrass the Directors; and he had, therefore, with the Duke's concurrence, withheld the communication. He expressed his confidence that Clive would approve of what he had done; and, at all events, that he would be acquitted of having been actuated by any little motive in the part he had taken on that occasion. "Be assured, Sir," Mr. Payne concludes, "I shall always be as ready to propose as to concur in any measures that may be hereafter thought of to do you honour or pleasure; and that it is a great one to me to reflect, that your attention to the service you are engaged in, by exposing your person on so many different occasions, may and has been attended not only with the honours and laurels that adorn the brow of a conqueror, but with some more solid fruits of your labour; which may in some degree compensate for the toils that precede victory and success."