The allusions in the latter paragraph of this letter were too plainly directed against Clive to be mistaken; and considering that, at the period when it was written, Mr. Sulivan was on professed good terms with him, he deemed the expression of such sentiments unpardonable. But, on the other hand, it might have been urged by Mr. Sulivan's friends, that these sentiments, though brought to light by some breach of confidence, were meant only for a private friend, and that there could be no breach of friendship where none existed; that Lord Clive and Mr. Sulivan belonged to different parties in politics; that their personal connections and views, particularly as connected with the Indian administration in England, were opposed to each other; and that, if Mr. Sulivan had been led by considerations of interest to preserve outward terms of cordiality with Lord Clive, his Lordship had been alone restrained from attacking him by similar prudential considerations.
Amid the causes which tended to hasten a rupture between these individuals, we must not omit the irritation produced by their difference of opinion as to the merits and claims of the Company's servants in India. Clive was the bold and persevering advocate of all those who had gained and merited his friendship by the aid they gave him in the performance of their public duties. Several of his recommendations to Mr. Sulivan met with attention; but others were treated with slight or delay. I have already mentioned Clive's feeling respecting Colonel Forde. However great the claims of that officer, the more recent successes of his rival, Colonel Coote, had fully justified those who furthered his promotion in England; but Major Carnac had distinguished himself in Bengal by the defeat of the Shah-Zada, the surrender of that prince, and the capture of M. Law and the French who were attached to him. These services, Clive thought, gave him a claim to a superior commission. He was also very anxious to obtain a majority for Captain Knox, who, independent of his services under him, had, on several late occasions[[163]], established a reputation for skill and gallantry, superior to any one of his standing in India.
At this period it was not uncommon to give superior commissions to those who greatly distinguished themselves. Clive was the advocate of a system, which, considering the actual state of the service, he thought indispensable to reward and encourage men of talent and enterprise. Mr. Sulivan, though he did not deny the merits of the persons brought to his notice by Clive, appears to have been very reluctant to promote them, at the hazard of creating discontent to others. He was, like other members of the Court of Directors at that period, prompt to attend to the frequent appeals made to them against the local government; and such appeals were usually from those who had no pretensions to preferment but that of seniority, and who were often persons quite unfitted, by their habits and character, for the delicate and arduous duties which, at this period, devolved upon officers intrusted with high military command. Clive, by his notes in answer to the Chairman on these points, appears to have been very impatient of the general reasoning with which his applications were answered. He conscientiously felt, in supporting those he brought forward, that he acted from no motive but that of the public good; he saw that by such maxims our Indian empire never would have been gained; and he was quite satisfied that the system which Mr. Sulivan desired to establish, of directing the attention of the civil and military servants in India to the government in England, was calculated to subvert all authority in the local administration, and, in its results, to distract, weaken, and distress our yet infant empire in the East. Sulivan's were the principles of the head of a commercial company; Clive's those of the founder and sustainer of an empire.
To understand all the motives which influenced Clive's conduct at this period, it is necessary to advert to the changes in the British administration, and especially, in so far as these affected the individuals with whom he was most intimately connected.
The personal influence exercised by Lord Bute over the mind of his young sovereign counteracted the wise and vigorous measures of Pitt; who, on being thwarted in his design of anticipating the hostile intentions of Spain, retired with his friends from the cabinet.[[164]] Aware of the great popularity of his predecessor, Lord Bute (who succeeded Mr. Pitt) tried every effort to increase the number of his adherents. Amongst others, Clive was courted to give his support to the new administration. His fame, his wealth, and the votes he commanded, gave importance to his aid; and the terms offered him were alike tempting to his ambition and interests: but his respect for the integrity and great talents of Mr. Pitt had been increased by personal acquaintance[[165]], and he cherished the sincerest attachment to Mr. George Grenville, who, on Pitt's retirement, had resigned his situation as Treasurer of the Navy. Besides these personal considerations, the measures of Mr. Pitt were congenial with every sentiment of his mind; and he augured no benefit to the nation from the less energetic character of his successor, whose avowed eagerness for peace (he anticipated) would prevent its being concluded on such favourable terms as the successes of the war gave grounds to expect.
Governed by these motives, Clive rejected the overtures of Lord Bute. He states the grounds of his conduct in a letter to Major Carnac, written a month after the change of ministers occurred.
"Now that we are to have peace abroad," he observes[[166]], "war is commencing at home amongst ourselves. There is to be a most violent contest, at the meeting of Parliament, whether Bute or Newcastle is to govern this kingdom; and the times are so critical that every member has an opportunity of fixing a price upon his services. I still continue to be one of those unfashionable kind of people who think very highly of independency, and to bless my stars, indulgent fortune has enabled me to act according to my conscience. Being very lately asked, by authority, if I had any honours to ask from my sovereign, my answer was, that I thought it dishonourable to take advantage of the times; but that when these parliamentary disputes were at an end, if his Majesty should then approve of my conduct by rewarding it, I should think myself highly honoured in receiving any marks of the royal favour."
When the treaty of peace between France and England was in the course of negotiation, the opinion of Bussy[[167]] was taken on all points connected with the interests of his nation in India. No similar reference appears to have been made to Clive, whose knowledge far exceeded that of every other individual, on this important subject. But he was too earnest in his desire to promote the future peace of India to allow any party motives to prevent his offering every information that could aid ministers in that part of the negotiation which related to our Eastern possessions; he transmitted, therefore, a memorial to Lord Bute.
In this memorial Clive stated, that it was not now more than fifteen years since the European nations, who had established factories in India, were as much regulated and controlled in their concerns by the native governments as the natives themselves. To the extortions to which this exposed them, to the expense of their establishments, and to the decrease in value in the Indian manufactures, he attributes the disappointment of the expectations originally formed of great profits from this trade. Dupleix (he observes), on the ground that commerce alone must, under such circumstances, be a losing concern, suggested to his government the policy of making conquests in India; territorial revenue being, in his opinion, the only source by which a European nation could derive wealth from that country.
"Acting upon the principles he recommended," to use the words of the memorial, "Dupleix engaged in the contentions of the princes of the country, and had, at one time, in a great measure, obtained his aim. There remained nothing to complete it but the expulsion of the English out of Hindustan. We were at that time wholly attached to mercantile ideas; but undoubted proof of M. Dupleix's projects obliged us to draw the sword, and our successes have been so great that we have accomplished for ourselves, and against the French, exactly every thing that the French intended to accomplish for themselves and against us."