In a subsequent letter[[187]], Mr. Walsh informs Lord Clive of the unexpected change that had taken place in the administration. After describing the different political parties that had arisen, and were likely to arise, he adds, "As to me I do not propose being absolutely of either party; your interest does not appear to me by any means to require it, nor do my inclinations at all lead me to it. Mr. Grenville, it is true, I consider as entitled personally to all your assistance; but his connections are no ways to be justified. The man, therefore, not his party, should have your support, and, agreeably to what you yourself told him in my presence, that your ministerial attachments would cease for ever with his quitting the administration, your plan henceforward should be independency."
Lord Clive had a most tedious voyage to India. The ship put into Rio Janeiro, from whence we find letters to all his friends in England. Constantly alive to every object which affected, in the most remote degree, the interest of his country, he communicated to Mr. Grenville the observations which occurred to him upon the state of the colony, which he had very unexpectedly visited.
"As a well-wisher to my country," he observes[[188]], "I cannot avoid representing to you the deplorable condition of this capital settlement of the Portuguese. I should think myself deserving of everlasting infamy if I did not, with a battalion of infantry, make myself master of Rio Janeiro in twenty-four hours. They have nothing here that deserves the name of fortification: an unflanked garden wall with a rampart, with some old unserviceable and honey-combed cannon, constitute the chief strength of this place; and if the capital be in this defenceless condition, what are we to think of the subordinate settlements on the coast of Brazil. Bad as the Spaniards are, they could not fail, upon a future war, of making a speedy and easy conquest of all the Portuguese possessions in this part of the world, which would be of much more consequence to Spain than the conquest of Portugal. If a hint of their weakness could be conveyed to the court of Portugal, and the reformation already begun there could be extended to the coast of the Brazils, it might be the means of preserving their valuable possessions from falling into the hands of the Spaniards sooner or later."
Mr. Grenville, after he left office, acknowledged the receipt of this letter and some small presents from the Cape. He refers, in this communication, to the change of administration which had so recently occurred; and I quote his observations less from their connection with the life of Clive than from the value which attaches to every sentiment of one of the most honourable and eminent statesmen who belonged to this period of English history.
"I take this opportunity," Mr. Grenville observes[[189]], "of repeating to your Lordship my thanks, for the honour of your letter from the Brazils, and for the sensible and useful observations contained in it; which I immediately endeavoured to make the best use of in my power. I have since then received an account of your very obliging present of some wine, a sea-dog, and some birds from the Cape. The sea-dog was unluckily lost in the voyage home, by jumping overboard, and the birds I have not yet been able to get; but when I return to town, I shall apply to Mr. Walsh for his assistance. The wine is safely lodged in my cellars, and by the account of it, I make no doubt will prove excellent.
"Your Lordship will have heard long before this letter can reach your hands, of the change which the King has been advised to make in his administration, in consequence of which I have no longer the honour to be in his Majesty's service. You will certainly have received many comments upon this very sudden (and, from the situation of public affairs when it happened, very unexpected) alteration; but as I am too nearly concerned in this event to make them, I will only say, that I sincerely wish it may be productive of benefit to the King and to the kingdom, instead of being attended with that confusion and disorder which is generally expected, if the present system should continue, though that is thought not likely. For my own part, I can only say, that I am in the same opinions, and shall endeavour to promote the same plan for the public business out of office, which I did whilst I had the honour to hold one. In these sentiments, those who are now in his Majesty's service will probably not agree with me; but on the other hand, I have reason to hope for the approbation of those who have done me the honour to approve my conduct. I shall earnestly wish in every situation, to preserve the good opinion and kindness which my friends have so strongly expressed towards me upon the present occasion, and to cultivate the good will and friendship which your Lordship has shown to me. Our accounts here of the state in which you will find affairs in the East Indies are too uncertain for me to be able to make any pertinent observations upon them; I will, therefore, content myself with expressing to you my warmest and most hearty wishes, that you may be attended with the same success and honour to yourself, and the same benefit to the public, in your present command, as your former conduct in those countries so deservedly acquired."
Lord Clive had been flattered during his stay in England, by having a vote passed that his statue should be placed in the India House along with those of General Lawrence and Sir George Pocock. A medal[[190]] had also been struck at the desire of the Society for Promoting Arts and Commerce, in commemoration of the victory of Plassey, and its great and important results. These honourable marks of regard and respect could not but be gratifying; and, combined as they were with the enjoyment of domestic[[191]] happiness, and the society of friends to whom he was attached, they naturally rendered him very reluctant again to leave his native country. The bad health he had for the first twelvemonth after his return made him dread the effects of an English winter; but latterly he appears to have overcome that feeling, though we meet, in his letters, with occasional expressions of despondency, which indicate that depression of spirits consequent on the nervous attacks to which he continued to be subject.
Lord Clive purchased, as his town residence, the lease of the excellent and spacious house, which still belongs to his family, in Berkeley Square. He made several improvements on Styche; but the house and lands being on a limited scale for his fortune, he bought the estate of Walcot, and employed a celebrated architect[[192]] to render the mansion suitable to the residence of his family. His kind attentions to his parents appear to have been greater than ever; and when on the eve of returning to India, though his agents' letters show that the purchases he had made and the stoppage of his jaghire had so embarrassed him, that he had no money at command, he generously gave a bond to each of his five sisters for 2,000l., in addition to the present to the same amount which he had before given them.
Lord Clive carried to India Mr. Strachey, and Captain Maskelyne, a brother to Lady Clive. He exerted his utmost efforts to forward the interests of her other brother, Mr. Nevil Maskelyne of Cambridge; and these efforts, supported as they were by the great science and high character of that gentleman, obtained for him the Regius professorship at Woolwich.[[193]]
Mr. George Clive, who (as has been before stated) brought home a moderate fortune, improved it by marriage; and was too comfortably settled to return to India. Mr. Scrafton had become a Director; but his grave duties do not appear to have deprived him of his usual high spirits. In one letter, he warns Lord Clive, that he is now in a different relation to him, being "one of his honourable masters." In another, he gives a humorous account of some of their mutual acquaintances and friends.