"I am entirely obliged to you," he observes[[113]], in one of these now before me, "for the comfortable subsistence I may expect from your generosity, if I should live a few years longer. If among the dead, don't forget the old place of our nativity; but let Ned[[114]] reside there. If the Judge[[115]] does not take him, (as I think he will, if her Ladyship pleases,) he will soon be with us, and will divert me in the decline of life. I shall be desirous of living a little longer, in hopes of seeing the joyful day when you and my daughter return to England; but whatever events may happen before that time, God only knows, to whose pleasure I desire to submit."
The house of Styche had been given by Clive as a residence to his uncle, Mr. Robert Clive, who, with the other branches of the family, appears to have taken an interest in its being improved and beautified. I cannot refrain from making an extract from one of his letters on the subject.
"Things go on," he writes[[116]], "as usual at Styche, and I enjoy a very comfortable existence, under your roof. My income enables me to keep house while the family are in town; and when they come down, I am glad to see them. Aunt Fanny is with me this winter. I am in hopes of seeing you here again, and your most amiable lady, to whom I beg my most affectionate compliments. O that these next ships might bring you over! But I am well assured, your desire is towards your native country and your friends, and that you will be with us as soon as you can. Styche is now leased to a tenant; but as the term is expired within about two years, I think it will be better not to renew it but only from year to year, that you may be able to make such alterations as you please when you come to England. Mr. Mackworth has consented to our having a road over the meadows, and we have built a bridge for that purpose, which is a great convenience; many more might be thought of and had, were you here with one of Rajah Dowlah's millions. In the mean time, if you think of any thing that you would have done, I shall think myself honoured by a commission from you."
Clive's return to India in 1755, and the successes which attended him during the three following years, attracted more of the public notice from being contrasted with the reverses which had attended the British arms in Europe and America during this unpropitious period.
The success at Gheriah even, which (had the public mind not been full of disappointment) would probably not have been mentioned, was spoken of in all the newspapers of the day as an achievement of importance.
Mr. Smyth King, in a letter to Clive[[117]], observes, when alluding to this event; "The news of your success could not have reached England at a season more advantageous for the increase of your reputation; a season in which there was a general clamour and indignation for the ignominy that had been brought on our arms by the losses in the Mediterranean and North America, of which you will hear so much: I need not say any thing. The consequence has been driving out all the Ministry, Duke of Newcastle, Lord Chancellor, Mr. Fox, &c. &c. Mr. Pitt, and a new set in the Treasury and Admiralty, are now the steersmen: they have set out well at the opening of Parliament: how long they will continue in the good course, time will show. You will easily imagine how opportune and grateful the taking of Gheriah was, notwithstanding the distance of the place, and its not being so generally known. Colonel Clive was again in all the newspapers. I believe you have made a maxim of what I have somewhere read, that 'a man who has got himself a great name should every now and then strike some coup d'éclat, to keep up the admiration of the people.'"
The capture of Calcutta, the taking of Chandernagore, the battle of Plassey, and the dethronement and death of Suraj-u-Dowlah, with the elevation of Meer Jaffier, were events which, at any time, would have excited attention; but the impression they made was greatly increased by the depressed state of the public mind at the moment when intelligence of their occurrence reached England. They were hailed by all ranks, as redeeming, in some degree, the national reputation that had been lost in other quarters of the globe.
We meet, in a letter from his friend Mr. King, a concise and vivid description of the causes which combined at this period to raise Clive's fame in England.
"You are too well assured," that gentleman observes[[118]], "of the joy I must have felt at the news of your great actions, for me to profess it: they can add nothing to my admiration of your military capacity, which was at the height, with what you had achieved for several years. I can only tell you, what your love to your country will make you sorry for, that your conduct shines with a peculiar brightness, from the unglorious doings of our leaders of armies and admirals of fleets in Europe; and that the name of a Clive is made use of in the public papers to reproach and stimulate his superiors in rank, but not in fame. That you may judge how little we have to boast of at home, I will give you a compendium of our exploits since the beginning of the war.
"You already know Minorca is taken, for which Admiral Byng was shot, and Blakeney, who defended it, adorned with a title and a riband, though it is at this time undetermined whether his merit or demerit was the greater. Lord Loudon went to America last year, with a great number of troops and a strong fleet. All that we have heard from thence is, that the French have taken several of our forts, but that we have taken none of theirs, nor otherwise incommoded them.