"I return you many thanks for Mr. Strachey: I have found him in every respect deserving your good opinion; and I must not forget to express how thankful I am for the assistance you have given Mr. Nevil Maskelyne, to obtain the Regius professorship.
"My best wishes attend Mrs. Grenville and all your family."
Clive observes, in a letter to Lord Halifax, of the same date,—
"I will not attempt entering into a detail of affairs in this part of the world, especially as I have enabled Mr. Grenville to give your Lordship a very explicit account of the prosperous and flourishing condition of the East India Company: too prosperous, without they have better heads and hearts to manage such grand and extensive concerns than heretofore."
In the following letter[[269]] from Lord Clive to Sir Matthew Featherstonhaugh he states,—
"We have just concluded a very honourable and advantageous peace with Sujah-u-Dowlah. To convince him, as well as the Mogul empire, of our moderation, we have restored to him all his dominions, upon condition of paying to the Company 50 lacs of rupees, or 600,000l. (the half down, and security for the other half.) This he very readily consented to, and has exactly complied with his engagements; so that Bengal, by such a powerful alliance, will in all probability enjoy tranquillity and peace for some time.
"Was I to paint to you the anarchy and confusion which reigned in these rich provinces upon my arrival, you would be much surprised. Indeed, the Company's affairs were at their last gasp, not from our enemies, but from that universal licentiousness which had overrun the whole settlement of Calcutta. Extortion and corruption were practised openly and at noonday. The three kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, whose revenues amount to 4,000,000l. sterling per annum, had been put up to sale, and the profits divided among the civil and military; the Company's interests have been most scandalously sacrificed; but on this subject let me refer you to Mr. Walsh, who will give you such proofs of the venality, corruption, and extortions of the Company's servants, as must give you great pain, from the consideration of the national honour being so much prostituted.
"We are making use of the power given the committee to check these great and growing evils, and have made great progress already. Our vigorous proceedings towards retrieving the national honour, and obtaining for the Company those great and glorious advantages, which they are so justly entitled to, will, I make no doubt, create us many enemies; however, conscious rectitude will enable us to go through our undertakings with pleasure. With regard to myself, I do declare, upon the word of a gentleman, and upon my honour, that, although history can scarce furnish an instance of any subject who hath had such opportunities of acquiring an immense fortune, it is my determined resolution to return to my native country not one farthing richer than when I left it.
"The very great attention you have always paid to my interest, and the favourable opinion you have always entertained of my abilities and zeal for the Company, bind me to you by ties of the strongest gratitude.
"The Company, in consequence of a grant from the Great Mogul, and with the Nabob's approbation, are in possession of a clear revenue of 2,000,000l. sterling; and all our expenses, both civil and military, can never exceed the half of that sum in time of war, and in time of peace, not more than 600,000l. per annum: so that, at the worst of times, there will be a clear gain of 1,000,000l. sterling per annum to the Company. Neither are these revenues chimerical or precarious: the rents are regularly paid; and we have established such a force, that all the powers of Hindustan cannot deprive us of our possessions for many years. Let me refer you to Mr. Walsh for further particulars, who, I am persuaded, will explain these matters much to your satisfaction.