During his expedition to Bengal, Clive had only one of his relations in his family, Mr. George Clive, for whom he cherished a very sincere affection. The two persons to whom he appears to have been most attached were Mr. Walsh and Mr. Luke Scrafton, both civil servants of the Company, whose names have been frequently mentioned in the course of the narrative. They continued through life in habits of the strictest intimacy with their friend and patron. Of Mr. Walsh, Clive never speaks without expressing great respect for his character; and of his regard for Mr. Scrafton, whose lively disposition suited his own, we have many proofs. Bad health obliging that gentleman to go to Madras, Clive wrote by him to Sir George Pocock, in a style which evinced his kind and anxious solicitude.
"The bearer of this[[139]]," he observes, "Mr. Luke Scrafton, is a young fellow of great worth and honour. Much I fear he is too far gone to be recovered by the coast air: he has been a constant attendant of mine in all our expeditions, and can solve any question you may have to ask on the subject of Bengal. For God's sake return him to me in good health and condition!"
Clive was also on the most intimate terms with Captain Latham, a distinguished officer of His Majesty's navy; and this intimacy was increased from that gentleman's marriage to a relation of Mrs. Clive, who had accompanied her to India. I have found numerous private letters from Captain Latham, which are all written in the open manly style of a British seaman, and bear a convincing testimony to the tone of Clive's mind on all points connected with his friends. From the tenor of one, in answer to a letter from Clive, written immediately after the enthronement of Meer Jaffier, it would seem that Mrs. Latham was one of those whom he considered (from the relation in which she stood to him) entitled to participate in his good fortune. His conduct on this occasion appears to have given sincere pleasure to Mrs. Clive; as the letter in which his kindness and liberality are noticed is superscribed with the word "Charming," in her own handwriting.
I have before mentioned the origin of Clive's regard for Colonel Forde; the grounds upon which he selected him for the command of Bengal, and the degree in which he deemed himself indebted to him for his great and brilliant achievements. We have also seen the poignant feelings with which he regarded the conduct of the Court of Directors towards this able and gallant officer, who, immediately after the capture of Masulipatam, had the mortification to find himself superseded by Colonel Coote, who, a year before, had been his junior in Adlercron's regiment; but, returning from India with fortune and reputation, had obtained a Colonel's commission, and had just landed at Madras in command of a regiment destined for Calcutta.
Though Colonel Coote had evinced, on the expedition to Bengal, those qualities as an officer which subsequently made him so renowned, neither his opportunities nor his achievements bore as yet any comparison with those of Colonel Forde; but the successes of the latter were not known in England at the period of Coote's appointment. Many, therefore, will deny the justice of Clive's complaint of the conduct of his superiors on this occasion; but even these must admire that warmth and decision, with which he pledged himself to support an officer with whom he had no private friendship, except such as had been formed in consequence of his eminent public services.
The news of Colonel Coote's arrival reached Clive about the same period as the account of Major Forde's capture of Masulipatam, and of the conclusion of the treaty with the Subahdar of the Deccan. Desiring, at such a moment, to afford every consolation to the mind of that meritorious officer, he not only stated his opinion as to his superior claims to those of the officer by whom he was superseded, but gave him the most unqualified assurances of his future support.
"I can easily conceive," he observes in a letter[[140]] to Colonel Forde upon this occasion, "that such rank and honour bestowed (I think I can say without flattery) on one so much your inferior in every respect, must give you much concern. I assure you it has affected me greatly, and is one of my principal motives for wanting to push home with the utmost expedition on the 'Royal George.' I flatter myself, the request I have to make will not be denied me, which is, that you will stay in Bengal all next year, provided Coote remains on the coast. If within that time I do not get you a colonel's or lieutenant-colonel's commission, and an appointment of Commander-in-chief of all the forces in India, I will from that instant decline all transactions with Directors and East India affairs."
Clive's resentment at the Court of Directors was increased by their subsequently annulling Colonel Forde's appointment to Bengal, while his attachment to that officer was greatly heightened by his admirable conduct in the destruction of the Dutch armament. But there were other feelings which may have influenced his mind. He certainly entertained at this period a strong prejudice against Colonel Coote, which may possibly have originated from the prominent manner in which that officer, when only a Captain, was brought forward at Calcutta to support the alleged rights of his Majesty's service against those of the Company. But we have, nevertheless, proofs that Clive appreciated his talents from his employing[[141]] him on all occasions, and particularly in detaching him, after the battle of Plassey, in pursuit of the French corps. But at the same time that he entertained this high opinion of his military talents, he considered, from his whole conduct in Bengal, that he was mercenary and prone to intrigue, and consequently an unfit person to be intrusted with great powers on such a scene. I do not find among Clive's papers any specific grounds to justify this opinion; and in the absence of all such documents, we must conclude, from the high reputation which Colonel Coote attained and supported, that it was erroneous; or, at all events, that, if this eminent commander evinced in his youth any such dispositions as those of which he was suspected, they were early corrected: for though he never displayed any remarkable talents as a statesman, he assuredly became as qualified for the chief military command in India as any person that ever held that station; and during his latter years, the love and esteem in which he was held by his countrymen was even exceeded by the affectionate regard and attachment of the native troops, whom he so often led to victory.
In giving this tribute to a soldier, whose memory I have venerated from my earliest years, I must do justice to Clive by declaring my sincere conviction (formed from the perusal of his numerous letters upon the subject) that he was most sincere and conscientious in the opinion he expressed, and upon which he acted. With such impressions upon his mind, he certainly thought he was doing his duty to the public by his endeavours to keep Colonel Coote at Madras; and he was so solicitous to effect this object that he consented to the request of the government of Fort St. George, that the regiment of that officer should remain for some time at that presidency.
He enters fully upon this subject in his correspondence, both with Mr. Pigot and Mr. Vansittart; but his letters contain merely a repetition of his opinions as to Colonel Coote's unfitness for the general command of the forces in Bengal, while he recognises the benefits to be derived from his services in the mere military operations on the coast of Coromandel. The success of Clive's efforts on this occasion proved fortunate for the reputation of Colonel Coote, who, during the subsequent year, established a high military character by the battle of Wandewash and the capture of Pondicherry.